ent, by word or deed, the indignity, would come
to the General with their cheeks crimson with shame and the effort to
repress their just indignation, and beg him to take some measure for the
suppression of the evil.

Most men would have seen no other solution of the difficulty than the
arrest and punishment of a few of the offenders as a warning to the rest.
But General Butler foresaw, what was afterwards proved in the case of Mrs.
Larue, that the arrest of women would invariably provoke a
street-disturbance, which might lead to bloodshed; he, therefore,
remembering an old ordinance of the city of London, republished it in the
form of the General Order which has gained so universal a celebrity.

Mr. Monroe, who was mayor of the city at the time of its capture, came in
a paroxysm of anger to protest against the order as a libel on every lady
in New Orleans.

The General, with perfect good-nature, went over every word of it with
him, explaining its origin and its intent, and demonstrating beyond doubt
that it simply gave the female population of the city the opportunity to
choose in which of the two categories they would be classed,--ladies or
"common women,"--and assured the Mayor, that, above all, his idea was to
promulgate such an order as would execute itself, and prevent the very
thing which the Rebels have since charged upon him,--"a war upon women."

Three times Mr. Monroe left the General with the firm conviction that the
act was perfectly proper; but, instigated by crafty and able conspirators,
of whom the ruling spirit was Mr. Pierre Soule, he repeatedly returned
with fresh attacks on the General's administration, and especially on this
order, until, the General's patience being exhausted, he said to
him,--"Mr. Mayor, you have played with me long enough. Your case is
settled. The boat leaves for Fort Jackson this afternoon, and you must be
ready to take passage on her at four o'clock."

I never witnessed greater forbearance than the General displayed in his
treatment of the Mayor; indeed, I was at the time quite indignant that he
allowed him such liberty of speech and action.

One word more about "Order No. 28." General Beauregard's fierce anger, and
his horrible construction of its provisions, intended for effect on his
troops, will be well remembered by my readers. It may not be uninteresting
to them to know that Beauregard's sister in New Orleans, when asked her
opinion of the order, answered,--"I have n