Benjamin Moore Norman

“ No place can present a more busy, bustling scene. The loading and unloading of vessels and steamboats—the transportation, by some three thousand drays, of cotton, sugar, tobacco, and the various and extensive produce of the great west, strikes the stranger with wonder and admiration. The levee and piers that range along the whole length of the city, extending back on an average of some two hundred feet, are continually covered with moving merchandise. ”

“ The numberless flat-boats that throng the levees for an immense distance, are peopled and managed by an amphibious race of human beings, whose mode of living is much like that of the alligator, with whom they ironically claim relationship, but who carry under their rough exterior and uncouth manners, a heart as generous and noble, as beats in any human breast. They are the children of the Mississippi, as the Arabs are of the great desert, and, like them, accustomed to encounter danger in every shape. ”

“ To the traveller in those regions, who may have been toiling on his weary way through tangle, and swamp, and forest, there is something indescribably agreeable in this smooth and boundless sea of unrivalled fertility, whose dim outline mingles with the blue of the far off Gulf—the whole vast plain covered with tall grass, waving and rippling in the breeze, sprinkled with neat white houses, the abodes of wealth, comfort and hospitality, and dotted with innumerable cattle and horses grazing in the fields, or reposing here and there under the shade of the wooded points. ”

“ If, like Rip Van Winkle, we may be permitted to come back after the lapse of half a century, with what surprise and astonishment shall we witness the change which the enterprise of man will have wrought. But let us not waste a moment in dreaming about it. Let us be up and doing, to fulfil our part of the mighty achievement. It would not be strange, however, if the present map, which is given to show the rapid growth of the city, by comparison with one drawn in 1728, should then be republished with a similar design, to exhibit the insignificance of New Orleans in 1845! ”

“ These, and a thousand unenumerated products, beside the well known staples, constitute its wealth; all of which by a necessity of nature, must flow through our Crescent City, to find an outlet into the great world of commerce. With such resources nothing short of some dreadful convulsion of nature, or the more dreadful calamity of war, can prevent New Orleans from becoming, if not the first, next in commercial importance to the first city in the United States—perhaps, in the world. The flourishing towns upon the Mississippi and her tributaries, are merely the depositories for this great mart. ”

“ Public libraries, reading rooms, galleries for the exhibition of the fine arts, lyceums for lectures, and other kindred rational amusements, would do much to establish a new and better order, and to break down those artificial barriers, which separate so many refined and pure minded men from the pleasures and advantages of general society, condemning them to live alone and secluded, in the midst of all that is lovely and attractive in the social relations of life. ”

“ While it secures to the United States forever almost the entire monopoly of production, it puts it in her power, by a judicious combination among her great producers, to command a fair compensating price for cotton. Without some such combination, or, which is equivalent to the same thing, a prevailing disposition on the part of the planters, rather to wait for a demand than to anticipate, or endeavor to create it, there will always be a surplus stock in the market, which, however insignificant, will affect the price of the whole crop. ”

“ The quality of the richer bottoms of the Mississippi, as well as those of the Red River, is sufficiently attested by the prodigious growth of timber in those parts, the luxuriance of the cane and the cotton, the tangles of vines and creepers, the astonishing size of the weeds—which, however, find it difficult to over-top the better products of the soil—and the universal strength of the vegetation. ”

“ But what a vandal spirit is innovation! what a ruthless destroyer is this boasted modern improvement! It sweeps over the land with the energy of a new creation, demolishing and scattering whatever lies in its way, for the mere pleasure of reproducing it in a new and better form. It removes the ancient land marks, obliterates the last traces of ancient power and grandeur, levels mountains, fills up valleys, turns the courses of rivers, and makes all things bend to its iron will. ”

“ The climate of Louisiana is hot and moist. In the neighborhood of the marshes, and in the summer season, it partakes of the unhealthy character of nearly all tropical climates. Diseases of the lungs, however, and other complaints so prevalent at the north, are scarcely known; and to many, the quick consuming fever which finishes its work in a few days, may be considered but a fair offset to the slow but sure consumption, which flatters its victims with the semblance of life and hope, while dragging them through its long and dreary labyrinths, to the chambers of death. ”

“ It is impossible for one who has not seen them, to conceive of the effect produced by them, rising like towers of various forms, but each regular in itself, from the midst of an ocean of grass. Wherever a bayou or a stream crosses the prairie, its course is marked with a fringe of timber, the effect of which upon the eye of the observer is exceedingly picturesque, making a background to the view in many instances, like lines of trees in landscape painting. ”

“ To the latter class this emporium is indebted, for many of those vast improvements which, as if by magic, have risen to the astonishment and confusion of those of the ancient regime, who live in a kind of seclusion within the limits of the city proper—to whom beautiful and extensive blocks of buildings have appeared in the morning, as though they had sprung up by enchantment during the night. ”

“ A jaunt to these grounds is a sort of pilgrimage, that no stranger will, that no citizen can neglect. Not to have seen the field of this great victory, would be a reflection upon the taste, not to say the patriotism of any who should visit our city. ”

“ Theatres and operas, with their stars and prima donnas, circuses and menageries, bell-ringers and serenaders, are in full success—and New Orleans, filled with every description of amusement, from the top of the drama down to Judy and Punch. Strangers are surprised and delighted at the splendor that is carried out in these circles of pleasure. ”

“ The public schools, designed for the general and gratuitous dissemination of knowledge among all classes, have not only increased in number but have generally outstripped those of the higher order, by seizing at once upon all the improvements which the experience of teachers in other parts of the country, and the world, has from time to time suggested. Mere innovations rather hinder than advance the progress of education. ”

“ Some are descendants of the Pilgrims, and have carried with them the industrious habits, and the strict moral principles, of their Puritan forefathers, into the wilds of the West. They are all active, enterprising, fearless, shrewd, independent, and self-sufficient, and often aspiring and ambitious, as our halls of legislation, and our highest business circles [Pg 76] can testify. They are just the stuff to lay the broad foundations of freedom in a new country—able to clear the forest, and till the soil, in time of peace, to defend it in war, and to govern it at all times. ”

“ The hills are covered with laurel, and forest trees of magnificent growth and foliage, indicating a soil of the richest and most productive character. Here are some of the wealthiest and most intelligent planters, and the finest plantations in the state, the region of princely taste and luxury, and more than patriarchal hospitality. The mouth of Bayou Sara, which is the point of shipment for this productive region, transmits immense quantities of cotton to New Orleans. Some of the plantations on this bayou have from five to eight hundred acres under cultivation. ”

“ The fluctuations in the foreign cotton market, within a few years past, have produced, among scientific agriculturalists and experienced planters, no little speculation upon the course which a due regard to their own interests requires them to pursue. It is not to be wondered at, that in a country so vast, so luxuriantly fertile as ours, and teeming with the most enterprising and industrious population on the face of the earth, the strict relations of supply and demand should be occasionally disturbed in some of the many abundant productions of the soil. ”

“ The ground it is true, presents few memorials to remind the patriotic visitor of the deadly strife. There is no proud monument, towering to the sky, to mark the place where the great victory was won. But he beholds the consequences wherever he turns his eye, and he feels them—deeply feels them in every throb of his heart. Those born upon the soil, and those who participated in the struggle, [Pg 200] have reason to be proud of the spot, and to cherish the memory of that eventful day. ”

“ The proceeds from the sale of all public lands granted by the United States, the estates of deceased persons escheating to the state, as well as certain other named emoluments, are to remain a perpetual fund, sacredly to be applied to the support of such schools. A provision is also to be made for establishing a college in the city of New Orleans, to be called the University of Louisiana, to consist of four faculties, viz. law, medicine, the natural sciences and letters—of which the Medical College of Louisiana, as now organized, is to constitute the faculty of medicine. ”

“ A dome, of beautiful proportions, after a plan of Dakin, forty-six feet in diameter, surmounts the octagon building, elevated upon an order of fluted columns, which stand eleven feet from the dome, around the outside, and on the dome is elevated an elegant little Corinthian turret. There is a large circular room under the dome, on the floor of which the spiral stair-case terminates, and around the outside of which the circular colonade forms a beautiful gallery eleven feet wide, from whence can be seen the whole city, and all the windings of the river for several miles in each direction. ”

“ These floating prairies are sometimes of great extent, and are by no means confined to waters comparatively shoal. They literally cover the deeps in some cases, and a great deal of precaution is necessary to avoid them, for, stable as they look at a distance, they are as unsubstantial as shadows, so that boats may oftentimes be forced through them. They are less trustworthy than quicksands, for the unlucky wight who should adventure himself upon their deceitful appearances, would find himself entangled in a net of interminable extent, from which it would be impossible to extricate himself. ”

“ The character of New Orleans, in respect to health, has been much and unjustly abused. At the north, in ratio to their population, the consumption annually destroys more than the yellow fever of the south. The city of New York averages about thirty a week. Patients with pulmonary complaints, resort to these latitudes for relief, where such diseases are otherwise rarely known. In truth, this capital shows a more favorable bill of mortality, than any seaport town in the United States, except Charleston and Baltimore. ”

“ Already the spirit of improvement, that has done so much for the second municipality, is busy in the first and third—and though slowly, it is as sure, eventually, to push its way into them as water is to find its own level. Beside the public schools, there are many private seminaries of a high order, and conducted by teachers of ability, where the wealthy, who have objections to those above designated, may send their children for instruction.
The education of youth is of the utmost importance to a country—especially to one like this, that should be governed by the intelligence of its citizens. ”

“ This climate is favorable to almost all the productions of the tropics. The sugar, the cotton plant, the orange, the lemon, the grape, the mulberry, tobacco, rice, maize, sweet potato, &c., &c., flourish in rich abundance, and some of them attain to a luxuriance of growth scarcely known in any other part of the world. Sugar and Cotton are the two great staples. The former is confined chiefly to that tract, which, by way of distinction, is called "the coast," lying along the shores of the Gulf, and the bayous of the Mississippi. ”

“ Already, considerable progress has been made in its cultivation in that neighborhood, and grapes are abundantly furnished for the New Orleans market. There is no doubt that wine might be produced in abundance.
Indigo, one of the oldest products of this state, has been superseded by the sugar cane. Whether the planter has found more advantage in the latter than in the former cultivation, can only be inferred from his continuing to pursue it; for the maxim, that trade will regulate itself, is nearly as applicable to agriculture as to commerce. ”

“ If there is no lofty structure of granite or marble, to perpetuate the glorious achievement, it has a holier, a more enduring memorial in the heart of every true American, which thrills with lofty pride at every allusion to it, as did the ancient Greek at the name of Marathon, or the Spartan at that of Thermopylæ. ”

“ The land rises from the river, in a regularly inclined plane towards the woods, affording free courses for the streams, which discharge themselves into the bayou. The soil, therefore, cannot be called alluvial, though in the most essential quality of productiveness, it is scarcely inferior to the best of them. It is a lovely region, the most beautiful, perhaps, in the whole Union, for agricultural purposes. But it has one great drawback, especially for the cultivation of sugar; there is a deficiency of ordinary fire-wood ”

“ Yet even we, in the New World, we, of its second or third generation, whose fathers were present at its birth and baptism, even we begin to talk gravely of the olden time, and to sigh and look sad over the melancholy grandeur of the past! ”

“ Although the public squares in New Orleans are neither numerous, nor upon a very extended scale, they are located with good taste, and are exceedingly convenient. The centres of Canal, Esplanade, Rampart and Basin streets have a very considerable space set apart for embellishments. Shrubbery, and other ornaments, are in progress, and they already begin to assume a beauty that does much credit to the city authorities. Nothing is more conducive to health than these pleasant resorts for wholesome exercise. ”

“ There is a steamboat constantly plying from here to the city, which affords a desirable excursion of nearly three miles, touching at Lafayette in its passage each way. The village has a rural appearance, is regularly laid out, and exhibits some neat tenements. The forest approaches quite near; and, the idea that one may so easily lose himself in the neighboring woods, gives to the place a touch of romance which only the denizens of a crowded city know how to appreciate. ”

“ Thus, to almost a chance expression from the kind heart of woman, New Orleans is mainly indebted for the prosperity of one of the noblest of her humane institutions.
From this moment, the Asylum assumed a firm standing. A suitable house was at once commenced. The second municipality gave a thousand dollars, and the legislature at different periods, twelve thousand dollars. In 1840 the whole was completed, and the children, to the number of about one hundred, took possession. Since that time they have averaged one hundred and forty-five annually. They receive the rudiments of a good education. ”

“ The most productive district of this State, is a belt of land, called "the Coast," lying along the Mississippi, in the neighborhood of New Orleans. It consists of that part of the bottom, or alluvion, of the Great River, which commences with the first cultivation above the Balize, about forty miles below the capital, and extends about one hundred and fifty miles above it. This belt on each side of the river, is secured from an overflow by an embankment, called "the levee," from six to eight feet in height, and sufficiently broad, for the most part, to furnish an excellent highway. ”

“ Combining all the most striking peculiarities of the common sailor, the whaleman, the backwoodsman, and the Yankee, without imitating, or particularly resembling any one of them, they are a class entirely by themselves, unique, eccentric, original, a distinct and unmistakeable feature in the floating mass that swarms on the levees, and threads the streets, of the Crescent City. ”