Viewing page 202 of 258

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

the personal abuse of the Freedpeople by the Whites; in these cases the indolence or insolence of the former were the cause; and again some dishonorable employers were inclined to defraud their employees.

The mutual feeling existing between the two classes is pretty good, though I do not believe that it has been improving during the month. On the contrary I fear it has been growing worse; a fact partly to be attributed to a disposition that has been manifested on the part of the colored people to leave their employers, and go to working for themselves - or  at least, to make preparations to do so next year.

The crops in both counties have been, comparatively, a failure,  The inhabitants, both White and black, are very poor, and I fear that before another crop can be raised much destitution will be experienced by the Freedpeople, and that Government aid will be a necessity.

No case of brutal outrage committed on a colored person has come under my observation, or been reported to me.

In Surry the Civil Authorities, in my opinion, act in good faith and with alacrity in the cases in which Freedmen are the aggrieved parties. I cannot say the same in regard to the conduct of some of the magistrates of Sussex who apparently act in such cases with a good deal of reluctance.

There are no schools for colored

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-06 10:30:59 removed indents, corrected some words, ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-06 10:51:32 added some missing punctuation ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-06 17:31:24