Part 1

“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.