THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF NEW ORLEANS,--OF BILOXI,--NATCHEZ.--GOVERNOR
IBERVILLE AND HIS SUCCESSOR.
Iberville, the father of Louisiana, having formed a settlement at
Biloxi, by erecting a fort and leaving a garrison, proceeded up the
river, and established a town at Natchez, on that splendid bluff which
towers above the angry waters of the Mississippi. On his departure for
France, his brother, Bienville, was made Governor, and he appears to
have been anxious to procure a more eligible site for the capitol of
the province than either of those which his predecessor had selected.
Dropping down the vast current he most patiently made a thorough
examination of the banks from Natchez to the gulf, and finally
determined to make the Crescent Bend the future capitol. His judgment
was good, although the visitor frequently wonders why the city was
not placed nearer the ocean. It was, perhaps, the most elevated
spot convenient to the outlet, and was certainly nearest Lake
Pontchartrain, upon the commerce of which the founder no doubt made
reasonable calculations. But whether the settlement of New Orleans was
the result of accident, as many suppose, or of well conceived design,
it matters but little. It was selected by Bienville, and he threw
fifty able men forthwith into the forest to felling the trees, exactly
one hundred and twenty-nine years ago! In defiance of the united
opposition of Natchez and Biloxi, the Governor pushed forward his
work. It appears that in the very outset this place encountered
difficulties of various kinds, which thwarted its prosperity for
nearly a century. While only one year old, the Mississippi rising to
an unprecedented height, swept away every vestige of human innovation.
Being totally abandoned for three years, it was again settled by
Delorme, "who acting under positive instructions, removed to it the
government establishment." In the following year it contained about
one hundred houses scattered in all directions, with no regularity,
with no dyke to protect them from the rolling waves, no fort to
repel the incursions of the Indians; without the smallest luxury and
comfort, without society, without religious enjoyment, reduced by
disease and assailed by the venom of every tropical insect, did these
enterprising sons of France struggle for existence and a town. No
sooner were they left to some kind of repose than they were visited
by a dreadful tornado, which blew away their houses, destroyed their
shipping, and ruined their gardens. But New Orleans has risen above
all disasters and opposition. One of the most remarkable characters of
that day was Governor Bienville. He must have been a determined man,
with great good sense, and had the confidence of the citizens. He was
made Governor three times, and for many years exercised a salutary
influence over the destinies of Louisiana.
A few years after this period, a body of Jesuit priests and nuns
arriving from France, gave a new impetus to the town. They made a most
fortunate location, and their property greatly augmented in value. But
these pious adventurers were also to be disturbed. The Pope of Rome
not only expelled that sect from Europe, but pursued them in American
exile. Their property in New Orleans, variously estimated to be worth
now, from fifteen to thirty millions, was then confiscated and sold
for one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. These unfortunate
people still further had to satisfy the tyrannical decree to the
full measure, by leaving Louisiana! Fifty-one years elapsed from the
settlement of Orleans until it was visited by that dreadful disease,
the yellow fever, and we may ascribe that affliction, as we may do
many other entailed evils, to the English. They introduced it
by importing to Louisiana a cargo of slaves; and now these
philanthropists would be willing to see our nation exterminated, and
our throats cut, because we are pursuing a system of mild domestic
slavery, when they imposed it upon us in the most heartless and
aggravated form, by kidnapping and robbery!!! But I am digressing.
To terminate this very rapid and imperfect sketch of the history of
Orleans, I will introduce a brief summary, with the remark, however,
that the Louisianians had every impediment thrown in their way in
endeavoring to become a prosperous and happy people. They were handed
over by the French government to a chartered company, who afterwards
returned them to the government. They were then sold to Spain, and a
remorseless governor of that nation introduced a system of plunder and
oppression. Afterwards Spain ceded this country again to France, and
France sold it to the United States for fifteen millions of dollars! A
sum that startled many of our economical republicans of that day,
but which, compared to the advantages of the purchase and the revenue
since derived, was a most paltry sum. In 1778 a fire consumed nine
hundred houses. In 1785, seventy years after it was founded, the
population was only four thousand seven hundred and eighty. In 1791
the first comedians arrived from Cape Francois. In 1800 Spain receded
the province to France, and it was purchased by the United States in
1803. In 1810 the population amounted to twenty-four thousand five
hundred and fifty-two souls: Ever since the cession to the United
States the strides of the city of Orleans have been rapid, and her
march onward!