the city, it was related as a topic of conversation that a very
respectable citizen named Bibb had had a difficulty with three
gentlemen, who insisted on his reading out the news for them from his
paper as he went to market in the early morning. Mr. Bibb had a revolver
“casually” in his pocket, and he shot one citizen dead on the spot, and
wounded the other two severely, if not mortally. “Great sympathy,” I am
told, “is felt for Mr. Bibb.” There has been a skirmish somewhere on the
Potomac, but Bibb has done more business “on his own hook” than any of
the belligerents up to this date; and, though I can scarcely say I
sympathize with him, far be it from me to say that I do not respect him.
One curious result of the civil war in its effects on the South will,
probably, extend itself as the conflict continues--I mean the refusal of
the employers to pay their workmen, on the ground of inability. The
natural consequence is much distress and misery. The English Consul is
harassed by applications for assistance from mechanics and skilled
laborers who are in a state bordering on destitution and starvation.
They desire nothing better than to leave the country and return to their
homes. All business, except tailoring for soldiering and cognate labors,
are suspended. Money is not to be had. Bills on New York are worth
little more than the paper, and the exchange against London is
enormous--18 per cent. discount from the par value of the gold in bank,
good draughts on England having been negotiated yesterday at 92 per
cent. One house has been compelled to accept 4 per cent. on a draught on
the North, where the rate was usually from ¼ per cent. to ½ per cent.
There is some fear that the police force will be completely broken up,
and the imagination refuses to guess at the result. The city schools
will probably be closed--altogether, things do not look well at New
Orleans. When all their present difficulties are over, a struggle
between the mob and the oligarchy, or those who have no property and
those who have, is inevitable; for one of the first acts of the
Legislature will probably be directed to establish some sort of
qualification for the right of suffrage, relying on the force which will
be at their disposal on the close of the war. As at New York, so at New
Orleans. Universal suffrage is denounced as a curse, as corruption
legalized, confiscation organized. As I sat in a well-furnished
club-room last night, listening to a most respectable, well-educated,
intelligent gentleman descanting on the practices of “the Thugs”--an
organized band who coolly and deliberately committed murder for the
purpose of intimidating Irish and German voters, and were only put down
by a Vigilance Committee, of which he was a member--I had almost to
pinch myself to see that I was not the victim of a horrid nightmare.
* * * * *
MONDAY, MAY 27.--The Washington Artillery went off to-day to the
wars--_quo fas et gloria ducunt_; but I saw a good many of them in the
streets after the body had departed--spirits who were disembodied. Their
uniform is very becoming, not unlike that of our own foot artillery, and
they have one battery of guns in good order. I looked in vain for any
account of Mr. Bibb’s little affair yesterday in the papers. Perhaps, as
he is so very respectable, there will not be any reference to it at all.
Indeed, in some conversation on the subject last night it was admitted
that when men were very rich they might find judges and jury-men as
tender as Danae, and policeman as permeable as the walls of her dungeon.
The whole question now is, “What will be done with the blockade?” The
Confederate authorities are acting with a high hand. An American vessel,
the Ariel, which had cleared out of port with British subjects on board,
has been overtaken, captured, and her crew have been put in prison. The
ground is that she is owned in main by Black Republicans. The British
subjects have received protection from the Consul. Prizes have been
made within a league of shore, and in one instance, when the captain
protested, his ship was taken out to sea, and was then re-captured
formally. I went round to several merchants to-day; they were all gloomy
and fierce. In fact, the blockade of Mobile is announced, and that of
New Orleans has commenced, and men-of-war have been reported off the
Pas-à-l’Outre. The South is beginning to feel that it is being bottled
up all fermenting and frothing, and is somewhat surprised and angry at
the natural results of its own acts, or, at least, of the proceedings
which have brought about a state of war. Mr. Slidell did not seem at all
contented with the telegrams from the North, and confessed that “if they
had been received by way of Montgomery he should be alarmed.” The names
of persons liable for military service have been taken down in several
districts, and British subjects have been included. Several applications
have been made to Mr. Mure, the Consul, to interfere in behalf of men
who, having enlisted, are now under orders to march, and who must leave
their families destitute if they go away; but he has, of course, no
power to exercise any influence in such cases. The English journals to
the 4th of May have arrived here to-day. It is curious to see how quaint
in their absurdity the telegrams become when they have reached the age
of three weeks. I am in the hapless position of knowing, without being
able to remedy, the evils from this source, for there is no means of
sending through to New York political information of any sort by
telegraph. The electric fluid may be the means of blasting and blighting
many reputations, as there can be no doubt the revelations which the
Government at Washington will be able to obtain through the files of the
despatches it has seized at the various offices, will compromise some
whose views have recently undergone remarkable changes. It is a hint
which may not be lost on Governments in Europe when it is desirable to
know friends and foes hereafter, and despotic rulers will not be slow to
take a hint from “the land of liberty.”
Orders have been issued by the Governor to the tow-boats to take out the
English vessels by the southwest passage, and it is probable they will
all get through without any interruption on the part of the blockading
force. It may be imagined that the owners and consignees of cargoes from
England, China, and India, which are on their way here, are not at all
easy in their minds. Two of the Washington Artillery died in the train
on their way to that undefinable region called “the seat of war.”
MAY 28.--The Southern States have already received the assistance of
several thousands of savages, or red men, and “the warriors” are
actually engaged in pursuing the United States troops in Texas in
conjunction with the State Volunteers. A few days ago a deputation of
the chiefs of the Five Nations, Creeks, Choctaws, Seminoles, Camanches,
and others passed through New Orleans on their way to Montgomery, where
they hoped to enter into terms with the Government for the transfer of
their pension list and other responsibilities from Washington, and to
make such arrangements for their property and their rights as would
justify them in committing their fortunes to the issue of war. These
tribes can turn out twenty thousand warriors, scalping-knives,
tomahawks, and all. The chiefs and principal men are all slaveholders.
MAY 29.--A new “affair” occurred this afternoon. The servants of the
house in which I am staying were alarmed by violent screams in a house
in the adjoining street, and by the discharge of firearms--an occurrence
which, like the cry of “murder” in the streets of Havana, clears the
streets of all wayfarers if they be wise, and do not wish to stop stray
bullets. The cause is thus stated in the journals:
“SAD FAMILY AFFRAY.--Last evening, at the residence of Mr. A. P.
Withers, in Nayades street, near Thalia, Mr. Withers shot and
dangerously wounded his step-son, Mr. A. F. W. Mather. As the police
tell it, the nature of the affair was this: The two men were in the
parlor, and talking about the Washington Artillery, which left on Monday
for Virginia. Mather denounced the artillerists in strong language, and
his step-father denied what he said. Violent language followed, and, as
Withers says, Mather drew a pistol and shot at him once, not hitting
him. He snatched up a Sharp’s revolver that was lying near and fired
four times at his step-son. The latter fell at the third fire, and as he
was falling Withers fired a fourth time, the bullet wounding the hand of
Mrs. Withers, wife of one and mother of the other, she having rushed in
to interfere, and she being the only witness of the affair. Withers
immediately went out into the street and voluntarily surrendered himself
to officer Casson, the first officer he met. He was locked up. Three of
his shots hit Mather, two of them in the breast. Last night Mather was
not expected to live.”
Another difficulty is connected with the free colored people who may be
found in prize ships. Read and judge of the conclusion:
“What shall be done with them?--On the 28th inst., Capt. O. W.
Gregor, of the privateer Calhoun, brought to the station of this
district about ten negro sailors, claiming to be free, found on
board of the brigs Panama, John Adams, and Mermaid.
“The Recorder sent word to the Marshal of the Confederate States
that said negroes were at his disposition. The Marshal refused to
receive them or have anything to do with them, whereupon the
Recorder gave the following decision:
“‘Though I have no authority to act in this case, I think it is my
duty as a magistrate and good citizen to take upon myself, in this
critical moment, the responsibility of keeping the prisoners in
custody, firmly believing it would not only be bad policy, but a
dangerous one, to let them loose upon the community.’
“The following despatch was sent by the Recorder to the Hon. J. P.
Benjamin:
“‘NEW ORLEANS, May 23.
“‘To J. P. BENJAMIN, Richmond--_Sir:_ Ten free negroes, taken by a
privateer from on board three vessels returning to Boston, from a
whaling voyage, have been delivered to me. The Marshal refuses to
take charge of them. What shall I do with them?
‘Respectfully, A. BLACHE,
‘Recorder, Second District.’”
The monthly statement I enclose of the condition of the New Orleans
banks on the 25th inst., must be regarded as a more satisfactory exhibit
to their depositors and shareholders, though of no greater benefit to
the commercial community in this its hour of need than the tempting show
of a pastrycook’s window to the famished street poor. These institutions
show assets estimated at $54,000,000, of which $20,000,000 are in specie
and sterling exchange, to meet $25,000,000 of liabilities, or more than
two for one. But, with this apparent amplitude of resources, the New
Orleans banks are at a deadlock, affording no discounts and buying no
exchange--the latter usually their greatest source of profit in a mart
which ships so largely of cotton, sugar, and flour, and the commercial
movement of which for not over nine months of the year is the second in
magnitude among the cities of the old Union.
As an instance of the caution of their proceedings, I have only to state
that a gentleman of wealth and the highest respectability, who needed a
day or two since some money for the expenses of an unexpected journey,
was compelled, in order to borrow of these banks the sum of $1,500, to
hypothecate, as security for his bill at 60 days, $10,000 of bonds of
the Confederate States, and for which a month ago he paid par in coin--a
circumstance which reflects more credit upon the prudence of the banks
than upon the security pledged for this loan.
MOVEMENTS OF THE BANKS, MAY 25, 1861.
CASH RESPONSIBILITIES.
Circulation--Chartered Banks, $5,323,376
Circulation--Free Banks, 1,798,835
---------- $7,122,211
Deposits--Chartered Banks, $12,979,307
Deposits--Free Banks, 4,929,544
---------- $17,908,851
----------
Total, $25,031,062
CASH ASSETS.
Coin--Chartered Banks, $10,808,812
Coin--Free Banks, 4,183,722
---------- $14,992,534
Exchange, chiefly sterling matured and
maturing:
Chartered Banks, $4,481,140
Free Banks, 1,083,928
--------- $ 5,565,068
-----------
Total, $20,557,602
Short commercial paper, 1 to 90 days,
intended to meet cash responsibilities,
and not renewable:
Chartered Banks, $7,235,077
Free Banks, 4,670,979
--------- $11,906,056
-----------
Total, $32,463,658
Circulation of the Free Banks, secured by a
deposit in the public Treasury, of State
and New Orleans City Bonds, to the amount
of, $3,793,873
The Chartered Banks hold of the same
securities, 1,747,467
--------- $5,541,340
DEAD WEIGHT.
Chartered Banks--bills and mortgaged
bonds and other assets, not realizable $14,140,925
in 90 days,
Free Banks--bills and mortgaged bonds and
other assets, not realizable in 90 days, 2,606,249
---------- $16,747,174
-----------
Total $54,752,172
-----------
Remarks:
Amount of coin, as above, $14,993,531
Amount of coin required by the Fundamental Bank
Rules of Louisiana--one-third of the cash responsibilities,
say, on $25,031,062, as above, $8,343,137
----------
Surplus, $6,648,847
----------
Amount of short notes maturing within a circle of 90
days, and exchange, as above, $17,471,124
Amount required to be held by the Fundamental Bank
Rules--at least two-thirds, $16,687,378
-----------
Surplus, $783,771
LETTER XIII.
NATCHEZ, Miss., June 14.