University of South Carolina Libraries
'Z(0 THE NEW W SOUTH. Vol. 3, No. 30. P?rt Royal, S. C., Saturday, May 6, 1865. Whole No. 134. ???? ??? ????????????^???? Ut $tctu ^outlr. published every saturday morning ey j J. H. SEARS, Editor and Proprietor.' PBICE: One Copy, Five Cents. Per Hundred ?3 50., Three Months, 0 50. One Year 2 00. | IN ADVANCE. Advertisements.?'Twenty cents a line for first . tiitown <>futs for secoiid, and ten cents JUJVi UWM y lor each subsequent insertion. TERMS CASH. Office, Phoenix Building, Union Square adjoining Post Office. The Preetlmen. The following Circular has recently < been issued by Bvt-Maj.-G? n. K. Saxton* : j ] Headquarters, Beacfobt. R. c .) April fcld. l?o5. j CIRCULAR,) j. No. 4. f !l It having been reported to me,ihat unauthorized per.-ons are now settl n on lauds winch have been reserved aud set aiwirt for the freedraen. ,1 the following is published for the information and , benefit of all concerned : HEADQUARTERS, MlL. plv. of the MlSC, ) j ' Is THE Fl*XD, Savannah, (la , Jan. lf?. 1S?5. j j SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS. \ No. 15. | EX I K ACT. j 1. The islands from Charleston, south, the 11 abandoned rice fields along the river*, for thirty j miles back from the sea, and the country bordar- j in# the St, John's River, Florida, are nerved ! and set apart for the settlement of the negroes J. made free by the acts of war ami tlio prnciamu- |< lion of the President of the United States. II. At Beaufort, Hiltou Head. Savannah, For-1 n&ndina, St Augustine, and Jacksonville the 1 blacks may remain in their chosen or accustomed, avocations ; but on the islands and in the sHtlcP , rnents hereafter to be established, no white person*whatever, unless military officers or soldiers ; detailed for duty, will l>e penuitted to restde , 1 > nd tue s<?le ami exclusive management of affairs j < will be left to the freed people themselves, sub- , Ject only to the United States military authority, and the acts ot Congress, by the laws of war, and order- of the President of the. United St3tos, , i the negro is free and must be dealt with as such. I ( ****** III. Whenever throe respectable nc^oe* heads ol families, shall desire to settle on land, and j' shall have selected for that purpose an islaud, or j i a locality clearly defined witliln the limits above , alesjguued, the Inspector of Settlements and < Plantations will himself, or by such subordinate i officer as he may appoint, give them a license to ( flittle sueh island or district, and afford thein i i such assistance as he ein, to enable them to cs- : tabhsh ajieaceabio agricultural settlement. The j three parties named will subdivide the land, un-11 ?lcr the supervision of the Inspector, among 1 themselves, and sueh others as may choose to , settle near them, so that each family shall have < - ?1..? -.? r?r.*.. than f.irtv <401 rvivs. of tillable . -U (J1UI l/i IU'* V .-?.v ground. and when it borders on some water channel. with not more than eight hundred feet front, 1 in the possession of which laud the military authorities will aftbrd them protection, uutd such xiuies as they cau protect themselves, or until a'ongress shall regulate their title. # * s - e ? IV. Whenever a negro han enlisted in tin- military service'of the T'uited States, he may locate 1 his family in one of the settlements at pleasure, j - and acquire a homestead and all other rights and pr.velejea of a settler, as though preient in per-} son ; iu lite maimer negroes may settle tueir famine's and engage on board gunboats, or in fishing, or in the navigation ot the inland waters, without lcalng any claim to laud, or other advautageo der.ved from tliis system. But no one. unless au actual settler as above defined, or unless absent on Goverument sendee, will be entiled to claim any right to land, or property in any settle- j mc.it, by i irtue of these orders. V. In order to carry out this system of settle-J me it, a General Officer will be detailed as Inspec-; tor of Settlements and Plantations, whose duty, ; it shall be to visit the settlements, to regulate their police and general management, and who j will furnish personally to each head of a family. ' aubject to tli1 approval of the President i of the United States, a possessor}' title i in writing, giving, as near as possible, the de- i seription of boundaries, who shall adjust all claims or coatlicts that may arise under the same, subject to the like approval, treating such titles altogether a? possessory. The same General officer will alsa be charged witfl the enlistment and organization of the negro recruits, and protecting their int -rests while so absent from their settlements ; and will be governed by the rules und j regulations prescribed by the War Department for such purpose. ****** By Order Major-Gen. W. T. SHERMAN, (Signed,) L. M. Dayton, Major and Ass't Adjt. Gen'l. Having been detailed by the, proper authority, and being held responsible for the enforcement of this order, I hereby warn all persons against violating any of its provisions, as all such will be helil to the strictest accountability for trespass, their effects will be seized for t e benefit of the Freedmen, and themselves sent out of the Departmen ?or otherwise punished by sentence of a military commission. All Superintendents of Plantations, Islands, &c., and all officers or other persons on duty in connection with the Frecdmen are required to bring to the immediate notice of the Inspector of Settlements, any violation of the provisions of this order. Superintendents of Islands and Plantations' will cause copies ot this circular to be posted up in conspicuous positions, and take every opportunity to inform those concerned in its exist- ' mice. Thirty days will be allowed for the proper eir-: filiation of its contents, and all who fail to vacate j premises which are occupied l>y them, contrary to and in violation of the provisions of General Sherman's order. No. 15, will be at once arrested, should it be necessary to employ military force to , carry out the provisions of this circular, application will at oooe be made to rae for such force. R. SAXTON. Bvt-Major-Gcneral, Inspector of Settlements and Plantations, The writer of the article " Fair Play thy Best Policy," in the May number of The AtUihtlc Mo.dltly says : "Now there are hut two systems possible in dealing with an emancipated people. I All minor projects are modifications oi: these two. There is the theory of pre-! partition, under some form, and there is: the theory of fair play. Preparation is | ippreuficeship, prescription,?the bar- i gains of the freed man made for him, not by him. Fair play is to remove all oh- j structions, including the previous mono- j poly of the soil,?to recognise the freed-! mail's right to all social and political; guaranties, and then to let him alone. | There i> undoubtedly room 'or an lion-; L'st division of opinion on thislundament.il matter, among persons equally sincere.? Even among equally well-informed per-' sous there may be room for difference, Although it will hardly be denied thai those who favor the theory of " prep;iratiou " are in general those who take a Hither low view of the capacities of the emancipated race. The policy pursued in Louisiana, ti r instance, was undoubtedly based at the outset, whatever other reasons have siuce been adduced, on the theorj* that the freedmen would labor only under compulsion. I have seen an elaborate argument, from a leading otlicer in that Department, resting the whole theory on precisely this assumption.? 'The negro, bom and reared in ignorance, could not for years be taught to properly understand and respect the obligations or a contract. His ideas of his freedom were merged in the fact that he was to be fed and clothed and supported in idleness." Whatever excuses may since have been devised for the system, this was its original postulate. To suppose it true would be to reject the vast bulk o! evidence already accumulated, all demonstrating the freedmen's willingness to work. Yet if the assumption be lalse, any system founded on it must be regarded by the freedmea as an insult, and must fail, unless greatly modified." We regret that our little sheet will not allow us to quote largely from this article. It was evidently written by Col. T. W. Higinson, formerly of the First South Carolina Volunteers -colored troops. We commend it, However, as one sicie 01 me argument on the question "What shall be done with the n.*gio?" to those who l.oatslly have at heart the best interests of oir country and the freedmen. The Colonel, however, makes several errors of stateni.-atjdjriving hisinforma. j ti.m from " newspaper correspondents," 11 : of whom he makes a breastwork, in true ( I | military style, from which to attack offi-1 cers at this Post?who he mean-:, we do j i not know. It is not a fact that white ! \ men are forbidden to trade at Mitchel- 1 , ville or the colored people at Hilton | Head. They are here by hundreds every ( day, and several stores are kept by white men at Mitchelville. I : < And where are " the freedmen who by t profitable investments have laid up twen- ' to or thirty thousand dollars " ? W<; saw .) ef.ifntnonf vnoontlv fKnf PCivtol 1 it nuitvu4v.iii maw iiuuci c email j was worth thirty thousand dollars. We i asked him to-dav about it. He gays "it is no such thing." The chief part of all 1 he owns is the amount paid him as his j share of the prize money of the "Planter"?only fifteen hundred dollars, and he is now Captain of that steamer on a salary of one hundred dollars per month, j Nor can Robert tell us of a single freedman (and he should be well acquainted with the most of them in this Depart- 1 ment) who is better oft* than himself. The Colonel should bo careful when , rounding his periods, pointing his morals or. adorning his tales, to state facts, else the cause which he, in common with all philanthropists, has so much at heart, will suffer. I We confess that, for our own part, we eatiuot see how the inevitable laws, which always have and always will govern capi- j till Hiid labor, can be ?et aside in tjif r.isy \ of the negroes auy more than in that ol I other communities of poor, ignorant ami j degraded people. It seems t j us that the cost to government of these experiments : i (and they are certainly nothing else) will | I be enormous aud grevious to be borne iu , the present condition of the finances o.' i the country. Will not private capital soon control this matter and direct the lal or of the frt-eJmcn to a profitable re- i ! suit?profitable alike to them and to the 1 ; country ? .In the meantime, and until this groat ; question is fully, fairly, truthfully dis: cussed by the nation and settled by leg-1 i islation, we consider the Government ! guardianship, now bcin? so kindly ex. {tended to the freed people, to be the wisest ?ind best protection that can be 1 * . I ; attorned tnern. i Never before have we meddled with this question iu our columns. But the war is now drawing to a close. Private enterprise, if properly fostered by Gov. i eminent, will soon open work ia this section for thousands of laborers. They | are here, and unless poisoned by false I ideas of "liberty and equality'' can be; ! made of inestimable service not only to themselves but to the whole country. The subject presies too close upon us to ' i neglect it longer. -? | A Pipe of Tobacco.?'* When all things ' were made, none was made better than I this,' sad tnat stout old seaman, Salva[ tio.i Yeo, handing u roll ot brown leaf to i that good knight Sir Am/as Leigh, '* to 1 be a lone man's compauion, a bachelor's ^ . # riend, a hungry man's food, a sad man's cordial, a wakeful man's sleep, and a chily man's fire, Sir; while for staunching it' wounds, purging of rheum, and settling of the stomach, there's no herb like into it under the canopy of heaven." :o the truth of which catalogue of good qualities many a mariner of the present lay would, without hesitation, make )ath. A colored preacher within our lines recently felt constrained to preach against :he extortions of the Sutlers from which /I _ 1_ 1. _ .1 AT .1 IT. A ins hock 11 ii< i sunerea. no auuuuuceu lis text as follows : " Now de serpent ivas more sutler than any beast of tho ield which the Lord lmth made." In view of the fact of the sparseness of hi white population in the seceded slave >tntes and the large proportion of that copulation which canuot be implicitly reied on by reason of their active coiinec:ion with the rebellion, the question lecessaiily arises, to whose hands, on reconstruction, the popular government of :liose States is to be intrusted, in order :o secure the national peace and safety, riiut question must be considered ere long. In South Carolina especially, where the chivalry were in a minority, lud so generally traitors, it is a problem what use to make of it in a restored Union. ?On* a recent occasion, while the Prcsilent and his liiemls were on board the River Queen, at City Point, a military baud came on dock, where the party were sitting, and perform* d several natioiud airs, after which they gave that stirring anthem La Marselhn.se. This was justly udinired. "Put," remarked Mr. Lincoln, " 1 think that the greatest tune I efcTtrwrd *l[p p?nd play 4 Dixie ?'" The band could and did play ' Dixie ' capitally, and then, at Mr. Lincoln's request, they repeated it. The next dav. as the icu ty sat at dinner-tahle on the steamer River Queen, the conversation turned on music of the previous ilay. 44 Dixie " was el timed by a gentleman at the table as of Northern origin. "Mr. Speed,'' said Mr. Lincoln to his Attorney-General, " I want vou to take the proper steps to confiscate 4 Dixie ' to the L'. S. I want to have 4Dixie' national property." The Attorney-General replied, 44 Yts, Mr. President, I regard it as a prize of war, and shall see that it is retained for lojal use." So, henceforth, let, " Dixie " follow 44 Hail Columbia,"as tue Freueh musicians followed '{La Mftrsellaise" with ' Partant pour la Svrie. ' Mr& Partington has addressed us the following uote. Ike is safe enough, Aunty. lie has not yet returned from the Sumter celebration. Ralph and Whit will look out for liira. Don't be uneasy. Dear Sir:?Perhaps you don't know Isaac has gone to the contented field; In? was grafted last fall in oreofthe wings of the army; I suppose the flying artillery; I wrote to Mr. Stanton telling him not to put Isaac where lie would get shot, as lie wasn't used to it. I know what iufluenza you must have with the President, and I write this to you to get Isaac on a furlong, so he can get his mended pauta loons, for he writes me two of their "parrots " burst their breeches, and I think what an awful thing it won id be if Isaac was a parrot, v; nen isaac nsen to sing, I want to bo an angel," I did not think he won 1(1 so soon bo with the "swamp angels" down in Charleston. Ho says the war will be over soon, and he will come back a victoria. I'm sure I wish it was over now, or hadn't commenced vet. Yours, RUTH PARTINGTON.