Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1861-12-20
Affairs in New orlezns.

a refugee lr0n' New Orleans, who lett thai
city on the 2lst ultimo, iu letter to the IIer
aid, says: ae
In New Orleans the news # the fall Of Sum,
ter was received with great rejoicings. Lin
coins proclamation was ridieuIed beyond
measure. Men and money we're raised. The
banks were strong and all felt rich. 4.
This state of things continued till the bleck-
ade 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 from up the river was cut
Of it was Tightening the pressure past endur-
ance. Notwithstanding, the inhabitants bore
up cheerfully; 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 block
ade. l wish could impress upon you the abb
solute certainty with which they regarded this.
Ii was unsafe to hazard doubt about it,
They would admit no question on tie subject
The coup at Hatteras produced an alarming
shock. People began 10 open iLeir eyes
Whose turn next? was asked. The weeks went
by; October was gore, and no French and Eng
lish fleet. Then the Southern heart" down
in New Orleans ceased to be fired Much
dtspondency prevailed, and the news of the
capture OF Port Royal completed the conSter-
nation, ..-...s
Exhausted, poverty stFiolser, trembling lest
the next blow should fall npon them, it is diff
cult to describe their absolutely wretehcd con-
dition. do not believe il possible for the
people in New Orleans to bold out three
months longer. The city Is shrouded in funer,
al gloom The river looks like what it is-a
great waste of water; the levee empty aud de-
serted; no business after three-thc hour for
drill. By half past seven o'clock the streets
are silent. Northern men who were the loud
est for secession aud who control everything
in business, look each Other in the hce, ready
TO eXclaim, What fools We have been" Mean
while the pressure grows worse and WORSE
The following are the retail prices for certain
articles of necessary consumptiOn: Tea, three
dollars per pound; cCffe, one dollar-burt rice
is now substituted in the place of coffee almost
universally; pork, sixty-live dollars Il barrel;
potatoes ten dollars; hams, lorty-five cents per
pound; medicines-many kinds not to be had =
the rest at fabulous prices; IIavana cigars all
gone-every body smokes a ppe-some miser-
able peuny cigars sell at five cents: caret wine,
very little in the city, and the price enormous;
brandy, still abundant-a years supply said 10
be ON hand; -four, fourteen dollars per barrel;
corn. one dollar and twenty-five cents bush
el; rice, abundant and cheap; also sweet po-
fatUes, and various vegetables; also brown SUI
gar-nO white sugar; beef, (all from Texas,)
moderately DEAR butter, eighty centsa pound;
salt, very deari Clothing, about % per ccntum
dearer than III New \ ork; shoes, DO; caicos,
very dear; silks. cheap enough; fashion, FASH
s-alas, the ladies have to wear their old
clothes, Postage, five and ten cents accord
ing to distance, and the mails misernbv regu
lated The St. Louis hotel shut, The ST
Charles is about one-third full The banks do
not pay out their own bills-only Confederate
notes, which are not payable at all, but reeeiv-
able for taxes and subscriptions 10 Confederate
bonds. Go with check for hundred dollars
to bank, and the teller will throw you but
two notes Ior fifty dollars each, Ask for some
thing smuller, and he will say, All can give
YOU" II you want smaller shinpasters, you
must go 70 u broker and pay one per cent for
them. The newspapers no longer print double |
sheets, but are reduced in size, and on miser-
able paper. The price of real estate remains |
firm, because people prefer 10 hold it, rather
than take Confederate notes or boEds in pay |
ment. On The contrary, negroes are very |
cheap. For six hundred dollars you eau buy /
a negro worth fifteen hundred. They are con |
sdered now mighty uncertain property; but |
the hire of negroes is exorbitant. A grea
many French families are preparing to leave,
persuaded that business is at an end until the
close of the war.
] have thus given you brief but truthful
epitome Of affairs in New Orleans The place
seems like vast prison, and / appear TO my
self now like an escaped prisoner. What is a
little singular, nobody on the Ransatious ap- +
pears to know what the diiicullyis. OF conrse +
they are all told that the North Is attenipting
to conquer them. But they are really very ig-
norant 4 refer to the small planters,J aud can't
understand what it is all about Rest assured
when the tide turns, and turn it must, the
counter revolution will be more rapid and eE
fective than was the revolt itself Let the
North gain one decisive victory, and can
speak confidently of "a return to reason by con-
servstive Louisiana.