Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1816-06-15
LArEsT FROM NENY-oRLEANs.

NINE DAYS LATER.
1t is as we feared--rhe crevasss has no
been closed the attempt has even been q.
bandoned. AZ late hour last evening
We were favored by gentleman OF this
City, with the following melancholy &C
! count, which he had just rec eived-enclo>
| sed ia letter from L friend at Ncw-Or-
| leans:
NEw-ORLEANs, May 81.
Ihe attemptto close up tue crevasse,
we >are sorry 10 say, has been abandoned.
he depth OF water that covers the rear
OF the city. hourly INCREASES. and we fore
See no termination 70 It's increase TIL the
period,cai iall OF the Mississippi. Before
that Aappeas, the whole city may, and
probably will be Cycrhowed. 1t is Il
truth, however, interesting and consoling,
tothose vino anticipate, with satisfaction
the future prosperity of New Orleans, and
VIC make 1t known to QUO northern fellow
Citizens with emotions of mingled pleasure
and indignation, that the breach i'm the
enbanknent OF the river not only might
nave been closed up before 1t had existed
week, but with the energy and psrscve-
ring industry which the occasion ought to
have called forth, with the ample means
which the law appropriates To this speci-
nc object, tie force OF the torrent might
have bSen Chec ked in the first twenty -four
hcurs. 1t IS now two weeks since the en-
bankment was broken, and nothing, no
nothing has been done to avert the DESC
laticn with which we are surrounded,
and the caamites yet in store for u.s.
Though this want of eXertion argues a
total want of public spirit aud public vir-
tue, yet it is melancholy fact 1--WE con-
ress 1t with shame and confus;on) that no.
thing has been done to save this rich and
aourshiDg city, the seat of laborious in
iustry and enlightened enterprise, the
mart and emporium of an extern
sive and popuouS region. from imminent
danger OF being covered with a pestiiercus
pool, Live with serpeants and alligators.
1 he misciiiefs that will result from this
Fatal Indifference to the progress of the in
lhd atom, are beyond calculation. The
iamage sustained by private property ini-
nediately within It's reach, and the NOR |
ailty to be appreheEdeh after il subsidies. |
are not to be compared to the evils that will /
arise from The reputation that our CITY will !
acquire abroad. Had the crevasse been |
stopped, as we repeat, it might have been
! few days alter 1t broke out, it would have
passed off as an accident u,at seldom oc-
cured, and involving no serious Consequent
;ss when 1t did. But now, after what has
the impression abroad will be
hat All eruption of the Mississippi is Ca
amity from which certain Z wide spread
destruction is to be unprecedented, and a
,ainst which no prudence can guard. We |
Know that this impression will prevail, and
We dresdlts consequences. IL is never
heiess without foundation, and it is not too
ate. even now, to prove it so, by making
manifest to all the world, that not only
ne occurrence of crevasses may be pre-
Iented, bot the most disastrous of them
nay be stopped at its worst stage.
But, who is to commence this great. this
necessary work T.? Che governor declares
hat ms funds are exhausted; the city coun-
III also plead poverty. What, then. re.
Mains but for the citizens to take up the
business 10 their collective capacity? Sure
y, they wilt not urge want of resources,
my more than want of motive, to pre-
serve the wealth of this great mart from
aud its prospects of future
grandeur from irretrievable ruin. No ex-
,enditure, no labor can be insomInensurate
With the object. But we dread the para
yzihg influence of those endless divisions
md subdivisions Of factions into which our
;ity is split Until this Influence is pnt
Town, the attempt had better be left I'M
RED. a failure would augment the ca
amity.