The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-07-31

These men are occupied more or less,
generally less, In cooking for the officers !
or Clearing up" suppose the whole
City do about the labor Of a days work
Of an industrious New England serving
man. To my certain knowledge, one old
"Uncle Ned" who has charge of a cook
ing stove near one the entrances of the
marble ROOM" certainly spent four
hours and half skinning a single to-
mato. Very many, ON warm days, fall
pictmesquely asleep in the ruined door
ways, aud beside the commanding coli
umns in the marble ROOM" and renew
eddy remind me Of its Theban character
mot necessarily of its architecture,
but Of its size, and the dark negro and
the lighter mulatto are good for the nee
essary representatives Of Egyptians and
Arabs-the present occupants Of the PAL
aces Of the Pharaohs.
Under the National rule, we have not
only apartments in the building for the
Custom house and Post-olfice, but also
find room for Gen. Buffers military.ciyil
headquarters, and various other places
for the accommodation of official military
business. There has also been arranged
lookup for political prisoners, safe
room for at least 1876 kegs of specie, and
lastly, accommodations for the Four
teenth Connecticut Regiment. The room
especially appropriated to the Collector
under Confederate rule, and now occu-
pied by Mr.. Denison, United States Col
lector, was somewhat sumptuously fur
nished beside rich chairs, a gay carpet,
and costly silk and tasseled bell pulls,
there was also a fine 7-Octave piano,
showing that treason and music have
sympathy, in spite of Shakespeare Or
it possibly may be that the piano was
for the benefit Of lady merchants who
had business with the Custom-house
remember that many years ago, ii is said,
the daughter of a distinguished financier
brought into this port a large number of
Maltese mules, and demanded that they
should be free, as they were intended for
breeding purposes. The Collector decided
they were a manufactured article, and
subject TO duty. l should, perhaps, say
in regard TO the piano, that it, with other
fine furniture, evacuated the building
along with the Confederate troops.
Upon taking possession of the building
| by the National officers, there was TO be
witnessed a scene of inextricable oonfu-
sion. Books, papers, receipts, invoices,
blanks, and trash generally, Uttered up
the floors and occupied the tables and
| desks 1t is evident the Confederates
amused themselves after fashion, toiA
| going through tie forms Of Custom house.
Mr. Memminger evidently sent in repeat
| ed instructions about collecting money,
as there were innumerable envelopes scat
tered around, printed with the address
Of the heads Of the Treasury Department
| Of Richmond.
Such was the state of things when the
officers of the Government appointed to
open the port under the proclamation of
Mr. Lincoln, took possession on the 9TH
June. Unaided by any true information,
they had TO grope their way in the
dark, and from confusion bring out
order. Too much praise cannot be be-
slowed on Mr.. Geo. S. Denison Mr.. w.
G. Gray and assistants, for the manner in
which they have performed their duties.
at once overwhelmed with business OF
immediate necessity, they had also to
find out what had been done in the i'm T.
mediate past. Day by day working al
most without interruption since they
have been here from early morning until
night they have gradually developed the
back history Of the past and have found
out enough to suggest how great have
been the iniquities and frauds perpetrat-
ed before as well as after rebel rule
| BY industry, and starting with sugges-
tive hints, they have traced up United
States property Of immense value Of
aCliCh there 1Oas no record IN tie Custom
House property Of great value, includ-
ing launches, gigs, goods, and extensive
warehouses. As they progressed in the
Investigations it turned out that all the
bonded warehouse books, as far back as
1907, had either been mlHilotet Of al ,gritjag
stripped Of their entire contents, or eHhreh
destroyed. l have examined some Of these
mutilated books. Nothing is left to iden-
tify the goods Of which they were re-
cord, but enough remains TO show that
they were large in amount, and in value
immense. In fact, there is fortunately pre-
served in the Collectors own hand data
to show that there were goods enough in
the Bonded Warehouses, at the time the
Confederate Government took posses.
sion, TO pay in duties the enormous sum
Of S75OOOO! How much Of these goods
paid duties, or how much of them were
seized by the rebels, will probably neve,
be known, the records, as we have al.
ready stated, having been destroyed
the very attempt at concealment, being
the acknowledgment Of infamy and {
desperate desire TO hide it from tn,
world.
Illustrative Of the extravaganza en-,
couraged here by the Federal officials.
will mention The fact, that timber scat
folding or frame work, which a few
years ago surrounded the walls Of Tn,
building nominally for the purpose o
raising the granite, cost over 100000
In dne time il was ordered down. anC
the timber was sold fer one hundred an,
tl0eaty dollars! The receipt of this mon
ey, and the cost Of the frame work ar
preserved Before the close of Mr.. Blu
chanan's administration, there was com
mcnced and completed a magnificent
yatcht under the name Of revenue cut
r ter, the burden of which was nearly
two hundred tons, cost over SS00OO
is represented as being most sumptu
GUS craft, the ornamentation and furni
turc Of the cabin alone costing over $40,
Co., When the rebel fleet fed iron
New Orleans, the rebel gunboat jackson
came opposite and fired several shot
through the cutters sides. The vesse
now lies at the foot Of Canal street, tn
masts still visible above the water.
+ Each day that passes away afford
some development of valuable propert
destroyed, and also develops how muci
I business has been done and will be don
, in the future, Any one who has ocula
: q. -. =. - =.