Part 15 (1/2)
[”Circular No. 5.]
”WAR DEPARTMENT,
”_Bureau Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, Was.h.i.+ngton, May_ 30, 1865.
”RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR a.s.sISTANT COMMISSIONERS.
”VII. In all places where there is an interruption of civil law, or in which local courts, by reason of old codes, in violation of the freedom guaranteed by the proclamation of the President and laws of Congress, disregard the negro's right to justice before the laws, in not allowing him to give testimony, the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen being committed to this bureau, the a.s.sistant commissioners will adjudicate, either themselves or through officers of their appointment, all difficulties arising between negroes and whites or Indians, except those in military service, so far as recognizable by military authority, and not taken cognizance of by the other tribunals, civil or military, of the United States.
”O.O. HOWARD, _Major General_, _Commissioner Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, &c._
”Approved June 2, 1865.
”ANDREW JOHNSON, ”President of the United States.”
[”General Orders No. 10.]
”HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF MISSISSIPPI,
”_Vicksburg, Mississippi, August_ 3, 1865.
”VII. This order, (Circular No. 5, paragraph VII, Bureau Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands,) however, must not be so construed as to give the colored man immunities not accorded to other persons. If he is charged with the violation of any law of the State, or an ordinance of any city, for which offence the same penalty is imposed upon white persons as upon black, and if courts grant to him the same privileges as are accorded to white men, no interference on the part of the military authorities will be permitted. Several instances have recently been reported in which military officers, claiming to act under the authority of the order above mentioned, have taken from the custody of the civil authorities negroes arrested for theft and other misdemeanors, even in cases where the courts were willing to concede to them the same privileges as are granted to white persons. These officers have not been governed by the spirit of the order. The object of the government is not to screen this cla.s.s from just punishment--not to encourage in them the idea that they can be guilty of crime and escape its penalties, but simply to secure to them the rights of freemen, holding them, at the same time, subject to the same laws by which other cla.s.ses are governed.
”By order of Major General Sloc.u.m:
”J. WARREN MILLER, ”_a.s.sistant Adjutant General_.”
In accordance with this order, where the judicial officers and magistrates of the provisional government of this State will take for their mode of procedure the laws now in force in this State, except so far as those laws make a distinction on account of color, and allow the negroes the same rights and privileges as are accorded to white men before their courts, officers of this bureau will not interfere with such tribunals, but give them every a.s.sistance possible in the discharge of their duties.
In cities or counties where mayors, judicial officers, and magistrates will a.s.sume the duties of the administration of justice to the freedmen, in accordance with paragraph VII, Circular No. 5, issued from the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, and approved by the President, and will signify their willingness to comply with this request by a written acceptance addressed to the a.s.sistant commissioner for the State, no freedmen courts will be established, and those that may now be in existence in such localities will be closed.
It is expected that the officers of this bureau will heartily co-operate with the State officials in establis.h.i.+ng law and order, end that all conflict of authority and jurisdiction will be avoided.
By order of Colonel Samuel Thomas, a.s.sistant commissioner Freedmen's Bureau for State of Mississippi.
STUART ELDRIDGE, _Lieutenant, Acting a.s.sistant Adjutant General_.
I have written to Governor Sharkey, and explained to him how this order can be put in force in this State, and will do all I can to secure its success, and to aid the civil authorities to discharge their duties. I presume the legislature of this State, which is to meet in October, will take up this matter immediately, and arrange some plan by which the State authorities can take complete charge of freedmen affairs, and relieve the officers of this bureau. There is a jealousy of United States officers existing among the State officials that makes it disagreeable to perform any duty which is liable to conflict with their authority.
When General Howard's Circular No. 5 was issued, I thought it was the intention that military courts should be established for the purpose of taking the administration of justice among the freedmen out of the hands of their old masters, and placing it under the control of their friends for a short time--until the citizens of the south were reconciled to the change, and until their feeling of hatred for their former slaves had abated; that a complete restoration of rights, privileges, and property was to come after a period of probation, in which they should give some evidence of their changed feelings. I have thought much on this subject, have watched the development of feeling among the southern people, and am satisfied that the time for such a restoration has not yet arrived.
The order of General Swayne and the proclamation of General Parsons are unexceptionable in form. If justice to the freedmen can be secured by the means indicated in these doc.u.ments, and if the process be not too expensive, and if ruinous delays be not allowed, then, it may be, all this movement will be good. But it seems to me that so delicate a matter cannot be smoothly managed in the present temper of Mississippi.
I am aware that it is the policy of the government; that we must trust these people some time; that the establishment of the Freedman's Bureau is (as soon as martial law is withdrawn) a violation of the spirit both of the State and federal const.i.tutions; that the officers of the bureau have no interest in common with the white citizens of the State, and that the bureau is an immense expense to the general government, which should be abolished as soon as compatible with the public interest.
Yet, I feel that we are in honor bound to secure to the helpless people we have liberated a ”republican form of government,” and that we betray our trust when we hand these freed people over to their old masters to be persecuted and forced to live and work according to their peculiar southern ideas. It seems to me that we are forgetting the helpless and poor in our desire to a.s.sist our subjugated enemies, and that we are more desirous of showing ourselves to be a great and magnanimous nation than of protecting the people who have a.s.sisted us by arms, and who turned the scale of battle in our favor. We certainly commit a wrong, if, while restoring these communities to all their former privileges as States, we sacrifice one jot or t.i.ttle of the rights and liberties of the freedmen.
The mayor of this city has had complete charge of all munic.i.p.al affairs since the issue of General Sloc.u.m's Order 10, (quoted in the order I have before given.) He has been compelled to admit negro testimony by the provisions of that order. In cases that come before him, when it is necessary to admit it he goes through the form of receiving it, but I have yet to hear of one instance where such evidence affected his decision. The testimony of one white man outweighs (practically) that of any dozen freedmen.
The admission of negro testimony will never secure the freedmen justice before the courts of this State as long as that testimony is considered valueless by the judges and juries who hear it. It is of no consequence what the law may be if the majority be not inclined to have it executed. A negro might bring a suit before a magistrate and have colored witnesses examined in his behalf, according to provisions of general orders and United States law, and yet the prejudices of the community render it impossible for him to procure justice. The judge would claim the right to decide whether the testimony was credible, and among the neighbors that would surround him, in many places, he would be bold, indeed, if he believed the sworn evidence of a negro when confronted by the simple a.s.sertion or opposed even to the interest of a white man. I recently heard a circle of Mississippians conversing on this subject. Their conclusion was, that they would make no objection to the admission of negro testimony, because ”no southern man would believe a n.i.g.g.e.r if he had the dammed impudence to testify contrary to the statement of a white man.” I verily believe that in many places a colored man would refuse, from fear of death, to make a complaint against a white man before a State tribunal if there were no efficient military protection at hand.