Gen. Butler At New Orleans

(Correspondence of the Boston Journal.)

INTERVIEW AT THE ST. CHARLES.

At the hour assigned for the second conference, the Mayor appeared, accompanied by the members of the city council and the Hon. Pierre Soule.  The conference was held in the magnificent drawing room of the St. Charles, which during the interview presented a scene for a painter.  On one side sat Soule, surrounded by the members of the city government, and opposite eight or ten members of the Staff of Gen. Butler, who seated beside the two formed the central figures in the picture.  It was the intention of Gen. Butler at first to suppress all Confederate and other bogus currency, but the representations of the Mayor at their first interview that the poor people in the city depended solely upon the small notes circulated as money in this community to obtain the necessities of life, and also that there was not sixty days’ provisions in the city, induced Gen. Butler to so far modify his original proclamation as to allow the circulation of Confederate money, but still prohibited all negotiation of scrip and bonds issued by the so called Southern Confederacy, as means whereby the leaders of the rebellion could raise money.  The proclamation as it was finally issued, was then read by General Butler.

M. Soule rose and addressed Gen. Butler.

He said that in behalf of the city government, at whose request he appeared, he could not in any manner accede to the proclamation.  Their city had been captured, and they were perhaps subdued, but the same spirit which had opposed the conquerors still existed; and any attempt to enforce the rigors of martial law as set forth in the proclamation, would be met with resistance by the mob, for whose acts they would not be responsible – words which implied a threat on his part to resist the administration of Gen. Butler.  Mr. Soule proceeded with a laudation of the spirit of chivalry, a spirit which would not submit to the exercise of martial law in their midst.  If attempted the city government would abandon all their functions.  He alluded to the bitter experience of the people and the suffering which the blockade had occasioned among the masses.  Gen. Butler, in reply to Mr. Soule, said he regretted exceedingly that in the course of his remarks he had thrown out what he considered a threat; that it was one of the great mistakes of gentlemen of his standing to accompany the statement of their opinions with threats, and that they had in this manner done more to occasion the present difficulties than any other cause.  He proceeded to say that he had modified his proclamation at the suggestion of the Mayor as an act of humanity, finding here a painful state of things, which had been brought upon the poorer classes by the leaders of the secession movement.  He was desirous and willing to do anything which humanity dictated to alleviate the distress among the masses.

Mr. Soule disclaimed any intention of threatening to oppose the action of the military authorities.  He pledged the faith of the city that if the municipal government were allowed to continue the exercise of as many of its functions as were consistent with martial law, the municipal authorities would use their utmost endeavors to preserve the peace of the city.  If Gen. Butler would allow them the privilege of providing the poorer classes with food, the civil authorities would do all they could to suppress the riotous proceedings.

Gen. Butler said the proclamation must appear in its present form.  Mr. Soule asked that the matter might be allowed to rest until ten o’clock the next morning, when the city government would decide whether to continue their duties [or] surrender the entire control of the city to Gen. Butler.  The request was granted, and the negotiations rested until Sunday.

In the meantime a meeting of the City Council was held, at which a series of resolutions were adopted to the effect that the municipal authorities would continue their normal functions with the understanding that they shall not be interfered with in all matters of police, unless disturbances should occur calculated to endanger the relations created by military occupation of the city; requiring the circulation created by the city authorities to remain undisturbed; requiring power to organize citizen patrols in lieu of an additional number of policemen, and that immediate provision will be made to procure articles of subsistence for the masses.

This happy determination of the city authorities to co-operate with Gen. Butler in preserving the tranquility of the city met his prompt endorsement, and he immediately authorized a patrol of citizens not exceeding two hundred and fifty, to be armed with sabers or revolvers or both, to be added to the police.

HE CAN KEEP A HOTEL.

Whatever may be thought of the ability of Gen. Butler to conduct a public house on a popular scale, he has at least shown himself equal to the task of opening and keeping a first rate hotel.  Upon the appearance of the Federal fleet, the St. Charles shut its wide portals and to all intents and purposes “closed for the season.”  But Gen. Butler required accommodations for himself and his numerous retinue of officers and body guard, and as the St. Charles offered the advantages of a central location, coupled with elegant apartments and a well stocked larder, while Col. French was investing the City Hall, Maj. Strong went to the St. Charles to obtain quarters for Gen. Butler and his staff.  The proprietor declined to open it, and was told that in case he persisted in refusing, Gen. Butler would be obliged to take military possession of the establishment.  At two o’clock the General having established his official headquarters at the Custom House, went up and informed the proprietors of the St. Charles that the opening of their hotel for his accommodation was, not a matter of choice with them, but one of necessity, and that must open it.

This emphatic announcement produced the desired result, and the proprietor, stating that his life would have been in jeopardy if had had voluntarily offered to open his house to the commander of the “invading army,” proceeded to show the officers their rooms.  There are no guests in the house, except those who come by the invitation or permission of Gen. Butler.  The bar is closed, and the hundreds of officers who have pledged their friends in the North that they would drink their health at the St. Charles, will necessarily be compelled to postpone that indulgence of the present.  Under the present proprietorship, the St. Charles occupies rather an anomalous position for a house of entertainment.  The main entrance is flanked with brass field pieces; soldiers guard the entrance and bivouac at the foot of the staircase.  Stacks of arms have usurped the place of the porters on the sidewalk, and the marble floor of the rotunda rings with the sharp click of the sabre, while military trappings decorate my lady’s toilet stand, and camp equipage, boxes of ammunition and hospital stores occupy the places where erst were piled the trunks and hat boxes of tourists, up-river planters and Northern merchants.  Federal officers pace to and fro on the spacious balcony, or sit down composedly to enjoy a siesta in the cool of the evening – objects of curiosity and aversion to the proud creole and the haughty belle, who cast sidelong glances of contempt as they pass.  But, in the words of Captain Alden of the Richmond “We have come here to stay – do you understand? to stay!”  And they will do it contradicting by their humane edicts, their irreproachable bearing, the erroneous impressions which the deluded Southrons have entertained respecting the defenders of the Union.

THE INHABITANTS.

The population of New Orleans has long been remarkable for the diversity of its elements.  About one-half of the whites are of foreign birth, and among these are the French and Spanish are predominant.  There is also a large number or Northerners.  Those who know the city best believed that it would surrender when the forts defending it should fall.  The mass of the permanent population is composed of intelligent men, and the commercial interests have always had a more clear idea of the folly of this rebellion than the people in the interior.  At all events, after the forts alluded to fall, and the gunboats, which are not really formidable, are taken, New Orleans is helpless – more helpless, indeed, than any other city can be.

New Orleans has heretofore been noted as a city containing a population extremely conservative in their political belief.  From the date of the formation of the old Whig party, up to the hour of its demise, the city voted strongly Whig.  When the American organization was formed, the friends of the party could always count upon New Orleans as a stronghold.  In 1856, the city voted by a large majority in favor of Millard Fillmore for President, and in 1860 for John Bell.  At the last Presidential election, Douglas obtained a small majority over Breckinridge, and it can hardly be doubted that two-thirds of the supporters of Bell and Douglas were unqualifiedly for the Union.  The following was the vote: Bell, 5,215, Douglas, 2,098, Breckinridge, 3,646 – plurality for Bell, 2,217.  In the year 1857, we believe the opposition to the American party of New Orleans determined to defeat the candidate for the mayoralty – Mr. Gerard Stith.  They got up a reform or vigilance association, barricaded the streets and declared martial law.  General Beauregard, then in the employ of Buchanan as superintendent of the construction of the United States Mint, was nominated as the candidate of the reformers.  But not withstanding all the exertions used by the opponents of Stith, that gentleman succeeded by the small majority of one hundred and fifty.  When the secession difficulties commenced, New Orleans was firm for the Union; but finally, an election for members of the State Convention was held, and the secession ticket, it is claimed, received a small majority.  The truth is, the opponents of secession did not exercise the right of suffrage but to a limited extent.  At some of the polls in the city it was as much as a man’s life was worth to approach the ballot-box with a Union ticket.  Altogether, some six or seven thousand votes were cast out of more than twelve thousand.

THEIR LOYALTY.

The subject which, next to the occupation of this city by the Federal army, will naturally interest the loyal people of the North, is the extent of Union sentiment, to arrive at which, under existing circumstances, is impossible. – The iron rule of the rebellion has so long controlled even the thought of men here that, though the loyalists are perfectly free to express their sentiments, they are slow to do so, not feeling quite secure under the new dispensation of things, and dreading to commit themselves publicly, lest the Confederates should get control of the city, when their necks would not be safe from the halter.

I have failed to notice any general manifestation of Union sentiment, though instances of individual loyalty have frequently come under my observation.  Men of respectability and wealth have visited the Federal ships by stealth, going off in the evening when the levee is deserted.  Union ladies have sent congratulatory letters to the officers, and not unfrequently have we seen them on the levee at nightfall, slyly waving their handkerchiefs at the officers on board the Federal vessels.  Passing along the street, one is occasionally greeted with a smile of friendliness, but oftener the haughty curl of the lip and the flashing eye betray the malignant spirit which rankles within.

The lady who should be seen conversing with a Federal officer would be tabooed in the aristocratic circles of New Orleans, and the man suspected of entertaining Union sentiments is looked upon with suspicion, and hunted by the blood-hounds of the rebellion.

While Unionism rests under this ban, the manifestations of disloyalty are open, bold and defiant.  We see and hear it everywhere. – Elegantly dressed ladies stand on the levee as we pass in boats, and cover their finely chiseled features with their hands, looking at us through their delicate and gem-bedeck fingers.  One draws her veil over her face in token of her deep mourning, whose brother, perhaps, has fallen a victim to Federal bullets in an unholy cause, turns her back upon you till you have passed, when, womanly curiosity overcoming her anger, she glances over her shoulder to get sight of a real “live Yankee.”  All are bitter and crest fallen, and months of Federal rule, stern, yet mild, must elapse before the Union sentiment will develop itself to any great extent in this city.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 31, 1862, p. 2