Mark, again, the friendly service. Here is another duty cast upon these officers.
Mr. Grimes. How is that to be enforced? Suppose they will not work,—will not fulfil their contracts?
Mr. Sumner. The duty of these officers is “advisory.” They are not invested with power to enforce any provisions, unless by court of law or some other tribunal. The freedmen are entitled to all the rights of freemen, just as much as the Senator. Curiously, the Senator does not seem to have purged his mind of the idea that these men, in some way or other, have not yet ceased to be slaves,—
Mr. Grimes. No.
—an assumption which, however natural in the Senator from West Virginia, is not natural in my friend from Iowa. Let him recognize them as free, like himself, and he will see that there is no remedy open to him which is not open to them, and that any outrage upon them is, in point of law, the same as if inflicted upon himself.
Mr. Harlan. I desire to ask the Senator if there are courts of law in existence in these Rebel States before whom the parties may appear.
Mr. Sumner. I am afraid that courts of justice in those States are not yet in perfect operation. But such as they are, they will be open to every freedman. On this point there can be no question.
The next words show what shall be done by these officers to promote the administration of justice:—
“They shall further do what they can as arbitrators to reconcile and settle any differences in which freedmen may be involved, whether among themselves or between themselves and other persons.”