New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-12-25
Letter from Virginia.
Special 10 the New orrsaa. c:fssesaes7 ssea


RfcHxosb, December IT. lss,,6sesa
Mf. Mf. Sssfor In yonF life you never saw finer
weather. saan we have had for the past two weeks, +
Bay after day and night after night have been
lovely beyond all description. This weather haa
Been charming for anything whatever, bot .as tI.e
old song Of Yankee Doodle says. q It's inst the
thing for fighting. & Y ..'. ss' e.
Why don't they fight, them they win today o.
tomorrow, or the next day, at GentregiIIe. Il we
are ts'belieFe an EagIishman who reached here OF,
Saturday night, and was mistaken all day Sunday
FOR an agent of Lincoln On special mission about 4
an exchange Of prisoners: You may, also, in the
language Of the Almanac, expect foul weather.
some where on the Atlantic coast before the end
of tns week. Matte7s are ripening in Kentucky
for fghs-fer Isee the Louisville Democrat Joins
the Journal in denoausing the Abolition scheme og
Lincoln ard Cameron. So il does really appear
that the "erisis which was To have aFriv Have at
last aFroven,' tfy,,8 8syg,ela - 7"+. - ~
| About 10 o'clock this morning the pfssident cot
news OF the G1glish ferment over the seizure of
dispatch to the House Of Delegates. the glad-tid
ings flew over the town. and made everybody hap
| pier than the happy day eTer head. Many fear
that Lincoln WIN back down, give up our Comtnis-
committed for tbat.zMereover il Is clear. from
/ Sewarfs correspondence with Dayton and Adafns
that he fs either drunk enough to think that Tan-
kee Doodle can whip the united world, or else he
/ ID wise enough to know that The Suuthern Con
federacy cannot be whipped, and therefore desires
q general war with mankind, as a. decent pretext
for ackno Hiedging The independence Of the rebels
Edward Jehnston's victery on Allegheny Noun
tain pleases us, more because we had given up all
4 hopes of hearing from that quarter until nest
achieved by the hard fighting which, followed q
surprise, very much like that at Belmont. Ie fsa
/ good thing for Johnston's reputation, though.
| Born in Chesterfield county Ii, this State, he
ought not to have fingered SO long in wash
| ington and Kentucky before coming to our
| side. great many OF the sid Washington
| clerks, gamblers, leafers, lobbeyers, and other
| habitues of Washington are here. To q man
they want to get back to their old quarters. They
| complain that our people are unsocfal Perhaps.
80, for there are Goldfish aristocrats here, who,
from time immemorial, have regarded all officers
| Of Government, whether Of the State or of the
nation, as beneath them. These people are very
fond, however, of licking the boots OF any sprigs
of nobility that happen to come from across the
In one thing Richmond is certainly superior to
Washington. You donot have to hire ahsck and ride
half day to get from one department to another.
Standing on the steps of the captok you can throw
q stone into any government building whatsoever.
/ From Goddins Bailding, which ia now the General
/ Post-offce, to the Custemhouse-in which are the
/ Treasury and State Departments and the Pfesf=
dents offce-Is only half square. Thence to
/ the Mechanics Insttute--which contains the De-
apartments Of War and the Navy, the Patent office
and the office of the Attorney Generals only a.
Il government Is packed on two squares.
4 But, somehow, one is not impressed with this
Il place as he is with Washington. The whole town
4 is not taken up by the GoVernment as is the case
there, nor are the buildings 30 imposing Then
again, the high officials look more like home folks.
They put on no airs, cut sWelis, aBe feel nearer
to the people in these days of common trial. Here
after, when bigger houses are built-when there ID
more money to spend and no danger to fear, things
will be and look differently. cabinet officer will
become an awful being, and the President inacees-
slbles If not full Of glory. f Fl IS tS sss3s e..s
81 wonder II Washington and Hamilton looked to-
the men Of their day like Davis and Memuinger do
to us, and whether will take pride ia telling our
children that We often had the honor Of seeing and
speaking with the great men of our time
4 Bounties to soldiers and resolutions of sympa-
J, thy for Maryland-which comprise everything the
energy of Congress has accomplished Of late-are
thonght to be about the best we can do under ex-
y isting- circumstances, but rather bad, notwith-
' standing. If our boys had been permitted to 60
i TO Philadelphia, where they might easily have
been by this time, they would have reenlisted for
+ Boston or the North Role,s. without any bounty,
= and q Southern army in front of Maryland would
t have been sympathy worth mentioning. West
Q Point, miserable, backaetion do nothing stand
, still West Point, has been the ruin of In fa-
ture, let US have military schools and trained Off
d GERS, but pass law that any general, who re.
r mains twenty.four hours in the face Of an enemy
@ not superior to his own force, Without fighting
= shall be hung with q, grape vine. 81 81
8 | Seme of your LOuisianians have been engaged
4 in the pleasant pastime of stabbing another
!: One Bennett seems to have intruded cruel stee
into the person of one Dowdy; but these are moi
It the names of your first citizens, presume. no
9 tce also the death at the Louisiana Hospital-the
Baptist College that was, and By far the best State
OIL Hospitalin the city-of Lieut.. L. c. LIE Teller o
il the Louisiana Zouapes. s5@ *ts a +S@S
" We are doing something in the way of literature
IS despite the war. 'tThe Southern Spy,nby E. A
J.. Pollard, of Black Diamonds fame; aCause ant
Contrast, by McMahon, a talented Irish exile, VIII
had charge Of the Citizen after John Mitchell lef
all it, and is now, clerk in the Post Office Depart
/, Enent and hPresoienee,n aspeech foreteliing th
s. present troubles, made by Hon. .Rev.Fucker at tn
r. Nashville Convention in 1885, among the reeen
70 publications BY West and Johnson Of this city.
.e = - Z. ss' - Ft7f NAI0U.