This letter clearly marks the point of divergence between the two modes of dealing with the rebellion. As the reports of Mr. Johnston and the correspondence of Mr. Seward with Mr. Van Limburgh have been published, it is but fair that this dispatch should be also printed. Whether the confiscation act was a politic or an impolitic measure is a question upon which honest and patriotic men may differ-do differ. But the act having been passed and approved, there can be no doubt that the duty of commanding generals was to give it real effect-not allow the government to be defrauded by the hasty manufacture of fictitious legal papers.

General Butler continued his preparations for enforcing the confiscation act. The day after the expiration of the sixty days' grace, the following general order was issued:

"NEW ORLEANS, September 24, 1862. "All persons, male or female, within this department, of the age of eighteen years and upward, who have ever been citizens of the United States, and have not renewed their allegiance before this date to the United States, or who now hold or pretend any allegiance or sympathy with the so-called Confederate States, are ordered to report themselves, on or before the first day of October next, to the nearest provost-marshal, with a descriptive list of all their property and rights of property, both real, personal and mixed, made out and signed by themselves respectively, with the same particularity as for taxation. They shall also report their place of residence by number, street, or other proper description, and their occupation, which registry shall be signed by themselves, and each shall receive a certificate from the marshal of registration as claiming to be an enemy of the United States.

Any persons, of those described in this order, neglecting so to register themselves, shall be subject to fine, or imprisonment at hard labor, or both, and all his or her property confiscated, by order, as punishment for such neglect.

"On the first day of October next, every householder shall return to the provost-marshal nearest him, a list of each inmate in his or her house, of the age of eighteen years or upward, which list shall contain the following particulars: The name, sex, age and occupation of each inmate, whether a registered alien, one who has taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, a registered enemy of the United States, or one who has neglected to register himself or herself, either as an alien, a loyal citizen, or a registered enemy. All householders neglecting to make such returns, or making a false return, shall be punished by fine, or imprisonment with hard labor, or both.

"Each policeman will, within his beat, be held responsible that every householder failing to make such return, within three days from the first of October, is reported to the provost-marshal; and five dollars for such neglect, for every day in which it is not reported, will be deducted from such policeman's pay, and he shall be dismissed. And a like sum for conviction of any householder not making his or her return shall be paid to the policeman reporting such householder.

Every person who shall, in good faith, renew his or her allegiance to the United States previous to the first day of October next, and shall remain truly loyal, will be recommended to the president for pardon of his or her previous offenses."

This order led to a run on the oath offices. It was "understood" among the secessionists that an oath given to Yankees for the purpose of retaining property was a mere form of words not binding upon the consciences of the chivalric sons of the South. A very large number of persons, it is thought, acted upon this opinion; for while the offices appointed for receiving the oaths were thronged and surrounded by eager multitudes of oath-takers, the number of "registered enemies" was less than four thousand. "People," said the Delta, "who take the oath of allegiance, and afterward say, with a sneer, 'it did not go farther than there' (pointing to their throat), should bear in mind that if it is kept in that position, and they conduct themselves accordingly, there is great danger of its choking them some fine morning.”

Before General Butler left the department, sixty thousand of its inhabitants had taken the oath of allegiance to the government of the United States.

The rebel General Jeff. Thompson, who was in command near the Union lines, contrived to get in a word on this subject:

"PONCHATOULA, La., September 28th, Sunday, 8 o'clock a. m.

"Major-General B. F. BUTLER, U. S. A., New Orleans, La. :

"[Per Underground Telegraph.]

"GENERAL:-We thank you for General Order No. 76. It will answer us for a precedent at New Orleans, St. Louis, Louisville, Baltimore, Washington, each of which we will have in a few days. We were undetermined how to act. Please pile it on.'

"Yours respectfully,

JEFFERSON THOMPSON,

Brigadier-General S. C., commanding Southern Line."

If the general could regard this epistle as a joke, there were other correspondents whose communications caused him real distress. The venerable and benevolent Dr. Mercer, for example, a gentleman for whom General Butler, in common with the whole army, entertained the most sincere respect, addressed him upon the subject of General Order No. 76.

"You have probably inferred, from our various conversations, that I have not taken an oath of allegiance to the Confederate States, nor have been a member of any society or public body in New Orleans, or elsewhere in the confederacy; and that since your arrival here, I have maintained a strict neutrality. In pursuance of your Order No. 76, I will make a faithful return, substantially, if not minutely accurate, of all, my property here, except about $3,000, the greater part of which is in gold, that I have reserved for an emergency. I mention this to you now to avoid misapprehension. Your order referred to exempts only those who have taken the oath of allegiance; but I can not think you intend to include those in my situation as claiming to be 'enemies of the United States.' Such an interpretation is, in my opinion, at variance with the act of congress, as well as with the proclamation of President Lincoln."

General Butler replied:

"In my judgment, there can be no such thing as neutrality by a citizen of the United States in this contest for the life of the government. As an officer, I can not recognize such neutrality. 'He that is not for us is against us.'

"All good citizens are called upon to lend their influence to the United States; all that do not do so, are the enemies of the United States; the line is to be distinctly and broadly drawn. Every citizen must find himself on one side or the other of that line, and can claim no other position than that of a friend or an enemy of the United States.

"While I am sorry to be obliged to differ from you in your con struction of the act of congress and the proclamation of the presi dent, I cannot permit any reservation of property from the list, or exemption of persons from the requirement of Order No. 76. It may be, and, I trust, is quite true, that by no act of yours have you rendered yourself liable to the confiscation of your property under the act and proclamation; but that is for the military or

other courts (to decide). You, however, will advise yourself, with your usual care and caution, what may be the effect, now that you are solemnly called upon to declare yourself in favor of the government, of contumaciously refusing to renew your allegiance to it, thereby inducing, from your example, others of your fellow-citizens to remain in the same opposition. I am glad to acknowledge your long and upright life as a man, your former services as an officer of the government, and the high respect I entertain for your personal character and moral worth; but I am dealing with your duty as a citizen of the United States. All these noble qualities, as well as your high social condition, render your example all the more influential and pernicious; and, I grieve to add, in my opinion, more dangerous to the interests of the United States than if, a younger man, you had shouldered your musket and marched to the field in the army of rebellion."

Dr. Mercer was, therefore, compelled to choose a position on one side or the other of the "broad line." He did not take the oath of allegiance, but preferred to enroll himself among the registered enemies of his country. After the departure of General Butler, he escaped to New York, where he has since resided.

General Butler proceeded in the work recommended by Jeff. Thompson, of "piling it on," taking the material from the "piles" of the friends and comrades of that humorous officer. Another of his raking general orders appeared in October, which sensibly reduced the income of many conspicuous abettors of the rebellion.

"NEW ORLEANS, October 17, 1862.

"All persons holding powers of attorney or letters of authorization from, or who are merely acting for, or tenants of, or intrusted with any moneys, goods, wares, property or merchandise, real, personal or mixed, of any person now in the service of the so-called Confederate States, or any person not known by such agent, tenant or trustee to be a loyal citizen of the United States, or a bona fide neutral subject of a foreign government, will retain in their own hand, until farther orders, all such moneys, goods, wares, merchandise and property, and make an accurate return of the same to David C. G. Field, Esq., the financial clerk of this departinent, upon oath, on or before the first day of November next. Every such agent, tenant or trustee failing to make true return, or shall pay over or deliver any such moneys, goods, wares, merchandise and property to, or for the use, directly or indirectly, of any person not known by him to be a loyal citizen of the Anited States, without an order from these head-quarters, will be held per

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sonally responsible for the amount so neglected to be returned, paid over or delivered. All rents due or to become due by tenants of property belonging to persons not known to be loyal citizens of the United States, will be paid as they become due, to D. C. G. Field, Esq., financial clerk of the department."

To complete the reader's knowledge of this subject, it is only necessary to add that, early in December, all registered enemies who desired to leave New Orleans, not to return, were permitted -to do so. Several hundreds availed themselves of this permission, much to the relief of the party for the Union.

It was these stern and rigorously executed measures which completed the subjugation of the secessionists of New Orleans, and deprived them of all power to co-operate with treason beyond the Union lines. It was these measures which alone could have prepared the way for the sincere return of Louisiana to the Union, the first requisite to which was the suppression of the small party which had traitorously taken the state out of the Union. To complete the regeneration of the state, it was necessary to foster the self-respect, protect the interests, maintain the rights, and raise in the scale of civilization that vast majority of the people of Louisiana, white and black, bond and free, whose interests and the interests of the United States are identical. This great and difficult work General Butler was permitted only to begin. The backwoodsman was called from his fields when the forests had been cleared, the swamps drained, the noxious creatures driven away, and all the rough, wild work done. There would have been a harvest in the following year, if the same energetic and fertile mind had continued to wield the resources of the land.

CHAPTER XXV.

MORE OF THE IRON HAND.

CERTAIN of the Episcopal clergy of New Orleans felt the rigor of General Butler's rule. The clergy of New Orleans were secessionists, of course. Any Christian minister capable of voluntarily living in the South during the last twenty years, or any one who