Part 2

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.