The New York herald., 1863-11-22


land in Geor gia, South Carolina and Florida
for the non-payment of direct taxes. For this
act, not less than for the engineering talent
which has placed us in possession Of Morris
Island and reduced Fort Sumter to pile of
rrhbish, General Gilmore deserves and will
receive the gratitude of the country. BY this
prompt interference he has crushed in the germ
q swindle which would otherwise have become
a giant upas tree casting its baleful and blight
ing shadow over the whole Department Of the
South The ini1aity Of that scheme was only
to be equalled by its fatuity; and in the agents
selected fc, carrying IL out the conception had
worthy representatives. Urged forward by one
wing Of tho abolitonsts, under the ploa of
aiding the ''enfranchised bondsmen" Of Geor-
ga, South Carolina and Florida, it was in
reality an unhoy scheme of the very meanest
and most rapacous speculators to coin money
out OF the necessities of the country, and to
pervert to their personal profit the labor and
the products OF the rich sea islands of our
Southern coast.
1t may do very we'll for Mrs. Gage, abolition
proletaran and phlanthropist, to quit her
plantation on Paris Island and come North as
an apostle in behalf Of the ''good General
Saxton." 1t may also suit the cotton specu-
iating proponsties Of Rev. Father French,
General Saxtons chaplain, TO indulge in simi
lar strain of eulogy Secretary Chase may be
a convert to the gospel according to Father
French, and MIR. Greeley may think it worth
his while to quit the "Moral History OF the
War" for an evening in order to endorse by his
presence and approval the absurd or knavsh
statements of his sea island confederates. But
against all such false pretences of sympathy
with the negro the authority of General
Hunter, given in half a dozen earnest orders
and other official acts, may be safely ad
duced-more especially when it is found that
his views on this subject were endorsed by
every intelligent officer in the department, and
were adopted by every disintorested visitor
who gave attention TO the problems presented
by the condition of the sea islands. Their
judgment was that greed and greed only con-
trolled the action Of the subordinatcs entrusted
moro especially with the management of the
civil affairs of the department, and that, while
superiltendents Of contrabands. deputy super
sharks, volunteer parsons, paid chaplains, high
ly patronized traders and others were growing
rapidly rich from the prosecution Of their phi
lanthropic labors, the poor negroes were just
in an equal ratio, growing poorer, more hope
less, more diseased, more demoralzed and
helpless with each succeeding day.
General Rufus Saxton is tie Military Cover
nor of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida-at
least 80 he styles himself He is assisted" by a
swarm Of commissioners for the sale Of lands"
at salaries of three thousand dollars year
each, further increased by perquisites, which
make their salaries nearly double These COM
missioners again have clcrks--at what compen-
sation is not known; and they publish little
handbills called newspapers, in which they ad-
vcrtise all forthcoming sales at the rate of one
dollar per line. These papers are printed for
the most part, II not wholly, on government
presses, with government types, and by soldiers
who are paid by the government and detailed
by General Saxton for this duty Under this
system vast tracts Of land are disposed of at
prices absolutely nominal-in one case a
whole island of nineteen hundred acres, covered
down to the waters edge with cedar, live oak
pine and magnolia, having been sold for the
sum Of twenty-one dollars and fifty cents, this
being the amount of taxes assessed upon it,
All along the coasts Of South Carolina and
Florida similar "jobs" are now in progress, the
spectators in many cases having already real
lied immense fortunes by selling in New York,
Philadelphia and Boston, at rates ranging from
one to five hundred dollars per tree, the produce
Of the lands thus acquired. How comes it that
our Navy Department, so much in need of this
very timber, does not supply itself at first
hand from the inexhaustible wealth of wood
thus placed at the disposal of government
As for tho unfortunate negroes of the de.
partment II we except those in the colored
regiments, no dispassonate observer who saw
them while in slavery and sees them now but
must confess that their physical condition to-
day-the absence of the whip alone excepted
is to the full as miserable rs it was while in
slavery They are employed at task work -
twenty-five cents per task. An able-bodied
man can do task and half per diem; an able
bodied woman can just get through task.
This gives for the daily support of man, his
wife, aud any piccaninnies they may have just
sixty-two and.a half cents-a sum to be ex-
pended within military lines, where the ruling
prices are "sutlers' prices,' or the still more
extortionate demands of those official person
ages and persons who have opened small
stores on every second plantation for
the benefit, God save the mark of their
dear friends and proteges, the "enfranchised
bondsmen." The result is as might be ex-
pected. More than half the men are idle and
live upon the earnings OF the women. The
women earn enough to live upon, but not by
taskwork in the field. Disease follows licen-
tiousness, and dirt is the common element of
both. As for the rising generation OF the sea
islands, brighter picture, happily for hui
manity, may in one respect be given. Thanks to
the labors Of many and Jealous volunteer
teachers, chiefly ladies from the New England
C,.tns and papna yl p;a tba l;,tI, ,;ooa,;no;o.