Q Did it include any politicians of either color, white or black?--A. No politicianers didn't belong to it, because we didn't allow them to know nothing about it, because we was afraid that if we allowed the colored politicianers to belong to it he would tell it to the Republican politicianers, and from that the men that was doing all this to us would get hold of it too, and then get after us. * * * * * Q. About what time did you lose all hope and confidence that your condition could be tolerable in the Southern States?--A. Well we never lost all hopes in the world till 1877. Q. Why did you lose all hope in that year?--A. Well, we found ourselves in such condition that we looked around and we seed that there was no way on earth, it seemed, that we could better our condition there, and we discussed that thoroughly in our organization in May. We said that the whole South--every State in the South--had got into the hands of the very men that held us slaves--from one thing to another--and we thought that the men that held us slaves was holding the reins of government over our heads in every respect almost, even the constable up to the governor. We felt we had almost as well be slaves under these men. In regard to the whole matter that was discussed it came up in every council. Then we said there was no hope for us and we had better go. Q. You say, then, that in 1877 you lost all hope of being able to remain in the South, and you began to think of moving somewhere else?--A. Yes; we said we was going if we had to run away and go into the woods. Q. About how many did this committee consist of before you organized your council? Give us the number as near as you can tell.--A. As many as five hundred in all. Q. The committee, do you mean? A. Yes; the committee has been that large. Q. What was the largest number reached by your colonization council, in your best judgment?--A. Well, it is not exactly five hundred men belonging to the council that we have in our council, but they all agreed to go with us and enroll their names with us from time to time, so that they have now got at this time ninety-eight thousand names enrolled. Q. Then through that council, as sort of subscribers to its purpose and acts and for carrying out its objects, there were ninety-eight thousand names?--A. Yes; ninety-eight thousand names enrolled. Q. In what parts of the country were these ninety-eight thousand people scattered?--A. Well some in Louisiana--the majority of them in Louisiana--and some in Texas, and some in Arkansas. We joins Arkansas. Q. Were there any in Mississippi?--A. Yes, sir; a few in Mississippi. Q. And a few in Alabama?--A. Yes, sir; a few in Alabama, too.