New-York daily tribune., 1863-05-27
ruy NEW PLANTATION sY9TEMs.

10 now engaged in the military ana lhdustria'
organization Of the blacks in the Mississippi
Valley. That plan contemplated the leasing OF
the plantations which were deserted by their
Rebel owners, and were coming into tho pos
session and control of the Government, and
provided system of labor supply which was toll
eraby well adapted to the purposes OF the ten
ants of the estates, but which promised any
thing but beneficial results to the negroes.
Like the system of Gen. Banks IN LOUISIANA
il was framed in fOrgetfulness that any other
| interests were to be consulted than those OF
the Government and the occupants OF the
plantations with q difference in favor
of Gen. Thomass plan that it professcd to be for
the benefit Of loyal, while that Of Gen. Banks
enured TO the interest fdisoyal, "a well as loyal,
lessees and possessors. Since the date oil TINS or
der, however, Gen. Thomas seems to have been
exclusively or mainly eDgros'ed with the military
part of his duties He has successfully organ
lied considerable number Of negro regiments,
but we have seen no account of any operations
under bis plantation system.
luo bO'CiHHiChst h""'" W w. D.
objections to il, has interviewed to arrest it's
progress; possibly not time enough has elapsed
for the initiation Of the experiment At all
events we presume and prefer to believe that
no extensive measures have yet been taken un'
der the ORDER md that DO private rights have
accrued. under leases or otherwise, which may
tend to postpone the abandonment OF tho plan.
| For We regard the plan as so maniicstly un-
Just to the negroes conceived with little re-
gard 10 their rights, and SO certain to destroy
them in practice-no matter 10 whose hands
the details may be intrusted--tha. its abandon
ment can only be question oil time. III The
Government will take warning by other erpe'
rences; if it will simply examine IN advance
the conditions of the experiment its agent has
undertaken, 1t will perhaps reconsider its poll
| icy. II it hcsitntes now, it will be compelled
to act when the evils which now foreseen
in part shall have been mngnIficd by actual
operation into greater proportions than II Is
yet possible 10 anticipate, aud when the iDu-
RES which il i. not now too late to prevent
shall have been swollen into wrongs Tor which
no just reparatou can e'eT pc Wauo'
| Ii is one Of the misiortunes Of u revolution.
airy war that idea. do 10, keep pace with
e,en.s The di.n,cgration 81 the slave system
of the South goes o. faster than what ought
10 b. the simultaneous formation of free
public option in tho North. We wear the
ietters Of traditional Prejudices more patiently
than tho negro endured the chain. Of Inherited
bondage. We are slow TO believe that q freed
man i, freeman. We have expected
gradual emancipation, and are confouDded 10y
the phenomena OF the instantaneous liberation
OF an en,layed, degraded. hated race. Liberty
has one meaning for the white, and much
lees extensive significance when Is be-
comes tho property Of tho black.
Transitional period. of guardianship, or appren.
tice.hip, or tutelage, are thought 10 be neces-
sary preliminnrics TO bis pletc possession oiI
civil rights; and having been accustomed to ac-
quie.cc in q system which deprived him OF oil
rights. we think it necessary TO arrange al
other intermediate condition in which be shall
be robbed of only part. II is in consequence
OF this slow perception of swlit-coming events,
and this moral and intellectual unreadincss for
their arrival, that such plans as have been pro
posed and put in operation came to be con.
sidered and adopted by Government which,
We trust, means to do its duty TO the slaves
whom events have forced it TO libern,e.
With the exception OF Port Royal, there has
been nowhere a serious effort by the sugges
ton or under the sanction of the Government,
10 reorganise o system OF labor in tho South,
either temporary or permanent, which should
be based on a recognition Of the rights of the
negroes. Even Port Royal. though it has been
tho scene of an important experiment in imne-
date Emancipation, and the Immediate recon
struction Of social and industrial relations be-
tween the two races, has accomplished but
small part Of tho work which the war
rendered possible. Louisiana opened much
broader field, and the Valley OF the Mississippi
was still wide in extent; but what has been
done in either The only interests deemed
worth considering have been those OF the Gov
erument on the one hand and of tho pun,ers,
or the proposed lessees Of the deserted States
on the other. The perfection of q police sys-
tenn and the prospect OF cotton crop IN the
Fall of this year were Of more consequence
than justice to half-emancipatsd people, or
even than the permanent construction OF u new
industrial system, in place Of that just over
thrown.
But consider what might have been done