USA > Louisiana > History of Louisiana, from its first discovery and settlement to the present time > Part 13
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would have torn down the house itself had they not been restrained by the authorities. If ever the dangerous practice of taking the law out of the hands of those appointed to administer it could find an excuse, it was here. Farther evi- dences of her cruelty were discovered the next "day, when more than one body was dug up in the yard. The guilty woman reached a northern port in safety, and embarked for France under an assumed name. Her husband and youngest child had joined her; and some suspicion being excited among the passengers, they questioned the child, and ascertained who she was: no one spoke to her during the rest of the passage. Arriving in France, she was soon discovered and universally shunned, and on one occasion was driven out of the theatre. If she is still living, she has probably been obliged to seek a deeper retirement to conceal her guilt.
1835 .- Edward White was this year elected governor. The mania of speculation had now seized on all minds and turned all heads; and the effervescence of the people of Paris, excited by the Mississippi lands in the time of Law, had never been more violent. It really seemed as if these lands had the power, at intervals, of crazing all who meddled with them. A state of affairs
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NUMEROUS BANKS CHARTERED.
now existed in Louisiana of the most extraordi- nary character. An enormous value was placed : upon lands covered with water ; towns were laid out in the midst of cypress swamps; prairies were set on fire; and speculators were ready to snatch at every islet. Some few, shrewder than . the rest or more favoured by fortune, succeeded in amassing riches, but a far greater number were irretrievably ruined.
The General Assembly of this year and the last followed in the steps of the most reckless of their predecessors, and even showed still great- er facility in granting bank-cha s. It really seemed possessed by what Jefferson called the bancomania. In the course of these two years it chartered no less than seven new banks, and pledged the credit of the State in favour of the Citizens' Bank : an overgrown institution, char- tered in 1833, which paid its cashier ten thousand dollars a year, and attempted to negotiate a loan in Europe of twelve millions, in which it failed for want of satisfactory security.
The banks chartered at the first session of this Legislature were as follows : the Bank of Atcha- falaya, capital two millions ; the Bank of Carroll- ton, capital three millions ; the Exchange Bank, capital two millions; the Gar Bank, capital six
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millions ; and at its second session, the Merchants' Bank, with a capital of one million ; authorizing, also, the Company of Improvements to carry on banking operations, with a capital of two mill- ions, and granting the same privilege to the Rail- road Company of Pontchartrain, with the addi- tion of a million to its capital, of which, howev- er, it did not avail itself, but made over its State securities to the Citizens' Bank.
At its first session it likewise incorporated the Draining Company of New-Orleans, with a capi- tal of one million ; and at the same session a levy of volunteers was ordered to go to the aid of Florida, then menaced by the Seminoles. An act was also passed, imposing a fine not to exceed ten, nor to be less than five thousand dollars, upon any person keeping a gaming table, and the same upon the owner of any house in which such table should be kept; making them also liable to imprisonment for not less than one, nor more than five years.
This law obliged gamblers to follow their pur- suits more secretly, though from 1838 to the be- ginning of 1840 seventeen persons were · taken in. the fact, and fined altogether to the amount of 21,600 dollars.
1836 .- New-Orleans had been divided into
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three distinct municipalities, each having a re- corder, while the mayor presided over the whole city. The General Assembly, at its session this year, appropriated seventy-five thousand dollars to equip the volunteers sent against the Indians ; condemned the Bank of Carrollton to pay a fine of one hundred thousand dollars, to be applied to improvements, for having failed in completing its railroad in the time specified ; and chartered six railroad companies, and two for the building of theatres.
The aggregate capital of the institutions incorporated by the Legislature in 1835 was 18,750,000 dollars; and of those incorporated in 1836, 20,595,000 dollars, making a grand total of 39,345,000.
To make the existing state of things in the end still worse, the banks were profuse in their dis- counts, and did not scruple to issue paper to five times the amount of their available funds.
At length, on the 13th of May, the disaster which had been so long preparing for Louisiana fell upon her. Fourteen of the banks of New- Orleans suspended specie payments. In this emergency, and to afford to the community a temporary and partial relief, the three munici- palities each issued bills from the value of one
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shilling to four dollars; and in a short time com- panies, and even individuals, claimed the same privilege, so that the State was inundated with rag money.
Another cause of the existing distress was the . new tariff, which had depreciated the value of American sugar in the same proportion as the duty had been reduced on the foreign article. At a former period the culture of cotton had been abandoned for that of sugar. But the contrary - was now the case; the canes were destroyed, and cotton planted in their place. One hundred and sixty-six sugar plantations were given up ; and cotton alone was destined to restore prosper- ity to Louisiana. Her crop of this article in 1834 had been 150,000 bales, equivalent to 62 mill- ion pounds ; and this year it increased to 225,000 bales, or 94 million pounds. The large profits that had been realized increased the rashness of speculators, and their eagerness to purchase rais- ed the price to 18 and 20 cents. But these prices were wholly unwarranted by the state of the markets in Europe, and the losses were im- mense. Numerous bankruptcies followed, and some for immense amounts. Lands could no longer be sold ; plans of towns were of no value but to be gazed on as pictures, and the fortunes
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PECUNIARY EMBARRASSMENTS.
based on them fell even more suddenly than they had risen. Usurers were now the only class that prospered, and they reaped a rich harvest from the calamities of others.
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CHAPTER XX.
Project of Albert Hoa .- Appropriations .- Great Flood. - Im- provements in Louisiana .- State of Society .- Conclusion.
1838 .- IN consideration of the embarrass- ments of the country, many were anxious that there should be a special session of the Legisla- ture, expecting relief from that source; but it did not meet till the usual time. At this session some new regulations were adopted respecting the militia, requiring that they should be annu- ally reviewed. There was, happily, less liberal- ity manifested in granting new charters, the whole amount of new corporate capital author- ized to be raised, including that of the Bath Railroad Company, being only 2,725,000 dollars. Still this was too much for the times; the cri- sis was pressing heavily, and public confidence and private credit were destroyed. To remedy
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existing evils, it was proposed by Mr. Albert Hoa that the banks should be authorized to issue post- notes payable in 1840; that they should be sub- jected to various restrictions ; and that a com- mission should be appointed to examine into their condition. An act for these purposes passed the Senate, but it was so modified in the Lower House that, on being returned, it was finally re- jected.
After the General Assembly had adjourned, the directors of the banks consulted together, and came to the resolution that they would issue post-notes, the amount issued by each bank to be proportioned to its circulation, and the system to continue only during the suspension of specie payments.
1839 .- Bienvenu Roman had succeeded Ed- ward White as governor of the State. The Le- gislature having granted to the railroad compa- nies of Clinton and Port Hudson, of Baton Rouge and Clinton, and of Atchafalaya, and to the Canal of Barrataria and La Fourche, State se- curities to the amount of 1,500,000 dollars, he re- turned the bills with his veto; but, notwithstand- ing the strong reasons assigned by him for with- holding his sanction, the Assembly persisted, and the bills were passed.
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An act providing for the construction of a rail- road from New-Orleans to Nashville met with a different fate. The Legislature had here pledged the security of the State for 1,000,000 dollars ; but the governor refused to sign the bill, and it was rejected.
'. A variety of acts were passed by the General Assembly this year : one establishing the Court of Commerce of New-Orleans, to be presided over by a single judge ; one for preventing bets at elections, rendering any person making such a bet liable to a fine equal in amount to the money, or the value of the property hazarded ; one fix- ing the penalties for shipping slaves as sailors ; one extending additional privileges to the Drain- ing Company, for making the cypress swamps fit for cultivation; and one incorporating the Transatlantic Steam Company of Louisiana, with a capital of 1,000,000 dollars, with the privilege of subsequently increasing it to 1,500,000.
An act was also passed to abolish imprison- ment for debt, and one granting to the parish judges jurisdiction without appeal in all cases where the amount in dispute did not exceed 300 dollars.
As slaves were frequently carried away with impunity, a law was passed making the captain
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or owner of any vessel on board which a slave should be found without the consent of his master, responsible to the latter for any loss he might thereby sustain ; also liable to a fine of five hundred dollars for every such slave.
Louisiana at this time contained thirty-eight parishes, and the State was divided into ten ju- diciary districts.
On the 12th of February in this year the Ex- change at New-Orleans was burned. This was the most magnificent edifice in the city, and the loss was estimated at 600,000 dollars.
1840 .- There were in Louisiana at this time five hundred and twenty-five sugar plantations, employing forty thousand labourers, and a me- chanical power equal to ten thousand horses. It is believed that this culture must gradually decline, unless the planters can be secure of not less than six cents a pound for their sugar; it being thought that the article cannot be pro- duced for less in a country where the cane is not native to the soil.
This year there was an extraordinary rise of the Mississippi. Never had the river worn so terrific an aspect since 1782, when the Attakapas and Opelousas were partly covered by its waters. It was now swollen to within a few inches of the
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RISE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
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highest levees, and in several places flowed over them and inundated the country .. The crevasses were numerous, and some of them of great width. The lands of La Fourche and Concordia were completely under wa The Red River, driven back by the increased volume of the Mississippi, inundated its fine cotton lands. But at last the flood subsided, and compensated by the rich de- posite it left for the mischief it had done. New fertility was given to the soil, and never was the crop more abundant.
Having now noticed the principal events in the History of Louisiana, it may not be uninteresting to look back to the changes which have taken place in the country since its annexation to the United States, a period of thirty-seven years.
At the time of its cession its whole population amounted to no more than 60,000, whereas in 1840 it was, by the census then taken, 350,000. The State is considered capable of supporting a population of two million, its surface being com- puted at 32 million acres, though of this one quarter part is annually overflowed or liable to inundation. Another quarter is covered with cypress swamps or pine forests, where the soil is barren ; but the remaining half is composed of prairies, and of strips of land along the borders
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of the rivers of extraordinary fertility. The districts of Attakapas and Opelousas are those containing the best land, and they are as yet but thinly settled.
The average annual crop of Louisiana is about 70,000 hogsheads of sugar, 350,000 gallons of molasses, and 200,000 bales of cotton of 400 pounds each; the exports of New-Orleans are larger than those of New-York; and no less than two thousand sail vessels and sixteen hun- dred steamboats arrive annually at this port. There are in this city sixteen banks.
Louisiana has three public canals and ten rail- roads either completed or in progress ; and sev- eral additional ones have been planned.
The military force of the State consists of about fifteen thousand men; and in case of in- vasion, all able-bodied citizens are required to serve.
Though Louisiana has belonged to three dif- ferent nations, she has never been conquered. Under the dominion of France her progress was slow. The difficulties to be encountered in set- tling new countries are always great ; and the French have never well understood the manage- ment of colonies. She was fortunate in her Spanish governors; but Spain was still less ca-
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pable than France of advancing her prosperity. In proof of this, there are scarcely any traces left of her dominion in this country. Some Spanish names and a few Spanish families are still to be found in New-Orleans; but these are not sufficient to make one suppose that it was ever a Spanish town. There is still there, how- ever, a company of militia of that nation, whose existence is made known to the public at their regular reviews by the following advertisement : Volantes ou Cazadores de Orleans ! Attencion !!! And it is probably with a view to the preserva- tion of the language that a small paper has lately been published, with one side in Spanish.
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Notwithstanding the rapidly-increasing pros- perity of Louisiana since her union with the American States (a prosperity which she never could have enjoyed under any European govern- ment), traces still remain, among a large propor- tion of her inhabitants, of partiality to France. It was scarcely to be expected that the first American adventurers to Louisiana, most of whom probably went there suddenly to amass wealth, to retrieve a broken fortune, or to repair a lost character, should have been of a descrip- tion to prepossess the old inhabitants of the coun- try in their favour; and those of a better class
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were not sufficiently numerous to counteract these unfavourable impressions. But much as the character of the American residents has since improved, the separation between them and the French not only still exists, but is probably as marked as ever; and there is far less cordiality between the two people here than in the other towns of the United States, where they associate freely together, and are connected by friendship and marriage. The latter connexion rarely takes place between the two at New-Orleans. They live in different parts of the city, the French oc- cupying the Old Town, built by Bienville, and confining themselves to their own society (which is allowed by strangers visiting the place to be the pleasantest), and the Americans residing in what is called the Upper Town, consisting of the Faubourgs or suburbs, to the north of the Old Town, and greatly exceeding it in extent. It is also better built, and contains a greater number of handsome edifices. On the south side of the Old Town other faubourgs have been laid out, which, like the rest, following the bend of the river, give to the whole the shape of a crescent. The southern Faubourgs are as yet but thinly inhabited.
The difference in habits and modes of life may
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have been one cause which has contributed to keep the two nations apart. The Americans who first settled in Louisiana were for the most part merchants, lawyers, or physicians, and the planters of that country looked with something like disdain on other pursuits. By degrees, how- ever, this prejudice wore away, though it was a long time before the old planter was satisfied at seeing his sons or grandsons engaging in profes- sional business, and especially in commerce. Still this change even has not broken down the barrier between them; and the division of the city into separate municipalities is likely to per- petuate feelings which must operate unfavoura- bly to both, but to the greatest injury of the French. Still, this undesirable state of things cannot be permanent. Their lot is cast together ; together they must meet what of good or evil fortune is reserved for their country ; and, though the descendants of the first settlers should con- tinue to remember their French origin, they will in time become Americans in character no less than in name.
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THE END.
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