Slike strani
PDF
ePub

cipal settlements are on the island of New-Orleans, on the Fork, the Chaffala, the Ibbervill or Manshacy at Baton, Cut-Point, and on the Red River.

Of New-Orleans. New-Orleans, the chief town in Louisiana, is situated ou the peninsula, or island of the same name, which is two hundred miles in length and from two to twenty in breadth.-The town stands on the east margin of the Missisippi, near the middle of the peninsula, in 30 degrees of north latitude and 90 of west longitude. The town is regularly laid out in squares; the streets cross each other at right angles, and are thirty-two French feet wide. The houses are mostly of brick, many of them two and three stories high, and some of them elegant. The lower rooms are raised about eight feet from the ground, the ground rooms being the cellars; as subterraneous apartments would be filled with water. The town is a mile in length, and contains about ten thousaud inhabitants.

Of the Public Buildings and Works. New-Orleans contains a government house, stables and garden; a military hospital; a custom house; two large public warehouses; an extensive barrack; a prison; a town house; market house and assembly room; a public school for the rudiments of the Spanish language; a cathedral church; a charitable hospital, with some houses belonging to it, and an annual revenue of fif teen hundred dollars. From this town, a canal is cut about a mile and a half, opening a water communication with a creek, which flows into the Ponchartrain. The canal is called by the name of a late governor, Carondelet. A bank has lately been established in this city.

Of the Chief Rivers in Louisiana. Red River which enters the Missisippi three miles above Chaffala, is said to be a thousand miles in length, and a great part of that distance navigable or boatable. On its banks are extensive intervals of very rich land, and considerable settlements with the village of Natchitoches. Arkansaw is a still larger river, with a navigable and boatable stream.--Above these is the Missorie, a large if not the principal branch of the Missisippi. It has been ex

The

plored more than a thousand miles but not to its sources. -Besides these, there is Black river, a branch of Red river, which is boatable for some hundred miles, especially its main branch Washeta. The Osage, Kanza, Shallow river and many other streams water this territory, but their size and courses are little known.

Of the Productions. The trees of natural growth in Louisiana are the same as on the east side of the Missisippi, within the United States. The wild animals are also the same, and the forests are full of the European breed of cattle in a wild state. The cnltivated plants are also the same. The principal plants cultivated for export are cotton, rice, tobacco, indigo and the sugar cane. The cane will thrive without much danger from the frost, as far north as Manshac. The lands contiguous to Red river produce tobacco of the best kind and in vast abundance. They produce also, as a common crop, from eighty to one hundred bushels of maiz. Below Natchez, the low ground on both sides of the Missisippi, and on the banks of all the large rivers and creeks, are covered with wild canes or reeds from twenty to thirty-five feet high.

Of the Minerals. In the high lands, two or three hundred miles west of the Missisippi, near the Missorie and Red river, there is native salt, and numerous salt springs which may supply that necessary commodity in inexhaustible quantities. Many of these springs are near Natchitoches, and occasion the brackishness of the water used in that settlement. Very rich lead mines are wrought near the Missorie. Iron, copper and coal abound in the country; and the western bankof the Missisippi, above the Ohio, is a solid wall of lime stone, for a great distance. Slate and free stone are abundant in the hilly country; but near the Missisippi, there is no stone of any kind on either side from the Baleze to the Little White Pool, thirty miles above Natchez, and on the west side, the land is a swamp or low ground made by the river, to a still greater distance north.

Of the Commerce and Exports. A considerable trade with New-Orleans has been carried on by the nation.to

which Louisiana has belonged; and within a few years, the United States have had no`small share of the commerce. In the year 1802, there entered the Missisippi, two hundred and sixty eight vessels, of which 170 were American, 97 Spanish, and one French, containing thirty-four thousand tons. Of these, 18 were pub lie armed ships; the rest were merchantmen. The exports are cotton, sugar, rice, molasses, indigo, furs, peltry, tar, pitch, lumber, lead, flour, corn, horses and cattle. In 1802, the exports amounted to more than two millions of dollars, and the imports to two millions and a half.

Of the Manufactures. Few articles are manufactur ed in this province. A few cotton cloths are made, or coarse cloths consisting of wool and cotton, to clothe the slaves of the interior country. In New-Orleans are carried on some of the necessary handicraft occupa tions; and some cordage, shot, and hair powder are manufactured. There is also one sugar refinery, and in the neighbouring country, twelve distilleries of

rum.

Of the Population. The whole population of Louisi ana, including Pensacola and Natchez, amounted in 1802, to forty-two thousand. But the returns are supposed to underrate the real number; and from respectable authorities, the actual number of whites is suppo sed to be fifty thousand, and of the blacks, thirty-nine thousand. The militia amounted to five thousand and five hundred men, or as some allege to ten thousand. The inhabitants are mostly French; partly from France and partly from Nova-Scotia. The latter are the remains of the Arcadians, sent by general Lawrence to the southern colonies, now states, who removed from thence to Hispaniola, and lately to Louisiana. There are also some Germans settled along the Missisippi, on both sides, near New-Orleans.

While

Of the Former Government of Louisiana. Louisiana was under the dominion of France, it was governed by certain officers appointed by the King, in the manner of other colonies. After Spain became possessed of this territory, the regulations of the

French government were either abolished, or gradually superseded by new laws and orders of the Spanish governors. The province was placed under a governor, an intendant, certain alcades or judges, and commandants of districts. An ecclesiastic tribunal had jurisdiction over the church; the inhabitants being mostly Catholics.

Of the Transfer of Jurisdiction. The treaty between France and the United States, by which Louisiana was conveyed to the latter, having been duly ratified by the President and senate, and a law being passed by congress, making provision to carry the treaty into effect, measures were taken to obtain possession of the province. A governor was appointed, and a body of troops ordered to assist in the act of taking possession. To accommodate the act of taking possession to the treaties by which the right had been conveyed, the province was first surrendered to the French prefect, as the resentative of the nation, in conformity with the treaty of Ildefonso. After this preliminary step, and other necessary preparations, the governor, and the commander in chief of the American troops, with a ceremony due to the important transaction, took formal possession of Louisiana, from the French agent, on the 20th day of December, 1803; and the American flag was displayed in New-Orleans, as an emblem of the sovereignty of the United States.

rep

Of the present Government. By an act of Congress of March 1804, Louisiana is divided into two territories, Orleans and Louisiana. Orleans comprehends all the country east of the Missisippi, and on the west of that river, all the land south of the thirty-third degree of latitude. Over this territory, a governor is appointed by the President of the United States, for three years, who constitutes the executive power. A secretary is appointed for four years; but both officers are removable by the President. A council of thirteen persons, to be appointed annually by the President, from among the freeholders of the territory, forms the legislative power. The judiciary consists of a superior court and inferior courts to be ordained

by the legislature. The trial by jury is established in cases of capital crimes, and in other cases, civil and criminal, in the superior court, if either party requires it. The judges, attorney, marshal, and neral officers of the militia are appointed by the Pre

sident.

ge.

Of the other Division. The northern part of the country is constituted a separate territory, and called the district of Louisiana. It is placed under the ju risdiction of the governor of Indiana; who, with the judges of the latter territory, is authorized to establish inferior courts in Louisiana, and make laws for the government of the inhabitants. A district court is

established at Orleans, and such of the laws of the United States as are applicable to the condition of the inhabitants, are extended to the whole country. Perfect freedom of religion is guaranteed; a militia is constituted, and the importation of slaves prohibited.

SECTION XX.

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

Of the Legislature.

are

THE legislative power of the United States is vested in a Congress, consisting of two houses or branches, a senate and a house of representatives The members of the house of representatives chosen once in two years, by the persons who are qualified to vote for members of the most numerous branch of the legislature in each state. To be entitled to a seat in this house, a person must have attained to the age of twenty-five years, been a citizen

« PrejšnjaNaprej »