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 bo 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 mot 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 tho West are among the first to pocket
the money of their correspondents, asking, with all the im-
pudence and assuranee 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 aro the greatest losers. There is a
future, however. This war will be over, and the Southern
merchants will desire a resumption of their connexioo§ witli
the" West. As the repudiators—such as Goodrich and Co.,
of Now 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 pro-
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, o'er
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 close.d, 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 Itannep, 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 scarcely a fourth of
the height of the maize, will soon overshadow it ;
and the cane-stalks grow up so densely together
that nothing larger than a rattlesnake can pass
between them.

MO 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 groand
of inability. The natural consequence is much
distress and misery. The English Consul is
harassed by applications for assistance from mc-
chanics and skilled labourers who are 'in a state
bordering on destitution and starvation. They de-
sire nothing better than to leave the cetatry 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-1S cent.
discount from the par value of the gold in bank,
good draughts on England having been negotiated
yesterday at 92 per cent. Ono house has been com-
pelled to accept 4 per cent. on a draught on the
North where the rate was usually from a per cent.
to per .cent. As I sat in a well-furnished club-
room last night listening to a ;host respectable,
well-educated, intelligent gentleman, descantingon
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--I 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 ducunt ; 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 P" 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 bsen put in prison. The ground is that
she is owned in main by Black Republicans. The
British subjects have received protection from the