Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-12-09


A correspondent of the N. Y. Herald, who
writes from Cincinnati that be has just ar
rived from New Orleans, gives the following
vivid picture of life in that desOlated city;
''In New Orleans the news of The fall OF
Sumter was received with great rejoieings.--
Lineoln's proclamation was ridiculed beyond
measure Men and money were raised. The
banks were strong, and all felt rich.
s'This state Of things continued till tho
blockade of the mouth Of the Mississippi
about the middle of June. Then you could
see long faces, for then we were seized by
the throat; but when the trade upon the river
was cut of It was tightening the pressure
past endurance. Notwithstanding the in
habitaRis bore up cheeriully; for relief was
surely at hand; that everybody knew, and no
one dared dispute the fact. In the month OF
October England and France would interfere
to raise the blockade. wish could i'm
press on you the absolute certainty with
which they regarded this. It was unsafe to
hazard doubt about it. They would ad-
nit no question on the subject The coup at
Hatteras produced an alarming shock. Peo-
pie began TO open their eyes. Whose turn
next7 was asked. The weeks went Dy; Oe-
tober was gone and no French and English
feet. Then the 'SSouthern heart down in
New Orleans ceased % be "6red." Much de-
spondency prevailed, and the news of the
capture Of Port Royal completed the conster-
nation. Exhausted, poverty stricken, trem-
bling lest the next blow should fall on them,
il Is difficult to describe their absolutely
wretched condition. I do not believe it pos-
sible for the people of New Orleans to hold
out three months longer. The city is shroud-
ed in funeral gloom. The river looks like
what il is---a great waste Of water; the leYee
empty and deserted; no business after three
the hour for drill. By hslf.past seven
o'clock the streets are silent. Northern men,
who were the loudest for secession, and who
control everything in business, look each
other in the face ready to exclaim, "What
fools we have been.
Meanwhile the pressure grows worse and
worse. The following are the retail prices
for certain articles Of necessary consump-
ton:
Tea, three dollars per pound; coffee, one
dollsr-burnt rice is now substituted in place
OF coffee almOst,universally; pork, sixty-fve
dollars barrel; potatoes ten dollars; hams,
forty-hve cents per pound medicine, many
kinds not to be had, the rest at fabulous
prices Havana segETs all gOne-everybod
smokes pipe-some miserable penny segsrs
selling at five cents; claret wine, very little
in the city, and the price enormous; brandy
/ still abundant years supply said to be on
hand; -four, fourteen dollars per barrel corn
one dollar and twenty-five cents bushel;
rice abundant and cheap, also, sweet pota-
toes and various vegetables; also brown su-
gar-no white sugar beef, (all from Texas)
moderately dear; butter, eighty cents per
pound; salt very dear; clothing about sew
enty-f7e per cent dearer than in New York +;
shoes, do calicoes very dear silks cheap
enough; fashions-alas, the ladies have to
wear their old clothes.
Postage Eve and ten cents according to
distance, and the mails miserabiy regulated.
The st. Louis Hotel Is shut The st. Charles
about one-third full. The banks do not pay
out their own bills only Confederate notes
which are not payable st all, but receivable
for taxes and subscriptions to Confederate
bonds. Go with a check for hundred dol
lars to a bank and the teller will throw you
out two notes for fifty dollars each. Ask fol
something smaller, and he will say, "All
can give you" II you want small shin-plas
ters you must go to broker and pay ont
per cent for them. The newspapers NJ
longer print double sheets, but are reducet
in sizs, and on miserable paper. The pric
of real estate remains firm, because peopl
prefer to hold it rather than take Contsderat
notes or bonds in payment. On the con
trary, negroes are very cheap. For six hun
! dred dollars you can buy a negro wort
I fifteen hundred They are considered nov
: "mighty uncertain" property, but the hire
q neeroes is exhorbitant. A great man
e French families are preparing to leave, pul
0 suaded that business is at an end till the clio;
s Of the war.