| A friend who has been residing in the peninsula for some months past, informs us that there are about 28,000 negroes between Williamsburg and Hampton--a distance of thirty-six miles. These people are sustained with rations furnished by the Government, at a cost of $60,000 monthly, while five companies of cavalry are required to patrol the country to prevent depredations. Every effort has been made to induce a portion of them to remove to Florida, the officers of the Government offering them free transportation. There is a standing offer of this nature made by Gen. Armstrong, of the Freedmen's Bureau, to convey the men, with their families, to any point they may select, with the view of engaging in useful labor. But they have persistently refused every offer of this kind and rejected overture made to get them employment. Under the provisions of the Civil Rights bill it is impossible to do anything contrary to their wishes, and so they remain huddled within this limited area and are a heavy tax upon the Government. Some of them have taken to highway robbery, and, but for the presence of a large cavalry force, a residence in that country would be intolerable. How long, we wonder, will the people submit to this enormous tax to support such idle and worthless pets of the Black Republican party? Verily! Radicalism is a dear experiment, taxing the patience and pockets of the people to a degree unprecedented in the history of any country.--Lynchburg Virginian |