by competent and
impartial judges, bound by fixed rules of law and evidence, and where
the right of trial by jury is guaranteed and secured, than to the
caprice or judgment of an officer of the Bureau, who it is possible
may be entirely ignorant of the principles that underlie the just
administration of the law. There is danger, too, that conflict of
jurisdiction will frequently arise between the civil courts and these
military tribunals, each having concurrent jurisdiction over the person
and the cause of action--the one judicature administered and controlled
by civil law, the other by the military. How is the conflict to be
settled, and who is to determine between the two tribunals when it
arises? In my opinion, it is wise to guard against such conflict by
leaving to the courts and juries the protection of all civil rights
and the redress of all civil grievances.

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,