"A Brief History of New Orleans" and "The Health of New Orleans" Orleans Parish, LA Submitted by: Cheramie Breaux Source: The 1841 New Orleans City Directory Louisiana Section, Main Branch, New Orleans Public Library Date: November 1999 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** [Editor's Note: "The Health of New Orleans" mentions a list of victims of the 1841 yellow fever epidemic which follows the text. This list has been included on the web site as a separate file, named appropriately.] Brief History of NEW ORLEANS. The Capitol of so rich a State as Louisiana has an interest attached to its history, second only to, and intimately connected with, the history of the State itself. Louisiana, as discovered by Herman de Soto, in the year 1538, comprised Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, South Tennessee, and Missouri, within its limits. This vast tract of country, from the King of France, received its romantic and musical name--while the name of the first discoverer of the river Mississippi, a gallant chevalier of Spain, lingers only as the designation of one the new counties of the State named after the river, more than six hundred miles from the spot where its mighty waters meet and mingle with the waves of the Mexican Gulf. De Soto, the brave and enthusiastic Spaniard, little thought when he scoured this virgin world to find its fabled mines of gold, that he was opening a realm in which the lilies of France might bloom for centuries, and its soft language be spoken to the exclusion of the stately Castillian. Baptized in its dark waters in his death, like the Vandal King who caused himself and his treasure to be buried in the bed of the Tiber, and then bade "______________its everlasting springs Flow back upon the King of Kings," De Soto's name seemed to be swallowed up by the rolling waters that overwhelmed his remains; and it was scarcely known or heard of until dragged out of the mines of Spanish literature by the gifted Irving. Marquette, a French Missionary, in the year 1673, succeeded De Soto in the honor of the discovery of the Great River, which he approached from the north, while Lasalle traced it from the Gulf, and was the discoverer of its mouth. In 1698, Iberville, the father of the Colony of Louisiana, established a settlement at Biloxi, now in the State of Mississippi; and in 1718 Bienville founded the City of New Orleans, which has since become so illustrious in the history of the South. In 1732, the population of the City and Colony was five thousand whites, and two thousand blacks. Bienville was three times appointed Governor, and left the Colony with the name of being its father, in the year 1741, (one hundred and one years ago). The Marquis of Vandreuil was appointed to succeed him. In 1754, the population of the Colony was greatly increased by the arrival of a large number of emigrants from Acadia, now called Nova Scotia--they were flying from the tyranny of the British government; and again, in 1759, the same reason caused a great many Canadians to seek a refuge in Louisiana. The conquest of Canada by the British was followed by a treaty of peace, wherein France ceded not only all her rights to Canada, but to the province of Florida, making the river Mississippi the dividing line between the possessions of the two countries, reserving only the Island of Orleans on the eastern side. But this, and all the rest of Louisiana was also taken from France by an ignominious treaty by which the Colony was ceded to Spain. The news of this cession spread dismay through the Colony; the inhabitants resolved on resistance rather than submit to the dominion of Spain. This resolution they carried to a certain extent into execution, for Don Ulloa, the first Representative of the Spanish Monarch who appeared, was driven from the Colony; but shortly afterward a fleet arrived commanded by Don O'Reilly, who, partly by fair promises and partly by intimidation, induced the Louisianians to surrender without striking a blow. O'Reilly took command of the Colony, and commenced his administration by causing five of the principal citizens, Lafreniere, Millet, Boisblanc, Marquis, and Carriere, to be shot, five others sent to the dungeons of Havana, and Villere to be assassinated, on account of their resistance to the cession. The next act of O'Reilly was to introduce the Spanish laws and system of Colonial government into the Colony. The murder of Lafreniere and his companions having been disapproved by Charles III, the Spanish King, O'Reilly was removed and disgraced. He was succeded by Unzoga, who was shortly afterwards superceded by Galvez. In 1779, war was declared between England and Spain, which allowed the military genius of Galvez a little exercise. He took Baton Rouge from the English in spite of an obstinate resistance, and in the ensuing year took Fort Charlotte, near where Mobile is now located; and shortly afterwards, by a well-combined movement on Pensacola, forced that place to capitulate--thus establish the dominion of Spain in Florida. Galvez, with other honors, received the Vice Royalty of Mexico, and was succeeded in Louisiana by Miro, who carried the tyranical Colonial system of Spain into full effect. In 1792, the Baron de Carondelet was appointed Governor. During his administration the first newspaper ever published in Louisiana was established. It was called "Le Moniteur". It was started in 1794. About this time the building of the Cathedral was erected. The Canal Carondelet commenced under this administration. It was also in the time of Carondelet that the culture of sugar cane was commenced in Louisiana, and that of indigo, which was the former staple commodity, abandoned. By the treaty of St. Lorenzo, in 1795, the navigation of the Mississippi was opened to the Western States of the Union, and thus the first step towards the pre-eminence of New Orleans was taken. This treaty also acknowledged the boundary of the United States to be that which now divides our florida parishes and Mississippi; but Carondelet being slow in yielding possession of the country about Natchez, it was taken by an armed force of Americans under Andrew Elliot. Gayosa de Lemor, Casa Calvo and Salado, were in succession appointed Governors of Louisiana for Spain. In 1801, the Colony was ceded back to France, in whose name possession was taken in 1808, merely to transfer it to the United States, under the well known treaty of cession, dated Paris, 30th April, 1803. Possession was taken for the United States by General Wilkinson and Wm. C.C. Claiborne. The population of Louisiana, which then included all Florida, and the towns of Mobile and Pensacola, Arkansas Territory and Missouri, was 49,474. Republican institutions have, since then, worked wonders, indeed. From this time, the history of Louisiana is so clearly interwoven in that of our great Union, that it is useless to enter into details. In 1804, the territory was divided into two Territorial governments. The lower one was called the Territory of Orleans; the Legislative Council of which, went into operation the same year. In 1805, the United States Bank established a Branch in New Orleans. In 1806, Burr's conspiracy was discovered and defeated. General Wilkinson acted a conspicuous part, and imprisoned Judge Workman for using the habeas corpus act to release certain persons Wilkinson had arrested. In 1807, several thousand emigrants from St. Domingo arrived; having been driven from their native land by the negro rebellion. In 1810, Baton Rouge was taken by a body of Americans; and Spain thus forced to confine herself to East Florida. In 1811, a serious negro revolt took place in the parish of St. John the Baptist. The blacks massacred a number of planters, and burned several plantations; they were, however, soon thoroughly routed by a company of militia, and their ringleaders hung. In 1812, Louisiana became one of the States of the Union, and formed her present Constitution, under which Claiborne was her first Governor. In this year the first steamboat built on the Mississippi, descended the river from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. The war with Great Britain followed immediately afterwards. With all its incidents, ending in the GLORIOUS 8th of JANUARY, our readers are familiar. About two months after the British had retired, Louallier, a member of the Legislature, made a publication against an order of General Jackson, removing to one hundred and twenty miles beyond the city, a number of Frenchmen, who, after joining bravely in the defense of the country, had obtained certain certificates of their national character, from the French Consul, for the purpose of leaving the army, which was still kept under arms, and returning to their families. This was immediately followed by a writ of habeas corpus, issued by Hall, the Judge of the United States court, for the release of Louallier. Whereupon, Judge Hall, in turn, was also imprisoned. Louallier was acquitted by a Court Martial; but neither he nor the Judge were released until official news of the peace had arrived. Hall had no sooner gained his authority as Judge, than he punished Jackson for a contempt of Court, by fining him one thousand dollars, which was paid by the people of the City. The following, which we extract from the first Directory ever published in New Orleans, is a condensed history of the city of New Orleans and its fortunes, compiled from Martin and other historians of Louisiana: In 1718, Bienville, then Governor of Louisiana, visited the banks of the Mississippi, in order to select a spot for the chief settlement of the province, which had hitherto been at Biloxi. He selected the present site on which New Orleans is built, and left fifty men to clear the ground and erect the necessary buildings. To removing the seat of government to the new spot he had selected, Bienville found much opposition, both from the military and from the directors of the company. Another great obstacle, for a while, seemed likely to prevent his design. In 1719, the Mississippi rose to an extraordinary height, and as the company did not possess sufficient force to protect the spot from inundation, by dykes, it was for the time abandoned. A party was in favor of placing the chief establishment in the country of the Natchez; but this party was small, and influenced by private motives and did not consequently prevail. The principal settlements of the Colony of Louisiana were then at Mobile, Dauphin Island and Pensacola, and the directors having fixed the prices at which goods were to be obtained in the Company's Stores at those places, exacted an advance of five per cent on these prices on goods delivered at New Orleans. In 1721, the survey of the passes of the Mississippi was completed by DePauger. He found the bar a deposit of mud about three hundred feet wide and about twice that in length, having about eleven feet of water. In November of 1722, in pursuance of orders, Delorme removed the principal establishment to New Orleans. In the year following, Charlevoix reached New Orleans from Canada by the way of the river; and agreeably to his account, New Orleans then consisted of one hundred cabins, placed without much order, a large wooden warehouse, two or three dwelling houses, and a miserable store house, which had been used as a chapel, a shed being converted into the house of prayer. The population did not exceed two hundred souls. It may not be uninteresting to note the prices of articles at this time. A negro was sold for one hundred and twenty-six dollars. Rice, three dollars the barrel; tobacco, six dollars fifty cents; wine, six dollars fifty cents; and brandy at thirty dollars the quarter cask. During the same year a party of German emigrants, who had been disappointed by the failure of the financier Law of settling on lands granted to him in the Arkansas, descended the river to New Orleans, in the hope of obtaining a passage back to France; but the government, unwilling or unable to grant it, small allotments of land were made them, at what is now called the German Coast. These people supplied the city with garden stuffs, and most of their descendants still cultivate the same land, but on a larger scale. In September of this year the city was visited by a terrible hurricane, which leveled to the ground the Church, Hospital and thirty houses; and three vessels that lay before it were driven on shore. So destructive was this hurricane to the crops and gardens, that a scarcity of provisions was the consequence, and such was the distress, that several of the inhabitants seriously thought of abandoning the colony. In the summer of 1727, the Jesuits and Ursuline Nuns arrived. The fathers were placed on a tract of land now forming the lowest part of the faubourg St. Mary. The Nuns were temporarily lodged in a house, at the corner of Chartres and Bienville streets; but soon after, the company laid the foundation of the edifice in Conde and Ursuline streets, to which they removed in 1730; and which was occupied by them, till they were induced by the great value of property, to divide the greater portion of their land, consisting of nearly three squares, into lots. They then erected their new convent, about two mils below the city, to which they removed in 1824. In the year above, the two building on the upper side of the cathedral were built, one a Council house, the other as a jail. The rescindment of the Company's exclusive right to the trade of Louisiana, and the encouragement lately given to its commerce, induced several vessels, in 1762, to visit New Orleans from St. Maloes, Bordeaux, Marsailles and Cape Francois. In 1763, Clement XIII expelled the Jesuits from the dominions of the King of France, Spain and Naples; they were consequently obliged to leave Louisiana; their property n New Orleans was seized, and sold under a decree of the Council for about one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. The same property is this day worth, exclusive of the improvements upon it, not less than fifteen millions. British vessels began to visit the Mississippi in 1764. They would sail past the city, make fast to a tree opposite the present city of Lafayette, and there trade with the citizens and people of the neighboring plantations. The colony was ceded to Spain during this year, and taken possession of by Don Alexander O'Reilly in 1769. The population of the province this year numbered, all told, of whites, five thousand five hundred and fifty-six, and nearly as many blacks. A disease similar to the yellow fever first visited New Orleans this year. The year following so intense was the cold, that the river was frozen for several yards on both sides. The exports during the last year of the subjection of the country to France, were: Indigo .......................$100,000 Deer Skins.................... 80,000 Lumber........................ 50,000 Naval stores.................. 12,000 Rice, peas and beans.......... 4,000 Tallow........................ 3,000 _________ Making........................$250,000 Few merchant vessels came from France; but the Island of Hispaniola carried on a brisk trade with New Orleans, and some vessels came from Martinico. The population of the city this year was 3190, and so great was the scarcity of provisions, owing to the great increase in population, that flour sold at twenty dollars the barrel. The commerce of the city now suffered vbery much, from the restrictive regulations of the Spanish. Its tradew was confined to the six ports of Seville, Alicant, Carthagena, Malaga, Barcelona and Corunna, and no trade was to be carried on except in Spanish vessels, owned and commanded by the King's subjects. From those ports, the merchandize necessary to the colonists could not be easily obtained, and their principal product was in but little demand. These restrictions were removed in 1778, and in 1782 the commerce of this province was greatly benefited by extensive privileges, among which, they were permitted to trade direct with every French port at which a Spanish Consul resided, an exemption from duty on negroes imported, to trade, in case of urgent necessity with the French West India Islands; a Custom House was to be built and they were permitted to purchase foreign vessels free from duty, such vessels to be considered Spanish bottoms The census for 1785, gives to the city a population of 4,980, exclusive of the settlements in the immediate vicinity. The expenses of the government of the whole province, composed of 32,114 souls, was $537,285. The commercial privileges alluded to above, revived the trade of New Orleans, and a number of merchants from France came and established themselves here. British vessels navigated the Mississippi, stopping to trade before any house, accepting in payment of merchandize what the planter had to spare, or giving long credits. The Americans began at that time the establishment of that trade from the West to New Orleans, which has steadily been increasing with the growth of the city. The idea of a regular trade was first conceived by General Wilkinson. A lucrative trade was also commenced by the Philadelphians, at which the colonial authorities winked. But the Spanish Minister, finding that he did not participate in the profits of it, the Americans refusing to comply with his hints to consign their ships and goods to his friends, procured a list of the names of the vessels, and severely reprimanded Navarro, the Intendant; he so worked upon his fears, that he began to prosecute all infringements of the revenue laws, seizing the vessels of the delinquents, confiscating their goods, and imprisoning the owners, captions and crews. On Good Friday of 1788, a fire broke out in a chapel of a Spaniard in Chartres Street, about three o'clock in the afternoon, and the wind being very high, nine hundred houses were consumed before it was extinguished. The Spanish Minister finding he had made himself very unpopular by his interference with the trade carried on between Philadelphia and New Orleans, seized this opportunity to release all the individuals he had imprisoned in consequence of those prosecutions, and to restore the confiscated property, and desisted from any further interference; the trade consequently greatly ncrease. General Wilkinson this year procured permission to send one or more launches from Kentucky, loaded with tobacco. The census this year shows an increase in the population of only 358, whilst the increase in the whole province amounted to nearly 10,000. In the year following, many Americans availed themselves of the privilege granted, and settled in the country. The first company of French Comedians arrived in this city in 1791. They came from Cape Francois, from whence they made their escape from the revolted slaves. Others of the emigrants opened academics, the education of the youth of Louisiana having hitherto been confined to the priests and the nuns. The Baron Carondelet arrived as Governor of the province in 1792. He divided the city into fourf wards--he recommended the lighting of the city and employing watchmen. The revenue of the city then, did not amount to seven thousand dollars, and to meet the charges for the purchase of lamps and oil, and to pay the watchmen, a tax of one dollar twelve and a half cents was laid on every chimney. He erected new fortifications around the city, a fort was built below the city, where the mint now stands, and another in the Upper part of the city, at the foot of Canal street; a strong redoubt was built in Rampart street, and at each of the angles of the city. He had the militia trained; in the city there were five companies of volunteers, one of artillery and two of riflemen; each of 100 men. Great commercial advantages were extended in February. The inhabitants were permitted to trade freely, in Europe and America, with all nations with which Spain had treaties of commerce. The merchandise thus imported was to be subject to a duty of fifteen per cent and an export duty of six per cent. The commerce with the Peninsula was free, &tc. &tc. The first Newspaper, "Le Moniteur de la Louisiane", was this year, 1794, printed in New Orleans, under the subjection of Spain. During the same year the Baron gave notice of his intention to dig a canal in the rear of the city, which was completed in 1796, and now belongs to the Navigation Company, known as the Canal Carondelet. The city was this year visited with another conflagration, which reduced many houses to ashes, the province was also desolated by a hurricane. In 1795, permission was granted by the King to the citizens of the United States, during a period of ten years, to deposit their merchandize at New Orleans. The lighting and watching of the city had been paid by a tax on chimneys, but the great destruction of houses by the conflagration rendered this provision insufficient, and the Baron Carondelet, ever alive to the interest of the city, proposed to the Cabildo, that a portion of the land beyond the fortifications, should be parceled out into small lots, to be leased out as gardens. The proposition, however, was not adopted; and a tax was laid on wheat, bread and meat. The commerce with the United States in 1799, had become sufficiently important, to induce the President to appoint a Consul, and Evan Jones was accordingly commissioned. By the treaty of St. Ildefonso, it was stipulated on the part of his Catholic Majesty, to cede within six months from the dates thereof, Louisiana to the French Republic. This cession was effected on the 21st of March, 1801. Daniel Clark was this year appointed Consul of the United States. By a treaty concluded at Paris on the 30th April, 1803, the First Consul ceded to the United States the province of Louisiana; and it was solemnly taken possession of on the 30th of November. The Cabildo was immediately abolished; and a Municipality substituted, of which Bore' was declared Mayor, and Destrehan and Sauve were associated with him. The first council was of Livaudais, Petit Cavalier, Villere, Jones, Fortier, Donaldson, Faurie, Allard, Tureaud and Watkins. Derbigny was Secretary, and Labatut, Treasurer. The public property consisted of two large brick stores running from Levee Street on either side of Main, destroyed by fire in 1822; a government house at the corner of Levee and Toulouse, also destroyed by fire in 1826; a military hospital, a powder magazine on the opposite side of the river, abandoned a few years since; an old frame custom-house; extensive barracks below the convent, partly remaining at this day; five miserable redoubts, a town house, market-house, assembly room, and prison, a cathedral and a presbytery, and a charity hospital. The population of the city did not exceed 8,056, and the whole population of the province numbered by 49,473; while what is now called Louisiana, contained less than 42,000. The duties at the custom house the year preceding the cession amounted to $117,515. This sum would have been much larger but for the corruption of the officers. Taxes were levied on the transfer of shipping, on legacies, on civil employments, on pilotage, of forty dollars on licenses to retail spirituous liquors, and saleable offices. The Catholic religion was the only one allowed publicly. The revenues of the city for 1802, amounted to $19,278; but a part of this was derived from casual sources. The expenses cannot be come at for want of complete data. We find items, amounting to $4,524; but no charge is made for keeping up the levee, cleaning and repairing streets, &tc. Considering that wages at that time were exceedingly low, an officer corresponding to our Commissary, who gets $100 per month, receiving then but $12, the amount will appear high. We have before us, in Martin, a list of the articles imported and exported during this year, but not their value. The annual produce of the province was estimated at 3,000 lbs. indigo; 20,000 bales cotton; of 300 lbs. each; 5,000 hogsheads sugar; 5,000 casks of molasses. There was a considerable manufacture of cordage and a few small ones of hair powder, vermicelli and shot in the vicinity of the city; about a dozen distilleries, in which about 200,000 gallons of taffa was made; and a sugar refinery producing about 200,000 pounds loaf sugar, of very inferior quality. Two hundred and fifty-six vessels of all kinds entered the Mississippi this year; eighteen of which were public armed vessels; the others merchantmen, as follow: Of American, 48 ships, 63 brigs, 50 schooners, and 9 sloops; of Spanish, 11 ships, 17 brigs, 4 polacres, 64 schooners, 1 sloop; of French, 1 brig. Of the American vessels, 23 ships, 25 brigs, 9 schooners and 5 sloops came in ballast; and 5 Spanish ships, and 7 schooners. The tonnage of the merchantmen was 23,725, register. In the same year there sailed from the Mississippi 158 American vessels, of 21,383 tons; 104 Spanish, of 9,753 tons; 3 French, of 105 do. The tonnage of the vessels that went in ballast not included. The coasting trade form Pensacola, Mobile and the rivers and creeks, falling into the lakes, was considerable. The city was, from these sources, supplied with ship timber, lime, charcoal, cattle, &tc. In 1804, the city of New Orleans was made a port of entry and delivery, and the Bayou St. John a port of delivery. The first act of incorporation was granted to the city of New Orleans by the Legislative Council of the Territory in 1805, under the style of the Mayor, Aldermen and inhabitants of the city of New Orleans. The officers were a Mayor, Recorder, fourteen Aldermen, and one Treasurer. This year a branch of the United States bank was established in New Orleans. The population of the city, suburbs and precincts in 1810, amounted to 24,552; having been trebled in seven years, under the new administration of affairs. On the 10th of January, 1812, the first steamboat, the New Orleans, arrived in this city, she was from Pittsburgh and descended in 259 hours. This may be correctly considered the greatest epoch in the history of this mighty emporium of the west and south-west. In August of this year, the city was again visited by a hurricane, which did great damage to the houses and the few shipping in port. Similar storms have since several times visited the city, doing little damage except to the shipping, which, in 1832 suffered very severely. In May, 1816, the levee on Maearty's plantation, about nine miles above New Orleans, broke through and inundated the city back of Bourbon Street. From three to five feet water remained on the ground for several days. The crevasse was finally closed by the exertions principally of Gov. Claiborne, by sinking a vessel in the breach, and filling it up with facines and earth. The inundation greatly deteriorated the soil over which it passed, and caused the cultivation of several of several plantations to be abandoned. At that time the city extended no further down than Esplanade Street, with the exception of some villas, scattered here and there along the levee; nor above, farther than Canal Street, with the exception of here and there a house, occupying a square of ground. A few houses had been erected on Canal and Magazine sts., but it was considered getting quite into the country to go beyond the Polar Star Lodge, which was at the corner of Camp and Gravier. There was not a street in the city paved. The late Benjamin Morgan made the first attempt some time afterwards, and was considered a visionary. The first great impulse given to the improvement of this part of the city, was Mr. Caldwell's erecting the American Theatre on Camp Street; the only access to which for a long time was over flat boat gunwales. This was in 1823-4; he was laughed at for his folly, and derided as a madman; but time soon proved his foresight, for he was soon followed by a crowd, that give life and spirit to that section; and in a few years, through the enterprise of a Banks, a Pritchard and others, we saw the suburb St. Mary reach its present advanced state of improvement and prosperity. New Orleans is situated in a bend on the left bank of the river, forming a beautiful crescent, 105 miles by the channel from the mouth of the Mississippi, in 30 degrees latitude, 90.8 W. from Greenwich, and about 13.9 W from Washington city, from whence it is distant south-west 1203 miles; 1000 miles below the Ohio, and 1200 below the mouth of the Missouri. This city is built on an inclined plane, descending gently from the river towards the swamp in the rear, so that when the Mississippi is at its full, the streets are three or four feet below the surface of the river. To prevent inundation, dykes have been made from the Balize to the high grounds some hundreds of miles above the city. The position of New Orleans as a vast commercial emporium, is unrivalled, as will readily be acknowledged by any person who will take the trouble to examine the map: for the Mississippi alone and its many tributaries, empty into its bosom the products of 20,000 miles of navigation. The city proper is in the form of a parallelogram, running alone the river about 1300 yards, and extending back about 700. This portion of the city is traversed by twenty-two streets, forming eighty-four principal and fourteen minor squares. The whole extent of the city, including its incorporated faubourgs, is not less than five miles parallel with the river, and perpendicular to the river, varying from a quarter to three quarters of a mile; and to the Bayou St. John, two miles. The houses are principally brick, except some few ancient and dilapidated dwelling in the heart of the city, and some new ones on the outskirts; the modern buildings, particularly in the upper part of the city, or Second Municipality, are generally three and four stories high, and with elegant and substantial granite fronts. The public buildings are numerous and many will vie with any of the kind in our sister cities, or in the world. These are all described in their proper places. The view of New Orleans from the river in ascending or descending, is beautiful and imposing; and upon landing and taking a lounge through the streets, a stranger finds difficulty in believing that he has arrived in an American city. The remark, however, applies more particularly to the centre and lower parts of our great metropolis; where the older buildings are ancient and of foreign construction, and where the manners, customs and language are so variant; the population being very nearly equally made up of Americans, French, Creoles and Spaniards, together with a large portion of Germans, and a good sprinkling of almost every other nation of the globe. During the business season, which may now be said to continue from the first of November until July, the levee in its whole extent is crowded with vessels of all sizes, from all quarters of the world; with hundreds of immense floating castles and places, called steam boats, with barges, flat boats, &etc. Nothing can present a more busy, bustling scene, than the levee at this time; the loading and unloading of vessels and steam boats, the transportation on 1500 drays, (the number licensed last year) of tobacco, cotton, sugar, and the various and immense produce of the Far-West, strikes the stranger with wonder and admiration. Gas was first introduced into New Orleans by our enterprising fellow citizen, James H. Caldwell, in 1834, he having lighted his Camp street Theatre several years previous. As far as the pipes extend the city is now lighted by it, and all hotels, and many shops, counting houses and stores. There are sixteen banks in New Orleans, with an aggregate capital of $40,000,000. The tonnage in 1828 amounted to 51,903; in 1830, the amount entered 118,663; departed, 142,334 tons. The imports during the same period were $7,599,083, about one-third in foreign vessels; and the exports were, of foreign, $2,445,952; domestic, $13,042,740. Total $15,188,692. The tonnage of 18367, amounted to 81,710. Blacks Whites Total The population in 1810 was 8001 16,551 24,552 1815 ---- ---- 32,947 1820 19,737 21,614 41,351 1825 --- --- 45,336 1830 21,280 28,530 49,826 The annual mortality of New Orleans, averages in ordinary years, about 3,800. Near one-fourth of these die at the Charity Hospital. Of these, it is estimated by competent authority, to whom we are indebted for these various details, Prof. Barton, that about one in fifty is taken off by pulmonary consumption, while to the North one in every five or six is taken off by this disease. Of pulmonary disease in general, it is here fatal to about one in thirty; while to the North, to about one in four! It is believed that about 500 die every year in passing through the acclimating process. No country in the world has suffered more unmerited obloquy than New Orleans, in relation to health. Probably there is no portion of American where the mortality is less than with our native and acclimated population. New Orleans has not been less slandered in regard to the morality of its inhabitants, than it has suffered from the exaggerated and false accounts of its healthiness. It has not only been represented as a Golgotha, but as a second Gomorrah; yet, the stranger reader has but to examine the pages of this work, and he will find that no city exceeds New Orleans, in the number of its churches, and its charitable institutions; and during the prevalence of the first great Cholera in this city, the yellow fever of last season, and indeed upon any occasion of its visitations by an epidemic or other calamity, our public bodies and citizens have opened their purses with munificent liberality. In 1832, the Cholera made its first appearance in this city; committees of the citizens, both make and female, were immediately formed, and besides the constant care and attendance bestowed upon the sick, more than thirty thousand dollars were expended in clothing, housing and nourishing the poor. THE HEALTH OF NEW ORLEANS No City on earth has been more slandered on account of its general health than New Orleans. The bugbear of its dreadful mortality is, however, fast fading away before the light of truth. The number of deaths in the years when the acclimating epidemic is most fatal, do not much exceed the number of deaths when the City did not contain one half the population which it does at resent--thus showing a progressive healthiness. The population of the City, at the present time, exceeding one hundred thousand souls, fully warrants the assertion, that fourteen or fifteen hundred deaths from yellow fever, chiefly of foreigners or those who have but lately become residents, cannot reasonably establish a character for extreme and deadly unhealthiness. Besides, we should take into consideration that New Orleans has but few cases of mortality from consumption and typhus fevers, so destructive to life in the northern Cities; also, it is not every year that the yellow fever prevails To place the ratio of deaths to the population in its true light, we extract from the able report of the Board of Health, made at the close of the epidemic of last year, 1841: Of the ten epidemic yellow fevers with which this City has been visited since the cession to the American government in 1803, the average loss (estimated from the best sources accessible to us) has not been over 800 by yellow fever. The most fatal epidemic was that of 1822. The deaths by this disease that year was 808--(see table A for comparison with this year)--the exact mortality from yellow fever of other years cannot be stated, as there has been no record kept of the detail; The whole mortality could only be made a subject of comparison, and that has been done in the annexed statement B of the three fall months. That statement will exhibit the relative mortality of all the epidemic years accessible to us. It shows a sensible reduction in the comparison of recent with former years. But, there is another mode of arriving at the same fact, showing the gradual amelioration of the climate under the improving hand of man, and that is in comparing a succession of years n which the epidemic did not exist--in separate series. The first series was formed from a number of years anterior to 1820--the average of whose mortality was 1 in every 29.03. The second series was formed of years between 1820 and 1830, and the mortality was found to be 1 in 31.74. The last was formed of those between 1830 and 1840, and was found to be 1 in 32.23; but if the last two non-epidemic years be taken (1838, '40) since the immense improvements in our physical condition, the average will be found to be 1 in 35.41. But if we deduct from the last series the mortality at the Charity Hospital, (and it is almost exclusively formed of the floating population never counted in the census) the ratio will be in 46.70; and if the two last years of it only be taken, the mortality will be reduced to 1 in 51.15, making this much the healthiest city in America. From these details it is evident that the Sanitary condition of New Orleans is steadily advancing, and we are sanguine in the conviction that it is susceptible of a great increase in its salubrity, with the improvement in its physical condition; and it is manifest that this progress is greater than it appeared to be; for no City in America has a greater relative floating population than this, who, while they are not counted in the census of our population, very materially aid to swell the bills of our mortality. The recise number will be hereafter known by the reports to this Board from the certificates required to accompany each body to the cemeteries. A. Comparison of the yellow fever of 1822 and 1841--1822, 808, or 1 in 53.28 of the entire population. 1841, 1325, or 1 in 78.21 of the entire population. These are the only years of exact official details. During 1822, the highest number on any one day of yellow fever, was 60, and of all cases, 80! During 1833, the largest mortality any one day of yellow fever, was 53--no specification as to disease. During 1841, the highest number from yellow fever, was 43, and the greatest mortality 60. B. Comparative mortality, from all diseases, during three months of the Years, ............................1817 1819 1820 1832 August..............................489 292 289 165 September...........................304 594 402 532 October.............................172 513 177 665 Total....................... 965 1199 868 1362 Ratio to entire population.........1 in 1 in 1 in 1 in 37.62 33.09 47.63 31.60 Years........................1833 1837 1839 1841 August.............................410 483 619 562 September..........................783 1188 648 1115 October............................565 568 297 654 Total....................... 2758 2239 1554 2231 Ratio to entire population.........1 in 1 in 1 in 1 in 37.27 38.76 61.73 48.15 The following is a list of the names of the persons who died of yellow fever the last autumn. It was laboriously and carefully prepared for the New Orleans Evening Post from the official orders sent with each body to the cemeteries. The Editor of that Journal thus introduced the list: No one unacquainted with the difficulty of getting up statistical accounts of this character can form an adequate idea of the trouble of the task. The superintendents of the several cemeteries were very obliging and did all they could to put us in possession of the documents in their keeping. The greatest difficulty occurs in the orthography of the names communicated by numerous physicians, often in almost illegible characters, to the Board of Health, and to the municipal authorities. Where the books of the cemeteries were not posted up to date, permission ws generously granted to us at the Mayor's office to refer to the original orders for burial and to other sources of information. THE RECORD OF THE DEAD, is now as perfect as it is in our power to make it. Total number of interments, from deaths of Yellow Fever, in the City of New Orleans, in the year 1841. The Catholic Cemetery......................42 Cypress Grove Cemetery.....................77 Protestant Cemetery........................63 St. Patrick's Cemetery.....................78 Lafayette Cemetery........................241 Jewish Cemetery (in Lafayette).............16 Potter's Field..........................1,124 _______ Total...................................1,641 Natives of the United States..............288 Natives of foreign countries............1,055 Natives of countries unknown..............298 _______ Total...................................1,641