USA > Louisiana > A history of Louisiana, Volume II > Part 16
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It is useless to keep up considerable fortifications at Pensacola, for its sterile and sandy soil is not favorable for a large population. Expenses there may be reduced by one hundred thousand dollars, and forty guns may be withdrawn which would be more useful elsewhere.
In the hands of France, Louisiana may be called to the most brilliant destiny, and be a source of riches for the metropolis. Her immense soil is exceedingly fertile, and insures to the agriculturist twenty-five per cent. profit on his capital. New Orleans is the only outlet to an immense extent of country. By possessing Louisiana, France holds in her hands the key to Mexico, as her western limits, beyond Natchitoches, extend as far as the post of San Antonio. France will be better able to protect Mexico from invasion than Spain, and for that service will obtain from Spain freedom of commerce for Louisiana with the ports on the Gulf of Mexico. The province will then offer so many advantages to immi-
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grants that in less than ten years it will have a large popu- lation.
" Almost all the Louisianians are born French or are of French origin. It is with rage in their hearts that they have ceased to be French; and although the truly paternal domination of the King of Spain has, since an honorable catastrophe (the taking possession of the province by O'Reilly), brought them happiness, although it has pro- tected them from such disasters as have devastated Santo Domingo, they would again become French with enthu- siasm if they had no fears about the system to be estab- lished among them with regard to the negroes. Their freedom would destroy all fortunes, annihilate all means of existence, and be an omen of the greatest misfortunes."
The number of negroes would have increased consider- ably if the activity of the planters had not been suspended for several years. On hearing of the devastation at Santo Domingo, the negroes in Louisiana attempted to revolt against their masters, but they were subdued, and the leaders were punished. It was then thought prudent to forbid for some time any importation of negroes into the province. As the number of whites increased con- siderably by immigration, negroes from Africa have been allowed lately to enter the colony. The inhabitants of Louisiana, if reassured with regard to their slaves and to imposts, would be delighted to return under the French domination.
The necessaries of life are very cheap in Louisiana. The posts of Attakapas, Opelousas, and Natchitoches furnish cattle by thousands, and a beef carcass of seven
الحظ حالة
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PRODUCTS
1801]
'hundred or eight hundred pounds costs only four dollars. Flour comes from the West in such abundance that bread is not much dearer in New Orleans than in France. A barrel of rice of one hundred and eighty pounds costs four or five dollars, and a barrel of corn from forty to fifty cents, and this is the chief food of the planter and his negroes. Game is abundant and very cheap. The only costly thing in the province is labor, and such is always the case when the population is small.
The products of Louisiana are sugar, indigo, tobacco, cotton, rice, buckwheat, common peltries, lumber of all sorts, and boxes for Havana sugar. The failure of the indigo crop for several years, and the small value of the other crops, have induced the planters to try again the cultivation of the sugar-cane, which formerly had not suc- ceeded. The cane, which in the islands takes eighteen months to mature, takes only seven months in Louisiana. It begins to grow in March and is cut at the end of Oc- tober. It was thought possible to manufacture the sugar only in November, and in part of December when the winter was mild, and this would have required a very large number of negroes. It was found that the cane, which in Santo Domingo becomes sour in two days after it is cut, can be kept in Louisiana, when covered with its straw, until the time comes for making the sugar. In 1795, with thirty negroes, the first sugar plantation was established, and the planter derived twelve thousand dollars from his crop. The quality of the sugar was as good as that of Martinique, and now there are more than sixty sugar plantations in Louisiana, which produce four
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million pounds annually, and give a profit of twenty to twenty-five per cent. on the capital invested. In times of peace this industry will increase considerably. The sugar-cane can be cultivated with as much success at the posts of Attakapas, Opelousas, Vermilion, and La- fourche, as on the banks of the Mississippi.
The production of indigo is diminishing every year, on account of insects that destroy the crop, and is now only one hundred thousand pounds annually. It is be- lieved that the sugar-cane destroys the insects, and that land that has produced cane for a long time will be again suitable to the cultivation of indigo.
The post of Natchitoches is almost the only one that produces tobacco to-day, since Natchez has been deliv- ered to the Americans. About two hundred thousand pounds of tobacco are produced, which is sold mostly in France, and at Vera Cruz and Campeche.
The exports of cotton do not exceed two hundred thou- sand pounds, but since the invention of machines to take out the seed, this crop offers sufficient profit to those who have not enough means to cultivate cane. The cotton is fine but short, and in times of peace is sold entirely in France.
Louisiana exports every year one hundred thousand dollars' worth of peltries, principally deer. The colony provides Santo Domingo with lumber of all kinds, but it cannot be sold as cheap as from the United States, where labor is not so costly and the wood not as hard. The quality of the lumber from Louisiana is infinitely better, and the ships from that province return from Santo Do-
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TRADE
1801]
mingo with cargoes worth three or four times the value of the lumber, which proves that it is to the advantage of Santo Domingo to encourage that trade.
The trade that occupies the largest number of ships is that of the boxes furnished to Cuba for its sugar. Havana alone takes two hundred thousand boxes, which form fifty cargoes. These boxes, at fifty cents apiece, bring to the planters about one hundred thousand dol- lars, to the ship-owners as much, and to the merchants twenty-five thousand dollars. Besides, all the ships carry '(contraband) to Havana a certain quantity of French merchandise, and the profit is considerable. The boxes were formerly made in Havana of cedar wood, but Spain, to favor Louisiana, has allowed that province to furnish Cuba and other posts on the Gulf of Mexico, and the manufacture of boxes in the Spanish settlements has ceased, as the wood is much harder there and not as cheap. About thirty sawmills for planks for sugar-boxes have been constructed on the river in the neighborhood of New Orleans, and the privilege of that trade with Cuba should continue. Spain should be reminded that free- dom of commerce with France was granted to-the Loui- sianians to reward them for the zeal they displayed in the campaigns of General Galvez against Baton Rouge, . Mobile, and Pensacola, and they should not be deprived of the trade in sugar-boxes for Cuba, which they have enjoyed the thirty-eight years that they have been under the Spanish domination.
Ten thousand barrels of rice are exported every year from Louisiana to Santo Domingo and Havana. The
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. principal resource of the province, however, is the money the government pays to its employés. Three ships, which arrive at intervals of four months, bring annually from Mexico five hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars, and this amount is divided among such a large number of employés that it is soon spread among the farmers who nourish them and the merchants who pro- vide for their needs, and the whole amount soon returns · to commerce.
Louisiana is still a burden to the metropolis, and costs at least four hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars more than the revenue derived from the imposts. If we deduct one hundred thousand dollars spent uselessly at Pensacola, a deficit of three hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars still remains, which will be covered in a few years merely by the progress of the sugar plan- tations.
The planter does not economize; whatever be the prod- uct of his crop, he uses it to improve his plantation. He is ambitious and active, and needs only encouragement.
The only duties imposed in Louisiana are six per cent. on all exports, and six per cent. on imports of foreign goods. Spain has kept the province only for political reasons, for it has always been burdensome to her, as it was formerly to France. While trading with the posts on the Gulf of Mexico, the inhabitants of Louisiana in- troduce there, by smuggling, about one hundred thou- sand dollars' worth of French goods, such as silk, ribbons, muslins, laces, lawns, and jewels.
If, by the cession of Louisiana to France, Spain should
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1801]
close to the province her ports on the Gulf of Mexico, the colony would languish until the population should in- crease to such an extent that the value of the exports be- came greater than that of the imports. "It is only hands that are lacking. People it, it will become an inex- haustible source of wealth for France. In one way or another, people it."
The following is the valuation of the trade and prod- ucts of Louisiana: " 4,000,000 pounds of sugar, at eight dollars a hundredweight, $320,000; 4000 barrels of syrup, at fifteen dollars, $60,000; 100,000 pounds of indigo, $100,000; 200,000 pounds of tobacco, $16,000; sundry pel- tries, $100,000; Louisiana may furnish Santo Domingo, in time of peace only, lumber, species, etc., for $50,000; 200,000 boxes are sent every year to Havana, and bring in return $225,000; 10,000 barrels of rice are exported every year to Santo Domingo, the ports of Cuba and Campeche, at the current price of five dollars, $50,000; the King of Spain pays every year in this province to his employés, $537,000; the extraordinary expenses of the government absorb the amount of the custom-house du- ties, which are not more than $100,000; the value of the merchandise that the ships from Louisiana introduce by smuggling into the Spanish ports of Havana and on the Gulf of Mexico amounts to $500,000; the total is $1,- 958,000."
In times of peace the trade is with Bordeaux, Mar- seilles, and Nantes, and is done by vessels from those ports. As soon as they have discharged their cargoes in New Orleans, they go to Havana and Vera Cruz and
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carry there boxes for sugar, and never fail to carry also (in contraband) French goods. On their return to New Orleans, they find their cargoes for Europe ready.
As the war with England did not permit trade with France, commerce with neutral nations has been allowed, and Louisiana has hardly suffered during this long war. France should prohibit the importation of lumber from the United States into the French colonies, and this would give a great impetus to the lumber trade of Loui- siana.
Paper money of any sort would cause the ruin of the province, and would be burdensome to any government, and profitable only to a few speculators who are always interested in proposing its issue. The government can easily procure funds there without being obliged to send any by issuing bills of exchange on the national treasury. " It is needless to say that this resource would no longer be available from the very moment they should cease to be paid on becoming due." The friendly relations be- tween France and Spain would make it practicable to procure dollars from Vera Cruz, to be reimbursed in Europe.
" This is the information that I have acquired, during a residence of eighteen years attached to the government as a superior officer, on the situation of Louisiana and her natural enemies, the means of improving the colony so that it may defend itself, its commerce, and its actual products. I shall be satisfied if the First Magistrate of my new country pays some attention to this long and per- haps tedious detail upon which I have been obliged to
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END OF THE MEMOIR
1801]
enter, to give a perfect knowledge of that immense coun- try, and of its dangerous neighbors, and if the means I propose to save it give sufficient enlightenment to de- termine what should be done for its prosperity, to which I shall always be eager to contribute.
" Paris, 29 Fructidor year 9 (September 15, 1801). " JOSEPH PONTALBA. " At Croisy near Chatou."
In the margin of the Memoir or Notes are these words: " To the General," signed " Decres." Although Bona- parte had already acquired Louisiana for France by the treaty of St. Ildefonso, signed in 1800, when he received Pontalba's interesting Notes, he must have appreciated highly the important information furnished to him in 1801.
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CHAPTER IX
NEW ORLEANS IN 1802 AND 1803, AND THE TRANSFER TO FRANCE
Life in New Orleans-Merchant vessels-Advertisement of a school-Houses and plantations for sale-Foreign commerce-John McDonogh-D'Hébé- court's school-A book-store-Confectioners and dentists-Miniature-paint- ers-Imports and exports-Laussat arrives-Rigid police regulations-A professor of drawing-Two new schools-Commissioner Casa Calvo -- Names of streets in 1803-Cession of Louisiana announced to England- A teacher of mathematics and navigation-Governor Salcedo-Addresses of the inhabitants of New Orleans and of the planters of Louisiana-News from Santo Domingo-Extracts from Laussat's letters-Transfer to France -Laussat's proclamation-Laussat establishes a municipal government.
O give an idea of life in New Orleans in the beginning of the nineteenth century, we shall consult a volume of the " Moniteur de la Louisiane," from August 14, 1802, to November 26, 1803-Nos. 304 to 371.1
On August 14, 1802, the tariff price of bread was a loaf of fifty-six ounces for one esca- lin (twelve and one half cents).
From August 7 to August 14 four vessels reached New Orleans-one from Providence, two from Jamaica, and one from New York. From August 11 to August 14 one vessel left New Orleans for Gonaïves.
There is an interesting advertisement of a French
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FOREIGN COMMERCE
1802]
school for young ladies, kept in Philadelphia by Mmc. Rivardi, who announces that " she believes it superfluous to add that she will watch incessantly over the health and morals of her pupils."
There are advertisements of houses and plantations for sale, the latter on Bayou Road, near the city, and an announcement of a sale at auction of several negroes, horses, and two carriages. News from Europe is given, but no local news whatever.
From August 12 to August 21 four vessels reached New Orleans from Bordeaux, Campeche, and Philadel- phia, and five sailed from New Orleans to Guadeloupe, Baltimore, Havana, and the Cap Français. In the next ten days thirteen vessels arrived and one de- parted. The places from which they came were New York, Havana, La Guayra, Bayonne, New London, Ja- maica, St. Christopher, Cap Français, and Matanzas. The foreign commerce of New Orleans in 1802 was im- portant, and it is interesting to note that nearly all the vessels-brigs, schooners, and frigates-were American.
A curious advertisement is that of M. Alpuente, who notifies the public that eight barrels of flour have been left at his house, during his absence, by a teamster whom he does not know. He invites the owners of the flour to come and get it, provided they can prove ownership and pay the cost of the advertisement.
Another proof of the absolute honesty of the Louisi- anians in 1802 is the notice for sale by Honoré Fortier and Paillet of a negro cook who is " such a stammerer that he renders impatient those who listen to him."
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With No. 307 of the " Moniteur," September 4, 1802, begins a supplement, in which are to be found local no- tices but no political news as yet. An interesting notice is the dissolution of partnership of the firm of Mc- Donogh, Jr., and Payne, on August 27, 1802. Every- thing concerning John McDonogh, the benefactor of the school-children in New Orleans, is important.
In 1802 the parish of St. Charles was called "St. Charles des Allemands." White sugar from Vera Cruz was sold from ten to twelve cents. And Mme. André, at the Place d'Armes, kept always on hand tablets of rouge for ladies. Also, to please the ladies principally, we may believe, M. Lafon, architect, announces to the public that he intends to build a theater in the center of the city. He invites the public to take shares in the enter- prise, and issues an eloquent manifesto:
It appears to me superfluous to set forth the utility of comedy. There is no doubt that the theater is an amusement, and without diminishing in anything the entertainment it furnishes, it has a powerful influence on morals; it serves to extend the empire of reason and the sentiments of honesty; it represses the follies and corrects the vices of man. No one, it is said, is corrected by theatrical scenes. Woe to him for whom this principle is a truth! But if, indeed, the disposition is incorrigible, the exterior, at least, is not so. Men touch one another only by their surface, and every- thing would be in order if we could induce those who were born vicious, ridiculous, or wicked, to be so only within themselves. This is the aim which comedy proposes to itself.
In nearly every number of the " Moniteur " there are notices about runaway slaves. The description of the
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EDUCATION AND ART
slaves is given, and the African tribes to which they be- longed are mentioned, such as the tribes of Nago and of Nar. One of the slaves, Pierre-Marc, from Senegal, aged thirty years, is said to be able to speak Mobilian, Spanish, French, and English.
On November 27, 1802, the Sieur D'Hébécourt an- nounces that he has just opened a school where will be taught Latin, French, English, Geography, History, and Mathematics; also, if requested, the " agreeable tal- ents " of music, drawing, and dancing. Mercier and Company announce that they have just received a lot of new books-very modern novels, works relating to the French Revolution, travels, etc. Everything pertaining to the Revolution and its results was interesting, and sabers soi-disant à la Bonaparte are offered for sale.
Two confectioners, on January 1, 1803, offer their goods to the public; and one, named Laplanche, wishes to sell preserves, liquors, Bologna sausages, and children's playthings. Another curious combination is that of M. Lartigue, dentist, who announces that he continues to practise his profession, and will receive in a superb sa- vane horses or cattle at one dollar a head.
On February 5, 1803, the Sieur Duval offers his ser- vices for miniature portraits. He was probably the au- thor of the admirable miniatures to be found in every Creole family in New Orleans. Ambroise Pardo, who calls himself a painter, was his contemporary.
On March 5, 1803, the " Moniteur " gives a complete list of the articles imported into New Orleans in the year 1801; the largest imports were coffee, 314,867 pounds
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[1803
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and soap, 322,500 pounds. The exports for 1801 are also given on March 12, 1803; the largest were sugar, 1,333,- 330 pounds, and cotton, 375,137 pounds. Of indigo, for a time the chief staple, only 80,572 pounds were exported. There were 44,294 pounds of tobacco from Kentucky, and 80,380 pounds in " carrots " from Louisiana, and large quantities of peltries of all kinds. The exports given did not include those in transit from American territory.
On March 8, 1803, the intendant forbade the export of flour, rice, dried vegetables, salt and smoked meats, lard, and bear's grease. Vessels were allowed to take only what they needed for their provision.
In March, 1803, the arrival of Captain-General Victor and his troops was expected at any moment, and the " very illustrious cabildo " thought of providing the peo- ple of the city with meat by selling that privilege at auction, provided the successful bidder bound himself to keep in the neighborhood of New Orleans a herd of one thousand heads of cattle, and to pay the usual taxes for butchering.
Victor and his troops never reached New Orleans; but the colonial prefect, Laussat, entered the passes of the Mississippi on board the brig Le Surveillant, on March 21, after a voyage of fifty-eight days, having touched at Santander and Cap Français.
On March 18, 1803, Governor Salcedo published very rigid police regulations. No one was permitted to be in the streets after ten o'clock at night without a light, and no more than three persons could be together after
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1803]
ARRIVAL OF LAUSSAT
that hour. Vagabonds were ordered to leave the city within three days, and the province within a month; and the negroes, both slaves and free, were rigidly watched.
By a decree of the Consuls, Louisiana was to be gov- erned by three magistrates-a captain-general, a colonial prefect, and a commissioner of justice. The captain- general was to have under his immediate orders the land and sea forces, the militia, and the police. He was exclu- sively intrusted with the interior and exterior defense of Louisiana. The colonial prefect was exclusively in- trusted with the civil administration and the police of the colony; and the commissioner of justice was to attend to the prompt administration of justice.
As soon as Governor Salcedo heard that the colo- nial prefect was coming up the river, he sent to meet him his oldest son, Don Manuel, a captain in the Spanish army, and Lieutenant Calderon; and the intendant, in his turn, sent Don Raphael Ramos, the commissioner of war, in the sloop of the custom-house. Laussat entered the city on Saturday, March 26, at four o'clock in the afternoon, and went to the governor's house, amid the firing of the artillery of the forts. Governor Salcedo received the colonial prefect, surrounded by his staff, the officers of the garrison and other troops, and the eccle- siastical and civil authorities. Laussat went afterward to the house of Bernard de Marigny, where he was to reside, and the governor almost immediately returned his visit. On the following days the prefect received the visits of the different official bodies and of the principal inhabitants, and in all his addresses he expressed the in-
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[1803
tention of the French government to attend to the pros- perity and the happiness of the colony. He announced that the captain-general would probably arrive by the middle of April, and he spoke in such a way of General Victor's character and views that his arrival was awaited with impatience. The prefect spent the rest of the week in visiting the public buildings and stores and in preparing with the governor provisions and quarters for the troops that were to accompany Victor. Mme. Laussat and her daughters arrived in sloops of the custom-house and of the government, and both the governor and the intendant endeavored to receive the prefect in a way worthy of his government and of theirs.
The following proclamation by Laussat is very in- teresting: 2
PROCLAMATION.
In the name of the French Republic. Laussat, Colonial Prefect, to the Louisianians.
LOUISIANIANS : Your separation from France marks one of the most shameful epochs of her annals, under a government already weak and corrupt, after an ignominious war, and as the result of a shameful peace. By the side of a cowardly and unnatural abandonment, you offered the contrast of a heroic fidelity and courage. All French hearts were touched, and they have never lost the remembrance of it. They exclaimed then, and have never ceased to exclaim since, that their blood flowed in your veins. As soon as they had recovered their dignity and reconquered their glory, by the Revolution and by a prodigious series of triumphs, they again turned their eyes toward you; you entered into their first negotiations; they wished that your retrocession should sig- nalize their first peace. The time for it had not yet come. It
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1803]
was necessary that a man should appear to whom nothing that is national, great, magnanimous and just would be strange or im- possible; who, to the most eminent talent for winning victories, should unite the rarer talent to derive from them and to fix all the happiest results ; who should give at once, by the ascendancy of his character, to enemies terror, and to allies confidence; who, with a penetrating genius, should perceive the true interests of his country ; and who, with an immutable will, should embrace them ; who should be born finally to replace France on her founda- tions, to reëstablish her in the entire extent of her limits, and to wash out all stains from her annals. That man presides to-day over our destinies, and from this moment, Louisianians, he as- sures yours. In order that they shall be beautiful and happy, it is sufficient to second, on this fortunate soil, the prodigalities of nature: such are the intentions of the French Government.
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