Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1858-12-11

| platIOrm OI party WOulu eXclte. IL VIII "
Freedom or Slavery in tts naked and pures
form. We await, therefore, the development
of the Message with anxiety and impatience.
Our New Orleans Correspondence.
To tie Editors ofts Mnnesotian:
New ORLEANS, Nov. 2.
MEssRs EDITORS: l reached this city thre
days since, the trip occupying whole week
including the stoppages of twelve hours eacl
at Cairo and Memphis respectively, awaiting
the railroad trains What is most noticeable
in the river trade is the vast number of peo
pie travelling south from the upper country
A majority are young men seeking employ
ment; but families are also emigrating from
Minnesota, and the adjacent parts of Wiscon
sin to Texas, and the lower part of Missouri
especially. They allege as reasons for travel
ling, the length of the winters and th'
wants consequent from the hardness of thu
times. 1t is not exaggeration to say, that thu
packets running between this and st. Louis
and leaving the latter place every alternate
day, bring down on an average 500 passen
gers each.
The day after l arrived 1 visited the bat
tie ground, four miles below. l had not seer
but once previously, and that just fifteen years
after the conflict; it is greatly changed now
That Great Live Oak, noble specimen Of
its species has few only of its lower branches
alive and green; the bones of horses, killed
in battle, and of beeves, slaughtered for the
use of the army, that whiteneed the ground
about, have disappeared, and even the Prickly
Pear, so abundant once, seems nearly gone.
The Ditch is still we'll defined, though nearly
filed up On part of the field slave was
ploughing up the ground that had been trod-
den by the defenders of our common country,
though considerable part, fartherest from
the river, is still in pasture, as all was when
first saw the locality.
1t may not be generally known that mon
ument similar in form to the one at Bunker
Hill, is now being erected on the ground. 1t
has reached the height of about fifty feet and
is to attain to one hundred and seventyfve,
when it shall be finished. 1t is supposed the
| Gulf will be visible from its apex. The ma
terial is beautiful whitish stone containing
beautiful shining crystals l had never seen
its like and to my enquiries "whence it was
brought" was answered, from the North" J"
The work apparently progresses slowly and l
learn was mostly carried on by the State,
| aided by individual subscriptions. We can
not but feel our patriotism renovated by a
visit to the battle fields of our country, rem
dered sacred as the theatres on which our
rights have been vindcated and our liberties
perpetuated.
As apropos to the subject, in the Plaza de
Armes in the city is the Bronze Equestrian
Statue of jackson. l should judge it to be
truthfully and skillfuly executed. 1t stands
on granite base at height of about eight
feet The chapeau is gracefully raised as we
see in prints representing the General, and
| the firmness so conspicuous in his actions is
wildly represented in the imperishable ma
terial The ground had seen as green
| lawn used as its name imports, for military
parades, is now raised in its centre and planted
with the beautiful shrubbery and flowers of
the South and accessible to all, even the
lowest slave night day. 1t seems, however,
less utitarian; but as the people of New Or
leans have reserved many noble avenues and
grounds the less central it may be as well.
The Charity Hospital situated on spacious
street and in not densely settled neighbor-
hood allowing free circulation of air, lis one Ofthe
! noblest institutions in the city 1t is one OF
those time enduring structures evidently built
in early French or Spanish times that are al
most impervious to the corrosive tooth of time;
I used to visit an invalid friend there, now
nearly generation back and it locks as then,
so admirably kept and dispensing its healing
charities to all alike The iron gate was invi-
tingly open as was passing short time since,
so entered unceremoniously. Both men and
women in convalescent state were either
walking or reclining in the spacious enclosure
| literally among the roses. A request from
the clerk, who occupied a lodge, to enter the
wards, was politely accorded me. The Qua
ker neatness, and order that reigned, spoke
much for the institution although nearly 700
patients were in charge; two only had died
the previous day of yellow fever and those
old lingering cases. The numerous attendants
both male and female had evidently been Sc
lected for their qualifications or had become
experienced by long practice. Even splitting
on the nicely sanded floor is prohibited. Long
may this noble and Indispensable charity ex-
ist and prosper in relieving suffering and mis-
fortune.
| The new Custom House seems to progress
slowly. 1t has reached the fourth story,
though it was half that height seven years
ago and is still roofess, yet from its peculiar
structure is partially used. 1t is built Of
hewn and polished granite, 1 think, from the
Quincy quarries near Boston. The building
occupies a whole square, but the massive and
thickly studded trussel work standing few
feet from the walls and all around the struc.
ture, hides or nearly totally destroys all the eff
feet of its imposing architecture.
New Orleans unlike st. Louis retains much
of its original French features though the
Spanish Quarter is no longer perceptible and
the business men of that nation seem few and
far between. As a people they do not thrive
among us and the acquisition of Spanish ter
ritory by us expatriates its inhabitants as
surely as it does the Indian when he cedes
his hunting grounds. 1t has been said that
this city and Quebec afford the best types o.
European cities on the continent. 1t might
have been so once, but those quaint old ballus-
trades and tiled roofs are fast disappearing
Even the old Government Buildings have
in late years been made to assume modern
exterior though they look less imposing.