New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-01-26
yu Ora Gully Gteseat staav ogang, yanuaru a. 1866
LETTER FROM ArEMPH. IS.
(From q Special Correspondence

/ LETTER FROM ArEMPH.ys.
tFrom Special CerTespondsnt3
MEMPHIS, january %, 1866.
My Dear Grescent-The bard tells us tina
mountains may be removed by earthquakes an,
so encounter but it is hard matter for friends t.
meet" So have felt of late for though til,
smiling face Of the Crescent looks in upon man,
seguestered nook, diffusing something of its owl
radiant light upon those who see its cheerful face
Jet Mr.. Postmaster General has not reconstructed
mail communications to some Of the localtie.
which have recently visited. 1t may be said
however, that once more breathe the Crescen
atmosphere, for its influence is appreciated here
and it is generally understood that there is CON
siderable little city in your vicinity, very appro
priately styled the Crescent City, in honor Of
the CRESCENT paper, socalled.
1t is beginning to be assumed here, by the way
that the Mississippi river is the natural and most
economical outlet for all the surplus products OF
this region; and that the Crescent City is the natu
4 raj mart where these products must necessarily be
exchanged, and whence they may most readily
1 reach the markets of the world. In the language
Of the learned Mr.. Justice Dogberry n it is already
proven /" that this is true. g and will grow to be
thought so shortly Indeed, there are evidences
that this belief already perYades the commercial
mind of Memphis. The tendency of cotton to.
wards New Orleans. when very recently the ship
ments Of that staple were almost Exclusively North
ming to seek its best market. III has been urged
that the scarcity of capital in New Orleans was
the occasion of the DETECTION of this trade by
another route but while this is true, it is also
net that capital ls ever eager to avail itself of
the most economical routes to the final markets
The planters with whom I have conversed as
well as the commercial men, look forward to a
renewal OF their former relations with New Or
I,,lr
next cotton crop as they did with their last at a
clear loss Of about two cents pound, by selling at
Memphis instead of in New Orleans; but it seems
to pc the present purpose of all the larger planters
to ship direct to New Orleans and thus avail them
selves Of the superior advantages Of that market.
4 think therefore that your merchants may conf
IDENTIFY look forward to the return into its natural
channels Of nearly all the trade which has been
diverted northward from this point.
The voyage cup the coastn would doubtless
have excited agreeable Impressions in the mind of
an antiquarian who could find pleasure in search
ing INTO the wrecks wrought by the ruthless hand
of time, or by the devastating hand of war. Old
Mortality might have visited, with sombre delight
the wasted plantations which skirt the banks of
the majestic river, and his palsed hand might
tremblngly have carved upon the ruins which
him, as upon the stombs of former
splendor, names which have not yet faded from
our hearts. But when Viewed the scenes of Desc
lation, could not partake either Of the curiosity
Of the antiquarian, or the grim delight of Old
gestive of the bright promise of Mr.. Joe. Holt,
made in the earlier stages of the war, when, in an
oratorical flight, he assured his hearers that
where the Union armies marched not blade of
grass would be- crushed or the tenderests flower
brushed away / beheld the fruition of this
promise around me-weeds and ashes!
But as teeming Nature is ever seeking to renew
its youth, and by fresh efforts of frutfulness en-
deavors to destroy the ravages of her enemy Time,
so likewise is the energy of the Southern people
aroused and directed into new channels to repair
the ,TaYages OF the past to dig the ground, to
eradicate the weeds, to plant cotton and corn and
cane, to rebuild the leyees, to find shelter amid
the ruins Of former splendor and even to cause the
grass to grow which was SO unoccountaby trod-
den down, and to woo an occasional flower to
difflse once more its frag ance to sweeten the
present desolatiOn. 59sfig y y
I regret to report to yon that the progress of
the work omthe levees is BY no means satisfactory
While many Of the smaller breaks will doubtless
be repaired, regard it as almost certain that ex-
tensiye districts will still be subject to overflow.
This is especially the case in consequence of the
very extensive work necessary at Morganza and
Lake Providence. Arkansas will likewise be a
serious sufferer, especially below the Arkansas
river. In some localities as at Laconia, north of
the Arkansas river, number of planters have
combined where the bends Of the river were
favorable, and have enclosed their plantations in
such way as to be independent Of the general
levee system. In Mississippi the levees are in
much better repair. With the exception of the
overflow which will be accustomed BY the Yazoo
Pass, but points III Mississippi will be seriously
inundated. q 5z. 4 III t4,,sl5. j
The question Of edmens labor is still regarded
as something Of an experiment by most Of the
planters On some Of the plantations which
Indeed this is the case wherever the
officer OF the freedmen's bureau manifests dis.
position to deal eqnitably between the employer
and the freedman Frequent illttsrferences, how
ever, are complained Of by the planter on the
part Of many 81 those officers WHO, it would APP
pear persist in misunderstanding the white man as
much as they do the negro. A distinguished
Federal officer of my acquaintance once desired
satisfactory solution to the question as to why
man., when he was converted into a soldier, in
garably insisted that his right hand became his
eft It might with equal propriety, be demanded
ng installed in a bureau leave the trodden paths
II common sense and human nature, and soar into
be regions of fancy? / will leave here in day
y two for somewhere. I will write to you from
here, or from somewhere else. s3'ss;5s5Es
Truly sAs3ss - tssS.