The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-10 00:00:00

r • :ii ...2•-f-••;• itrpk,
The following letter contains s. Wu,
which have not hitherto been publishAA:--e icte
" NEW YORK, MA RCW 25.11
" Rumours have been current since Si 'inlay last
of the capture Of TieW Orleans, but they:, rest upon
apparently no better authority than did the Sallie
reports current-some four months ago. Pa opLe here,
however, as well as the Goveenment itself, feel per-
fectly sure that the city will be taken wit hin the
next 20 days, and some here go so far as 1%0 inti-
mate that they have late advices thence to the- effect
that many of the residents of New Orleans were
also under the belief that the city would fall with
scarcely any resistance whatever. Butler's expedi-
tion from Ship Island is destined for that point,
and is to act in conjaection with Porter's heavy
mortar fleet in the attack upon the city. The-
latter has already arrived near the scene of opera-
tions, and if the ball is opened Ot epee we may have
news at any moment of the remit:
" The belief felt here that New Orleans will be
readily taken is not shared by me, while the adviees
reported to have been received from residents of
the city, to the effect that the conquest Wou-ka
be
an easy one. should, I think, he received with In
grains of suspicion. Such edvices are c.lmit,
contrary to all the intelligence that I have pet,nn-
ally received from trustworthy source;:, and .1
prefer to believe these rather than anyttting'
else that has appeared upon the subject. One
ofth most important questions in connection
with the possible capture of the city is, " Wi It
the port be opened immediately to commerce ?'
If I may venture an opinion, I should say that it-.
would,
of
occupation
theso f
as ro asu t oh ftherelates
u lmd
tooas. most
mhi
en3o
~opttohsreet
rtatn l
e tci t y
and
desseaporthi their asthe
question ports,
a
occupationwould be apt to soon follow.
The n
the ports, however, would be no •
guarantee of a steady supply of cotton, or indeed,
any supply worth speaking of. New Orleans, at
u ttopeningniat
last accounts, held 11,000 bales, and, if the torah
was not applied to it, it would probably fall into the
handsof the enemy; but when this was secured the
Federals, I fancy would have handled the last cot-
ton that would show itself for some months. The
planters would rof he the fools to bring it into the
city, and the enemy at present has not the me,„
or the power to goon the plantations and take
it by force. So will it' be with any other"
important city that may be taken. The Federals
may say they occupy' it, but the fruits of
that occupancy will be as barren as at Alexandria,
as at Newborn, as at Beaufort, as at Nashville,
or any other point they now hold.
"It is said that some of the more enterprising-
citizens of New Orleans, in anticipation of the
capture of the city, are loading all the vessels in
the port with cotton on foreign account, at a
freight of 6c. per lb. Thss action is to keep it
out of the hands of the Federals, in the event of
their landing, and the parties engaged in the
movement are of the belief that it can be cleared
soon after the Federal occupation shall have taken
place.
" For a like reason (an expected early opening of
the port) there have been some heavy operations in
sugar and molasses, the former of which was selling
at last accounts at 21c. to 4c. per lb., and the latter
at 16c. per gallon. How they are .worth 9c. and
50c. respectively. Whether the purchasers of these
articles anticipate that they will be permitted to
ship them unmolested when the city shall be occu-
pied, or whether they expect to sell them to the
Federals, does not appear. Either course, however,
would be against the sanction of the Confederate
Government, while it would also create abroad sus-
picion of disloyalty to that Government, and, unless
the Federals were strong enough to protect these
persons in their sales or shipments, they would not
be allowed.
" I am free to confess that the Washington Go-
vernment has been most kind and generous thus
far, wherever its forces have taken possession. It
has opened, unsolicited, postal communication with
the North ; and in the case of Nashville it has
allowed goods from the North to pour into that city
by the ton. The result of this is that prices have
fallen immensely, and the people of Nashville and
some other portions of Tennessee have now within
their reach all the creature comforts at the most
reasonable rates of charge. It remains to be seen,
however, how far these generous actions will suc-
ceed in winning the people back to their allegiance.
" The death of M'Culloch is confirmed. His ,son
fell on the same battlefield, a true hero and martyr,
like his father, to the Southern cause: We have
also tidings of the death, from amputation of his
leg, of Commodore Buchanan, who commanded the
Merrimac in her recent terrible contest. When he
stepped aboard that vessel he said it should can 7
him to glory or to the grave, and it bore him trium-
phantly to both.
" The Southern accounts of the great battle at
Pea Ridge, Arkansas, claim the result as a victory
to the Southern arms, and although this is in direct
conflict with the Federal account, we have as much
right to believe one as the other. To say the least,
so far as the garbled and unsatisfactory reports dt:
the results of battles are given in the Goverrtneot,
desp,tches, they are open to the strongest suspi-
cion, while instances are notorious of the reports
being the most unblushing falsehoods. The last
two shameful impositions were those of last week,
one announcing the occupation of Strasburg, in
!Virginia, and the other Halleck'm aseation that the
Federalists had captured Island No. 10, with all its
contents, whereas up to the present hour the Con-
federates still hold both."

TILE UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE.

Both crews are continuing their daily practice.
over the course, and the beneficial result is markedly
apparent, especially within the last two days, in the
Oxford crew, who were generhlly considered to have
had a little too much flesh on them. They were
first out yesterday, and having gone up from Put-
ney to Mortlake, rowed down on the first of the ebb
against a crew of picked waterman. They started
from the Ship with the waterman about a boat's
length ahead. The latter only held them to 200 or
been
e e i
aheadnn 2gloamrl
more,aiittsyeTeleh,eaat
nni
mdd
the
hri
ern icvl
thiseo ds e ast
ttr
aimlPutneyestsotat
stated
300 yards below Barnes Bridge, when the Oxonians
tl
lengthseo fhtatvhee
recorded of late years is the Cambridge victory in
1858 ; but in 1846 a crew of the same university
rowed the raced (down) in 21 min. 5 sec. ; it is, how-
ever, not probable that in the present state of the river
it will be accomplished up on Saturday in anything
like that time. Although the Oxford pace yester-
day was very fine they seemed to row a little short,
but they are evidently in better condition than
when we last noticed them, and are of the highest
credit to their university. Their average weight
is now about 1 Ist. 91b. per man, and they are de-
cidedly a fine set of fellows. The Cambridge mem
came down o; wtnh
the
l most
noes
t; their
critical rowingo observer
followed their opponents up to Mortlake in a few
autes,and
excellent
altogethermicould find no fault with the crew, but
they were
stated by some, who timed them, to
from 'l2 sec. to 15 sec. longer in doing
the distance
than their opponents, but
they were not rowing
against any other crew, which makes a
certainly
difference ; nor
expected they will, as they
ha+e no superfluity of weight to dispose of, and
therefore only need the ordinary amount of exercise
to keep them in condition. Whatever the result of
the race may be, there is but little doubt that it
will be a fine contest, and should the weather prove
favourable, will doubtless attract a vast number of
spectators. It is at present arranged that Mr. E.
Searle, who has chartered Citizen L to accompany
the race, will start the match from Putney Bridg
et
at twelve o'clock on Satu
arday ; but as it is not
be
improbable that it may trifle earlier, we would
in order to prevent disappointment, recommend all
those who wish to witness t he race to be half-an-
hour earlier than they had intended.

morning, between one and two
teIrdaNTyEItikIAT.IONAL EXHIBITION AND
AT Tii:x7.ll.iiiesErin
was
for a short time caused at the
---H ON
oATcIi:::"EedTE:-'
in sequence of a fire being
the north end of the western annex. An oil
Exhibition, in con
left burning, and the sparks from the wick fell
lamp was
upon a Prussian case containing agricultural implements
and fired it ; the fire was, however, soon extinguished.—
Another fire happened in the manufacturing premises of
discovered
le
gr. T. Golding, scale-board cutter, High-street, Hoxton,
by which the buildings were extensively damaged by water,
&c., and the whole of the contents of the drying-house
were consumed. This fire was caused from the overheat-
ing of the drying,-stove. The building and contents were
insured.

NURSES IN FRANCE.—The nurses are for the nr:oLt
part country girls of the lower class, who have gone astray,
or poverty-stricken mothers who eke out their scanty earn-
ings by taking strange children to nurse. They contrive to
retain their capacity for wet-nursing four or five rars, and
but for the interference of the police (who cut the part when
these women are disposed to play it too long) would Per-
haps extend it for even a longer period of lime. They often
have four or five children at a time, and as some of these
must be fed by the bottle, the chances of mortality are greatly
increased. These nurses are brought up to Paris by men
who make a trade of it, called meneurs. They receive the
monthly wages of the nurse,
carry all packets destined to
her, and visit nurse and child once every month, and report
their condition, Of course this report, like the reports made
to shareholders
truth, and nothing but the truth. All the
rosl o f soine
joint-stock companies, is rarely the
troth,s rteheo
w
business in Paris of the ineneurs is transacted by agencies,
called Bureaux des Nourrie,es, where the nurses aro lodged
when in Paris, where the meneur may be found once a month,
and where the wages are paid monthly.—Otiec week.