The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1885-05-02
DEFENDING TIE CREOLES.
Comparing the Crcoles Of History with
MIR. Cables Crcolcs of Romance,

NEW ORLEANS, April 26.-Thc Ho,
, Charles Gayarre, tho historian an
Jurist, delivered a lecture last evenin
. at Tulane University, entitled: eth
r Creoles of Romance and the Creoles {
History" After explaining the origi
OF the word creole, from the Spanis
c'Iar-to create-and saying that i
strictly meant a person Of white blood
ne went on to show that the creoles ha,
a horror OF miscegenation, as shown i,
the "Blacl> Code" familiar to Mr.
Cables readers in the story of "Bra
Coupe" which code remained in fore
after Louisiana become one of the sister
hood of States. That code passed al
impossible barrier between the races
and rendered any relat o1s betwe er
them except those of master and slave
impossible.
The lecturer, after extolling the
creole women for their beauty, grace
and intelligence and the alliances they
nave formed with distinguished Euro.
peans and Americans. and the men as
distinguished, both ia this country and
III Europe, as statesmen, authors, so
cialists, and artists, said:
"And this is the population which
one born in its bosom and claiming by
virtue OF that accident the right to speak
in the name of Louisiana and the whole
South, represents as little better than
Gullivcr's Yahoos."
MIR. GayaIrc admitted that he had
read none of Mr.. Cables works cxccpt
"Fhc GrandissimcS.' He quoted q
Philadelphia paper as saying that.
while the work was undoubtedly dull.
1t bore every evidence of faithfully por-
traying a peculiar people. This opinion
being held in the North, it became
important that the crcolcs themselves
should correct it. He then proceeded
to discuss what he called nc mOnstrOus
absnrdities of the work. He said:
"If Mr. Cable had represented the
most distinguished of our creole families
as having forgotten to speak French,
and as using only the jargon which the
negroes had constructed, out of that
language, this invention would have
FAR exceeded tho limits of those liberties
which fancy in lis widest flights may
be permitted to take with common
sense. But when he makes them
prefer not the French, not the negro
,oafois, but the broken English of The
negroes OF Virginia and the Caroliuas.
the pcrversion of his intellect becomes
and incomprclicnsibic.
lie is either ignorant of what he is
or knowingly perverts the
truth. No Intelligent creole negro
could understand the jargon attributed
10 them"
The lecturer humorously referred TO
The ball with which the story of the
is opened, where "the
Derfumed air of the ball room was
thrilled with the wailing ecstasy of |
followed by ga never ending
'out of screaming harmonies,n or "a
BURST of laughter, as Enthusiastically alb
'urd and ridiculously fancirul. lie
"Agricola de Grandissime, introduced
1t this ball, was an uncouth mass of
who could only exist in an
mbeciie population. "Thc childIikc
oadinagc" between the two personages
who represented in the book the re-
ined and intellectual in creole society
was the silliest that ever issued from
luman lips. Mr.. Cables crcolcs always
aughs when he speaks, and is in all
hings an imbecile."
The speaker protested against the
and the Grapions as types
If high-bred creolcs, and wondered
hat the French Government, after
the settlement of Hugue-
lots in Louisiana should have furnished
1Iuguenot .fNc de IL casscWc with
'assage to that colony and with a
and husband upon arrival.
"What did Mr.. Cable mean by the
sill specimens" Of the three races
indian, negro and F'rcnch-from which
he colonisis took their wifes ? Eyi-
ently the least virtuous Of each. This
5 serious charge, and is not tempered ,
y an article by the same author in the
Encyclopaedia Britannica" in which {
&c says: GA few years after its found
ng New Orleans was little more than {
s1ualid village Of deported galley {
lavcs." Never did offspring show :
uch hostility to his mother as Mr.. t
able has New Orleans. I call upon $
Or. Cable TO name single one of the
Id families that fell within the blight, !
ng radius of his description. Ir he Z;
annot, he has IN; ciously slandcrcd a :
Opula'ion that he seems to bate in |
,nsily. i
"Thc prcpuStcrouS pride of the crcUlcs {
hat made Agricola Fu7iiier surrender I
ropcr'y rather than rest under the /
barge of having won il unfairly, that {
iadc widow refuse to dis,vow
cbt OF honor Of her husbands, and