path: root/78285-0.txt

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78285 ***




                      “TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION.”

                               NEW ORLEANS

                                AS IT IS:

                 ITS MANNERS AND CUSTOMS--MORALS--FASHIONABLE
    LIFE--PROFANATION OF THE SABBATH--PROSTITUTION--LICENTIOUSNESS--SLAVE
                      MARKETS AND SLAVERY, &c. &c. &c.

                              BY A RESIDENT.

“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.”

                              UTICA, N. Y.:
                        DE WITT C. GROVE, PRINTER,
                                  1849.




PREFACE.


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 “LIFE
IN NEW ORLEANS.” 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.

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.

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 “NEW ORLEANS, AS IT
IS,” 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:--

    O wad some pow’r the giftie gie us,
    To see ourselves as others see us.




NEW ORLEANS AS IT IS.


ITS SETTLEMENT.

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
_live_, 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.

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.

In passing from 1538, down to 1717, many adventurers from the old
countries, as well as from the colonies, came, and scarcely 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 “_fountain of
immortal youth_,” 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.

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 Natchez, 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.

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.


ITS LOCATION.

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 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
CRESCENT CITY. The valley above and below is very level and low, and
were it not for the _Levee_, 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.


ITS HISTORY.

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 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.

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 do this 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 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.

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.


FIRST IMPULSE TO COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE.

Finally, after a few minor vicissitudes, through which the colony
passed, up 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.


THE PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA.

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. 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.


STEAM NAVIGATION.

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:

“The purchase of Louisiana 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 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.’”


CHARACTER OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.

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 “FOUNTAIN OF IMMORTAL YOUTH.”
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
_guessing_ 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 heterogeneous 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 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 Emerald
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.


THE FLAT-BOATMEN.

And now to be considered alone, and distinct, that nondescript of all
human demonstrations, are the “_Flat Boatmen_,” 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 conspicuous 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.

  “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 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 _Roulettes_, 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.

  “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.

  “I saw there was no alternative, and after supper, I repaired with my
  whole crew to the dance house, armed with knives, chopping axes and
  setting poles. The gamblers had expected us and were prepared with
  pistols, knives, and rifles, for the fight. The _scrimmage_ 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.

  “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 $3,000, 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 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
  Hills: 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 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 my
  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.”

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.

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 _actions_, that is
found there.


CITY GOVERNMENT AND POLICE.

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.

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 _flaws_ 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. 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.


COMMON SCHOOLS.

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
distinction, 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.


THE LOCATION OF THE CITY.

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 _coast_, commencing about forty miles below
and about sixty miles from what is called the “_Balize_.” 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 “_Balize_,” when going out
of the river. The _coast_ is a narrow strip of low, flat land, from one
to two miles wide, and in rear of which, running nearly parallel with
the river, is deep, dismal swamp land, filled with legions of the most
deadly, poisonous snakes, and herds of alligators. This belt of land is
perfectly level, until it meets a ridge at “Baton Rouge,” 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.

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.


SOURCES OF DISEASE.

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, 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 _few_, got an impression, that filth and corruption
_might possibly_ 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 _chamber_ of a house, but a few rods in rear of the
St. Charles Hotel, occupied by an Irish family, and while conversing
with the _lady_ 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 _up chamber_. 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 _gentlemen_ hogs. And this is _life_ 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 inflammation, 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.

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, and proper food to be eaten, and would promote “health _and
long_ LIFE,” 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.


WATER IN NEW ORLEANS.

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 “_mud_,” if you please, and
each glass-full will have at least, when left to settle, a tea spoon
full of this “delicious” _mud_; and I am sure, it being so well mixed,
that no other “_mud_” can be found as _rich_ as this. Yet those who
live here, along the range of the Mississippi, drink it, and say they
“_like it_.” 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 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 “_very healthy_;” yet that time is, when the Yellow
“_Jack_,” the Cholera, or “_Danza_,” 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.


POPULATION.

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 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.


THE CREOLES.

The Creole population of New Orleans are a peculiar and singular
people. And here it is proper to explain who are recognized as
_Creoles_, for I find, that almost without exception, every person
of the North understands the term, _Creole_, 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 _Quadroons_. 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 _Quadroons_. The term Creole simply means _native born_.
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 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.


SPLENDID BUILDINGS.

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 _speaking_ 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.

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, 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 _many waters_ that lays
before it.

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, 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.


THE OLD SPANISH CATHEDRAL.

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.


PUBLIC GROUNDS.

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 “_Place d’Armes_,” 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 _Sabbath_ 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.

Of this somewhat interesting place, I cannot present a more graphic
description, than the following, from a New Orleans paper.


THE PLACE D’ARMES.

What a queer neighborhood is that in the immediate vicinity of the
_Place d’Armes_, in the First Municipality! A stranger can 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 brand 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 _Place d’Armes_ 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 _la
Belle France_, 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.

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, _cafes_
and _restaurants_--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 _cafe_ and all sorts of drinks from
orange flower water and _eau sucre_ 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 _Cafe de Quatre Saisons_,
and Victor’s _restaurant_, one of the crack places of resort in the
city, where _bon vivants_ and _epicures_ 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 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.


DWELLING HOUSES.

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
_high price for building lots_; 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.


“GOING SOUTH TO SEEK A FORTUNE.”

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 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 “_old merchants_,” 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 _substance_ and the
_life_ 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
“_going South_,” 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 “_South_,” 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.


THE CHURCHES.

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 _gentleman_, a _good citizen_, a _moral man_, and a _christian_,
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 _one_ would
be called upon “to throw the first stone.” And I fear echo would
answer, Where is he?

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 _close_ 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.


THE SABBATH.

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, 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 _good
men_, but _professing christians_, 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.


SOCIAL RELATIONS.

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 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.


ILLEGITIMATE FAMILIES.

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.


CONCUBINAGE.

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 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.


KEPT MISTRESSES.

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 “_her
man_,” 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.


EXTENT OF LICENTIOUSNESS.

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, 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.


REGULAR PROSTITUTES.

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 night covered their deeds. And yet
men, and _some women_ 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.


PROSTITUTION OF WIVES.

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 _seduced_, 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 _stolen fruit_! She is enabled to pursue this
course, and avoid suspicion among her _favorites_ of being intimate
with more than 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 _respectable ladies_,
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.


FASHIONABLE LADIES.

I come now to another singular demonstration, to be met with only in
New Orleans. It is a circle of “_fashionable ladies_,” 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
“_fashionable life_,” 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.


AMALGAMATION.

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 _respectability_, 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 _white companion_ 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 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.


A MAN SELLING HIS OWN CHILDREN.

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 _his_ 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 _human_, and
those who make laws to legalize such acts are _christian_ in their
_tendencies_ and _education_, and those who support them are a proud
and chivalrous people, and claim to be _civilized_!! 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.


SLAVE GIRLS HIRED AS BED COMPANIONS.

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 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 _gentleman_, 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.


QUADROON GIRLS BOUGHT FOR BED COMPANIONS.

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, 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 _yard_” with his other slaves, until the child is old
enough to be left from its mother. Thus the father of this child--the
_lawyer_, the _gentleman_, or the _merchant_, or whatever he may
be--has the pleasure as well as the _gratifying reflection_ that his
_kindred_ 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 _pride_ of a father, that when the
mother of his child has lost her charms, there is another beautiful
_Quadroon girl_ to take her place who has been cast off as a worthless
and useless _thing_. 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 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 of these
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.


DISREGARD OF THE SABBATH.

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 _best men_, 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 _good_ 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 _good people_ 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.


  “Washington Society Balls.

  “At a meeting of the subscribers, the following gentlemen were
  elected managers:

    A. D. Crossman, _Mayor of the city_,
    Joshua Baldwin, _Recorder_,
    I. E. Caldwell,
    W. P. Converse,
    A. B. Bien,
    H. G. Stetson,
    J. B. Byrn,
    Maj. Gen. J. L. Lewis,
    Col. J. B. Walton,
    Capt. Jordy,
    E. A. Tyler,
    J. W. Behan,
    Dr. Luzenberg,
    Wm. Emerson,
    Wm. Freret,
    J. Stroud,
    J. L. Poulk,
    W. F. Flowers,
    W. J. Earthman,
    A. H. Way,
    N. C. Judson,
    J. S. Wallis,
    R. C. Faulkner,
    H. S. Hatch.

  “At the same time, it was Resolved, that the series should consist of
  ten Balls, which will be all MASKED.

  “The managers will meet every SUNDAY! during the season, at 1
  o’clock. Office hours, from 9 in the morning until 9 in the evening.”

Now here are the Mayor and Recorder, and twenty-two of the best
citizens of a civilized and _christian_ city of over one hundred
thousand inhabitants, meeting every Sabbath to make arrangements for a
MASKED BALL! and in view of such examples from such men, what else but
a perfect Sodom could be expected of New Orleans?


  “Grand Balloon Ascension.

  “The seventh ascension of Madame Emma V., of Bordeaux, will take
  place on SUNDAY 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
  SUNDAY, 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!”

This is done by permit of license from the Mayor.


  “Pontchartrain Ball Room.

  “The proprietors of this well known establishment respectfully inform
  their friends and the public generally, that it will be opened on
  SUNDAY next for the season, and that nothing on their part has been
  left undone to render this house one of the most _agreeable_ in all
  respects. The DRESS AND MASKED BALLS will be given in the following
  order.

  “For White persons--SUNDAYS, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

  “For Quadroons--Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

  “The Orchestra is without doubt, the best in the city. The BAR is
  furnished with the choicest LIQUORS, and the tables supplied with
  every delicacy that the market affords.”

Now with such attractions, who could refuse to attend such a place even
on the _Sabbath_!! provided that _license_ is given by the authorities.
And yet the _attractions_ and _entertainment_ are not _all_ advertised
in the bill.

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 _brothel_ 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 MASKS 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.

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 MASK to the Ball Room, and there she beholds all that
her imagination has conceived of inconstancy, of treachery, of false
hearts and _love_ 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
“_her man_” 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 “_her man_,” 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 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 _gentlemen_ 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.

The following notice presents still further the tone of _moral sense_
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.


  “Bull Fight.

  “_On_ SUNDAY, _Dec. 12, on Washington Square, Third Municipality._”

  “The proprietor respectfully begs to inform the public, that a
  splendid BULL FIGHT 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.

  “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.”

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 _bull fights_, 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 “_bull fights_;” supposed to be a contest
between two fierce bulls. But such is not this SPORT! and that the
public may not be misled, and to correct a general false impression,
such sports should be announced as “bull murdering.”

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 _civilized_ and
_christian_ sport of bull-_murdering_. Those who performed in New
Orleans were native Mexicans, and came from Matamoras for the express
gratification of the _Mayor_, _Common Council_, and _good_ 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
“_sport_” 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 “_fight_” 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
_beautiful rosette_! 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.”

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 maddening 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 _magnanimously_
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 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 _Sabbath_ 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 _Sabbath_, 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 _agreeable_,
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 _Sabbath_ 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 _Sabbath_, 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 _gentleman_ 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.


DRINKING HOUSES.

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
maddening 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 _ladies_, 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, _sober_, and respectable
_gentlemen_, full of _Southern chivalry_--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 _Southern chivalry_,
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 _gentleman_.--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
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 _magnanimous_ fights, of hair pulling,
scratching, and the lowest kind of puppy squabbles, will be exhibited
among the _gentlemen_, 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 _genuine_ Southern
chivalry. The number of grog shops sustained by these _gentlemen_ in
New Orleans, is _more_ 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 millionaire in this country.
At the head of these “enchanting resorts” may be regarded the “GEM,”
opposite the Post Office on Royal street. The magnificence and rich
display of furniture and fixtures in this _grog-shop_, shows at once to
what extent dram drinking is practiced among the “upper ten thousand”
in this city; for none other but a _gentleman_, 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 _legs_ of _gentlemen_ in this city.

This “GEM” 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 _gentlemen_ 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 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.

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 _livers_ 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 _load_ 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 _chivalrous_
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 “DANGEROUS and SUSPICIOUS,”
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 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
_gentleman_, 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 “LICENSED PALACE,” 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.

The following incident occurred before the Recorder, and is copied from
a city paper.


“DANGEROUS AND SUSPICIOUS.”

  “But where is the iron-bound prisoner? where?”--CAMPBELL.

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 _one_ 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,

    “Which of you has done this?
    Thou canst not say I did it: never shake
      Thy gory locks at me.”

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.

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. 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:

    “I did not faint--no, though a sickening pang
    Tugg’d at my heart, and made the cold sweat creep,
    Like ice-drops, o’er my body; yet, even then,
    Did conscious innocence uphold my soul,
    And turn’d the horrid words to senseless sounds,
    That ought not to dismay.”

“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.

_Recorder._--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?

_Prisoner._--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.

_Recorder._--May I ask you if you yourself have any profession on hand,
and if you are an American citizen?

_Prisoner._--I recollect Wordsworth saying in one of his fine poems,
when speaking of a foreigner in England--

    From Indian blood you deem him sprung:
    Ah, no! he spake the English tongue,
      And bare a soldier’s name;
    And when America was free
    From battle and from jeopardy,
      He cross the ocean came.

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 of an
honorable life.” Pronounce your sentence, if you think me dangerous and
suspicious.

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--

I don’t know how suspicious you may think me, but the enemies of my
adopted country always declared me _dangerous_.

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.

_Prisoner._--I hope so.

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:

    “I was a blighted branch--the storm was on me--
    And in my rifted core the winds of heaven
    Sung wintry welcome, and made stern abode.
    The mildewed moss upon my brown sere bark
    Made verdure seem like blasting. Such was I.
    The sun is on me now, the storm on thee.
    Bear it as I have done.

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.

       *       *       *       *       *

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.


VAGRANTS.

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.

To be sick and die, and disposed of after death in New Orleans, is
_more_ 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 _fashion_ in this city, and
few there are who do not follow it to the letter.


DEPOSITORIES OF THE DEAD.

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 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 _part_ 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 _graves_
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 _dose_ 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 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.

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.


SLAVERY.

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 FREEDOM and EQUALITY, to contemplate the horrors,
the miseries, the cold blooded murders, that are the accumulated wrongs
of man upon his fellow man in this land of LIBERTY, 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 _embellished_ 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, _civilized_,
and _christian_ 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 _grand children_, 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 _christian_ and _civilized_ land, this
land of FREEDOM. And yet these distinguished men are the recipients of
the tolerance and favor of LIBERTY-loving men, and voted for to be the
guardians of our institutions. They are held up as _honest_ men, as
patterns of piety, whose oblations are daily offered upon the altars of
christianity!!

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.


APOLOGIES FOR SLAVERY.

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 _pleasure_ and _happiness_, 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 _happy_ slaves, and go to his bed
in the same long range of “_beautiful white cottages_,” that look so
neat and _inviting_ 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 _good fare_, their daily _rations_ and
doing their _daily task_, then let him come up, and tell how happy he
has been, and what a curse _liberty_ 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 _crime_,
and the charge is brought up against him, “_he is getting too damned
smart_,” 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, 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.


FARE OF SLAVES ON PLANTATIONS.

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 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.

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 _boys_ 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.”

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 _cogent_
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 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 _five_
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 _obliged_ to work night and day to tend his crop of
corn, having planted with his cultivator twenty acres in four days;
consequently he is _obliged_ 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.


WHIPPING OF SLAVES.

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 _necessary_
in the discipline of a set of hands, first to _subdue_ them, and
then to _keep them in subjection_. 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 phenomenon was presented to my view,
that in this land of _freedom_, where _liberty_ was engraven upon the
escutcheon of every shield, and yet, not a stone upon the earth,
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 KENTUCKY--the noble, proud and chivalrous _Kentucky_; 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,
“LIBERTY or DEATH.” 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 _American_
Freedom. And here was this singular phenomenon before me, of a proud
and chivalrous people, offering up their oblations upon the altar of
FREEDOM, and bearing in one hand the standard of LIBERTY, 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 LIBERTY or DEATH!! 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 STARS and STRIPES 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 FREEDOM 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 _brothers_, 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 _soft_ 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
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.”

And here I am aware that I shall be met with the usual reply--“that
such acts as killing slaves are _improbable_, 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, 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 _lawful_ 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.


A WOMAN WHIPPED TO DEATH.

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.”

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.


THE “BREAK-DOWN WHIPPINGS.”

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 _smart_.” 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.

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,
“LIBERTY or DEATH.” They will never yield, for they have the feelings
of an American, and the pride and spirit of their own _fathers_ who
are among the most distinguished men of their native State. And this
is _American_ 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!!


WOMAN WHIPPING ON THE PLANTATIONS.

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 _modest_ and “moderate correction.”

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.

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.”

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
_moral sense_, 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--

  “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.’”

Alas! too true. How often we laugh when we ought to be ashamed that our
sensibilities are not more deeply shocked.


RESTRICTIONS UPON SLAVES.

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 _jobs_ in good _order_ and on
_short_ 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 _job_. 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 _crime_ 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 _only_ to whip him within “an inch of his life,” a mistake is
made in the distance of an _inch_, and he is whipped within a quarter
of an _inch_ 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.


CHAIN-GANGS OF WOMEN.

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 _christian_ 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
_ladies_ 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 _brutal heathen_ from his _inhuman_ 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 _constitutionally_ belong.


SLAVES COMPELLED TO FIND WORK.

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 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 _lady_, one of the wealthy,
_accomplished_ 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.


CHIVALROUS LADIES.

It is a very common thing to hear a _lady_ 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 _lady_ was beating him, it is a _crime_ 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 _ladies_ of
New Orleans, and they are pious and _christian ladies_ too, and their
hearts are BIG with sympathy for the poor heathen who are so degraded
and suffering so much for the blessings of _civilization_.


SLAVE MARKET.

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 “_gentleman_ and
_respectable_.” And surely it would be _unkind_ and _ungenerous_ in
the extreme, to say that those _fine looking_, _rich_ and _generous
hearted_ men who stand there daily and _only_ sell slaves, are not
“_gentlemen_ and _respectable_.” 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 _moral sensibilities_. But
an astonishment amounting to amazement comes over you when you view
these men as they are truly exhibited 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.

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.

And now of such scenes as are here witnessed, I only ask that the
people of this LIBERTY-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 _moral beings_, as _Christians_, 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.

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.

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 _common place_ 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.


DEPRAVITY OF SLAVE-HOLDERS.

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 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 _respectable_, 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 _social system_ against
which the moral sense of community has never raised its voice.

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 _gentleman_ and _respectable_, 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.

Another of those _isolated_ cases of southern _refinement_ was
witnessed in the steamer “New Orleans,” on her upward trip in Dec.
1848. A _gentleman_ (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 _are_ at least _isolated_ cases of these outrages, and I
again repeat the assurance that these demonstrations are among the
_legalized_ practices of every day life in the slave States; for
certainly whatever is so common, must by all the rules of common law be
legal!!


REFLECTIONS.

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
_legitimate_ fruits of slavery--of man being empowered by the laws of
his country to hold his fellow beings in bondage,--and wherever this
_might_ creates the _right_, these things will be prominent in the
social relations. I know it is said that under this _blessed_ system
the slaves enjoy themselves, are contented and happy, and will “hug
their chains.” And I know too that this assertion is _false_ 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 “_isolated_” 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 _monster_ death had not taken her child
before she had become the fit sport and prey of the _monster_ 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 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.

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 _heard_ 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, _forever too_, 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
_feel_ 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.

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 _avarice_, its superstructure _idleness_,
its summit _licentiousness_, and can there be any thing but wrong
in a fabric sustained by such principles? And I ask if the _moral
sentiment_, the spirit of _Liberty_, 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
_Liberty_ and _Freedom_ 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 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 _justice_ and LIBERTY have become the ruling passions of the
day. EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAWS 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 “IT IS TOO LATE,” and they will be swept away by the
MORAL SENSE 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--MENE, MENE, TEKEL. 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.




Transcriber's Note:


Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).

Text that was in small caps is in all caps.

- Some inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.

- Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.

- Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following
  changes:

  Page 6: "one at Natches" to "one at Natchez"
  Page 8: "fit instrument to dot his work" to "fit instrument to do this
  work"
  Page 10: "the colony passed, op" to "the colony passed, up"
  Page 11: "The purchase of Louisania" to "The purchase of Louisiana"
  Page 12: "to mingle with the heterogenous" to "to mingle with the
  heterogeneous"
  Page 13: "the warm-hearted son of the Emerated" to "the warm-hearted
  son of the Emerald"
  Page 13: "have borne such a conspicous" to "have borne such a
  conspicuous"
  Page 15: "a bailable case of 3,000" to "a bailable case of $3,000"
  Page 16: "let him off at Walnut hills" to "let him off at Walnut Hills"
  Page 17: "settled by business" to "settled my business"
  Page 19: "forbidding any distincttion" to "forbidding any distinction"
  Page 20: "of the most deadly, poisonons" to "of the most deadly,
  poisonous"
  Page 20: "meets a ridge at 'Baton Rogue'" to "meets a ridge at 'Baton
  Rouge'"
  Page 21: "state of feverish inflamation" to "state of feverish
  inflammation"
  Page 29: "up smart rows of bran" to "up smart rows of brand"
  Page 30: "_cafes_ and _restaurats_" to "_cafes_ and _restaurants_"
  Page 45: "a large portion ofthese" to "a large portion of these"
  Page 50: "writhings of maddenning" to "writhings of maddening"
  Page 52: "drives on the maddenning" to "drives on the maddening"
  Page 53: "of any millionare" to "of any millionaire"
  Page 56: "Tugg’d at my heart, aud" to "Tugg’d at my heart, and"
  Page 65: "that this singular phenomonon" to "that this singular
  phenomenon"
  Page 76: "every day life in the slavs States" to "every day life in
  the slave States"

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78285 ***