actually in the field in the South, and the amount of arms in the
possession of the Federal forces. The constant advertisements and
appeals for “a few more men to complete” such and such companies furnish
some sort of evidence that men are still wanting. But a painful and
startling insight into the manner in which “volunteers” have been
sometimes obtained has been afforded to me at New Orleans. In no country
in the world have outrages on British subjects been so frequent and so
wanton as in the States of America. They have been frequent, perhaps,
because they have generally been attended with impunity. Englishmen,
however, will be still a little surprised to hear that within a few days
British subjects living in New Orleans have been seized, knocked down,
carried off from their labor at the wharf and the workshop, and forced
by violence to serve in the “volunteer” ranks! These cases are not
isolated. They are not in twos and threes, but in tens and twenties;
they have not occurred stealthily or in by-ways; they have taken place
in the open day, and in the streets of New Orleans. These men have been
dragged along like felons, protesting in vain that they were British
subjects. Fortunately, their friends bethought them that there was still
a British consul in the city, who would protect his countrymen--English,
Irish, or Scotch. Mr. Mure, when he heard of the reports and of the
evidence, made energetic representations to the authorities, who, after
some evasion, gave orders that the impressed “volunteers” should be
discharged, and the “Tiger Rifles” and other companies were deprived of
the services of the thirty-five British subjects whom they had taken
from their usual avocations. The mayor promises that it shall not occur
again. It is high time that such acts should be put a stop to, and that
the mob of New Orleans should be taught to pay some regard to the usages
of civilized nations. There are some strange laws here and elsewhere in
reference to compulsory service on the part of foreigners which it would
be well to inquire into, and Lord John Russell may be able to deal with
them at a favorable opportunity. As to any liberty of opinion or real
freedom here, the boldest Southerner would not dare to say a shadow of
either exists. It may be as bad in the North, for all I know; but it
must be remembered that in all my communications I speak of things as
they appear to me to be in the place where I am at the time. The most
cruel and atrocious acts are perpetrated by the rabble who style
themselves citizens. The national failing of curiosity and prying into
other people’s affairs is now rampant, and assumes the name and airs of
patriotic vigilance. Every stranger is watched, every word is noted,
espionage commands every keyhole and every letter-box; love of country
takes to evesdropping, and freedom shaves men’s heads, and packs men up
in boxes for the utterance of “Abolition sentiments.” In this city there
is a terrible substratum of crime and vice, violence, misery, and
murder, over which the wheels of the Cotton King’s chariot rumble
gratingly, and on which rest in dangerous security the feet of his
throne.
There are numbers of negroes who are sent out into the streets every day
with orders not to return with less than seventy-five cents--any thing
more they can keep. But if they do not gain that--about 3_s._ 6_d._ a
day--they are liable to be punished; they may be put into jail on
charges of laziness, and may be flogged ad _libitum_, and are sure to be
half starved. Can any thing, then, be more suggestive than this
paragraph, which appeared in last night’s papers. “_Only_ three
coroners’ inquests were held yesterday on persons found drowned in the
river, names unknown!” The italics are mine. Over and over again has the
boast been repeated to me, that on the plantations lock and key are
unknown or unused in the planters’ houses. But in the cities they are
much used, though scarcely trusted. It appears, indeed, that unless a
slave has made up his or her mind to incur the dreadful penalties of
flight, there would be no inducement to commit theft, for money or
jewels would be useless; search would be easy, detection nearly certain.
That all the slaves are not indifferent to the issues before them, is
certain. At the house of a planter, the other day, one of them asked my
friend, “Will we be made to work, massa, when ole English come?” An old
domestic in the house of a gentleman in this city said, “There are few
whites in this place who ought not to be killed for their cruelty to
us.” Another said, “Oh, just wait till they attack Pickens!” These
little hints are significant enough, coupled with the notices of
runaways, and the lodgments in the police jails, to show that all is not
quiet below the surface. The holders, however, are firm, and there have
been many paragraphs stating that slaves have contributed to the various
funds for state defence, and that they generally show the very best
spirit.
By the proclamation of Governor Magoffin, a copy of which I enclose, you
will see that the governor of the commonwealth of Kentucky and
commander-in-chief of all her military forces on land or water, warns
all states, separately or united, especially the United States and the
Confederate States, that he will fight their troops if they attempt to
enter his commonwealth. Thus Kentucky sets up for herself, while
Virginia is on the eve of destruction, and an actual invasion has taken
place on her soil. It is exceedingly difficult of comprehension that,
with the numerous troops, artillery, and batteries, which the
Confederate journals asserted to be in readiness to repel attack, an
invasion which took place in face of the enemy, and was effected over a
broad river, with shores readily defensible, should have been
unresisted. Here it is said there is a mighty plan, in pursuance of
which the United States troops are to be allowed to make their way into
Virginia, that they may at some convenient place be eaten up by their
enemies; and if we hear that the Confederates at Harper’s Ferry retain
their position, one may believe some such plan really exists, although
it is rather doubtful strategy to permit the United States forces to
gain possession of the right bank of the Potomac. Should the position at
Harper’s Ferry be really occupied with a design of using it as a _point
d’appui_ for movements against the North, and any large number of troops
be withdrawn from Annapolis, Washington and Baltimore, so as to leave
those places comparatively undefended, an irruption in force of the
Confederates on the right flank and in rear of General Scott’s army,
might cause most serious inconvenience, and endanger his communications,
if not the possession of the places indicated.
Looking at the map, it is easy to comprehend that a march southward from
Alexandria could be combined with an offensive movement by the forces
said to be concentrated in and around Fortress Monroe, so as to place
Richmond itself in danger, and, if any such measure is contemplated, a
battle must be fought in that vicinity, or the _prestige_ of the South
will receive very great damage. It is impossible for any one to
understand the movement of the troops on both sides. These companies are
scattered broadcast over the enormous expanse of the states, and, where
concentrated in any considerable numbers, seem to have had their
position determined rather by local circumstances than by considerations
connected with the general plan of a large campaign.
In a few days the object of the recent movement will be better
understood, and, it is probable that your correspondent at New York will
send, by the same mail which carries this, exceedingly important
information, to which I, in my present position, can have no access. The
influence of the blockade will be severely felt, combined with the
strict interruption of all intercourse by the Mississippi. Although the
South boasts of its resources and of its amazing richness and abundance
of produce, the constant advice in the journals to increase the breadth
of land under corn, and to neglect the cotton crop in consideration of
the paramount importance of the cause, indicates an apprehension of a
scarcity of food if the struggle be prolonged.
Under any circumstances, the patriotic ladies and gentlemen who are so
anxious for the war, must make up their minds to suffer a little in the
flesh. All they can depend on is a supply of home luxuries: Indian corn
and wheat, the flesh of pigs, eked out with a small supply of beef and
mutton, will constitute the staple of their food. Butter there will be
none, and wine will speedily rise to an enormous price. Nor will coffee
and tea be had, except at a rate which will place them out of the reach
of the mass of the community. These are the smallest sacrifices of war.
The blockade is not yet enforced here, and the privateers of the port
are extremely active, and have captured vessels with more energy than
wisdom.
The day before yesterday, ships belonging to the United States in that
river were seized by the Confederation authorities, on the ground that
war had broken out, and that the time of grace accorded to the enemy’s
traders had expired. Great was the rush to the consul’s office to
transfer the menaced property from ownership under the stars and stripes
to British hands; but Mr. Mure refused to recognize any transaction of
the kind, unless sale _bona fide_ had been effected before the action of
the Confederate marshals.
At Charleston the blockade has been raised, owing, apparently, to some
want of information or of means on the part of the United States
government, and considerable inconvenience may be experienced by them in
consequence. On the 11th, the United States steam-frigate Niagara
appeared outside and warned off several British ships, and on the 13th
she was visited by Mr. Bunch, our consul, who was positively assured by
the officers on board that eight or ten vessels would be down to join in
enforcing the blockade. On the 15th, however, the Niagara departed,
leaving the port open, and several vessels have since run in and
obtained fabulous freights, suggesting to the minds of the owners of the
vessels which were warned off the propriety of making enormous demands
for compensation. The Southerners generally believe not only that their
Confederacy will be acknowledged, but that the blockade will be
disregarded by England. Their affection for her is proportionably
prodigious, and reminds one of the intensity of the gratitude which
consists in lively expectations of favors to come.
NEW ORLEANS, _May 21, 1861_.
Yesterday morning early I left Mobile in the steamer Florida, which
arrived in the Lake of Pontchartrain, late at night, or early this
morning. The voyage, if it can be called so, would have offered, in less
exciting times, much that was interesting--certainly, to a stranger, a
good deal that was novel--for our course lay inside a chain, almost
uninterrupted, of reefs, covered with sand and pine-trees, exceedingly
narrow, so that the surf and waves of the ocean beyond could be seen
rolling in foam through the foliage of the forest, or on the white
beach, while the sea lake on which our steamer was speeding lay in a
broad, smooth sheet, just crisped by the breeze, between the outward
barrier and the wooded shores of the mainland. Innumerable creeks, or
“bayous,” as they are called, pierce the gloom of these endless pines.
Now and then a sail could be made out, stealing through the mazes of the
marshy waters. If the mariner knows his course, he may find deep water
in most of the channels from the outer sea into these inner waters, on
which the people of the South will greatly depend for any coasting-trade
and supplies coastwise, they may require, as well as for the safe
retreat of their privateers. A few miles from Mobile, the steamer
turning out of the bay, entered upon the series of these lakes through a
narrow channel called Grant’s Pass, which some enterprising person, not
improbably of Scottish extraction, constructed for his own behoof, by an
ingenious watercut, and for the use of which, and of a little iron
lighthouse that he has built close at hand, on the model of a
pepper-castor, he charges toll on passing vessels. This island is
scarcely three feet above the water; it is not over 20 yards broad and
150 yards long. A number of men were, however, busily engaged in
throwing up the sand, and arms gleamed amid some tents pitched around
the solitary wooden shed in the centre. A schooner lay at the wharf,
laden with two guns and sand-bags, and as we passed through the narrow
channel several men in military uniform, who were on board, took their
places in a boat which pushed off for them, and were conveyed to their
tiny station, of which one shell would make a dust heap. The Mobilians
are fortifying themselves as best they can, and seem, not unadvisedly,
jealous of gun-boats and small war-steamers. On more than one outlying
sand-bank toward New Orleans, are they to be seen at work on other
batteries, and they are busied in repairing, as well as they can, old
Spanish and new United States works which had been abandoned, or which
were never completed. The news has just been reported, indeed, that the
batteries they were preparing on Ship Island have been destroyed and
burnt by a vessel of war of the United States. For the whole day we saw
only a few coasting craft and the return steamers from New Orleans; but
in the evening a large schooner, which sailed like a witch and was
crammed with men, challenged my attention, and on looking at her through
the glass I could make out reasons enough for desiring to avoid her if
one was a quiet, short-handed, well-filled old merchantman. There could
be no mistake about certain black objects on the deck. She lay as low as
a yacht, and there were some fifty or sixty men in the waist and
forecastle. On approaching New Orleans, there are some settlements
rather than cities, although they are called by the latter title,
visible on the right hand, embowered in woods and stretching along the
beach. Such are the “Mississippi City,” Pass Cagoula, and Pass
Christian, &c.--all resorts of the inhabitants of New Orleans during the
summer heats and the epidemics which play such havoc with life from time
to time. Seen from the sea, these huge hamlets look very picturesque.
The detached villas, of every variety of architecture, are painted
brightly, and stand in gardens in the midst of magnolias and
rhododendrons. Very long and slender piers lead far into the sea before
the very door, and at the extremity of each there is a bathing-box for
the inmates. The general effect of one of these settlements, with its
light domes and spires, long lines of whitewashed railings, and houses
of every hue set in the dark green of the pines, is very pretty. The
steamer touched at two of them. There was a motley group of colored
people on the jetty, a few whites, of whom the males were nearly all in
uniform; a few bales of goods were landed or put on board, and that was
all one could see of the life of that place. Our passengers never ceased
talking politics all day, except when they were eating or drinking, for
I regret to say they can continue to chew and to spit while they are
engaged in political discussion. Some were rude provincials in uniform.
One was an acquaintance from the far East, who had been a lieutenant on
board of the Minnesota, and had resigned his commission in order to take
service under the Confederate flag. The fiercest among them all was a
thin little lady, who uttered certain energetic aspirations for the
possession of portions of Mr. Lincoln’s person, and who was kind enough
to express intense satisfaction at the intelligence that there was
small-pox among the garrison at Monroe. In the evening a little
difficulty occurred among some of the military gentlemen, during which
one of the logicians drew a revolver, and presented it at the head of
the gentleman who was opposed to his peculiar views, but I am happy to
say that an arrangement, to which I was an unwilling “party,” for the
row took place within a yard of me, was entered into for a fight to come
off on shore in two days after they landed, which led to the
postponement of immediate murder.
The entrance to Ponchartrain lake is infamous for the abundance of its
mosquitos, and it was with no small satisfaction that we experienced a
small tornado, a thunderstorm, and a breeze of wind which saved us from
their fury. It is a dismal canal through a swamp. At daylight, the
vessel lay alongside a wharf surrounded by small boats and bathing
stations. A railway shed receives us on shore, and a train is soon ready
to start for the city, which is six miles distant. For a few hundred
yards the line passes between wooden houses, used as restaurants, or
“restaurats,” as they are called hereaway, kept by people with French
names and using the French tongue; then the rail plunges through a
swamp, dense as an Indian jungle, and with the overflowings of the
Mississippi creeping in feeble, shallow currents over the black mud.
Presently the spires of churches are seen rising above the underwood and
rushes. Then we come out on a wide marshy plain, in which flocks of
cattle, up to the belly in mud, are floundering to get at the rich
herbage on the unbroken surface. Next comes a wide-spread suburb of
exceedingly broad lanes, lined with small one-storied houses. The
inhabitants are pale, lean, and sickly; and there is about the men a
certain look, almost peculiar to the fishy-fleshy populations of
Levantine towns, which I cannot describe, but which exists all along the
Mediterranean seaboard, and crops out here again. The drive through
badly-paved streets enables us to see that there is an air of French
civilization about New Orleans. The streets are wisely adapted to the
situation; they are not so wide as to permit the sun to have it all his
own way from rising to setting. The shops are “magasins;” cafés abound.
The colored population looks well dressed, and is going to mass or
market in the early morning. The pavements are crowded with men in
uniform, in which the taste of France is generally followed. The
carriage stops at last, and rest comes gratefully after the stormy
night, the mosquitos, “the noise of the captains” (at the bar), and the
shouting.
_May_ 22.--The prevalence of the war spirit here is in every thing
somewhat exaggerated by the fervor of Gallic origin, and the violence of
popular opinion and the tyranny of the mass are as potent as in any
place in the South. The great house of Brown Brothers, of Liverpool and
New York, has closed its business here in consequence of the
intimidation of the mob, or as the phrase is, of the “citizens,” who
were “excited” by seeing that the firm had subscribed to the New York
fund, on its sudden resurrection after Fort Sumter had fallen. Some
other houses are about to pursue the same course; all large business
transactions are over for the season, and the migratory population which
comes here to trade, has taken wing much earlier than usual. But the
streets are full of “Turcos,” and “Zouaves,” and “Chasseurs;” the
tailors are busy night and day on uniforms; the walls are covered with
placards for recruits; the seamstresses are sewing flags; the ladies are
carding lint and stitching cartridge-bags. The newspapers are crowded
with advertisements relating to the formation of new companies of
volunteers and the election of officers. There are Pickwick Rifles,
Lafayette, Beauregard, Irish, German, Scotch, Italian, Spanish,
Crescent, McMahon--innumerable--rifle volunteers of all names and
nationalities, and the Meagher Rifles, indignant with “that valiant son
of Mars” because he has drawn his sword for the North, have rebaptized
themselves, and are going to seek glory under a more auspicious
nomenclature. About New Orleans, I shall have more to say when I see
more of it. At present it looks very like an outlying suburb of Chalons
when the grand camp is at its highest military development, although the
thermometer is rising gradually, and obliges one to know occasionally
that it can be 95° in the shade already. In the course of my journeyings
southward, I have failed to find much evidence that there is any
apprehension on the part of the planters of a servile insurrection, or
that the slaves are taking much interest in the coming contest, or know
what it is about. But I have my suspicions that all is not right;
paragraphs meet the eye, and odd sentences strike the ear, and little
facts here and there come to the knowledge, which arouse curiosity and
doubt. There is one stereotyped sentence which I am tired of: “Our
negroes, sir, are the happiest, the most contented, and the best off of
any people in the world.”
The violence and reiterancy of this formula cause one to inquire whether
any thing which demands such insistance is really in the condition
predicated; and for myself I always say: “It may be so, but as yet I do
not see the proof of it. The negroes do not look to be what you say they
are.” For the present that is enough as to one’s own opinions.
Externally, the paragraphs which attract attention, and the acts of the
authorities, are inconsistent with the notion that the negroes are all
very good, very happy, or at all contented, not to speak of their being
in the superlative condition of enjoyment; and as I only see them as yet
in the most superficial way, and under the most favorable circumstances,
it may be that when the cotton-picking season is at its height, and it
lasts for several months, when the labor is continuous from sunrise to
sunset, there is less reason to accept the assertions as so largely and
generally true of the vast majority of the slaves. “There is an
excellent gentleman over there,” said a friend to me, “who gives his
overseers a premium of ten dollars on the birth of every child on his
plantation.” “Why so?” “Oh, in order that the overseers may not work the
women in the family-way overmuch.” There is little use in this part of
the world in making use of inferences. But where overseers do not get
the premium, it may be supposed they do work the pregnant women too
much. Here are two paragraphs which do not look very well as they stand.
Those negroes who were taken with a sudden leaving on Sunday night
last, will save the country the expenses of their burial if they
keep dark from these parts. They and other of the “breden” will not
be permitted to express themselves quite so freely in regard to
their braggadocio designs upon virtue, in the absence of
volunteers.--_Wilmington (Clintock County, Ohio) Watchman
(Republican)_.
Served Him Right. One day last week, some colored individual,
living near South Plymouth, made a threat that, in case a civil war
should occur, “he would be one to ravish the wife of every
democrat, and to help murder their offspring, and wash his hands in
their blood.” For this diabolical assertion he was hauled up before
a committee of white citizens, who adjudged him forty stripes on
his naked back. He was accordingly stripped, and the lashes were
laid on with such a good will that blood flowed at the end of the
castigation.--_Washington (Fayette County, Ohio) Register
(Neutral)_.
It is reported that the patrols are strengthened, and I could not help
hearing a charming young lady say to another, the other evening, that
“she would not be afraid to go back to the plantation, though Mrs. Brown
Jones said she was afraid her negroes were after mischief.”
There is a great scarcity of powder, which is one of the reasons,
perhaps, why it has not yet been expended as largely as might be
expected from the tone and temper on both sides. There is no sulphur in
the States; nitre and charcoal abound. The sea is open to the North.
There is no great overplus of money on either side. In Missouri, the
interest on the state debt, due in July, will be used to procure arms
for the state volunteers to carry on the war. The South is preparing for
the struggle by sowing a most unusual quantity of grain; and in many
fields corn and maize have been planted instead of cotton. “Stay laws,”
by which all inconveniences arising from the usual dull, old-fashioned
relations between debtor and creditor are avoided (at least by the
debtor), have been adopted in most of the seceding states. How is it
that the state legislatures seem to be in the hands of the debtors and
not of the creditors?