with all possiblo eclat. There were numerous flag-raisings. Union meetings were often held, addressed by the orators both of the army and of the city. The general caused to be cut deep into the granite base of the statue of General Jackson, the motto originally designed to adorn it: The women departed with evident satisfaction; they had relieved their minds. Some of the cases demanded an intimate knowledge of local law. For example: Major Bell observed a colored woman hanging about his office for several successive days, in evident distress of mind. He asked her, one day, what she wanted. She said that all her goods had been "THE UNION-IT MUST AND SHALL BE PRE- seized by her landlord for rent, though she had " SERVED. Much good was done by these efforts. Seed was sown which might have borne glorious fruit when the success of the Union arms had given the Union men of the city an assurance of safety. New Orleans, during the administration of General Butler, possessed, for the first time in its history, a court of justice in which it was possible for justice to be done. A code of law which excludes from the witness-box the very class who are the most likely to be the witnesses of crime, and against whom the greatest number of crimes are committed, banishes justice from the land in which it exists. One of Major Bell's first decisious in the provost court placed white men and black men upon an equality before the law. A hunker democrat did this glorious thing! A negro was called to the witness-stand. "I object," said the counsel for the prisoner; "by the laws of Louisiana a negro can not testify against a white man." "Has Louisiana gone out of the Union ?" asked Major Bell, with that imperturbable gravity of his, that veils his keen sense of humor. "Yos," said the lawyer. "Well, then," said the judge, "she took her laws with her. LET THE MAN BE SWORN!" Immortal words! From that moment dates the renovation of Louisiana! Again. Henry Dominique, a free man of color, was arrested for not having free papers. The prisoner could only protest that he was a free The court decided, that every man must be presumed to be free until the contrary was shown. Dominique was discharged. man. Major Bell's court was among the lions of the town. During a considerable part of General Butler's stay, he administered all the justice that was done in New Orleans, according to the forms of a court. He decided all cases, from a street broil to questions of constitutional law, from petty larceny to high treason, from matrimonial squabbles to suits for divorce. He would dispose of fifteen cases in thirty minutes. An hour was a long trial. He was pestered, at first, with malicious suits, to avenge injuries committed before the capture of the city-a kind of case that sometimes resulted in penalties to both parties; oftener in a prompt dismissal of both from the court. Suits of the most frivolous character were brought before him. One morning, two women presented themselves, each to prefer a complaint against the other. "Stand there," said he to one of them. "Stand there," to the other. "Now both speak at once, and talk for five minutes." Two torrents of vituperation poured from the two mouths. The judge kept his eye upon his watch, and at the end of the time, said: "Now, both of you go home and behave yourselves." paid the rent and had his recept. It was another tenant of the same house, she said, who was delinquent, and had moved away in the night, leaving her goods liable to seizure. The landlord being summoned, admitted the truth of the woman's story, and pointed out the old statuto which gave landlords the right to seize any property in his house for unpaid rent. Major Bell read this astonishing statute, and was compelled to admit that the landlord had the law on his side. He remonstrated with him, however, and pointed out the cruel injustice which he had committed in seizing the property of an honest woman. The man was surly, and said that all he wanted was the law. The law gave him the goods and he meant to keep them. Major Bell was posed. He scratched his wise-looking head. Suddenly, he had an idea. "Are you a free woman?" he asked the complainant. "No," said she, "I belong to "Sir," said the judge to the landlord, "another statute requires the written consent of the owner before a tenement can be let to a slave. Produce it." The man had forgotten this statute. He could not produce the document. "Take your choice," said Major Bell; "either give back the woman's property or pay the fine." The man preferred to restore the goods, and the poor washerwoman was saved from ruin. "Master," said she, with the eloquence of perfect gratitude, "if you get the yellow fever, send for me, and I'll come and take care of you." A government needs a government organ. During the month of May, several of the newspapers of New Orleans were suspended by orders from head-quarters. They published the most extravagant rumors of federal disasters, and closed their columns against the true intelligence. Their comments hovered upon the verge of treason, and, not unfrequently, passed beyond the verge. A sudden order to suspend would bring them to a sense of the anomalous situation; they would promise submission; and were generally allowed to resume publication in a day or two. One of these newspapers, the Delta, noted for the virulence of its treason, was otherwise treated. The office was seized, and permanently held. Two officers, experienced in the conduct of newspapers, Captain John Clark, of Boston, and Lieutenant-Colonel E. M. Brown, of the Eighth Vermont, were detailed to edit the paper in the interest of the United States. The first number of the regenerated Delta appeared on the 24th of May, 1862, and it continued under the same direction until the 8th of February, 1863. It was conducted with very great ability and spirit. Besides the labor of the editors, it had the advantage of occasional contributions Ship Island, Fort Jackson, Fort St. Philip, Baton from Major Bell and other officers; the com-hundred-fold the difficulty of holding New Ormanding general himself frequently giving it the leans, forbade the re-enforcement of that army. aid of his suggestions. Several ladies of New Orleans contributed. One of them, Mrs. Taylor, who adopted the signature of "Nellie," wrote many lively satirical sketches, which greatly amased the readers of the paper, besides calling forth the exertions of other ladies of similar character. In one feature the Delta differed strikingly from the ordinary newspapers of the South. Your true southerner, your "original secessionist," is a very serious personage. Vanity of the intenser sort is a serious foible; proud ignorance is serious; cruelty is serious; one-idea is serious. There is no joke in your true south-eral's excellent spy system brought him this inerner; and as a consequence, his newspaper is formation, and most of his own measures were generally a grave and heavy thing, eulivened more or less influenced by it. only by vituperation and ferocity. The sportimpulse comes of an excess of strength. The man of true humor is so much the master of his subject that he can play with it, as the strong man of the circus plays with cannon-balls. The regenerated Delta was one of the most humorous of newspapers. Almost every issue had its good joke, and a great many of its jocular paragraphs were exceedingly happy hits. Allusion has been made to the secession songs and secession sentiments taught to the children of the public schools. The schools were dismissed for the summer vacation two weeks earlier than usual, and during the interval the school system was reorganized on the model of that of Boston. A bureau of education and a superintendent of public schools were appointed -good Union men all. The old teachers were dismissed, and a corps, true to their country, selected in their stead. School-books tainted with treason and pro-slavery were banished, and were replaced by such as are used in Northern schools-Union song-books not being forgotten. The new system worked well, and continues to this day to diffuse sound knowledge and correct sentiments among the people of New Orleans. One powerful iron-clad ram could have cleared the river in an hour of the Union fleet. That done, the city might have fallen before the wellconcerted attack of a force such as the rebels were known to be able to assemble. They could not have held the city long; but they might have taken it, and held it long enough to do infinite mischief; or they might have necessitated its destruction. The temper of the secessionists in New Orleans was the worst possible. Liars are generally credulous, at least they are easily made to believe lies, though they find it so difficult to receive the truth. The news from Virginia would have sufficed to neutralize, for a time, the general's best measures, even if it had come without exaggerations. But news from Virginia uniformly came first through rebel sources by telegraph, while the truth arrived only after a long sea voyage. To show the effect of this inflammatory intelligence, take one incident as related by an officer of General Butlers staff: "As a result of this continuous report of national defeats before Richmond, St. Charles street, near the hotel, was yesterday (July 10th) the scene of violence and threatening trouble. A young woman dressed in white and of handSuch were some of the measures of the com- some personal appearance, about 10 o'clock, manding general, designed to restore Louisiana passed by the hotel, wearing a secession badge. to a degree of its former prosperity and good She finally insulted one of our soldiers, and was feeling. They were as successful as the circum- arrested by a policeman, who attempted to take stances of the time permitted. The levee showed her to the mayor's office. As a matter of course, some signs of commercial activity. The money there was instantly a scene of confusion, as she distributed by the army gave life to the retail had selected the time when she would find the trade. The poorer classes were won back to a most obnoxious secessionists parading the vilove for the power which protected and sus- cinity. Upon reaching the building next to the tained them. The original secessionists were, Bank of New Orleans, she theatrically appealed are, and will ever be, there and everywhere, the to the crowd for protection, and the next mobitter foes of the United States; but, among ment the policeman was knocked down, and a those who had reluctantly accepted secession shot was fired out of the store, and wounded the because they supposed it inevitable, the general soldier assisting the civil officer. Thereupon a and the Union gained hosts of friends, who re- hundred persons, returned soldiers of Beauremain to this day, in spite of much discourage-gard's army, cried murder, and one of the nament, loyal to the government. CHAPTER XVIII. tional officers at the same moment fired at the assassin who wounded the soldier. In the confusion the murderers escaped, but the woman, together with some of her most prominent sympathizers, were conveyed before General Shepley at the City Hall. Upon being brought into the THE EFFECT IN NEW ORLEANS OF OUR LOSSES presence of General Shepley, she commenced the IN VIRGINIA. THE Union army in the Department of the Gulf consisted of about fourteen thousand men, and the disasters in Virginia, which increased a utterance of threats and abuse, and, further, took out of her bosom innumerable bits of paper, on which were written insulting epithets, addressed to the United States authorities, and one by one thrust them into General Shepley's hand. After some few questions she was put into a car- | ly disgusting, so exasperating to the long-sufferriage and conveyed to General Butler's head-ing troops, that, probably, no other body of men quarters, where she was recognized as the mistress of a gambler and murderer, now, by General Butler's orders, confined at Fort Jackson, but nominally passing as the wife of one John H. Larue." There was every reason to believe that this was a concerted scene between the woman and the crowd. General Butler sent for her husband, who, on being asked his occupation, replied, that he "played cards for a living." The general disposed of the case thus: ever assembled in arms would have had the selfcontrol to bear them in silence. They did bear them in silence. Not a resentful word, still less a resentful act escaped them. It probably occurred to most of the troops that General Butler was expected home on the following day; and to him they knew they could safely commit the vindication of outraged decency. The general, meanwhile, had been enjoying a pleasant excursion up the river, and was returning well pleased with what he had seen and heard at the capital of the state. Mrs. Philips, and the exhibitors of the skeleton and the cross, were brought before him. The manner in which he disposed of their cases can best be shown by presenting three special orders, issued on the day after his retnrn. "John H. Larue, being by his own confession a vagrant, a person without visible means of support, and one who gets his living by playing cards, is committed to the parish prison until farther orders. Anna Larue, his wife, having been found in the public streets, wearing a Confederate flag upon her person, in order to incite a riot, which act has already resulted in a "NEW ORLEANS, June 30, 1852. breach of the peace, and danger to the life of a "Mrs. Philips, wife of Philip Philips, having soldier of the United States, is sent to Ship been once imprisoned for her traitorous proclivIsland till farther orders. She is to be kept sep-ities and acts at Washington, and released by arate and apart from the other women confined the, clemency of the government, and having there." been found training her children to spit upon officers of the United States at New Orleans for which act of one of those children both her husband and herself apologized and were again forgiven, is now found on the balcony of her house during the passage of the funeral procession of Lieutenant De Kay, laughing and mocking at his remains; and, upon being inquired of by the commanding general if this fact were so, contemptuously replies, 'I was in good spirits that day.' The hideous events attending the funeral of Lieutenant De Kay, of General Williams's staff, showed the true quality of the "original secessionists;" showed, at once, their cowardice, their meanness, and their ferocity; and proved the necessity for those strong measures by which the secessionists of the city were deprived of their power to co-operate with their friends beyond the Union lines. "It is, therefore, ordered, That she be not regarded and treated as a common woman of whom no officer or soldier is bound to take notice, but as an uncommon, bad, and dangerous woman, stirring up strife and inciting to riot. "And that, therefore, she be confined at Ship Island, in the state of Mississippi, within proper limits there, till farther orders; and that she be allowed one female servant and no more if she so choose. That one of the houses for hospital The following, from the pen of Lieutenant (now General) Godfrey Weitzel, appeared in the Delta the next morning. TO THE EDITOR of the DELTA.-This afternoon the funeral of De Kay was held. A young officer of the United States ariny was buried, who, in every respect, was the peer of any young man in the South. We who knew, loved and admired him. He was fatally wounded a Lieutenant De Kay, summoned from his studies in Europe by the peril of his country, was on board a gun-boat descending the Mississippi, when it was fired into by guerillas. He received twelve buck-shots in his body. He lingered a month in New Orleans, enduring his sufferings with heroic cheerfulness, content to die for his country. He expired on the 27th of June, mourned by the whole army. General Butler was at Baton Rouge on the day of the funeral, and his absence emboldened the baser rebels, who seized the opportunity to insult the funeral cortege with laughter and opprobrious outcries. Women again appeared in the streets wearing Confederate colors. The notorious Mrs. Philips, formerly a member of Mr. Buchanan's boudoir cabinet, banished from Washington as an ally of traitors, saluted the procession with osten-month ago while defending a cause in which he took the tatious laughter from the balcony of her house. Many other women took pains to exhibit their exultation. A bookseller placed in the window of his store a skeleton labeled "Chickahominy." Another miscreant exhibited, in a club-room and elsewhere, a cross which he said was made of a Yankee's bone. When the procession arrived at the church, the galleries were found filled with a rabble of filthy scoundrels, the "dregs of the city," whose demeanor was in keeping with that of their instigators out-of-doors. No minister appeared to conduct the last ceremonies. Dr. Leacock, the pastor of the church, a weak, vacillating man, had promised to officiate, but had been induced to break his promise by the persuasions of members of his church: and other arrangements for the ceremony had to be hastily made amid the sneers and exultation of the crowd. The scenes of that afternoon we'e so profound sword as honestly, with as high toned feelings of duty, studies in Europe to espouse this cause, because he bonas any man now fighting for the South. He left his estly and sincerely believed it to be his duty. Ile was wounded but how? From behind a bush, with buckshot fired from a gun, probably by a man who would not have dared to meet him openly. He lingers a month. Not a word of complaint or reproach passed his lip. Always happy and cheerful even unto his last moment. We requested yesterday the use of a house of God, in which to show to his mortal remains our respect. It is granted, but how? After moving through collections of street cars, crowded with ladies wearing secession badges, and passively smiling and cheerful crowds studiously collected to insult the dead, we arrived at the house of the Lord. We find it thrown open like a stable, as if by military compulsion. We enter, and find the galleries and other prominent places occupied by a rabble and negroes-a collection such as never defiled a church before. "Gentlemen and ladies of New Orleans and of the South, there was no chivalry in this. "G. WEITZEL, Lieutenant U. S. Engineers. "NEW ORLEANS, June 28, 1862. J purposes be assigned her as quarters; and a soldier's ration each day be served out to her, with the means of cooking the same; and that no verbal or written communication be allowed with her except through this office; and that she be kept in close confinement until removed to Ship Island." * NEW ORLEANS, June 30, 1862. "Fidel Keller has been found exhibiting a human skeleton in his book-store window, in a public place in this city, labelled 'Chickahominy,' in large letters, meaning and intending that the bones should be taken by the populace to be the bones of a United States soldier slain in that battle, in order to bring the authority of the United States and our army into contempt, and for that purpose had stated to the passers-by that the bones were those of a Yankee soldier; whereas, in truth and fact, they were the bones purchased some weeks before of the Mexican consul, to whom they were pledged by a medical student. "It is, therefore, ordered, That for this descration of the dead, he be confined at Ship Island for two years at hard labor, and that he be allowed to communicate with no person on the island except Mrs. Philips, who has been sent there for a like offense. Any written message may be sent by him through these head-quarters. "Upon this order being read to him, the said Keller requested that so much of it as associated him with that woman' might be recalled, which request was therefore reduced to writing by him as follows: "NEW ORLEANS, June 80, 1862. "Mr. Keller desires that that part of the senwhich refers to the communication with Mrs. Philips be stricken out, as he does not wish to have communication with said Mrs. Philips. "F. KELLER. "Witness, D. Waters.' "Said request seeming to the commanding general reasonable, so much of said order is revoked, and the remainder will be executed."* "NEW ORLEANS, June 30, 1862. "John W. Andrews exhibited a cross, the emblem of the suffering of our blessed Saviour, fashioned for a personal ornament, which he said was made from the bones of a Yankee soldier, and having shown this too, without rebuke, in the Louisiana Club, which claims to be composed of chivalric gentlemen, "It is, therefore, ordered, That for this desecration of the dead, he be confined at hard labor for two years on the fortifications of Ship Island, and that he be allowed no verbal or written com munication to or with any one, except through these head-quarters." Mrs. Philips, I may add, was released after several weeks detention. She went to Mobile, The explanation of Keller's curious request is this: There was another Mrs. Philips in New Orleans, notorious as a keeper of a house of ill-faine. The prisoner having only heard of this Mrs. Philips, had the decency to desire to be kept apart from her, fearing, as he said, the effect upon the feelings of his wife if he should be associated with such a woman. The general was not aware of the cause of his scruples at the time. where she received an ovation from the leaders of society, and was the subject of laudatory paragraphs in the newspapers. She had the grace, however, to deny having intended to insult the remains of Lieutenant De Kay. She said that she really was in high spirits that day, and that her ill-timed merriment was not provoked by the passage of the funeral procession. craven A trifling circumstance, of a ludicrous nature, of the people-just as we learn the feelings of a may serve to show something of the disposition family from the prattle of the children. Among certain Edward Wright, a resident of New Ora batch of captured letters was found one from a leans, to a lady in Secessia, full of the most ridiculous lies. He told his correspondent that the Yankee officers were the most insulted a lady in the streets, which Wright percreatures on earth. One of them, he said, had Ceiving, he had slapped the officer's face and kicked him, and then offered to meet him in the field; but the officer gave some 66 rigmarole excuse" and declined. For this, he continued, he was taken before Picayune Butler, and came near being sent to Fort Jackson. General Butler caused the writer of this epistle to be brought before him, when the following conversation occurred between them: "Have I ever had the pleasure of seeing you before ?" "Not that I know of." United States charged with any offense?" "Have you ever been before an officer of the No, sir." "Have you ever had any difficulty or misunderstanding with an officer of the United States in the streets or elsewhere?" "Never, sir." "Have you any complaint to make of the conduct of any of my officers or men?" "None, sir." "Have you ever observed any misconduct on their part, since we arrived in the city ?" "Never, sir." The general now produced the letter, and handed it to the prisoner. "Did you write that letter?" "Is not the story of your slapping and kicking the officer, an unmitigated and malicious lie, designed to bring the army of the United States into contempt ?" "Well, sir, it isn't true, I admit." The general then dictated a sentence like this, which was written at the bottom of the letter: "I, Edward Wright, acknowledge that this letter is Basely and abominably false, and that I wrote it for the purpose of bringing the army of the United States into contempt." 46 Sign that, sir." "I won't. I am a British subject, and claim the protection of the British consul." Sign it, sir." "General Butler, you may put every ball of that pistol through my brain, but I will never sign that paper." Captain Davis, make out an order to the provost-marshal, to hang this man at daybreak to-morrow. In the meantime, let him have any | Eighteenth Massachusetts volunteers, has search priest he chooses to send for. Gentlemen, I am going to dinner." Before the general had reached his quarters, an orderly came running up. "General, he has signed." "Well, keep him in the guard-house all night, and let him go in the morning." A conspiracy to assassinate general Butler was detected early in June. The proofs were sufficient to warrant the arrest of four abandoned characters. The general, content with the discovery and frustation of the plot, forbore to prosecute the men, and agreed to pardon the ringleader on condition of his leaving the city. The general did this in compliance with the entreaties of his aged father, who had fought under General Jackson, in the war of 1812, and had remained true to his country. These incidents may suffice to show the disposition of the secessionists of New Orleans, inflamed by the news from Virginia, increased in number by the partial dissolution of Beauregard's army and encouraged to expect an attempt to drive the Union army from the soil of Louisiana. Hence the justification of those measures, about to be related, which reduced the secession party in New Orleans to a state of "subjugation," the most complete. Before entering upon those measures, it will be proper to show that not the rebels only felt the weight of General Butler's iron hand. Offenses committed by adherents of the Union against the people of the city, were visited with punishment as prompt and rigorous as any which were perpetrated against the country and the flag. ed the premises No. 93 Toulouse street, and people who live there are loyal. Please examine find, to the best of my judgment, that all the "J. WILLIAM HENRY." no more. "After the departure of these urbane and conthat they had carried with them eighteen hunsiderate gentlemen, the lady of the house found dred and eighty dollars, a gold watch, and a breastpin. Another sum of over eight thousand dollars they had overlooked. these men. They had ridden to the house in "Where have I seen you?" "Where in Boston ?" "In the Municipal Court." After "For what offense were you tried before that court?" "Burglary." "Did you join any regiment?" "Which ?" "The Thirtieth Massachusetts." "Why are you not with your regiment ?" "Disease." you have robbed before, and been convicted. It was in connection with the searches for concealed property of the Confederate government, under the general order of June 6th, that the tragical events occurred to which I allude, and which were among the most notable of General Butler's administration. No one was allowed to enter a house for the purpose of searching, without a written order from General Butler, General Shepley, or Colonel French. For several days the searches proceeded quietly enough, without exciting remark. But about The man confessed. He said that he was one the middle of June, complaints came pouring of an organized gang, who had been entering into head-quarters of parties entering houses for houses for several nights and plundering. The the ostensible purpose of searching for Confed- particular offense committed in Toulouse street erate arms, who carried off valuable private pro-was brought home, on the spot, to two others of perty, such as money and jewels. The detection of these villains was remarkably prompt. "Well, make a clean breast of it, then." the arrosted men, who confessed their guilt. A considerable part of the stolen money was reOn the 12th of June, at noon, a complaint was covered and restored. Three more of the gang brought to General Butler of a most audacious were arrested by Colonel Stafford's detectives on and flagrant outrage of this kind. A cab drove the following day. General Butler disposed of up to a house in Toulouse street, from which these flagrant cases by ordering four of the ringissued two men, who entered the house and pre-leaders to be executed, and sentencing the others sented to the inmates an order to search for to imprisonment. arms, signed, apparently, by General Butler. The crime was committed on the 11th, detected Two men remained in the cab while the search on the 12th, two of the criminals were tried on proceeded. The two who entered the house, the 13th, two more on the 15th, and the whole and rummaged its closets and drawers, behaved ordered to be executed on the 16th. The man to the family with great politeness, expressing whose confession led to the conviction of the their regret at having been ordered upon so un-offenders was sentenced to five years' imprisonpleasant a duty, and declaring their desire to ment at hard labor. Two or three other less perform that duty with as little inconvenience to the inmates as possible. Upon retiring, they were so good as to leave a certificate to this effect: "J. William Henry, First-Lieutenant of the guilty participants were sentenced to six months at Ship Island with ball and chain. Those who observed the mingled nonchalance those four days, may naturally have concluded and severity of General Butler's demeanor during |