o interest in or objection to
it; it does not apply to me." Is it difficult to guess to which class she
belonged?

Can I say anything stronger in vindication of the propriety of this order,
or of the General's sagacity in issuing it, than that the first
twenty-four hours after its promulgation witnessed a complete, and, it
seemed to us who were there, almost miraculous, change in the deportment
of the ladies of the Crescent City? If success is the test of merit, then
was it one of the most meritorious acts of the war.

* * * * *

The severity with which General Butler punished crimes against the
Government that he was determined should be respected, or against the poor
and oppressed, was of course in the Confederacy and in Europe denounced as
the most fiendish cruelty, and he was characterized as a man whose every
impulse was prompted by the most brutal passions.

I do not expect the people of the South to believe my statement, that I
never met a man of greater generosity and kindness of heart, or one more
pleased to do an act of clemency; but I think the loyal reader will find
in the following illustrations of these traits evidence of its truth.

Among the Rebel soldiers who were captured at the surrender of Fort
Jackson, in April, 1862, were four men who, with the remainder of the
garrison, were paroled as prisoners of war, but were soon after discovered
in an attempt to organize a company, of which they were elected officers,
with the view of crossing our lines by force and rejoining the Rebel army,
and upon their own confession were convicted and sentenced to be
shot,--the only expiation known to the rules of civilized warfare for so
flagrant a violation of the parole.

During the interval between their conviction and the day appointed for
their execution, I had occasion to see them frequently, and was strongly
impressed with the idea that they had sinned in ignorance of the magnitude
of their offence, and that a commutation of the death-penalty would be of
more benefit than injury to our cause. As the day of their death rapidly
drew near, and I observed their agonized despair of a reprieve, and their
earnest, sincere efforts to prepare for a fate they deemed inevitable, I
determined to make an urgent appeal to the General for their lives.

On the afternoon previous to the day of their expected execution, I went
to the General's room and implored him to relent toward the unhappy