Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/479

 ''Beast" Butler Outlawed. 473

the inhabitants of the captured city by fines, levied and exacted under the threat of imprisoning recusants at hard labor with ball and chain.

The entire population of the city of New Orleans have been forced to elect between starvation, by the confiscation of all their property, and taking an oath against conscience to bear allegiance to the in- vaders of their country.

Egress from the city has been refused to those whose fortitude withstood the test, even to lone and aged women and helpless children ; and after being ejected from their homes and robbed of their property, they have been left to starve in the streets or to sub- sist on charity.

The slaves have been driven from the plantations in the neighbor- hood of New Orleans till their owners would consent to share the crops with the commanding general, his brother (Andrew J. Butler), and other officers ; and when such consent had been extorted, the slaves have been restored to the plantations and there compelled to work under the bayonets of guards of United States soldiers.

Where this partnership was refused armed expeditions have been sent to the plantations to rob them of everything that was susceptible of removal, and even slaves, too aged or infirm for work, have, in spite of their entreaties, been forced from the homes provided by the owners and driven to wander helpless on the highway.

By a recent General Order (No. 91), the entire property in that part of Louisiana lying west of the Mississippi river has been seques- trated for confiscation, and officers have been assigned to duty with orders to " gather up and collect the personal property and turn over to the proper officers, upon their receipts, such of said property as may be required for the use of the United States army ; to collect together all the other personal property and bring the same to New Orleans, and cause it to be sold at public auction to the highest bidders," an order which, if executed, condemns to punish- ment by starvation at least a quarter of a million of human beings, of all ages, sexes, and conditions, and of which the execution, although forbidden to military officers by the orders of President Lincoln, is in accordance with the confiscation law of our enemies, which he has directed to be enforced through the agency of civil officials. And, finally, the African slaves have not only been excited to insurrection by every license and encouragement, but numbers of them have actually been armed for a servile war, a war, in its nature, far exceeding in horrors the most merciless atrocities of the savages.

And, whereas, the officers under the command of the said Butler,