Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1864-01-28
GEN. BANKS and Louisiana.

Tho terms OF the order issued by General
Banks fora State election in Louisiana will
surprizo all parties The conservative nc
ton pursued by him during the war has
Iagreeably disappointed his political oppo..
nent's and sadly Disappointed his political
friends The true Union men of the State
regarded him, few month ago, as standing
between them and the revolutionary des-
potism with which they were threatened
from Washington. They requested the
President to clothc him with discretionary
powers for ordering an election and preseri-
bing it conditions. r.-..e .l.
The fact that such powers were then de-
MED ioined to the bitterness with which he
was assailod by the Jacobin press, induces
the belief that his present action is involun-
tary and compelled by instructions he is not
ut liberty to disregard.
We have as yet seen but a meagro
report of his order, and cannot gather
from it how far his Judgment accords with
its terms; but if the planters, and the inhab
litants of the State who were not imported
during the war, were not greatly misled, 1t
is inexplicablc that he should now approve
the sweeping abrogation Of rights of prop
crty which he proclaims.
In the proclamation of September 22d,
1862, large portion Of the State, consis-
! ting Of thirteen parishes bordering. upon
each side of the Mississppi and including
New Orleans, was exempted from its opera
! ton. There has been no direct and formal
cancelng of that exemption, although it has
offordcd no protection to the inhabitants
who have been robbed of their slaves by
Butler, Shepley and their subordinates. -
There is now no distinction made between
these parishes and other portions of the
State 1t is no longer deemed necessary to
approach the object indirectly. The Gener
al has brought within the operation of the
proclamation the territory which the Pres
idcnt declared should not be included.
Some one is responsible for this violation
Of solemn pledge. If Gen: Banks has as
sumed authority to annul the President
proclamation, he should be dismissed in dis
grace If, as is probable, he was acting un-
der instructions, Mr.. Lincoln must answer
for the hideous perfidity. As an illustra-
ton of the treachery which has marked the
treatment Of Louisiana, we append some fig
ures taken from the New York Tribune con-
cerning the parish of St Mary /:
Before the war its population consisted
of about 1000 whites $4,000 slaves and
600 free blacks. The slave property was as
sessed SO, 433, $50. 1t was owned on II
plantations, which were valued at about &C.,
900, 900. Before the war this parish pro-
duccd in one season. Sugar, 81, l,9l5 hogs
heads Molasses, n 300 barrels; Corn,
40l, 900 bushels; and other products valued
at 81, 800, 900
''The average product of each plantation
was Sl4, 547 90. The net product was $40, =
2G5. Each slave in this parish under the
regulations Of Louisiana, netted his master
Sl75 per annum,"
''rhe figures given" says the Tibune,
disclose a condition OF prosperity such as
has seldom been exceeded i'll any part of the
world. st. Mary was one of the parishes
exempted At the time the proclamation
t was issued, it had suffered but lightly, and
the reason given in her case, as in all other
cases descriptions from its provisions, was,
that her inhabitants were loyal not as loyal
ty is now defined by administratonists, but
= were in favor Of the Union aud opposed to
the rebellion. st. Mary is now desoiaton.
Her inhabitants are scattered and her plan
tations in ruins. 1t is not charged that she
; has committed any act or acts which should
, have procipitated upon her such punish
, mcnt. She was destroyed to minister to the
rapacity of Butler, and weaken the ''save
power" in the State.
So with the thirteen parishes. The plum
! der of Lafourche was but slightly more
wanton and extended than has devastated
both banks of the Mississippi, from the
: House nearest the Gulf to the Northern
: boundary line in the State. And over these
Union men-acknowledged by the Presi
! dent to be Union men in the act of exemp
:, tion-was the pledge Of the proclamation
that their rights Of property were to be
, maintained. Butler was given license tC
: plumber that the interests of planters il
these parishes might be destroyed. Abra
! ham Lincoln, when he exempted them from
= the effects of the proclamation had deter
- mined that Louisiana should never be per
mitted to return to the Union as Il Slave
, State The proof is his refusal to permi
II her to return, under the old Constitution
when last summer the delegation of plan
ters begged permission to restore her tC
her former status.
# The word of promise has been broken t.
II the ear and the hope. The robberies by
# Butler have been diligently initiated by hi
= successor, and Treasury agents have NOR
,s than compensated for the absence of tn
brothers Butler. Now when these leeche
:, are partially gorgcd and the exempted par
|, ishes are as desolate as they were befor
=, prosperous, comes the formal abrogatio
n by the General of the pledge of the Presi
No dent.
The order for the election strikes dow
. the Constitution of the State, and provide
! by the act for the installation in pcrmanen
" rule Of the wrctches who have plundereC
q the people. 1t is an appropriate cOntinu
- ance Of the periidy and diabolism whcI
have thus far attended the Federal Admin
istration of the State.
The work approaches completion. Whe
Shcpley and his subordinates, and Treasur
f. clerks, and soldiers, both white and black
,s and few of the old residents, prompted b.
n vcnality or despair, or both, to sell them
If selves to abolitionism-and who would hav
" sold themselves to the devil for the sam
/: reasons-have with the assistance of tn
= gag and the bayonet, elected their State of
y ticcrs and completed their State organiza
20 tion, ''tho interests of God and humanity
# will have been made reasonably secure
le They will not, however, be impregnable III
til the ''hor to the aspirations of Christ am
John Brown" shall be reelected, to whic
" result it is fondly hoped the electoral vot
of Louisiana will contribute. Chicago Time
IS The Question Settled.
le The Louisville journal, says that Coy