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VOL, 4, UCENERAL "PTLELSON'S SPERCH, DELIVERED BERORE ' TR FRUEDMIENS CONVERTION, . Mr. CHAIRMAN' : : " ‘ I gladly accept the invitation to speak before the Convention of the freedpeople of Georgia. Let'mieibegin by congratulating you with the bright and happy prospects with which the New Year opens. Christmas week has pas-cd, and the dreaded und much talked of insur reetion of which you never dreamed has not come. - You have given still another proof that you canrot, as a race, he even goaded to acts of violenee and murder, that as 1 the days of the rcbellion; wh n the wives-and-children of your for mer, and in some instanccs, doubtless, cruel masters, were ip your safe keeping, you are the sawme, kind, gatitle;trusting, people, putting far from you all the suggestio~s of B.m-gl’ and revenge, patiently Wiiting for the hand of the Lord to bring your deliverance, and looking to kim to avenge your weongs, I this-pespeet-you Lave.a history, and a record, unsurpassed in the annals of the hiuman race. -Slowly as justice has eome to you; tardily as has-been _the,recognition of your werit, with how much pleasure do I notiee, that finally the public press of the country is teemwing with praise of your goad.and-neble conduct. Eviry where about me, I _the white people speak of you, not only in terms of kinduess, b%fi%}e' Side by side with us, youfought bencath that banner, which con quers_but _to bring sccurity-and peace, and under whose folds, thaok li¢aven, no slave shall hereafter staud. TLe past’is bright a ure., Ihe future with its destiny and its duties is before us, ad-of these; I particularly wish to speak to OB pommcs] semscsel | e R, g %b is of the utmost importarce that you should have elear and distinet ideas of the rights secured to you by the Proclamation of the President of the United States, the laws of Congress, and the suc cess of ‘out arms. Ist. You are free, and free for ever. No mortal power can thrust you or your decendants back intoslavery. You can never again be bought or sold; the slave pen and the auctiou block are things of tLe ast. ' : ’ 9d. All you can carn is your own, you have the same right with all sther men to accumvlate, tiold, and enjoy property; the rizht to be as rich as you can make yourselves by your own cnergy, industry, and economy. THLEY 24 You have the right to protection for your person and property, and to testify in Court in all cases in which freed people ave parties interested. " o 4th. You have the right to education, the right to cultivate and ex-. paud all the powers of body or of mind, whick haye been given to you and %o receive, and exercised that power which knowledge con~. ‘fers. - There are some rights and priviliges, as for instance the right of sufferage, and to serv as jurors, that have not yet been conferred upon yom. v il 4 A ' ~As the servant of the Government simply. I may with propriety perhaps make known to you the purposes of the Governinent, .50 far as they hafif«g d::i'fia’ beyond this, doubtless it becomes me.to. speak with ‘caution and-modesty, but as 1 pegecive that the gues jon | Th R 0 TT e e sl 3t o orpd il siel ik e R shr iB% i soe g, vouwe, waue Ib must be evident to all thinking mien, that mere difference of color is no sufficient reason for withhold ing this right, that want of education and capacity to exercise wisely this high prerogative, is doubtless ample and just reason for withhold~ ing it. fknow it may be said that no such distinetion 1s made among white men, but that both ‘ignorant and vieious whites are aly lowed to vote. I admit it, and at the same time call attention to the ' fict that when any considerable number of such persons are allowed l to vote, as in large cities, the mischievéus consequences prove con— clusively that they ought to be deprived of a privilige which they ouly abuse, and make highly injurious to society. I mention this somewhat delicate subject to all your attention to this fact that whether or ot yow shall_ ever enjoy these high priviliges most likely depends largely upon yourselveg—not so much upda your asking for them to which there can however be no objection, especially if done in the respectful and modest way which characterizes your petition——as your making yourselves competent and worthy to exercise them. Doubtless some of you¥ namber: might safely be clothed with these rights now, bus I think'you will agree with me that the great mass of your people have need to make use of the opportunities of educas tion—now for the rst time afforded them—before they can with advantage to themselves and safety to the country be iutrusted with such rights. : With the hlessing of providence your future is almcst wholy in your own hauds. You are no longer chattels but men. The right already conferi‘ed'upoi_xwfy(iti, opens a very wide field for the exercise of your industry, energy and capacity. Show that as a people you possess these qualities. Continue peaceful and law abiding, and be come useful, prosperous,iself-reliaut citizens, und you need have but I‘ntle fear that any rights will Tong be withheld from you. With the distruction of slavery, all real cause of antagonism between the races disappeared. Sooner or later this will become evident. It will be felt and ~een that bsth races must prosper together, or suffer tegether, and that not .only the highest wisdom, but.the truest political econo my is contained 1a the injunction ‘fo do unto others as we would they should do uato us.’ One of the first duties to be rm-fi)rmed in order that you may receive the greatest benefit from thte rights alrcady conferred wpon you, is the cultivation of kindly relations between yourselves and the | white people. This cannot be too strongly stated or too often reitera ted. Nothing could be so fatal to your happiucss and prosperity as 1 people, as the growth of suspicion, hatred, and animosity betwecn yourselves and the whites. Let this become a fixed conditiv., and 10t even the power of the great Government, which has so solemnly dedged itself 60 wdintain your freedom and which it will eertainly ke every effort to protect, can save you from suffering, perhaps from tstruction. Fortunately there is little danger of this state of things. Lo hive on your'part already given the most abundant proo's of ‘ur williagness to forget the past and to act in a kiod and eonciliaa “y spirit 10 the future. Leannottell you howmueh pleasure it gives me to assure you that "y well meaning man, woman and child in this State wiii gladly “you in the same spirit. Everywhere the educated, refined, and ?Nfl!'ble people are %gmg friends, they recoguize your good qualities, ;ei' pratse your good conduct, and speak with gratitude of your ffhtl in the past, .they are willing to aid and countenance any effort t“h‘aFOur cducation, improvcment and clevation. And here let me say %;avl think you are fortunate in being residents of thic State which by 2. she bas taken any action relating to your people, has acted M i;.? and wisely : First, the Constitutional convention gave to the . of the Freedmep'’s Bureau the right to select certain civil L ;TS ot other suitable citizens of this State as Agents of the Burcau. A fully understood that ouly high minded, honorable men—who ™ “eient manly pride and:courage to disregard the prejudice of wfl?fle and do justice to all men irrespective of eondition or. color— “dbe selected a 8 Agents of the Buregu, and that failing to do Augusta, Ga,, Satnrda& this daty, they would be rcmchcd‘afidlst’ DD ited in their stead. | I urged upon the members of the couve gtion 5 wat men should be ! selected aud nominated to me for ap;’)‘:mp iffl’hom thie intel);went | freed people had confidence. In cyeryivstance when possible I Havs consulted your people as to the persoyh'e}_éu_c;c‘_j 28 Agents. 'The plan bas not been long enough in operatiol to pronounc: with safety as to the result, but so far as I am iufd_'j_jrlza‘_q‘ lad to Le able to say that the Agints appointed are acting in gog«f faith, lu some | cases [ know that th3y are doing it at thelexpeuse of their prpulari ty with their own pe‘ple. RS d The chislatgr,u of the State bas ‘eng fod 3 Jaw which allows colored people to testify . Court, in al gases, in which they are parties interested. It is true that Wl)en W)! tcrgen alone are pa.r:,ies interested, your testimony is not admitteg;« ’ "f;,‘ftffhis you have little ¢r no inteérest, it 1s an act of jastice to ii: ‘whites aloie, and makes | it possible for one white maun to kill anothér in the preseuce of any number of respectable colored persons, and yet escape conviction, It is to be koped that the glaring absurdity @f such a distinetion will work its own cure. arther, the pm’pd#_é@ w system of laws, which ; have been prepared for the State, relatin " ely 1o the freed people is far more just and liberal than those _afio pted in some other étates, ' All this exbibits in a streng light the kind ¢ disposition toward you of the higher and better elass of white citizeos. I know you may say this would be very pleasant if it was _o',fl true. - You may think [ have beea deceived and misled by the smeoth words and fair proms ises made by the white people and that lam gnorant or forgetful of the numerous wrongs practiced upm your rac 2, and which you may perhaps have felt in your own persons. But'ih shis you are miscaken. I | amiuo a position where I neeacenziily lne{u—"know more of the acte and intentions of *S¢ white people towards yo#l than any citizen of the I State, from many parts of which { am cofi'“fiy hearing reports of outrages and murders. ‘Do I not know ‘that, mcrely becasse anin surrection was auticipated some of your people were tortured to make them tell that of which they knew uotliing, Bécause it had no exis— tence; that in one instance at least a colored #ian was kiiled because he belonged to a Bccret benevolent orpanizati on, that many others were arrested, and that the authors: é:’}:‘thi' tage have nothing better to offer as an excuse than their own' rdty, perbaps guilty fears! Almost daily Tam shamed, mafliflb&'d déausted by hear~ ing men and women of ‘my own race eursing a#d villifving the negro. 13ut nearly all these people belong to the verylarge number of white inbabitants of the State, who as shown by ‘#Be ‘census, can neither read: nor write, a few of them can read and®rite, they wear good elothes, put on a great many grand and' 5_ [ airs, and talk about their family and their blood, let me tell ybird f“; tside of the an noyanee their presence gives better peogl iS¢ ‘persons are not of | the slightest carthly account, they are neither @en; . ental nor useful. Unless they leave off consuming ‘large qUalEities*of tobacco and whisky, swearing about négro equality and stfive earnestly to learn those things which well bre gefopm;;kn v by ifstinet; unless they can.| do sometling more manly and womanly, than & jeir time in try- | ing to injure and degrade o' race they Yainlgddßoita:b inferiax.to; “the strongest claim for kinduess at the hands of ‘fifiiz‘la;m, just and high minded people, then the day is not far distant, when by respceta ble white people they wiil be regarded as beneath the negre in the social scale. Let these people go, they glory in their own shame, they take pride in parading their gwn hatred and malice, qualities which chiefly distinguish the denizens of the bottomless pit to whose em brace they are hastening, pity, forget, and avoid them ; bear with them ' patiently as you do with all the other necessary and unavoidable evils which surround you in life. These sameé peaple hate and lose no oppertunity of insulting Yan~ kees, but no respectable Yankee can stoop to accept these wsults, especially cfficers of the Burecu must not do it, for while they can resent and punish these insults with ease and safety to themselves, the persons punished will certainly revenge themselves on some un fortunate member of your race. It isevident that officers of the Bureau can purchase a chcap popularity with certain well-meaning newspapers aud people of the North by quarreiing with the white people here, but they can only obtaia this popularity at the expense, not merely through the suffering, but the death of some of your peo~ ple. You know this, you have felt it. | Again I unite with you in thanking the Lord, that you are no longer uader the unrestrained power and control of such ignoraut, | wicked and brutal people. Such persons should remember that the real difference among men is in the intention of the heart, and the ruling motives of life, and not in the color of the skin, and that in~ stead of being superior to all colored people, they are infinitily below a ! really Christian man or woman of color, between whom and themselves there exist a gulf wide and deep. I know of eolored people in this State whose lives of real benevolence and unostentatious charity ex~ cites my highest admiration. I know of eolored men who work hard all day and into the right, and who give one third of all they earn to the support of the poor of their own race, and this I learn, not from their own lips, but from those of their white neizhbors, Are these men think you in the presence of our Creator bereath the uneducated, mean and selfish white men and women, who spead their time hating and defaming negroes. I tell you that nothing but the inxhaustable scheme of salvation, and the translorming power of Jehovah can place these persons on a level with the colored men to whom I have referred. Do not misunderstand me, do not suppose that I am advocating social equality which has never existed among white people, and which Iby no means suppose will ever exist among colored people. All * persons white and black, have the right to select their associates, and ' to live on terms of intimacy and social equahity with those only whom they may choose, and who, may Lave like convictiors, feelings, and tustes with themselves. But all this eruel and detestable conduct on the part of white peo~ ple—who whatever their pretentions or pride, are still reallv low, de | graded and depraved—does not in the slightest degree disprove or contradict what I have said of the kind wishes entertained by the cducated and responsible people of the State toward you. No truly good man or woman dare look with batred and comtempt upon the humblest human being. And I ask you with the bappy feeling that my advice will not be lost, to be true to your past record, to be cour teous, obliging, 'and respectful to the white QcOple, and to conquer even your encmies by the resistless power of kindness. With profound satisfaction I announee to you that throughout the State, except on the Islands and along the Coast, eontracts for labor with your people, are being rapidly made, and that gewerally good wages are paid. When I came to the State to enter upon my duties, some three months »ince, 1 found that you were recciving from $2 to $4 per month, and sometimes as low as twelve bushels of corn for a year's labor, now from $l2, to $l5, per month is freely offered, depending upon the soil and loecation. No able bodied freed man in this State who is out of employment, need work for a less sumn than §sl2 per month. Leét him come to me or go to any officer of the B.reau in the State and he ean easily obtain cmployment at this ST ,‘-:-.! fl‘.éimfi ry 20, 1866. price, 1 state without fear of contradiction that this healthy, vigor ous demand for labor is in no small degree, the vesalt' of ths ofFortd of the Freedmen's Burcaw; and that it has only buen reashed by per - sisteiit, patient, earnest work. At first there were almost insur< mountible difficulties in the way, the white péople many of whowi ‘bad lost their property in the war were ‘discouraged, they said if i¥ useless to hire the negro, he will not work unless driven, and this you Yankees will not allow us to do. They pointed ot to me not s foew exceptional cases, but I regrict toflg_ggq.mueé.”mw. ous instauces where the fraed people had bzen given.as high as onex half of all they could raise on a well stocked plantation, and wher€ through idleness and laziness they had failed to raise food 'énbugh W last them through the winter, while shere were many worthy exeep tions where your people have been industrions, still T am forced by the facts to admit that generally tne freed people have not dong ag well as they might easily have done, aud as I hupe and believe they will do in the future. Of course under these circumstances the plan tars were dishearteoed, they said 1t is useless to attempt to plant as before, we will employ a few of our former trusty servants, and les the rest take care of themselves. They said we dare not frust these people, if we p.ant a crop they will perbaps work until hot weathef, or until they get tired or become dissatisfied, and then they will leave, go to some city, live in idleness and be fed by the Freedmen’s Bureaw, On the other baud, the freed people were full of suspicion of their former masters, mauy of whom had taken advantage of their ignor ance, and practice the most shameless fraud upon them, and whose advice they feared to believe or follow, lest they should a6t agaiust -their own laterests. The question was, how shall these difficulties be removed, and tbese conflicting intcrests reconciled. Plainly, the first thing to do was to convinze the planter that labor could be made celiable and profitable, with~ut this belief no one .would be so fool ish as to waste the little money he might have left, in attempting to plant this year. It would have been simple folly to try to argue a man out of a belief in the facts of his own experience, useless to tell bim the freedmen will work well, when he ean say truthfully, I bave tried them and they havenot done it. It was evideat that something must be done to restore confidence in the labor of the freed people, or that ere long starvation would stare them in the face and stalk abroad throughout the State. The first order of the Bureau, issued a short time after my arrival, stated distinct y that hereafter no able bodied ‘person, black or white, would be fed by the Bureau who could earn his or her own ‘support, the frecd people were told they must not congregate in citied and live ia idlencss, but mast go to the country aud find homes and employment.. During the next month nearly, or quite 60,000 rations were saved to the Goye‘mmqqt in the ity of Savaunah alone; and a corrc?ondiqg amount all over the State. It was anwounced in the orders referred to and afterwards H;oté the Constitutional Convention at Mfilw; that fief ‘ment insisted simply that the i jarious to their employers, and in the end ruinous to themselves: The announcement of a definite policy which proposed to do every~ thing right and proper not inconsistent with the freedom of the colors ed people, to make. labor reliable and profitable, has workad a revolu tion in the convictions, feelings and intentions of the people, white and black. To-day both races are hopeful for the future. From the* moment that the reasonable and just policy of the Bureau became known and understood, the prospect began to brighten; and the dark cloud that rested over the future of the State began to lift. Sensis ble people said, well if the freed people will only work faithfully, we are all right yet, we can afford to pay them good wages and are will ing to do it, From the first, the efforts of the Bureau has been put forth to assist the freed people to obtain homes, good wages and kind treatment. It was of course felt and understood that education, schools and churches were very important, but first of all the people must have something to cat, something to wear, and sheltgr for them selves and families. If all this persistent, determined labor has been necessary to overcome the bad effects produced by the idleness or nefficient work of last year, how immensely important is it that the experience of this year shall convince planters that your labor i reliable and trustworthy. The next pressing duty devolving upon officers of the Bureau is to leave nothing undone, no effort unwade, to induce and if necessary t 2 compel the freed people to observe their contracts, to work cheerfully and faithfuliy, and thusto assist the planters in realizing the hopes we have inspired, and in consequence of which good wages are now offered the freed people of this State: . It remains for you to show that the efforts of the Government in your behalf, the assurances given and promises made for your good conduct have not been made in vain. You are on trial before the country; you are to demonstrate this year that the statement that you will not work for good wages is not true, or you are to bring shame and mortification upon your friends, and sorrow and suffering upon yourselves. Let me urge upon you in the most earnest and impressive manner, that as you separate and go back to your homes, you teach your people to work honesty and industriously this year § to show the count:y that they ean do more and better under the higher inceatives of frcedom than they ever did under the lash. Tell them that their future will be moulded, and even to a large extent; fixed by the record they shall make this year. The price you will be able to command for labor hercafter will depend wholly upen the character for industry, honestly and obedience you shall establish. If it shall be as we hope and believe, it at the end of the year, thig land shall be' covered with the abandant fruits of your toil, then in< deed will you be blessed. A single year of patient, honest, “steady work and the fortunes of your people are established forever. You will have demonstrated the fact which will secure for you all the rights and blessings mankind can bestow. Thenceforward you may receive all that any man can possess or enjoy, and all doubt disap~ pears of your future prospects and success. Remember nothing worth having is obtained without labor; that educatien the most valuable of possessionscomes ouly by study and effort: that neither the rich nor the poor, can secure it in any other way, and that if your race are to rise in the scale of civilization, it must come by work, constant patient work, without whick any people will sink into barbarism aad iusiguificance. Remember that labor is imposed not by the white man, but by your Creator; that it is not a curse but # blessing and that it can only be avoided at the expense of misery and degradation. Work, that you may 2t ouly accumulate property and have homes of your own, with all the security and happiness their possession brings, but that you may educate and elevate yours selves and your children. Workis the talismame power which can remove your poverty and ignorance, and replace them with wealth, koowledge and happicess. 1 know that in asking you to forget and forgive the past and to become houest, humble and faithful workers: I caunot point you to an example in the past of my own race, buf® there is that in the history of yours which makes me hope and be lieve that the appeal will not be in vain,; and that we are übout t¢ (Comtinved on Fourth Page.) K. 1.