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

New ORLEANS, April 2G.-The Hor.
Charles Gayarre, the historian and
Jurist, delivered lecture last evening
at Tulane University, entitled: "The
Creoles of Romance and the Creoles of
History" After explaining the origin
of the word creole, from the Spanish
c,ior-to create-and saying that it
strictly meant person Of white blood,
he went on to show that the creoles had
a horror of miscegenaiion, as shown in
the "Biacll Code" familiar to Mr..
Cables readers in the story of ssBras
| Coupe" which code remained in force
after 10 uisiana become one of the sister
hood of States. That code passed an
impossible barrier between the races,
and rendered any relat ols betwe en-
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
have formed with distinguished Euro
peans and Americans. and the men as
distinguished, both in this country and
in 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 Iaho0s."
Mr.. GayaIre admitted that he had
read none of Mr.. Cables works except
''The Grandissimes.' He quoted o
Philadelphia paper as saying that,
,k-i hn nrl-
it bore every evidence of faithfully por-
traying a peculiar people. This opinion
being held in the North, it became
important that the crcoles themselves
should correct it. He then proceeded
to discuss what he called the monstrous
ahsurdi,ies 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 the limits of those liberties
which fancy in lis widest flights may
be permitted to take with com mon
sense. But when he makes them
prefer not the French, not the negro
pdtOiS, but the broken Engiish of the
negroes Of Virginia and the Carolinas,
the pervcrsion Of his intellect becomes
overpowering and incomprchensible.
He is either ignorant Of what he is
writing or knowingly pcrverts the
truth. No intelligent creole negro
could understand the jargon attributed
to them
The lecturer humorously referred to
the ball with which the story of the
Grandissimes is opened, where "the
perfumed air Of the ball room was
thrilled with the wailing ecstasy of
violins," followed by ga never ending
rout Of screaming harmonies," or ga
burst of laughter, as fantastcally alb
surd and ridiculously fancifuI. He
continued:
"Agricola de Grandssime, introduced
ut this ball, was an uncouth mass OF
pomposity, who could only exist in an
imbecile population. "Thc chiidlikc
badinagc" between the two pcrsonages
who represented in the book the re-
fined and intellectual in creole society
was the Silliest that ever Issued from
human lips. Mr.. Cables crcolcs always
laughs when he speaks, and is in all
things an imbecile."
The speaker protested against the
Grandissimcs and the Grapions as types
of high-bred creoles, and wondered
that the French Government, after
prohibiting the settlement of Iugue-
nots in Louisiana should have furnished
Huguenot .fVe dc Ia cnSscHc with
passage to that colony and with
trousseau and husband upon arrival.
"What did Mr.. Cable mean by the
"ill specimens" Of the three races
Indian, negro and French-from which
the coIouists took their wifes &? Evi-
IDENTIFY the least virtuOuS of each. This
is serious charge, and is not tempered
by an article by the same author in the
"Encyclormiia Britannica" in which
he says: "A few years after its found
ing New Orleans was little more than
a squalid village Of deportcd galley
slaves" Never did offspring show
such hostility to his mother rs Mr..
Cable has New Orleans. 7 call upon
Mr.. Cable to name single one of the
old families that fell within the blight
ing radius of his description. If he
cannot, hc has IN; ciouSly slandcrCd
population that he seems To hate in
tcnsily.
"The prcpuSterous pride ofthe Crcolcs
that made Agricola Eusilicr surrender
property rather than rest under the
charge of having won il unfairly, that
made widow refuse to diStvow a
debit pf honor of her htSbopl'S and