The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-01-10

insertion, and so cents for each subsequent.
~ Special notices 10 cents line.
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Mr.. Trescot ON General Howara's
Report.
Before we consider the merits of
this report, we are glad to be able to
do justice to its author. Gen. How
ard is an officer of eminence, man
of very high character, conscientious
motive and pure conduct. He is not
fanatic, blind to the truth; he is not
politician, unheedful of it. He is
one who we believe strives honestly
to do his duty, consistently as to his
principles, and considerably to those
who must suffer by their action.
And yet SO difficult is the problem
with which he has to deal, 50 impos-
sible does it seem to reconcile the
justice due to the parties before him,
that we find with surprise and pain
that he who, in war, was a generous
enemy, and who is in peace Chris
tian gentleman, can find no better
remedy than the wholesale spoliation
of those over whom he has trlumphed
as q soldier, and whom he should for
give as a Christian. The only text
which seems to have suggested itself
to him is-''From those who have
not, shall be taken away even the little
t6at they have" For in September,
1865, he recommends that the pardon
of the President be hereafter granted
only on the condition ''that the land
owner agree to set apart and grant
title in fee simple to each head of
family of his former slaves-a home
stead varying in extent from five to
ten acres. / feel quite sanguine that
this course would prodnce content
ment among the freedmen, and afford
an example to other land owners who
are not affected by it." And we may
remark that this latter expression of
satisfaction with his original recon-
mendation appears to be part of the
present report, and therefore an indi-
cation of his continued approval of
the policy of transferring the lands
of former owners to the present freed
men, To appreciate fully the char
acter and value of this report, and to
draw from it its just conclusions, one
leading fact must be borne in mind,
and that is, that there are two marked
periods in the history of the Freed
mems Bureau-the one extending
from its creation, in March, 1865, to
the issue of the famous Circular No.
Is, 18th of September, 1865; the other
from that time until to-day. We pro-
pose to sketch them both briefly.
On January 16, 1865, Gen. Sher-
man, then at Savannah, on his march
through the South, issued an order
Sin the field, +" by which lie set apart
"the islands from Charleston South,
the abandoned rice fields along the
rivers for thirty miles back from the
sea and the country bordering the
st. Johns River, Florida" ''for the
settlement of the negroes now made
free by the acts Of war and the pro-
clnmation of the President of the
United States" It is not necessary
to examine at present the legal worth
of this order; it may be, however, as
well to remark, in passing, that the
Tax Commissioners do not hesitate to
compel the owners of these lands to
pay taxes as if they were still theirs
Under this order, large portions of
the sea- coast were occupied by the
resident freedmen and such vagabond
negroes as swarmed in the rear of
Gen. Sherman's columns. With these
new colonies to organize and provide
for, another step became necessary,
and in March, 1865, Congress passed
the Act creating the Freedmen's Bu-
reau, by which Act all tracts of land
within the insurrectionary States
which had been abandoned, or to
which the United States had acquired
title by coniscation, sale, or other
Awise, were set apart for the use of
6sl refugees and freedmen, and the
eral supervision of these lands,
- the persons for whose use they
|e set apart, was given to the new
teau. Gen. Howard was placed at
E head Of the bureau, and in the
appointment of Assistant Commis-
foners Gen. Rufus Saxton was put in
charge of South Carolina. A more
efficient officer could not have been
selected, for his heart was in his work
He believed honestly in the propriety
of subordina,1ng the white man to
the black, of coniscating the lands of
the former owner, who was y rebel,
and giving them as homes to the
former slave, who was loyal subject.
The object of Gen. Sherman's order
and of the Freedmans Bureau was
to do this very thing, and the proper
man was selected to do it. Nor can
any blame up to this point attach to
Gen. Saxton; he was carrying out the