of Louisiana, and divided among the crew. Twenty thousand dollars, concealed in kegs, was discovered a few years ago, on Caillou, by an individual named Wagner, in company with six others, who was murdered by his comrades; the treasure carried off, but nothing since has ever been heard of them. Gold bars, of great value, have since been discovered among the islands of Barrataria, and it is probable great treasures may be elsewhere concealed, for these pirates were all rich, and Lafitte is said to have spent sixty thousand dollars in fashionable society, during a short stay at Washington City.

About this time the Texas revolution burst forth, and many signal battles were fought on land and sea, until the lone star of the republic rose in refulgent beauty on the horizon of nations. Foremost in the cause of freedom was Lafitte. He commanded the Jupiter, one of his own cruisers, the first vessel ever chartered by the new government, and by the very terror of his name, spread panic and dismay among the enemy. He was rewarded for his gallant services by being appointed Governor of Galveston, a post of honor and distinction. Not long after, an American ship was boarded near our coast, and rifled of a large amount of specie; and the Jupiter having arrived at Galveston with a great quantity of that commodity on board, Lafitte was immediately suspected, and one of our men-ofwar, under Lieut. Madison, received orders to cruise off the coast, and vigilantly watch his manœuvres. Lafitte became highly exasperated at this proceeding, and addressed a letter* to the commander, demanding by what authority he continued to lie before that port of which he was governor. The commander made no reply, but still continued to keep a strict look-out, and watch the operations of Lafitte, who, burning with indignation, resolved to set his authority at defiance.

In the great storm of 1818, he lost many men and four vessels, three of which were foundered at sea, and one went ashore on Virginia point, on the opposite side of the bay. In consequence of which accident, he sent Lafage to New-Orleans, to have built a new schooner, which, when finished and manned, mounted two guns as her heavy ordnance, and a crew of fifty men. As soon as their vessel was

To the Commander of the American Cruiser, off the Port of Galveston: SIR, I am convinced that you are a cruiser of the navy, ordered by your government. I have therefore deemed it proper to inquire into the cause of your lying before this port, without communicating your intention. I shall by this message inform you, that the port of Galveston belongs to, and is in possession of the Republic of Texas, and was made a port of entry the 9th October last. And whereas the Supreme Congress have thought proper to appoint me as governor of this place, in consequence of which, if you have any demands on said government, or persons belonging to or residing in the same, you will please to send an officer with such demands, whom, you may be assured, will be treated with the greatest politeness, and receive every satisfaction required. But if you are ordered, or should you attempt to enter this port in a hostile manner, my oath and my duty to the government compels me to rebut your intentions at the expense of my life.

To prove to you my intentions towards the welfare and harmony of your government, I send enclosed the declarations of several prisoners, who were taken into custody yester day, and by a court of inquiry appointed for that purpose, were found guilty of robbing the inhabitants of the United States of a number of slaves and specie. The gentleman bearing this message will give you any reasonable information relating to this place, that may be required. Yours, &c., J. LAFITTE.

launched, Lafage took command, and made a short cruise, in which he captured a vessel, and was proceeding with her under flowing sheets, to Lafitte's station, when he was met by the United States cutter, Alabama, on her way to the Mississippi. The cutter, suspecting the character of the schooner, bore down and hailed her, but was answered by a tremendous volley of gun-shot, which cut her rigging, and seriously disabled six of her crew. A desperate action ensued, and Lafage, after losing the greater part of his bravest men, surrendered. The vessel and her prize were brought into our port, at Bayou St. John, and the captured crew taken in irons to New-Orleans, where, at the next session of the Circuit Court of the United States, they were tried, condemned, and executed.

Lafitte was highly exasperated at the result of this trial; he seemed to think that the whole world was against him, and resolved therefore to wage an indiscriminate war against all mankind. He had lately received a commission in the navy of the Colombian republic, and selling all his vessels, avowed his intention of immediately enlisting in the service. But he was secretly planning other great schemes. He called together his scattered crew, and with the proceeds of the sale of his vessels, bought a stout, large, fast-sailing brigantine, on which he placed an armament of sixteen guns, and a crew of one hundred and sixteen men. Thus equipped, he went forth like an evil spirit to war against the world.

But his eventful career was drawing to a close. A British sloopof-war, cruising in the Gulf of Mexico, having heard of his intention, kept a sharp look-out from the mast-head, with the hope of meeting him. One morning as an officer was sweeping the horizon with his glass, he discovered in the dim distance a suspicious-looking sail, and immediately orders were given to make chase. As the sloop-of-war had the weather-gauge of the pirate, and could outsail her before the wind, she set her studding-sails and crowded every inch of canvass. Lafitte, as soon as he ascertained the character of his opponent, furled his awnings, set his big squaresail, and shot rapidly through the water. But the breeze freshening, the sloop continued to gain upon him, when, finding escape impossible, he opened a fire upon the ship, killing a number of men, and carrying away her fore-topmast. The man-of-war reserved her fire until close in with the brigantine, when she poured into her a broadside and a volley of small arms. The broadside was too much elevated to hit the low hull of the brigantine, but did considerable execution among her rigging and crew, ten of whom were killed. At this juncture, the English came up and boarded her over the starboard bow. A terrible conflict now ensued.

Above the storm of battle, Lafitte's stern voice was heard, and his red arm, streaming with gore, and grasping a shattered blade, was seen in the darkest of the conflict. The blood now ran in torrents from the scuppers, and dyed the waters with a crimson stain. At length Lafitte fell, wounded desperately in two places. A ball had broken the bone of his right leg; a cutlass wound had penetrated his stomach. The commander of the boarders was stretched senseless on the deck close by Lafitte, and the desperate pirate, beholding his victim within his grasp, raised himself with difficulty and pain, dagger

in hand, to slay the unconscious man.

He threw his clotted locks

aside, and drew his hand across his brow, to clear his sight of blood and mist, and raised the glittering blade above the heart of the dying man. But his brain was dizzy, his aim unsure, and the dagger descending, pierced the thigh of his powerless foe, and Lafitte fell back exhausted to the deck. Again reviving, with the convulsive grasp of death he essayed again to plunge the dagger to the heart of the foe, but as he held it over his breast, the effort to strike burst asunder the slender ligament of life, and Lafitte was no more.

Still the action raged with unabated fury: but so superior was the force of the assailants, that victory was no longer doubtful; yet so desperately had they been met, that of a crew of one hundred and sixty, but sixteen survived the conflict. These were taken to Jamaica, and at a subsequent sitting of the Court of Admiralty, they were all condemned to death; ten, however, only were executed, the remaining six having been pardoned by the British government.

Thus fell Lafitte, a man superior in talent, in knowledge of his profession, in courage, and in physical strength. His memory is justly cherished by the Americans, for he rendered them great service in the perilous field; and there are many who believe him to be alive at this day, no authentic account of his death ever having been published. But the proceedings of the court, and testimony of the witnesses, place this beyond a doubt; and, however dear his memory may be to some, we must not forget, that the road of honor was open to him; that he forsook its pleasant and peaceful enjoyments; in a word, all that might endear the remembrance of man on earth-to leave a career written in blood

"A corsair's name to other times, Linked with one virtue, and a thousand crimes."

ART. V.-WHY NEW-ORLEANS DOES NOT ADVANCE.

MUSING the other day upon the evident decay of the commerce of New-Orleans and its comparative retrograde movement, I am induced to point out a few of the very many causes which have conspired to produce this melancholy result. Situated at the embouchure of thirty thousand miles of interior navigation, The "Crescent City" finds itself outstripped during the recent decade in population, and other elements of wealth, by the "Queen City," located 1,600 miles from the sea, upon a river which Mr. Randolph has "damned to everlasting fame," as dry all summer, and frozen all winter. It occurred to me, (a resident of New-Orleans from 1810 until some few years back,) that an enumeration of what I deemed a few of the principal causes might possibly suggest the remedy for some, and the amelioration of others.

1st. The overweening confidence of your superior locality, that nothing could divert the trade, is only another and more forcible illustration of the race between the hare and the tortoise.

There are among the drawbacks to the prosperity of New-Orleans,

some which, perhaps, are irremediable, others which are susceptible of very great amelioration, and others which may be entirely removed.

2d. Who ever heard of a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants, with four chief magistrates? id est, one mayor and three recorders, and triplicate officers in every department necessarily belonging to the organization of a city.

3d. The climate cannot be changed, but the diseases incidental to it may be greatly modified by wholesome municipal regulations, by strict attention to cleanliness, and by affording a cheap and abundant supply of good water.

Not intending to argue the points, I confine myself principally to what I believe will be admitted to be facts. With more necessity for clean streets, good draining, sewers, &c., &c., it is the filthiest city of its size in the United States.

Remarkable for its sudden changes of temperature, the architecture of the houses seems expressly calculated to make those changes more deleterious. The walls of the houses should be two or three feet thick, as in Havana, Madrid, and other southern cities, instead of a brick and a half or two bricks, as most of them are in New-Orleans. The houses indicate the change of temperature, with the accuracy of, and almost as quick as a thermometer. Any person who has visited the Rotunda at Washington in February and August, will appreciate the advantage of thick walls in preserving an uniform rate of temperature. All this may be remedied, and the mortality of your city reduced from one in nineteen to one in forty or fifty.

The system of absenteeism of the families of a large number of your population, who only come to make money; and another, even more terrible drain, by leaving the accumulated wealth of years to persons out of the state-can hardly be prevented.

If a sense of gratitude to the country which received them friend. less and penniless, and made them princely fortunes, does not in some degree animate them-not to leave their fortunes to the state, but in the state this evil is unavoidable, unless by some refined legislation : the rites of sepulture denied, or some indignity after death, might correct this: as was supposed to have been done to prevent the crime of suicide among the females of Greece.

A good deal of legislation, both by the state and municipal authorities, has had a tendency to drive commerce from your doors.

At one time one-half of the entire cotton crops of the United States was shipped from New-Orleans, besides a full share of all the other products of the West.

Not satisfied with the fair and legitimate gains which the freight, insurance, pressing, storing, hauling, &c. produced, for all of which the planter, receiving an equivalent, was perfectly willing to pay; but to pass a law to tax these things, simply for the privilege of landing on the levee-at which the planter revolts. Fortunately, the Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional, or the grass would now be growing in your streets, and deservedly so, for so narrow-minded a policy.

The whole of your wharfage fees, port charges, &c. are infinitely too

high; (compare them with New-York, Boston and Philadelphia ;) any attempt to correct these things is almost always met with the cry of hostility to the city; and the united influence of your twenty members is certain to defeat all such measures of wholesome reform.

Not having capital sufficient of your own, you should invite it there, (not by petitioning the legislature to incorporate banks, and introducing a paper currency,) but by affording additional facilities and offering inducements to bona fide capitalists to bring their money. I think the law reducing the rate of conventional interest has done great injury at least three hundred thousand dollars have been withdrawn from this section of the country. Indeed, it seems to me that all usury laws, as they are called, are injurious, and ought to be repealed. There are occasionally times when money is really worth more than 6 or 8 per cent., and then it is that conscientious men of capital retire, and leave the business of banking to others who are not afraid of violating the law, but having the monopoly, make the unfortunate borrower pay for it, as well as for the risk and disgrace of violating the law. If you allow men to ask what they choose for their money, as for their flour or anything else, the temptation of a cent or two above the ordinary rate would soon induce capital in that direction, and thus speedily relieve any pressure.

Instead of living off of each other, emulate the example of Boston and other Northern cities, and by means of rail-roads, bring commerce to your doors. I venture the assertion, that if the books were open for a bank to-morrow, that millions would be instantly subscribed, and yet nobody pretends that it would bring one dollar of additional wealth or trade to your city; but when a few hundred thousand dollars only are required to bring the rich country of Attakapas and Opelousas to your city, a country twice as large as the state of Massachusetts, every foot of which is cultivable, we look in vain for that enthusiasm which is seen on the opening of the books of banks or insurance companies.*

I trust that these desultory remarks will be received in the spirit in which they were written, by one long a resident of your city, but now a citizen of the prairies of

ATTAKAPAS.

* I recollect when the books of some bank were opened in New-Orleans, after a desperate struggle, one fortunate merchant succeeded in seating himself quietly with the intention of subscribing largely for himself and friends: another, fearing that there would not be enough of shares for the wants of all, thrust his arm under the lucky individual, and subscribed for an immense number, if not all the shares. Who does not recollect the immense sums made by the advance of the shares of the Gas Light Bank? Now it is a matter of calculation, that the freight on the sugar, cotton and molasses, with the passagemoney now paid by the people of Attakapas and Opelousas, without any augmentation, would pay a much higher rate of interest above all expenses, than the most favored bank could expect to make.