NEW ORLEANS. 



651 



had purchased the sugars, for which reason he 

 had directed the latter to be detained until the 

 matter could be investigated. In allusion to 

 the offer by the consuls u to waive all past 

 proceedings," he used the following strong 

 language : 



What "proceedings" have you, or either of you, to 

 "waive " if you do feel disposed so to do? What right 

 have you in" the matter ? What authority is vestecf in 

 you by the laws of nations or of this country, which 

 gives you the power to use such language to die repre- 

 sentative of the United States in a quasi official com- 

 munication ' Commercial agents merely of a subordi- 

 nate class, consuls have no power to wai've or condone 

 any proceeding, past or present, of the Government un- 

 der whose protection they are permitted to reside so 

 long as they behave well. If I have committed any 

 wrong to Mr. Covas, you have no power to " waive " or 

 pardon the penalty or prevent his having redress. If 

 he has committed any wrong to the United States, you 

 have still less power to shield him from punishment. 

 I take leave to suggest, as a possible explanation of 

 this sentence, that you have been so long dealing with 

 a rebel Confederation, which has been supplicating yon 

 to make such representations to the Governments 

 whose subjects you are, as would induce your sovereigns 

 to aid it in its traitorous designs, that you have become 

 rusty in the language proper to be used in representing 

 the claims of your fellow citizens to the consideration 

 of a great and" powerful Government, entitled to equal 

 respect with your own. In order to prevent all mis- 

 conception, and that, for the future, you, gentlemen, 

 may know exactly the position upon which I act in re- 

 gard to foreigners resident here, permit me to explain 

 to you that I think a foreigner resident here has not 

 one right more than an American citizen, but at least 

 one right less, that is, that of meddling or interfering, 

 by discussion, vote, or otherwise, with the affairs of 

 government. 



A few days subsequent to this correspond- 

 ence the consuls of Spain, France, and several 

 other countries presented an elaborate protest 

 against those clauses in General Order No. 41, 

 which prescribed a form of oath to be taken by 

 all foreigners resident 5 years in the city, and 

 who had not received a protection from their 

 Government within 60 days previous to the 

 publication of the order. The reply of Gen. 

 Butler was similar in style and tone to that 

 above given. ' % Were it not," he said, ' that 

 some of the expressions of the document show 

 that it was composed by some one born in the 

 English togue, I should have supposed that 

 many of the misconceptions of the purport of 

 the order, which appear in the protest, arose 

 from an imperfect acquaintance with the pecu- 

 liarities of our language. As it is, I am obliged 

 to believe that the faithlessness of the Eng- 

 lishman who translated the order to you, and 

 wrote the protest, will account for the misappre- 

 hensions under which you labor in regard to 

 its terms." He then showed that the order was 

 intended to reach a large class of foreign born 

 residents who by their acts had lost their nation- 

 alities ; that the limitation of the time in which 

 protection must be given was necessary to se- 

 cure good faith, some of the consuls having gone 

 into, and being then actually in rebel ser- 

 vice ; that foreigners declining to take the oath 

 were not prohibited, as was alleged, from leav- 

 ing the city on application to the proper offi- 



cers, and that those taking it did not necessa- 

 rily become naturalized, lie requested, in con- 

 clusion, that ''no more argumentative pr< 

 against his orders should be sent to him by the 

 consuls as a body, that being no part of their 

 duties or rights, but that they should make ap- 

 plication for redress in the customary manner. 



Business meanwhile began to assume some 

 activity: a degree of order previou.-ly un- 

 known in the city was maintained, and, ow- 

 ing to the stringent quarantine regtilations en- 

 forced by the commander-in-chief, the sanitary 

 condition of all classes of the inhabitants was 

 unusually good. On June 14, the first of a 

 series of Union meetings was held, at which 

 several of the old residents were present and 

 made speeches, and the papers of the 17th an- 

 nounced a gratifying increase of Union senti- 

 ment among the population at large. 



During the summer no material change in 

 the condition of things was experienced, the 

 attention of Gen. Butler being directed toward 

 the gradual weakening of the latent disunion 

 power which still existed to a considerable ex- 

 tent among the wealthy classes. By an order 

 issued July 25th, all negroes leaving New Or- 

 leans by direction of their masters, and who 

 joined the national forces, were declared free ; 

 and early in the succeeding month a tax of 

 $312,716 for the relief of the poor was levied 

 on disloyal corporations and firms, being 25 per 

 cent, of their contributions in aid of the South- 

 ern Confederacy. Confiscations of the prop- 

 erty of prominent secessionists, as Gen. Twiggs 

 and John Slidell, were also ordered. Subse- 

 quent to August 11, all the inhabitants of New 

 Orleans were disarmed by order of the mili- 

 tary commandant of the city, a proceeding 

 which elicited a remonstrance from the French 

 consul in behalf of French subjects. In reply, 

 Gen. Butler stated that he " could see no just 

 cause for complaint against the order/' and 

 promised the protection of the United * 

 troops against any attempts at violence upon 

 disarmed persons, no matter by whom at- 

 tempted. To the Spanish consul, who protested 

 against the stringency of the quarantine laws, 

 he replied that his object in enforcing these 

 laws in their strictness was " to save the inhab- 

 itants of New Orleans, as well Spanish as 

 others, from the epidemic of yellow fever." 

 In the latter part of August, the initiatory step 

 in the formation of a negro soldiery was taken 

 by reorganizing the " Native Guards." a colored 

 corps of the Louisiana State militia, raised 

 under the certificate issued by the former gov- 

 ernor of the State, and placing them in the ser- 

 vice of the United States. Other organizations 

 of a similar kind followed, and by the close 

 of the year this branch of the service was 

 established on a permanent footing. 



On Sept. 24, Gen. Lewis G. Arnold assum- 

 ed command of all the national troops at New 

 Orleans and Algiers, and on the same day Gen. 

 Butler created a panic among the secession 

 sympathizers, by ordering all Americans, male 



