248 american antiquarian sodety [oct., · following ten years only six. although 1827 saw the...

248 American Antiquarian Sodety [Oct.,

OF SECOND IaBUB OF Le Carillon

1932.] French Newspapers of Louisiana 249

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THEFRENCH NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS

OF LOUISIANABY EDWARD LAEOCQUE TINKER

PROLOGUE: FRENCH JOURNALSAND JOURNALISTS OF LOUISIANAFrench newspapers and periodicals, which

sprang up in Louisiana like mushrooms and diedlike fiies during the nineteenth century, are well worthstudy, not only because they were for a long time theonly cultural infiuence to reach a large part of thestate's population isolated by its ignorance of English,but also because the men who founded and editedthem were the most picturesque group of journaliststhis country has ever seen.

In pioneer periods the struggle for mere existence is80 depleting that people have neither energy norleisure for reading, and children are lucky to obtaineven a rudimentary education. So it was to beexpected that the French colonists should feel no needfor newspapers during the first years of their presencein Louisiana.

NEW ORLEANS PAPERS

By the end of the eighteenth century a number ofCreole planters had become sufficiently rich to employ

I wish to express my appreciation for the courteay and sympathetic aaaiatanco I havereceived frum Mr. R. J. Uaher and Miss Marguerite D. Rcnshaw oi the Howard MemorialIjbrary oí New Orleans, from Mr. James A. McMillan of the Louisiana State UmveraityLibrary at Baton Rouse, from Misa Freret of the Louisiana Historical Society Library,from Miss Joaie Cerf of the Louisiana State Museum, and from members of the etaffu ofthe Wisconsin Ilietorical Library of Madiaou, Wia.. the Library of Congresa at Washing-ton, D. C, the New York Public Library, and La Bibliothèque Nationale In Paris.Especially do I offer my thanks to Mr. Clarence S. Brigham of the Americati AntiquarianSociety, who mude valuable sugtteBtiona.


tutors for their children and to send their daughters tothe Ursuline Convent in New Orleans, " to be finished,"and their sons to the best universities in France.

This growing reading public was forced to dependfor their knowledge of foreign affairs upon the chancenewspapers brought in by sea captains, and it was notuntil 1794 that they acquired a publication of theirown. In that year Louis Duclot, a French printer whohad fled the Negro uprising in Santo Domingo,landed in New Orleans and straightway started anewspaper, the first in the colony, which made itsinitial appearance on March 3, 1794. It was christened"Le Moniteur de la Louisiane," and its quaint motto,"BomhatiOy Clangor, Stridor, Taratantara, Murmur^"evidently implied that it meant to be vociferouslyarticulate. It was a strange anomaly that the firstFrench newspaper in Louisiana should be born underthe Spanish flag, twenty-seven years after French rulehad ceased to exist.

The Spanish bureaucracy of the colony regardedthe printed word with suspicion and surrounded poorDuclot with such ^ restrictions that he could not evenpost on fence or door a broadside offering a reward fora runaway slave, without flrst obtaining the signatureof the Governor or his secretary on every copy. Inspite of this he was so successful that two years laterhe was able to employ another French refugee, JeanBaptiste Lesuer Fontaine, as editor. Fontaine musthave possessed unusual qualiflcations for success, forhis obituary stated that "his talents as a comedian(sic) and editor, his social qualities and gentlemanlyconduct endeared him to society." He lived in thehope of seeing a Bourbon once more on the throne ofFrance, and he was such a Legitimist that he couldnever bring himself to refer to Napoleon, even inprint, except as "Monsieur de Bonaparte."

The "Moniteur" flourished for twenty years and

'Journal of a Tour in the Unsettled Parta of North America in 1796 A 1787, byFraude Baily. London, 1866. p. 313.


remained the sole newspaper in the colony up to thetime it passed to the United States in 1803. Imme-diately after the cession the onerous restrictions andtariffs imposed upon commerce by the Spanish wereremoved, and energetic, enterprising Yankees beganto pour into the country. They bought land andslaves—commodities the Creoles possessed in abun-dance—which sent prices soaring. Although this atfirst made money for the natives, they soon resentedthe intrusion of these brusque foreigners who did notspeak their language. Animosities and jealousies,political, social and financial, arose between the tworaces and, as in all times of political confiict, news-papers were born to champion the factions. In thefirst seven years of American rule eight journals,published wholly or partly in French, sprang intobeing. Four of them expired within the first twelvemonths, but the others lasted from nine to seventyyears.

After awhile the Creoles became resigned to the newrule and the waning strife was refiected in a decreasednewspaper birth rate. In the next decade, 1810 to1820, only three papers were started, and in thefollowing ten years only six.

Although 1827 saw the beginning of '*L'Abeille,"which was to complete almost a century run, all thejournals up to this time might be classed as "incuna-bula." They were experiments, and like most firstattempts, were awkward and clumsy. Foreign affairs,that is, such scant information as could be gleaned fromsea captains, their passengers, and the stale newspapersthey brought, occupied the greatest space. Lists ofarriving and departing vessels came next in importanceand were followed by a few scattering advertisementsand offers of rewards for the return of runaway slaves.Local affairs were not considered news and were nevermentioned; the town was so small, information of thissort could be exchanged in the coffee houses. The onlyexception to this rule occurred near election, when a


few political articles of a vituperatively partisanflavor were printed.

The character of the men who edited these papersmade these limitations inevitable. These gentlemenwere French, for the most part, hence their predilec-tion for foreign news; and they were men of actionrather than pen-pushers. Fearless, vindictive, oftenwitty, they fought continually among themselves and,I really believe, gained many more subscribers by thespectacular duels they engaged in, than by the edi-torials they wrote. Only a steady diet of roastedpelicans stuffed with firecrackers could explain theirunbelievably touchy, hair-trigger, choleric dispositions.

St. Romes, who bought the bi-lingual "Courrier"from Thierry in 1815, has left a particularly livelyaccount of one such journalistic conflict. When hishated rival, John Gibson of the "Argus," ran formayor, St. Romes published a blast against him,couched in quaint Callicized English, in which he said:"Those who have never dilapidated the fortunes oftheir wards; those who have never induced a younggirl to come out of a convent to lead her into error;finally, those who have never had their faces slappedby Mayor Clark without seeking satisfaction, areinvited to vote for Mr. John Gibson as Mayor."

Of course an encounter ensued and Saint Romespublished a delightfully graphic description of it in hispaper :

The traitor came yesterday to Hewlett's coffeehouse, where Iwas seated looking on at a game of backgammon . . . andgave me from behind a blow with his fist in the face, whichdazed me on my chair for several seconds. Having recoveredfrom my surprise, I perceived standing a few steps from me thecoward, the traitor, the infamous John Gibson, the editor ofthe Argus, with his hand in his breast as if in the act of drawinga weapon! I rushed upon him and striking him with the sharpend of my umbrella full in the stomach, he lost his balance.Then, throwing aside my umbrella, I jumped upon him, seizedhim by the throat with my two hands, and dragged him orrather carried him to the reading table. I threw him with allmj' strength upon the table, his face upward, and there I began


to renew the strangling scene in "Virginius," but seeing thatthe rascal would not give up the ghost, I disengaged my righthand to take my penknife and rip his entrails, but 1 had loft itat home, and my hands being my only weapon, I began thestrangling process again, when I perceived that the assassinhad a pair of pistols and a dagger in the left side pocket of hiacoat; I made some effort to seize the dagger in order to nail thecoward to the table, hut just as I was to execute that meri-torious act I was torn away from my prey hy a crowd offriends and enemies, who thereby afforded the poltroon anopportunity to effect his escape.

Jean Leclerc, who founded "L'Ami des Lois" in1809, was another of these quick-tempered firebrands.When General Packenham attacked New Orleans in1815, Leclerc dropped everything and took his printersto the front, fought valiantly, and returned onlyafter the English had been thoroughly routed. Notuntil then did he get out an extra about the battle, inwhich he apologized for the non-appearance of hispaper by saying:

The editor and others employed in this office, at the momentof invasion, joined their fellow citizens in the camp and thoughtthemselves more usefully as well as more honorably employedin defending their country than in satisfying the publicappetite for news.

When peace returned Leclerc appeased his bellig-erancy by duelling and one day, happening to meet anold enemy in the Public Exchange, they both drewswords out of their canes and started to fight. PoorLeclerc finally fell, quite badly wounded, but in spiteof his suffering he remarked with a smile as his friendspicked him up : " I call you to witness that myadversary has justified me in calling him an ass. Ineeded bleeding in this hot spell and the fool, insteadof injuring me, has saved me a surgeon's fee!"

Benjamin Buisson was, in his way, just as hard-bitten and fantastic a character as l>eclerc. Born inFrance, and a graduate of "L'École Impériale Poly-technique," he joined the Napoleonic armies and waspromoted on the field for bravery by the "Little

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"CIRCUS BILL" ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CONVENINQ OP A "BLACK ANDTAN" STATE LEGISLATURE. From Le Carillon


Corporal" himself. After his chief was sent to St.Helena, he refused to stay in France and emigratedto New Orleans. Here in 1829 he started "Le Journaldu Commerce." It died in three years and Buissongot the job of surveying the American section of thecity. As he laid out the streets he named them afterNapoleonic victories, and that is why New Orleans stillhas thoroughfares called Austerlitz, Marengo, Milan,Jena, Berlin, Cadiz, and even Napoleon and Josephine.Sometimes his wicked little sons would ask, "Whydon't you call one Waterloo or Moscow?" And thenthey'd run to escape his stick.

When the Civil War broke out, although he was thensixty-eight years old. Buisson volunteered immediatelyand was made a Brigadier-General in the ConfederateArmy, and was in command of the defenses below thecity when Admiral Farragut captured New Orelans.

The tradition inaugurated by these fire-eatingjournalists, of editing newspapers with the point oftheir sword rather than with that of the pen, survivedfor many years; and the hours they must have spentin practicing fencing and markmanship adequatelyexplain the paucity of the news they printed and theslovenly style in which it was written. These condi-tions made it difficult for women to own papers; butone enterprising widow, according to Eyma, who hadinherited a weekly, solved the problem by printingthis manifesto on her front page:

We take pleasure in announcing to our readers that Mr. JohnSmith, able writer and zealous American, has been engaged toconduct the political discussion in our newspaper during theapproaching election. Although Mr. Smith has a ehanningciiaracter and is most courteous, he has already fought fiveduels and killed his man each time. He puts at the service ofour editorial department, independently of a mass of excellentpolitical arguments, two long swords, a Parson gun, tworevolvers, and a remarkable collection of sword canes, not tomention two calves of steel. We bespeak for him a cordialwelcome into the corps of political writers.

After 1830 the papers cast off their swaddling clothes.Political news of a national as well as local character


began to appear, together with occasional poems. Aperiod of financial inflation arrived and, in 1835, eightbanks were chartered in New Orleans and emitted aflood of paper currency which swelled to four or fivetimes the amount of their reserves. It was the tendollar bills of one of these institutions, with the Frenchword "dix" printed on them, that fastened the name"Dixie" upon the South. Innumerable companieswere formed to dig canals, build railroads, and financeall sorts of projects; and this wave of speculation andfictitious prosperity hatched out a swarm of tiny,ephemeral newspapers, many of them named after ani-mals, like "Le Renard," *'L'Ecureuil," and "l'Ane."

Then came the panic of 1837, which destroyed theweaker journals; but by 1840 the tide had turned andNew Orleans was once more a thriving port, the fourthin importance in the United States. With this increas-ing prosperity came the golden era of French journalismin Louisiana and, between 1840 and 1850, thirty-threenew French journals were started in New Orleans andseventeen in the Parishes. This, of course, did notmean that they were all being published at once; formany did not survive their first year, and as near as Ihave been able to compute it, the average life of aLouisiana French newspaper was only a fraction overfour years.

THE "FRENCHMEN FROM FRANCE."

No proper acknowledgment has yet been made ofthe great part in the development of Louisianajournalism played by the "Frenchmen from France,"as they were called in New Orleans to differentiatethem from Creoles; nor have they ever before beengiven the credit of founding more than half of theFrench language periodicals and of furnishing morethan fifty per cent of the men who wrote and editedthem; yet this is understating rather than exaggeratingthe actual facts.


These French members of the Fourth Estate wereswept to Louisiana in three waves. The first group, aswe have seen, went to Santo Domingo and weredriven to seek refuge in New Orleans by the bloodyslave insurrection. Its members were responsible notonly for founding the first newspaper, but also manyof those begun in the decade following the Americanacquisition of Louisiana. The next influx came"direct from Paris" and was composed of politicalexiles of the Revolution in 1830 that made LouisPhilippe "king of the French"; and the last band tocome were members of that vast army of FrenchRepublicans proscribed by Napoleon III between 1848and 1851. Although most of them had receivedexcellent journalistic training in France, and somewere even university graduates, their lives afterlanding in Louisiana exhibited a monotonous uni-formity of pattern. Penniless, they first turned toteaching to keep body and soul together. But journal-ism was a drug-like habit they were powerless to break.As soon as they saved, or were able to borrow, a fewdollars, they started newspapers and, more often thannot, watched them expire only to launch others. Oneof these persevering publishers, after the debacle of hisjournal, decorated his shop front with a large sign inFrench, reading:

On the still smoking ruins l'Opinion is resuscitated.

Although a Louisiana newspaper was an Arab'shorse in the desert for many a Frenchman and savedhim from starving, the rewards of publishing werenever alluring. One editor painted miniatures andgave drawing lessons to make money enough to sup-port his paper; and another, Marciacq, after eighteenyears of newspaper work summed up the situation,saying he had never made as much money or enjoyedas much leisure as after he had gone to keeping a cornergrocery store in New Orleans.


THE LITERART PERIODICALS OF THE 1840S

It was some of these French-born journalists who inthe early 1840s were brave enough to launch a moreintellectual type of periodical than Louisiana had yetknown. It took the form of a small weekly or monthlyreview, generally labeled "Littéraire et Artistique,"containing long serials, musical and dramatic critiques,and accounts of society happenings. They marked thechange from a journalism of mere news to a journalismof ideas, and, until the Civil War, they were quitesuccessful because they catered to a public leavened bymany wealthy Creole graduates of French universities,thoroughly imbued with Latin culture.

The best of these semi-literary magazines, and theclosest to the continental model, was the weekly"Revue Louisianaise." Its gossip was amusing, itsdramatic and literary criticism cleverly written, itsEuropean news well edited, and its serials, which werepirated, were the cream of contemporary Frenchnovels. It even ran a smart series of silhouette carica-tures of leading citizens, drawn by a visiting Frenchsculptor, Garbeille, and, in its eagerness to encourageindigenous poetry it printed such quaint effusions aaMme. Evershed's rhymed gratitude to Mr. Boyer forbeing so kind "as to visit her on several evenings andcure her pains by the aid of his electro-magneticmachine."

The most typographically pretentious of theseperiodicals bore the shy title of "La Violette," and thegallant motto, ''Dieu et les Belles, " appeared on its bluecover. Each page had a delightfully quaint cornerdesign of fat, winged Cupids clinging to the projectionsof elaborately rococo scrolls. A French refugee,Charles de la Bretonne, under the pseudonym ofJacques de Rouquigny, contributed historical novels,theatrical criticism and rhapsodic prose pictures ofCreole maids and matrons; while another Frenchman,Duverger, supplied the operatic criticism and inter-

THE Fiiï.'iT PAPER IN THE UNITED STATES TO BE PIUNTED HY LITHOURAI-HV


esting incidents in the lives of great musicians. Some-times original musical compositions were included.

The very antithesis of all this elaboration was astrange little sheet called "Le Charivari Louisianais,"of which I have seen but one copy, that of July 8, 1842.It was written in long hand and printed by lithography,and contained a political poem, election news, cityitems, a boldly drawn cartoon, and a long complaintabout the difficulty of obtaining acid with which toclean lithographic stones, as the druggists alwayssuspected it was to be used for committing suicide.

More curious from an intellectual point of view was"Le Taenarion," a semi-monthly magazine of rhymedsatires, written and published by Felix de Courmont, aCreole from the Antilles. Inspired by Barthélémy, thatmost prolific of French poets, de Courmont, like averitable Don Quixote tilting at windmills he could notconquer, filled every issue of his periodical with agrandiose jeremiad of bitter, invective verse, aimed atsome social injustice that had existed from the be-ginning of the world. In the number in which he used aharlot as a symbol of cupidity, he advised that allbankers be beaten from New Orleans as Christ lashedthe money-changers from the temple—advice thatsounds strangely like some recent congressional recom-mendations. In another he launched a vituperativeattack upon prostitution and bitterly arraigned thelocal legislators for passing a law licensing lewdwomen. This satire of course created a furore, for inthose days animals had no gender, only tables had legs,and to mention the word prostitution in the hearing ofa lady was enough to call forth a challenge. TheCreole papers boiled over with indignation, and someof the critics attacked even his grammar, versification,and rhyme.

In the preface to his following satire, he roundlydefended himself, showing that Corneille had used thesame grammatical form which his detractors insistedwas incorrect, and then, like a small child thumbing his


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Lo trndemain, nous âtauL loia A Fceuvr«,DODB avions tracé an lAbtean tria Ddèle detont ce qui a'âtait pa«té. daita vea denx solenDlté«i itiaiüa.M. et Bon Grand Ordonnateurayant dle)>arna, eanB iaiuei aucttD indice deleUra icktreaboKU, Douane aatiouB plua A i|iielBalnl envovei DOti« riipimrL Uu tiaTAÎl ana-«i <:onBt:ieuci(!DX ne doit pds ëtto eotlèrementiwrdn [wur \\ poatérité ; aussi, afin de ne pasdéBillUBioniier uos lecteuiB, nona pablious,iliiriMCU iiDiDÎro, la puitlu iln nuiport qui atrjit A lu rq)éliUon giJmii'itlc do lit ¿rundeuiiiwjuaruJt?, riJ|i(:tÍUou t¡ai » on h .u Juus la»aUe lin tííiiut puiiatlié de Draiula ntrnt, luniunli2i>fúvri<;rlS7:»,deiie.tirbi-iiJi'a t\ midi.—Vuicl [n chuce :

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A l'oreille dttUne

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SATIRICAL ACCOUNT OP A BALL GIVEN BYCOLORED SBNATOBS. From Le Carillon


nose, he ended with the rhetorical question, "And,imprudent critic, what do you say to that little boy?"

There also appeared in this decade of the 1840s aFranco-Spanish weekly, "L'Omnibus"; a Masonicmagazine, "Le Franc Macon"; and "Le Moniteur duSud," published in French and Italian.

THE 1850S

Certain causes had been gradually underminingNew Orleans' importance as a port and a city. Shehad specialized too narrowly in the handling andexport of cotton alone and had neglected the sugar ofLouisiana, the tobacco of Kentucky, and the flour ofOhio. Freight that used to come to New Orleans bysteamboat began to be deflected to other ports bycompeting railroads and canals, while the increase indraught of ocean-going ships made it hard for them tocross the bars which then blocked the entrance to theMississippi. By 1850 New Orleans was on a distinctdown grade and her shrinking importance was evi-denced in various ways, one of them being that fewerFrench newspapers were launched. As against thirty-three between 1840 and 1850, only sixteen were startedin the decade just preceding the Civil War. Amongthese was a group of small reviews of drama, literatureand music, such as "L'Entr'Acte," "Le Coup d'Oeil,""La Loge d'Opera," and "L'Album Louisianaise."

A bizarre little magazine, "Le Spiritualiste," ap-peared in 1857 and lived for a year upon the gullibilityof the public. It was started by a most enterprisingand original rascal, Joseph Barthet, who devised aunique method of obtaining literary contributionsfrom famous personages. Being a "medium," hemerely established communication with distinguisheddefunct authors and wrote down what their spiritsdictated. Bossuet, Madame de Staël, Pope Leo X,and Vincent de Paul were among the famous shades heconscripted, while Fenelon supplied a long treatise


upon the proper bringing up of maidens, and Dantonelucidated the character of Mirabeau. Molière wasthe most courteous of them all, for he sent a rhymedmessage of apology in French, saying: "You must notbe surprised, Gentlemen, at my absence; silence is notalways indifference. "

It was not fair to judge these journals by " Le Spirit-ualiste," however, for Eyma relates a story of onepaper which employed methods of publicity that couldnot have been bettered by the most modern ' ' tabloid. "When the completion in 1858 of the first transatlanticcable was celebrated by an exchange of messages be-tween Queen Victoria and President Buchanan he said,this paper took advantage of the incident by publishingthe next morning in huge headlines:

SECOND CABLE FROM THE QUEEN

London, August 17, 1858.Dear old Buchanan, Prince Albert is suffering from a very

grave attack of king's evil; the Prince of Wales is in bed withthe royal itch; we ourselves are afflicted with Indian sores.Mr. Dallas informs me that "Oriental Life," the linimentput up by Porter, is a certain remedy for these ills. Pleasebuy me a supply and ship it hy the next steamer; you willoblige your old friend,

Victoria, regina.

MEDICAL MAGAZINES

In early days most of the good physicians inLouisiana had received their medical degrees^ in Paris,so it was only natural for the first medical magazinein the state to be published in French. It appeared in1839, under the title "Journal de la Société Médicalede la Nouvelle Orléans," but lasted only a year. Noother was attempted until, in 1852, Dr. CharlesDelery (D.M.P.) published "L'Union Médicale de laLouisiane," which also expired after a year's run.Two magainzes devoted to homeopathy followed:

'They used the mitialB D. M. P. after their names: Doctor of Medicine of the Facultyof Paris.


' ' Le Practicien Homéopathique ' ' (1857-58), and"L'Homoion" (1859-61). The last medical monthlyin French to be launched appeared in 1859 and bore thesame name as the first one, "Journal de la SociétéMédicale de la Nouvelle Orléans." An amusing butbitter battle was carried on in its issues, as to whetherCreoles and Negroes were immune to yellow fever.The peppery Dr. Delery insisted that they were not,while Dr. P'aget stoutly defended the opposite thesis.Feeling ran so high that the whole medical facultytook sides, and Delery tried to prove his point bychallenging Faget to a duel, but he refused to fight,on the ground that he was a Christian. At the out-break of the Civil War this paper disappeared becausemost of its contributers went to the front.

Dr. Delery, by the way, was a most beguiling andcholeric Creole, who wrote with amazing fecundity,philosophical essays, plays, medical pamphlets, andpoetry without end. Indeed, after General Butlercaptured New Orleans, the fiery doctor aimed againsthim a poetical barrage, that was a gem of ineffectualinvective. In one of these rhymed shots, after askingoratorically, "What belly has vomited you forth, inwhat den were you conceived, how was it possible thatsuch a scaly reptile did not rend your mother's entrailswhen you were born?", he continued by politelysuggesting that "Humanity blushes to call you a man,you panther, hyena, jackal, tiger—all in one—yousynthesis of all calamities!"

No poet can ever resist the temptation to recite hisown verses, so word of the doctor's lyrical attacks soonpercolated to General Butler, who ordered his arrest.Some of Delery's friends, warned of this in advance,hurried to his house to save him. Knowing he wouldnever consent to run away, they said a vessel had justcome in with fine French wines and they invited himto go aboard to sample them. Delery accepted andafter his friends had got him into the cabin, with abottle or two of good Bordeaux under his belt, they


excused themselves and left, and the ship immediatelyafterward weighed anchor and set sail. When thedoctor finally discovered he had been shanghaied, hewas furious but helpless. Eventually he was landed inParis, where in 1864 he published a pamphlet called"Confédérés & Fédéraux. Les Yankees, fondateurs del'esclavage aux États-Unis, et initiateurs du droit deSécession." It was an excellent defense of slavery anda spirited attack on the Yankees, whose ships were thefirst to bring slaves from Africa, and whose New Eng-land ancestors had killed or captured the wholePequot tribe, had divided up the children and squawsas slaves, and had sold the braves into West Indianserfdom. I must admit, he made a very strong casefor his side of the argument.

RECONSTRUCTION JOURNALISM

The capture of New Orleans just a year after thebeginning of the Civil War, gave rise to two mostpicturesque and vituperative groups of opposingpapers, which voiced the struggle for control betweenthe Afro-Carpetbaggers and the ex-Confederates; andthe greatest innovation of this period was the rise, oneafter the other, of three newspapers conducted by andfor Negroes.

The first publication in Louisiana of the work ofcolored men, of which I have been able to find anyrecord, occurred in 1843 when five Negroes, amongthem Armand Lanusse, had some French poetry andshort stories printed in a pocket magazine, "l'AlbumLittéraire," edited by Marciacq, a Frenchman. Twoyears later Lanusse brought out a small anthology ofverse written in French by seventeen Negroes, called"Les Cenelles." That was all.

From then on the free men of color grew in wealth,education and numbers until, in 1860, there were10,000 in New Orleans out of an entire population of150,000, and they paid taxes upon $15,000,000 worth


of property. Some of them even owned slaves andlived in such luxury that, when one octoroon familyentertained General Butler, seven courses were servedon solid silver plates.

The presence of Federal troops, after the city wascaptured in April 1862, so emboldened this class thatDr. Louis C. Roudanez, an intelligent octoroon fromSanto Domingo, who had served as externe in aParisian hospital, decided that the time had come toagitate for social and political equality between theraces. So he, his brother, and some of their friendslaunched the first Negro newspaper in the state:"La Union." Of course this aroused the greatest.animosity among the white Southerners, and as thejournal's demands for race equality became more andmore insistent, threats were made to kill Paul Trévigne,its mulatto editor, and to burn the paper. Some ofRoudanez' associates became so frightened that in1864 publication was stopped. The doctor bought allthe equipment and immediately founded anotherbilingual paper, "La Tribune de la Nouvelle Orléans."He installed as editor a Belgian, known as C. J.Dalloz, but who, in reality, was Jean Charles Houzeau,a distinguished astronomer, author of many scientificworks, and a member both of the Royal Academy ofBelgium and of the French Institute. Exiled from hisnative land on account of his Republican ideas,"Dalloz" edited this paper for four years, displayingthe most bitter and vehement radicalism in his battlefor Negro rights. This strange scientist, perfectlyfearless in the face of all sorts of threats against his life,was present at the meeting of the Constitutional Con-vention in Mechanics Hall when it was mobbed in 1866and so many of its members, both Negroes and Carpet-baggers, were slaughtered. He escaped by a miracleand went directly to his office, although he knew itmight be attacked at any moment, and got out anedition of the "Tribune" containing a full account ofthe horrors of the riot. Unfortunately the entire year


A "RBCONSTBUCTION" GOVBBNOR DBPICTED AS RECEIVING MONET VROUGAMBLERS AND FEEDING WHISKEY TO NEGROES. From Le Carillon

1866 is missing from the otherwise complete files inthe Archives of the New Orleans City Hall, and I havenever been able to find copies.

During his editorship "Dalloz" contributed a greatnumber of trenchant, well-written editorials andrelieved their seriousness by publishing long romanticserials probably pirated from a French source. One ofthese, "John Brown, le Christ des Noirs," seemedpeculiarly appropriate.

Although "Dalloz" left New Orleans in 1868 the"Tribune" continued publication until sometime inthe 1870s. Its files constitute an important historicalsource because it was edited by a man of superiorintellect and education, and so preserves an accurate,intelligent picture of the Negro side of the passionatebattle for white supremacy fought during the period ofReconstruction.


There was a third bi-lingual Negro paper, "TheCrusader, " which lasted only a few years. Edited andowned by Louis A. Martinet, a mulatto who hadserved in the Reconstruction State Legislature, itsinfluence was negligible, because it was not foundeduntil after the Negro cause had been completely lost.

This black Republican bi-lingual press was reen-forced by two journals launched by Frenchmen whosympathized with the Negro cause. "L'Equité," thefirst of these, was started in 1871 by Dr. Charles Testut,who had previously founded eight short-lived sheets.That it lasted only six months is not at all surprising,because Testut alienated his public in every possibleway. He violently espoused the Negro cause, defendedthe Masons and attacked the Pope, in a city that wasSouthern and overwhelmingly Catholic, and to cap theclimax, he affirmed a belief in spiritism. He wasridiculous in his rages, and when Caron, the publisherof a rival paper, "La Commune," made the error ofstating in print that Testut had been born on the islandof Guadeloupe, that irascible old Frenchman chal-lenged his fellow editor to a duel. When Caron refusedto fight because he had a wife and children to support,Testut published an outrageous attack upon him,which began by courteously stating, " I spit in yourface."

"Le Sud," edited by Charles de la Bretonne underthe pseudonym "Jacques de R. . . ," was the secondof these papers. It appeared first on July 4, 1873, andwas as rabidly pro-negro as "L'Equité. "

When "Le Carillon" published a series of quota-tions from various scientists holding that the Negrorace was mentally and morally inferior to the Cau-casian, "Le Sud" took up the challenge, praised theNegro's intelligence extravagantly, and even statedthat after all the gulf between Negro and Creole wasnot so great because the French and Spanish ancestorsof the latter had a touch of the tar brush. It explainedthis on historical grounds stating that the Moors had


miscegenated with their Negro slaves for generationsbefore overrunning Spain and, as the Spaniards hadintermarried with their conquerers, black blood mustrun in their veins too. In the case of France theEthiopian strain had been introduced—according to"Le Sud," by the thousands of Negro slaves broughtin by the Roman Legions when they captured Gaul.

This charge aroused a terrific tempest. The Creolepapers bristled with corrosive editorials defending thepurity of French and Spanish blood, and AlfredRoman, associate-editor of "L'Abeille," challenged dela Bretonne to a duel. The editor of "Le Sud," actingin logical accordance with his theories of equality,named a mulatto as his second, but this so outragedpublic opinion that he was forced to substitute a whiteman. The duel was fought with swords and Romanwas twice wounded in the arm. Honor was satisfied,even if the Franco-Spanish champion was defeated,and in this anomalous manner the purity of Frenchand Spanish blood was vindicated.

"Le Carillon," in whose columns appeared thearticles which first started the controversy, was prob-ably the most unusual, amusing, and vividly colorfulpaper ever published in the state. It owed its inceptionto Dr. Durel, a Creole physician educated in France.After serving through the war as a Confederate sur-geon, he had returned to New Orleans, a ruined man,and had tried to rebuild a practice among patients ashard hit as he was. His sense of justice, outraged bythe wrongs he saw inflicted upon his people, led him tosuggest to a few friends that they found a paper tochampion their rights. "Le Carillon" was the resultand appeared in 1869, just when the spoliation ofLouisiana by the Afro-Carpetbaggers was at its worstand the impotent rage of her helpless white inhabitantsat its hottest. Advertised as "peu politique, encoremoins littéraire, et pas du tout sérieux," this gay,irreverent little French weekly had the temerity todeclare in its very first issue, that if Carpetbaggers

1932.1 French Newspapers of Louisiana 269

were to be licensed like peddlers, the fees wouldamount to enough to save the state from bankruptcy.All New Orleans laughed, and overnight the paperbecame a much-needed safety valve for the hate andpent-up bitterness of the Creoles. It even publishedamusing political caricatures, one of which showedNapoleon III abdicating and about to place hisemperor's crown upon the head of a kneeling GeneralGrant, whose coattails were being held up by SecretaryStanton acting as a maid of honor. Sarcastic editorialsand satirical attacks appeared in plenty, among thema very scathing but amusing serial called. Le mirifiqueet veridique Histoire de Mr. John Carpetbagger, Not-withstanding all this the paper survived the winteronly to expire in May for want of subscribers.

During the next two years the idea of resurrecting itbecame an obsession with Dr. Durel, who believed that"Le Carillon" could help to arouse the white Louisi-anians to action and show them the way to freedom.Finally his wife sold her last possessions, the jewelswhich had been her mother's, and with the proceeds

NAPOLEON THE THIRD ABniCATiNo IN FAVOR OF GENERAL GRANT;SECRETABT STANTON ACTS AS "MAID OF HONOR." From Le CariUon


the doctor revived "Le Carillon." He had beenattacked by dropsy in the meantime, but even thiscould not hamper his industry and he treated patientsall day and sat up half the night writing editorials ormusical critiques. This time the paper became asuccess and was even more sprightly and bitingthan it was before. It defined the mulatto as an"inferior race much less useful to society than wouldbe the adulterous offspring of a carp and a rabbit";spoke of the state legislative body as "Le SénatRadicanaille;" and published an impudent quatrainabout a Carpetbagger governor, which ran;

The other day in a swampy bogA serpent bit Wm. Pitt Kellogg.Who was poisoned, do you say?The snake ; it died that very day.

From time to time it also printed the most hilariouslyoutrageous and even Rabelaisian accounts of thedoings of the Negro legislators; the particular object ofits humorous invective being a small black Negro,César C. Antoine, an ex-barber who had gone intopolities and become, first, state senator, and thenLieutenant-Governor. He was a peculiarly fruitfulsubject for caricature because he never appeared inpublic without a top hat, frock coat, green gloves anda walking stick. The "Carillon" often referred to himas the "Orang-outang," and never tired of depictinghim in embarrassing positions: being shot in the pantsfor stealing okra, having his eye blacked by his hugewife Françoese, or in spite of the "Bill of Rights,"getting kicked out of a confectionary shop where onlywhites were served. In the account of a Carnival ballattended by twenty-seven black senators accompaniedby "fifty-seven of their legitimate spouses," the paperdeclared that Antoine came disguised as a — and thenfollowed a small cut of a deer with branching antlers, aGallic suggestion that the "Lieutenant-Governess"was crowning him with the horns of her infidelity.Another indirect slap at her weakness for men was


delivered a few days later when "Le Carillon"reported Antoine as asking Françoese if she did notthink it most strange that two such black people asthey were should have such a café-au-lait child; towhich she replied, "Why, you poor imbecile, haven'tyou ever seen a black hen lay a white egg?"

Sometimes, however, ' ' Le Carillon ' ' removed itscomic mask and showed the tragic discouragementunderneath; as when the editor, after summarizing theimportant events of the year, wrote: "three hundredand sixty-five days, six hours and some minutes ofabject slavery added to those we have already suffered;or when he published this death notice among theothers ;

DEADOn the 4th of January, 1875. The American Republic.

Bom the 4th of July, 1776, she died under the blows of theparricide, U. S. Grant.

Just as the "Tribune" gave the Negro side of thecontroversy, so "Le Carillon" presented a startlinglygraphic picture of the Creoles' emotional reaction toReconstruction; a picture all the more vivid becausedrawn by Latins unhampered by the self-conscious-ness which prevents Anglo-Saxons from revealing thefull tide of their emotions. In its files can be traced, asnowhere else, the growth of racial hatreds in Louisiana,and the steps which led to the terrible final climax,when the despoliation of a helpless state and the goad-ing of a proud though defeated people gave birth tothe White League, and their anger, bitterness andpassionate revolt finally exploded in a pitched battleat the foot of Canal Street, in which the Leaguedefeated the Metropolitan Police and some forty menwere killed and eighty wounded.

In spite of his dropsy. Dr. Durel lived to see thisvictory of September 14, 1874, which was largelyinstrumental in finally restoring Louisiana the whitesupremacy for which he had made so many sacrifices.Soon after, however, he became so bloated he was forced


to do his editing at home. He died the following year,a month after "Le Carillon" had ceased publication.

Two names must be added to complete the rosterof conservative "lily white" papers: the bi-lingual"Abeille," and the entirely French "Renaissance"edited by a Frenchman, Emil Lefranc, and noted forthe excellence of its foreign news. These together withthe "Carillon" were the only Creole journals of anyimportance to oppose the radical papers, "L'Union,""La Tribune," and the "Crusader," owned byNegroes, and "L'Equité" and "Le Sud," edited byFrenchmen.

PARISH PAPERS

Innovations come more slowly in the back cauntrythan in thriving port cities, so it was natural that noFrench newspaper was published in the parishes untiltwenty-five years after "Le Moniteur" had beenfounded in New Orleans. "La Gazette de BatonRouge," which appeared in 1819, was the first journal,as far as my investigations disclose, to be publishedoutside of the metropolis. It was followed five yearslater by "Le Courrier de Natchitoches" and "LaGazette des Attakapas." The latter was so enter-prising a journal that even as early as the 1820s itcarried a column of "advice to the lovelorn"; andalso proved that feminine habits change little in acentury, by publishing an advertisement which read:

FOUND!A small tin box containing a lump of blushes and a Bmall

piece of cotton for laying them on. The fair owner, who,perhaps, has grown pale (!) with regret for their loss may havethem again by inquiring at the office.

After the first three papers proved a success othersfollowed until by 1840 every parish but eight wasblessed with a Gallic newspaper. Their subscriberswere for the most part a simple agrarian people whocould not read English, so these French journalsconstituted their only link with the outside world,


and as a consequence exercised an influence far greaterthan that of the ordinary newspaper. Therefore theintelligence and training of their editors became ofmaterial importance in the cultural growth of theparishes.

The equipment of these rural French newspaperswas of the most primitive kind and generally consistedof a Washington hand-press and a few fonts of typehoused in an out-building or barn near the editor'shome. This paucity of machinery had its advantages,because every time the levee broke, the editor's houseburned, or the paper was sold, the whole works couldbe loaded into a mule wagon and driven away. Indeed"Le Meschacébé" behaved like a ferryboat, crossingand recrossing the Mississippi five or six times duringits long career. This paper, launched at Lucy in 1853,by Hypolite de Bautte, was bought four years laterby Eugene Dumez, an exiled French journalist. Work-ing with unbelievable industry he wrote editorials,set type, operated the hand-press, and acted asprinter's devil. He even delivered some of the papersat the post office and left others on the levee for pass-ing steamboats; because in those days captains wereaccustomed to leave a newspaper as "lagniappe" atevery plantation landing. When this little amenitywas overlooked by one captain, he was reminded of iton his return trip by a sign tacked on the dock,reading:

"Fas de journal, pas de fret!" (freight)

During the Civil War the "Meschacébé" was forcedto discontinue for awhile for lack of newsprint paper,Dumez not being as lucky as the Opelousas editorawho were able to draw upon the stock of a wallpaperstore. Upon the declaration of peace he resumedpublication and eked out the local news with serialsand scientific articles pirated with great discernmentfrom the best Parisian reviews. Eugene Sue, Paul deKock, Alphonse Daudet, and Emile Zola, all becameunwitting contributers.


A COMPARIHON OP THE M A N N E E IN WHICH YANKEES T R E A T N E Ü R O E S INTHE NORTH AND IN THE SOUTH. From Le Carillon


By 1878, when Lafcadio Hearn arrived in NewOrleans, "Le Meschacébé" was so varied and inter-esting that he often quoted it in the "New OrleansItem" or reprinted some bit of fooling in the Creoledialect, taken from its columns. Indeed some ofHearn's editorials were lifted bodily or in part fromarticles in Parisian reviews which had been reprintedin the "Meschacébé." Thus, at least part of hisearly reputation as an authority upon abstruse andexotic foklore ought in fairness be credited to the goodediting of Dumez.

Exerting, as "Le Meschacébé" did, so great aninfluence on a mind like Hearn's, it cannot be doubtedthat it was an important factor in the intellectualgrowth of the community which it served.

Jean Sylvain Gentil was, like Dumez, an exile of1848, and before coming to America had graduatedfrom a university, been admitted to the Parisian bar,and had had experience as a journalist. These variedqualifications made it easy for him to obtain a profes-sorship at Jefferson College soon after his arrival inLouisiana. It did not last long because the Civil Warruined this institution as it did so many others; andGentil, forced to fall back on journalism, started asingle-sheet weekly, "Le Louisianais, " in 1865.Through all the turmoil which followed, he kept aclear head and by his calm, common sense editorialsbrought his parish through that difficult period withfewer catastrophes and less bloodletting than occurredin any other. He was fearless in pointing out themistakes of both parties, and when the Carpetbaggovernment put Negroes in responsible offices, heattacked it so fiercely that Governor Warmoth re-scinded the designation of "Le Louisianais" as the"official" paper of the parish. This was a Carpet-bagger device which had destroyed many oppositionjournals by depriving them of all the state, parish, andlegal notices, their principal source of income. Gentil,philosophical even about this blow, simply changed his


heading to read, "Le Louisianais. Journal non Officielde la Paroisse St. Jacques."

His press was set up in a ramshackle cowbarn nearthe house and was operated by an old French composi-tor, for unlike Dumez, Gentil did not have time to dohis own type-setting. He was not content to piratefeuilletons from foreign sources, but instead wrotealmost every line he published, and during the fourteenand a half years he edited the paper, approximately2250 columns of editorials and some 750 poems flowedfrom his pen, as well as 25 long serials. Evidently heonly wrote sections of these as they were needed,because he once apologized for the non-appearance ofan installment of a serial called "Frizette," by sayinghe had gone to New Orleans to celebrate the fall of theBastille and so the poor girl had been unable to get outof the inkpot.

When one of his feminine readers objected to his usein print of the word "culotte," he promised, in the nextissue, never to offend again, and then added scath-ingly: "Americans are evidently very chaste in everyway. Their literature is eminently proper—like theirpolitics!"—rather an amusing retort in the face of thefact that the Reconstruction era was probably themost corrupt American history has ever known.

These papers bristle with as many bibliographicalproblems as a cactus has thorns. No files werepreserved of many of them and the existence of someis known only through a few stray copies or by a meremention in a contemporary paper. The same nameswere used over and over again for totally differentpapers published years apart, and the Donaldsonvillejournal which changed its name for one issue only,may be cited as a typical instance of the perplexitieswhich pestered the bibliographer. This re-christeningoccurred because an old skinflint seduced his youngserving maid and, when he discovered her condition,took her to New Orleans and deserted her without apenny. She came back to Donaldsonville with her


child and, when it was discovered he refused to makeany provision for them, the townspeople became muchincensed and gathered before his house to give him acharivari with pots and pans, horns and drums andevery other kind of pandemonium maker. After theyhad continued their uproar for several evenings, someof the crowd entered the house to see if he were stillthere. As they went in the front door their victim ranout the back and complained to the police that themob was wrecking his house. Many leading citizenswere arrested and thrown into prison, among themthe compositor of "Le Vigilant." The editor, notwishing to miss the publication of such racy news,carted the type fonts to jail and the printer set up thepaper behind the bars, re-christening it for that oneissue, "Le Charivari."

THE DECLINE OF FRENCH JOURNALISM

Gallic journalism, as we have seen, increased inpower and importance until the outbreak of the CivilWar, and then began to decline. This was not im-mediately apparent for, although many periodicalsdisappeared during the war because both editors andsubscribers were at the front, this loss was temporarilycompensated by a new crop of party papers born of thepassions of Reconstruction. It was only an ephemeralrejuvenation, however, for as soon as the Afro-Carpet-bagger coalition was definitely beaten and racial ran-cors began to disappear, Louisiana-French journalismstarted to die a lingering death.

The main reason for this was the waning use of theFrench language. The post war poverty forced theCreoles to forego their annual visits to France andmade them send their sons to New Orleans publicschools instead of to Parisian universities. Here theylearned English and, because the American boys madefun of them they became ashamed to speak French.These changes caused a distinct cleavage with Gallic


culture and tradition and brought about a progressiveAmericanization of the Creole population that rapidlydiminished the number of those interested in theFrench newspapers.

"L'Abeille" continued, and from time to time newjournals were launched, but their mortality rate waseven higher than it had been before the war. Thisdiminution of interest in French became so apparentthat a group of the older Creoles organized "L'AthénéeLouisianais" in 1875, for the purpose of encouragingthe use of that language. The following year they be-gan to publish a small periodical called "Les ComptesRendus," which was so well written that LafcadioHearn said there were few periodicals printed inEnglish that approached it in interest and excellence.But it was too weak a reed to change the course ofevents, and by 1900 the use of French in Louisiana hadbecome, not a necessity, but a mere sentimentaladdiction, indulged in by a rapidly decreasing few.

In spite of all this "l'Abeille" continued to live foranother quarter of a century, supported as a sort ofbeloved symbol of a dead past, until, in 1916, the StateLegislature gave it a mortal blow by passing a lawmaking it no longer necessary to publish judicialnotices in French. This deprived the poor "Bee" ofits principal source of "honey" and it grew weaker andweaker until, in 1925, it fluttered its wings and expired,after an existence that lacked only two years of acentury.

Today "Les Comptes Rendus de l'Athénée Louisi-anais" is the only publication in French which stilleixsts in New Orleans or Louisiana, and while in theparishes some of the old newspapers, like the "Mescha-cébé, " still continue to appear, they are now publishedentirely in English.

With the death of French journalism in Louisiana, aforce, which for a century has exerted a great intellec-tual influence has disappeared; and to me it is problem-atical as to whether the gain in Americanization which


brought this about is equalled by the loss in culturalvalues. In any event, I shall alway regret the passingof those gay Gallic and Creole editors, witty, devil-may-care and belligerent beyond belief, who wereequally at home with pen, pistol or sword, and wholent such color and spice to Louisiana life in the 19thCentury.

1932.1 French Newspapers of Louisiana 281

TABLE OF FRENCH NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS FOUNDEDIN LOUISIANA, ARRANGED BY DECADES

1790-1800 .1800-1810 .1810-1820 .1820-1830 .1830-1840 .1840-1850 .1850-1860 .1860-1870 .1870-1880 .1880-1890 .1890-1900 .1900-1910 .

In New Orlesna

. . . 1 .

. . . 9 .

. . . 3 .

. . . 6 .

. . . 15 .

. . . 33 .

. . . 16 .

. . . 18 .

. . . 16 .

. . . 10 .

. . . 7 .

. . . 2 .

In the Paruhes(exclusive of N. 0.)

—

. .

—

. . 4 . .

. . 4 . .

. . 17 . .

. . 30 . .

. . 17 . .

. . 14 . .

. . 10 . .. . 5 . .. . 3 . .

Toio Lou

. 1

. 9

. 3

. 10

. 19

. 50

. 46

. 35

. 30

. 20

. 12

. 5

EXPLANATION OF THE FOREGOING TABLE

1800-1810 The sudden launching of nine newspapers in this decade wasdue to the advent of the first wave of French journaUsta whowere driven from Santo Domingo by the Negro uprising, tothe speeding up of business caused by the influx of many newresidents and to the political jealousies and controversieBbetween Creoles and Americans following the transfer ofLouisiana to the united States in 1803.

1810-1820 These disagreements quieted down, so only three journalawere started.

1820-1830 The beginnings of prosperity caused six to start in NewOrleans and four in the Parishes.

1830-1840 Up to 1837, when a panic took place, was a period of greatinflation. This together with the growing prosperity andculture of the French-speaking population and the advent ofthe second group of French journalists exiled after theRevolution of 1830, caused the founding of fifteen papers inNew Orleans and four in the Parishes.

1840-1850 This was the golden era of French journalism in Louisiana.So great was the prosperity that thirty-three new publica-tions were begun in New Orleans and seventeen in theParishes. This period also saw the first appearance ofperiodicals devoted to literature, art and music. The thirdand last group of French journahsts came over as a result ofNapoleon Ill 's proscriptions of 1848-51.


1850-1860 The number of new papers in New Orleans dropped to onlysixteen, because of her decline as a port due to the growingcompetition of railroads and canala. Then, too, the increaseof tonnage of ocean-going vessels made it impossible for manyof the larger ships to pass the bars then at the mouth of theMississippi. All this loss of traffic caused serious diminutionof the city's prosperity. These conditions did not affect theParishes, however. Their prosperity continued unabatedand thirty new papers were launched.

1860-1870 The Civil War in 1861 killed many papers, but New Orleanswas captured the next year, and the struggle which beganbetween the carpet-baggers and Negroes on one side and theex-Confederates on the other, gave birth to eighteeen partizanpapers in New Orleans. Seventeen were started in theParishes.

1870-1880 As the passions of Reconstruction calmed down the numberof new papers decreased to sixteen new ones for New Orleansand fourteen for the Parishes. Then, too, the poverty broughton by the war prevented the Creoles from sending their sonsto French Universities; instead, they attended public schoolsin the State and learned English at the expense of French.

1880-1890 Most of the older Creoles who clung to French because theyhad been educated abroad had died, and as all the youngergenerations spoke English, the need for French newspaperagradually ceased, although ten new papers were started inNew Orleans and ten more in the Parishes in this period.

1890-1900 During this period only seven new papers were started inNew Orleans and five in the Parishes.

1900-1910 The new papers dwindled to two for New Orleans and threefor the Parishes, as the country communities clung more toFrench. All the old journals had stopped publication, andonly the "Bee" remained. A law was passed in 1916 makingit no longer mandatory to publish legal notices in French aswell as in English. This removed its chief source of revenue,and when the linotype men charged double wages for com-posing in a foreign language, the "Bee" stopped publicationin 1925.

NOTE—AVERAGE LIFE OF A NEW ORLEANS PUBLICATION PRINTED

WHOLLT OR PARTLY IN FRENCH.

As close an approximation as it is possible to make from the figures athand, is that:

139 separate publications enjoyed a total of600 years of publication, which would make the average existence of a

journal about4}i years.

248 american antiquarian sodety [oct., · following ten years only six. although 1827 saw the...

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