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CURIOUS MASQUERADERS.

'IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

Iltisctllairams Intelligent

VISITS TO CONFEDERATE TOWNS.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

VISITS TO CONFEDERATE TOWNS. The author of "A Visit to the Cities and Camps of the Confederate States gives ^following interesting reminis- cence* ot a tour through the Southern States Colonel Gordon, an Englishman in the Confederate service, and C., accompanied us as far as Savannah, so we were" quite a party." „ At Charleston we remained for two days. The Yankees had recommenced shelling the city some tune before, but comparatively little mischief was being done. Few shells fell beyond the part ol the town which was destroyed by a fire previous to the first bombardment, and the houses of Charleston, as in most cities of the Southern States, are ve^y much scattered, except in two or three business streets, each one stand- ing in a large courtyard, and having besides a garden of shrubs and "shade trees. lhus nine out of ten shells fall harmless and the hope of the Yankees to set fire to the city or to batter it down has been hitherto entirely disappointed. The district nearest the bay, which is most exposed to the shelling, is nearly deserted by the inhabitants, but still ladies enter it without hesitation to visit their houses and a friend ot mine, Captain Mordecai, told me that he had in vain attempted to prevail on his old negro housekeeper to evacuate his premises. Them shells never do nobody any harm," she argued. In walking through this part of the city, the only observable results of the bombardment are the broken windows in houses where shells have exploded and General Jordan never even hinted the possibility'of its being an objection to our visiting the Battery and other exposed places to have a look at Fort Sumter, the Blakeney gum", and other objects of curiosity, and he 1 and several of his fellow officers accompanied us on the expedition. Various individuals were lounging about in the streets and on the Battery, which battery I think I have men- tioned before, is not a battery, but a promenade, whence there is a beautiful view of the harbour and bay. Of the row of fine houses here--the best in Charleston— fronting the bay, only one has been struck by a shell. In the" safe district" we visited the Soldiers' iiome, where every soldier, whether wounded or sick, or. travelling on furlough to visit his friends, is provided with board and lodging. Everything was admirable clean and well kept, and the dinner, which was just +l?R^Ve^' aPPeared excellent. In almost every town ui the South there is an establishment of tbe same description, generally close to the railway station. A hey are supported by the surrounding country, and mmany of t^em the ladies of the neighbourhood take It muturns to. wait upon their guests. Ihe establishment at Charleston is extensive, and we were shown over it by Mr. Gibbs, a wealthy Charlestoman, who has remained in the beleaguered city, determined to abide by his native place inits dark hour and he makes this "Home" an object of his chief care and solicitude. We had a very pleasant journey to Savannah. The weather was delightful indeed, from the time we reached Wilmington we had found the climate entirely different from that we had left at Richmond. A Mr. B-n had joined our party—a New Orleans gentle- man, and a friend of Colonel Deaa, who was very amusing. Savannah is the largest city of Georgia, on the south bank of the Savannah river, eighteen miles from the sea, and has a population of about 16 000 whites, and 12,000 blacks. A city with less than 30,000 inhabitants in the Northern and North-Western States of America is at the utmost considered a rising and promising young place; but it is different in the South, where popula- tion does not congregate at commercial centres, and the comparatively ancient town of Savannah is an impor- 17^ tyi v' was f°unc!ed by General Oglethorpe in y anr"' hke most of the seaboard towns, was in the ands of the British during almost the whole of the Revolutionary War. It is a beautiful place, and, to t an American guide-book, "regularly built, witn streets so wide and so unpaved, so densely shaded with trees, and so full of little parks, that but for the extent and elegance of its public edifices, it might seem to be a score of villages rolled into one. Theie are no less than twenty.four little green squares scattered through the city, and most of the streets are lintd with the fragrant flowering China tree, or the Pride of India, while some of them have four grand rows of trees, there beings double carriage-way with broad wattut on the outer sides, and a promenade between. The neighbourhood is exceedingly pretty, with drives on the banks of the river, and aven** of live oaks, bay-treep, magnolias, and orange- *• favourite drive is to the Cemetery of Bona- venrar#, which was originally a private estate, laid out In broad avenues and these avenues of live oak, now grown to an immense size, with their huge Dranobes sweeping the ground, and carrying heavy festoons of the haughty Spanish moss, are magnificent, We were at the Pulaski House, which is a capital °ry" eneral Beauregard was staying there, and we pMd our respects to him the morning after our arrival. He was looking remarkably well, and said he had never in his life been in better health, which was the more gratifying to hear, as it was from ill health that the general had been obliged to give up his command in the field two years ago. General Beauregard repeated what General Jordan had told us at Charleston, that he considered Fort Sumter stronger now for internal defence than it had ever been before. At the railway station we parted with our friends ^*r°rd^n and C., and proceeded on our journey to Mobile. It was long and tedious, but we got on pretty welL Some time before this we had discovered the dodge of fraternising with the conductor as soon as he came round to collect tickets, and the result was that we were generally introduced by him to his private box or to the mail room, where there were always chairs and plenty of space for making ourselves comfortable. Between Columbus and Montgomery General Bragg entered the cars and travelled with us some distance. He told us that he had just been all through south- western Georgia and eastern Alabama, and had found surprising abundance everywhere. The tax in kind which wa.s now being levied by the government was working exceedingly well, and provisions had already been collected amply sufficient to supply the armies in the West till the next harvest. An old farmer in the car became intensely excited when he heard what an illustrious passenger he was travelling with, and rushed up, saying, "Are yau Mr. Bragg? Are you General Bragg? Give us your paw I" and the general very good.naturedly shook hands with him. Then he sat down and stared in mute admiration; but when the general had left he attacked Colonel Deas "What big ears you've got! Why, you've got ears like a mule I-haw haw haw You mustn't mind me,—I'm an old fool,—haw haw But I've shook hands with Mr. Bragg, anyhow, haw haw haw And so he went on hke a maniac, much to our amusement. We stopped a few hours at Montgomery, and reached Mobile after a journey from Savannah of a little more than two days and two nights.

LETTER FROM A PENITENT SCHOOL-BOY.

A MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR.

EPITOME OF NEWS.