HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF
THE GULF,
New Orleans, January
29, 1863.
The proclamation of the President of the United States,
dated January 1, 1863, is published in general orders for the information and
government of the officers and soldiers of this command and all persons acting
under their authority. It designates portions of the State of Louisiana which
are not to be affected by its provisions. The laws of the United States,
however, forbid officers of the Army and Navy to return slaves to their owners
or to decide upon the claims of any person to the service or labor of another,
and the inevitable conditions of a state of war unavoidably deprive all classes
of citizens of much of that absolute freedom of action and control of property
which local law and the continued peace of the country guaranteed and secured
to them. The forcible seizure of fugitives from service or labor by their
owners is inconsistent with these laws and conditions, inasmuch as it leads to
personal violence and the disturbance of the public peace and it cannot be permitted.
Officers and soldiers will not encourage or assist slaves to leave their
employers, but they cannot compel or authorize their return by force.
The public interest peremptorily demands that all persons
without other means of support be required to maintain themselves by labor.
Negroes are not exempt from this law. Those who leave their employers will be
compelled to support themselves and families by labor upon the public works.
Under no circumstances whatever can they be maintained in idleness, or allowed
to wander through the parishes and cities of the State without employment.
Vagrancy and crime will be suppressed by enforced and constant occupation and
employment.
Upon every consideration labor is entitled to some equitable
proportion of the crops it produces. To secure the objects both of capital and
labor the sequestration commission is hereby authorized and directed, upon
conference with planters and other parties, to propose and establish a yearly
system of negro labor, which shall provide for the food, clothing, proper
treatment, and just compensation for the negroes, at fixed rates or an
equitable proportion of the yearly crop, as may be deemed advisable. It should
be just, but not exorbitant or onerous. When accepted by the planter or other
parties all the conditions of continuous and faithful service, respectful
deportment, correct discipline, and perfect subordination shall be enforced on
the part of the negroes by the officers of the Government. To secure their
payment the wages of labor will constitute a lien upon its products.
This may not be the best, but it is now the only practicable
system. Wise men will do what they can when they cannot do what they would. It
is the law of success. In three years from the restoration of peace, under this
voluntary system of labor, the State of Louisiana will produce threefold the
product of its most prosperous year in the past.
The quartermaster's department is charged with the duty of
harvesting corn on deserted fields and cultivating abandoned estates.
Unemployed negroes will be engaged in this service under the control of
suitable agents or planters, with a just compensation in food, clothing, and
money, consistent with the terms agreed upon by the commission, and under such
regulations as will tend to keep families together, to impart self-supporting
habits to the negroes, and protect the best interest of the people and the
Government.
By command of Major-General Banks:
RICH'D B. IRWIN,
Lieutenant-Colonel,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
15 (Serial No. 21), p. 666-7
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