by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.
BROWN AND CO.
The banking-house of Brown and Co. was in Canal Street. From the SaintLouis Exchange, Canal Street may be approached by the Rue Conti, or theparallel street of the Rue Royale. The latter is the favouritepromenade of the gay Creole-French, as Saint Charles Street is for thefashionable Americans.
You will wonder at this _melange_ of French and English in thenomenclature of streets. The truth is, that New Orleans has apeculiarity somewhat rare. It is composed of two distinct cities--aFrench and an American one. I might even say _three_, for there is aSpanish quarter with a character distinct from either, and where you maysee on the corner the Spanish designation "Calle," as the _Calle deCasacalvo, Calle del Obispo_, etcetera. This peculiarity is explainedby referring to the history of Louisiana. It was colonised by theFrench in the early part of the eighteenth century, New Orleans beingfounded in 1717. The French held Louisiana till 1762, when it was cededto Spain, and remained in her possession for a period of nearly fiftyyears--till 1798, when France once more became its master. Five yearsafter, in 1803, Napoleon sold this valuable country to the Americangovernment for 15,000,000 of dollars--the best bargain which BrotherJonathan has ever made, and apparently a slack one on the part ofNapoleon. After all, Napoleon was right. The sagacious Corsican, nodoubt, foresaw that it could not have long remained the property ofFrance. Sooner or later the American flag would wave over the CrescentCity, and Napoleon's easy bargain has no doubt saved America a war, andFrance a humiliation.
This change of masters will explain the peculiarity of the population ofNew Orleans. The characteristics of all three nations are visible inits streets, in its houses, in the features, habits, and dress of itscitizens. In nothing are the national traces more distinctly markedthan in the different styles of architecture. In the American quarteryou have tall brick dwellings, several stories in height, their shiningfronts half occupied with rows of windows, combining the light andornamental with the substantial and useful. This is typical of theAnglo-American. Equally typical of the French character are the lightwooden one-storey houses, painted in gay colours, with green verandahpalings; windows that open as doors, and a profusion of gauzy curtainshanging behind them.
Equally a type of the grand solemn character of the Spaniard, are themassive sombre structures of stone and lime, of the imposing Moorishstyle, that is still seen in many of the streets of New Orleans. Ofthese, the Great Cathedral is a fine specimen--that will stand as amonument of Spanish occupancy, long after both the Spanish and Frenchpopulation has been absorbed and melted down in the alembic of theAnglo-American propagandism. The American part of New Orleans is thatwhich is highest on the river--known as the Faubourgs Saint Mary andAnnunciation. Canal Street separates it from the French quarter--whichlast is the old city, chiefly inhabited by Creole-French and Spaniards.
A few years ago, the French and American populations were about equal.Now the Saxon element predominates, and rapidly absorbs all the others.In time the indolent Creole must yield to the more energetic American--in other words, New Orleans will be Americanised. Progress andcivilisation will gain by this, at the expense--according to thesentimental school--of the poetic and picturesque.
Two distinct cities, then, are there in New Orleans. Each has itsExchange distinct from the other--a distinct municipal court and publicoffices--each has its centre of fashionable resort--its favouritepromenade for the _flaneurs_, of which the South-western metropolis canboast a large crowd--its own theatres, ballrooms, hotels, and cafes. Infact, a walk of a few paces transports one into quite a different world.The crossing of Canal Street is like being transferred from Broadway tothe Boulevards.
In their occupations there is a wide difference between the inhabitantsof the two quarters. The Americans deal in the strong staples of humanlife. The great depots of provisions, of cotton, of tobacco, of lumber,and the various sorts of raw produce, will be found among them. On theother hand, the finer fabrics, the laces, the jewels, the modes andmodistes, the silks and satins, and all articles of _bijouterie_ and_virtu_, pass through the lighter fingers of the Creoles--for theseinherit both the skill and taste of their Parisian progenitors. Fineold rich wine-merchants, too, will be found in the French part, who havemade fortunes by importing the wines of Bordeaux and Champagne--forclaret and champagne are the wines that flow most freely on the banks ofthe Mississippi.
A feeling of jealousy is not wanting between the two races. The strongenergetic Kentuckian affects to despise the gay pleasure-lovingFrenchman, while the latter--particularly the old Creole noblesse--regard with contempt the _bizarrerie_ of the Northern, so that feuds andcollisions between them are not infrequent. New Orleans is, _parexcellence_, the city of the duello. In all matters of this kind theKentuckian finds the Creole quite his equal--his full match in spirit,courage, and skill. I know many Creoles who are notorious for thenumber of their duels. An opera-singer or _danseuse_ frequently causeshalf a score or more--according to her merits, or mayhap her demerits.The masqued and quadroon-balls are also frequent scenes of quarrel amongthe wine-heated bloods who frequent them. Let no one fancy that life inNew Orleans is without incident or adventure. A less prosaic city itwould be hard to find.
These subjects did _not_ come before my mind as I walked towards thebanking-house of Brown and Co. My thoughts were occupied with a fardifferent theme--one that caused me to press on with an agitated heartand hurried steps.
The walk was long enough to give me time for many a hypotheticcalculation. Should my letter and the bill of exchange have arrived, Ishould be put in possession of funds at once,--enough, as I supposed,for my purpose--enough to buy my slave-bride! If not yet arrived, howthen? Would Brown advance the money? My heart throbbed audibly as Iasked myself this question. Its answer, affirmative or negative, wouldbe to me like the pronouncement of a sentence of life or death.
And yet I felt more than half certain that Brown would do so. I couldnot fancy his smiling generous John-Bull face clouded with theseriousness of a refusal. Its great importance to me at that moment--the certainty of its being repaid, and in a few days, or hours at thefarthest--surely he would not deny me! What to him, a man of millions,could be the inconvenience of advancing five hundred pounds? Oh! hewould do it to a certainty. No fear but he would do it!
I crossed the threshold of the man of money, my spirits buoyant withsweet anticipation. When I recrossed it my soul was saddened withbitter disappointment. My letter had not yet arrived--Brown refused theadvance!
I was too inexperienced in business to comprehend its sordidcalculations--its cold courtesy. What cared the banker for my pressingwants? What to him was my ardent appeal? Even had I told him mymotives, my object, it would have been all the same. That game colddenying smile would have been the reply--ay, even had my life dependedupon it.
I need not detail the interview. It was brief enough. I was told, witha bland smile, that my letter had not yet come to hand. To my proposalfor the advance the answer was blunt enough. The kind generous smileblanked off Brown's ruddy face. It was not business. It could not bedone. There was no sign thrown out--no invitation to talk farther. Imight have appealed in a more fervent strain. I might have confessedthe purpose for which I wanted the money, but Brown's face gave me noencouragement. Perhaps it was as well I did not. Brown would havechuckled over my delicate secret. The town, over its tea-table, wouldhave relished it as a rich joke.
Enough--my letter had not arrived--Brown refused the advance. With Hopebehind me and Despair in front, I hurried back to the hotel.