Neither is sufficient consideration given to the ability of the freedmen
to protect and take care of themselves. It is no more than justice to
them to believe that as they have received their freedom with moderation
and forbearance, so they will distinguish themselves by their industry
and thrift, and soon show the world that in a condition of freedom they
are self-sustaining, capable of selecting their own employment and
their own places of abode, of insisting for themselves on a proper
remuneration, and of establishing and maintaining their own asylums and
schools. It is earnestly hoped that instead of wasting away they will by
their own efforts establish for themselves a condition of respectability
and prosperity. It is certain that they can attain to that condition
only through their own merits and exertions.

In this connection the query presents itself whether the system proposed
by the bill will not, when put into complete operation, practically
transfer the entire care, support, and control of 4,000,000 emancipated
slaves to agents, overseers, or taskmasters, who, appointed at
Washington, are to be located in every county and parish throughout the
United States containing freedmen and refugees. Such a system would
inevitably tend to a concentration of power in the Executive which would
enable him, if so disposed, to control the action of this numerous class
and use them for the attainment of his own political ends.

I can not but add another very grave objection to this bill. The
Constitution imperatively declares, in connection with taxation, that
each State _shall_ have at least one Representative, and fixes the rule
for the number to which, in future times, each State shall be entitled.
It also provides that the Senate of the United States _shall_ be
composed of two Senators from each State, and adds with peculiar force