"The fact can not be denied that since the actual cessation
of hostilities many acts of violence--such, perhaps, as had
never been witnessed in their previous history--have
occurred in the States involved in the recent rebellion. I
believe, however, that public sentiment will sustain me in
the assertion that such deeds of wrong are not confined to
any particular State or section, but are manifested over the
entire country--demonstrating that the cause that produced
them does not depend upon any particular locality, but is
the result of the agitation and derangement incident to a
long and bloody civil war. While the prevalence of such
disorders must be greatly deplored, their occasional and
temporary occurrence would seem to furnish no necessity for
the extension of the bureau beyond the period fixed in the
original act. Besides the objections which I have thus
briefly stated, I may urge upon your consideration the
additional reason that recent developments in regard to the
practical operations of the bureau, in many of the States,
show that in numerous instances it is used by its agents as
a means of promoting their individual advantage, and that
the freedmen are employed for the advancement of the
personal ends of the officers instead of their own
improvement and welfare--thus confirming the fears
originally entertained by many that the continuation of such
a bureau for any unnecessary length of time would inevitably
result in fraud, corruption, and oppression.

"It is proper to state that in cases of this character
investigations have been promptly ordered, and the offender
punished, whenever his guilt has been satisfactorily
established. As another reason against the necessity of the
legislation contemplated by this measure, reference may be
had to the 'Civil Rights Bill,' now a law of the land, and
which will be faithfully executed as long as it shall remain
unrepealed, and may not be declared unconstitutional by
courts of competent jurisdiction. By that act, it is enacted
'that all persons born in the United States, and not subject
to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are
hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and
such citizens, of every race and color, without regard to
any previous co