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THE rOLOBEB
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Ifobreb Sbntrican.
I u'GUSIa, GA.,."JANUARY 6, 1866.
K-- .'.T,.—■ —— ———>— - -——- -——— ——
■ f Shcftex, . ■ Editor and Proprietor.
K. . ('a'.orid American is issued every week.
I miher notice, at $4.00 per Annum. in
I Single, copies 10 cents.
Kates of Advertising-
- DOLLAR per square of TEN LINES
.. ; -«t insertion, and FIFTY CENTS for
[j Jditiou'il .irsertion.
. of “j n t o rmation V/anted” will be
■r e .d at the rate of TWO DOLLARS AND
Y CENTS fjr ONE month, provided tbej d 0
exceed FIFTEEN LINES.
».rues sending us the names of ten new sab
ers for one year aecon panied with the neces
v amount of funds, shall receive a a >py ot the
t er for o e year gratis.
.1 SHUFTEN’, Augueta. Ga.
OUR SUBSCRIBERS AND THE
PUBLIC.
f i'he following nanitd gentlemen are
juried to receive subscriptions for the
t d American
>,ai Johnson, R. A. Harper. Moses Gar
,r Albert Tompkins*, Joseph K. Williams
I Moses Johnson.
iiv person wishing to subsetibe to the
„i->d American, can call on any of the
ve named gentlemen, »r at the office on
k s ori, corner of Ellis street, and it will be
jiptiy attended to.
dl persons wishing printing done at the
est rates, Will please give us a call. We
now prepared to do any kind ot Job Work
uur colored friends, such as Party Tickets,
d B of ail descriptions, Show Bills, Labels.
( ah Jone at reasonable rates and shortest
,’e are in hopes that persons who are sub
lets to the Colored American, will be ready
■n we call lor their fubsariptloiw, as the
ib ate strictly in advance. We earnestly
all persons, whether white or colored, to
us in our efforts to print a journal whose
htd motto is HARMONY AND GOOD
_i, ivzvvziKVO aul, atrnrr.
IMPORTANT ORDERS.
Bureau of Refit gees b\ A. D. \
• Act, Ass't Com, State of Ga., >
iugusta, Ga. Dec. 22, L*6s. J
cular /
p. 5.
u answer to nuinerou® inquiries, the
owing is published for the informa
. and guidance of Officers and Agents j
Ji is Bureau.
[. This Bureau does not propose to
fcort or remove from the plantations,
Lines of their late masters, the help-
I and decrepid freed people or young
idreu. If the former have children
I are able to support them, they must
required to do if not, there is no
Ir alternative but that their former
lers shall provide for them until the
ie makes provision for their support
I parents of the latter, if able, must
liort them, if not, Agents will endea
|to bind them out, together with
bans and those whose parents cannot
Lund, as setfoith in Circular No. 3,
II Lib' office.
I mist be apparent to the people that
if not impossible, for
ureau to remove and provide for
ry large number of destitute and
ss treed people who are scattered
ffiout the State. Besides, it should
ucuibered, that there was an ini
contrict between the master and
G’e, that in return fur his service
>lave should bo fed clothed and
'lining his old age, and where the
r slave has fulfilled the conditions
contract on his part, the former
r is not absolved from his obliga
by the freedom of the slave, for
the latter is m no way responsible.
i and humanity require that the
■* master shall not attempt to escape
m ' l . tv '\ 0 - I ' B responsibilities. Even
1 " u B b' c as are able, by their
provide for their old, worn out
».s, have a right to expect that the
»r o,vne r s r,f the parents, wiU ifabl
ft tnem in bearing this burden
Jstice requires this. U would be
Beiul to impose the entire burden
f : ho-e whose only means of support
f v,r Libor. Very few persons have
f found in the State, and they by no
Ins the most estimable, who do nut re
r the matter in the light stated,
f- In upper and middle Georgia,
f r ti.e land is comparatively poor, and
l a quantity o* cotton or corn can
fuad to the acre, planters offer from
f e to thirteen dollars per month,
f hoard and lodging, to,full male, and
eight to ten dollars to full female field
hands, the laborer to furnish his own
clothing and medicines. Along the coast
and in Southwestern Georgia, and in
other portions of the State, where good
crops of cotton, rice, corn or sugar can be
raised, planters offer fifteen dollars per
month, board and lodging, to full male,
and ten dollars to full female field hands.
In all portions of the State, planters aie
found who prefer to give a portion of the
crop, which with a favorable season,
would probably give the laborer a sum
■ equivalent to that above mentioned
j Usually they offer from one third the
I gross to one half the neCproceeds. They
are at liberty to pay money or a portion
of the crop as my be prefered by the
parties.
111. Freed people who have sufficient
: property, or. are so situated that they can
support themselves and families, without
making contracts fur their labor, have the
right to refuse to make contracts and
must be protected in this right; but in
all other cases, (comprising the vast ma
jority of the freed people) it is absolutely
; necessary that they make contracts to on
| sure a supply of food and escape starva-
J tion the coming year. It is also impera
lively necessary that contracts made in
time, to prepare for raising crops the en
suing season.
Freed people Lave the right to select
their own employers; but if they cons
tinue to neglect or refuse to make con
tracts then, on and after January 10th,
1866, officers and agents of the Bureau
will have the right, and it shall be thei
duty to make contracts for them, in all
cases where employers offer good wages
and kind treatment unless the freed peo
ple belong to the class above excepted,
or can show that they can obtain bettei
terms. Contracts so made shall be as
binding on both parties as through the
full consent of the freed people.
IV. Article 11, ef the amendments to
the Constitution of the United States,
gives the people the right to bear arms,
and states that this right shall not be
infringed Any person, white or black,
may be disarmed if convicted of making
an imp* vrpvl or nan nf " T^, aDOTIS;
but no military or civil officer has the
right or authority to disarm any class of
people, thereby placing them at the mercy
of others. All men, without distinction
of color, have the right to keep arms to
defend their homes, families or them
selves.
V. All persons are forbidden to tam
per with or entice laborers to leave their
employers before the expiration of their I
contracts, either by offering higher wages
or other inducements. Officers and agents
will punish by fine or otherwise, any per
son who may be convicted of such acts.
The public interest requires that labor
be made reliable and profitable, and so
long as the 4reed laborer is well paid
and kindly treated, this Bureau will not
tolerate any interference with the rights
and interests of employers.
DAVIS TILLSON,
Brig. Gen. V ols, and Act. Asst. Com.
The following letter has been published
in th? Madison (Wisconsin) Journal,
from that staunch and determined sup*
porter of universal human liberty, 31 r.
John Bright, M. P. England. ‘Bochdale,
Oct. 19, 1865. Dear Sir, I write to
thank you for sending me the volume to
which your letter refers. I thank yon
also for the kind expressions in your
letter. Your war has ended as I always
hoped and believed it would end, in the
overthrow of slavery and the restoration
cf the Union. I fear, however, that un-*
less the President adopts a firmer tone
with the South, the negro will have a
hard time of it if left to the small mercy
of his former owner. It will be a griev
ous thing if, after fighting for the integri
ty and freedom of your country, you shall
fail to deal honestly and justly with the
black population, so long suffering in your
midst. I have had great faith in yon,
and will net now abandon it. Liberty,
all the world over, owes much to you,
and I will not believe now that colour
will be permitted to shut out several
millions of your population from the full
rights of freedom. Your State has done
its share in the great work which will
make the last four years for ever famous
in the history of your great nation. With
many thanks for your kind letter, I am,
very truly yours, John Bright. Aug.
Gaylord,'Esq., Adjutant-General, Madi
son, Wisconsin.
The Louisville Courier says : “ The
Southern States are iu the Union for all
practical purposes, such as amending the
Constitution; and they are out of the
Coion for all political purposes, such as
taking seats in Congress.”
Augusta, Gm. Saturday, January o, 1806.
The surface of the river at. Albany i«
almost covered with ice, and navigation
will in a few days have einffid for ihe
season.
The Louisville Journal fears the cor
rectnes.s of a junior that the Sixth Unit
ed States colored cavalry had mutined at
Helena, Arkansas, and killed their com
i mauding officer, Colonel Bowen,
i An extensive government sale of rail
read iron and other stock has been uoing
on at Alexandria, Va., for several
' Sales have amounted to from two to
I three hundred thousand dollars a day.
A collision took place on the New Je •
sey Centra! Railroad, December Ist.
Seven persons weie killed and ten woun
ded.
Chambersburg, Pa., is rapidly recover
ing from the severe blow it sustained
during the war. New and beautiful
buildings, stores, dwellings, factories, etc ,
have been and are being built in all parts
ot the burnt district. Some of them are
exceedingly tasteful and costly.
Wuteifalls are making a great disturb
ance in Germany. The innocent maidens
there wear their hair hanging in long
plaits, and pestilent fellows are around to
clip them at every opportunity for tin
waterfall makers Even the churches
are desecrated by these singular thieves.-
A Paris letter mentions as an instance
of the fully and extravagance prevailing ,
iu that city, that a baptismal dress for an
infant has been prepared, of exquisite
embroidery and lace, at an expense of
eighteen thousand dollars.
•Colonel Brown, assistant commission
er of the !’’/•<•< dinen's Bureau for the-
of Virginia, h*’s just submitted to
Geh Howaru a proposition fur the re
moval of all negro residents of that State,
to the unoicupicd government lands oi
Florida, This would necessarily involve
Congressional action ; but General How'
ard has not yet fully dete r mined what
course to pursue in the matter.
A. grocer in Now Haven, in moving an
Ul.'l COUHK t . v >uont.y T I'. uud
nests made ent-rely of bank bills and
iractioual currency. On pulling them to
pieces, sixty or seventy long-missing
dollars turned up. Ail the bills were
more or less mutilated, but some fifteen
or twenty dollars worth were saved.
We arc surprised to learn from Eastern
papers, that, al! the mid streams arid
reservoirs iu Massachusetts, are still
lower than ever before known at this sea
son, and that the ) mining of many mills
is still suspended ami will seriously im
peded, unless a gr< at deal of rain falls
yet before the commencement of winter.
Judge Ballard, of the United States
District Court for Kentucky, delivered
an important, decision at Ct vington, in
the case of members of the family of a
colored soldier, who are entitled to their
freedom under the laws of Congress, but
who arc held in slavery by ilieir former
owners The man sought to secure the
release of the persons held in slavery, but
failed, owing, us the Judge points out, to
a defect in the la w regulating the juris
diction of the United Jutes Court.;.
A Washington dispatch states that
since General Grant’s return from the
South, he has expressed himself in favor
of the speedy reduction of the military
departments in the Southern States, and
proposes that instead of having a military
commander in each State, that three de
pa» tments at least bo merged into one.
General Sherman is understood to favor
the consolidation of departments, as i;
will result greatly to retrench expenses,
and secure a more uniform and satisfac
tory administration of affairs in that sec*
tion of the country.
The Alabama lloui-e of Representa
tives by a vote of 57 yeas against 26
nays, adopted a law which makes the
leaser of property leased to negroes re
sponsible foi the taxes, subsistence, cloth
ing, and medical att mdance of the lessee.
The spirit of the Legislature, and the
white people throughout the o>ate, is
violently opposed to allowing the negro
to become possessed ci prope-ty. It is
hoped and expected that by this means
they will be enabled to control bis ser
vices on the most advantageous teiins
for themselves, totally regardless of the
interests of* the negro, and make the
present or future system of labor ap>
proximate to the old and divine cue as
nearly as may be ; taaing care, howetei,
to disclose aS little as possible of the
‘cloven loot’until after tneir Uoogiesa
iunal delegation shall uavf been auiuitted
to participate in the juncils of the
nation.
MISCELLANEOUS.
■ Forty yeart ago, the late Lord Mac-j
j aulay said : Thera is only one cure for
, the evils which newly acquired freedom ■
■ produces, and that cure is freedom! When 1
a prisoner leaves his cell, he cannot hear
the Jgbtof day; he is unable to diseriini
note colors, or iecognize faces. But the
remedy is not To renew d him to his
dungeon, but to accustom him to the rays i
of Hie suu. The blaze of truth aud ’
liberty may at first dazzle aud bewilder)
nations which have become half blind in •
the house of bondage. But let them :
gaze on, and they will soon be able to |
v> ' ir it.
4F 4B-
Many politicians of our time are in the '
■iabit ot laying it down as a self evident
proposition, that no people ought to be i
tree until they are fit to use their freedom. •
fne maxim is worthy cf the fool in the
old story, who resolved not to go into
the water until he had learned how to
swim ! If men are to wait for liberty till
they become wise and good iu slavery,
they may indeed wait forever.
A Kalamazoo, Michigan correspond- |
ent of the Detroit Advertiser, relates the ’
i following: ;
A Mrs. Howland, wbe has long
- been a resident of this country, and
who has been hopelessly insane for
nearly thirty years, was sent for by her
husband in California. Accompanied by
a daughter in-law, they left here and pro
ceeded on the journey by steamer. When
about four days from New York a most
violent storm arose, which lasted for
three days, seriously threatening the
destruction of the steamer and all on
board. When, however, the storm abat
ed, what was the surprise and delight of
the daughter to find that the old lady had
suddenly recovered her mind and was
perfectly sane; though she was at a loss
to know how she was in the place, and
under the circumstances she found her
self on awakening from such a long sleep
of the intellectual faculties. On arrivin g
at San Francisco, what was the astonish,
ment of her husband to find her whom he
had not seen for nine years, and whom he
deemed hopelessly a maniac, sound and
well, and joyfully recognizing him This
was a year ago. Letters recently received
by her friends here state that there has
been no return of the disease whatever,
and that she is well ami entirely cured.
A meeting of colored men was held in
the vestry of Shiloh Church, Rev. GHo.
W. Levere, late Chaplain of the Twen
tieth Colovtd Regiment, in the chair
Speeches were made by Capt. George T.
Downing, New-England’s delegate to
Washington ; Mr. De Largey, the colored
delegate from Charleston, S. C., t® Wash
ington ; Rev. Sella Martin, Rrof. C. L.
Reason, and others; and after resolu
tions were passed declaring it to be the
black man’s best interest to keep a colored
delegation at the Federal City during the
present session of Congress, liberal con
tributions were made to the fund, Mr.
Frederick Douglass was named as New-*
York’s delegate, and the meeting ad
journed.
The following are the names of the
States which have adopted the Amend
ment. with the date of each adoption.
Illinois, Feb 1 ; Rhode Island, Feb 2;
New York, Feb 3; Maryland, Feb 3;
Massachusetts, Feb 3; Pennsylvania,
Feb 3; West Virginia, Feb 3; Michigan
Feb 3; Maine, Feb 7 ; Ohio, Feb 8;
Kansas, Feb 8 ; Minnesota Feb 8 ; Vir*
giniu, Feb 9; Indiana, Feb 13 ; Nevada, I
Feb 14; Louisiana, Feb 15; Missouri,
Feb 17; Wisconsin, Fob 19; Vermont,
March 1 ; Tennessee, Arkansas, April
14; Conectientt, May 4; lowa, (one
house) June 7 ; New Hampshire, June
14; South Carolina, Nov 27; North
Carolina, Dec 7: Georgia, Dec 6.— Au#.
Transcript.
The following dialogue on ‘sharp
shooting’ took place between a Rebel and
a Yankee picket:
‘[ say, can you fellows shoot V
‘Well I reckon we can some.’
‘Down in Mississippi we can knock a
bumble bee off a thistle bough at three
hundred yards.’
‘Ob; that ain’t nothing to the way we
shoot up in Vermont. I belonged to the
'military company up there, with a hun
dred men iu each company, and we went
out for practice every week. Ibe cap
tain draws us up in single file and sets a
cider barrel rolling down hill; each man
tar:es his shot at the bung-hole as it turns
uo. It is afterwards examined, and if
There is a shot tW, didn’t go in the bung
hole, the member who missed it is expert
ed. It. elonged to the company for ten
years, and there ain’t been nobody ex
pelled yet.’
V«L. L—>o. 4.
CQMUUNICATEL.
SELF-RESPECT.
V, c have at the South, among the
white citizens very many friends, among
whom we have grown up, and who played
w.th us in childhood—noble men, who
would willingly accord to the freedmen
the rights of mcc. There are others,
who prove themselves our enemies, who
kill, wound, and covardly beat the colored
people, who charge the race with all that
is bad and give them credit for nothing
good.
AV hat have we done to deserve from
them such trea snt? a Nr» race ever
served a people more faithfully than we
Lave served them who wore our masters.
When they were carrying on a war, the
object of which was, to rivet our bonds
still more firmly, and to make slavery
perpetual, we at home conducted our
selves peacably.
y e not only protected their wives and
children, but tilkd their fields and fed
their armies. Did we, at any time rise
against their helpless families, did we
ever offer them insult of any kind ? When
Shei man’s army marched through the
South, did wo take advantage of this,
(as we might) to commit acts of lawless
ness and violence? ho, never ! If then,
we have always thus conducted ourselves
ia the past, is there any reason to suppose
that we shall now be so insane as to rise
and murder those whom we protected in
their helplessness?
Ladies of Georgia! can yod now fear
us who were courreous to you while your
husband, father, and brother were absent?
Is it not ungenerous now to manifest
such distrust, simply because we are
free?
Under such circumstances what shall
we do ? AVI: at does a proper self-respect
demand of us ?
A\ e will conduct ourselves as we have
heretofore done. We will show by our
conduct that we are worthy of being
American citizens. By our acts we will
give the lie to our oalumnators, and their
base fabrications.
This, we will do, but self-respect de*
mands something more. We shall refuse
to patronise such men.
Lt they arc publishers of newspapers,
let us rot subscribe for their paper, if
they arc merchants, let us not purchase
their goods I Lee us in every way assist,
our friends, whether white or black,
Northern men or Southern men, but let
us not assisi our enemies. We are more
than five hundred thousand in the State
of Georgia. We spend ia a year a large
amount of money. We shall, as time
passes and our means increase, spend
more and more. Let our friends and not
our enemies have the money/
Colored Citizen.
COMMUNICATED.
The following paragraph, from tho
Chroniclp & Sentinel of the 27th, ult.,
both pained and surprised us :
‘Freedmen's Convention. —We notice
by our exchanges that the freedmen are
to have a convention in this place, and
in that place. Now, we look upon all
such things as these, as mere f oolishness.
And the white men who put such non
sensical ideas into freedmen’s heads are
their worst enemies. Conventions are
expensive. And the freedmen of the
South instead of holding them and en
deavoring to get privileges which they
have not and which will never be granted
them, had much better keep at work, save
their money, and be satisfied with the
rights they already have?
We were pained, to discover, that our
friend had ceased to advocate our cause.
To know that the man, in whom we had
placed confidence, Lad deceived us, that,
after be had asked for and received the
support of the freedmen, be should strive
to injure them; and surprised, that the
man who had solicited their patronage,
promising that his paper would advocate
their cause, should, after he had obtained
their money, oppose the holding of a
Convention, because it would cost them
something. He had no such anxiety if
he received their money. We feel sad
to have a paper that was willing to be the
organ of the freedmen, if it could receive
from them and their friends sufficient
support, turn against them when they
were laboring to sustain it, because they
were not as successful as the proprietor
expected.
We trust that our friend will turn
once more and again advocate our cause,
for we feel that be would prefer to du so
It might be a little unpleasant at first,
but f O r one accustomed to change fre
quent!), it would be much easier, than
it would, if he always advocated the
policy, he believed to be right. •