XVIII.  The transportation of negro families to other countries will not be approved.  All propositions for this privilege have been declined, and application has been made to other departments for surplus negro families for service in this department.

XIX.  The last year’s experience shows that the planter and the negro comprehend the revolution.  The overseer, having little interest in capital, and less sympathy with labor, dislikes the trouble of thinking, and discredits the notion that any thing new has occurred.  He is a relic of the past, and adheres to its customs.  His stubborn refusal to comprehend the condition of things, occasioned most of the embarrassments of the past year.  Where such incomprehension is chronic, reduced wages, diminished rations, and the mild punishments imposed by the army and navy, will do good.

XX.  These regulations are based upon the assumption that labor is a public duty, and idleness and vagrancy a crime.  No civil or military officer of the Government is exempt from the operation of this universal rule.  Every enlightened community has enforced it upon all classes of people by the severest penalties.  It is especially necessary in agricultural pursuits.  That portion of the people identified with the cultivation of the soil, however changed in condition by the revolution through which we are passing, is not relieved from the necessity of toil, which is the condition of existence with all the children of God.  The revolution has altered its tenure, but not its law.  This universal law of labor will be enforced, upon just terms, by the Government under whose protection the laborer rests secure in his rights.  Indolence, disorder, and crime will be suppressed.  Having exercised the highest right in the choice and place of employment, he must be held to the fulfillment of his engagements, until released therefrom by the Government.  The several provost-marshals are hereby invested with plenary powers upon all matters connected with labor, subject to the approval of the Provost-Marshal-General and the commanding officer of the department.  The most faithful and discreet officers will be selected for this duty, and the largest force consistent with the public service detailed for their assistance.

XXI.  Employers, and especially overseers, are notified, that undue influence used to move the marshal from his just balance between the parties representing labor and capital, will result in immediate change of officers, and thus defeat that regular and stable system upon which the interests of all parties depend.