National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-12-09
LOUISIANA.
INTERESTING LETTER FROM NEW Or
LEANS

LEANS.
rCOrrespendence If The National Republican
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 3.-"The people Of Lou
isisnan has come to be literally a haekneyed
phrase in the political world. The makeup
character and political cast Of the people Of Lou
isiana, it would seem, as natural consequence,
should be pretty generally understood. And yet,
despite all that has been said, we hazard little in
the assertion that to-day, of all the States in the
Federal Union, the least Of actual fact is known
Of Louisiana. Louisiana is as unlike her sister
States of the South as are the Southern States,
in general, to those Of the North. The rest pre-
sent the peculiarities in common that give to the
people of the South recognized sectional char
aeter. Louisiana, in marked distinction, presents
a body polite peculiar to herself alone. Ineom-
prehensible as it may seem, Louisiana is, TO all
intents and purposes, practically foreign rather
than an American State. Taking the masses Of the
people as they run, save In the exercise Of the
rights Of citizenship, they are 40 more American
to-day than are those Of any Of the various prin-
eipalities Of Europe.
1t may we'll be doubted, in fact, If there are not
such European States presenting in their COM
position as much or more Of Il e genuine Ameri-
can element as can be found in Louisiana.
Leaving out the blacks proper as, at least,
latter day element of the body polite, and we
find q very small proportion, indeed, that can
be classed as American. Striking out those OF
English nationality again, and the proportion
Of such as are to be Chased of Anglo-Saxsn de-
scent is, at best, comparatively insignificant.
Cayil who may, in fact, there is no eVading the
issue that, viewed from an American standpoint,
at least, the body polite found in Louisiana is
decidedly foreign in all that constitutes State
and people. 1t is not only Of foreign extraction,
It is foreign in language, foreign in feeling,
foreign in manners, customs and general appear
ance-fOreign in everything. Nor is
THE STATE
-
or perhaps, more appropriately speaking, those
Of foreign extraction, composing in the main the
elements Of the body polite. On the contrary,
the moral material and political prosperity of a
State cannot we'll be imagined. Originally both
Spanish and French colony, by turns it was set
tied by such classes Of immigrants as q spirit Of
adventure, the necessity Of refuge, or the wants
ofeither country might recognize as available ma
terial. II we are to credit the historian in fact,
the makeup Of the original eOlonists as thus
thrown into Louisiana was such as augered but
poorly indeed for the race in line of succession.
That we may not be accused OF detracting from
the merits of the Louisiana prOgenitOrs we refer
any and all Of the curious to that thoroughly
reliable and very readable bOOk-the History Of
Louisiana, by GayarTe. To say the least Of It, is
shows the rank and file Of the original cOlonists
as but motley crowd at best, of whom the least
the main of the lower grades Of the various ma
tiOnalities Of Latin extraction Their descendants
are found preserving in a marked degree the char
They are found at the same time as a general
cross or mixture of the whole. There is thus pre-
scented in Louisiana mongrel race, such as GER
tainly nowhere else is TO be found in America II,
intact, in the civilized world.
NEW ORLEANS,
the monetary, commercial and representative cen
tre-the Paris, in fact, Of LOuisiana-is estimated
as containing somewhere in the neig hbOrhOod Of
200 600 souls. or these scarcely more than twenty
per cent, or 10000 all told, can be classed as Of
Anglo-SaxOn descent. The city is divided
into what is known as French Town and
American Town French Town the New Or
leans Of the Olden time contains probably $1,000
inhabitants OF these probably not to exceed
5000 are Anglo SaXOns. The rest are to be
classed as CFeOles and blacks. The CreoIes
again to be divided into the CreOleS prOper-the
PagOes and the cOlOred CreOles. At best, the
respective grades or classes are so mixei and
crossed, the one with the other, as to make it
difficult to say where to begin or leave OF in
drawing the dividing line.
The CreOles proper are such as claim to be the
lineal descendants Of the original Spanish and
French colOnists and immigrants OF later era.
The Pages are recognized cross between the
various Latin races composing the rank and nile
Of the cQlonists Of the Qldel time. the c9lQTed
CreOles, again, are an immediate cross between
the Creole of the various social and distinctive
grades and his slave. All are foreign in every
thing that pertains to the American. Very few
indeed save of the upper or more exclusive grades,
speak the English language in a manner that
would be Ineligible TO a stranger. with gen
eral confusion Of languages or tongues, the only
common dialect is such as must pass for French.
Like the races in general, as used among the
masses, IL Is of a mongrel nature-one which
Partisan would esteem an insult to be called upon
to acknowledge.
THE FRENCH CREOLEs.
Beginning with the upper grades, or the would
be more aristOcralc representatives Of the So
called French CreOles, and passing down throuSa
the various degrees Of caste rigidl maintained,
and all are found as exclusive to the last degree
| Politically they know OF no allegiance, save as
due to Louisiana and Creole Louisiana at that.
As q rule, they arc found set bitterly preJudeed
against any and all not native to the state.
They are particularly bitter in their prejudices
against all new corners, save, at least, as tmme-
diately from France, or some OF the various Latin
races from which they were originally descended.
! French Town, as thus constituted, is as much a
! foreign city as is Rome or Naples. In American
| Town, while the same elements are found in largo
| proportions, as indeed they are all over the
| ton. Here is a large element OF Germans, Eng
| lish and Irish, as also liberal mixture Of the
| the element is decidedly foreign. There is very
| little of the American ut best in It's
composition. The, French, or, more prop
| cidcdly prcdomnates. AS with New Orleans, SO
with the State OF Louisiana. 1t is foreign in its
makeup and eompOsitiOn-a foreign community,
| stitutional requirement made it necessary that
both the President Of the Senate and the Speaker
| OF the House should be cOnyeTSant with both
French and English, so as to be able to address
| the members of their respective Houses in either
language. Up TO 1852 the constitution made II re-
Quisite that all legal documents should be pub
| lIshed in French.
THE LANGUAGE.
Not a small proportion Of the state is found, in
| fact to-day in which the French Is almost eXclu
| siyeiy spoken There are numerous parishes IN
| which the English languagei Is seldom or never
| heard. Taking the parishes Of Lafayette, Yer
million, Iberia, st. Martins and large share oil
st. Isaudu, VIC find them peOpied almost eXclu
siyely by Acadians They are the same Aeadtans
save as sadly degeneTated, as we read OF In NOya
Scotia in the Olden time. Not one in ten, II l!
safe to say, can read word in any language
Not one IN six perhaps, can understand word o
English, much less talk it. Like the Creoles
the PagOes and the foreigners generally, theI
form thoroughly reliable Democracy. BefOri
| the war they were voted as many cattle bI
the large landed pTOprietOrs by whom they WeTi
! surrounded. Since the war they have been LEI
as so many mere puppets, at will BY the Demo
cratic politicians. They may be said to have a
much Of an idea Of q republican government o
| freedom Of opinion in general as have the native
! Of Abysslnil. They form no incOnSiderable portion
| nevertheless of 1.-The people" SO anxious Tor Tn
| welfare OF Louisiana under Democratic rule.
with these parishes, So with others. In the PAT
| ishes OF Terrsbonne, Latoushe and ST. MARY
| too, We ind the almost exclusive language
| French. IL is thus, in measure, all over IN
state. There are localities in every direction I
! which the various Creole elements decidedl
predominant, and in which the English languag
Is comparatively unknown. They go, Win
comparatively small element Of naturaliZed iol
eigneTs, an equally small element cl American
proper, ana the poor white trash" OF the mil,
10 make up the Democratic Wh0le-"tne Peopl
| OF Louisiana" DOT.