The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-31 00:00:00

tTril -1 IRA! GENIAL IVEAL DOW.

Brigadier-General Neal Dow, in a letter to the
secretary of the Alliance, Mr. T. H. Barker, writes
as follows :—" Head-quarters, Fort St. Philip,
Sept. 28 :—I shall receive inforrns,tion of the pro-
ceedings of your great convention with deep inte-
rest. The occasion cannot fail to be a great success,
and much I grieve that I could not be with you.
My duties confine me closely to my post, and I see
no prospect of being at liberty to leave it for some
months to come. The war drags its slow length
along, and must continue to do so until our govern-
ment adopts a policy. At present it seems to be
entirely afloat, drifting with every wind and cur-
rent. The rebels are terribly in earnest, and ex-
haust their strength and resources in mighty
effort, while our Government has yet to mak e
up its mind full to anything. It has yet to adopt
some plan, some system, some policy. That will
come in time; and perhaps it is better that the war
should linger in this way, and go on with various
fortune, that the Northern mind
may be firmly
made up on the subject of slavery. For myself I
believe this dreadful war is a controversy that God
has with this nation on account of its great sin—
slavery ; and he will not permit us to have peace
until we repent of that sin and forsake it. Our
people are beginning to see the matter in that
light, and public opinion has made great progress
in the right direction during the last year, as the
acts of our congress prove. As to the institution of
slavery—it is virtually overthrown already, indeed
it is literally so, everywhere within our military
lines. The slaves think themselves free, and will
not work for their masters until they choose to do
so, and unless they are paid. Many masters now pay
their slaves, some 10 dols., some 12 dols. a month ;
and some stipulate to give them one-third of their
entire crop for their labour in saving it. The slaves
leave their masters as they please, and go away
without fear ; nor have they the least fear for the
old despotism. I have now about 600 of them at
these forts, constantly employed in Government
service, and they have no fear at any time to go
back to the plantation to get their things. They
have no fear of their masters, nor of the laws of
Louisiana. They rightly judge that these latter are
no longer of any account. Some time 'ago I went
into a large village, and hearing that a loyal man
was confined in the gaol, I went to it, and made the
keeper exhibit his list of prisoners. Among them
were many slaves, who were committed for ' safe
keeping,' and three whites on a charge of murder.
I demanded to see the slaves, and was taken into a
large airy room occupied by the alleged murderers.
In the floor of this apartment was a trap- door, which
the keeper raised, bidding the slaves come up, which
they did. The effluvium coming up from the den
below was so offensive that my officers could not en-
duie it. After a little I looked down into the hole,
and found it a wretched place, with only twc small
heavily-grated windows for light and air. They
were in confinement under the laws of Louisiana, but
I bade them go, and they went. This was trampling
those laws under foot, and the slaves all understand
since that time that they are no longer in bondage
by the law, for the slave laws are null. Many plan-
tations are abandoned by their owners, and I am
taking possession of them. Yesterday I sent an
officer to a great establishment, the crops of which,
now upon the ground, are 1,000 hogsheads of sugar,
besides great quantities of other produce, worth a.'
all over 100,000 dols. All the whites are gone, leav-
ing 100 negroes behind, and my officer is to superin-
tend this week
I great
ha tl
lh
takee est apt
oes
saensds soene uo ere e
ttwh
oe cot'
tohpesr
planta-
tions in the same way and for the same purpose. In
Louisiana, before ,the war, negroes sold for more
money than in any other state, because the sugars
planters were making immense profits, and were
continually extending the cultivation of the cane.
At present slaves are without value here, and there
is no market for them whatever. The entire busi.
ness of the State is destroyed, and vast numbers of
men of princely fortunes before the war are beggars
y seized stopped,ar
and their last
now.year's
by the rebel, d appropriated
Government, they are left without
a rt er adde es
t is
o eyne tdi roerl