THE TOGA VIRILIS.


But the transformations of the slave were not yet ended. The time
came when he was permitted to become a citizen. For two years he
had led an inchoate, nondescript sort of existence: free without
power or right; neither slave nor freeman; neither property nor
citizen. He had been, meanwhile, a bone of contention between the
Provisional Governments of the States and the military power which
controlled them. The so-called State Governments dragged him toward
the whipping-post and the Black Codes and serfdom. They denied
him his oath, fastened him to the land, compelled him to hire by
the year, required the respectfulness of the old slave "Mahs'r"
and "Missus," made his employer liable for his taxes, and allowed
recoupment therefor; limited his avocations and restricted his
opportunities. These would substitute serfdom for chattelism.

On the other hand the Freedman's Bureau acted as his guardian and
friend, looked after his interests in contracts, prohibited the
law's barbarity, and insisted stubbornly that the freedman was
a man, and must be treated as such. It needed only the robe of
citizenship, it was thought, to enable him safely to dispense with
the one of these agencies and defy the other. So the negro was
transformed into a citizen, a voter, a political factor, by act of
Congress, with the aid and assistance of the military power.

A great crowd had gathered at the little town of Melton, which was
one of the chief places of the county of Horsford, for the people
had been duly notified by official advertisement that on this day
the board of registration appointed by the commander of the military