The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-21 00:00:00

and throughout Louisiana is as hateful as in But-
ler's time, and that resistance has assumed a shape,
secretly as well as openly, which is likely To prove
unpleasantly to the Northern Government the in.
conveniences of keeping a Poland without employ.
ing a properly qualified butcher and terminator
to hold it in subjection.

The great object aimed at is the siege and cap-
ture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson was not the
mere possession of these places, but the opening of
the Mississipi from St. Louis to New Orleans to the
trade of the West. The abject has not only not been
obtained, but has been thwarted and prevented by
the Government itself. In order to crush more ef-
fectually the spirit of the Louisianians and of the

citizens of New Orleans, and to throw all possible
chances of money-msking into the hands of the few
" loyal" inhabitants who yield a real or pretended
allegiance to the Federal Government, and of those
speculative "loyalists" of the North who have fol-
lowed Butler or Banks to the South with the hope
of turning a dishonest penny out of the miseries of
that once rich but now sorely oppressed and impo-
verished region, no one not known to be " loyal,"
or who will not, if challenged, take the oath of fealty
to the Union, is allowed either to send a cargo up
the river or to receive one if it comes down. If a
merchant in St. Louis, Memphis, or Cairo consigns
produce or other goods to any one in New Orleans
with whom he was accustomed to trade before the
outbreak of the war, there is great danger that the
goods will never reach their destination, for the
consignee must take the oath of allegiance before he
is permitted to touch them. And if it be remem-
bered that about nineteen in every twenty of the
commercial classes of New Orleans sympathise with
the Confederates in heart and abhor the Govern-
ment at Washington, it will be seen that the up-
river trader has but small inducement to. resume
his trade in the old channels through which he was
accustomed to run. Nor is this the worst part of
the business. The rule in New Orleans applies to
the whole of Louisiana. If a man buys a coat for
himself, or a dress or shawl for his wife, or any
article whatever that he wishes to take or send
beyond the city boundaries, he mast first apply
to a permit agent, to whom he must pay a tax
of five per cent. on the cost of the comme
commodity.
He must next take the " permit ~ to th
Pro-
vost-Marshal and personally await—it may be
planter
day—the
allth is right. l
certificatee infa g
writingsuar
of
that
ffournca whole day—the certificate in writing of that
functionary
desires to purchase a barrel of flour, our, pork, lard, or
beef in St. Louis or any other Western city, he
must go through the same'process. In like manner
if any merchant of New Orleans would purchase
sugar or molasses from a planter up or down the
river, he must pay five per cent. on its assumed
value for a "permit," and on its arrival 2e. per lb.
for Internal Revenue Tax, and 5 dollars for " hos-
pital fee." If a permit to bring cotton into the
city is required, the applicant must deposit 20
dollars per bale, as the tax levied at random upon
its presupposed quality and quantity ; and if upon
proceeding to the depot where cotton was supposed
to be stored he finds that the planter has not the
quantity or is indisposed to part with it, or that
freight has risen to an all but prohibitive rate, ren-
dering the trade uncertain of profit, he has to memo-
ralise the Provost-Marshal for a return of his deposit
and wait months, perhaps, before he can receive either
the money or an answer, And on the least sus-
picion, or perhaps from the mere caprice of that
functionary, he may be required to take the oath
of allegiance to a Government which he detests ;
which if he fails to take, his deposit becomes
forfeited, and he himself may be consigned to prison
for contumacious disloy. shy. Under circumstances
such as these it is not surprising that trade on the
Mississippi is anything but brisk, and that the per-
secuted people, condemned to take the oath or to be
ruined in their business, should take it with a men-
tal reservation, and only wait until the pressure of
Federal occupation be removed to give, with heart
and hand, that allegiance to the Confederate Govern-
ment which has been extorted from their lips by
the agents of an administration which they would
despise if it were weak, and which they abhor be-
cause it is powerful. Thousands of such worse than
useless oaths have been imposed upon the mercan-
tile community of Louisiana since the nominal open-
ing of the Mississippi ; oaths taken with a flippancy
and sometimes with an insolence that ought to con-
vince the Federal authorities, who know the ante-
cedents of the persons subjected to the ordeal, of the
little security, for the present or the future, con-
tained in such hard or such light swearing. Re-
cently a merchant, known in the slang of the
Unionists for his "secesh proclivities," was desirous
of sending some goods from Memphis to New Or-
leans. He applied to the Provost-Marshal for a per-
mit, and the Provost-Marshal, knowing his man,
asked him pointblank the question, " Are you a
loyal citizen ?'' "No, sir, I am not in your sense of
the word loyal." " You can have no permit unless
you will take the oath of allegiance." " I will take
it," he replied, and did so accordingly. " Now, air,"
rejoined the Provost-Marshal, " you have taken the
oath, do you know what it means and implies ?"
" Perfectly," said the merchant, " it means a pad-
lock en my mouth, and implies a bayonet at my
rear." The word thus emphasised may be rendered
more truthfully, if more coarsely, by an em-
phatic Anglo-Saxoraism, if the substitution ac-
cord with the taste of the reader. Another
merchant in circumstances somewhat similar was
asked to take the oath as a preliminary to a
very ordinary piece of mercantile business. He
took it without scruple, and when he had done so,
coolly told the Provost-Alarshal that he considered
him no better than a highwayman. " You have
extorted an oath from me," he said, " as Dick Turpin
might have extorted a parse of money. I yield the
oath bezause I am powerless in your hands, and
resistance would be useless. But I consider that I
have been robbed, and, should circumstances per-
mit, I will resume possession of my oath as if it
had never been stolen from me."
It is evident from such facts as these that those
Western people who have speculated on the renewal
of their former trade with Louisiana have not much
reason to congratulate themselves on their prospects,
and that Vicksburg and Port Hudson might almost
as well, as far as their interests are concerned, be in
the occupation of the Confederates as in those of
the Federals. The planters have little to dispose
of, and the disposal of that little is rendered unne-
cessarily difficult by the mingled tyranny and cor-
ruption of the Federal officials. Sueh is the com-
mercial aspect of that once teeming region. Nor is
the military aspect any better. General Banks
conquered the country of the Bayou Teche in April
last, but the small force he left to maintain posses-
sion has been overpowered and overwhelmed, and
according to the latest accounts is in full retreat
towards New Orleans. General Grant, in view of
this new difficulty, has been ordered to take Banks's
place ; and Banks, always ready—as a preux che-
valier should be—to do the duty assigned to him, is
to take a command in Texas, and hold himself pre-
pared to checkmate any designs which the French
Government may have formed on the Rio Grande
and in the port of Matamorae.
Though not of any particular importance, a little
incident which has just occurred may be cited to
show the inferior materiel out of which the officers
of the Federal army is composed. This inferiority
is one of the most patent facts in the daily history
of America. In other countries an " officer" and a
"gentleman" are supposed to be synonymous terms.
" rowdy" private, if properly drilled, disciplined,
e of
and led, may be converted by time and experience
into a brave and exeellent soldier; but a " rowdy"
officee--a, frequenter of bar-rooms and grog shops,
a profane swearer, dirty alike in his person and his
language,andpromoteredastoonsm,irleinataaryinsraan,k,
rfoowr
poli-
tical and not
militarygoverning himself, is not
ldy :"
ankd being incapc
elyto govern bl
others,
except as a bully and a
tyrant. Two years ago the army swarmed with
such officers, but time, the accidents of war, and the
determination of the War Department to reform
the matter unsparingly, have time much to weed
out these black sheep and supply their places with
men of a higher character. From a recent meeting
of the army chaplains—gentlemen who receive the
allowance of 100 dole. a month and rations, and who
consider themseivee aggrieved at not being placed
in every respect on the same footing as captains—
it would appear that there are rowdy clergymen in

the Federal army as well as rowdy soldiers and
rowdy officers, The grievances discussed by the
chaplains were threefold. The first was that their
pay was deducted during sickness, while that of
captains was not ; the second, that they were not
recognised as entitled to transportation for their
baggage; and last, and worst of all, that they were
insulted by the officers and laughed at by the men,
and that no measures were taken by the command-
ing Generals to enforce the attendance of the
soldiers at prayers. One of the principal speakers,
a " clergyman" from Pennsylvania, discoursed of
these and other hardships in a style which was
enough to prove, irrespective of the first two
grievances, that the third was irremediable, and
that no soldier of any religious feeling would
tolerate compulsory attendance at any prayers
prayers which such a person might offer. "I
lately went," he said, " to sea the colonel, and had
the colonel's fist under my nose as an answer to my
complaint. I drew off, as you may believe, and
swore to make gaano of the colonel, or any one else
(so help me God) who interrupted me in the per-
formance of my duty. More than that, I let him
know that I had once been a blacksmith, and cau-
tioned him, if he valued his bones, to keep out of
the reach of my sledge hammer." Clearly this
" reverend" person mistook his vocation, and should
either have stuck to his forge or joined the army
as a private soldier. The wonder, however, is that
with such colonels and such chaplains the rank and
file of the army behaves as gallantly as it does,
and that it is not hopelessly demoralised by the
many bad examples which are set before it by those
whose duty it should be to elevate and improve it.
The panic in the stock-market has partially sub-
sided. The small speculators have been ruined ;
the larger ones have been crippled and taught wis-
dom ; but no failures among the higher order of
bankers and brokers have occurred to strengthen
the existing alarm. The "ring" of great capital-
ists, who by their combinations contrive to keep up
the price of shares in some particular lines, are
again at work to bring these fanny stocks to their
former rates, but as yet with only moderate success.
Gold maintains itself within a slight fraction of its
recent advance, the brokers of Mr. Chase not being
in a position to affect a fall while their chief is in
the market as a borrower of fifty millions of one
sort of paper, to be reimbursed in another. The ge-
neral belief is that there must, of necessity, be a
further fall in stocks and a steadily advancing pre- i
mium on gold, and that the panics of the New York
Stock-market are likely to be intermittent until the
grand finale and smash, which may be cleverly post-
poned, but which cannot be prevented by all the
skill of Wall-street and all the prudence of the
Financial Minister.

WEATHER PROGNOSTICS.

(From Creswieles 'Feather Guide.)

If the cloods in the west are red, with a tinge of purple,
it portends fine weather, the reason being that the air,when
dry, refracts more of the red and heat-making rays than
when moist; and as dry air is not perfectly transparent,
those rays are reflected in the horizon. A coppery or yellow
sunset, on the other hand, foretells rain. A very certain
indication of wet weather is produced by precipitated water.
Ihe observer, though, must not confound the halo with the
corona. The former is a luminous circle seen round the
moon or sun, with a diameter of 20 or more degrees ; whilst
the corona is a number of coloured rings formed immedi-
ately about the moon's place. When the rainbow appears
in the morning, it is a sign of wet ; when in the evening, of
fine weather. The reason given by Sir Humphrey Davy for
this is, that as the rainbow can only be seen when the
clouds depositing the rain are opposite to the sun, it follows
that the morning rainbow must be always in the west, and
the evening one in the ( est. Now, as most of our rain comes
with a west wind, a bow in that quarter would indicate that
the storm was coming towards the observer ; on the other
hand, a bow in the east would indicate that the storm was
passing from him.

Fair weather is betokened by the swallows flying high ;
the insects on which these birds feed are always to be found
in the warmest stratum of air, end the swallows conse-
quently follow them. Now as hot air is lighter than that
which is colder, it will always occupy the higher position;
when, therefore, the swallows are seen flying high,we know
that there is no fear of descending currents of colder air ;
but when they fly low, the warmer air will probably be in-
vaded by a colder stratum descending, and a deposition of
water is liable to be the result.

With regard to what may be learnt from the appearance
of the sky and clouds, the following general directions will
be found useful. As a very good collection of these pheno-
mena, together with the inferences drawn from them, have
been brought together by Rear-Admiral Fitzroy,in the pub-
lications issued by the Board of Trade, we cannot do better
than by quoting the paragraph itself—" If the first indica-
tions of daylight are seen above a bank of clouds, it foretells
wind; if the first streaks of light are low, and come from
or near the horizon fair weather may be anticipated. Soft-
looking and delicate clouds foretell fine weather, with mode-
rate or light breezes ; hard-edged, oily-looking clouds, wind.
A dark gloomy-looking blue sky foretells wind ; but a bright
light blue sky a continuance of fair weather. Generally the
softer clouds look, the less wind may be expected; but the
harder, more ragged and rolled they look, the stronger will
the wind be. Small inky clouds foretell rain; light scud
driving across heavy clouds, wind and rain; but if without
a background of denrer clouds, wind alone. Not unfrequently
clouds, at different elevations, will be observed to be going
in different directions : whilst the lowest stratum of cloud
is moving in the same direction with the wind, the higher
and light clouds may be eying across in altogether another
course; when this is observed to be the case it is usually
a sign that the wind will shortly change to the direction in
which the upper stratum of air is moving. After fine clear
weather the first appearance of a change in the sky are smal
curled or spotty clouds, followed by a gradual cloudingl
in the sky, from an overcasting vapour. The harder
the murky sky appears, the more likely to foretell wind ;
if it looks watery rain may also be expected. The more
distant and higher the clouds are, the more gradual, but
extensive, the coming change will prove. When misty
clouds and vapours seem to hang or to be spread out over
heights, it is a sign of wind and rain; if they rise and dis-
perse themselves, the weather will improve."
The foreknowledge to be gleaned from the close and dawn
of day may be briefly stated as follows, as laid down by
Kaemtz :—Since the appearances of twilight depend on the
state of the sky, they may serve to foretell, to a certain ex-
tent, the weather of the following day. When the sky is
blue, and, after sunset, the western region is covered with a
slight purple tint, we may be sure that the weather will be
fine, especially if the horizon seems obscured with a slight
smoke. After rain, isolated clouds, coloured red, and well
illuminated, announce the return of fine weather. A twi-
light of a whitish yellow, especially when it extends to a
distance on the sky, is a sign of bad weather for the mor-
row. Generally, we must expect storms when the sun is
of a brilliant white, and sets in the midst of a white light
which hardly permits us to distinguish it ; the probabili-
ties of bad weather are still more increased when light cirri,
that give the sky a dull appearance, appear deeper near the
horizon, and when the twilight is of a greyish red, in the
midst of which are seen portions of a deep red that pass into
grey, and scarcely permit the sun to be distinguished—in
this case vesicular vapour is very abundant, and we may
calculate on wind and approaching rain.
The signs to be drawn from daybreak are somewhat
different. When it is very red we may expect rain, whilst
a grey dawn announces fine weather. With regard to the
appearance of the clouds, the following inferences may be
derived. In fair weather the sky is seldom quite clear of
small groups of cirrus. Continued wet weather is attended
with horizontal sheets of this cloud, which subside presently
and pass into cirro-stratus. Before storms they appear
lower and denser, and unusually in that quarter from which
the storm arises. Steady high winds are proceeded and at-
tended by streaks running quite across the sky in the direc-
tion they blow in.

We might sum up those sources of information by re-
marking that, generally, natural, easy, and delicate tints
with undefined and woolly clouds, foretell fine weather but
unusual hues, with striking contrasts of colour, and hard,
sharply-marked outlines, usually precede wind and wet
weather. There are some few other sources of foreknow-
ledge which, though not nearly so reliable as the ones
we have just enumerated, yet demand some attention from
the prudent farmer ; we shall therefore give some of them.
Dew is an indication of fine weather, as is also fog. When
smoke from chimneys does not ascend, but takes a crooked
course, it is a sign of a change for the worse. The habits
and cries of animals are also taken to be a guide ; and, to a
certain extent, they are so. Sheep are observed to jump and
play in an unusual degree before rough and wet weather.
In winter when they lie utder a hedge, and seem to be un-
willing to go to pasture, it is a sign of a coming storm•
When peacocks cry much it is an indication of bad weather.
If cocks begin to crow while it is raining, it is said to be a
sign that it will soon be fine. The flight of wild geese to-
wards the west, the early appearance of the woodcock and
fieldfar3s are signs of coming cold.
It has also been asserted that the habits of the spider may
afford some hints as to the weather. If the weather be likely
to become rainy and stormy, the spider fixes the terminating
threads, by which the entire web is suspended, unusually
short, and in this state awaits the impending change; on
the other hand, if these threads be long, the weather will
be proportionately serene. If the spider L.) completely inac-
tive, rain will follow; but if, during rain, their wonted
activity be resumed, the rain will soon cease and fair wea-
ther will ensue. From vegetable life we may also draw
some conclusions. The down of the dandelion will close in
bad weather, but will expand when it is fine. The pim-
pernal is also a well-known example of a natural weather-
, indicator; when the flower closes its leaves it will be wet; I