The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-08-01
THE "CREOLE" DEFINED.
No. 1874 TERPsIcHoRE STREET.
SUNDAY, July Is, 1875.

r Mr.. P. s. Moran:
Il Dear Sir-Your note acluaints me that,
n consequence of many discussions which yc
have heard, and Of various opinions whie
you have read in print, you request me
give you the true meaning Of the VOL
"Creole" Not of my own knowledge, but Of
of the authority Of the best approved write
who mention the word, most cheerfully con
, ply with your request, while it will be m
endeavor to remove misconception, whic
ignorance has, so long and SO often, attache
on the term both at home and abroad. Tn
evidences brought out for your consideration
are SO clear and unmistakable that she VIII
runs may read"
In the first place, quote from Worcester
Yankee Dictionary, assisted by Webster
word-mongery Creole, a native of Spanisl
America or of the West Indies, born of Euro
pean Ancestors, as distinguished from any res
ident inhabitant born in Europe, as also dis
| tinguished from the offspring of mixed blood
as the maddto born of a negro mother and 9
n,estizo born of an Indian mother"
This definition, on the face of it, looks fair.
ly enough; but it is as full of absurdity as is
an egg Of addle. It violates the grand, logi.
cal law that every definition, to be impregna-
| ble must apply "u,i, solo ct toto" Apply
uni to one thing; solo, to that one thing only
and to none other; toto, wholly and exclusive
| ly to that one thing and to none other. This
is the irrevelsible law of mind, which con-
trolls the fullness and the accuracy of def nj
tions. Worcester's, borrowed from the Popu-
lar Cyclop@dia, as he borrowed "bleyme"
from Farriers Vocabulary, is sinful in two
Of its branches, at least, because however
rare the case may be-and we thank God
that, in spite of the 18th, 14th and 18th cor
ruptions of the Constitution, it is rare-a nau-
lato may be the get of negro. out of the
body Of q v bite woman, just as a mestizo may
be faihered by an Indian out of white
woman. OF the latter, have met instances
in my residence in Central America where I
have found pure and no mistake white
women, yoked to pure and no mistake Indian
men.
Now, dear sir, in opposition to the Yankee
definition, dated Cambridge, Massachusetts,,
1853. let me invite your attention to the Die
tionary of the Spanish language published by
the Royal Academy Of Madrid in 1862, which
thus plainly defines the word "creole -
some born in either of the Indies, whether
the East or the West Indies, of Spanish
parents, or Of parents Of other nations, aoho are
not Indians" This word, 'creOle, is one IN
VENTED BY THE SPANISH CoSQUERoRs OF
AMERICA AND BY THEM MADE COMMON IN SPAIN,
to distinguish their European progeny, as we
learn from Acosta's. History of the Indies, in
the fourth book and chapter the twenty fifth.
The definition goes on to say: g This word
creole in course of time, came to apply
not only to children born of European
parents, but it was also extended to animals, |
and fruits. Hence they had creole |
horses, creole peas, creole beans and creole |
-four, to distinguish these, no doubt, from the |
like which were imported into the colonies
from Spain. h'3
The next definition, relative to this ques-
ton, derived from the profound work OF Co. |
on the "Origins of the Spanish Ian
guage," from its Carthsginian sources. rum
ming, through the Gothic and Moorish eras,
down to the period in which he wrote. He |
states that the word criolo-a crsole-is an
''inuention of Spain born parents to denote
their children, begotten and born in America"
A next definition, connected with the ear.
Ter significance of the word Creole, is in the
rrevoux Grand Dictionary, work of the
earned Jesuit Fathers, written in this wise:
: This word, in French, was formerly written
riole, as derived from the Spanish verb criar,
o beget, to bring up, ETC., It is now w..tten
veole and is the appellation given to a child
# European origin-no longer limited to
'panish origin, as you may perceive-of Euro
'ean origin, born in any one of the colonies
f the two Americas. This name was after
Yards naisdpplied to negroes and mulatoes
yhether free born, or born in slavery, either
rom African parents, or from mixed white
nd black blood. 1t was, in after years. used
a speaking of animals and even of vegeta-
les and fruits" 4.aa .lsnssr I.,sa-.7
Now, putting aside the dictionaries, Listen
0 the language of V. de Solorzlno, one of
he most profound jurists of Spain, mem
er of the "Supreme Council and the Board
f Policy in Spanish America" and hear
that, as a jurisprudent, he has to say in his
Nv. Commentaries -" Who and what are
reoles? 1t is my duty, as an expounder of
lw-cono interprete de derecho--to say some
hing concerning those who, in the two In
les, are born of Spanish parents; because, in q
hose countries it is the custom to call them
creoles, Just as it is customary to call mes {
EOS those who are born Of Spanish fathers {
nd Indian Mothers and 'mulatoes, those .
orn OF Spanish fathers and negro mothers.
D SO much as relates to the Il rst-entiendO los
'iollos - mean the creoles, there can be no
oubt that they are true, white .Spaniards, .
nd that, as such, they are entitled to all the .
ghts honors and privileges of their Spanish
arents, granted by various Charters and Let I,
RS Royal, to the colonies Of Spain, since the .
avs of the conquest of Mexico. ;,
1.-The reason of this is clear, because, as off !.
brings of Spanish parents, although begot- =
N riados-in those remote and barbarous =
,gions, they do not share in the accidental
yelling place; but they do, in the land, of :
leir parents origin and birth. By virtue of :,
lis doctrine, more extensively explained in Z
y works, ON the laws Of the Indies, written =
the Latin language, the principle. settled !
7 the civilian, has lately been consecrated by 4
10 canonical decision of the Apostolic Court !,
Rome. 1t DEGREES that Rev. Father Alonzo
, Aguero, Creole of the city of Lima, re-
ntly elected to the Priorate of the Anguish
an College, the statutes of which require =
at the head shallbe Spaniard, was lawful ~ -
elected to the dignity, being the son of y
Danish parents and born under the jurisdic- ~
IN Of Spain in one of her colonies" Ia order 81
show the she er and welLdefned discrimi- " v
zion between creole and mestizo, or any = .
her mixed generation, Solorzano quotes o
,m Oviedo's History Of Chill an account Of !. =;
'kirmish between body of insurgents AMI - -
,ops of the Spanish government in which the VI