Black accepts Reddick's reasons for not writing before and admits that as he himself had twice been shot by Cupid's darts, that he can sympathize. He hopes that Reddick's wife will have some money, but hastens to add that such a fact should not influence his choice. He regrets not seeing Reddick when he was last in the City in December. He has several claims for bounty, arrears of pay, and pensions, but that the claimants are poor and dependent on their neighbors to get to town. He now asks Reddick many questions, on arrears of pay and bounty. He comments on the poor crop outlook, and feels that the freedmen who are not working, but lounging about will eventually turn to crime. He points out that the share-cropping attempts in which half of produce is given to those who work the land, will not work out. He feels that the late coercion was national suicide. The feeling of slaves was a calamity that cannot be averted. He feels that the Federal system was destroyed and can never be restored as long as the Radicals have the ascendency. He points out that the labor system is rained and the country deprived of its greatest source of wealth…with the slave, formerly a self-sustaining, orderly, profitable and happy chap turned loose on the country to become miserable and unhappy. The political situation is dark. The radicals look upon the Consitution as non-existant. They seem bent on making everything yield to their gratification. He fears that the North will be treated by them as has been the South. He fears a bloodier war. In such an event, all the South asks is to be left to work on the remnant of their estates in peace and quiet. He condemns the want of wisdom, statesmanship, and the malice shown by the Radicals in Congress. The small portion of the last report he read of the Committee of fifteen impressed him with the idea that they intended to try and remove Mr. Johnson from office. If they failed to win him over. In papers of James Alphonsus McMasters :: I-1-n A.L.S. 4pp. 8mo.