ar.

"The black code of Mississippi provides that no negro shall own or
hire lands in the State; that he shall not sue nor testify in court
against a white man; that he must be employed by a master before the
second Monday in January, or he will be bound out--in other words,
sold into slavery; that if he runs away the master may recover him,
and deduct the expenses out of his wages; and that if another man
employs him he will be liable to an action for damages. It is true,
the President has directed General Thomas to disregard this code; but
the moment the military force is withdrawn from the State that order
will be of no effect.

"The black code of Alabama provides that if a negro who has contracted
to labor fails to do so, he shall be punished with damages; and if he
runs away he shall be punished as a vagrant, which probably means that
he shall be sold to the highest bidder for a term of years; and that
any person who entices him to leave his master, as by the offer of
better wages, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be sent to
jail for six months; and further, that these regulations include all
persons of negro blood to the third generation, though one parent in
each generation shall be pure white; that is, down to the man who has
but one eighth negro blood in his veins."

After quoting the black codes of other States, the speaker thus
epitomized their substance: "All this means simply the reestablishment
of slavery.

"1. He shall work at a rate of wages to be fixed by a county judge or
a Legislature made up of white masters, or by combinations of white
masters, and not in any case by himself.

"2. He shall not leave that master to enter service with another. If
he does he is pursued as a fugitive, charged with the expenses of his
recapture, and made to labor for an additional period, while the white
man who induced him to leave is sent to jail.

"3. His children are taken from him and sold into virtual slavery.

"4. If he refuses to work, he is sold to the highest bidder for a term
of months or years, and becomes, in fact, a slave.

"5. He can not better his condition; there is no future for him; he
shall not own property; he shall not superintend the education of his
children; neither will the State educate them.

"6. If he is wronged, he has no remedy; for the courts are closed
against him."

Mr. Kerr, of Indiana, addressed the House on the subject of
reconstruction, maintaining, by extended