The statistics given at the commencement prove that we have experienced less difficulty with the freedmen than could have been expected. At times it has been necessary to adopt stringent measures to stem the tide of freedmen that seemed to be setting in toward Shreveport, and many of them have such vague ideas of the moral obligations of a contract that it has been necessary to strengthen them by imprisonment and hard labor; but the great and insuperable difficulty which meets us at every step is, _that the planters and the freedmen have no confidence in and respect for each other_. The planters inform us that they are the best friends of the negro, but the freedmen fail to see the matter in that light. I am well assured that as a general rule the old planters and overseers can never succeed with the freedmen; that there must be an entire change in either laborers or proprietors before the country will again be prosperous. The plan of renting lands to the freedmen, as proposed by a few planters, I am of the opinion will prove very profitable to both parties. While, as a general rule, there is constant difficulty between the freedmen and their old masters and overseers, my agents and northern men have no trouble with them; and should the planters employ practical farmers from the north as business managers, it seems to be well demonstrated that the free-labor system, as it now is, with but slight modifications, would be a grand success. In this connexion I cannot refrain from noticing the assertion of a southern politician to the effect "that were the freedmen enfranchised, nine out of ten of them would vote for their old masters," which assertion every freedman will pronounce a wilful and malignant falsehood. The country is full of arms, and their use upon the freedmen is so frequent, and the general disposition of the people such, that I would strongly recommend, as a measure to secure the safety of life and property, that all classes of arms be taken from the citizens, not to be returned until an entirely different disposition is evinced. The system to be made binding for the next year should be published as early as the 15th of October, and the matter of contracting be commenced as soon thereafter as the parties desire to do so. I would respectfully suggest the propriety for calling of such statistical matter upon the back of the contract as will enable the officer in charge of the educational interests to determine the whole number of freedmen residing in the different parishes, and also the number of children of school age. The establishment of schools will be met by the most venomous opposition, and a military force will be required to protect the teacher and scholars from insult and injury unless the tone of public sentiment improves very rapidly.