Viewing page 199 of 237

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

3

temporal & political matters according to the judgment of the old master.  And when the whites become convinsed that a freedman intends to enjoy the freedom guarenteed to him by the constitution and laws of his country, he is at once set down as an "overbaring and important nigger" and is made the object of ridicule and contempt, and is subjected to every kind of hinderence in any business he may undertake, and of every kind of insult, and out rage, and frequently of assault, to which the civil authorities cannot be induced to pay the least attention

Though I do not allow myself to be actuated by any partisan motives in the discharge of my duties, or as an officer to cooperate with any political organization, yet I have observed and my duty compels me to report that the people of this Division are divided into two political parties, most of the whites are connected with one party, and most of the freedmen with the other.

The whites owning the land and property openly threaten the freedmen with expulsion from land and labor, and [[strikethrough]] for [[/strikethrough]] from all those privileges for