Arkansas true Democrat., 1862-02-20
Letter from New Orleans.
ST. CHARLES HoTEL,
 Ne,o Orleans, Feb. 7th, 1862.
EDITOR TRUE DEMOCRAT

' Ledr Str: At the present moment IL Will De no news for you to learn that this place is very dul
 1 dull in comparison with former times The an cient splendor of New Orleans, seems to have 1 passed away, like that of ancient Rome, and the visitor who comes here to realize what hehas heard and read about the Crescent City, will be wofully disappointed. To be sure, there is much still to
 interest the traveller, Hho for the first time the commercial metropolis of the South, but on every side you are told that the New Orleans of day, is not what used be- Business of every kind dull, except what is doing i'll sugar and moasses. The ] old sugar leyee has encroached long way into the cotton leyee in consequence of there being cot ton and great amount of the ,sacharine matter. The trees, however, in the suburbs, are loaded with oranges and Japanese plums---the verbena and l jesamine is in full bloom in the open air, and the tall funeral looking cypress trees are grim with Spanish moss, as in ordinary times, and as defiant of king Abraham as if no king Abe existed. The edicts of that gorilla monarch that stop trade of every kind and strive to throw us back into barba
 rsm, cannot have any effect upon nature. The grass looks green and beautifu-the flowers bloom as they were wont to do--the fruits ripen and Ma. tures God smiles upon this delicious cline, as if no war laundering at gates, if no can
 non frowned from our battlements, anu our brave soldiers did not surround the land like a c0rdon of steel to protect their homes and repel the ruffian vandai Yankee from polluting this heaven favored soil with his unhalowed tread, but vet there is a stiffness that is almost oninous, as if giant paus ing for breath before the dreadful struggle comes that will redeem the South from tue chains of the tyrant. Oh it will bc terrible day. nlleneyer the attempt is made to take New Orleans if an enemy can be found so mad as to make it. The war feel ing here exceeds any thing that I have seen, and it has been my lot to travel much within the last six months. Every person you meet, from
 fifteen to sixty, is soldier. Every person is in uniform, the merchant and the mechanic, the pro ftssioual and the laDorer, all are in arnor.- You see cooked hat in shop selling groceries, a tailor with stripes down the legs of his trousers, and ngger with brass button-; yes, and lit4le boys q Ia mtaire. In every shop window you sec military goods, sashos and swords, and all the para phanalia of war Tie broker who sells you sugar and molasses has the look of soldier, and that rot holiday one. He has terrible engine in his hand but iC is a gimbet with which he will sam pie sugar for you, and you had better be quick for he has to drill on the leyee at o'clock 1 have regiments in any quantity drill in Europe at Hyde Park and Aldershaii, as well as Paris decked in all the splendid equi pments peculiar to France and England but ddnot expect to see, iii 50 short training, such splendid array of soldiers IS can be seen here, equal almost to any similar parade in the world. Mark me, when the time comes for giant to strike, there will be good account given by the defenders of New Orleans, that will live in history, will 90 down 10 posserity and make every southern heart beat when he reads how his ancestors fought at New Orleans. That soldier there. said friend to ne, ia the presidens Of the -- bank, and that Cld man is the principal in one of the largest cotton houses iii the city-the other to his left is extensive sugar broker; he is the corporal of his company This is DO holiday business, like militia men, mastering for q days fun, to have spree afterwards There is q stern determination il every mans face that speaks plainly as words, soldier. Nothing but the justice and the sacred ness of our cause. could have infused such spirit into all classes. Soldiers infused with such spirit mus, be conauerols. io them, death s bet CT than dishonor. But there are other defences around
 New Orleans, of no small importance 1 aude to the swamps and the mud There are many others of an arifcial to which it is not prudent to allude England had her wooden walls, and Lou.
 isi4n.. haa her mud ones. l pity the wretch of a soldier who could hope to navigate the swamps around this city. If ever the Lincoln hordes ma e such all attempt, we shall have them easy as { killing pigeons ut roost A few guns planted on the main avenues is almost sufficient protect New O,ieans. Noshipg Dut ,adpole or an alligator could ever get here, except by these roads. Let Us hope the vandals will make the attempt and if we do not furnish enough carron for the cormoraut forall time come, will be very llaqn surprised To-daY the weather is extremely warm. Those spectators in coal who bought up all the fuel to make money out of the necessities of she poor, have miscalQnl4tad then chances, or the clements were not favorable for their enterprise. The weather has been particularly mild and fires are not wanted at al
 It would do you good to see our navy. We are making an extraordinary march in this of the service, Quite busy dockyard can bo seen at the 1 levee-ponderous guns and materials of war. The big black huls of the gunbolts have very solemn grim birthstone appearance, as ii when the time comes King Death himself might have a pie nc somewhere in their vicinity. |" The II .nassas,' or as shistonographcrs call her "rhe Mpassa. y is not far off--one seeing her fancy the aston
 shment of the Yankees when this ram took butt at them. They must have felt, something like the | whale that the Great Eastern ran into, for they acted much the same way. The whale blew hls horn and vanished, and so did the Yankees.
 l have something to say to you respecting the 1 blockade. was yesterday out at Lake foncha' train. It was difficult to imagiue that some forty or fifty miles from that pent the federal fleet at that time was cruising. That beautiful sheet o
 water, which was formerly the route to Mobile, l; now like a lake in the middle of Africa Instead of steamers plying upon it to and from every point
 there is very limited navigation on It's waters, ant instead of the gay pleasure parties who used tf rufle it's bosom you see the grim man oi war moor
 ed close to the pier looking ready for acton. fo' see something in the faces of the blu looking crew
 that nstinctively tells you that there IS no admit
 tance and that there is no use in thinking that yol can take advantare of anybody thercabouts on,