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diff --git a/78285-h/78285-h.htm b/78285-h/78285-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4befb06 --- /dev/null +++ b/78285-h/78285-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4202 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + New Orleans as it is | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} +table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } +table.autotable td, table.autotable th { padding: 0.25em; } + +.tdl {text-align: left;} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + +/* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} + +figcaption {font-weight: bold;} +figcaption p {margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: .2em; text-align: inherit;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +img.w100 {width: 100%;} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +/* Poetry */ +/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry */ +/* .poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} */ +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ + +.tnote { + border: dashed 1px; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding-bottom: 0.5em; + padding-top: 0.5em; + padding-left: 0.5em; + padding-right: 0.5em + } + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;} +.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2.0em;} + +ins { + text-decoration: none; + } + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowp45 {width: 45%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp45 {width: 100%;} + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78285 ***</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp45" style="max-width: 100.0em;" id="cover"> + <img alt="" class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" id="img_images_cover.jpg"> +</figure> + +<br> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> + +<h3>“TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION.”</h3> + + <h1>NEW ORLEANS +<br> + AS IT IS:</h1> + +<p class="center">ITS MANNERS AND CUSTOMS—MORALS—FASHIONABLE +LIFE—PROFANATION OF THE SABBATH—PROSTITUTION—LICENTIOUSNESS—SLAVE +MARKETS AND SLAVERY, &c. &c. &c.</p> + +<br> + +<p class="center">BY A RESIDENT.</p> + +<br> + +<p>“A heap of houses, a gulf of evils; on each of yonder stones you might see +a gushing tear, or a drop of blood, if the afflictions, shut up between +these walls, could but appear without.”</p> + +<br> + +<p class="center">UTICA, N. Y.:</p> +<p class="center">DE WITT C. GROVE, PRINTER,</p> +<p class="center">1849.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[Pg 2]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[Pg 3]</span></p> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE"> + PREFACE. + </h2> +</div> + +<p>In placing the following pages before the American public, no +apology is necessary by the writer, to excuse himself for the plain-spoken +manner in which he has given, in detail, the living character +of “<span class="smcap">Life in New Orleans</span>.” The design has been, from +the beginning, to draw a faithful picture of the heterogeneous mass +of human beings, who mingle together in this great charnel house, +and to delineate, as near as possible, the demonstrations of human +passion, which, to a very great degree, lead on the devotees of +pleasure, unchecked by moral force, or example, or precept, such +as is brought to bear upon the evils that exist here. When the +time for the redemption of New Orleans will come, judging from +present appearances, no prophet, with any reputation as such, I am +sure, would undertake to predict. The difficulty to be encountered, +in beginning a work of reform, would be, a starting point; for +you would not know where to begin or to find one, who would not +first be obliged to “pull the beam out of his own eye.” Hence, +the man who would undertake the task, must be a brave one indeed, +who would have the daring to tell the whole truth, and in +such manner as to appeal to the moral sense of this people. To +awaken that, by any means, would be as fatal to the one who should +attempt it, as would be to the mirror, held before the fierce rage of +the goaded bull.</p> + +<p>A portrait of the city of New Orleans is a living picture of the +world, and in this particular, it differs from every other city; for +here the world is concentrated, in a living spectacle of almost every +nation, kindred, and tongue, and from whom are poured out the +baser passions that dictate the actions of men, in all the variety of +shade and color, that can come up from the dark recesses of the +human soul. And it is here we find the great mass of human beings, +moved upon by impulses as strange and mysterious and incomprehensible, +as is their own future destiny.</p> + +<p>To the virtuous and good in the city of New Orleans, I have only +to say, that if I have drawn a faithful picture of “<span class="smcap">New Orleans, +as it is</span>,” you only are made to suffer by these pages, in the same +degree as the poor dog was, when caught in bad company. And +to those who can see themselves, “as in a glass,” I have only to +refer:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O wad some pow’r the giftie gie us,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To see ourselves as others see us.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[Pg 4]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[Pg 5]</span></p> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="NEW_ORLEANS_AS_IT_IS"> + NEW ORLEANS AS IT IS. + </h2> +</div> + +<h3>ITS SETTLEMENT.</h3> + +<p>The history of New Orleans, if fully written out from its earliest +day, in connection with the first adventures and discovery of +the Mississippi Valley, would be one possessing more interest to +the people of this country, than that of almost any other portion of +the American Continent. To do this, in any degree to satisfy the inquiring +mind, is not the purpose of the author of these few pages. +The writer only designs to give a brief portrait of the breathing +mass, that fills up the great emporium of the Valley of the Mississippi. +To say that all <i>live</i>, in the common understanding of the +term, who spend their time there, would be to give a false coloring to +a large portion of the picture, which the reader may be assured is +true in all its lineaments. It is important, however, to the reader, +to know something of the early history of this section of the country, +as well as a general description of the city, and some things +connected with it, to be able to duly appreciate and understand, +why a life in New Orleans differs so widely from any other in the +whole range of civilization. And while standing on the Levee, +and looking over that great busy mart, where the products and +treasures of that vast region of the Mississippi Valley and its +tributaries, are constantly being poured out, it would seem that a word +could not be said of New Orleans, without requiring a full history +of its discovery, beginning of settlement, adventures of individuals +in other portions of the Valley, along the banks of this great +artery of the breathing earth, which is constantly pouring its floods +into the bosom of the ocean. As a brief sketch is demanded of the +early times of this range of our country, I shall only notice a few +things.</p> + +<p>One among the most singular facts in the history of discoveries, +is that this mighty flood of many waters, was first met with more +than one thousand miles from its mouth. The first discoverer was +a Spaniard, by the name of De Soto. He started from the Island +of Cuba, in the year 1538, with six hundred men, landed on the +coast of Florida, passed to the North, through Georgia, Tennessee +and Kentucky, and came to the river, at the place now known as +Chickasaw Bluffs.</p> + +<p>In passing from 1538, down to 1717, many adventurers from the +old countries, as well as from the colonies, came, and scarcely +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>more than roused the panther and alligator from their lairs, and +passed on, leaving them quietly to return to their repose, and there +to remain, until another should come after them in search of the +“<i>fountain of immortal youth</i>,” which was the object sought after +by those who first traversed this region of our country, and whom +the Indians had now made to believe there existed such a fountain, +in which, if a man should bathe, he would, even if old, return back +to the sunny days of youth, his life be without end and clothed in +immortal youth. But this glorious fountain was never realized, +yet on they came, for many years, company after company; and +most of them found a resting place, unburied, in the midst of the +swamps and desolation of a wild and unbroken wilderness.</p> + +<p>The result of these several companies, in search of the fountain +of “living waters,” was a settlement under the patronage of the +French government, after the purchase from Spain, one at <ins title="Original has 'Natches'" id="Natchez">Natchez</ins>, +and one at Balize, on Lake Pontchartrain; and finally, in the year +1718, at the city of New Orleans, this Babel of all Babels, this Sodom +of all Sodoms, was commenced. And here let me ask the reader +to pause and contemplate the scenes which have been enacted +in this modern Golgotha. Turn back to the pages of its history, +although never written; yet to read it, let the imagination have its +widest range, excite it as livid as the lightning flash amid the lowering +thunder cloud; and then call up the fullest measure of human +woe, of moral degradation, of human suffering, and contemplate +the blackest rage of human passion, and all the dark and +damning deeds that the fiends of the infernal regions could perpetrate, +and you would have before you a faint moonlight picture +of the early days of New Orleans. But now, a change has come +over the drama of life, yet not in the spirit of her dreams. For +the same boiling caldron of human passion is still there, swallowing +up its victims, and as in olden times, leaving not a shred or a +remnant, to tell from whence they came or whither they have +gone.</p> + +<p>This was New Orleans a century ago, and this is New Orleans +to-day. And notwithstanding a change is in her outward forms, +by throwing aside the bowie knife, the dirk and pistol, yet the weapons +by which destruction is now accomplished, are none the less +sure, none the less fatal. For unlike the knife and pistol, they +never maim, but strike strong and deep into the very life blood of +the victim.</p> + +<h3>ITS LOCATION.</h3> + +<p>The City of New Orleans is on the west bank of the river, +about ninety miles from its entrance into the Gulf of Mexico.—The +City of Lafayette has a distinct city charter, yet the increase +of New Orleans has been so rapid, for a few years past, that it has +grown up, so that by buildings they are united, and now appear +like one vast city, occupying about seven miles in length, and about +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>one mile in width, along the bank of the river, which, at this point, +takes a wide circle and passes to the north-east. The two cities +occupy the bend of the river, in form like the new moon, and hence +has been given it the name of the <span class="smcap">Crescent City</span>. The valley +above and below is very level and low, and were it not for the +<i>Levee</i>, as it is called, would be inundated, by the overflowing of +the river, for nearly half of the year. The Levee is an embankment +of earth, thrown up from six to eight feet high, and sufficiently +broad to make an excellent road. This embankment, commences +about forty miles below the city, and on the east side of +the river extends as far up as Baton Rouge, a distance of one hundred +and forty miles. On the west side it has been necessary to +build it, with but very little interruption, up to the line of the State +of Arkansas, a distance of five hundred and fifty miles. Were it +not for this embankment, not a rod of this vast extent of country +could be cultivated. Yet it is now one of the most fertile and productive +portions of the South, and on which is grown almost the +entire crop of Sugar in Louisiana, as well as large quantity of +Cotton.</p> + +<h3>ITS HISTORY.</h3> + +<p>From the commencement of the city of New Orleans up to the +time of the “Seven Years War,” which is now always spoken of +as “The Old French War,” between England and France, and in +which many of our fathers participated, the province of Louisiana, +being then in possession of the French, passed through many trying +scenes; and several times barely escaped annihilation, not only +by sickness and starvation, but by well concerted plans of massacre +by the Indians who inhabited that range of country. At the +termination of the “Seven Years War,” came up a new era, upon +which soon followed those mighty developements, which to us +now in the distance appear like the work of enchantment. The +cession by France of all her rights and lands in North America to +England, except the province of Louisiana, was stipulated by the +deputies of the two governments, and the boundary line between +their possessions, in the wilds of America, was determined should +run along the middle of the Mississippi river from the gulf of Mexico, +up as far as Ibberville, thence along the centre of that river, +through Lakes Maurepas and Ponchartrain. This treaty was made +in 1763, twelve years before the war of the Revolution. Immediately +following the treaty, France ceded the entire province of +Louisiana to Spain. This act of cession, however, for certain +considerations, existing with the government of France, was not made +known until about two years after the date of the treaty. When, +the decree was first published, making, by a mere dash of the pen, +Frenchmen into Spaniards, it produced the utmost consternation +among the inhabitants of the province. The act of being thus secretly +passed into Spanish hands, with new lords and masters, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>without being consulted, or even a knowledge of the fact imparted +until long after the consummation of the matter, was too revolting +to those who had abandoned home and friends, and braved the +difficulties and dangers of the savage wilds of the Mississippi valley, +and who were as true and loyal Frenchmen as ever paid court +to Crown or King. Public meetings were called, and they resolved +as one man, not to submit to the outrage which the new order +of things would impose upon them. And they further determined, +that if they were to be thus dealt with, and finally deserted by +the Mother Country, they would endeavor, with the limited means +and power which they possessed, to commence business on their +own capital; and thus brave the displeasure of both Spain and +France. This determination they at once prepared fully to sustain.</p> + +<p>On the arrival of the Spanish Governor, Don Ulloa, with a strong +force, in 1766, they met him at the point of the bayonet, and succeeded +in driving him off, forcing him to leave the country and return +home and lay down his commission. At this unexpected defeat +and defiance of authority, the King of Spain was highly enraged. +In consequence, however, of other troubles then on hand, +which were such as to engage his whole attention, no further attempt +was made to take possession of the province until 1769, +when the King succeeded in finding a man, with all the requisite +qualifications to undertake the work of royal vengeance, which had +been three years waiting to glut itself with the blood of Frenchmen. +The fit instrument to <ins title="Original has 'dot his'" id="do">do this</ins> work, was a man by the name +of Don O’Reilly, a renegade Irishman, who had “left his country +for his country’s good,” to whom he gave the appointment of Governor. +To accomplish a purpose by any means within the scope of +human ingenuity, a fitter tool, or a more arch fiend, could not +be found within the compass of royal favor. He came to the citizens +of the province with fair promises of government patronage +and favor, pledging them at the same time, that he would, in a great +degree, respect the laws and regulations which they had enacted, +and retain in office a due share of the citizens. By these assurances, +impressed with so much apparent honesty, he succeeded in +prevailing upon the authorities and the people to lay aside their +arms, and meet him on the terms he proposed, and acknowledge +him as Governor. For some time he continued to respect his +pledges, and yet, while doing this, he was secretly fortifying himself, +and arranging his plans, by placing his own chosen and subservient +tools where he could at once call them out to do his bidding, +when the time should come to throw off the mask of hypocrisy. +He then assumed the power of the Dictator, made laws to +suit his own purpose, trampled under foot and disregarded written +contracts, and finally, to consummate his fiendish acts of treachery, +and to gratify the vengeance of his Spanish Master, and in defiance +of the most solemn pledges, he caused five of the principal men of +the city to be arrested, and, without trial, to be shot. Five others +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>he sent to the dreary dungeons of the “Moro Castle,” at Havanna, +on the Island of Cuba. These acts of outrage and vengeance, +together with violations of every assurance which he had given to +seduce the too credulous people, soon brought down upon him the +execration and abhorrence of the whole colony. The final result +was, he soon worked out his own downfall. Following the dictates +of his own inclinations, and supposing, at the same time, he +was courting royal favor, the King was forced to recall him, and +cast him off disgraced. Under his successor, a Spanish nobleman +by the name of Unzoga, who remained with the colony a short +time, the province enjoyed a short time of comparative peace and +prosperity.</p> + +<p>This, however, was soon broken up by the war between England +and Spain, which was declared in 1779. This occasion enabled +the Governor, Don Galvez, to display his martial prowess, +by invading Florida, then in possession of the English. Without +meeting much to contend with, he took Baton Rouge, and Fort +Charlotte, which stood near where now stands the city of Mobile. +From thence he marched down upon Pensacola, which, after a long +and determined resistance, finally yielded to the Spanish arms. By +this decisive blow the laws and power of Spain were established +in Florida, and the thorough introduction of the Spanish colonial +system. This, however, was too severe a blow for the proud and +independent English and French to bear quietly, without showing +some signs of the galling nature of the yoke, which was thus being +formed upon them. Yet the impositions succeeded so well for a +time, that an attempt was made in 1785, to establish an office or +branch of the Grand Inquisition in the city of New Orleans.—Against +this assumption and scourge of despotism, the spirit of the +hitherto subservient Frenchmen took fire. They arrayed themselves +at once in the most determined hostility against it, and so +daring and fearless were they in their opposition, that it was crushed +without leading to a collision between the people and the +troops. The agent who had the authority to arrange the matter +was taken from his bed in the night, and put on shipboard, and sent +back to Spain. Thus, ere it saw the light, was strangled one of +the most hideous monsters that was ever permitted to prey upon +the lives, property, and liberty of an unoffending people. And +yet, this was to come into a city, and among a population who had +no sympathy with the power that ruled them, nor any motive for +obedience except fear and self-preservation; and what is most astonishing +in this event, is, that such a system as the Spanish Inquisition +should be attempted on this continent, in the midst of the light +and spirit of that age, ten years after the announcement to the +world of the Declaration of Independence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span></p> + +<h3>FIRST IMPULSE TO COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE.</h3> + +<p>Finally, after a few minor vicissitudes, through which the colony +passed, <ins title="Original has 'op'" id="up">up</ins> to 1792, Baron Corondelet appeared as Governor. +Two years following his appointment, the treaty of St. Lorenzo was +entered into between the United States and Spain, by which was +granted free navigation to every kind of water craft, belonging to +the United States, through the lower waters of the Mississippi. +The effect of this treaty at once aroused a spirit of enterprise, and +gave an impetus to trade and speculation, which fixed forever the +prosperity and preeminence of the crescent city, as the great emporium +of the western world. The Spanish Governor, however, not +deeming the stipulations of the treaty of sufficient account for +his consideration, continued to exercise his authority, much to the +detriment of those who had been induced to embark in business, +as permitted by the stipulations of the treaty. This interference on +the part of the governor, did not much accord with the enterprising +spirit of that class of traders who had embarked their all upon +the waters of the Mississippi. This class of men differed widely +from those with whom the governor had hitherto been accustomed +to meet. They were schooled under different teachers than the +servile minions of Spain, or the too credulous and confiding +Frenchmen, who had long been submissive to his will. But the +“live yankee,” and such too, as constituted the boatmen of the +Mississippi, had never before crossed his path, and how to meet +them, was a task which he was not able to accomplish. The traders +from the beginning assumed a position to maintain their rights, +and this begat in the governor an impression that they were insolent +in the extreme, in daring to oppose his authority. The consequence +was, the restrictions upon the traders were more stringent +than ever; until finally, by an armed force under Andrew Elliot, +the territory was taken possession of, and the refractory governor +compelled to acknowledge the stipulations of the treaty and respect +the right of the traders. From this time until 1803, the territory +was quite prosperous, when Spain re-transferred all her rights +and interest to France.</p> + +<h3>THE PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA.</h3> + +<p>Immediately following this treaty between France and Spain, +on the 30th of April of the same year, France sold the whole territory +to the United States, for fifteen millions of dollars. Gen. +Wilkinson was ordered to take possession of the new purchase, +which he did, amid the rejoicings of the warm hearted Frenchman, +whose love of liberty had increased as the galling yoke of +his Spanish master bore down upon his neck. To him the day +was one that he had long desired, the day for knocking off his +chains and throwing them in the face of the insolent Spaniard.—From +this hour, the riches of the Mississippi Valley were unlocked. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>The march of improvement, and the swelling tide of business, +poured out her treasures into every clime, and at once determined +that this valley was the grand centre to which the extremes and every +part of the circle of this vast continent must yield their homage.</p> + +<h3>STEAM NAVIGATION.</h3> + +<p>Nine years after this event was an important and memorable era +in the scenes of the Mississippi Valley; and never will it be effaced +from the memory of the thousands and tens of thousands who +lined the banks of the river to witness the crowning efforts of +genius, and the almost omnipotent power of man over matter. It +was at this time, the first steam boat was taken into the bosom of +the father of waters. Although it was but yesterday that the astonished +multitude stood amazed, yet they are still there, and are +now witnessing thousands of these floating palaces flying to and +fro, bearing upon their huge frames the productions of this vast region +of our country. In the vision of the master genius of our +land, the immortal JEFFERSON, the reality which now lays before +us, was vividly drawn up, a short time before he consummated +the purchase of Louisiana, and in the language of another it is +thus presented:</p> + +<p>“The purchase of <ins title="Original has 'Louisania'" id="Louisiana">Louisiana</ins> is considered the greatest political +event, next to the Revolution, commemorated in American history. +The circumstance ought not to be overlooked that this mighty conquest, +exceeding in territory the greatest monarchy in Europe, was +achieved, without the guilt or calamities of blood, from a military +autocrat, whose ceaseless ambition was an universality of empire, +and who, in the untamable pursuit of his purpose, went on demolishing +nations at a blow, and partitioning the earth at pleasure, until +vanquished by the consolidated power of Europe. The mind is +lost in the magnificence of the achievement, and the vastness of its +consequences; its glories can only be commemorated in the unceasing +homage of the unborn millions who will participate of its +blessings. ‘There is no country,’ says a writer, ‘like the valley +of the Mississippi on the face of the globe. Follow the mighty +amphitheatre of rocks that nature has heaped around it. Trace +the ten thousand rivers that unite their waters in the mighty Mississippi; +count the happy millions that already crowd and animate +their banks, loading their channels with a mighty produce. Then +see the whole, bound by the hand of nature in claims which God +alone can sever, to a perpetual union at one little connecting point; +and by that point fastening itself by every tie of interest, consanguinity, +and feeling, to the remotest promontory on our Atlantic +coast. A few short years have done all this; and yet ages are now +before us: ages in which myriads are destined to multiply +throughout its wide spread territory, extending the greatness and +the happiness of our country from sea to sea. What would we +have been without the acquisition of Louisiana? what were we +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>before it? God and nature fixed the unalterable decree, that the nation +which held New Orleans should govern the whole of that vast +region. France, Spain, and Great Britain, had bent their envious +eyes upon it. And their intrigues, if matured, would eventually +have torn from us that vast Paradise which reposes upon the +western waters.’”</p> + +<h3>CHARACTER OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.</h3> + +<p>I have thus given a brief sketch of a few of the leading incidents +which tended to bring into existence and develope the resources +of this important section of our country. What makes it of +so much interest, at this time, is, that its birth and youth, and +transformation, as by magic, has been before the eyes of the present +generation. Nevertheless, they seem to pass it by as being among the +most common incidents in the life-time of every man. It is like the +idle tale of a school boy. And here it is proper to call the reader +to one important consideration, from which will readily be recognized +the causes which have produced this state of things, so peculiar +in New Orleans, and which gives a character to this city unlike +any other in the world. These causes commenced with the +beginning of the settlement, and increased by the frequent changes +which so often occurred, in the government and possession of the +territory of Louisiana. First came the French adventurer in +search of the “<span class="smcap">Fountain of Immortal Youth</span>.” Then came the +bigoted, iron rule of the dark frowning Spaniard; and, mixed up +with these, from all parts of the world, were fugitives from justice, +disaffected politicians, and desperate adventurers of all descriptions. +At length appeared also the shrewd and ever calculating Yankee, +with a force and power to leave the unmistaken impress of his +<i>guessing</i> nature upon every thing that he laid his hands upon. And +finally the poor African, stolen from his native home, was brought +to mingle with the <ins title="Original has 'heterogenous'" id="heterogeneous">heterogeneous</ins> mass, and impress his nature and +give a shade of character upon the length and breadth, the height +and depth of every thing that has had existence in New Orleans. +This crushed and down-trodden being came in with the commencement +of the cultivation of sugar cane, in 1751. African slaves +were sent from the Island of St. Domingo, by the Jesuits, to their +brethren in New Orleans, to superintend the making of sugar. +From their first introduction, the females have been to all intents +and purposes, the wives of both the French and Spanish, and are +now the same with the Americans who have taken up their abode +here. And in this there has been no respect to color, from the +dark sooty black, down to the soft and mellow tinge of the beautiful +quadroon. Thus, it will be freely acknowledged, the African +has had no small share in impressing the peculiarities of his nature +upon the living picture of a life in New Orleans. From this heterogeneous +mass, which in the beginning was thrown suddenly and promiscuously +together, has originated a state of society differing widely +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>from any other part of the civilized world. And now, as at the +beginning, the Spaniard is there, with his low dark brow, concealing +deep under its arch the small keen black eye, with snake-like +language, which tells of treachery, deceit, and midnight assassination. +Here too figures the brilliant, the proud and restless Frenchman, +with all the life and animation peculiar to his nature, with his +heart constantly running off at his tongue’s end. And now, at every +turn, you meet the cool, calculating, determined emigrant from +the Northern States, who moves on, with an eye single to the “almighty +dollar.” To these may be added, within a few years past, +the warm-hearted son of the <ins title="Original has 'Emerated'" id="Emerald">Emerald</ins> Isle, together with the cold +and ever measured tread of the plodding Dutchman. And to complete +the picture, in this mixed mass of living beings the neat and +tidy Quadroon is seen, civil, courteous, unassuming in all his manners, +yet with a down cast look, indicative of a deep realizing sense +of the damning curse that rests upon him in consequence of the +yellow tinge of his brow.</p> + +<h3>THE FLAT-BOATMEN.</h3> + +<p>And now to be considered alone, and distinct, that nondescript +of all human demonstrations, are the “<i>Flat Boatmen</i>,” of the +Mississippi River. Of this class there are annually visiting the city +of New Orleans not less than ten thousand, and yet when there, +that is their home. They are, indeed, an amphibious race of beings, +living on land or water, and always enjoying the comforts of a hotel +wherever night overtakes them. They belong, however, to the +Mississippi, and are, to the length and breadth of that mighty river, +what the wild Arab is to the deserts of Arabia. Daring and fearless, +they never regard danger, as more than the common incidents +of every day life. In their composition, they present the striking +features and peculiarities of the disciplined sailor, the fearless +whaleman, and the bold and strong backwoodsman, added to all +the free and social qualities of the well educated New Englander. +And while combining, and being made up of such traits of character, +they present a class distinct, original, eccentric, and unique; +yet, with all the better attributes of the human soul cultivated to a +high degree, presenting a noble and generous nature, and as warm +a heart as ever beat in the human breast. This class of “half horse +and half alligator,” as they claim to be, have borne such a <ins title="Original has 'conspicous'" id="conspicuous">conspicuous</ins> +part in the great Valley of the Mississippi, that a better view +of their character cannot be given than the following narrative, taken +from the lips of the celebrated James Girty, a short time before +his death.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“In the year 1814, I was captain of the barge Black Snake, +belonging to the Poyntz’s at Maysville. I started with the barge, +about two-thirds loaded, for New Orleans, in the latter part of November. +When I reached the mouth of Cumberland, I found a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> considerable +quantity of arms belonging to the United States, which had +been despatched from Pittsburgh for the troops engaged under +General Jackson, in the defence of New Orleans. They had +been taken down thus far, depending on an engagement made +with Ben Smith of Cincinnati, under which he had contracted +to deliver them within a given time at New Orleans. The +government agent had been waiting some days for Smith, who had +not yet made his appearance; and finding an opportunity offering, +and fearing they would be needed, immediately decided to send +them by me. I made all possible despatch, and happily succeeded +in reaching New Orleans with my precious freight on the 3d +of January, 1815. Eager to have a hand in the approaching battle, +I reported myself immediately to Gen. Jackson, who gave me +the appointment of Captain, with authority to impress into service +the whole body of barge and keel-boat men in port. I entered on +the work without delay, and with great activity and success. You +know as much as I can tell you of the glorious 8th. After every +thing in the shape of a red coat had disappeared, I discharged the +remaining part of the cargo and crew, for which last I had no further +use until I could get a freight up the river, which I did not +get until the latter part of May, when I hired a crew and started +for Pittsburgh. I reached Natchez in June. It was the custom +of those days to give the hands a holiday at Natchez, one at the +mouth of the Ohio, and one also at Louisville or Shippingsport.—It +was four o’clock in the afternoon that we threw up our poles and +fastened our bowlines at Natchez. The men were eager for a +dance, and some would not wait even for their supper, scampering +off to the dance houses under the hill. I got my supper and +went up also. I looked on until 11 or 12 at night, when finding +all my entreaties to get them back to the boat unavailing, I left +them, some engaged in dancing, others betting with the gamblers +on the <i>Roulettes</i>, and went on board the Black Snake. As the day +dawned, all hands were also at their posts, but in a wretched plight, +many of them having their heads badly cut and bruised.</p> + +<p>“It seems the gamblers had won all their money, and a fight ensued, +in which those gentry came off victorious. After breakfast, I +judged by the threats of the hands, and other circumstances, that +it would be advisable to get the Black Snake under way; but on +giving orders to that effect, not a man would raise a pole, until he +had had his accustomed frolic out, and I was compelled to give +way, determining in my own mind, to leave at 4 o’clock, when +the day of privilege would be out. When that hour came, it was +of no use to propose starting, none of the men would budge, until +they had obtained revenge; and they had privately agreed that +they would not assist me up any farther, if I would not go with +them and help whip the gamblers.</p> + +<p>“I saw there was no alternative, and after supper, I repaired with +my whole crew to the dance house, armed with knives, chopping +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>axes and setting poles. The gamblers had expected us and were +prepared with pistols, knives, and rifles, for the fight. The +<i>scrimmage</i> commenced without exchanging a word. At first they gave +us hard usage, but their ammunition was soon spent, and they +gave way, bearing three of their number off who were killed in the +scuffle. One of our men was mortally wounded, who made out +to walk to the boat, where he died in half an hour. We cut cable +and crossed the Mississippi, worked the Black Snake three miles +up the river, and came to for the night. About day-light next +morning, while burying the dead man, the Sheriff of Adams county +and a posse of almost an hundred men, came up and made us +all prisoners.</p> + +<p>“They left a man of the party in charge of the barge, and took +us all down to the ferry-boat and across to Natchez, where we +were brought before a judge and tried. No evidence being found +against any but myself and Bill Lloyd, one of my hands, the rest +of the crew were set free, while Bill and I were sent to Washington +jail; my barge was sent on, and I was detained to stay in jail +until Court, which was to sit the first Monday in October. After I +had been in jail about two weeks, one of the Associate Judges of +the Court by which I was to be tried, came out to Washington to +see me. I found in him an old Pennsylvania acquaintance, on +whom I had some claims. He gave me poor encouragement, telling +me he feared the Court would not let me out on bail. I told +him I had $2,700, which I could leave with my security. Still he +discouraged me. He said the evidence was point-blank against +me and Lloyd, but promised he would call again, ordering the jailor +to see that I did not want for anything that lay in his power to +give, and bade me good-bye. In about a week, he came again, +and told me he had succeeded in making it a bailable case of <ins title="Original has '3,000'" id="3000">$3,000</ins>, +and had also obtained a man to go my security. The door was +opened. I gave the Judge $2,700 and the necessary security.—The +Judge advised me to leave immediately, and never show myself +in Natchez, saying he would willingly pay the $3,000, if I +would keep away. I told him I would be in Washington at the +sitting of the Court, if I lived—on this I was determined. That +afternoon I wrote a letter to a friend of mine in Natchez, who was +a woman that kept a dance-house—now living and wealthy, and of +course, respectable—requesting her to get clear of the evidence +against me. I received an answer to this next morning, assuring +me I need fear nothing; that I might make my appearance at the +proper time with perfect safety, for there would be no one present +to witness against me. I left Natchez the same day, on foot for +Pittsburgh, which I reached in the latter part of July. I lost no +time collecting money, and gathered up $1,500, and started in a +large covered skiff on my return to Natchez. This was the last +of August. My skiff had two pairs of oars, and I took three yankees +on board to work their passage as far as Cincinnati, and the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>oars were plied night and day till we got there. At Cincinnati I +hired a man to help me the rest of the way down; by the time we +reached Louisville, he got tired and ran off. I went over Falls by +myself, and landed at Shippingsport in search of another hand, +and the first man that met my eye was Bill Lloyd. You may +guess my astonishment. My first words were, “Why, Bill, how +did you get out of jail?” “Oh,” said he, “it got so d—d sickly +among the thieving scoundrels in there, that the jailer was glad to +open my door to get me to take charge of the sick. I opened the +door for the rest, and all went out that could walk out, and then I +walked off to the mouth of Tennessee, and there I got a chance to +push up on that keel-boat there,” said he, pointing to it. “Well, +Bill, you need not fear anything while you are with me,” I remarked; +“I am going back to stand my trial, and I want to hire a +hand to help me down. The river is low, and if I don’t get some +good hand to help me row, I fear I shan’t get there in time.” In +short, I agreed to give Bill a dollar a day, and to let him off at +Walnut <ins title="Original has 'hills'" id="Hills">Hills</ins>: so he came on with his horn and blanket, and we +were off in a jiffy. Bill was a worthless fellow, and I knew it, but +he was a stout and good oarsman. He had not been long with +me, till he found out that my chest was heavy, and I watched him +close. When we were near the mouth of the Ohio, he became dissatisfied, +and objected to going any further towards Natchez, proposed +to go trapping up the Mississippi, insisting there could be a +great deal made on the Missouri, with other suggestions of the sort. +I paid little attention to his statements or arguments, keeping +down the Mississippi, and told him, if he wanted to stop, to do so; +as for me, I should go on to Natchez. He said no more until we +were in the bend above Beef Island, when he broke out afresh, +accusing me of suspicioning him of a wish to rob me. I told him +I was not afraid of him in any shape. A fight ensued, which I +knew must end in the death of one or the other, with the skiff and +my money for the victor’s spoils. After much struggling, I put +him overboard. I set the blade of an oar against him, shoving him +off from the skiff, then thrusting the oar to him, told him to save +his life. He made no other reply, than to clench the oar and threw +it back to me, telling me to “go to hell,” and swimming about fifty +yards, safely reached the head of Beef Island. I landed at Natchez +at one o’clock, and on the morning of the first Monday in October, +I left the skiff, and with my chest on my shoulder, walked up +to the dance-house. My friend was still up, as were several more. +I deposited my chest with her, and looking around the room, I espied +the most important witness against me. I turned to her, reminding +her of the promise she had made me. She told me she had +been trying to get rid of him all summer; that he was the only +evidence against me left in the country, and that she would yet +get him out of the way. I observed the time was short, and calling +him forward, told him I would give him five hundred dollars to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>leave the place that morning, and not appear against me. He +swore there was no use to talk to him, for he had braved the worst +of the yellow fever for the purpose of remaining there and appearing +against me, and I might depend upon it, he would be on the +spot when called to testify. My friend said, never fear, all +would be right; and as I was about bidding her and witness good-bye, +proposed that we should take a gin-sling together. She mixed +one for witness, one for me, and one for herself. Having all +drank, I started for Washington, and reached there by 9 o’clock. +Being quite tired, I lay down on the door-step and directly fell +fast asleep and did not awake until the sheriff, calling the Court, +awoke me. Every body seemed astonished at my presence. My +case was the first one called. I answered to my name, and when +the judge enquired of me if I was ready for trial, my counsel did +not happen to be present, and I answered that I was as ready then +as I ever should be; that I had no evidence when I was sent to +jail, and had none now. The attorney for the State directed the +Sheriff to call his witnesses, to see if he was ready for trial, who +called 11 names in succession, not one of whom was present, but +some one answered, name by name, as they were called, what had +become of them. Some had left the country, and some had died +of the yellow fever, until the name of the one I had left in Natchez +was called, and the answer was that he had died that morning at +half past eight. There being no evidence against me, I was, of +course, discharged, and returned the same evening to Natchez. I +asked my friend what had caused the fellow’s death who was to +have been the witness. She said she supposed it was in the course +of nature, nor could I, then or afterwards, get any satisfaction +from her on this point. Next day, I called on my security, settled +<ins title="Original has 'by'" id="my">my</ins> business with him, then went to my friend’s house, opened my +chest, and counted out $500 for her. She perceived what I was +doing, and told me, if I wanted to make her my enemy for life, I +could have a chance, and if I dared to offer her money, she would +blow my brains out. I made several excuses to induce her to take +the money, saying that I owed it to her honestly for her kind treatment +of me, and that I did not mean anything dishonorable by it. +She remained resolute, and said if I wanted to continue friends +with her, I must not offer her money. I then bade her good-bye, +and before dark, my chest and skiff and myself were all on the way +to New Orleans.”</p> +</div> + +<p>For one to look upon the visage of such a man as Girty, there +would at once arise a suspicion of damning deeds, as dark and +dread as his own sun-burnt brow; yet in him was always found +an integrity of purpose, from which many in the higher walks of +life, could learn a lesson, and profit by it. In his time, thousands +of dollars’ worth of property and money were confided to his care, +and accounted for to the last farthing. Nor was he ever known to +break an engagement, or betray a trust.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span></p> + +<p>And now the reader has before him all that New Orleans is to-day, +and from this mass of elements is constituted its society; and certainly, +short-sighted indeed must be any one who cannot in some +decree anticipate the leading features which would be presented +from such a mingling of the impulses of human passion, and form +some opinion of the perfect Babel of human tongues, as well as human +<i>actions</i>, that is found there.</p> + +<h3>CITY GOVERNMENT AND POLICE.</h3> + +<p>There is not a city in the United States so well regulated, and so +thorough in enforcing laws and regulations, as are the authorities of +the city of New Orleans. And in no place is a person, in purse +and property, more safe, at all times of day and night, and in every +part of the city. And yet, in this respect, it is far different from +what is understood by the people of the Northern States. The impression +exists with almost every one, that to walk the streets at +night, or to be caught in the suburbs of the city, the bowie knife, +the dirk, and the pistol, will be the first thing to flash in his face; +and to escape the gang of assassins is impossible. But far from +this are the facts. Even females can walk the streets after dark +without an attendant, and be perfectly secure from insult or molestation.</p> + +<p>The city is divided into three municipalities, each being under a +distinct and separate government. Hence, no doubt, a strife arises, +in enacting and enforcing wholesome and salutary laws, at least so +far as security for person and property are concerned. Certainly +there are fewer murders, robberies, and burglaries, according to +the population, than in any other place in the civilized world of its +size. Another very important and very salutary regulation is, the +disposition they make of vagrants. A man appearing ragged, dissipated, +and degraded, and laying about the streets, without any +visible means of support, either by labor or money, is arrested and +taken before the Recorder, and unless he can make some show for +himself, he is sentenced to the work house for sixty or ninety days, +and in all this transaction you find no low unprincipled pettifogger, +as is the case in New York, volunteer to defend him. Such an interference +by a lawyer, in New Orleans, would forever disgrace him. +After the vagrant has served his time of sentence out, you +will see him make his way out of the city, cursing the very stones +on which he treads, not even venturing to look behind him, fearing +that he may be again arrested before he can escape. The effect of +this stringent regulation is to keep the city entirely clear of this +class of day and night peculators. It is also a note of warning to +that horde of plunderers and robbers who operate on a larger scale; +for they are sure there will be no favor shown them by a pettifogging +construction of the laws, nor <i>flaws</i> found in the indictment, +by which he can escape against the evidence of his guilt. And in +more than this, you will find New Orleans differing from other cities. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>You cannot find here a coat of mail thrown around the culprit by +the influence of money, through which the law cannot penetrate. +Neither can you find in the halls of justice, a back-door avenue by +which you can reach the jury box, or the prosecuting attorney, or +the Court. Hence the vicious are cautious how they lay their +hands on their neighbor’s property, and woe to him who invades +his neighbor’s rights, so as to fall within the meshes of the law. +These regulations and features in the government of the city are +the only wholesome rules of which it can boast, and present the +only redeeming trait in the whole frame-work of its laws, its manners +or customs, except the system of common schools.</p> + +<h3>COMMON SCHOOLS.</h3> + +<p>The system of common schools is deserving of more than a passing +remark; yet what is due, in commendation of such a gem in +the midst of such a mass of corruption, cannot be allowed within +the compass of the design of these pages. Suffice, however, to +say, that it is one of the most perfect models for common school +education ever instituted, and it is to be hoped that other, and older +States, may profit by the example. The citizens of Louisiana +feel a pride in this great work, and well may they. In particular +the citizens of New Orleans should be proud of this monument of +their wisdom and benificence. Some of the municipal arrangements +of this system, are as follows. Large and commodious buildings +are erected, to which all the children of a certain district are +sent. Each school is divided into four classes, according to the +ability and knowledge of the child. When they have passed the +several departments, and been subjected to the rigid and thorough +examinations which are necessary in passing from one to the other, +and have gone through and received a diploma, they are qualified +to enter the junior class of any college in the United States. And +here the road is open to all, the poor as well as the rich, the system +forbidding any <ins title="Original has 'distincttion'" id="distinction">distinction</ins>, and to all classes free of expense for +every thing which the pupils require for instruction, in books, +maps, charts, and other materials, all of which are furnished by the +State.</p> + +<h3>THE LOCATION OF THE CITY.</h3> + +<p>To give the reader a correct idea of the city of New Orleans, +and the great curse to which it will ever be exposed, it is important +to know its peculiar location. The range of country along the +banks of the Mississippi, is called the <i>coast</i>, commencing about +forty miles below and about sixty miles from what is called the +“<i>Balize</i>.” This is a term signifying a sea mark, or pole elevated as +a guide for seamen, and this was done by those who first made the discovery +of the mouth of the Mississippi. No other term is now used, +but “<i>Balize</i>,” when going out of the river. The <i>coast</i> is a +narrow strip of low, flat land, from one to two miles wide, and in rear of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span>which, running nearly parallel with the river, is deep, dismal +swamp land, filled with legions of the most deadly, <ins title="Original has 'poisonons'" id="poisonous">poisonous</ins> +snakes, and herds of alligators. This belt of land is perfectly level, +until it meets a ridge at “Baton <ins title="Original has 'Rogue'" id="Rouge">Rouge</ins>,” on the east side of the river, +about one hundred and twenty-five miles above the city. The soil +is a deep black sandy alluvial, of great fertility, and seems not to +deteriorate by cultivation. This whole coast along the river is now +occupied by the sugar planter, and for nearly eight months in the +year the eye of the traveler sees nothing before him but the waving +sugar cane, presenting one unbroken livid landscape of the most +beautiful green ever beheld upon the lap of nature.</p> + +<p>The city is located on the west bank of the river, and the wide +and graceful sweep which the river takes at this point, in crescent +shape, crowds it far back into the belt of land, leaving but a narrow +space between the river and the swamp. This swamp is several +miles wide, skirting the rear of the city the whole length, and into +this mud hole, the water and filth (what little passes off) are taken. +This boiling fountain of death is one of the most dismal, low +and horrid places, on which the light of the sun ever shone. And +yet there it lies under the influence of a tropical heat, belching up +its poison and malaria, from whence it is constantly being +swept through the city, feeding the living mass of human beings +who stand there, ready, as it were, to take down the dregs of the +seven vials of wrath, that is incessantly being poured out upon +them. Another evil is, the city, by the bend of the river, is thrown +so near the swamp that the range of land on which it stands, is +exceedingly low. Consequently, during a rain or in a wet season, +it is almost entirely under water, and always after a heavy shower, +or several days of damp wet weather. The state of the atmosphere +and heat are such that in a few hours the water in the gutters +and in the yards and vacant lots, becomes covered with a +yellow greenish scum, in which there appears to be a fermentation, +which you can distinctly hear, as you pass along the side-walk.</p> + +<h3>SOURCES OF DISEASE.</h3> + +<p>In connection of the swamp, is being thrown off, unceasingly, +from the whole surface, in and around the city, one dense sheet of +thick malaria. And to thicken this up, and add to its qualities, the +whole city, from one extreme to the other, is filled with the most +filthy masses of stench and corruption, that were ever suffered to +remain above ground in a community claiming to be decent or +civilized. In proof of this, go to that part of the city where you +would certainly expect neatness and order, and look for some place +to locate, to escape the steam and odor from piles of filth, and you +will find on one side or the other of almost every dwelling, a horse +stable, a mule yard, a negro pen, or piles of offals, from some lane +or alley, which have been there from time immemorial. Again, +you may look for a desirable dwelling, but none can you find, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>unless on one side or the other is a miserable shanty or hovel, filled +with the most degraded human beings, either black or white. In +further proof of what New Orleans is, in this respect, the following +incident will give some idea of what is found there. In the summer +of 1847, during the rage of the yellow fever, when hundreds +were dying daily, the citizens and authorities, from some cause +which I believe has never yet been made public, and perhaps only +known to but <i>few</i>, got an impression, that filth and corruption +<i>might possibly</i> beget disease. Consequently they appointed a +committee of examination to search the city, to ascertain if any thing +could be found that would have such a tendency. In this arrangement, a +very worthy and efficient gentleman, Mr. N., was assigned to Gravior, +one of the principal streets in the second municipality. While +on his mission he went into the <i>chamber</i> of a house, but a few rods +in rear of the St. Charles Hotel, occupied by an Irish family, and +while conversing with the <i>lady</i> of the house, his attention was +attracted to another room by a noise like the grunting of swine, +yet for the moment, he concluded it could not possibly be <i>up +chamber</i>. The report, however, soon came again, and was so convincing +that he arose and opened the door, and to his astonishment met an old +sow nursing five pigs, which she had reared in that room, until they +were almost large enough to become <i>gentlemen</i> hogs. And this is +<i>life</i> in New Orleans. In connection with all this, every mouthful of +food a person gets on the table is a mass of poison, disease and death. +I refer now to meats, of every description. The animals of all +kinds, to supply the city, are brought down from the upper States, +bordering on the Ohio and Mississippi, in Steam Boats, and are, +generally, from ten to fifteen days on the passage. They are forced +into a change in food, water and other circumstances, during the +passage. They eat but very little, and when they arrive in the +city, are in a state of starvation; and in this condition are killed, +and taken into the markets. Now this meat is as improper for the +table as if the animal had died of ship fever; for the whole body is +in a state of feverish <ins title="Original has 'inflamation'" id="inflammation">inflammation</ins>, produced by the change of diet +and the starving condition in which the animal is when killed. +Consequently, the meat must produce a deleterious influence upon +the health of those who eat it.</p> + +<p>To present clearly, the condition that meats are in, when taken +into the markets, the following facts are given. The Steamer +Dove, in her trip to New Orleans, in Oct. 1848, was completely +covered on her deck with coops full of chickens, as thick as could +be crowded in, amounting to several thousand. The passage was +long and tedious. For two days after being taken on board, the +poultry began to sicken and die. The number dying daily increased, +and for two or three days, before we arrived in the city, +a large number died. On arriving, those living were immediately +sold, and the next day, many of them were on the tables of the +Hotels and boarding houses. Now if these chickens were wholesome, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>and proper food to be eaten, and would promote “health <i>and +long</i> <span class="allsmcap">LIFE</span>,” then may we look for health in consuming +the pent up damps and vapors of the dungeon or an emigrant ship. It is +also in almost a putrid condition that butter and preserved meats +are received, and they both have generally a rancid and forbidding +taste and smell. Vegetables may be classed with other things, for +they are usually produced by a forced growth; consequently, cannot +become healthy and vigorous plants.</p> + +<h3>WATER IN NEW ORLEANS.</h3> + +<p>And now comes the water, and while I am writing, before me +stands a tumbler of as pure water as was ever thrown from the bosom +of the earth; hence those who have been in New Orleans, +can fully realize that I can well appreciate the contrast. To dig +a well and procure water in New Orleans, is a very easy matter; +for you would have it, for more than two thirds of the time, even +with the surface of the ground, and never, in the dryest time, +more than a foot below. To drink freely of this water, no person +would probably live but a short time. To furnish a supply of water +for dwellings, every house has a cistern, from ten to fifteen feet +high, standing above ground, for rain water. This water is used +for drinking, cooking, and washing. Standing as this cistern does, +exposed to the heat of the sun, the water becomes exceedingly +warm, and always has a brackish, insipid taste. Another supply +of water, to those who prefer it, is from the river. It is taken +through the main part of the city in pipes, and this is the most disgusting +and loathsome beverage, that a person ever put to his lips. +To have some proper conception of this water, for drink, call to +mind the filth from cities, towns, and villages, for an extent of two +thousand miles, together with the dregs that are constantly being +poured off from ten thousand boats of every class, from the floating +palace of the magnificent “Autocrat,” down to the shabby coal +carriers of the Monongahela, which are constantly floating upon its +surface. And then look at the dirty gurgling mass, as it rolls along, +and constantly boiling up from the bottom: dip up a tumbler full, +each of which is thick with what you may call “<i>mud</i>,” if you +please, and each glass-full will have at least, when left to settle, a +tea spoon full of this “delicious” <i>mud</i>; and I am sure, it being so +well mixed, that no other “<i>mud</i>” can be found as <i>rich</i> as this. +Yet those who live here, along the range of the Mississippi, +drink it, and say they “<i>like it</i>.” But one thing is as certain as +any cause and effect, that a more frightful source of disease does +not exist in the Mississippi Valley, than the use of the river water +for drink. As evidence of this, is the change it produces with almost +every person when he commences taking it. The effect is +a very powerful alterative influence upon the system, terminating +as thorough as the most drastic cathartic. This derangement, +in a majority of cases, follows with great obstinacy for weeks, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>often months, baffling all remedies. The effect is a great irritation +of the mucous coat of the stomach and alimentary canal, resulting +in extreme prostration of the physical powers, and a general derangement +of the whole system; thus rendering it an easy prey to the +various diseases peculiar to a hot southern climate. Now, +all these causes, and all the circumstances by which the inhabitants +of New Orleans are surrounded, together with the excessive +dissipation, in every manner prompted by human passion, +make that city, as it truly is, “one great charnel house.”—Although +there are periods when New Orleans is called “<i>very healthy</i>;” +yet that time is, when the Yellow “<i>Jack</i>,” the Cholera, +or “<i>Danza</i>,” is not sweeping the inhabitants off by scores every +day. At all other times, while the mortality is three times as +great as any other city of its size, with corresponding sickness, +yet you will then hear, that it is “exceedingly healthy.” But +notwithstanding all these reports, New Orleans never can be healthy. +As well could health be enjoyed while living upon the adder’s +breath, or breathing the odor from the deadly Upas tree.</p> + +<h3>POPULATION.</h3> + +<p>The population of New Orleans is about one hundred thousand, +and this includes that portion who reside there during the fall and +winter months. The number who may be regarded as residents, +according to the proper understanding of what constitutes a residence, +will probably not exceed sixty or seventy thousand. There +is doubtless, every winter, a transient population of thirty or forty +thousand, who spend from six to eight months in the city, and as +soon as the warm season commences, take their departure in +swarms, as regular as wild geese do from the North on the first +appearance of a flake of snow. But on the return of cold weather +they are not all of them found to return; for, as a general thing, +a large majority get enough of New Orleans in one season. And +separate from the Creole population, or that portion who are descendants +of the first settlers, the French and Spanish, I do not think +there is one in twenty of the residents of New Orleans, men who +are now in business, who design to spend their days in the City. +They are now, however, engaged in a routine of business that fixes +them there for a time; yet they are firmly resolved, at no distant +day, to seek another home. But before that time will be determined +upon, by many who are now moving in the busy scenes of that +fated City, they will be taken to a house and a resting place that +will be more certain and unchanging than the bed of that mighty +river which will forever pour its immense flood into the bosom of +the Ocean. To the man of middle life, when he begins to turn the +“descending scale,” and the warm current of his youthful blood +begins to cool, and run sluggish through the channels of life, and +before the bright visions of his fancy begin to flit the dark clouds of +the uncertain future, to such a man will New Orleans present no +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span>charms, and the longer he remains there, will its varied and blighting +realities appear more and more desolating. The Creole population +know no other home, and consequently have nothing before +them from which to make a comparison that will enable them to appreciate +a higher and better state of existence. Hence they will +always be found there. But to the adventurer, he who has +come in from the Northern States, and whose early life is filled +up with the impressions of the pure and wholesome associations of +a well educated, refined and moral people, this City presents nothing +that can call up the pleasing and delightful scenes of his early +days, but the contrast is calculated to beget an insatiable hankering +for his early home.</p> + +<h3>THE CREOLES.</h3> + +<p>The Creole population of New Orleans are a peculiar and singular +people. And here it is proper to explain who are recognized +as <i>Creoles</i>, for I find, that almost without exception, every person +of the North understands the term, <i>Creole</i>, to mean that portion +of the inhabitants who are, more or less, shaded with African +blood; and in short, the impression is, that when you speak of them +you are speaking of those called <i>Quadroons</i>. Yet they believe +that in this class are included those of a much darker shade than the +yellow persons or mulattoes who come strictly within the class of +quarter-blooded Africans or <i>Quadroons</i>. The term Creole simply +means <i>native born</i>. The Creoles are principally descendants of the +French and Spanish settlers. They are exceedingly genteel, civil +and courteous, and in all the embellishments that adorn the gentleman +and lady, they excel, and in all their articles of dress they exhibit +a degree of taste and perfection in arrangement, that makes +them easily recognized in the common walks of life as well as in +the promiscuous assembly. And yet they are strongly attached to +the footsteps and ways of their fathers, and are exceedingly cautious +in preserving their identity, and consequently do not desire to become +familiar with the manners and custom of those “Goths and +Vandals,” who have come down upon them from the North. This +portion of the population of New Orleans reside principally in the +first municipality, which is now the center of the City. The second +municipality, or American part, as it is termed, is above, and the +third is below. In the third, the inhabitants are a mixed mass, of +all nations, kindreds, people, and tongues. The Creoles being thus +hemmed in, are gradually yielding and giving way to the superior +energy and force of character and adaptation to business of those +who surround them, and have given tone and vigor to every thing +of a business nature in New Orleans. Hence, the Creole reads in +the future his destiny, and is compelled to reflect that what he now +looks upon as Vandalism, will ere long crush every thing of his +name and character in the dust. This foreshadowing of his doom +makes him jealous of his more busy neighbors, and oftentimes, in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>view of the change that is going on like magic before him, he becomes +exceedingly captious, and thus forbids himself to become +social with his Yankee neighbors. But the immutable laws of population +which will ever make the weak give room for the strong, +force of character, influence and power of change in associations, +the ingenuity and adaptation to business of those who surround +them, and who already begin to mark them as their prey, will take +every thing from their hands, and leave them in the shades of oblivion, +only to be found by the cold and speechless marble that +marks their final resting place.</p> + +<h3>SPLENDID BUILDINGS.</h3> + +<p>Of costly and splendid buildings in New Orleans, there are but +very few worthy of note. The St. Charles Hotel, however, presents +the proudest monument of that city, and of buildings of that +character it stands unrivalled, and without a comparison in the +world. This magnificent establishment, in size and beauty, in its +external appearance, and architectural designs, impresses upon the +beholder that sublimity and grandeur, which perfection in the science +of architecture is ever calculated to produce. The most casual +observer, when unconsciously brought to view this <i>speaking</i> +monument, feels an awe stealing over him, which at once charms +him into the stillness of a statue; and he stands a silent gazer upon +that tongueless yet speaking mass before him. There are other +buildings in our country that are costly and magnificent in structure; +yet in comparison to the St. Charles Hotel they fail in that +speaking eloquence which it is the power of perfection in the science +of architecture to display.</p> + +<p>This immense structure was commenced in the spring of 1835 +by an incorporated company, and was completed in three years.—The +entire cost of the building was between five and six hundred +thousand dollars. The front, on St. Charles Street, as viewed in +passing down, presents a projecting portico of six Corinthian columns, +standing on a granite basement, and four similar columns, on +each side of the portico, ranging with the front wall of the centre +part of the building. Behind these four columns is an open space, +one hundred and forty feet long, covered with large granite slabs, +thus affording a wide and extensive range for promenading. The +entrance to the bar-room is on the front of the portico, in the +basement, on each side of which is a range of stores in front. It +occupies the centre of the main building, and is octangular, or eight +square, and is seventy feet in diameter and twenty feet high. To +support the floor above, is a range of heavy Ionic columns, in a circle +round the room. In rear of this is a bathing establishment, +consisting of fourteen rooms, perfectly arranged, and adapted to +warm or cold baths. In the basement also are the wine and liquor +cellars, store house, and other domestic apartments, necessary for +such an immense establishment. The saloon, or reception room, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span>for gentlemen, in which also is the office, is directly over the bar-room, +and of equal size. In the centre of this room commences a +winding stair-case, that leads through the upper stories to the +dome. As it ascends up, in each story, around the stair way, is a +space or gallery, that leads into a suite of bed rooms. The gentlemen’s +dining room is one hundred and twenty feet long, fifty wide, +and twenty-two feet high, beautifully finished in the Corinthian order +of architecture. The floor above is supported by two rows of columns, +arranged so as to give space for four tables, through the +whole length of the rooms. The ladies’ dining room is in another +part of the building, entirely separate, and is fifty two feet long and +thirty six wide. The angle in front, and to the right of the portico, +is the ladies drawing room, and is forty feet long and thirty two +wide. The gentlemen’s sitting room is also in front, on the opposite +side of the building, to the left of the portico. It is thirty eight +feet square. There are, in the whole establishment, three hundred +and fifty-two rooms, besides nine private parlors, with bedrooms +adjoining. These rooms, throughout the whole building, are +furnished with a taste and elegance, unsurpassed by any other Hotel +in this or any other country. To complete and perfect this +magnificent structure, a dome, in diameter and heighth, surmounts +the centre of the building, that appears so perfectly in harmony +with all the other parts, that to add to or diminish it would seem to +destroy every line of beauty, which is now so richly displayed.—And +yet to finish and fill up the conceptions of the imagination, +on the top of this dome, away in the dizzy height, is a beautiful +Corinthian turret, that keeps up, in its proportion, the image of +perfection, that looks out from every part of this unrivalled specimen +of architecture. The dome is fifty-six feet in diameter, and +around this, at a distance of eleven feet, is a range of columns that +support the projecting cap of the dome, thus making a beautiful gallery +for promenade, from whence the eye can range at a glance +over the whole city, and trace in the far distance the windings of +the rushing tide of <i>many waters</i> that lays before it.</p> + +<p>The influence that this vast and magnificent structure has upon +every one, is such that it places every other building in New Orleans +so far in the back ground, that they will not receive even a +passing notice. The St. Louis Hotel, however, is a building of +much elegance and taste, yet presenting nothing remarkable to attract +the attention of the passer by, except its immense size and +the space it occupies. It fills the entire block, between Royal and +Chartre Street, fronting on St. Louis, three hundred and ten feet, +and on Royal and Chartre, in width, one hundred and twenty.—The +original design of this immense building, was for a City Exchange, +a Bank and Stores, a Hotel, and a large dancing room, in +imitation of the Saloons of Paris. For a Hotel, the arrangements +for such are, perhaps, the most complete and perfect of any other in +the world; yet it has failed in every particular in being sustained, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>and this is in consequence of its location, being in the first +municipality, or the French part of the city. Hence it can never become +the resort of business men, or him who comes in for pasttime or +pleasure. The determination of every thing in New Orleans is in +another direction, and nothing hereafter will succeed unless it +comes within the range of the American part of the City,—the second +municipality. It is of no use to try in any other part, for “Capt. +Scott” is there, and they may as well “give in” and “come down,” +first as last, for they will surely be killed, if they don’t. There are +no other buildings of note, or any that will rank with the common +average in cities generally.</p> + +<h3>THE OLD SPANISH CATHEDRAL.</h3> + +<p>Perhaps, however, as an exception to this, may be considered the +“Old Spanish Cathedral,” or Church of St. Louis. It stands in the +centre of the “Crescent” and also of the City, overlooking the +“Place d’Armes” or Parade Square. This unique and singular +structure forcibly impresses the stranger by its ancient and venerable +appearance, and is calculated to excite in the beholder, suspicion, +that within its cold and gloomy walls have been perpetrated, +dark and damning deeds, on which will dawn no light, until +that time shall come when the crimes which have been committed +within pent up walls, and in the dark haunts of vice, and under +the fall of midnight, shall be spread out upon the long scroll that +eternity has been rolling up. But the suspicion, that wrong or an +impious act has been done within these consecrated doors, or within +view of those sacred altars, would be sacrilege indeed, although +it has stood here for more than half a century, and is now +bearing upon its floor the footprints of three generations who have +daily assembled here, and bowed in humble reverence and adoration +before the image of their Savior. Yet could it reveal and unfold +the records of the “confessional,” what tales of bleeding penitence—what +strange and incomprehensible impulses of the human heart, +would here be developed. But all these things are locked +in the silent chambers of death, and rest with that venerable old +man, Pere Antonio de Sedella, who was Curate of the parish for +nearly fifty years. His image will live in the memory of succeeding +generations, for the story of his virtues and the overflowings of +his warm and generous heart will be told by the happy recipients +of his favors, and impressed upon the records of every age. He +was gathered to the home of his fathers in 1837, in the fullness of +days, at the age of ninety years. His remains were deposited +within these sacred walls, and lie buried at the foot of the altar +where for half a century he daily knelt, presenting the case of +some wayward and wandering child, who had poured into his ear, +confessing the deeds and errors of the carnal heart, beseeching him, +in the spirit of true penitence, to ask for mercy at the throne of +grace.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span></p> + +<h3>PUBLIC GROUNDS.</h3> + +<p>Of public grounds, or places for promenade, there are none in +New Orleans, and yet in no place in this country could beautiful +walks and promenade grounds be made so enchanting as in that +city. The climate and soil are such that every thing necessary to +make such places desirable, and even charming, would come up, as +by magic, if a beginning was only made. But as yet there has +scarcely been a “picayune” devoted for any thing of this purpose. +There are, however, inclosures of considerable extent, which no +doubt were designed for this purpose. One of these is the “<i>Place +d’Armes</i>,” inclosing about six acres of ground by a strong and well +constructed iron fence. Although this place has long been noted, +yet it is without ornament of any description, and has no attractions +at any time, except on every <i>Sabbath</i> day, when it is filled with +the military of the city, who assemble here, under their respective +officers, for inspection and review. This is also the place of reception +for distinguished men, on all occasions of public demonstration +in their behalf. And it was here, within this inclosure, four days +after the “battle of New Orleans,” that General Jackson assembled +the heroes of the 8th of January, and bade them farewell. And +yet below, and in full view of this place, which on that memorable +day, to all human conception, was a doomed city, to be given up to +rapine and robbery, lay the “Plains of Chalmetta,” the “Battle +ground,” the Waterloo of America, that field of glory and of arms, +and not a stone, or a memento, meets the eye of the passer by, to +tell where our brave soldiers, with their hearts on their bayonets, +fought against such fearful odds, and the deeds of noble daring of +those fathers and brothers, who there faced the cannon’s mouth, +to save their homes, their wives and daughters, their mothers and +sisters, from the grasp of an infuriated and brutal soldiery. But +here, within the “Place d’Armes,” and in the very place, is fixed a +stone, about eighteen inches square, where stood that “iron nerved +old man,” and like an “infant wept,” when he received the warm +grasp, and bade each soldier adieu, as the long line in single file +passed before him. The stone is fixed deep in the ground, and is a +“silent and impressive lecturer” on the records of the past; yet it +is here simply as a memento of the footprints of the savior of his +country. And here too, again and again, has the soldier, the statesman, +and the civilian, met the warm embrace, and received the gratitude +of the grey-haired old man, the mother, the son and daughter, +presenting a monument more splendid and magnificent and enduring, +than the lofty structure of granite or marble.</p> + +<p>Of this somewhat interesting place, I cannot present a more +graphic description, than the following, from a New Orleans paper.</p> + +<h3>THE PLACE D’ARMES.</h3> + +<p>What a queer neighborhood is that in the immediate vicinity of +the <i>Place d’Armes</i>, in the First Municipality! A stranger can +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>scarce realize that he is in an American city, so foreign an air pervades +the vicinage. There one beholds the time-worn buildings of +the old Spanish architects of the last century, crumbling and mouldering +slowly away. In a few short years they will be numbered +among the things which were, and in their places will soon spring +up smart rows of <ins title="Original has 'bran'" id="brand">brand</ins> new brick buildings, rejoicing in all the +freshness of newly moulded clay and coatings of bright fresh paint, +looking as if age could never creep on them and sap their foundations, +loosen the mortar, rot the heavy beams and joists, cause great +chinks and cracks to open in the walls and the roof, letting the rain +and wind in to assist in the work of ruin and decay. Even the old +<i>Place d’Armes</i> itself has a queer, ancient, foreign look. The tall +and aged sycamores, with the brown bark peeled off in great blotches +from their trunks, leaving white-bald places; the dead and crackling +branches, the dying leaves, changed by the approach of winter, +but still clinging pertinaciously to the parent stock as if loth to fall +and perish, seem to moan and mourn as the wind whistles through +them, at the desolation which has crept into that old square. Where +are its trim well-kept walks, where its neat benches, on which +many a lover has uttered his devotion to his mistress and received +from her lips his judgment? Where those gay promenaders, full +of life and hope, uttering soft nothings and prattling in foreign +tongues of <i>la Belle France</i>, or of deeds in old Spain! Where those +children, rosy cheeked and cherry lipped, lightly bounding over the +smooth grass and indulging in the pure and innocent sports of childhood, +known only to that happy state of existence? Generations +have slipped away while those old trees have been growing there—death +has gathered them in by scores, and the cemeteries still tell +the time when they retired to their quiet homes from the cares of +the world forever. Bright wreaths of gay flowers sometimes may +be seen upon the final receptacles of some of those old frequenters; +evergreens growing around their graves, wetted by the tears of +those in whose breasts the memory of the departed dwells ever. +Where is the little fountain that once spouted so gaily in the centre +of the square? where those funny, finny little denizens of the basin, +in whose sportiveness the children took so much delight? Fish or +fountain exist no longer; the little dolphins who never wagged their +little tails, and who kept continually blowing little jets of water +from their mouths—the plaster naiads, who watched over all, with +a perpetual smile upon their lips, are gone also. The basin is filled +up, and the next generation can only learn that there was once a +fountain there! There is one old relic left yet—the black old gun +which has bellowed forth from its great round throat a command to +all blacks to get home as soon as possible, night after night, for +many a long year. There stands the stout and hale old fellow yet, +with iron constitution, affected but slightly by the hand of Time, +and looking like some weather-beaten old veteran of the wars, who +has been banged about a good deal, stood fire in frequent campaigns, +but is still as rough and tough as the best youngster in the service.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span></p> + +<p>Then there is the old cathedral, with its old towers and turrets +frowning—all old places are by special poetical license invested with +the power of frowning—over all, flanked on each side by the Court +House and Municipal Hall, built in the olden time, and though furbished +up, and whitewashed, and painted, still bearing the date of +their origin upon them as plainly as the black looking ancient Cathedral. +Those bells, too, in what time they first tolled a knell or +rang for the quiet rest of some departed soul we cannot now tell. +For many a year they have been cracked, but still are made to +perform their office morning, noon and night, in obedience to the +will of the founder of the Cathedral. No ghosts would infest those +belfries or their neighborhood. In front stand a string of crazy old +hacks and cabs, jingling jarvies and barouches, built long and long +ago; the horses have a dejected air, and exhibit many points of a +character which would indicate that they subsisted, like chameleons, +upon very thin air, or dragged on a miserable existence in hopes of +better days, living upon the force of imagination merely. You will +be told, though, that these nags, “rum ’uns to look at though they +be,” are “reg’lar good ’uns to go.” The drivers are mostly +negroes who indulge in bad French and drink root beer at the +stand of the fat old black woman at the corner. On one side of the +square we have drinking houses, <i>cafes</i> and <i><ins title="Original has 'restaurats'" id="restaurants">restaurants</ins></i>—scarce +any thing else. The corner is the resort of all the inhabitants of the +region, a well kept place, where persons can indulge in dominoes, strong +<i>cafe</i> and all sorts of drinks from orange flower water and <i>eau +sucre</i> up to Cogniac. Every afternoon it is thronged, and a babel like +confusion prevails from the mixture of languages, French, Spanish, German, +Italian and English. In the same row of buildings is the well known <i>Cafe +de Quatre Saisons</i>, and Victor’s <i>restaurant</i>, one of the crack +places of resort in the city, where <i>bon vivants</i> and <i>epicures</i> +have a decided propensity to congregate. On the opposite side is the +queerest combination of trades. Here is a depot of the fruits of Pomona, +with stacks of apples, piles of oranges, strings of bananas, baskets of +pecans, walnuts and shell-barks; little monuments of guava jelly and +pyramids of cocoa nuts, piled up like cannon balls. Presiding over all is a +stout, olive colored Spaniard, in a striped guernsey shirt and fur cap—he +is the deputy of the goddess, handles her luscious offerings and pockets +the proceeds. Side by side with this is a hardware store, with +long-legged spiders, and griddles, and sprawling gridirons; podgy, +apopleptic looking iron pots and wide-mouthed copper kettles; +casks of spike, coils of wire, shelves of knives and forks; packages +of locks and bolts and bars and hooks, mute commentators upon +the dishonesty of mankind. Then comes another fruit depot, another +and another, all looking exactly alike, arranged the same and +all attended by individuals of the same pattern. Hardware, perishable +fruits and spirits are the commodities exclusively dealt in in +this row. How the second story is occupied no one can say. The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span>balcony railings are usually hung with damp and dingy looking +clothes, sheets, towels, stockings, gowns, pants, and vests. Broken +flower pots with starvling rose bushes and blighted geraniums, +dragging out a miserable existence, may occasionally be seen, and +pale, attenuated females with uncombed hair and drabbled dresses, +deluging them with soap suds. An old man sometimes smokes +his short clay pipe moodily, silent and alone, leaning over the balcony +and listlessly watching the passers-by; and now and then a +child will clamber upon the railings and terrify the beholder by +demonstrations of descending head foremost to the pavement below. +The inhabitants by day are few, but at night the place swarms—it +is alive. Fiddles, flutes, tamborines, grinding organs are going it +at a great rate; busy feet are toeing and heeling it, but whereaway +it is hard to tell. The sounds issue through the chinks of the +window shutters, creep out beneath the doors, curl out of the chimney +tops with the smoke; a strange jumble of queer sounds, half +expressed notes, abridged cachinations, bits of German glees, +replete with consonants melodiously uttered, pervades the atmosphere +with the indistinctness of a dream, till the Cathedral clock +sonorously peals forth the hour of 12. Then the noise which has +been gradually growing less and less distinct, suddenly subsides +entirely—the lights fade away and the quiet of the night is disturbed +no more.</p> + +<h3>DWELLING HOUSES.</h3> + +<p>The dwelling houses in New Orleans, at least seven-tenths of +them, are the most miserable apologies for the comfort and convenience +of a family that can be imagined, and there are but very +few modern built, and well arranged, and completed, with a view +to make a house desirable for a residence. The reason for this, +doubtless, is the excessively <i>high price for building lots</i>; and the +enormous expense of building obliges those who build, to erect as +cheap buildings as possible. A house designed for renting, also, is +built as cheap as can be done, for such an one will command nearly +as much rent as the most splendid mansion, if it has equally as +much room and as favorable location. Hence you will find, in +every part of the city, in the best locations, the miserable old Spanish +house, only one story high, renting from eight to twelve hundred +dollars a year, and the building is not worth twenty dollars. And +yet these buildings will remain where they are until swept away, +either by fire or water. The excessively high price of rents for buildings, +for any purpose, together with the enormous expense of living, +will very much retard the rapid improvement, and permanent +advancement of New Orleans.</p> + +<h3>“GOING SOUTH TO SEEK A FORTUNE.”</h3> + +<p>The impression prevails very generally, in almost every section +of this country, that wealth can be accumulated with great ease, and +quite rapidly here, and this has caused a great excess of business +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span>men, and much competition. Consequently profits are small, and +but very few make annually more than enough to meet expenses, +and many very soon become satisfied with the experiment of +“going South” to make a fortune. You will not, therefore, find +but very few “<i>old merchants</i>,” in New Orleans. And with this +view also, “to seek their fortunes,” will you find hundreds of young +men, in the fall of the year, wending their way South, to look up +a way of business for themselves, and yet not one in every fifty +obtain employment, or meet with any thing to do. I have seen +many such come into New Orleans, with letters of introduction +and recommendation of the highest character, and failing to get +business, and too proud to return home, and being on expense, and +without any income, would soon spend all their means in hand, +and finally, from necessity as it were, would drop into the floods +and whirlpools of dissipation, and be taken as straitway down to +ruin and destruction, as if they were forced by the irresistible laws +of gravitation. I have also watched the bright hopes and cheerful +countenance of many a young man when he first looked in upon +the wild and animating scenes which are here presented. He feels +at once a new impulse stealing over him, and the bright visions of +his fancy, which have led him on, he imagines will be more than +realized, for the <i>substance</i> and the <i>life</i> before him he +believes to be real, and in which he will soon participate. But little does +he dream that all he witnesses is as false and groundless as the baseless +fabric of his own wild fancy. I have thus followed him, a few +short months, moving among the busy throng that fill up these +streets, and finally night after night have left him in the low roofless +hovel, feeding at the table with the most miserable and degraded +herd of Slaves in human form. This is no sketch of scenes drawn +out in vivid colors of fancy, for it is stern, living reality, and language +contains no power to embellish them, for they are before you, +in the history of thousands, who have been buried here, and gone +down to a premature grave. And here let me say to the young +man of the north, if you should have a desire, or an idea come up, +of “<i>going South</i>,” check it at once,—crush the thought, ere it +brings before you treasures of a golden harvest, which you may +imagine is in store for you there; for let me assure you that the +day has long since passed when fortunes can be easily gathered at +the “<i>South</i>,” or in New Orleans; and no other place in this +widespread country can be found, where so few realize the anticipations +which urge them on to engage in the pursuits and business of the +day and when the hour of trial comes, and blasted hopes gather +thick around, so many sink away into the vortex of irretrievable +ruin, and if ever known again it is amid the scenes of vice and +dissipation, herding with vagabonds and gamblers. And this is the +fate of hundreds of the business men of New Orleans. And this +too is no fancy sketch, but the reality of every day life. And yet +these men are worthy of a better fate.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p> + +<h3>THE CHURCHES.</h3> + +<p>Of the churches in this city, not including those of the Roman +order, and the influence of professing christians, there cannot be +much said in their favor; yet there has been something done by +them, and some influence of a favorable tendency has been quietly +and slowly working, which in some degree checks the wild rage of +human passion, or at least has driven it back from the public +view, and to a great extent from the light of day. And the reason, +doubtless, why more has not been done, and why a more salutary +influence is not produced by religious efforts, is that the christian +standard is as much below the Bible requirements of christian life, as +the moral standard is degraded below that point which justly forbids +almost every man a character for morality. Hence, when the +christian standard falls far below, as it does here, the ordinary +estimation of a moral life, it cannot be expected that the influence +of professing christians of such a grade, can be very forcible or of +much avail. And I apprehend that nothing will ever be done here +to crush those monster evils that stalk through these streets at midday, +and to indulge and participate in which is not unbecoming a +<i>gentleman</i>, a <i>good citizen</i>, a <i>moral man</i>, and a +<i>christian</i>, unless it is by raising up a proper moral standard, by +which men shall be tested who are to be the recipients of patronage and +public favor. This, however, would look like a hard beginning, for some +<i>one</i> would be called upon “to throw the first stone.” And I fear echo +would answer, Where is he?</p> + +<p>There are a number of Churches in the City, and many of them +of recent organization. The Episcopalians have five, Presbyterians +three, Methodists two, Baptists one, Universalists one. The Clergymen +who officiate in them are generally men of distinguished +talent and ability, and the morning service, on the Sabbath, is usually +well attended. In the afternoon the audience is very small, +consisting only of a small portion even of the members. No +Church could be well sustained in New Orleans, with a second rate +preacher. They must be men of popular talent, of forcible and +attractive eloquence, and withal not very <i>close</i> preachers. Hence +the influence of preaching and of Christian teaching is superficial +indeed. The principal cause, and doubtless, the great obstacle +in the christian and moral standard of New Orleans, is the total +disregard and desecration of the Sabbath. Not only is this done +by professed christians, but by those who have been differently +educated and early impressed with the benefits and wholesome +and salutary influence produced by a due observance of this day.</p> + +<h3>THE SABBATH.</h3> + +<p>The Sabbath appears to be regarded by almost every one as a +holiday, and its return is as much desired for a day of pleasure, as +if no other day was appropriate for such purposes. Military Parades +are never on any other day but the Sabbath. Horse racing, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>when a large purse is at stake on the most famous races, are on +the Sabbath. Theatres and circuses have the most attractive bills +and greatest display on Sabbath evening. Bull fights also are never +on any other day, and in fact, exhibitions of every kind are usually +on the Sabbath. And yet, in this enlightened age and against the +good sense and judgment of every other section of this country, +and in full view of the evils that flow from these examples, the +authorities grant permits and licenses for these things, and men in +the highest official stations in the State and city favor them by +their presence on the Sabbath. And also, against these outrages +and other evils that are begotten by them, the pulpit is as silent as +if they were in accordance with the rituals of the church. And +more than this, will you be astonished to see, not only <i>good men</i>, +but <i>professing christians</i>, mingling in the crowded throng that keep +up these rounds of moral pollution and dissipation. But in all these +evils the authorities are chargeable with more censure than all others, +for they have the power to prevent and suppress entirely these +blighting curses that pervade this city. But compared with other +causes that seek no hiding place, amidst the whirlwind and rage of +human passion that lays desolate every refined and noble impulse +of the human heart, the desecration of the Sabbath is but as the +breath of the summer breeze, compared to the tornado’s blast.</p> + +<h3>SOCIAL RELATIONS.</h3> + +<p>The social relations of the great mass of the citizens of New +Orleans are peculiar, and doubtless unlike any other place within +the wide range of civilization. And the principles by which the +intercourse in society is regulated, are strange indeed; especially +to those who have been educated and taught to believe there is some +meaning and worth in virtue and chastity, and that licentiousness, +fornication, and adultery are crimes, if not in the sight of heaven, +at least should be so considered in a moral point of view, as well +as against the sacredness of the domestic circle and peace of society. +But here these evils, together with the outrages of prostitution, +appear to be regarded as matters that come as much within the +routine of the social relations, and the open and unrestricted indulgence +of the citizens, as a general thing, as any of the common +civilities of life. Hence, to be openly known in the practice of +these vices—as a libertine, or living in adultery, or as an excessively +licentious man, does not degrade him, or make him the less +favored or less respectable. In fact, there appears to be no such +condition known here as adultery, fornication, or prostitution; and +I doubt very much whether they have any such words in their +Dictionary. To the man who is notoriously of this description it +appears to give a force of character, and a degree of consequence, +that commands respect and deference, that makes him the beau +ideal of a fine fellow and a gentleman. The light in which these +things are regarded here, and the present practice in respect to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>them, at an earlier day than this, would have surprised any one, +but considering the character of the early settlers, it would perhaps +be remarkable indeed if this had not been exhibited; for those +who first came into New Orleans were mere adventurers, without +attachments to home or place, and many of them without social +relations or even kindred. Consequently they were creatures of +circumstance, and while mingling in the varied scenes of the Mississippi +valley, it would be strange indeed if they should not have +met with females of the same class, and to whom they would become +attached as companions. To presume otherwise would be to +conclude against the experience of every age, as well as against +the natural impulses of the human heart.</p> + +<h3>ILLEGITIMATE FAMILIES.</h3> + +<p>There are hundreds of men and women now living together, +who have around them large families, and yet were never married. +Connections of this kind exist in New Orleans to a much greater +extent than is generally known. As evidence on this point, a very +worthy and intelligent lady living in the Third Municipality informed +me that a Methodist minister accidentally left at her house his +book of record for marriages, which the law now requires every +clergyman to keep. In looking it through, she found that he had +married within the last two years thirty-three of her neighbors, +heads of families, and many of them having children that were +married, who had been living together as man and wife, and as +such every one regarded them. They had been privately married +to enable the children to inherit their property, as a law in Louisiana +has been enacted with a view to meet these very cases.</p> + +<h3>CONCUBINAGE.</h3> + +<p>There is also another condition in the social relations, that but +very few individuals could reconcile themselves to sustain. It is +in supporting and having two families. There are a large number +of business men from the North—captains and officers of Steam +Boats, and captains of French, English, and American vessels—who +spend more than half the time in this city, and many of them +have families at home; yet here they have their mistresses and +children, and are as much at home with them as with their lawful +wives. The condition and connection of these persons together are +perfectly understood, as is also the fact, with most of them, that +they have another family. Yet these things are not often made a +matter of others’ business, and consequently they are all “very +respectable.” This class of females, to some extent, live as confidingly +honest, and as strictly preserve the character of a wife, as +if the man had no other attachments. And any act on her part of +infidelity would be regarded as a sufficient cause of separation, and +she would be discarded as readily as if they were lawfully married. +Such separations often occur from jealousy, or from suspicion of +attachment to another. And when a separation has actually been +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span>made, the parties appear more hostile, and manifest a more deadly +hatred towards each other, than is ever witnessed in separations of +those lawfully connected. And these quarrels are seldom if ever +reconciled, but continue to increase with a savage hatred, that not +unfrequently ends sadly to the one or the other, or to the individual +who has seduced the woman from her alliance. These men who +thus live in these connections are generally persons of ample means, +and usually appear to be proud of the distinction of being able to +support two families.</p> + +<h3>KEPT MISTRESSES.</h3> + +<p>There is another class of individuals here who have not the +means to support two families. They are usually men engaged in +the same business with the others, and required to be absent from +the city nearly half of the time. These men have their mistresses, +either white or colored, with whom they live as companions. +And the regulations of these connections are that while the man is +in the city, the house which the woman occupies is their home, +jointly and as distinctly as if they were married; and when he is +absent, the women seeks other companions, for the time being, and +in doing this does not hazard the displeasure of “her husband,” as +she calls him. By this liberty that she has of seeking promiscuous +company, and the assistance she gets from “<i>her man</i>,” she is able +to support herself in great style, and with as much ease and comfort +around her as can be desired. They usually occupy a room, +or suite of rooms, a parlor and bed room, that are furnished with as +much elegance and splendor as money can purchase. Most of the +females living in these connections have been flattered and seduced +away from their homes, by glowing descriptions and representations +of the pleasures and gaities and unceasing enjoyments which +constitute a life in New Orleans. Connections of this character +are as much a matter of contract, and the terms and conditions by +which each shall be governed are as definite, as any other business +transaction can be, and thus they live for years, and in many instances +an attachment for each other is the result, and they finally +settle down as man and wife, and often sooner or later are married, +and become comparatively respectable.</p> + +<h3>EXTENT OF LICENTIOUSNESS.</h3> + +<p>The extent of licentiousness and prostitution in New Orleans is +doubtless without a parallel, and probably is double that of any +other place in the whole range of the civilized world. The indulgence +and practice is so general and common that men do not seek +to cover up their acts, or go in disguise; but in all these things, +keeping their mistresses, or frequenting bed houses, and having women +come to their rooms at night, they do it as openly, and as +much before the eyes of the world, as any other act among the +common civilities of the social circle. Some idea of the extent of +prostitution and licentiousness which is exhibited on every side, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>can be formed from the fact that at least three-fifths of the dwellings +and rooms in a large portion of the city are occupied by prostitutes, +or by one or the other class of kept mistresses. Those women +who are the companions of one man, and hold that position +under a pledge of confidence not to seek intercourse with others, +hold themselves very much above the character of prostitutes, and +regard themselves as respectable; and as such many of them +move in society with some degree of favor and consequence. But +however true and devoted the men who keep them may think they +are, not one-twentieth part of them but what have other favorites, +with whom they meet, not only in their own rooms, but also at the +houses of assignation. And in this same condition are living many +men with their wives, in whom they have most implicit confidence; +yet they have their chosen and confidential companions and +friends with whom they meet, not only in their own houses, but at +the rooms of assignation. Yet in doing this they are only indulging +in the same course that their husbands are following, in meeting +other companions in the same way and under the same circumstances. +And with all these individuals, of every class, is carried +out the wild rage of human passion, that is nursed and fostered +by every association and connection in the social relations of New +Orleans.</p> + +<h3>REGULAR PROSTITUTES.</h3> + +<p>The regular prostitutes come in at the opening of business in +the fall, and return to the North in the spring as business closes, as +regular as the merchant; many of them come out from New York +and other northern cities under the protection of young men, a +certain class of gamblers and black-legs who have long made this +city their field of operation during the winter months. The prostitutes +of this migratory class form the great mass of the inmates of +the regular kept brothels, of which there is an immense number in +the city. These houses are easily recognized, as the girls who occupy +them are constantly to be seen at the doors or windows, inviting +men as they pass by to come in. And in some of the principal +streets in the city, just at evening, it is not unusual to see the windows +and doors of almost every house as far as the eye can recognize +them, filled with these girls. The municipal regulations are +such that these creatures are prohibited from promenading the +streets; hence they are obliged to resort to other measures to make +themselves known. In view of all these abominations, doubtless +the main cause of so much licentiousness, and the immense number +of prostitutes, of every class and grade, is the large number of +irresponsible men who frequent this place. Under such circumstances +as men meet here, they almost lose their identity as responsible +beings, and having no checks around them, and under no obligations +to society, consequently no pride of character, they become +as bold and reckless in licentiousness, as if the pall of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span>night covered their deeds. And yet men, and <i>some women</i> too, +will come in here, and mingle in the rounds of dissipation and pollution, +who before and while at home and in other associations, +would shudder at the sight, and even at the very thought of +deeds which they have been engaged in. Another cause that aids +in promoting these evils, is the small portion of men who have +families there. Probably not one in twenty is married, and if so, +leaves a family at the North, and while here, entirely forgets that he +has left at home a wife, who is little dreaming of the rounds of +licentiousness and dissipation, that is the almost daily track of her +husband. To say that there is a righteous Lot among them—these +husbands of confiding wives, would be hazarding too much more +than I am willing to do, in view of what I have witnessed in the +conduct of men of whom better things should be expected. And +thus it is, from such men, together with the thousands of transient +and floating population in this city, that makes it more than a Sodom, +and causes the sins of licentiousness, adultery and prostitution, to +be regarded as the proper elements of society, and perfectly consistent +with a respectable and moral standing in community and with +the character of a gentleman. And more than this is met +with here, and withal, the most astonishing exhibition of degration +“in high life” that was ever witnessed.</p> + +<h3>PROSTITUTION OF WIVES.</h3> + +<p>It is in the practice of a large number of men with their wives, +who visit New Orleans and spend the winter, and who to support +themselves, take the round of the gay and fashionable throng, and +while moving here, the wife, with a perfect understanding of the +matter with her husband, suffers herself to become <i>seduced</i>, and +thus falls into the arms of some dashing wild young man, who is +proud of his conquest. He lavishes upon her costly presents +and money, and in fact will bestow upon her any thing that she +may demand, within the compass of his purse. And when he +ceases to give, not unfrequently will her husband make the accidental +discovery of their intimacy, and in the fearless rage of an +injured and outraged husband, threaten to come down upon him +with all the vengeance of Southern chivalry. And to save himself +he will pay almost any sum the husband may demand. Thus +she will go on, for months, making conquest after conquest, and +being seduced at least by half a dozen, and with all of them, practising +the most cunning and deceptive arts, charging each one to +be exceedingly circumspect and cautious, so as to avoid the least +suspicion in the eyes of the world and her husband. And yet, +during all this time, her hands are being filled with costly and +magnificent presents and money, and in fact, any thing that she +may desire, while each one regards himself as the sole possessor +of the <i>stolen fruit</i>! She is enabled to pursue this course, and avoid +suspicion among her <i>favorites</i> of being intimate with more than +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>one, by meeting them at the houses of assignation. The regulations +by which these houses are kept, throw around a female the +most perfect security against detection that can be imagined. They +usually go in disguise and often in mask, and very frequently are +unknown to the men who see them there, and their name is never +enquired for, as it is generally understood that none but <i>respectable +ladies</i>, both married and unmarried, frequent these houses. And +yet during all these love scenes, captivations and seductions, the +lady and her husband are in the foremost rank of the fashionable +circle, supporting a style and splendor of equipage that few can +surpass or even imitate. Of those who possess this extraordinary +faculty of adapting their sense of propriety to circumstances, there +are many who come here as regular as the returning season, and +have become so familiar and intimate with the routine of fashionable +life, that they may be regarded as the principal “stars,” around +which all others must circle to enable their lights to become visible +to the world. These ladies are usually well educated, highly +accomplished and intelligent, all of which give them a ready command +of every thing that can be available in the scenes of dissipation +which make up the holidays and sporting season of New Orleans. +And in this round of enjoyment and gaiety, there is no place +that can equal it in lowering the moral sense, and prostrating +every virtuous impulse, and creating in the feelings of almost every +person, male and female, a light estimate of a life of fidelity +and chastity between the sexes, not only among the married but the +unmarried. Thus it is, the moulding of all these things is done by +those who, for their own gratification, arrange all the rules of social +intercourse to favor their own seductive schemes and plots. +Hence, the manner and style of dress are always of that character +to present and expose the charms of the female form, and are in +every respect calculated to present them to the consideration of the +other sex, as not being very modest or reserved. Under such circumstances, +a ready familiarity is produced, which is increased by her +more familiar conversation and ready intimacy, and all designed +and tending directly to the accomplishment of her purpose. +And here it is, into this circle, are thrown the virtuous and unsuspecting +visiters who come into this city for pleasure and pastime, +and if they can pass through and come out unsullied, and as pure +in mind and as chaste in their sense of propriety and as virtuous +in feeling as when they entered, they will hereafter be perfectly +secure against the vices and contaminations of the world. But +those who do so are few indeed; for they must be more than +“Cesar’s wife,” that can enter these enchanting scenes, where every +thing they come in contact with is an appeal to the passions, +and not a thought or an expression do they hear, but what is calculated +to betray and seduce, and forever banish the purest impulses +of the heart.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span></p> + +<h3>FASHIONABLE LADIES.</h3> + +<p>I come now to another singular demonstration, to be met with +only in New Orleans. It is a circle of “<i>fashionable ladies</i>,” who +occupy a position in society only a step below the leaders among +the “upper ten thousand.” They are also girls of excellent education, +of superior accomplishments, and of great personal beauty, +and present a combination of all the charms that can make a female +attractive. There are quite a large number of them here, and they +occupy no mean position in point of influence and condition in the +circle of society. By their course of life they have amassed large +fortunes, and are living in a style that few can imitate. Their dwellings +and every thing around them, are of the greatest comfort and +ease; and every thing they can desire, in servants, horses and carriages, +is at their command. They have brought themselves into this +position by their superior charms and attractions, in being able +to select their companions from among the rich and reckless young +men, who annually come down here to learn the ways of the world. +In their intercourse in society they claim to be entirely above the +common herd of prostitutes, and regard themselves quite respectable. +The reigning belle, at the present time, among them, is a girl +from Louisville, Kentucky. And in all that can render a female +beautiful, attractive and charming, she doubtless presents more in +form and features that captivates the beholder, than was ever before +met with in a human being. In addition to all these combinations, +the splendor of her costume, when in full dress—the display of +costly diamonds and jewels, together with her artful and winning +smiles and transcendent beauty, strike the beholder with an awe +that banishes from the mind every idea that he is in the presence +of and looking upon a corrupt and vicious being, whose whole current +of life has been one continued stream of pollution and death. +It is so unnatural that a being of such mould, angelic in form and +expression, and with a mind of superior caste flashing out from +every glance, should stand before you with every impulse and +every attribute of the soul prostrated to the most venal and debasing +practices that sicken and disgust the moral sensibilities. And +yet at her shrine, and in her wake, are found the rich and exalted +in society, who are proud and even boast that they have been her +companions, and being thus favored is a climax in “<i>fashionable +life</i>,” which they regard as a distinguished honor. And here she +moves, a being that attracts more attention, and is followed by more +eyes, and with a longer gaze, when she walks or rides out, than +any prince or princess that moves in royal sphere. It is said that +her jewelry and diamonds, in finger-rings, ear-jewels, and breast +pins, and wristlets, and gold chains, and watch, are worth upwards +of thirty-five thousand dollars. And these have all been lavished +upon her by those who have fallen within the circle of those seductive +charms, that, serpent-like, never miss their victim.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span></p> + +<h3>AMALGAMATION.</h3> + +<p>I come now to another, and I believe the most extraordinary +exhibition of degradation to which human nature can be reduced; +and here I would gladly pass it by, and if it were possible, I would +forever conceal from my countrymen, not only this complete annihilation +from the human breast of every particle of self-respect +that keeps man above the brute, but the most blighting and damning +national disgrace that was ever exhibited. It is the connections +that are formed between white men and colored women who +are slaves. Individuals there are, of the first <i>respectability</i>, who +take for their bed companions not only the Quadroon, but those of +darker hue, and frequently those of the blackest shade, and live +with them as with a wife, and by whom they have large families. +As an instance of this kind, the late collector of the port of New +Orleans, a man who was the recipient of government favor, and +receiving a salary of six thousand dollars a year, has lived for years +with a mulatto woman, by whom he has had six children; and +finally becoming displeased with her in the fall of 1847, he discarded +her, and since has taken for his companion one of his own +slaves, who is as black as charcoal. Another instance: One of the +first lawyers in the city, a man of transcendent powers of eloquence +and ability, has had for his bed companion for the last four years a +black woman, a slave that he hires, and pays her master fifteen +dollars a month. Another lawyer, a native of New York, and +brother of one of the most distinguished judges in the State, had +for his bed companion a mulatto girl for seven years. During this +time he was paying his addresses to a highly accomplished young +lady in the city, and last winter was married to her. His new +<i>white companion</i> of course required him to discard his black one. +After he was married, the poor discarded slave who had been his +devoted companion for years, and had watched and nursed him +through long and dreary nights of sickness, and whose very soul +was the living embodiment of woman’s pure affection, became a +raving maniac. She rushed in all the horrors of her madness to +the River, and attempted to drown herself, yet was saved by a +flash of returning reason that came over her, and she was thus left +another living monument of the deep and damning shame that +should forever follow him, who has thus outraged every moral +impulse of the human soul. And it will follow him, although not +in pointing the finger of scorn at him as he walks the streets, for +he has not violated any of the conventional rules of the moral sense +of the community in which he lives. But in his own conscience +and heart will he find an image, that when he calls it up before +him, will change the warm current of his blood into a blush of +remorse and shame upon his cheek. There are hundreds of instances +of this kind, men of the first respectability, having for their +bed companions slave women of every degree of color, from the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span>darkest hue to the soft and mellow tinge of the beautiful Quadroon. +Another exhibition in these alliances is, a man by the name of B——, +a celebrated sportsman, and owner of the race course opposite the +city, and known to all the gentlemen of the turf in this country. +He is a man of great wealth, and is regarded as second on the list +of horse racers and sportsmen in this country, Col. Johnson being +at the head. He has had a mulatto woman for his bed companion +for years, and has now living four children—one son and three +daughters. A young man from the North, by the name of P——, +who was engaged in training horses, and had charge of his stable, +married one of his daughters, a beautiful Quadroon girl, well educated +and highly accomplished. Her father hired him to marry her +by giving him a large sum of money.</p> + +<h3>A MAN SELLING HIS OWN CHILDREN.</h3> + +<p>Another connection of this kind, was a man who bought a beautiful +girl from Kentucky, for a bed companion, and paid for her +eleven hundred dollars. He lived with her about sixteen years +and had five children. In the fall of 1837 he determined +to remove from the city, and take up his residence in the Island of +Barbadoes. Before leaving he sold this woman and <i>his</i> five children +for thirty-three hundred dollars. I was informed that this +family was the most interesting and lovely group of children ever +witnessed, and in only one of them could be traced the least shade +of African blood. Instances of this kind often occur, and yet men +who do it are regarded as <i>human</i>, and those who make laws to +legalize such acts are <i>christian</i> in their <i>tendencies</i> and +<i>education</i>, and those who support them are a proud and chivalrous +people, and claim to be <i>civilized</i>!! Alliances of this nature have +been continued so long between slave women and white men, that there +are a great many slaves in whom cannot be traced the least shade, +either in form or feature, of the Ethiopian; and they are also of all +complexions, from the light flaxen hair and bright blue eye, and +the sandy and freckled countenance, and the keen black piercing +eye, and clear beautiful white skin with rosy cheeks, making the +very perfection of loveliness and beauty. Yet they are forbidden +by the rules of society to hold rank above the blackest slave, and +the common civilities of the social circle are never extended to +them. The life of a mulatto girl, or Quadroon, as they are called +at the South, is as strictly marked out, and the path which she is to +take has been so long beaten, that she is as much confined to it as +if it was a fixed law in the slave code.</p> + +<h3>SLAVE GIRLS HIRED AS BED COMPANIONS.</h3> + +<p>And this class of girls also claim the privilege, as a matter of +right, when one arrives at the age of puberty, from twelve to fourteen, +if not previously engaged by the master, to look for a man +such as she may fancy, and engage herself to be his bed companion. +And in this relation she remains with him for a specified sum +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>per month, which she pays to her master. The amount paid these +girls is usually from twelve to twenty dollars a month. If they +are genteel and beautiful, and combine all the perfections in form +and features that can be presented in a female, they will command +a price accordingly. And thus in proportion as their qualities and +charms are regarded, will they be considered valuable, and their +price in market is in that proportion. They have their points of +ambition, and pride of situation, and assume an air of aristocracy +according to the rank and station of the man with whom they live, +as much as any other class in society. To be the paramour and +bed companion of some man of great wealth, or lawyer, or professional +man, or some popular and distinguished <i>gentleman</i>, gives +them a condition and standing that is enviable indeed to those of +the same class, who are living with men of less means and lower +standing in society. And this makes a circle of the “upper ten +thousand,” as clearly marked as among the white aristocracy. +These girls are usually educated and instructed by their masters +in a certain way, for the express purpose of producing all the +attractions and charms that can be presented in a female, whose +value is much increased by a greater combination of all that is beautiful +and lovely in woman. It is very frequent that these girls are +engaged while children for bed companions, as soon as they shall +arrive at the age of puberty, by some wealthy man, and not unfrequently +will some disgusting drunken old bloat meet with a beautiful +Quadroon child, and engage her of her master for a bed companion, +as soon as she becomes of proper age, and the price which +he agrees to pay is of no consideration with him. Her loveliness +and charms, even in the purity and simplicity of innocent childhood, +have aroused the impulses of his beastly nature, and have her he will +at any price. And this outrage is too horrid for contemplation, for +they are thus forced into a situation where they pass their days in +the greatest misery and grief that can be imagined. Girls of this +class also are often purchased by men expressly for bed companions; +not only when they are children, but when they are of mature +age.</p> + +<h3>QUADROON GIRLS BOUGHT FOR BED COMPANIONS.</h3> + +<p>The price paid for a healthy Quadroon girl, from the age of +twelve to fourteen, ranges from one thousand to two thousand dollars, +according as the purchaser may fancy them, and as they are +regarded to present the beauty and charms of a Quadroon. Connections +of this kind, not only between those who purchase them, +but those who hire them, often continue for years, and frequently +become such, that an attachment and even an affection grows up, +as strong and as enduring as was ever witnessed between man and +wife. And many instances of these connections have been known, +where a man, after living with a girl for a number of years, will turn +her off for the purpose of being married; and yet when he is so, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span>and has a family around him, his attachment still continues to the +being in whom he has so long confided, and whose heart he knows +to be as warm and as devoted to him as is her love of life. In +view of this, he drags out a miserable and disconsolate existence; +and the discarded and broken hearted Quadroon, on whose brow +is a tinge of yellow shade that will forever doom her to unending +disgrace, sinks away into a lone and premature grave, a poor forgotten +and wretched slave, and never more to be remembered only +by him whose heart has melted into hers, in the true spirit of +unending affection. Not only such scenes as these are frequently +witnessed, but instances often occur, when a man has discarded +one of these girls and has been married, he is forced to purchase +her for the purpose of selling her again, and binding the one to +whom he sells her, that he will take her away from the city, so +that he may never meet her and that she shall never return. He +is obliged to do this, in consequence of her affection for him, and +also his attachment to her. When these girls, while being kept as +mistresses, have children, they are usually sent back to their master, +who either hires them boarded with some negro woman, or +“turns them into the <i>yard</i>” with his other slaves, until the child is +old enough to be left from its mother. Thus the father of this +child—the <i>lawyer</i>, the <i>gentleman</i>, or the <i>merchant</i>, or +whatever he may be—has the pleasure as well as the <i>gratifying +reflection</i> that his <i>kindred</i> will not become extinct, and that +his blood will continue to course in the veins of another human being +through the next generation, and also he can remember with the <i>pride</i> +of a father, that when the mother of his child has lost her charms, there +is another beautiful <i>Quadroon girl</i> to take her place who has been +cast off as a worthless and useless <i>thing</i>. And this is, almost +without exception, the course that is forced upon them by a long +established custom. When they are of no account in this way, they +usually hire their time, at a low rate, from three to five dollars a +month, and resort to various means to support themselves. Some +will keep houses of assignation, and others will rent a house, with +rooms furnished, and rent them to men who keep a bed companion, +and board them. While others will rent a house, and hire negro +girls, slaves of the lowest class, who will steal away from their pens, +and come in and spend the night. They will also agree with +“negro traders” to send in a number of girls from their slave pens. +These are the lowest grade of brothels in New Orleans, and there +are hundreds of them scattered through every street and lane in +the city. And yet with these women are a large number of men, +boarding and lodging, who are seen in the morning, creeping out +through some back lane or alley. And follow these same men, +and you will meet them in the Saloon of the “St. Charles;” and in +all the rounds of dissipation and pleasure, they appear as well +dressed and as intelligent and accomplished in their manners and +conversation, as any person you meet with in the city. Many, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span>doubtless most of these persons are here from necessity, in not +being able to meet expenses that would accrue in any other boarding +place; and also, a large portion <ins title="Original has 'ofthese'" id="of_these">of these</ins> men who are found in +these dens are those who come in from the North to “seek their +fortunes,” and as I have before said of them, when failing to obtain +employment, join in some catch-penny concern, in the way of +“Peter Funks,” or gambling on a small scale, and borrowing of +some acquaintance on account of respectable connections, succeed +in obtaining a small pittance to pay for board and accommodations +at a negro brothel. And I repeat again, young man, keep away +from this city. Banish every idea that may come up, of the great +advantages and facilities that you may think are found here for +making money and soon a fortune, for they are no part nor beginning +of things in New Orleans.</p> + +<h3>DISREGARD OF THE SABBATH.</h3> + +<p>There is in this city so much to be met with of a demoralizing +tendency, and the tone of moral sense is so clearly out-spoken, that +a person is not aware of what surrounds him, until he pauses and +contemplates the scene in which he is moving, and the complete +prostration of any thing like a controlling influence of public opinion. +And it is a truth recognized in every civilized country, that +good order and even common decency cannot be promoted or maintained, +unless it is by the concentrated force of the opinion of good +men against the overt acts of the vicious. And when we see, as +we do in this city, the <i>best men</i>, public officers, the mayor and +common council, giving countenance and sanction to outrages and +desecrations, it is evident that the most wholesome regulations +cannot sustain a healthy tone of moral feeling. And there is also a +total disregard of an institution, that all good men revere and respect, +as of divine origin; and if not as such, hold it to be, in its +observance, the great conservator of the best interests of society, +and that no people or community can preserve its character for +morality and good order, without a due observance in christian +form of its requirements. But here the civil authorities, together +with all <i>good</i> men, by official acts and personal example, desecrate +this day to every purpose that the baser passions may demand. +And these official acts are, in granting licenses for horse racing, +bull fighting, theatres and exhibitions of all kinds, and even brothel +balls, on the Sabbath. As evidence of the countenance given to +these things, and of the state of public feeling, the following notices +will give some evidence how the Sabbath is regarded by the mayor +and common council, and the <i>good people</i> of New Orleans. These +announcements are made in the city papers, and also in large attractive +bills, put up in every part of the city.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“Washington Society Balls.</p> + +<p>“At a meeting of the subscribers, the following gentlemen were +elected managers:</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> + A. D. Crossman, <i>Mayor of the city</i>,<br> + Joshua Baldwin, <i>Recorder</i>,<br> + I. E. Caldwell,<br> + W. P. Converse,<br> + A. B. Bien,<br> + H. G. Stetson,<br> + J. B. Byrn,<br> + Maj. Gen. J. L. Lewis,<br> + Col. J. B. Walton,<br> + Capt. Jordy,<br> + E. A. Tyler,<br> + J. W. Behan,<br> + Dr. Luzenberg,<br> + Wm. Emerson,<br> + Wm. Freret,<br> + J. Stroud,<br> + J. L. Poulk,<br> + W. F. Flowers,<br> + W. J. Earthman,<br> + A. H. Way,<br> + N. C. Judson,<br> + J. S. Wallis,<br> + R. C. Faulkner,<br> + H. S. Hatch. +</p> + +<p>“At the same time, it was Resolved, that the series should consist +of ten Balls, which will be all <span class="allsmcap">MASKED</span>.</p> + +<p>“The managers will meet every <span class="smcap">Sunday!</span> during the season, at +1 o’clock. Office hours, from 9 in the morning until 9 in the evening.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Now here are the Mayor and Recorder, and twenty-two of the +best citizens of a civilized and <i>christian</i> city of over one hundred +thousand inhabitants, meeting every Sabbath to make arrangements +for a <span class="smcap">Masked Ball!</span> and in view of such examples from such +men, what else but a perfect Sodom could be expected of New Orleans?</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“Grand Balloon Ascension.</p> + +<p>“The seventh ascension of Madame Emma V., of Bordeaux, +will take place on <span class="smcap">Sunday</span> next, between the hours of 1 and 2 +o’clock, from the corner of St. Charles and Poydras streets. Madame E. V. +returns her thanks to the public for the patronage bestowed upon +her last <span class="smcap">Sunday</span>, having proved to the citizens of New Orleans that +nothing has been exaggerated in her previous advertisement. A +special stand is reserved for the Ladies!”</p> +</div> + +<p>This is done by permit of license from the Mayor.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“Pontchartrain Ball Room.</p> + +<p>“The proprietors of this well known establishment respectfully +inform their friends and the public generally, that it will be opened +on <span class="smcap">Sunday</span> next for the season, and that nothing on their part +has been left undone to render this house one of the most <i>agreeable</i> +in all respects. The <span class="smcap">dress and masked Balls</span> will be given +in the following order.</p> + +<p>“For White persons—<span class="smcap">Sundays</span>, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.</p> + +<p>“For Quadroons—Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.</p> + +<p>“The Orchestra is without doubt, the best in the city. The <span class="smcap">Bar</span> +is furnished with the choicest <span class="allsmcap">LIQUORS</span>, and the tables supplied +with every delicacy that the market affords.”</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span></p> + +<p>Now with such attractions, who could refuse to attend such a +place even on the <i>Sabbath</i>!! provided that <i>license</i> is given by +the authorities. And yet the <i>attractions</i> and <i>entertainment</i> +are not <i>all</i> advertised in the bill.</p> + +<p>But the matter of astonishment in these things is, that in this enlightened +age, and in a civilized community, and in this country too, +public officers in a city could be found, who would, under +the sanction and seal of their office, grant a license for a regular +<i>brothel</i> Ball Room. The assemblage of prostitutes and lewd women +at these rooms, is without exception, taking all the circumstances +into account under which they meet, the most wanton, debasing +and licentious exhibition of human passion ever witnessed. +There are three of these Ball Rooms licensed in the city, open +every night and filled to overflowing. The prostitutes all appear +with <span class="allsmcap">MASKS</span> on their faces, and so well concealed that it is +impossible to recognize them. The excessive drinking and carousing +practiced at these places, enables the girls to induce men under +such circumstances to accompany them home.</p> + +<p>Women are admitted free of charge, and men pay one dollar +for admission. The Bar and the eating tables are the principal +sources of revenue, and that is immense. It is at these places +where many rich scenes are exhibited in the detection by some +confiding and much abused mistress, who has long been haunted +by the green-eyed monster with visions of unfaithfulness on +the part of her paramour. She becomes confirmed in the belief, +that he is playing “fond dalliance” with some beautiful Quadroon, +or some other bright-eyed “Donna,” and to be sure of a capture +under circumstances that will allow of no escape, she goes in <span class="allsmcap">MASK</span> +to the Ball Room, and there she beholds all that her imagination +has conceived of inconstancy, of treachery, of false hearts and +<i>love</i> unrequited. And here she watches, with more than argus +eyes, and follows their every step, and listens until she hears the +outpourings of the soft words of honeyed love, and then, with +more than a tiger’s rage, she rushes upon the unsuspecting girl +with whom “<i>her man</i>” is so devotedly playing the agreeable, and +with the jerk of a whirlwind, the mask is torn from her face, her +dress flies in shreds, and what is left of the poor torn and tattered +creature, is a miraculous escape from annihilation. After thus +accomplishing all that she desires in making this public demonstration +of their long continued intimacy, she leaves the room in triumph, +and returns to her house and settles the affair with “<i>her +man</i>,” by a course of “curtain lectures,” usually being satisfied in +settling the play as an even game. And there too, in mask, will +many a confiding and devoted wife look for her husband, and witness +the realities of all the forebodings of her imagination, through +long nights of lone watching. She has found him here, and follows +his footsteps while, arm in arm, he joins in the whirl of the +giddy dance, with the wild and polluted being who is holding her +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span>loved and cherished one by charms as fatal and deadly as the serpent’s +steady gaze. It will be seen by the announcement in the +bill that three nights in the week balls are given to Quadroons, +or mulattoes; and on these evenings the attendance of men is nearly +double that of the white balls. And this affords a confirmation +of the truth of the old saying, “there is no accounting for tastes;” +and also of the truth of what is asserted of the <i>gentlemen</i> of the +South that they will seek for companions among the yellow and +even black women, and discard the white ladies. Notwithstanding +these things, Southern men regard the act of eating at the table +with a colored person as a disgrace, and an outrage and an insult +too great to be submitted to. And yet they will have colored +girls and colored men for their bed companions, for body servants, +for cooks; and in fact, every thing they eat, drink or wear, +they will see pass through their hands without the least shudder or +repugnance, or sickness of stomach.</p> + +<p>The following notice presents still further the tone of <i>moral sense</i> +of the authorities and the people of this city. It was displayed in +large bills for twelve successive Sundays in the winter of 1847-8.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“Bull Fight.</p> + +<p>“<i>On</i> <span class="smcap">Sunday</span>, <i>Dec. 12, on Washington Square, Third +Municipality.</i>”</p> + +<p>“The proprietor respectfully begs to inform the public, that a +splendid <span class="smcap">Bull Fight</span> will take place as above. Four of the finest +and largest Attakapas Bulls will be brought into the ring, two +of which will be slain by the Matadores, and the other two teased +by the Banderilleros and Capeadores.</p> + +<p>“The company is composed of the following persons: Gregorio +Camerenas, chief, and first swordman; Juan Gonzales, Lancer; +Mondragon, Camerena and Jacome, Banderilleros, or arrowmen +and M. Rocha, P. Gomes and A. Blancas, Capeadores or teasers. +Performance to commence at 4 o’clock P. M. Admittance one +dollar.”</p> +</div> + +<p>This announcement gives the reader a programme of the interesting +performance of bull fighting. Yet sports of this kind are +very little understood in this country, and are not what it is generally +supposed they are. The idea of them has arisen from the expression +used when speaking of such scenes as <i>bull fights</i>, giving the +same understanding as those of kindred performances, as “cock +fights,” or “dog fights,” which every one knows to be contests +between two animals, usually trained for the purpose, and the same +impression prevails almost, universally in regard to “<i>bull fights</i>;” +supposed to be a contest between two fierce bulls. But such is not +this <span class="allsmcap">SPORT</span>! and that the public may not be misled, and to correct +a general false impression, such sports should be announced as “bull +murdering.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span></p> + +<p>The arrangements for such displays are in a circular inclosure, +about six rods in diameter, with a very strong fence. Around this +circle are seats in amphitheatre form, capable of holding five or six +thousand persons. Into this ring a single bull is admitted. At +the same time in the ring are usually eight men, trained to the +<i>civilized</i> and <i>christian</i> sport of bull-<i>murdering</i>. Those +who performed in New Orleans were native Mexicans, and came from Matamoras +for the express gratification of the <i>Mayor</i>, <i>Common Council</i>, +and <i>good</i> people of the city. When they appear in the ring, they are +dressed in fantastic style, and each one wearing a small crimson +cloak. And this is his main protection, and used mostly, in “teasing” +the bull; for when in the fierceness of his rage he fixes his eye upon +his victim, and plunges at him with tremendous velocity, and death +seems almost inevitable, the man adroitly slips the cloak from his +shoulders and steps one side, and holds it precisely where he stood, +and on this point the blow of the animal is sure to strike.—Hence +the cloak receives the full force of the goad of the bull’s +horns. It is evident from the actions of the animal, that the bright +and dazzling color of the cloak charms his eye so that he is unable +to turn his attention from it; for he will often strike the cloak +down, and turn round and examine it with great minuteness in +search of the man, and seems astonished that he has not caught +him. When the bull is cut loose and passes into the ring, a man +sits over the gate-way and drives into his back a barbed dart. It +is prepared and put in a stick about eighteen inches long, and +when driven into the animal it remains there to tear and lacerate +the flesh, for the purpose of exciting his rage and making him +more furious. And this it does, for when the dart strikes him, +with a roar of vengeance, he rushes in with tremendous fury, and +often clears the ring in a moment of every man in it. There appear +to be paroxysms of terrible rage in the expression of the +eyes of the animal, that strikes a fearful awe in the men; and they +will throw themselves out of the ring in an instant, although the +bull is standing perfectly still. The performers with the cloaks are +Capeadores, or “teasers.” After this part of the “<i>sport</i>” has +continued for a sufficient time, four other performers come in, each +having four bearded darts, the body of which is a stick about six +inches long, and beautifully trimmed with colored tissue paper representing +rosettes. There are the Banderillas or arrow-men. The great +feat and climax in this part of the “<i>fight</i>” is to fasten, by a +stroke with the hand, one of these rosettes in the curl between the +eyes of the bull, and escape the goad of his horns. To do this, is +a triumph that is greeted with stamping and rounds of applause, +which convinces the daring one that the audience is fully alive to +the great feat that he has performed in decorating a bull’s face +with a <i>beautiful rosette</i>! There are but few performers who have +the courage to attempt this act, as a failure is always treated with +hisses and cries of “turn him out”—“turn him out.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span></p> + +<p>The next great expert act with the darts is to fasten one in the +centre between the horns, on the neck, and escape unhurt. This +act also is greeted with rounds and shouts of applause, all of which +excites the audience and arouses the fury of the bull. The darts +being disposed of, and most of them sticking in the head and neck +of the animal, the same men take each three bearded rockets, prepared +on sticks about eighteen inches long, and so constructed +that when they are driven into the bull they will ignite, and after burning +and hissing for a time, will explode with as much force and +noise as a heavily charged musket. These are alternately driven +into the head and sides of the bull, and while they are burning, +hissing, and tearing his flesh, a more wild and terrific scene can +scarcely be imagined. He roars, plunges and lashes his sides, with +the most intense writhings of <ins title="Original has 'maddening'" id="maddening1">maddening</ins> pain and fury that can be +conceived. After the rockets are exhausted, the chief or swordsman +comes in, with a straight sword two feet and a half long, for the purpose +of ending the contest by taking the life of the bull. To perform +this act, and strike the animal through the heart at the first +blow, is the climax of all feats in the whole round of bull-fighting. +The swordsman is obliged to do it according to prescribed rules +in the science of the sport. He must strike his blow in a particular +spot, and when it is done, must stand on the left side and drive the +sword in just forward of the point of the right shoulder through +the heart of his victim. And while this attempt is being made, +and the swordsman is following the infuriate animal, it in turn +rushes furiously after him, and seems fully conscious that the +time has come for the exhibition of that part of the “sport,” as +announced in the bill to be performed by the chief. During this +struggle the audience becomes wrought up to the highest tone of +excitement. The swordsman while seeking for an opportunity to +strike the fatal blow, if successful in the first attempt, is greeted +with shouts and rounds of the most frantic applause ever witnessed, +and at the same time showers of money are poured in upon +him from almost every hand in the audience, and often amounting +to several hundred dollars. He is allowed to strike three times, +and if he fails in giving a deadly thrust, the other extreme of +disapprobation is meted out upon him in long continued hisses and +cries of “take him out,” “take him out,” and thus the audience +will <i>magnanimously</i> interfere and save the life of the unconquered +bull, who has at least for an hour defied the power of eight men to +destroy him; and yet here he is, foaming and lashing his sides, and +writhing under the most intense agony, full of ghastly and bleeding +wounds, and the tearing of dozens of darts and rockets that +goad him at every step; while thousands of human beings are +looking on with an intensity of feeling and exultation of pleasure, +that is impossible to be expressed by language. Under these +circumstances and cries of “take him out,” a man comes in on +horse-back with a lasso, and catches the bull by the horns and drags +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>him out. Another bull is then let in, and the same round of teasing +and goading with darts and rockets is gone through with, and +then he is dragged out with the lasso. The darts and goads are +cut out, and the next <i>Sabbath</i> he is let in again, and goes through +the same “fight,” with the addition of its being his turn to be killed. +Thus as the bill announces, four bulls are let into the ring for +the “sport” of one <i>Sabbath</i>, and two are teased, and two are +slain. In witnessing scenes of this kind, there is exhibited throughout +the whole assemblage, a blood thirsty and savage desperation, +and withal, a strong desire that the bull may succeed in goading +tearing out the very vitals of some one of the inhuman monsters +against whom he is contending. It would seem that the “sports” +could not be <i>agreeable</i>, and meet the expectations and +desires of the audience, unless a scene of that kind could be exhibited; +for when the bull makes a deadly and determined plunge, +and his victim barely escapes as by a miracle, as will often occur, +the spectators appear disappointed in not seeing the man gored +through and through, and crushed into a mangled and bleeding +corpse. And to see this done, it appears that every one would go +away perfectly satisfied in having witnessed all that could be done +in the “sport” of “bull-murdering.” Take it all in all, a more +brutal and fiendish exhibition of cruelty cannot be conceived, and +yet, on the <i>Sabbath</i> day, in this civilized land, will the good men +of New Orleans legalize and sanction this horrid practice. But +in this, no one will be disappointed, for it is in perfect harmony and +character with other scenes in the great drama of human life in this +city. The same kindred and brutal exhibitions are allowed, and +usually come off on the <i>Sabbath</i>, in cock fighting and dog fights, +with animals trained expressly for such “sports,” and they are often +made up by bets of large sums. There are many who make these +“sports” a matter of permanent business, and to which their +whole time is devoted as a science. A fight of this kind was +made up in the winter of 1837, in which a “ruling passion strong +in death” was exhibited to an extent almost incredible. A <i>gentleman</i> +who was in the last stages of consumption, had arranged a +cock fight to come off in about six weeks, when the animals would +be properly trained. The bet was $3,000 a side. It was evident, +however, that he would not survive the time, either to witness his +triumph or defeat, for he could scarcely be expected to live from +one hour to another. Yet the excitement and struggle, and determination +on his part was so great, to live until the day of the fight, +that he was assured by his Physician for three weeks before the +time, that were it not for his determination and anxiety, he would +not live an hour. The day came, and the fight was made, and he +was victorious. He immediately passed from the cock pit to his +carriage, and on reaching the side walk, he sunk down and was a +corpse in a moment.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span></p> + +<h3>DRINKING HOUSES.</h3> + +<p>Of the accumulation of the sources of evil and causes of contamination, +there is none perhaps stands out so glaring as the immense +number of drinking houses in every part of the city, sustained only +in selling liquor by the dram. And of this practice, it may be +asserted without dispute, it is the great propelling power that +drives on the <ins title="Original has 'maddenning'" id="maddening2">maddening</ins> car of human passion into every other scene +of vice and pollution that is its proper element. This practice of +almost constant drinking through the day, pervades all classes of +society. Not only the male portion, with scarcely an exception, +but the <i>ladies</i>, or a large majority of them, indulge in the daily +use of intoxicating drinks. Under all circumstances, in the social +relations, in the interchange of civilities, wines and liquors of all +kinds constitute the principal offerings in the courtesies of every +day life. And it is astonishing indeed, to see how perfectly hardened +and proof against the intoxicating effects of Alcohol, the +great mass of the people have become. But notwithstanding this +constant steeping in liquor, and being able to keep up under it, +more than three-fourths of the men who are moving about the +streets, have become literally sots, and according to the northern +standard of intoxication, are confirmed drunkards. And how can +this be otherwise, for there are but few who take less than a dozen +drams, and from that number up to twenty-five and thirty a day, +and yet these are all high-minded, <i>sober</i>, and respectable +<i>gentlemen</i>, full of <i>Southern chivalry</i>—incapable of brooking +an insult, and ready to fight in defence of their honor and good name. It +is under such circumstances, that we see men of the South so tenacious +of their character, and manifest so much pride in having the world +understand that they are gentlemen. But of this <i>Southern chivalry</i>, +and those high-minded and noble traits of Southern men, of +which we have heard so much boast, it is all gammon. It is not +there, and the high-toned sense of propriety in observing the practice +and rules of what constitute the true gentleman, does not prevail +in society at the South, in as great a degree as it does in the +more northern states. And certain it is, the standard of what constitutes +a good and respectable man, is far, very far below the wholesome +and elevated standard which prevails at the north. For no +man here could live and sustain a common respectability, should +he be guilty of the sayings and doings of a Southern <i>gentleman</i>.—And +in all that is mean and low and contemptible in society, in +backbiting, neighborhood scandal, and tea-table slander, there is as +much, according to the population and facilities for such matters, +as in any other section of the country. And in addition to this, +there are among these high-toned and chivalrous bloods, more drunken +brawls, and breaking canes over each others heads, and hair +pulling, and cat fighting, than is met with in any other part of the +world. As evidence of this, the scenes that are often witnessed in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>the popular resorts and drinking houses in New Orleans, will convince +any one of the true nature of Southern chivalry. Seldom +does a week pass without some of these <i>magnanimous</i> fights, of +hair pulling, scratching, and the lowest kind of puppy squabbles, +will be exhibited among the <i>gentlemen</i>, those of the first +respectability in the city. And yet all these fights will occur, from a +high sense of honor and self respect, prompted by an elevated tone of +<i>genuine</i> Southern chivalry. The number of grog shops sustained +by these <i>gentlemen</i> in New Orleans, is <i>more</i> than legion. They +are found in whole blocks—on three of every four corners, where +one street crosses another, and ranges of buildings from street to +street, every door leading into a drinking house. The style and +splendor in which some of these establishments are fitted up, surpasses +the most costly and richly furnished parlor in the mansion +of any <ins title="Original has 'millionare'" id="millionaire">millionaire</ins> in this country. At the head of these “enchanting +resorts” may be regarded the “<span class="smcap">Gem</span>,” opposite the Post Office on +Royal street. The magnificence and rich display of furniture and +fixtures in this <i>grog-shop</i>, shows at once to what extent dram +drinking is practiced among the “upper ten thousand” in this city; for +none other but a <i>gentleman</i>, with white kid gloves and burnished +boots, would dare presume to enter within its brilliant and shining +walls. The expense of fitting up this room in furniture and fixtures, +simply for the purpose of a drinking house, was upwards of +eight thousand dollars. The floor is covered with a beautiful Saxony +carpet, costing three dollars and half a yard. Cast-iron settees +and chairs, with rich crimson cushions. Two mirrors suspended +back of the counter, costing seven hundred dollars each, together +with beautiful landscape paintings from the pencils of the best artists +in the country. Three massive chandeliers light the room, +making it as light as the sun at midday. And thus, is carried out, +in perfect order and taste, every article of fixture and furniture in +this “Guillotine” for the <i>legs</i> of <i>gentlemen</i> in this city.</p> + +<p>This “<span class="smcap">Gem</span>” was opened in November, 1848, and the first day +the receipts were three hundred and seven dollars for drams at ten +cents a drink. There are a number of other houses of this character +fitted up in the same costly style, and among them is the “Verandah,” +the “Orleans House,” and “Phenix,” with many others, and +all of which furnish their bars with the most costly wines, +liquors and cordials, that can be obtained from all parts of the +world. In this display of attraction, where <i>gentlemen</i> can become +drunken, fight and quarrel, and pass it away without the event being +noticed, except for a few days when the conqueror and his +friends will exhibit their prowess in boasting and bragging of the +“fine licks” and the “black eyes” given an antagonist, and who +perhaps was twice his superior in force and strength, yet being a +little more “tight” of the two, and perhaps having met with +an unlucky blow from some side arm of a friend of his competitor, +he came off second best. And here it is in these pot house brawls +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span>among the boasted chivalry of the South, originate nine-tenths of +the duels and deadly combats which take place. From fights of +this kind often originate hostile and angry feelings, that finally +on the next occasion are followed by direct insult designed to +provoke a challenge.</p> + +<p>From these houses downwards there is every grade of grog shops, +to the lowest sipping of whiskey from a tin cup in negro pens, +where slaves steal away and imitate the example of their masters +in taking a few social glasses in view of participating in the common +civilities and courtesies of fashionable life. The practice of drinking +so often during the day, with almost every one, is such that +eating and sleeping is of small account, and they are indulged in +with very little regard to regularity except the meal at dinner. +The hour for dining is usually from three to four, and this is the +feast for fat things, and the only time at which much food is taken. +Breakfast is usually coffee in abundance, and generally is taken in +bed before rising. And after rising coffee is taken again with some +light article, and this is done from eight o’clock in the morning +and at any other time as they may happen to get from their beds +before the hour for dinner. Tea is usually taken from seven to +eight in the evening, and usually amounts to nothing in the consideration +of the good <i>livers</i> in New Orleans. The rounds and revels +of dissipation are at their height from nine o’clock in the evening +until two in the morning, by which time the devotees of pleasure +and the great mass of the inhabitants have become fully surfeited +with the things of this world, until they are overcome with the <i>load</i> +that is upon them, and one by one they pass away from their +labors and repose for a few hours, when they return on the morrow +refreshed and invigorated, and repeat the same round in the +drama of “life in New Orleans.” From the low dens and grog +shops, the miserable victim who crawls away in his poverty and +rags, is caught up at first sight by the minions of the law, and +hurried before the Recorder’s Court on “suspicion” of being a +vagrant, and unless he can find some one to vouch for him he is +thrown into the work house for sixty or ninety days, while the +proud and <i>chivalrous</i> southern gentleman who has been drinking, +carousing, and fighting at the “Gem,” the “Verandah,” the “Orleans +House,” or “Hewlett’s,” comes out next day as one of the +bloods of the city. But follow for a short time these chivalrous +knights, and you will see their steps as sure downwards as that +hour succeeds hour, until they are found in the lowest “picayune +groggery,” steeped in the very dregs of pollution and death. An +illustration and graphic commentary upon a life in New Orleans, +was exhibited before the Recorder’s Court in the fall of 1848, in +the arrest under the vagrant law of “<span class="allsmcap">DANGEROUS</span> and +<span class="allsmcap">SUSPICIOUS</span>,” in the person of one of those shocking and abandoned +wrecks of the “noblest works of God,” a man of mind and genius who had +fallen, and had become as he said of himself “like the gnarled oak +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span>shorn of its green boughs,” yet he had in his better days moved and +revelled in the rounds of fashionable life, and having a ready and +fluent speech, and flashings of caustic wit and good humor, it called +around him warm and devoted friends, whose kindness was showered +upon him in repeating glass after glass until he fell below the +standard of a <i>gentleman</i>, and finally was cast off, and thus took a +downward leap, and when he appears again it is as a “dangerous +and suspicious person” before the bar of justice as a criminal. But +the scene does not stop here, for that very authority before which +he now stands arraigned on “suspicion,” sets the machinery in +motion that takes the victim in at the “<span class="allsmcap">LICENSED PALACE</span>,” and +carries him along through every grade down to the lowest dens of +degradation and misery, and finally brings him up before the same +authority as the natural and legitimate fruit of that document to +which its hand and seal is fixed as a license for these blighting and +damning curses, these groggeries that fill up this city at every turn.</p> + +<p>The following incident occurred before the Recorder, and is +copied from a city paper.</p> + +<h3>“DANGEROUS AND SUSPICIOUS.”</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“But where is the iron-bound prisoner? where?”—<span class="smcap">Campbell.</span></p> +</div> + +<p>A very haughty and gloomy-looking individual might be seen +passing upwards from Baronne street Watchhouse, towards the +Recorder’s office, yesterday morning, about nine o’clock. He was +<i>one</i> of the number who seemed to have undergone the Cæsarean +operation at the hands of Madame Fortune, but who, more than any +of the rest, seemed to have been ripped untimely from the womb +of the circumstances by which he had been surrounded. There +was a sullenness of manner about him, perfectly in keeping with +the bitter sneer which sat enthroned on his cynical lip. His dark +eye flashed indignation towards the officer in whose keeping he +was, and every now and then, as he raised his iron-bound hands to +heaven, he shut his teeth as though he could have crunched a bar +of adamant into a pulp. Anon he shut his eyes, and opening them, +there came the searching glance and the dark scowl, which seemed +to ask, in the language of Shakspeare,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Which of you has done this?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou canst not say I did it: never shake</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Thy gory locks at me.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The garb of the outer man was indicative of the severe storms +which had passed over it—its looped and windowed raggedness +told a tale of misery and wretchedness too often repeated by the +numerous children of misfortune.</p> + +<p>As the officer unloosened the handcuffs, preparatory to the old +man’s being placed in the dock, for examination before the Recorder, +not a muscle of his face, nay, of his frame, but was in motion. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>Shortly after being placed there, he burst into a flood of tears, and, +in a paroxysm of the extremest agony, swooned into the arms of a +fellow prisoner. After a few moments, however, he recovered his +consciousness, and staring wildly round the Court, (as though he +were among a horde of savages in the wild desert,) he exclaimed, +after a manner which showed him to be well conversant with the +drama:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“I did not faint—no, though a sickening pang</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tugg’d at my heart, <ins title="Original has 'aud'" id="and">and</ins> made the cold sweat creep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like ice-drops, o’er my body; yet, even then,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did conscious innocence uphold my soul,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And turn’d the horrid words to senseless sounds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That ought not to dismay.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>“Verulan Langdale!” said the crier of the court. The prisoner +raised himself slowly up from his seat, and running his fingers +through the grey and tangled locks, which fell scantily over a well +formed forehead, bowed to the court, in token of his identity.</p> + +<p><i>Recorder.</i>—You are charged with being a dangerous and suspicious +person, following no honest occupation or calling for a livelihood. +Have you any good citizen to vouch for you?</p> + +<p><i>Prisoner.</i>—May it please the court, I know of none—the world +knows me not—I am as you see me, the gnarled oak, shorn of its +green boughs. I am like Othello—my occupation’s gone. I came +here to look after a daughter, who eloped a long time ago with a +merchant of this city who, dying, left her all his worldly effects, +and she became rich. By chance, I heard she was in this city. +She was—she is—but she is the occupant of the Lunatic Asylum, +and she has rendered me well nigh fit to occupy the same cell. I +have craved from those who have had charity—my wants were +small and they were over supplied. I was going towards Ohio, +where I have a son engaged in the profession of the law.</p> + +<p><i>Recorder.</i>—May I ask you if you yourself have any profession +on hand, and if you are an American citizen?</p> + +<p><i>Prisoner.</i>—I recollect Wordsworth saying in one of his fine +poems, when speaking of a foreigner in England—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">From Indian blood you deem him sprung:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah, no! he spake the English tongue,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And bare a soldier’s name;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And when America was free</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From battle and from jeopardy,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">He cross the ocean came.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>I bear a “soldier’s name”—I have held a commission in the British +service, under the last but one of the Georges’. I have fought, +long before I became an American citizen, under the stars and +stripes, and have been but lately mustered out of the American +service—I have ever thought and do think with Chateaubriand that—“The +fairest crown of an old man is his silver hair, and the recollection +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span>of an honorable life.” Pronounce your sentence, if you think +me dangerous and suspicious.</p> + +<p>As the old man repeated the last sentence in a firm and energetic +tone, he drew back the folds of his old woolen vest with the hands +which had lately been in fetters, and pointing to some half dozen +scars, said—</p> + +<p>I don’t know how suspicious you may think me, but the enemies +of my adopted country always declared me <i>dangerous</i>.</p> + +<p>As he gave utterance to these words, a thrill of sensation passed +through the crowd, which the Recorder did not ask to check. He +himself turned aside to—peruse some other charge entered on the +watch sheet. After a short pause, the Recorder, addressing the +prisoner, told him he was at liberty to seek his son, and he hoped +his search in that quarter would be more successful than it had been +on another occasion.</p> + +<p><i>Prisoner.</i>—I hope so.</p> + +<p>It is unnecessary to say that the old veteran had funds liberally +supplied him. A subscription was set on foot in court, to which the +Recorder most liberally subscribed, and “words, cheery words,” +fell upon his ear as he left the court, where, but a few moments +before, he had stood, to all appearances, a vagrant of the worst +class. He did not leave the dock without bowing to his fellow +prisoners; then turning to the crowd who ushered him out, he +looked again on those he left behind him, as though loth to leave his +fellows in misfortune. It was a momentary gleam of commiseration, +for it lit up the face with the sunshine of the soul, until the +recollection of his past sufferings, awakening all the misanthropic +feelings which lay lurking in his breast, found a vent in the language +of the gifted Maturin:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“I was a blighted branch—the storm was on me—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in my rifted core the winds of heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sung wintry welcome, and made stern abode.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The mildewed moss upon my brown sere bark</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Made verdure seem like blasting. Such was I.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sun is on me now, the storm on thee.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bear it as I have done.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Such oftentimes are the slender grounds on which our laws deprive +men of one of the choicest blessings said to be ensured by +our republican form of government—their liberty.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>The life-drawn scene which is here presented in the person of +the old man, is a sad tale of desolation and woe, with which the +Recorder’s court and the work-house of this city is familiar; yet +the subjects for such exhibitions are usually much younger, having +been like the old man, “shorn of their green boughs” long before +they could point to a head with “silver locks,” and claim for them +the respect and reverence due to a ripe old age, even though clothed +in rags.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span></p> + +<h3>VAGRANTS.</h3> + +<p>For a time, so great was the increase of the class of vagrants, +that the common council was forced to pass a law requiring the +police to arrest every such person on “suspicion” of having no +regular calling, and if no one will vouch for his ability to gain an +honest living, his doom is the work-house without further ceremony.</p> + +<p>To be sick and die, and disposed of after death in New Orleans, +is <i>more</i> than a fearful scene to be presented for the contemplation +of any one away from his kindred, his home and friends; and there is +not a place in the wide world where a man would have so many +fearful forebodings in passing these ordeals, from the sick chamber +to the tomb, as would come upon him while alone, and in the silent +watchings of the night he could feel his strength gradually giving +away as the hour of his dissolution drew nigh. And when he takes +his sick bed, in almost every individual, the impression is almost +certain to come upon him that recovery is very doubtful; and every +thing by which he is surrounded, and all the circumstances under +which he is placed, have a strong tendency to make the impression +change to certain conviction; and the longer he is sick the more +clearly can he anticipate the day of his death. These convictions +come upon him more firmly, from the fact that if he has been long +in the city, he learns that it is the most sickly and dying place on +earth. Hence he looks forward with dread and fear to the approach +of the morrow. And what renders the sick room more fearful +and terrific in this city to the stranger—to the individual +without a family—to one alone and without kindred and near +friends, is all that he requires, all his wants, and all that is done for +him, come from those who have an eye single to his purse, and upon +that the nurse, the attendants, and physician lay hold, as if “to the +victor belong the spoils.” The charge per day for nursing is usually +from two to four dollars, attending physician from four to eight +dollars, and prescriptions for medicine at apothecaries, from ten to +twenty dollars a week. Cupping and bleeding and incidental expenses +at least twenty dollars more; and thus, if he can get through +a course of sickness for less than one hundred to one hundred and +fifty dollars a week, he may think he has had his day under a very +lucky star indeed. And then if he should die, whatever amount of +means he may have, it will all be consumed, for every bill will be +made out with special reference to the amount which he may possess. +Such is the <i>fashion</i> in this city, and few there are who do +not follow it to the letter.</p> + +<h3>DEPOSITORIES OF THE DEAD.</h3> + +<p>The bodies of the dead are deposited in vaults or tombs, as they +are called; yet all above ground, as it is impossible to dig a grave +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>in consequence of meeting water within a few inches of the surface +of the ground. There is, however, a ridge of land about three +miles from the city which is occupied for a burial ground, where +the poor and the slaves are put in holes about two feet deep, and +this is called the “Potter’s Field.” The old French depository for +the dead lies in rear of the centre of the city, on the skirt of the +swamp, yet it is surrounded by dwellings, and may be considered +as a <i>part</i> of the city. And a more gloomy, deathly, and pestiferous +place cannot be found within the range of the civilized globe. +And why such arrangements for disposing of the dead should be +permitted, is a matter of great astonishment to any one who can +reason from cause to effect. For there immediately within the heart +and centre of that city, above ground, inclosed only in brick walls, +lay thousands and tens of thousands of bodies in every possible +stage of decomposition that can be presented. And the odor from +these vaults in hot weather is perceptible a great distance, and +near by is almost suffocating. And such is the stench within the +inclosures that it brings on the most deathly and horrid sickness. +And yet this is in New Orleans, and there it lies, and I know of no +more proper place for such an arrangement, so “divil take the +hindmost,” as that is the rule by which all are governed. Consequently +no matter what exists around them. These grounds are about +a mile in length and fifty or sixty rods wide. They are divided +into three parts, all of which are enclosed in a solid wall of +brick masonry about ten feet wide and nine feet high. In these +long ranges of walls are holes resembling an oven, just large enough +to slide in one coffin. When the coffin is put in, the opening is filled +up with brick laid in mortar, and a small marble slab is also put in, +cut on purpose to the shape of the opening, on which is the name +and age of the deceased, and any other device the friends may +think proper to add. From the bottom of the wall close to the +ground is the first opening or vault, and upwards one directly over +the other are four, and thus in the whole surface of the side and cross +walls, as thick as can be allowed, are these “holes in the wall,” as +they are usually jokingly spoken of, making <i>graves</i> for thousands +and tens of thousands who are being constantly swept into them by +the besom of destruction, made up from the malaria, the effluvia, +from the swamps and city. And to render the <i>dose</i> complete, the +exhalation from this great charnel house, this mass of corruption +and death, is mingling with the sirocco that is pouring in upon +them from every point, and is drank down by the living mass +who tread those streets as greedily as though it was the vital principle +of their existence. These receptacles for the dead belong to +the city, and each vault is rented for the term of twenty-five years +for fifty dollars. At the expiration of that time, if not re-rented by +the friends of the deceased, it is opened, and all that remains of what +was once life and animation, bearing the impress and image of its +maker, is scraped out, thrown together with the remains of hundreds +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>of others, and burned up. And thus in ashes lie mingled in one +common mass the rich and the poor, the proud and haughty aristocrat, +and the low and humble plebian—the hard and iron frame of +the daring mariner, and the lovely and beautiful form of the bright +eyed and laughing girl.</p> + +<p>The ground inclosed within the several walls is more than one +hundred acres, and is divided into small plots, generally about ten +feet long and five wide. On these are built single vaults or those +large enough for five or six persons. Those belonging to individuals +or families are never disturbed. There are some receptacles of +this kind built on a larger plan, from thirty to forty feet square, +and twenty to thirty feet high, and large enough to contain upwards +of an hundred vaults. These are built by societies or military +companies, and some of them are beautiful splendid structures. +There are also some elegant family tombs built of the finest Italian +marble and costing an immense sum. The most perfect and beautiful +one in architectural structure and design, is said to have cost upwards +of forty thousand dollars. It contains six vaults, three on +each side of a niche, which is open on the front, and the walls on +each side contain the vaults or openings just large enough to slide +in a coffin. In the niche are arranged some of the most perfect +specimens of Italian sculpture from the hands of the best artists of +the age, representing the Savior, the Virgin Mary, and several +other symbols of the Romish church. As a receptacle for the dead +it is without exception the most imposing and forcible appeal to the +heart of the living that can be contemplated. And while standing +before it in all the perfection of art and science and the genius of +man, an awe of awful sublimity steals over the soul, hushes every +earthly thought, while those “silent and impressive lecturers,” the +image of our Savior, surrounded by types of the heavenly hosts, and +though presented by the cold and speechless marble, yet tell us in +language too plain to be misunderstood, that all the desires and +anticipations of the heart will end as a weary care, and when summed +up in the substance and riches of this world they can never +enter the portals of the tomb.</p> + +<h3>SLAVERY.</h3> + +<p>I come now to the subject of slavery as exhibited in New Orleans, +Louisiana, and Mississippi. And as an American citizen, in +view of the Declaration of Independence, and the boasted genius +of the institutions of my country, I would gladly crush every thought +and banish every feeling of shame and disgrace that comes over +me, while contemplating this blighting and damning curse of humiliation +to every man who feels a pride in the glory and prosperity +of his country. But when in the spirit of pride for <span class="allsmcap">FREEDOM</span> and +<span class="allsmcap">EQUALITY</span>, to contemplate the horrors, the miseries, the cold +blooded murders, that are the accumulated wrongs of man upon his fellow +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>man in this land of <span class="allsmcap">LIBERTY</span>, it banishes every aspiration of the +human soul. Every noble impulse of love of country is buried in +shame and deep humiliation. I have seen too much, and I have +learned what I know, not from the idle tales of the demagogue, nor +the preaching of wild fanaticism, nor from what have been charged +as the <i>embellished</i> stories of runaway slaves, but from having been +an eye-witness, and having heard the groans and shrieks of the mangled +and bleeding slave, while being murdered under the lash and blows +of the most inhuman of all monsters, the drivers and traffickers in +human flesh. That such things can be done and be tolerated in +this enlightened age, and among a people claiming to be moral, +<i>civilized</i>, and <i>christian</i> too, is a mystery that will remain +unexplained until the attributes of the human heart shall change. That +fathers and mothers in this christian land can look around them and +know what is the conduct and character of their sons, (in almost +every instance pursuing a life of indolence and licentiousness,) and +witness growing up around them <i>grand children</i>, sons and daughters +of their slave women, and then see those same children of their +own kindred blood sold as slaves and chattels in the market. And +there are fathers too who will take their own children bearing the +impress of themselves, and throw them into market like beasts of +the stall. I know it will be said that such are few and far between +and isolated cases. But such are not the facts. They are the +scenes of every-day life, and they are the sons and daughters, and +grandsons and grand-daughters of your Governors, your Judges, +your Senators, and members of Congress; and also men in every +condition of life. Ah, and more too—your Presidents and Vice +Presidents of this <i>christian</i> and <i>civilized</i> land, this land of +<span class="allsmcap">FREEDOM</span>. And yet these distinguished men are the recipients of the +tolerance and favor of <span class="allsmcap">LIBERTY</span>-loving men, and voted for to be the +guardians of our institutions. They are held up as <i>honest</i> men, as +patterns of piety, whose oblations are daily offered upon the altars of +christianity!!</p> + +<p>Of the impulses of such men I know nothing, and I cannot form +any conception of the feelings of an American, of a Christian—of +the one who gets his lessons from the Declaration of Independence, +and of the other who learns his duty from him who taught the inspired +precepts of the Gospel. That persons can thus act is an +anomaly that cannot be explained by any principle that governs +the human heart. But in this view, with the slaveholder, I know +the force of habit—the influence of circumstances—the power of +avarice—the desire of ease, all combined with custom, will sheath +the heart in a bond harder and less impenetrable than the unyielding +adamant. But while I know this I cannot offer an excuse for +them; and there is no apology at this day and age which they can +plead, that will screen an American citizen or a christian in sustaining +these outrages upon the genius of our institutions—upon the +spirit of the age—against morality, humanity, upon kindred ties, +christianity and nature itself.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span></p> + +<h3>APOLOGIES FOR SLAVERY.</h3> + +<p>The assurance that is often given as an apology for slavery, that +the slaves are contented and happy—that they are not abused, and +are well provided for, is as basely false and untrue, as the system is +infamous, horrid and cruel. For an individual to plead such an +excuse for Southern Slavery, in view of occupying the place of a +slave himself, even in its mildest form, I apprehend that such a man +who knows any thing of slavery—of its abuses—its cruelties—its +lashes and murders, his tongue would become palsied on his lips, +and a shudder as stiffening as the chill of death would come over +him at the prospect of a life of so much <i>pleasure</i> and +<i>happiness</i>, as he boldly asserts is the enjoyment of the slave. Put +him there, and let him feel for one short month what he knows the slave +feels, and then let him come out with an apology for such bondage, and +tell of its blessings, its beauties and happiness. And I ask him in +all sincerity, if he does not think the slave feels, when he is brought +out to be sold, somewhat as he would, if he was forced to stand +upon the same block, and hear the Auctioneer tell of his good +qualities, his strength, his ingenuity, his powers of endurance, his +unblemished character, and “fully guarantied against all the vices +and maladies prescribed by law.” Let the experiment be tried +with some of these apologists, and take them into the Arcade in +the city of New Orleans and sell them at auction, and then let +them be taken on to a Sugar or Cotton plantation in the same fields +to work with the other <i>happy</i> slaves, and go to his bed in the same +long range of “<i>beautiful white cottages</i>,” that look so neat and +<i>inviting</i> as you pass down the Mississippi River. After he has been +here a few years, nay, only through one season of growing cane or +cotton, living upon their <i>good fare</i>, their daily <i>rations</i> and +doing their <i>daily task</i>, then let him come up, and tell how happy he +has been, and what a curse <i>liberty</i> is, and how much better slavery +is than freedom. And yet, the reply to all this is, “oh, the negroes +don’t know enough to realize anything better, and they cannot take +care of themselves.” Ah, and why are they thus brutalized, and +how does it happen that they know so little? Any one who knows +any thing of Southern slavery, can explain these things, for they +know that every part and parcel of the system, in every particular, +is framed with direct design to brutalize, degrade, and deprave the +slave. And they know too, that when a slave aspires to be a man, +that it is a <i>crime</i>, and the charge is brought up against him, “<i>he +is getting too damned smart</i>,” and for which is meted out upon his +naked back the severest punishment that can be given by the lash, +for the express purpose of breaking him down, and make him cower +before his master like a dog. They have seen men with a whiter +skin than themselves, and mulattoes too, but a shade darker, +who were sons and grandsons of the first men in Kentucky and +Virginia, and men who would consecrate talent and powers of intellect, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span>and serve even in Southern bondage, as long as the Patriarch +of old did, for a wife, if they could possess one. And do you +not think such men can feel, and will they hug their chains, and +tell you, when they are not under the fear of the lash, that they +are contented and happy? And these apologists know too, that with +American Slavery, as a condition of human bondage, there has never +been, in any age, nor with any people, whether barbarous or +civilized, any thing to compare in point of brutality, cruelty and +extreme suffering, resulting from a combination of causes, that +destroy life and shorten the days of its victims to an extent that +legalizes murder; for it is a fact, proven by the acknowledgment +of slave owners themselves, that of an hundred young men, taken +from Kentucky and Virginia, put on Plantations in Louisiana and +Mississippi, seven years will be the average of their lives. And +this is produced by a change of climate, unwholesome food, over-working, +miserable and filthy lodgings, and a general want of cleanliness +in clothing and every thing they have.</p> + +<h3>FARE OF SLAVES ON PLANTATIONS.</h3> + +<p>A more loathsome and disgusting place cannot be imagined, than +the huts in a negro yard of a plantation. They are generally +about twenty feet square, and the hands on a plantation are divided +into families, each of which occupies one of these pens. These +families number from five to twenty, and the arrangements for +sleeping are miserable in the extreme, and what is used for their +beds is seldom if ever washed, or cleansed in any manner, and is +used until rotted or worn into shreds. The same practice is pursued +with their clothing. It consists of a coarse wrought fabric, +of cotton and wool, and also of linen. The men wear pantaloons, +and a heavy stout frock. The women who work in the field, +wear only a long frock, without under clothes of any kind. These +are put on and never changed or cleansed, or taken off night or +day, until they are worn out. The provision for clothing the +slaves, is usually one suit a year to each negro, and they are generally +obliged to make this last or go without. But many cannot, +and you will often see negroes with only the tattered and torn rags +remaining on them, as evidence of a slight degree of modesty and +shame, that is manifest in keeping them around him. And thus +they live in the most filthy, degraded and beastly condition that +can be conceived, and there is not a single provision of any kind, +either in food, clothing or cleanliness, or for beds, or dwellings, or +labor, but what is calculated to debilitate, exhaust and destroy the +physical powers, and produce disease and death; and I make the +assurance without the fear of contradiction, that there is scarcely a +plantation in the whole range of the Sugar and Cotton growing +districts, if examined by a competent board of health, that would not +excite their astonishment, that human beings could live, even an average +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span>of seven years. In the first place, it will be found that many +herds of slaves are kept on short rations, having allowed to +each one, from three to three and a half pounds of meat a week, +with only corn meal, which they wet with water, and roast on the +fire. This is their regular daily food, and the meat is often the +most loathsome, disgusting, rotten mass that can be imagined. On +this point, I am aware it will also be said, there are but few, very +few indeed, of such cases. But it is not true, and every produce +dealer in the city of New Orleans, if he has not the fear of the +planter before his eyes, will bear testimony to this fact, for I have +seen it myself, and know that they sell thousands of packages, +weighing from eight to ten hundred each, of smoked hams and +sides of pork, that were so rotten that the bones had become loose +and separated from the meat, and when they were opened for the +examination of the Planter, the maggots would roll over the side +of the cask upon the floor.</p> + +<p>An instance of this kind I saw in the store of a produce dealer +in the winter of 1837. A planter from Mississippi bought eleven +casks of smoked meat from a merchant in Lafayette street, which +he had purchased the day before for one and a half cents per pound. +He sold it to the planter for one and three fourth cents, and when +the casks were opened they were literally alive with maggots. +After the purchase was made, the clerk, a fine honest New Jersey-man, +being astonished at what he had done in selling such stuff to be +eaten by human beings, for he knew that a dog in New Jersey +could not be found but what would turn from it, asked the planter +why he bought such food for his negroes? The planter replied, +that it was pretty hard times and cotton was low, and the <i>boys</i> do +about as well on it as any. Now in view of this, I know it will be +said again, that “such are rare cases;” but the reports of sales of +meat in New Orleans tell a different account; for there are hundreds +and thousands of such packages of rotten putrid meat sold to +planters every year, and the negroes are obliged to eat it or starve, +and at the same time the planters tell you “the boys do about as +well on it.”</p> + +<p>And yet in full knowledge of all these facts, we can find men who +will speak of such things as trivial matters, and have some very +<i>cogent</i> apology to offer as an excuse to justify the outrage. But +with many who practice this treatment with their slaves there is +some show for excuse, and that is in their extreme ignorance; for +there are a large number of planters, overseers, and drivers, who +know nothing of the influence and effect of such food on the system, +and that it has a tendency to produce disease and death. Hence +for the reason the planters do not know their own interest, the loss +to them annually by death is ten fold greater than the expense +would be to give the slaves good comfortable quarters, with good +wholesome fare, and treat them as human beings. But there are +plantations on which these worst features are not found; yet in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span>almost every case the slaves are over-worked, at least one-third +beyond what is possible for the physical powers of any human +being to endure. They are usually driven out soon as daylight, +and often before, and work from fourteen to eighteen hours a day, +and in the other part of the time, they are obliged to prepare their +food, eat and sleep. This time of excessive hard work is only +about <i>five</i> months in the year, during the gathering of the crops. +The other part of the season they are only worked from light in +the morning until darkness at night. I know it is said they are +obliged to work thus to save the crops from perishing. Very true. +But why force such an immense crop into existence that will require +so much labor to secure it? Cannot avarice be checked nor satisfied +without working men and women into a premature grave? As +well may it be said, that a farmer of the north is <i>obliged</i> to +work night and day to tend his crop of corn, having planted with +his cultivator twenty acres in four days; consequently he is <i>obliged</i> +to work night and day for forty days to hoe and keep it in good +condition that he may get a large yield. And in view of the condition +of slaves on plantations generally, without taking into account +the whipping, beating and cruelties that are imposed upon them, +their treatment from beginning to end is an open violation and +outrage upon the laws of animal life, and every thing by which +they are surrounded is calculated directly to undermine the constitution +and engender disease, and thus destroy them. And I make +the assertion without the fear of contradiction from any apologist +for slavery who knows any thing about it, from its great champion +John C. Calhoun down to the most brutal driver that can be found, +they cannot show one plantation in five hundred where the +proper provisions necessary for the health and comfort of human +beings are made. I know this to be a fact, and so does every man +who has looked in upon a plantation in the sugar and cotton growing +States of the South. And there is no excuse or apology with +the planter for this, for he can do better if he would gamble less, +drink and carouse less, and spend less money in sports and +horse racing, and not trust these matters to overseers and drivers.</p> + +<h3>WHIPPING OF SLAVES.</h3> + +<p>Of the cruelties, in whipping, beating and murdering slaves, it +has never been told nor described worse than is practised; and I +have been told by overseers on plantations themselves, of what is +<i>necessary</i> in the discipline of a set of hands, first to +<i>subdue</i> them, and then to <i>keep them in subjection</i>. The first +exhibition I had of slavery, was at Louisville in Kentucky, in the fall of +1837, and I shall never forget the nature of the scene before me; for it +was the first time that this singular <ins title="Original has 'phenomonon'" id="phenomenon">phenomenon</ins> was presented to my +view, that in this land of <i>freedom</i>, where <i>liberty</i> was +engraven upon the escutcheon of every shield, and yet, not a stone upon the +earth,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> but what was pressed by the bondsman’s foot; nor an inch of soil, +but what was watered by tears, and the sweat of his brow, and +whose very flesh too was torn and reeking from the chains and +lash of the inhuman task-master. And who is doing all this? +was the enquiry. It is <span class="smcap">Kentucky</span>—the noble, proud and chivalrous +<i>Kentucky</i>; whose sires and sons, on the battle fields of the +revolution, poured out their blood like water, and when expiring +in their last struggle, while their voice ceased in whispers, would +breathe out the magic words, “<span class="smcap">Liberty</span> or <span class="smcap">Death</span>.” And it +was thus with Kentucky, on the bloody fields of the second revolution. +And on that day, her sons were in arms, struggling for their country’s +rights and the extension of <i>American</i> Freedom. And here +was this singular phenomenon before me, of a proud and chivalrous +people, offering up their oblations upon the altar of <span class="smcap">Freedom</span>, and +bearing in one hand the standard of <span class="smcap">Liberty</span>, while in the other +were forged chains for the bondman’s limbs, and the scourge for his +back, and whose groans and shrieks were borne off upon the same +breeze with their own shouts of <span class="smcap">Liberty</span> or <span class="smcap">Death</span>!! And +this is no sketch of scenes drawn out with vivid colors of fancy; for it +was stern living reality, and human language conveys no impressions +and has not power to embellish them with ideal matter, for +there was before me at almost every corner of the streets, that +proud emblem of our nation’s greatness. It was the <span class="allsmcap">STARS</span> and +<span class="allsmcap">STRIPES</span> calling upon the sons of Kentucky to again rally in +defence of their country’s honor. And yet beneath the ample folds +of this cherished emblem of <span class="smcap">Freedom</span> were passing almost every +moment the native born citizens of this proud State, driven to their +daily task from the fear of the scourge and the lash. And more +than that did I witness on a steamboat where was thrown out to +the breeze our nation’s Flag, significant that the sons of Kentucky, +her soldiers in arms, were there marching to and fro upon her deck +and hurrying down to the plains of Mexico, to the field of battle +and strife; while below them on the same boat, confined in chains +like a pen of cattle, were their own <i>brothers</i>, upwards of an hundred +citizens of this proud land, who were being dragged down to that +bourne from whence none ever return—the great charnel house of +American slavery, the low land and swamps of the Mississippi +Valley. The next scene of interest that I saw was on a plantation +a few miles above the city of New Orleans. I passed into the +negro yard and the first slave I met was grinding corn with a +double hand-mill like a common coffee-grinder. He was chained +to a post and was literally naked. A plank lay within reach of +his chain, the <i>soft</i> side of which was his bed. His punishment was +for running away, and he had been confined there to his mill seven +weeks. In passing along to a shop, I found two negroes working +at blacksmithing. Both were chained to the block, and were hampered +with rings and chains on their legs. One of these was a +heavy stout mulatto man, and on his right ancle was a ring of iron +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span>weighing from six to eight pounds. On the same leg near the +knee was another ring weighing from four to six pounds, and a +chain fastened from one ring to the other, making at least on this +leg sixteen pounds of iron. The rings had worn and irritated the +leg, and they were almost completely imbedded in the swollen +flesh. From the knee to the top of the foot was one continued +putrid running sore; and without exception the most loathsome +and forbidding exhibition I ever witnessed. And yet he was at +work preparing the heavy irons for a sugar mill. I asked him +what he had those chains on for? He replied; “I run away, and +by G—d I will again when I get these off and am well.” He had +worn them eight weeks. The rings and chain on the other negro +were not as large, nor was he much mutilated by them. The first +was a noble fine looking mulatto man, with large head and prominent +reflective faculties, and evidently with much force of +character—presenting nothing of the African blood, except in the shade of +his skin. He informed me that he came from Kentucky, and had +been on the plantation seven years, and in that time he had seen +the drivers kill eighteen boys. All slave men are called boys. +Whether this was true or not, I had no other testimony except the +circumstantial evidence which was around me on all sides, and I +am sure this was sufficient to convince any one that an effort was +being made to kill at least four more. In passing towards the +sugar field, I found a negro setting on a block. A physician from +Mobile, who was with me, spoke to him, and as he raised his head +a swarm of flies started off, and looking on the right side of his +head above the ear, I discovered the hair full of maggots, and the +whole side was one mass of putrid matter. The skull was evidently +broken in, as the matter which was running out indicated +diseased bone. How he came in this condition I know not, yet the +same effect would be produced by striking him with a heavy bludgeon +or club. He was perfectly unconscious, and did not answer +a question intelligibly, as he was insane. After this scene I was +perfectly convinced that the negro in the shop had told the truth, +that “eighteen boys had been killed on that plantation within seven +years.”</p> + +<p>And here I am aware that I shall be met with the usual reply—“that +such acts as killing slaves are <i>improbable</i>, for it is so decidedly +against the interest of the planter to allow his property to be +destroyed in this manner.” I have myself before I learned to the +contrary made the same reply; and yet one thing is sure, the +reply does not make or prove these things false; and of their truth, +I have the testimony of a large portion of the passengers, gentlemen +and ladies, on the steamer “Allen Glover,” on her first trip +down to New Orleans, in November, 1837. And I repeat that +these cruelties are not isolated cases; for men and women are +whipped to death, and murdered by inches, and shot down, as a +common occurrence in the more Southern States. In proof of this, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span>I was told, on a plantation about twelve miles below the city of +New Orleans, by the overseer, that but very few plantations passed +more than three or four years without having a slave killed by the +driver. He said the season before the driver on this plantation +killed the best boy they had. He was beating and kicking the +boy, and finally the negro knocked him down. The driver rose +up and shot him through the heart. He was a spirited boy from +Kentucky, about twenty-three years old, and had been often beaten +by the driver for the most trivial thing, and often without the least +provocation. And he had borne the goads of the lash so long +that his proud spirit broke loose in the fatal blow which he knew +would send him to his grave in an instant. And while telling me +this, the overseer pointed to the second plantation below, and said +the driver about two months before killed a boy by shooting him. +When these occurrences take place they are seldom known beyond +the limits of the plantation; for it is <i>lawful</i> to kill a negro if he +raises his hand against a white man; and I can assure you that +few ever make the attempt without being instantly killed.</p> + +<h3>A WOMAN WHIPPED TO DEATH.</h3> + +<p>A most brutal and inhuman case of whipping and murdering +negroes was done by the driver on J. R.’s plantation, about forty +miles from Natchez, in November, 1848. I will give the fiendish +monster’s account of it in his own blasphemous language, while +boasting of the deed to another driver. He said, “G—d d—n my +soul, if I didn’t whip a woman last week until she childed right on +the ground while I was whipping her; and a few days before I +whipped another woman till I thought she was dead, but she revived +a little and I told the niggers to carry her in the hut. The +next day she sent for me, and when I went in she told me that +she was going to die, and that I had killed her. I told her I was +G—d d—n glad of it, and I was d—n sorry I hadn’t done it for +her yesterday; and she died that night.” Yet this is all legalized, +“moderate correction;” and doubtless will be considered as an +“isolated case.”</p> + +<p>The driver’s duty on a plantation is to see that the negroes are +at work, and to do this he usually follows them into the field, and +exercises a general supervision over their labor. His equipments +are a heavy knife, a revolver pistol, and a large whip, the lash of +which is about seven feet long. While in the field, if the negro +does not work rapidly, or if he violates the rules of the plantation, +this lash comes down upon him with a power and force that cuts +through his clothes and tears his skin and flesh in shreds. These +blows will often be repeated by a peculiar swing of the lash from +right to left, every one of which will cut a hole where it hits like a +scoop with a gouge.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span></p> + +<h3>THE “BREAK-DOWN WHIPPINGS.”</h3> + +<p>The “break-down whippings,” as they are termed on the plantations, +are usually done by placing the slave with his face to a post +in which is framed a cross bar. An iron collar or ring is put round +his neck and fastened to the post. The arms are extended each +way and fastened to the cross-bar by rings around the wrist. They +are then stripped bare, and thus are whipped from twenty-five to +fifty lashes and upwards, and sometimes as long as a man can +continue to use the whip without being exhausted, and they often +die there under the lash. If a slave is brought down from Kentucky +or Virginia, and sold to a planter at the South, and it is understood +that he has any pride, or occasionally assumes a degree +of independence unbecoming a slave, or shows any reluctance +against being driven beyond what is consistent and human, he is, +as the drivers say, “getting too damned smart” and must have a +small touch of the “Mississippi break-down;” and without any +further ceremony he is put on to the post and whipped until the +driver thinks he “will not be quite so <i>smart</i>.” And in many cases +it is necessary to repeat this “break down” operation a number of +times before the “smartness” will all pass out of them.</p> + +<p>The change from Kentucky and Virginia slavery, to a large cotton +or sugar plantation in the more Southern States, is as great +almost as liberty and slavery, and there are many slaves taken from +these States and sold far South, that can never be subdued only by +death; and this they are sure to meet unless they give up their +“smartness.” And in them is only seen exhibited the motto of +every American citizen, “<span class="smcap">Liberty</span> or <span class="smcap">Death</span>.” They will +never yield, for they have the feelings of an American, and the pride and +spirit of their own <i>fathers</i> who are among the most distinguished +men of their native State. And this is <i>American</i> slavery—one of +our “cherished institutions!” and the forbidding of its further extension +is now threatening the existence of this happy Union, and +to deluge this land in blood!!</p> + +<h3>WOMAN WHIPPING ON THE PLANTATIONS.</h3> + +<p>The whipping of women on plantations is in a different manner. +Their frock is turned up over their head, and they are made to lie +down with their face to the ground, their arms extended and tied +to a stake. A board is then taken which is prepared in shape like +a shovel. The wide part is bored full of small holes, and with this +they are beaten on the bare flesh, from twenty-five to two hundred +blows. After these blows are repeated a few times the skin tears +away, and the blood and flesh is forced through these holes with +great force and flies several feet from them; and yet this is very +<i>modest</i> and “moderate correction.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span></p> + +<p>Females are required to do as much work on a plantation as +men, and there are generally about thirty women to seventy men. +The treatment of slave women is so severe, and their labor so hard, +that very few children are raised on the sugar or cotton plantations; +and if they are alive at birth they grow up feeble and puny, and +from neglect and the want of proper cleanliness and care very few +become men and women.</p> + +<p>The relations and intimacy among slaves on plantations are managed +with great care, and every thing that is allowed to exist between +the men and women, is permitted with a view to degrade and +brutalize them, and destroy all moral sense, as well as self-respect. +A rule or regulation of any kind calculated to elevate the +thoughts above the brute, or a disposition on the part of the slave +to cultivate the moral sense, would be crushed at once, and an +attempt on the part of a slave to do so would meet with the most +severe and cruel punishment. Hence kindred ties, and parental +affection, and the attachment between man and wife, are among the +first things to be broken up, as the permission of such demonstrations +would have a tendency to humanize the slave, and make him, +under such circumstances, somewhat an object of sympathy. A +connection among them as “man and wife,” in which the planter +sometimes officiates in a mock ceremony of marriage, is allowed +under certain rules, yet care is taken that such alliances do not +continue for a long time. When they are broken up they are allowed +to seek other companions for a short time. Thus they succeed +in preventing anything like an affection, or attachment, or respect +for an alliance in the character of “man and wife.”</p> + +<p>The following extract of a letter from a highly respectable gentleman +in Galveston, has been kindly furnished me, and a more truthful +picture, to the life, cannot be drawn, and one too on which +the good people of this country can look, and stand rebuked by the +lesson of <i>moral sense</i>, which came up in the honesty of his soul from +this poor slave, in view of the life which he would have entailed +upon himself and kindred, had he fulfilled the marriage vow with +poor Lucy. The occurrence took place in December, 1848—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“Bob had agreed to be married, and on the night of the wedding +did not appear. His lady love came for him the next night after, +and the matter was thoroughly discussed between them. She, poor +thing, reproached him for his inconstancy with tears and sighs at a +great rate. Bob finally said to her by way of comfort—‘Lucy +what is de sense ob niggers marrying—it don’t mean any ting. +When white folks marry, dey say matches made in heben—when +nigger marry children all slaves—nigger dont own he wife—nigger +woman dont own her husband—more misery, misery, all come +ob nigger marrying.’”</p> +</div> + +<p>Alas! too true. How often we laugh when we ought to be +ashamed that our sensibilities are not more deeply shocked.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span></p> + +<h3>RESTRICTIONS UPON SLAVES.</h3> + +<p>The restrictions over the slave in New Orleans are exceedingly +rigid and severe. At 8 o’clock in the evening a cannon is fired in +the Place d’Armes, as a note of warning for all slaves to leave the +streets and “turn in.” If they are caught out after this hour without +a written pass from their masters, they are taken by the watch +to the calaboose or city prison; and in the morning are whipped +twenty-five lashes, and their master is obliged to pay three dollars +to get them discharged. When the slaves become too “damned +smart,” or for any thing which they may do, require punishment, +the general practice with the slave owners is to send them to the +calaboose, where they have all the shackles and preparations necessary +to do up such <i>jobs</i> in good <i>order</i> and on <i>short</i> notice. +In doing this, also, the masters save themselves from the indignation of +the slave, which would naturally become aroused if the punishment +was inflicted by the hand of the master himself. The slave to be +whipped is sent with a note to the calaboose, in which is money to +pay for the <i>job</i>. If twenty-five cents is in the note he gets +twenty-five lashes,—if fifty cents or a dollar he gets accordingly. And +this whipping slaves at the calaboose at one cent a blow is a very +lucrative business, and many a poor fellow comes away with scarcely +a shred of skin on his back, and very often he does not know for +what crime or for what purpose the whipping has been given him, +unless it is because “he is getting too damned smart.” For the +<i>crime</i> of attempting to gain his liberty, for running away, a slave +is punished more severely than for any thing that he may do where +death is not the penalty. And very often for repeated acts of this +kind, where the design is <i>only</i> to whip him within “an inch of his +life,” a mistake is made in the distance of an <i>inch</i>, and he is +whipped within a quarter of an <i>inch</i> and dies in a few moments. Next +on the list of crime, a slave is punished for stealing almost as severely +as for running away, and they are often whipped severely +on mere suspicion of having stolen. For the punishment of slave +women in New Orleans, for any crime, either theft or being “quite +smart,” or for general correction, they are usually sent to the work +house, and from here they are organized in chain gangs, and put +in charge of a driver, and sent out to clean the markets and collect +the dirt and rubbish in the streets. When a slave woman is sent +to the work house by her master for punishment, he is obliged to +pay twenty-five cents a day for the privilege of having her worked +in the chain gang. In November, 1848, I saw a chain gang of +forty-nine women and girls in Exchange street, cleaning away the +rubbish, brick and dirt, that had accumulated in tearing down +buildings for the purpose of extending the street through from +Custom to Bienville streets. They were shoveling dirt and brick +into large boxes, on each side of which were fastened long sticks +extending each way far enough for handles. They would load +the boxes and carry them some distance to be taken away by carts.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span></p> + +<h3>CHAIN-GANGS OF WOMEN.</h3> + +<p>These chain-gangs are formed by fastening together two women +with a chain about ten feet long around the waist of each, and in +this situation they are driven about the city day after day as street +scavengers, and among them are often many fine appearing and +delicate looking mulatto girls; yet they are here driven to the hard +toil of shoveling dirt, and doing the heavy labor of a beast; while +the proud and chivalrous southern gentleman will pass by and see +these women thus degraded and brutalized, and never have thought +or feeling of shame, nor a blush come over them, that such scenes +are an outrage upon humanity, and a deep and damning disgrace +to the civilized world. And yet here too, in this christian land, +will <i>christian</i> men and women, witness this more than savage +brutality, and heed it less than they would if the women were dogs, +while at the same time these pious <i>ladies</i> will contribute money +and means to civilize and christianize the poor heathen in some +far distant land. And more than this, they will indite long prayers +and repeat them time and again, that heaven would prosper the +great cause which lies so near their heart, of turning the <i>brutal +heathen</i> from his <i>inhuman</i> practices; and yet these same heathen, +if they could promenade the streets of this city with these pious +ladies, they would be shocked at sights of barbarity and cruelty, +such as savages would never inflict, unless to punish their most +deadly enemy. And here let me ask, in view of such scenes as +are daily witnessed under the sanction of public authority; if there +is any sense of propriety in men, or any regard for common decency, +should not public opinion frown upon such men who make these +regulations with a force that would drive them into the haunts +of savages where they properly and <i>constitutionally</i> belong.</p> + +<h3>SLAVES COMPELLED TO FIND WORK.</h3> + +<p>The treatment of slaves in New Orleans as a general thing is +horrid in the extreme. There are many who are driven daily into +the streets and obliged to find work, and at night return with their +wages, and if they do not do it, are sent to the calaboose and +whipped from fifty to an hundred lashes. There are also hundreds +of slaves owned by Irish draymen, who are worked from fifteen +to twenty hours a day, and do it continually for months in +succession. The most severe and cruel master that ever had power +over flesh and blood, is an unlearnt and ignorant Irishman, and +in New Orleans, you cannot frighten a negro so badly by any thing +that you may say or do, as to tell him you will sell him to an Irishman. +They almost prefer death to an Irish master, and they certainly +are the most unfeeling, inhuman monsters that can be found +on earth. There are also a large number of slaves who are obliged +to steal or beg their living, and yet are forced to work and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span>give every farthing they earn to their masters. The sleeping +pens also of the slaves generally are unfit for the meanest cur that +runs the street; and yet in connection with all this, the practice of +whipping, kicking and beating the slaves is so common that sympathy +does not appear to be one of the attributes of the human +soul. An instance of severity in punishment that came under my +own observation, was inflicted on a mulatto girl about twenty-three +years old. She was whipped by a negro trader, two hundred +lashes and was literally cut to pieces. There was scarcely a particle +of skin on her back, and her breasts were torn open in gashes +and hung in shreds cut almost entirely from her body. Another +mulatto girl I saw who had been beaten by a <i>lady</i>, one of the +wealthy, <i>accomplished</i> and fashionable women in the city. She +knocked the girl down, stamped on her head and face and broke +out two of her front teeth. She was blind with one eye, and her +head and face was swollen as full as the skin could be pressed.</p> + +<h3>CHIVALROUS LADIES.</h3> + +<p>It is a very common thing to hear a <i>lady</i> in New Orleans, boast of +beating and whipping negro men and women, and they will do it +with as much pride and manifestation of prowess, as though they +had bearded a lion in his den; and yet the poor negro, when a +lady attempts to whip him, is only obliged to stand and bear what +comes upon him without daring to move or raise his hand. If he +should be so uncourteous as to stir, or run away when a <i>lady</i> was +beating him, it is a <i>crime</i> for which he is sent to the calaboose and +is more severely whipped than for almost any thing that he may +do. And yet such are the <i>ladies</i> of New Orleans, and they are +pious and <i>christian ladies</i> too, and their hearts are <span class="allsmcap">BIG</span> +with sympathy for the poor heathen who are so degraded and suffering so +much for the blessings of <i>civilization</i>.</p> + +<h3>SLAVE MARKET.</h3> + +<p>Go to the slave market in New Orleans, in the Arcade, on days +of Auction sales for slaves and you will see and learn what you +cannot in any other place in the world but a slave market. For it +is here before you in unmistakable character, how completely unfeeling, +inhuman and brutalized a man can become, and yet be a “<i>gentleman</i> +and <i>respectable</i>.” And surely it would be <i>unkind</i> +and <i>ungenerous</i> in the extreme, to say that those +<i>fine looking</i>, <i>rich</i> and <i>generous hearted</i> men who stand +there daily and <i>only</i> sell slaves, are not “<i>gentlemen</i> and +<i>respectable</i>.” And notwithstanding all the brutality which you see +them exhibit, they claim to have in a large degree, the common sympathies +of our nature, as well as <i>moral sensibilities</i>. But an astonishment +amounting to amazement comes over you when you view these men as they are +truly exhibited<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> here. You see before you an hundred men, women and children +of all ages, colors and complexions, and many of them as white +and even whiter than the auctioneer or the purchaser. You hear +their rude jokes and loud laugh, while describing the qualities and +condition of some female, and you can see her shrink back and +drop her head with the true feelings and sense of female delicacy; +and yet this just rebuke upon them only calls out another rude +joke as evidence of greater brutality, while the delicacy and +blush of shame, which their rudeness has brought upon the +brow of a slave, should teach them even in a slave market to observe +the common rules of decency, while treating with females, +although they may be slaves. For certainly man should never forget +that modesty is one of the natural impulses of the female +heart, and never can be invaded in the broad light of day, without +changing the warm current of her blood into a blush of shame upon +her brow.</p> + +<p>When slaves are put upon the block to be sold, their age is told, +their capabilities for different kinds of labor are described, their +disposition, their perfections and imperfections all come out in detail, +and if they are healthy and in good condition, the Auctioneer +proclaims that “they are fully guarantied against all the vices and +maladies prescribed by law,” and “now, how much is bid for him!” +and while the sale is progressing, the slave usually stands like a +statue, not a muscle in his countenance moves, nor an expression +other than a wandering gaze. And yet you can see that there is +an agony and struggle with the feelings of the soul, deeper than +tears can call up, or groans express. Here they stand as cold and +chilled as the speechless marble, awaiting their doom and destiny. +And while all this is going on, you can hear in the crowd of slaves, +in low whispers, the mother pleading with the inhuman slave-dealer, +and begging and beseeching him in all the agony of a mother’s +heart, that her child may not be torn from her. And in return for +this she gets the blasphemous curse and a look of more than demon’s +glare, that bid her be silent, and tells her that the child is +not her own.</p> + +<p>And now of such scenes as are here witnessed, I only ask that +the people of this <span class="allsmcap">LIBERTY</span>-loving land, that fathers and mothers, +those whose impulses have never been chilled by avarice and the +desire of ease, and the blighting and deadly influence of long familiar +custom; let them stand in the slave Auction, in the city of +New Orleans, for one hour only, and then let them answer whether +they have nothing to do as <i>moral beings</i>, as <i>Christians</i>, and +as American citizens, with this outrage upon humanity—this mountain +of shame and disgrace that bears down upon the soul of every +American—this libel upon the genius of our institutions. If they +must go away with sealed lips from such scenes as are here presented, +and never raise their voice against them, then may all the +accumulated wrongs of the earth be set upon this land, and never +be rebuked, nor resisted by the moral sense of community.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span></p> + +<p>The number of slaves sold here at auction is very great, and it +is the only place in the city for such sales. There are a large +number of traders’ pens, where slaves are received on consignment, +and sold on commission. The traders also buy for speculation. +The largest of these establishments is in Esplenard Street. +They are a long row of low buildings, and on the front step, on +the side-walk, the slaves are made to stand for exhibition from 9 +o’clock in the morning till 4 o’clock in the afternoon. There are +often in these slave-pens, arranged in a line on the side-walk, from +five to eight hundred, and these are all fine-looking, robust, stout +young men and girls, from the age of sixteen to twenty-five. There +are also, in rear of the public sale-room in the Arcade, a number +of small rooms, occupied by negro traders and speculators, who +bring the negroes from their pens every day, and keep them here +for exhibition. This depot in the Arcade is the largest slave market +in New Orleans.</p> + +<p>To satisfy curiosity, in the fall of 1848, I stepped into one of the +rooms, in which were about thirty slaves, principally girls from the +age of fifteen to twenty. I observed a fine-looking mulatto girl, +about seventeen years old, and enquired her qualities. The trader +called her up, and replied, that “she was an excellent sewer, and +a first-rate dress-maker—good body-servant and lady’s waiting-maid +and nurse—good disposition, kind and careful with children, +and perfectly healthy, and without a fault or blemish of any kind.” +After this description, he said to her—“Put out your foot and pull +up your clothes. See what a fine foot and ancle she has got.” +He then bid her turn round, and putting his hands on her waist and +hips, said—“See what a beautiful form.” And then removing the +slight covering from her neck, he remarked—“And what fine +full breasts she has: she will raise at least eight children.” And +during all this <i>common place</i> exhibition, I closely watched the blood +course through her veins, and could discover a deep tinge of crimson +flash over her cheek, and her eyes fell to the floor, as evidence +that she involuntarily shrunk from the rudeness that was thus being +forced upon her, while the trafficker in human flesh stood there as +brutal and unfeeling as though every heart was as callous to moral +sensibility as his own. I turned away with a shudder from the +scene before me, ashamed of the curiosity that had prompted me +to make this invasion upon female delicacy, and call out such an +exhibition of human depravity as this trader presented, while her +sense of propriety and delicacy had not even the privilege of covering +her face, nor the apology of temptation.</p> + +<h3>DEPRAVITY OF SLAVE-HOLDERS.</h3> + +<p>There is no place in the world in open day light, where every +shade of modesty and common decency is so entirely disregarded, +as in these slave Auctions and slave pens, in charge of traders and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span>speculators. And they are without exception the most thoroughly +schooled in all that can annihilate every sense of propriety and self +respect. Although they are generally wealthy and <i>respectable</i>, and +usually men of families, yet they herd in with the slave women +that they have in market, like beasts of the field, and in this have +no concealment or regard for public observation, or of the ultimate +consequences in filling up the slave market with their own children. +And this wanton intercourse with slave women is general +on plantations, and in small towns and villages, among planters, +overseers and drivers, and also among young men of every class +and condition in life. It is also a uniform practice with the planters +in the lower slave states, when called upon by those to whom they +extend their hospitalities, to offer them a bed companion from +among their slaves. And in doing this they only treat their friends +with the common civilities of the day. And Southern gentlemen +will often take with them when travelling a slave woman for a +companion, and do it with as little regard to concealment in the +matter as though she was his wife, in occupying the same state +room on steam boats and at public houses. As excuse for such +things, I am aware of the same old argument—“that these instances +are rare occurrences, and only practiced by a few men of no +account.” But I repeat the assurance, and I give it from what I +have seen, and have learned from reputable sources, and the +acknowledgements of slave holders and traders themselves, that these +things are a part of the <i>social system</i> against which the moral sense +of community has never raised its voice.</p> + +<p>As an instance of this kind, the following is in character. In the +fall of 1848, while the steamer Dove, was on her passage from Louisville +to New Orleans, a negro trader was on board with sixteen +slaves, nine cows, and two horses. He was an old trader, and had +acquired a large property—was a <i>gentleman</i> and <i>respectable</i>, +and had a wife and several beautiful daughters in Louisville, Kentucky, +where he resided. But, trader-like, he herded in with his negro +women for bed companions during the whole voyage, as openly +and as shameless as though he was only conforming to the most +chaste and refined sentiments of the travelling public.</p> + +<p>Another of those <i>isolated</i> cases of southern <i>refinement</i> was +witnessed in the steamer “New Orleans,” on her upward trip in Dec. +1848. A <i>gentleman</i> (of course,) had with him for a travelling +companion a fine looking mulatto girl, who occupied the same state +room with him, and this intimacy was known to the captain and +officers of the boat, and all the passengers. I refer to these things +thus particular as evidence, the truth which can easily be ascertained +that there <i>are</i> at least <i>isolated</i> cases of these outrages, and +I again repeat the assurance that these demonstrations are among the +<i>legalized</i> practices of every day life in the <ins title="Original has 'slavs'" id="slave">slave</ins> States; for +certainly whatever is so common, must by all the rules of common +law be legal!!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span></p> + +<h3>REFLECTIONS.</h3> + +<p>I leave this matter without comment, and only request the reader +to ask himself from whence come these exhibitions? Why this +utter annihilation of every particle of moral sense that places +man above the brute? And why this degradation of their own +feelings, and want of self-respect? And yet to answer these questions, +you can only say, that they are the <i>legitimate</i> fruits of slavery—of +man being empowered by the laws of his country to hold his +fellow beings in bondage,—and wherever this <i>might</i> creates the +<i>right</i>, these things will be prominent in the social relations. I +know it is said that under this <i>blessed</i> system the slaves enjoy +themselves, are contented and happy, and will “hug their chains.” +And I know too that this assertion is <i>false</i> in every particular, +and that those who make it do so with the full knowledge of the +falsehood which they utter; for it is thrown back in his face in language +that he cannot misunderstand, every time he looks upon a +slave in the deep agony of spirit which he is witness to every day, +coming up from the dark recesses of that poor slave’s heart that he +has stricken down by the laws of the land, and kneels cowering +before him like a dog! If you do not believe this, just turn the +scene upon yourself, and let the laws of the slave code and the +condition of the slave come down upon you for a few short months, +and then go among and tell your fellow citizens whether these +things are true, and whether these are only a few “<i>isolated</i>” cases +of these wrongs, and whether you think the picture is overdrawn +and embellished with ideal matter. But before you take this load +upon yourself, I can tell you this is no fancy sketch; for the poet’s +wild and delirious imagination has not power to portray these +scenes with the colors of fancy; for the breathings of the deep +agonies of the human soul cannot be portrayed by the impotence of +thoughts uttered in language from the tongue of man. For I have +seen the aged slave mother, who had dragged through a life of +prostitution, and had around her daughters, who were being driven +out into the same ceaseless round of degradation. And I have +witnessed a mother’s feelings poured out from the fountain of tears, +and have heard her mourn and lament that the <i>monster</i> death had +not taken her child before she had become the fit sport and prey of +the <i>monster</i> man. And in view of such a life, I have heard the +slave mother exult and rejoice, as they ever do, while her daughter +and child lay before her a cold and stiffened corpse. And yet you +may think this is an idle tale, but when you have seen what I have +often witnessed, the slave mother look on her child who had just +closed its eyes in death, and say, “I am glad she is dead—master +has been trying to sell her for a long time, and she is now well sold. +God has got her, and he is a good kind master, and I am glad she +has gone, for she will not have to suffer misery, misery, as the poor +slaves do.” And this is literally true word for word, as I heard +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span>uttered by a slave mother in New Orleans, over the corpse of her +daughter about twelve years old. And this is the universal expression +of feeling with the slave mothers when their children die. +They never mourn nor weep, but rejoice and seem happy.</p> + +<p>I now leave all the facts and representations with the reader, +with the most positive assurance that they are true in every particular, +and so far as the subject of slavery is presented, human language +contains no power adequate to portray the reality to the +conception of him who has never witnessed it. It must be seen +and <i>heard</i> to be realized. You must look over a Sugar or Cotton +plantation—you must look into the slave pens in the city of New +Orleans—you must stand in the Auction market on the day of sale, +and hear the mother plead that her child may not be torn from her. +You must witness brothers and sisters bid each other farewell, +<i>forever too</i>, as they follow their new master off to an early and +premature grave. You must witness the deep agony of spirit, +deeper than can be called up from the fountain of tears. You +must witness the sundering of kindred ties, and hear the happy +mother rejoice that her child is dead. All this you must witness, +and then the long days of unending toil—the cruelties—the tortures +of the lash—the murders by the club, the knife and the pistol, +and when you have seen these things you can realize what slavery +is; but you cannot <i>feel</i> what it is, for none but a slave can do +this, and you cannot tell it, nor describe it to him who has not witnessed +it.</p> + +<p>In view of the institution of slavery in all its phrases, there is not +a redeeming feature—not one bright spot—not one solitary rule or +regulation in the whole system, can be offered as an apology for its +abuses, and from beginning to end it is one scene of pollution and +death; for its base is <i>avarice</i>, its superstructure <i>idleness</i>, +its summit <i>licentiousness</i>, and can there be any thing but wrong in a +fabric sustained by such principles? And I ask if the <i>moral +sentiment</i>, the spirit of <i>Liberty</i>, and the promptings of +humanity, have nothing to do with this mountain of wrongs—this great +national curse—this damning shame, that shocks with a blush the +countenance of every American when he is pointed to, and taunted with this +libel upon the genius of our institutions—upon humanity itself? And must +American citizens forever forbear and submit to these outrages?—And +must the philanthropist seal in perpetual silence his lips, and +never plead for the wrongs of his crushed and bleeding fellow men? +Is moral indignation never to be aroused only by crimes committed +at our own door? Are <i>Liberty</i> and <i>Freedom</i> mere empty sounds +to be forever stayed by the power of tyrants, and the threats of +those who trample them under their feet? And must the American +citizen forever suffer the disgrace, and be taunted by this libel +upon the Declaration of Independence? If this must be—if the +patriot, the philanthropist, and the christian, can submit to these +things and discharge their duty to themselves, to their God and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span>their country, then more criminal than the slaveholder will they be, +for they must answer it to the bar of their own conscience, as well +as to the spirit of the age in which they live. And if they are now +idle their condemnation will be overwhelming. But this cannot be +so—the warning note has gone out—“Slavery must fall.” The +eyes of the civilized world are upon it. The philanthropist, the +patriot and the christian, are bearing down upon it with a force of +moral power that never fail to crush the wrong and drive the evil +from the land. And blind indeed must that man be who cannot +see the tendencies of the spirit of the age. And dark and benighted +must he be, who has not yet learned that the people of this +country have determined that this mountain of wrong, this curse +of all curses, shall be driven from among us, for it has been seized +hold of by the divine aspirations of the human soul, and no power +on earth can stay it. That morbid sensibility, that fawning sycophant +servility to the slave power, that fearful foreboding of the +future, that came up a few years ago against the light and truth, +that demonstrated itself in burnings, mobs and riots, have become +changed, and in place of madness and alarms the spirit of <i>justice</i> +and <span class="smcap">Liberty</span> have become the ruling passions of the day. +<span class="smcap">Equality before the Laws</span> is engraven upon the escutcheon of every +shield, and it cannot be stricken out by the breath of an orator, nor +made less potent by the cry of disunion. The slaveholders may +meet in convention—manifesto may follow manifesto, from the +great champion of slavery and bondage—the threat and cry of dissolution +may be thrown out to call up the servility and obsequiousness +of the North, to check the current of thought and speech that +is bearing down so fearless upon every part of this great citadel—the +“peculiar institution” may be held up as guarded by the sanctity +of age and law, and constitutional entrenchments, but “<span class="allsmcap">IT IS +TOO LATE</span>,” and they will be swept away by the <span class="allsmcap">MORAL SENSE</span> +which is aroused in a spirit of action through the length and breadth of +this land. And the evidence that this work has begun, is that the +slaveholders themselves have become aroused, and they see in letters +of “livid light” its doom and destiny, written upon the walls—<span class="smcap">Mene, +Mene, Tekel</span>. And although they are lashing themselves +into phrenzy and madness, yet when the storm of passion shall +become hushed, and the “second sober thought” prompted by reason +and justice comes over them, they will be caught up by the +spirit of the age—their moral sensibilities will be awakened, and +while the hoary headed fabric is trembling to its base, they will +seize its trembling pillars and tear them away, and thus hasten its +fall; and when the deed is done, they will look over the ruins with +amazement, and wonder how they could “live and breathe” amid +those scenes of pollution and death.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="tnote"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_note"> + Transcriber's Note: + </h2> + +<p>Some inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> + +<p>Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.</p> + +<p>Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following changes:</p> + +<table class="autotable" style="margin:auto;"> + +<tbody><tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Natchez">6</a>: "one at Natches"</td> +<td class="tdl">"one at Natchez"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#do">8</a>: "fit instrument to dot his work"</td> +<td class="tdl">"fit instrument to do this work"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#up">10</a>: "the colony passed, op"</td> +<td class="tdl">"the colony passed, up"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Louisiana">11</a>: "The purchase of Louisania"</td> +<td class="tdl">"The purchase of Louisiana"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#heterogeneous">12</a>: "to mingle with the heterogenous"</td> +<td class="tdl">"to mingle with the heterogeneous"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Emerald">13</a>: "the warm-hearted son of the Emerated"</td> +<td class="tdl">"the warm-hearted son of the Emerald"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#conspicuous">13</a>: "have borne such a conspicous"</td> +<td class="tdl">"have borne such a conspicuous"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#3000">15</a>: "a bailable case of 3,000"</td> +<td class="tdl">"a bailable case of $3,000"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Hills">16</a>: "let him off at Walnut hills"</td> +<td class="tdl">"let him off at Walnut Hills"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#my">17</a>: "settled by business"</td> +<td class="tdl">"settled my business"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#distinction">19</a>: "forbidding any distincttion"</td> +<td class="tdl">"forbidding any distinction"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#poisonous">20</a>: "of the most deadly, poisonons"</td> +<td class="tdl">"of the most deadly, poisonous"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Rouge">20</a>: "meets a ridge at 'Baton Rogue'"</td> +<td class="tdl">"meets a ridge at 'Baton Rouge'"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#inflammation">21</a>: "state of feverish inflamation"</td> +<td class="tdl">"state of feverish inflammation"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#brand">29</a>: "up smart rows of bran"</td> +<td class="tdl">"up smart rows of brand"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#restaurants">30</a>: "<i>cafes</i> and <i>restaurats</i>"</td> +<td class="tdl">"<i>cafes</i> and <i>restaurants</i>"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#of_these">45</a>: "a large portion ofthese"</td> +<td class="tdl">"a large portion of these"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#maddening1">50</a>: "writhings of maddenning"</td> +<td class="tdl">"writhings of maddening"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#maddening2">52</a>: "drives on the maddenning"</td> +<td class="tdl">"drives on the maddening"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#millionaire">53</a>: "of any millionare"</td> +<td class="tdl">"of any millionaire"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#and">56</a>: "Tugg’d at my heart, aud"</td> +<td class="tdl">"Tugg’d at my heart, and"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#phenomenon">65</a>: "that this singular phenomonon"</td> +<td class="tdl">"that this singular phenomenon"</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#slave">76</a>: "every day life in the slavs States"</td> +<td class="tdl">"every day life in the slave States"</td> +</tr> + +</tbody></table> +</div> +</div> + + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78285 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |