There is not a city in the United States so well regulated, and so
thorough in enforcing laws and regulations, as are the authorities of
the city of New Orleans. And in no place is a person, in purse and
property, more safe, at all times of day and night, and in every part
of the city. And yet, in this respect, it is far different from what is
understood by the people of the Northern States. The impression exists
with almost every one, that to walk the streets at night, or to be
caught in the suburbs of the city, the bowie knife, the dirk, and the
pistol, will be the first thing to flash in his face; and to escape the
gang of assassins is impossible. But far from this are the facts. Even
females can walk the streets after dark without an attendant, and be
perfectly secure from insult or molestation.
The city is divided into three municipalities, each being under a
distinct and separate government. Hence, no doubt, a strife arises, in
enacting and enforcing wholesome and salutary laws, at least so far as
security for person and property are concerned. Certainly there are
fewer murders, robberies, and burglaries, according to the population,
than in any other place in the civilized world of its size. Another
very important and very salutary regulation is, the disposition they
make of vagrants. A man appearing ragged, dissipated, and degraded, and
laying about the streets, without any visible means of support, either
by labor or money, is arrested and taken before the Recorder, and
unless he can make some show for himself, he is sentenced to the work
house for sixty or ninety days, and in all this transaction you find
no low unprincipled pettifogger, as is the case in New York, volunteer
to defend him. Such an interference by a lawyer, in New Orleans, would
forever disgrace him. After the vagrant has served his time of sentence
out, you will see him make his way out of the city, cursing the very
stones on which he treads, not even venturing to look behind him,
fearing that he may be again arrested before he can escape. The effect
of this stringent regulation is to keep the city entirely clear of
this class of day and night peculators. It is also a note of warning
to that horde of plunderers and robbers who operate on a larger scale;
for they are sure there will be no favor shown them by a pettifogging
construction of the laws, nor _flaws_ found in the indictment, by which
he can escape against the evidence of his guilt. And in more than this,
you will find New Orleans differing from other cities. You cannot
find here a coat of mail thrown around the culprit by the influence of
money, through which the law cannot penetrate. Neither can you find in
the halls of justice, a back-door avenue by which you can reach the
jury box, or the prosecuting attorney, or the Court. Hence the vicious
are cautious how they lay their hands on their neighbor’s property, and
woe to him who invades his neighbor’s rights, so as to fall within the
meshes of the law. These regulations and features in the government
of the city are the only wholesome rules of which it can boast, and
present the only redeeming trait in the whole frame-work of its laws,
its manners or customs, except the system of common schools.