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I met with one who seems disposed to remain poverty stricken, by declining to take advantage of opportunities by which employment &c. might be secured. but with these exceptions the race as a race are evidently advancing in intelligence and industry - and I am convinced they would show more earnestness in embracing educational & other advantages if any substantial encouragement was given them by the whites. I believe that the feeling of distrust cherished by them toward the white people which was engendered by the disposition betrayed (immediately after the war closed.) to not allow them any of the rights & privileges of the citizen, - has been strengthened by the indifferent and careless manner in which the interests of the freedpeople are handled in the Courts and by the whites generally. - I am not prepared to

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-27 18:02:05