the United States, must be treated with the utmost deference and respect by all persons, under pain of severe punishment.

"All persons well disposed towards the government of the United States, who shall renew the oath of allegiance, will receive a safeguard of protection to their persons and property from the army of the United States, and the violation of such safeguard will be punishable with death. All persons still holding allegiance to the Confederate States, will be deemed rebels against the government of the United States, and regarded and treated as enemies thereof. All foreigners, not naturalized and claiming allegiance to their respective governments, and not having made oath of allegiance to the government of the Confederate States, will be protected in their persons and property, as heretofore, under the laws of the United States. All persons who may have heretofore given adherence to the supposed government of the Confederate States, or been in their service, who shall lay down or deliver up their arms, return to peaceful occupations, and preserve quiet and order, holding no farther correspondence nor giving aid and comfort to enemies of the United States, will not be disturbed in their persons or property, except so far under the orders of the commanding general as the exigencies of the public service may render necessary.

"Keepers of all public property, whether state, national, or confederate, such as collections of art, libraries and museums, as well as all public buildings, all munitions of war and armed vessels, will at once make full returns thereof to these head-quarters. All manufacturers of arms and munitions of war will report to these head-quarters their kind and places of business. All the rights of property, of whatever kind, will be held inviolate, subject only to the laws of the United States. All the inhabitants are enjoined to pursue their usual avocations. All shops and places of amusement are to be kept open in the accustomed manner, and services are to be held in the churches and religious houses, as in times of profound peace.

"Keepers of all public houses and drinking saloons are to report their names and numbers to the office of the provost-marshal, and they will then receive a license, and be held responsible for all disorders and disturbances arising in their respective places.

"Sufficient force will be kept in the city to preserve order and maintain the laws. The killing of American soldiers by any disorderly person or mob, is simply assassination and murder, and not war, and will be so regarded and punished. The owner of any house in which such murder shall be committed will be held responsible therefor, and the house be liable to be destroyed by the military authority. All disorders, disturbances of the peace, and crimes of an aggravated nature, interfering with the forces or laws of the United States, will be referred to a military court for trial and punishment. Other misdemeanors will be subject to the municipal author ity, if it desires to act.

"Civil causes between party and party will be referred to the ordinary tribunals.

"The levy and collection of taxes, save those imposed by the laws of the United States, are suppressed, except those for keeping in repair and lighting the streets, and for sanitary purposes. These are to be collected in the

usual manner.

"The circulation of Confederate bonds, evidences of debt (except notes in the similitude of bank-notes) issued by the Confederate States, or scrip, or any trade in the same, is forbidden. It has been represented to the commanding general by the civil authorities that these Confederate notes, in the form of bank-notes, in a great measure, are the only substitutes for money which the people have been allowed to have, and that great distress would ensue among the poorer classes if the circulation of such notes should be suppressed. Such circulation, therefore, will be permitted so long as any one will be inconsiderate enough to receive them, until farther orders.

"No publication of newspapers, pamphlets, or hand-bills, giving accounts of the movements of the soldiers of the United States within this department, reflecting in any way upon the United States, intended in any way to influence the public mind against the United States, will be permitted, and all articles on war news, editorial comments, or correspondence making comments upon the movements of the armies of the United States, must be submitted to the examination of an officer, who will be detailed for that purpose from these head-quarters. The transmission of all communicatious by telegraph will be under the charge of an officer detailed from these headquarters.

"The armies of the United States came here not to destroy, but to restore order out of chaos, to uphold the government and the laws in the place of the 'passage' of men. To this end, therefore, the efforts of all well disposed are invited, to have every species of disorder quelled.

"If any soldier of the United States should so far forget his duty or his flag as to commit outrage upon any person or property, the commanding general requests his name to be instantly reported to the provost guard, so that he may be punished and his wrongful act redressed. The municipal authority, so far as the police of the city and environs are concerned, is to extend as before indicated, until suspended.

"All assemblages of persons in the streets, either by day or night, tend to disaster, and are forbidden. The various companies composing the Fire Department of New Orleans will be permitted to retain their organizations, and are to report to the provost-marshal, so that they may be known, and not interfered with in their duties.

“And, finally, it may be sufficient to add, without farther enumeration, that all the requirements of martial law will be imposed so long as, in the

judgment of the United States authorities, it may be necessary; and while it is desired by these authorities to exercise this government mildly, and after the usages of the past, it must not be supposed that it will not be rigorously and firmly administered as the occasion calls for it."

"By command of

"GEO. B. STRONG, A. A. G., Chief of Staff."

MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER.

"The sum and substance of the whole," said General Butler, "is this: I wish to leave the municipal authority in the full exercise of its accustomed functions. I do not desire to interfere with the collection of taxes, the government of the police, the lighting and cleaning of the streets, the sanitary laws, or the administration of justice. I desire only to govern the military forces of the department, and to take cognizance only of offenses committed by or against them. Representing here the United States, it is my wish to confine myself solely to the business of sustaining the government of the United States against its enemies."

Mr. Soulé replied. He said, that his first concern was for the tranquillity of the city, which, he felt sure, could not be maintained so long as the federal troops remained within its limits. He therefore urged and implored General Butler to remove the troops to the outskirts of the town, where the hourly sight of them would not irritate a sensitive and high-spirited people. "I know the feelings of the people so well," said he, "that I am sure your soldiers can have no peace while they remain in our midst." The Proclamation, he added, would give great offense. The people would neve submit. They were not conquered, and could not be expected to behave as a conquered people. "Withdraw your troops, general, and leave the city government to manage its own affairs. If the troops remain, there will certainly be trouble."

This absurd line of remark-absurd as a reply to the general's proposals-fired the commander of the department of the gulf. He spoke, however, in a measured though decisive manner.

"I did not expect," said he, "to hear from Mr. Soulé a threat on this occasion. I have been long accustomed to hear threats from southern gentlemen in political conventions; but let me assure gentlemen present, that the time for tactics of that nature has passed never to return. New Orleans is a conquered city. If not, why are we here? How did we get here? Have you opened your arms and bid us velcome? Are we here by your consent?

Would you or would you not, expel us if you could? New Orlean's has been conquered by the forces of the United States, and by the laws of all nations, lies subject to the will of the conquerors. Nevertheless, I have proposed to leave the municipal government to the free exercise of all its powers, and I am answered by a threat."

Mr. Soulé disclaimed the intention to threaten the troops. He had desired merely to state what, in his opinion, would be the consequences of their remaining.

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Gladly," continued General Butler, "will I take every man of the army out of New Orleans the very day, the very hour it is demonstrated to me that the city government can protect me from insult or danger, if I choose to ride alone from one end of the city to the other, or accompanied by one gentleman of my staff. Your inability to govern the insulting, irreligious, unwashed mob in your midst has been clearly proved by the insults of your rowdies toward my officers and men this very afternoon, and by the fact that General Lovell was obliged to proclaim martial law while his army occupied your city, to protect the law abiding citizens from the rowdies. I do not proclaim martial law against the respectable citizens of this place, but against the same class that obliged General Wilkinson, General Jackson, and General Lovell to declare it. I have means of knowing more about your city than you think, and I am aware that at this hour there is an organization here established for the purpose of assassinating my men by detail; but I warn you that if a shot is fired from any house, that house will never again cover a mortal's head; and if I can discover the perpetrator of the deed, the place that now knows him shall know him no more for ever. I have the power to suppress this unruly element in your midst, and I mean so to use it, that in a very short period, I shall be able to ride through the entire city, free from insult and danger, or else this metropolis of the South shall be a desert, from the Plains of Chalmette to the outskirts of Carrollton."

Mr. Soulé, in reply, delivered an oration, the beauty and grace of which were admired by all who heard it. I regret that we have no report of his speech. It was, in part, a defense and eulogy of New Orleans, and, in part, a secession speech of the usual tenor, illumined by the rhetoric of an accomplished speaker. He said that New Orleans contained a smaller proportion of the mob element

than any other city of equal size, and that the proclamation of martial law by General Lovell was aimed, not at the mob, but at the Union men and "traitors" in their midst.

The conversation then turned to a topic of immense moment to the people of the city, the supply of provisions. The general said he had determined to issue permits to dealers and others, which should protect them in bringing in provisions from a certain distance beyond his lines. The awful situation of the poor of the city should have his immediate attention; in the mean time, the Confederate currency in their hands should be allowed to circulate, since many of them had nothing else of the nature of money.

After much farther discussion, the general being immovable, the mayor announced, that the functions of the city government would be at once suspended, and the general could do with the city as seemed to him good.

A member of the council promptly interposed, saying, that a matter of so much importance should not be disposed of until it had been considered and acted upon by the common council. The mayor assented. General Butler offered no objection. It was finally agreed that the council should confer upon the subject the next morning, and make known the result of their deliberations to the general in the course of the day. The gentlemen then withdrew: the crowd in the streets gradually dispersed, and the city enjoyed a tranquil night.

The next morning, the Proclamation was published; i. e., handbills, containing it, were freely given to all who would take one. Two important appointments were also announced: Major Joseph W. Bell, to be provost-judge, and Colonel Jonas H. French, to be provost-marshal. Colonel French notified the people, by hand-bill, that he "assumed the position of provost-marshal, for the purpose of carrying out such of the provisions of the Proclamation of the general commanding within this department, as were not left to municipal action. * Particularly does he call attention to the prohibition against assemblages of persons in the streets; the sale of liquor to soldiers; the necessity for a license on the part of keepers of public houses, coffee-houses, and drinking saloons, to the posting of placards about the streets, giving information concerning the action or movements of rebel troops, and the publishing in the newspapers of notices or resolutions laudatory of the

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