"C. McDonald Fago, a British subject, resi- "To such an extent has this thing gone, that dent many years in New Orleans, is about to inmates of the parish prison, sent there for grand make claim to the property of Wright & Allen | larceny, robbery, &c., in humble imitation of the in New, Orleans, which has been taken posses- foreign consuls, have agreed together to send an sion of by the United States authorities here un agent to Washington to ask for a commissioner der the following state of facts; to investigate charges made by these thieves against the provost-marshal, by whose vigilance they were detected. "Wright & Allen are cotton-brokers, who claim to have property outside of New Orleans of two millions of dollars. They are most rabid rebels, and were of those who published a card advising the planters not to send forward their crop of cotton for the purpose of inducing foreign intervention. "Soon after we came to New Orleans, they mortgaged their real estate here, consisting of a house, for $60,000, to planters in the State of Arkansas, and then sold the equity, together with their furniture, for $5,000 to Mr. Fago: paying about four thousand five hundred dollars per annum interest on the property, and to receive nothing. His only payment, however, was by his own note in twelve months, which was sent to their friend, the planter in Arkansas. "Wright & Allen were then openly boasting that they would not take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and were encouraging others to refuse and stand by secession. In order to divest themselves of the last vestige of visible property upon which the confiscation act could take effect, having given to the widow of their deceased partner, an Irish woman, a note or notes for three thousand five hundred dollars, they then sell her their plate for that amount, and then have it shipped under another name to Liverpool. "A large number of others are following their example; and, indeed, all the property of New Orleans is changing hands into those of foreigners and women, to avoid the consequences of the confiscation act. "Believing all this to be deplorable, I have resolved to make this a test case, and have seized this property, and intend to hold it where it is until the matter can be submitted to the courts. "Alexander the coppersmith, by his cry, 'Great is Diana of the Ephesians' ('the institution of slavery is in danger'), did me much harm in Louisiana, from the effects of which I am just recovering; and the only fear I now have is, that if the last accounts are true, Mr. Johnson will have so much more nervous apprehension for his personal safety in Baltimore than he had in New Orleans, that he will want to come back here, now the yellow fever season is over, as to a place of security.* "I have done myself the honor to make this detail of the case at length to the state department, so that all the facts are before it upon which I act. The inferences from those facts must, from the nature of testimony, be left to my judgment until the courts can act authoritatively in the matter. Another reason why I have detailed the facts is, that in the reports of Mr. Johnson furnished to the consuls to be read here, every fact is repressed which would form a shadow of justification for my acts, and ex parte affidavits of parties accused by me of fraudulent transfers of large amounts of property are the solo basis of the report. "True, by that report more than three-quarters of a million of specie is placed in the hands of one Forstall, a rebel, a leading member of the 'Southern Independent Association,' a league wherein each member bound himself by a horrid and impious oath to resist unto death itself all attempts to restore the Union. A confrère of Pierre Soulé in the committee of the city which destroyed more than ten millions of property by fire, to prevent its coming into the hands of the United States authorities, when the fleet passed the forts. "Mr. Fago has sent to Washington to have this property given up as a test case. If the course of authority here is interfered with in this "I beg of you, sir, to consider that I mention case, it will be next to impossible to maintain the characteristics of this report not in any tone order in this city. This Mr. Fago has first had of complaint of the state department. If it is nea large amount of sugar, belonging to an aid of cessary to suppress facts, to impugn the motives Governor Moore, given up to him by the deci- and disown the acts of a commanding officer of sion of Reverdy Johnson. Emboldened by this the army in the field, or to publish to those experiment he proposes to try once more. If plotting the destruction of the republic, that he successful, I should prefer that the government has had control of public affairs in New Orleans would get some one else to hold New Orleans taken from him and transferred to a subordinate, instead of myself. Indeed, sir, I beg leave to because of the harshness of his administration, as add, that another such commissioner as Mr. was done in the dispatch to the minister of the Johnson sent to New Orleans would render the Netherlands, even if the fact is not true, I bow city untenable. The town itself got into such a to the mandate of 'state necessity' without a state while Mr. Johnson was here, that he con- murmur. I have made larger sacrifices than this fessed to me that he could hardly sleep from for my country, and am prepared for still greater, nervousness from fear of a rising, and hurried if need be, but I only wish to make them when away, hardly completing his work, as soon as he they will be useful, and therefore have painted heard Baton Rouge was about to be attacked. the effect of the commission, report, and dis"The result of his mission here has caused it patch upon a turbulent, rebellious, uneasy, exto be understood that I am not supported by the citable, vindictive, brutalized, half foreign popugovernment; that I am soon to be relieved;lation, maddened by exaggerated reports of the that all my acts are to be overhauled, and that a actions of their fellows, the fall of the national rebel may do anything he pleases in the city, as capital, the invasion of the North, and excited the worst may be a few days' imprisonment, to insubordination by the double hope, that when my successor will come and he will be released. *The rebel army was then in Maryland. either by the success of the arms of their breth- | held responsible that every householder failing ren, or the interference of the national executive to make such return, within three days from the in their behalf, they shall soon be released from the only government which has ever held the city in quiet order, or unplundering peace. Awaiting instructions, "I have the honor to be, "Your obedient servant, "BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, first of October, is reported to the provost marshal; and five dollars for such neglect, for every day in which it is not reported, will be deducted from such policeman's pay, and he shall be dismissed. And a like sum for conviction of any householder not making his or her return shall be paid to the policeman reporting such householder. "Every person who shall, in good faith, renew his or her allegiance to the United States previous to the first day of October next, and shall remain truly loyal, will be recommended to the president for pardon of his or her previous offenses." This letter clearly marks the point of divergence between the two modes of dealing with the rebellion. As the reports of Mr. Johnson and the correspondence of Mr. Seward with Mr. Van Limburgh have been published, it is but fair that this dispatch should be also printed. Whether the confiscation act was a politic or an impolitic measure is a question upon which honest and patriotic men may differ-do differ. But the act having been passed and approved, there can be no doubt that the duty of commanding generals was to give it real effect-not allow the government to be defrauded by the hasty manu-sons, it is thought, acted upon this opinion; for facture of fictitious legal papers. General Butler continued his preparations for enforcing the confiscation act. The day after the expiration of the sixty days' grace, the following general order was issued: "NEW ORLEANS, September 24, 1862. This order led to a run on the oath offices. It was "understood" among the secessionists that an oath given to Yankees for the purpose of retaining property was a mere form of words not binding upon the consciences of the chivalric sons of the South. A very large number of perwhile the offices appointed for receiving the oaths were thronged and surrounded by eager multitudes of oath-takers, the number of "registered enemies" was less than four thousand. "People," said the Delta, "who take the oath of allegiance, and afterward say, with a sneer, 'it did not go farther than there' (pointing to their Before General Butler left the department, sixty thousand of its inhabitants had taken the oath of allegiance to the government of the United States. The rebel General Jeff. Thompson, who was in command near the Union lines, contrived to get in a word on this subject: "All persons, male or female, within this de-throat), should bear in mind that if it is kept in that position, and they conduct themselves acpartment, of the age of eighteen years and up cordingly, there is great danger of its choking ward, who have ever been citizens of the United them some fine morning." States, and have not renewed their allegiance before this date to the United States, or who now hold or pretend any allegiance or sympathy with the so-called Confederate States, are ordered to report themselves, on or before the first day of October next, to the nearest provost-marshal, with a descriptive list of all their property and rights of property, both real, personal aud mixed, made out and signed by themselves respectively, with the same particularity as for taxation. They shall also report their place of residence by Maj.-Gen. BUTLER, U. S. A., New Orleans, La: number, street, or other proper description, and their occupation, which registry shall be signed by themselves, and each shall receive a certificate from the marshal of registration as claiming to be an enemy of the United States. แ Any persons, of those described in this order, neglecting so to register themselves, shall be subject to fine, or imprisonment at hard labor, or both, and all his or her property confiscated, by order, as punishment for such neglect. "PONCHIATOULA, LA., September 28th, "Sunday, 8 o'clock A.M. "[Per Underground Telegraph.] "GENERAL:-We thank you for General Order No. 76. It will answer us for a precedent at New Orleans; St. Louis, Louisville, Baltimore, Washington, each of which we will have in a few days. We were undetermined how to act. Please 'pile it on.' "Yours respectfully, "JEFFERSON THOMPSON, "Brig.-Gen. C. S., comd'g Southern Line." "On the first day of October next, every householder shall return to the provost-marshal nearest him, a list of each inmate in his or her If the general could regard this epistle as a house, of the age of eighteen years or upward, joke, there were other correspondents whose which list shall contain the following par- communications caused him real distress. The ticulars: The name, sex, age and occupation of venerable and benevolent Dr. Mercer, for exeach inmate, whether a registered alien, one ample, a. gentleman for whom General Butler, in who has taken the oath of allegiance to the common with the whole army, entertained the United States, a registered enemy of the United most sincere respect, addressed him upon the States, or one who has neglected to register him-subject of General Order No. 76. self or herself, either as an alien, a loyal citizen, "You have probably inferred, from our varior a registered enemy. All householders neg-ous conversations, that I have not taken an oath lecting to make such returus, or making a false of allegiance to the Confederate States, nor have return, shall be punished by fine, or imprisonment with hard labor, or both. "Each policeman will, within his beat, be been a member of any society or public body in New Orleans, or elsewhere in the confederacy • and that since your arrival here, I have main "NEW ORLEANS, October 17, 1862. "All persons holding powers of attorney or letters of authorization from, or who are merely acting for, or tenants of, or intrusted with any moneys, goods, wares, property or merchandise, real, personal or mixed, of any person now in the any person not known by such agent, tenant or trustee to be a loyal citizen of the United States, or a bona fide neutral subject of a foreign government, will retain in their own hand, until farther orders, all such moneys, goods, wares, mer tained a strict neutrality. In pursuance with your Order No. 76, I will make a faithful return, substantially, if not minutely accurate, of all my property here, except about $3,000, the greater part of which is in gold, that I have rescrved for an emergency. I mention this to you now to avoid misapprehension. Your order re-service of the so-called Confederate States, or ferred to exempts only those who have taken the oath of allegiance; but I can not think you intend to include those in my situation as claiming to be 'enemies of the United States.' Such an interpretation is, in my opinion, at variance with the act of congress, as well as with the pro-chandise and property, and make an accurate clamation of President Lincoln." General Butler replied: "In my judgment, there can be no such thing as neutrality by a citizen of the United States in this contest for the life of the government. As an officer, I cannot recognize such neutrality. "He that is not for us is against us.' "All good citizens are called upon to lend their influence to the United States; all that do not do so, are the enemies of the United States; the line is to be distinctly and broadly drawn. Every citizen must find himself on one side or the other of that line, and can claim no other position than that of a friend or an enemy of the United States. "While I am sorry to be obliged to differ from you in your construction of the act of congress and the proclamation of the president, I cannot permit any reservation of property from the list, or exemption of persons from the requirement of Order No. 76. It may be, and, I trust, is quite true, that by no act of yours have you rendered yourself liable to the coufiscation of your property under the act and proclamation; but that is for the military or other courts (to decide). You, however, will advise yourself, with your usual care and caution, what may be the effect, now that you are solemnly called upon to declare yourself in favor of the government, of contumaciously refusing to renew your allegiance to it, thereby inducing, from your example, others of your fellow-citizens to remain in the same opposition. I am glad to acknowledge your long and upright life as a man, your former services as an officer of the government, and the high respect I entertain for your personal character and moral worth; but I am dealing with your duty as a citizen of the United States. All these noble qualities, as well as your high social condition, render your example all the more influential and pernicious; and, I grieve to add, in my opinion, more dangerous to the interests of the United States, than if, a younger man, you had shouldered your musket and marched to the field in the army of rebellion." Dr. Mercer was therefore, compelled to choose a position on one side or the other of the "broad line." He did not take the oath of allegiance, but preferred to enroll himself among the registered enemies of his country. After the departure of General Butler, he escaped to New York, where he has since resided. General Butler proceeded in the work recommended by Jeff. Thompson, of "piling it on," taking the material from the "piles" of the friends and comrades of that humorous officer. Another of his raking general orders appeared in October, which sensibly reduced the income of many conspicuous abettors of the rebellion: return of the same to David C. G. Field, Esq., the financial clerk of this department, upon oath, on or before the first day of November next. Every such agent, tenant or trustee failing to make true return, or who shall pay over or deliver any such moneys, goods, wares, merchandise and property to, or for the use, directly or indirectly, of any person not known by him to be a loyal citizen of the United States, without an order from these head-quarters, will be held personally responsible for the amount so neglected to be returned, paid over or delivered. All rents due or to become due by tenants of property belonging to persons not known to be loyal citizens of the United States, will be paid as they become due, to D. C. G. Field, Esq., financial clerk of the department." To complete the reader's knowledge of this subject, it is only necessary to add that, early in December, all registered enemies who desired to leave New Orleans, not to return, were permitted to do so. Several hundreds availed themselves of this permission, much to the relief of the party for the Union. It was these stern and rigorously executed measures which completed the subjugation of the secessionists of New Orleans, and deprived them of all power to co-operate with treason beyond the Union lines. It was these measures which alone could have prepared the way for the sincere return of Louisiana to the Union, the first requisite to which was the suppression of the small party which had traitorously taken the state out of the Union. To complete the regeneration of the state, it was necessary to foster the self-respect, protect the interests, maintain the rights, and raise in the scale of civilization that vast majority of the people of Louisiana, white and black, bond and free, whose interests and the interests of the United States are identical. This great and difficult work General Butler was permitted only to begin. The backwoodsman was called from his fields when the forests had been cleared, the swamps drained, the noxious creatures driven away, and all the rough, wild work done. There would have been a harvest in the following year, if the same energetic and fertile mind had continued to wield the resources of the land. CHAPTER XXI. MORE OF THE IRON HAND. CERTAIN of the Episcopal clergy of New Orleans felt the rigor of General Butler's rule. The clergy of New Orleans were secessionists, of course. Any Christian minister capable of voluntarily living in the South during the last twenty years, or any one who was permitted to live there, must have been a person prepared to forsake all and follow slavery. This was the condition of their exercising the clerical office in the cotton kingdom, and when the time came they complied with that condition. One "eminent divine" of New Orleans, it is said, was heard to remark, that strong as was his belief in special providential dispensations, that faith would receive a severe, perhaps a fatal shock, if the yellow fever did not become epidemic in New Orleans that summer. left us in the North, but they cannot act for us till we have acted for ourselves; and it would be as pusillanimous in us to desert our friends as to cower before our enemies. To advance, is to secure our rights; to recede, is to lay our fortunes, our honor, our liberty, under the feet of our enemies. I know that the consequences of such a course, unless, guided by discretion, are perilous. But, peril our fortunes, peril our lives, come what will, let us never peril our liberty and our honor. I am willing, at the call of my honor and my liberty, to die a freeman; but I'll never, no never, live a slave; and the alternative now presented by our enemies is secession or slavery. Let it be liberty or death !" General Butler ventured to adduce this sermon as evidence of its author's enmity to the Union. Dr. Leacock's reply revealed an astounding moral obliquity: When the confiscation act was about to be enforced, General Butler had a controversy with Dr. Leacock, the Episcopal clergyman who promised to read the burial service over Lieutenant De Kay, and broke his promise. This gentleman was of English birth, but had long "I have not the sermon in manuscript to resided in New Orleans, and, I believe, had which, in your note of yesterday, you refer. It become a citizen of the United States; at least, was taken down during its delivery by a reporter he expressly disclaimed the protection of British unknown to me, but, being called away from the law. Dr. Leacock, it appears, now desired ex- church before it was concluded, he requested the emption from the decrees which tended to manuscript, that he might not, as he said, give a separate the friends from the enemies of the wrong report of my views. It was given, but Union, and which denied all favor and privileges never returned. I send, however, a printed copy of to those who openly adhered to the Coufederate it with this remark; that the last section, which cause. He claimed to be a friend of the Union-I have circumscribed in pencil, was not delivered in fact, a Union man. Still, he was not prepared from the pulpit, as my whole congregation can to take the oath of allegiance. Now, this man, in November, 1860, had preached a sermon in favor of secession, which so exactly chimed in with the feelings of the secessionists, that four editions of it were printed and sold, to "There is no man that desires more heartily the number of 30,000 copies. The sermon was than myself the restoration of this Union, as it the usual silly tirade against "the abolitionists," was before the present controversy arose. "the savage fanatics of the North," the deadly evidence of this fact, I send you another sermon, enemies of a noble southern chivalry. It con- which was delivered a few weeks after the one tained, also, the regulation paragraphs upon in print; and as you will find great difficulty in John Brown and his "band of assassins," and reading it, I will transcribe the closing paragraph, the "infidel preachers" who had "stimulated" to which I desire to refer you, as expressive of them to fall upon a poor, innocent, unsuspect- what I felt then, and of what I feel now. ing, persecuted, patient, long-suffering southern "The destruction of our Union! Oh, there people. The concluding paragraph of this sor-is not a spot on the civilized globe that would mon was the following: not lament the destruction of our Union. The wail with which the fathers in Egypt pierced the air on the death of their first-born, is ready to burst forth from our bosoms if this dire event should happen." "Now, in justice to myself, I must be permitted to make a remark before I close. But a few weeks ago I counseled you, from this place, to avoid all precipitate action; but at the same tine to take determined action-such action only as you thought you could take with the conscious support of reason and religion. I give that counsel still. But I am one of you. I feel as a southerner. Southern honor is my honorsouthern degradation is my degradation. Let no man mistake my meaning or call my words idle. As a southerner, then, I will speak, and 1 give it as my firm aud unhesitating belief, that nothing is now left us but secession. I do not like the word, but it is the only one to express my meaning. We do not secede-our enemies have seceded. We are on the constitution-our enemies are not on the constitution; and our language should be, if you will not go with us, we will not go with you. You may form for yourselves a constitution; but we will administer among ourselves the constitution which our fathers have left us. This should be our language and solemn determination. Such action our honor demands; such action will save the Union, if anything can. We have yet friends testify; and that the publisher was immediately required by me, in the presence of several gentlenen, to state this fact, that it might be omitted in any future publication. In General Butler, not desiring farther correspondence with this reverend person, caused Captain Puffer to ask him whether he had published any recantation or disavowal of the secession paragraph of his sermon, or whether any one else had done so for him. He replied; "I do not know. I only know that I requested the reporter, both in person and by letter, to omit the last paragraph, because I did not give utterance to it." It thus appeared that this Union man had stood by and seen tens of thousands of copies of a sermon advising the dismemberment of the Union, and had enjoyed the popularity attached to the utterance of such advice, without deeming it worth while to inform the public that the passage had never been delivered, and did not express his mature opinion. Those who can believe in such Unionism may also be able to believe that the sermon quoted in the doctor's letter was delivered after the published one, which every man in his congregation must have read. A few days after, an event occurred which | clergy of the Episcopal church had taken upon brought General Butler into such direct collision themselves the most solemn vows to obey the with the Episcopal clergy, that New Orleans was canons and rubrics of the church, and their omisnot considered by the general large enough to sion of part of the liturgy was of the nature of contain both parties in the controversy. perjury. On a Sunday morning, early in October, Major Strong entered the office of the general in plain clothes, and said: "I haven't been able to go to church since we came to New Orleans. This morning I am going." "But, General," said Dr. Leacock, "your insisting upon the taking of the oath of allegianco is causing half of my church-members to perjure themselves." "Well," replied the general, "if that is the result of your nine years' preaching; if your people will commit perjury so freely, the sooner you leave your pulpit the better." After further conversation, Dr. Leacock asked: "Well, General, are you going to shut up the -churches?" "No, sir, I am more likely to shut up the ministers." He crossed the street, and took a front seat in the Episcopal church of Dr. Goodrich, opposite the mansion of General Twiggs. He joined in the excrcises with the earnestness which was natural to his devout mind, until the clergyman reached that part of the service where the prayer for the president of the United States occurs. That prayer was omitted, and the minister invited the congregation to spend a few moments in silent prayer. The young officer had not previously heard of this mode of evading, at once, the requirements of the church, and the orders of the commanding general. He rose inette." his place and said: "Stop, sir. It is my duty to bring these exercises to a close. I came here for the purpose, and the sole purpose, of worshiping God; but inasmuch as your minister has seen fit to omit invoking a blessing, as our church service requires, upon the president of the United States, I propose to close the services. This house will be shut within ten minutes." The clergyman, astounded, began to remon strate. "This is no time for discussion, sir," said the major. The minister was speechless and indignant. The ladies flashed wrath upon the officer, who stood motionless with folded arms. The men scowled at him. The minister soon pronounced the benediction, the congregation dispersed, and Major Strong retired to report the circumstances at head-quarters. This brought the matter to a crisis. General Butler sent for the Episcopal clergymen, Dr. Leacock, Dr. Goodrich, Dr. Fulton, and others, who were all accustomed to omit the prayer for the president, and pray in silence for the triumph of treason. The general patiently and courteous ly argued the point with them at great length, quoting Bible, rubrics and history with his wonted fluency. They replied that, in omitting the prayer, they were only obeying the orders of the Right Reverend Major-General Polk, their ecclesiastical superior. The general denied the authority of that military prelate to change the liturgy, and contended that the omission of the prayer, in the peculiar circumstances of the time and place, was an overt act of treason. Obedience to the powers that be, he said, was the peculiar aim and boast of the Episcopal church; and no one could doubt that the dominant power in New Orleans was the president of the United States. And even granting that the president was a usurper, that would be only one reason more for praying for him. The Union forces had not come to New Orleans for a temporary purpose; they meant to stay. There was no power on the continent or off the continent that could expel them. This praying for Davis must stop at some time; why not now? Besides, the The clergymen showing no disposition to yield, General Butler ended the interview by stating his ultimatum: "Read the prayer for the president, omit the silent act of devotion, or leave New Orleans prisoners of state for Fort Lafay After consultation with one another and with their people, after endless vacillation on the part of Dr. Leacock, three of the clergymen, Dr. Leacock, Dr. Goodrich and Mr. Fulton, decided not to read the prayer for the president. Captain Puffer was detailed to conduct them to New York, and they sailed in the next transport. On the voyage, Captain Puffer informs me, Dr. Goodrich, a benevolent, venerable man. read prayers to the returning troops, and did not omit the prayer for the president. He ministered to the sick and dying, and won the sincere regard of all on board. Three weeks after their arrival, all the state prisoners were released, and they returned to New Orleans. General Banks demanded the oath of allegiance as a condition of their landing. They declined the condition, and returned to New York. General Strong chanced to meet Dr. Goodrich, one day, at the St. Nicholas Hotel. They looked at each other for a moment in some embarrassmcnt, neither knowing what were the feelings of the other. A smile overspread the benevolent countenance of the doctor. General Strong offered his hand, which Dr. Goodrich accepted, and the two men laughed heartily at the odd encounter. 66 "You did that woll," said the clergyman, since you had made up your mind to do it; but why did'nt you come to me privately and give me notice?" General Strong oxplained the circumstances, and they continued to converse amicably. On the Sunday after the departure of the clergymen from New Orleans, their churches were open as usual, but the exercises were conducted by chaplains of the Union army, who read the service without abridgment. Not many of the auditors were of the secessionist persuasion. Church going, however, became a more frequent practice among officers and men after this purging of the pulpits, and, consequently, the places of the absent members were not all vacant. The pass-office at head-quarters presented the the most distressing illustrations of the ironhanded rule to which Louisiana was necessarily subjected. Within the Union lines there was comparative plenty; beyond them there was |