The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-19 00:00:00

" SOUTHERN DEBTS TO THE NORTH.

"The Cincinnati Gazette copies the following paragraph
from the New York Evening Post :
"'Bad Faith.—The bad faith of the Southern merchants
in their transactions with their Northern correspondents is
becoming more evident daily. We have heard of several
recent cases where parties in this city, retired from active
business, have nevertheless stepped forward to protect the
credit of their Southern friends. They are now coolly in-
formed that they cannot be reimbursed for these advances
until the war is over. We know of a retired merchant who
in this way has lost 100,000 dollars.'
—and adds :

" 'The same here. Men who have done most for the
South are the chief sufferers. Debts are coolly repudiated
by Southern merchants, who have heretofore enjoyed a
first-class reputation. Men who have grown rich upon the
trade furnished by the West are among the first to pocket
the money of their correspondents, asking, with all the im-
pudence and assurance of a highwayman, "What are you
going to do about it ?" There is honour among thieves, it
is said, but there is not a spark of honour among those re-
pudiating merchants. People who have aided and trusted
them to the last moment are the greatest losers. There is a
future, however. This war will be over, and the Southern
merchants will desire a resumption of their connexions with
the West. As the repudiators—such as Goodrich and Co.,
of New Orleans—will be spurned, there will be a grand
opening for honest men.
" ' There are many honourable exceptions in the South,
but dishonesty is the rule. The latter is but the develop-
ment of latent rascality. The rebellion has afforded a pre-
text merely for the swindling operations. The parties pre-
viously acted honestly, only because that was the best policy.
The sifting process that may now be conducted will be of
advantage to Northern merchants in the future. The pre-
sent losses will be fully made up by subsequent gains.' "

There is some little soreness felt here about the
use of the word " repudiation," and it will do the
hearts of some people good, and will carry comfort
to the ghost of the Rev. Sydney Smith, if it can
hear the tidings, to know I have been assured, over
and over again, by eminent mercantile people and
statesmen, that there is " a general desire ' on the
part of the repudiating States to pay their bonds,
and that no doubt, at some future period, not very
clearly ascertainable or plainly indicated, that gene-
ral desire will cause some active steps to be taken
to satisfy its intensity, or a character very unex-
pected, and very gratifying to those interested. The
tariff of the Southern Confederation has just been
promulgated, and I send herewith a copy of the
rates. Simultaneously, however, with this docu-
ment, the United States steam frigates Brooklyn
and Niagara have made their appearance off the
Pass a l'Outre, and the Mississippi is closed, and
with it the port of New Orleans. The steamtugs
refuse to tow out vessels for fear of capture, and
British ships are in jeopardy.

MAY 25.

A visit to the camp at Tangipao, about 50 miles
from New Orleans, gave an occasion for obtaining
a clearer view 'of the internal military condition of
those forces of which one reads so much and sees so
little than any other way. Major-General Lewis, of
the State Militia, and staff, and General Labuzan, a
Creole officer, attended by Major Rannep, president
of the New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern
Railway, and by many officers in uniform, started
with that purpose at 4.30 this evening in a railway
carriage carefully
.and comfortably fitted for their
reception. The militia of Louisiana has not been
called out for many years, and its officers have no
military experience and the men have no drill or
discipline.
Emerging from the swampy suburbs, we soon
pass between white clover pastures, which we are
told invariably salivate the herds of small but plump
cattle browsing upon them. Soon cornfields, "in
tassel," alternate with long narrow rows of growing
sugar-cane, which, though pcarcely a fourth of
the height of the maize, will soon overshadow it s
and the cane-stalks grow up so densely together
that nothing larger than a rattlesnake can pass
between them.

MAT 26.

In the evening, as I was sitting in the house of a •
gentleman in the city, it was related as a topic of
conversation that a very respectable citizen, named
Bibb, had had a difficulty with three gentlemen, who
insisted on his reading out the news for them from
his paper as he went to market in the early morn-
ing. Mr. Bibb had a revolver " casually" in his
pocket, and he shot one citizen dead on the spot,
and wounded the other two severely, if not mortally.
" Great sympathy," I am told, " is felt for Mr.
Bibb." There has been a skirmish somewhere on
the Potomac, but Bibb has done more business " on
his own hook" than any of the belligerents up to
this date ; and, though I can scarcely say I sympa-
thise with him, far be it from me to say that I do
not respect him.
One curious result of the Civil War in its
effects on the South will, probably, extend itself
as the conflict continues—l mean the refusal of
employers to pay their workmen, on the ground
of inability. The natural consequence is much
distress and misery. The English Consul is
harassed by applications for assistance from me-
chanics and skilled labourers who are in a state
bordering on destitution and starvation. They de-
sire nothing better than to leave the country and
return to their homes. All business, except tailor-
ing for soldiering and cognate labours, are sus-
pended. Money is not to be had. Bills on New
York are worth little more than the paper, and the
exchange against London is enormous-18per cent.
discount from the par value of the gold in bank,
good draughts on England having been negotiated
yesterday at 92 per cent. One house has been com-
pelled to accept 4 per cent. on a draught on the
North where the rate was usually from I per cent.
to per cent. As I sat in a well-furnished club-
room last night listening to a most respectable,
well-educated, intelligent gentleman, descanting on
the practices of "the Thugs" an organised band
who coolly and deliberately committed murder for
the purpose of intimidating Irish and German
voters, and were only put down by a Vigilance
Committee, of which he was a member—l had
almost to pinch myself to see that I was not the
victim of a horrid nightmare.

MONDAY, MAY 27.
The Washington artillery went off to-day to the
wars—quo fas et gloria dueunt ; but I saw a good
many of them in the streets after the body had de-
parted—spirits who were disembodied. Their uni-
form is very becoming, not unlike that of our own
foot artillery, and they have one battery of guns in
good order. I looked in vain for any account of
Mr. Bibb's little affair yesterday in the papers.
Perhaps, as he is so very respectable, there will not
be any reference to it at all. Indeed, in some con-
versation on the subject last night it was admitted
that when men were very rich they might find
judges and jurymen as tender as Danae and police-
men as permeable as the walls of her dungeon. The
whole question now is, " what will be done with
.the
blockade ?" The Confederate authorities are acting
with a high hand. An American vessel, the Ariel,
which had cleared out of port with British subjects
on board, has been overtaken, captured, and her
crew have been put in prison. The ground is that
she is owned in main by Black Republicans. The
British subjects -Ave received protection from the

consul. Prizes have been made within a league
of shore, and in one instance, when the
captain protested, his ship was taken out to sea,
and was then recaptured formally. I went round
to several merchants to-day ; they were all gloomy
and fierce. In fact, the blockade of Mobile is an-
nounced, and that of New Orleans has commenced,
and men-of-war have been reported off the Pa
it s-a-
l'outre. The South is beginning to feel that is
being bottled up all fermenting, and frothing, and
is somewhat surprised and angry at the natural
results of its own acts, or, at least, of the proceed-
ings which have brought about a state of war. Mr.
Slidell did not seem to be at all contented with the i
telegrams from the North, and confessed that " f
they had been received by way of Montgomery he
should be alarmed." The names of persons liable ,
for military service have been taken down in several
districts, and British subjects have been included.
Several applications have been made to Mr. Mure,
the consul, to interfere in behalf of men who, having
enlisted, are now under orders to march, and who
must leave their families destitute if thby go away;
but he has, of course, no power to exercise any in-
fluence in such cases. The English journals to the
4th of May have arrived here to-day. Xis curious
to see how quaint in their absurdity the telegrams
become when they have reached the age of three
weeks. lam in the hapless position of knowing,
without being able to remedy the evils from this
source, for there is no means of sending through to
New York political information of any sort by tele-
graph. The electric fluid may be the means of
blasting and blighting many reputations, as there
can be no doubt the revelations which the Govern-
ment at Washington will be able to obtain through
the files of the despatches it has seized at the vari-
ous offices will compromise some whose views have
recently undergone remarkable changes. It is a
hint which may not be lost on Governments in
Europe when it is desirable to know friends and
foes hereafter, and despotic rulers will not be slow
to take a hint from " the land of liberty."
Orders have been issued by the Governor to the
tow-boats to take out the English vessels by the
south-west passage, and it is probable they will all
get through without any interruption on the part of
the blockading force. It may be imagined that the
owners and consignees of cargoes from England,
China, and India, which are on their way here, are
not at all easy in their minds. Two of the Wash-
ington Artillery died in the train on their way to
that undefinable region called " the seat of war."
MAY 28.

The Southern States have already received the
assistance of several thousands of savages, or red
men, and " the warriors" are actually engaged in
pursuing the United States' troops in Texas in con-
junction with the State Volunteers. A few days
ago a deputation of the chiefs of the Five Nations,
Creeks, Choctaws, Seminoles, Comanches, and
others passed through Now Orleans on their way to
Montgomery, where they hoped to enter into terms
with the Government for the transfer of their
pension list and other responsibilities from Wash-.
ington, and to make such arrangements for their
property and their rights as would justify them in
committing their fortunes to the issue of war.
These tribes can turn out 20,000 warriors, scalping-
knives, tomahawks, and all. The chiefs and prin-
cipal men are all slaveholders;

MAY 29.

A new " affair" occurred this afternoon. The
servants of the house in which I am staying were
alarmed by violent screams in a house in the ad-
joining street, and by the dischatge of firearms—an
occurrence which, like the cry of " murder" in the
streets of Havannah, clears the streets of all way-
farers if they be wise, and do not wish to stop stray
bullets. The cause is thus stated in the journals :

SAD FAMILY AFFRAY.—Last evening, at the residence
of Mr. A. P. Withers, in Nayades-street, near Thalia, Mr.
Withers shot and dangerously wounded his stepson, Mr. A.
F. W. Mather. As the police tell it the nature of the affair
was this :—The two men were in the parlour, and talking
about the Washington Artillery, which left on Monday for
Virginia. Mather denounced the artillerists in strong lan-
guage, and his stepfather denied what he said. Violent
language followed, and (as Withers says) Mather drew a
pistol and shot at him once, not hitting him. He snatched
up a Sharp's revolver that was lying near and fired four
times at his stepson. The latter fell at the third fire,
and as he was falling Withers fired a fourth time, the bullet
wounding the hand of Mrs. Withers, wife of one and mother
of the other, she having rushed in to interfere, and she be-
ing the only witness of the affair. Withers immediately
went out into the street and voluntarily surrendered him-
self to officer Casson, the first officer he met. He was locked
up. Three of his shots hit Mather, twe of them in the
breast. Last night Mather was not expected to live.

Another difficulty is connected with the free-
coloured people who may be found in prize ships.
Read and judge of the eonclusion:—

What shall be dose with them ?—On the 28th inst., Capt.
G. W. Gregor, of the privateer Calhoun, brought to tho
station of this district about ten negro sailors, claiming to
be free, found on board of the brigs Panama, John Adams,
and Mermaid.

The Recorder sent word to the Marshal of the Confederate
States that said negroes were at his disposition. The Mar-
shal refused to receive them or have anything to do with
them, whereupon the Recorder gave the following deci-
sion :

" Though I have no authority to act in this case, I think
it is my duty as a magistrate and good citizen to take upon
myself, in this critical moment, the responsibility of keeping
the prisoners in custody, firmly believing it would not only
be bad policy, but a dangerous one, to let them loose upon
the community."
The following despatch was sent by the Recorder to the
Hon. J. P. Benjamin :

" New Orleans, May 29.
" To J. P. Benjamin, Richmond.
" Sir,—Ten free negroes, taken by a privateer from on
board three vessels returning to Boston, from a whaling
voyage, have been delivered to me. The Marshal refuses
to take charge of them. What shall Ido with them?
"Respectfully, " A. BLACHE.
" Recorder Second District."