USA > Louisiana > Orleans Parish > New Orleans > Creole families of New Orleans > Part 3
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"PARIS, 11th July, 1815.
"You know, my dear Cousin, the attachment that my son and I have felt for a long time for M. Maréchal Ney, Prince de la Moscou. Circumstances are sending him to New Orleans. He has chosen that part of the world from what I have told him of the liberty that one enjoys there and of the kindly and hospitable character of its inhabitants.
"Among them I have distinguished you, my friend, and it is to you that I am sending him, being confident that you will render him all the services in your power. See about an establishment for him according to the desires that he will communicate to you. Be assured that I will be much more grateful to you for anything you can do for him than if you did it for myself. You will be the first person he will see on arriving. I have insisted he shall land at your home, because I know he will find there a good welcome and full liberty.
"When you know him you will see that he is the most modest and simple of men. If he sees that his presence is causing you any embarrassment or expense on his account, he will leave you to go to a tavern. Receive him then with the greatest simplicity; act as if he were not in your home. He will arrive in the sickly time in the city. I wish that you would obtain his consent to pass this time in the country. I am very certain that you will make the strongest insistence upon this, but I am afraid he will resist, if in a few days he sees that his presence is leading you into extra- ordinary expenses, as happened when upon my recommendation you received M. de Laussat so splendidly.
"In the meantime, my friend, and after he has become acquainted with the place, you will see about procuring for him a house, in the country near the city; I need not tell you how to go about this. I know you well and am very certain you will know how to meet all his desires. St. Avid will second you with all his power. You will not have forgotten that it was you who were charged by M. le Maréchal to represent him on the occasion of the marriage of my son "
"PONTALBA."
Archives Nationales. Procédure de M. le Maréchal Ney. de la premiére Div. Militre
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In another letter to his nephew St. Avid, Pontalba writes:
"I pray you my dear nephew to join Marigny in rendering to Maréchal Ney, Prince de la Moscou, all the services that you can."
Five months after these letters were written the Marshal was executed.
At this time, 1814-1815, Marigny was acting as Chairman of the Committee of Defense, charged by the Legislature to place the entire resources of the State at the disposition of General Jackson. He was one of the party of distinguished citizens who assembled to meet and welcome the General at his landing place on the Bayou St. Jean. Marigny thought that he should have had the honor of enter- taining the great soldier during his stay in New Orleans.
"My name," he writes rather bitterly, "was not unknown to him; he had very recently been the guest of my father-in-law, M. Morales (in Pensacola), who made known to me the desire of the General to stay with me, and it would have been infinitely agreeable to receive him. . .
But a more pushing aspirant usurped what it almost seems was the right of a Marigny. Jackson arrived at Bayou St. Jean and the Mayor made his speech of welcome. It is worth while repeating what Marigny writes further about the reception:
"The rain was pouring down; all present were wet, muddy and uncomfortable; but the Mayor (given to singing madrigals to persons in power) assured the General that the sun is never shining more brilliantly than when you are among us!"
At the Battle of New Orleans, Marigny distin- guished himself by his courage and activity. It is noteworthy that the glorious victory was reaped
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on the fields of the plantation of his Uncle de Lino de Chalmette .* In 1824 he supported General Jackson for President not only with his usual fiery eloquence, but also, perhaps more effectively, with force of arms. He was an ardent duelist and an expert with sword and pistol, and he has been credited with fifteen or more encounters.
His two duels in later years with Mr. Grailhe, the distinguished barrister, live with amusing distinct- ness in the memory of old friends of Marigny to-day. Grailhe married the widow of Marigny's son and made too free with her property. Bernard, the ever ready champion of the ladies, challenged him, and in the duel that followed shot or thrust Grailhe through the body, giving him a wound that resulted in a bend forward which made him walk, in local par- lance, "doubled up." At his second duel with Grailhe, provoked by the same cause, Bernard told his seconds nonchalantly: "This time I shall try to straighten him." He shot or thrust him, in truth, in exactly the same place as before; and Grailhe did lose his bend forward, but gained a bend backward that made him even more conspicuous than before!
In 1825, when General Lafayette came to the United States and accepted the invitation of the people of Louisiana to visit their State, Marigny was selected to make the speech of welcome in French, and his family was the only private one that was
*Bernard Marigny's "Reflexions sur la Campagne du Général André Jackson en Louisiane," New Orleans, 1848, is the best account we have of the preparations made to meet the enemy before the battle; and of the ensuing episode .- Library of Louisiana Historical Society.
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visited by the General during the visit. Marigny says that he knew Lafayette well in France in 1822- 1823, and that the General thanked him for having suggested that he visit the United States.
In 1827, when General Jackson paid his memorable social visit to New Orleans, accompanied by Mrs. Jackson, General Carroll and his wife, and General Houston, they all stayed with Bernard Marigny, who, as he says "was able to give them some pretty entertainments."
His second marriage not proving a happy one, he passed more and more of his time at his father's old summer home of Fontainebleau, on the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain, not for the sake of the seclusion and quiet it offered after the excite- ment of American politics and financial specula- tions, but for the greater liberty it granted for the enjoyment of his favorite pleasures-the table and convivial intercourses with friends. Here it is that his standards of both enjoyments attained a height of perfection that has resulted in his gastronomic apotheosis in Louisiana's traditions and romance.
A more favorable spot for the pleasing of an epicure can hardly be imagined; a beautiful lake ever rippling under gentle breezes, or scintillating at the hour of dinner with the glitter of the setting sun; a white beach shaded by magnificent oaks, draped with hangings of moss; luxuriant flowers disposed like jewels on the green sward; hedges of Cherokee roses; vines of wild honeysuckle; the illimitable pine forest behind, fragrant and balmy, traversed by slow- meandering bayous; the forests teeming with game, the bayous and lake with fish. For service he had a retinue of accomplished, devoted slaves and a luxu-
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rious city was within easy reach to draw upon for wine. What could a crowned head ask for more?
He entertained at Fontainebleau with the exquisite generosity all his own, that allows no self-question- ings save such as concern the comfort and pleasure of the guests. A paradise for an epicure and for Bernard de Marigny! It is not surprising that pleasure-loving friends from New Orleans flocked to Fontainebleau as pilgrims to a shrine; and with more confident assurance of the results than pious pilgrims ever enjoy.
There they found grassées that fed on magnolia berries; turkeys fattened on pecans; papabotse and snipe kept until they ripened and fell from their hangings; terrapin from his own pens; soft-shell crabs from the beach; oysters fresh from his own reefs; green trout and perch from the bayous; sheep- heads and croakers from the lake; pompano, red fish, snappers from the Gulf; vegetables from his own garden; cress from his own sparkling forest spring; fruit from his orchard; eggs, chickens, capons from his own fowl yard. These, with sherry, madeira, champagne, and liqueurs, were the crude elements of repasts that he combined into ménus that Brillat Savarin would have been glad to have composed.
It is not surprising that the little town of Mande- ville is as redolent of good cooking as some other little towns elsewhere are of religion and piety, for Fontainebleau had begotten the most beautiful, most charming, picturesque little lake shore town without doubt in the United States. The weary citizen of New Orleans can still find there seclusion, cool breezes, green shade of century-old oaks draped with moss, a lovely view, and liberty of enjoyment,
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in the good cooking as not the least of its attrac- tions.
The boon of this unique and precious little town, the State, or rather the city, owes to Bernard de Marigny.
He it was who, during the early years of the cen- tury, conceived the idea of purchasing land along the lake shore and forest adjoining Fontainebleau until sufficient had been acquired for his purpose. He was inspired to make a town as poets are inspired to make a poem. He gave himself over, as a poet should, to his muse, and she, as a muse should, con- fided herself to him. Nature and art lent themselves kindly to the enterprise. Streets were made, trees were planted, lots were placed on sale, with an eye fixed rather to avoid undesirable additions to the community, than to secure financial profits. Public buildings were provided for, bridges built, a church and a market hall duly erected. Above all, a town government was instituted that eliminated, as far as mere human supervision could, the corrupting influence of American elections. In short, such as the little French town is to-day refined, elegant, yet simple-it left Bernard de Marigny's hand in 1830.
His congenial friend John Davis, an émigré from St. Domingo, and known to all as the famous impre- sario of what is always called the "celebrated Orleans Theatre," was associated with him in the Mande- ville enterprise which included the employment of a steamboat to make the daily trip from New Orleans to Mandeville. Davis is also thanked (at Mande- ville) for bringing thither the renowned cook, Louis Boudro, from Paris (with the other artists, lyric and dramatic, engaged for his theatre). Other cele-
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brated chefs followed Boudro in the course of years and by way of insuring the perpetuity of the town's culinary celebrity, they became in time the hotel keepers of Mandeville.
Marigny's continual financial extravagance, how- ever, and the depreciation of his city property, produced their inevitable results. The clouds that later darkened his life began to gather, but it is to this period of his life that belongs the most famous adventure in it-the one that is always remembered first in New Orleans when his name is mentioned.
In 1830, when his own fortunes were ebbing, those of his father's old guest and friend, the Duke of Orleans, reached their flux with his ascension to the throne of France as King Louis Philippe I. He promptly showed his recollection of past favors by sending to his New Orleans friend; de Marigny, with whom he had kept up a faithful correspondence, the conventional French royal token of appreciation- a beautiful dinner service of silver, each article bear- ing a portrait of the royal family. In a cordial letter (which is still in existence) the King invited Bernard to pay him a visit. This was not to be declined and Marigny, with his young son, called "Mandeville," went forthwith to Paris and to the Tuilleries. They were received in the palace with open arms according to their highest expectations. They were presented to the Royal family and given seats at the family table. In fact, the Creole hospitality of yore was returned with Creole cordiality. Bernard, after six months of the King's hospitality and Court life, made his reappearance in New Orleans, perhaps with the satirical smile that usually accompanies the narrative as told by his friends. The King had
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returned to the son every obligation he owed to Philippe de Marigny, save the one debt of honor- the princely sum of money that had been loaned to him!
But with paternal friendship, he offered to pro- vide for the future of young Mandeville by placing him, for military education, in the Academy of St. Cyr, which assured him an officer's rank in the French Army. The offer was accepted. Mandeville was sent to the Academy and in a few years gained his rank as lieutenant in a cavalry corps of the élite. All should have gone well with him but, according to the chronicler,* who seems to speak from personal knowledge, the young Creole, accustomed to the activity and rough exercises of hunting and fishing in Louisiana, soon tired of the monotonous military life in France during a peace, ruffled only by an acri- monious feeling against the American Republic which expressed itself in uncomplimentary remarks in public places. He became involved in a duel on this account, which necessitated his retirement from the army and his return to his own country where he was received with acclamation as a hero. With the exception of his father he was the handsomest man in the city; the most gallant "beau" in society. A perfect cavalier, he had brought with him from France the beautiful charger presented to him by the King, upon which he was fond of displaying himself. His father, who prided himself also on his horseman- ship, was wont to look upon his son's equestrian feats with a cold eye. One day, after a brilliant exhibition by Mandeville, Bernard remarked coldly that he could do the same.
* Castellano's "New Orleans As It Was."
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Mandeville instantly dismounted and, with a low bow, handed the reins to his father with a courtly "Montez, mon père." No sooner said than done.
But Bernard had not seated himself in the saddle before the horse promptly threw him to the ground.
Bernard never forgave his son the "trick," as he considered it.
Mandeville married Sophronia, daughter of Gover- nor Claiborne. He entered the Confederate Army as Colonel of the Tenth Louisiana Volunteers and served in Virginia. The Confederate Government, however, recognizing his high military fitness, assigned him South to organize a force of cavalry.
He survived his father and, through a long life of poverty, maintained an unimpeachable reputation as a man of courage and honor.
This adventure or experiment over, Marigny fared on through middle age, as he had through youth, shrugging his shoulders at ill fortune and not troubling his digestion about what might betide him or those who came after him. His separation from his wife became permanent; his daughters married; his sons, smaller than he, went their smaller way.
Marigny was re-elected to the House or Senate successively until 1838. The truth of what he said of himself in a political pamphlet, printed in Paris as early as 1822, has never been contested, and is borne out by the rest of his political career:
"Ten years of my life have been sacrificed to public affairs; and no one doubts that this has cost me considerable expenditures. These expenditures I have borne, for I have never solicited or obtained a lucrative office. I have contributed my efforts that my compatriots should not be entirely dispossessed of their language,
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Royal below Dumaine Street (used as Court House in 1815) where General Jackson was tried for contempt of court before Judge Hall.
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their customs, their laws. I possessed an immense fortune, whereas now it barely amounts to the value of one of the four inheritances that I successively received; and I think I may claim that the use I made of them has always been honorable, by my household standards as well as by the assistance I have been able to give to the needy; to the poor mother of an indigent family, and to unfortunate strangers. Have they not always found me willing to tender a helping hand?"*
The allusion to his waning fortune is to be ex- plained by other reasons than those mentioned. The natural antagonism between the American and Louisianian citizens of New Orleans developed into the fierce rivalry of business competition between the American quarter (the Faubourg St. Mary) and the Creole quarter (the Faubourg Marigny) ; between the "uptown" and the "downtown" ideal of pro- gressiveness. It was a purely financial struggle. Marigny, as the most prominent among the Creoles and the largest landowner in the city, was the natural leader of the Creoles; but he and they, with their antiquated principles, were as children before the keen-witted Americans-trained to perfection in the skilled manipulation of municipal patronage for private profit.
In the fight New Orleans was rent into three dis- tinct parts or municipalities, each one with its own Board of Aldermen, but all under one Mayor and Council. Marigny protested with might and main against this rendition of Solomon's judgment. What he foresaw, happened; the Faubourg St. Mary be- came, as he called it, "the spoiled child of the Mayor and Council, the object of their tender affection,"
* This statement is borne out in every particular by Bernard Marigny's constituents. He was, according to their belief, the most generous and charitable, as well as honorable of men.
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and grew with amazing rapidity into the beauty and prosperity of an enterprising American city, pulsing with Western blood and energy; while the Faubourg Marigny, motionless and inert, still lay, like a sleepy bayou, on its own outskirts.
The motive power of the development in the American quarter was supplied by the genius of two men, great in the history of New Orleans: an Ameri- can, Samuel Jarvis Peters, and an Englishman, James H. Caldwell. They introduced gas and water- works, paved the streets and built hotels in the American city, and improved its quays along which the flatboats from the West, gorged with produce, tied up three deep to unload their rich cargoes into vast warehouses. *
We are told by an American narrator that Peters, who lived in the vieux carre with his auxiliary and co-worker, Caldwell, had originally selected the Creole Faubourg as the field for their civic improve- ments, but it happened that the old Faubourg was virtually owned by that proud Creole princeling, Bernard de Marigny. Being informed of the plans to beautify his domains by the building of a first- class hotel, a large theatre and the laying out of handsome paved streets as well as warehouses, cotton-presses, gas and waterwork plants, etc., to make it a commercial and social center, Mon- sieur de Marigny finally consented to dispose of his vast estates for a fabulous price. The act of sale was finally drawn up, but when purchasers and vendor met on the appointed day in the notary's
* "Autobiography of Samuel Jarvis Peters, by George C. H. Kernion." Publications of Louisiana Historical Society. Vol. VII, 1913-14.
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office to sign the deed of transfer, Madame de Marigny failed to put in an appearance, and as her signature was necessary, on account of cer- tain rights she possessed in the property about to be sold, the deal could not be consummated without her. Trembling with rage at this unexpected and, as he believed, premeditated disappointment, Mr. Peters, after soundly berating Monsieur de Marigny for his breach of agreement, finally exclaimed: "I shall live, by God, to see the day when rank grass shall choke up the gutters of your old 'Faubourg'!" His prophecy was, unfortunately, ultimately fulfilled.
Marigny's rapier did not leap from its scabbard, as might have been expected; for in another version of the affair that comes down to us, he had upon reflec- tion decided, with characteristic arrogance and obstinacy, to build up his own Faubourg himself, and make a Creole city of it that would outshine forever the American one. He would suffer no usurpation of American "genius" in his own munici- pality, and thus the refusal of his wife to sign the deed gave color to Peter's suspicion that it was a ruse of Marigny's own invention. A suit filed shortly afterwards, however, by his wife for the restitution of her paraphernal rights, exonerates him from the suspicion of bad faith, and gives as the reason why Madame de Marigny did not sign the deed that she wished to protect her own rights.
Marigny made an attempt to fulfil his ambitious schemes. The great Marigny property was cut into streets to which he himself gave the pretty names Poet, Love, Good Children, Port, Moreau, Piety (but the original of this was a friend, Piété), Enghien, Craps (from the game of cards to which he was
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addicted), Bagatelle, Désiré. The pretty names are all that survive of his scheme; which his evil for- tunes, and not his will, prevented his carrying to a success.
The losing of this golden opportunity brought him almost to the verge of unpopularity with his fellow Creoles. Although he had served his party well and had been sent to the State Legislature in 1817, acting there as President of the Senate, he was, unfortunately, not elected when he was nominated as candidate for the position of Governor of the State. "A Creole for Governor!" had been his slogan in every gubernatorial contest. He claimed that it was owing to him that Villeré was elected to succeed Claiborne, and added with caustic wit, when Robert- son succeeded Villeré, "He will be succeeded by Mr. Johnson" (as he was) "and Virginia will be exhausted before another Louisianian is made Governor in his country."
His last public service to Louisiana was in the Constitutional Convention of 1845, when, as he says, he defended the great Democratic principles of universal suffrage and free public education, and when also, he made his speech in defense of Pierre Soulé, that contains the ever-memorable rebuke to Judah P. Benjamin which sounded the death knell of American exclusiveness in Louisiana. No politi- cian has since then reopened the question that Marigny settled forever.
"Sir," he addressed Mr. Benjamin, "contrary to all parliamentary usage you call upon the other distinguished member from New Orleans, Mr. Soulé, and ask him, 'Sir, suppose you had been placed at the head of an army to meet in deadly combat your own country- men. Could you, would you have done so?' Sir, I tell you that
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you have inflicted upon him an unjust provocation; and I give you distinctly to understand that I take up the glove in his behalf; and Sir, I trust that you will not complain of my not being a native of the country, since I descend from those ancient warriors who conquered the country, and here represent six generations of Louisianians.
"Fortunately for me, all your fine quotations are lost upon me. I never read any of those works which are supposed to make a logical man. But, Mr. President, I am one of those who, looking at things as they are, feel myself able to meet the emergency of the hour, and to accord my political acts to the political needs of my country. But, Sir, I ask you by what right do you expect to disfranchise in 1845 those who have rights guaranteed them in 1812? Sir, I tell you, I, Bernard Marigny, tell you that you are, after all, nothing but the servant of the people-nothing more, nothing less; presume upon your authority, and they will soon bring you to a just appreciation of their power over you, and it would not at all surprise me, if they were to obstinately persist at the very next election in selecting a Governor from the very men whom you are now so anxious to exclude. The laws of the country recognize no distinction between one class of citizens and another. Is there any principle of free government, any principle of repub- licanism, to sanction such a pretension? They say that a naturalized citizen is not to be entrusted with the power we confer upon our Governor. What, Sir, is the power of that Governor, compared with the power we are administering now?"*
W. H. Sparks, who served with Marigny in the Legislature, says that his wit and satire were his most dreaded weapons, and ridicule was his forte. Mr. Sparks gives the following incident:
At the end of the heated debate on the question of cutting New Orleans into three municipalities, during which Marigny had exerted himself to the utmost to protect the city and himself against the disaster, as he saw it, Marigny was observed passing around among his friends a squib containing the following lines:
"Sparks and Thomas Green Davidson, Rascals by nature and profession."
* De Bow's Review, 1846.
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