The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-07 00:00:00

LIFE. IN SOUTTI CAROLIN. 4.

-8-

The Few Fork Times publishes the foKowing
extract of a private letter from a lady in South
Carolina, received in that city :—" I fear thaQseces-
sion and revolution are, with our people, foregone
conclusions ; we have gone so far retraction and
recession are impossible, and that civil war, with
all its consequent horrors, is already upon us. I
shudder for the wives and mothers, sisters and
babes, of South Carolina as I contemplate the im-
mediate future of the State Do not be surprised
at any time to see me and the children in your
midst, for no argument could induce me to remain
here an hour longer than I should be compelled to
if the worst should come to the worst. You may
imagine, dear uncle, our situation, but you can
never realize it in its fulness. Already we tremble
in out own homes in anticipation and expectancy of
what is liable to burst forth at any nioment—a negro
insurrection. Could you see the care and precau-
tion displayed here by the proprietors of the ne-
groes, not only planters, but others, you would
not for a moment envy us our possessioro.
Not a night passes that we do not securely lock our
field servants in their quarters; but our most loved
and valued house servants, whom in ordinary times
we would trust to any extent, are watched and
guarded against with all the scrutiny and care that
we possess. Our planters and owners of slave pro-
perty do not allow their servants to have any inter-
course with each other, and the negroes are confined
strictly to the premises where they belong. We
are all obliged to increase our force of overseers to
prevent too free intercourse even among our own
servants. The negroes feel and notice these new
restraints, and naturally ask why is this ? But it
is unnecessary for them to ask the question, for they
all comprehend the cause as well as we who own them.
They have already learnt enough to give them an
idea of what is going on in the State and the nation,
and this knowledge they have not gained from the
Abolitionists, as some suppose, but from the conver-
sation of their owners indirectly held in their pre-
sence. They have already heard of Lincoln's election,
and have heard also that he is for giving them
their liberty, and you may imagine the result. You
have heard that our servants all love their maste rs,
and their masters' families, and would lay down
their lives for them—that the co'oured race in thee'
South prefers slavery to freedom—that they would
not be free if they could, &c. That is but the
poetry of the case, the reality consists in sleeping
upon our arms at night—in doubly bolting and
barring our doors—in establishing and maintaining
an efficient patrol force—in buying watch-dogs,
and in taking turns in watching our sleeping
children, to guard them and ourselves from the ven-
geance of these same ' loving servants'—a vengeance
which, though now smouldering, is liable to burst
out at any moment, to overwhelm the Slate in spite
of the palmetto flags or State precautions. You at
at the North are not the only ones who are suffer-
ing financially by this new panic. The planters
among us are really suffering from the depreciation
of their property. Already negroes are not worth
half price. No one dares to buy a servant, fear-
ing lest he, in doing so, should be introducing
upon his plantation one tinctured with the idea
of freedom. My husband has but a few
servants-1 believe but thirty-one, all told—still I
feel (and so does he) that they are thirty-one too
many in such times as these. He would sell them
immediately, if it were possible; but the truth is
he could realize nothing for them at present, or at
most not more than half their real value. Slaves
are a drug in the market, my husband says, and
you know him well enough to judge of his judg-
ment in such matters. Now, one word as to the
military force of the State to protect us against an
irsurrection. I presume, with the exception of
Charleston, and perhaps a few large towns, that
the remainder of the State is situated very much
the same as we are here ; and I will give you an
idea of how well prepared we are to resist a mob.
Upon our place of about 1,200 acres we have of
whites, males—husband, two overseers, and my son
of 18; total four; females—self and cousin, little
Lucy and the wife of one of the overseers—four;
of whom only four at the most are capable of bear-
ing arms, to offset which we have at least 17 field
bands, sturdy young negroes, besides the female
servants. And this is a fair representation of the
force upon our plantations. Considering such a
state of facts, do you blame me desiriag to absent
Myself, my husband and children, from ttie State ?"

POLICE IN'I'ELLIGENG'E—Tan. 5.

MANSION-HOUSE.--Jas. Tite, a well-dressed
young man, described as of Queen-street, Rhyl,
North Wales, commercial traveller, was brought
before the Lord Mayor in the custody of Thomas
Smart, a detective officer, and charged with em-
be:-.zling various sums of money, amounting in the
aggregate to upwards of £lOO, under somewhat
extraordinary circumstances.
Mr. Wontner attended to prefer the charge; the
prisoner was defended by Mr. Lewis, sen.
Richard Bullersaid—l am cashier to Messrs. King
and Co., of 63, Queen-street, Cheapside, wholesale
stationers. The prisoner entered the service of our
firm on the 9th of October last as a traveller,under
a written agreement stipulating that he was to be
paid by commission. The understanding was that
he was to travel in various parts of the country, no
particular part being specified, and obtain orders,
transmitting them to the firm for execution. On
the 16th of November I received a letter from Mr.
South, of Great Heywood, Staffordshire, one of our
customers, to whom an account had been sent for
£27 13s. 4d., stating that he had paid the prisoner
the money on the 27th of October, and for which he
held his receipt. I wrote a letter to the prisoner
on the same day requesting him to explain the
matter, and thinking it susceptible of explanation,
1 did not then mention it to Messrs. King. I re-
ceived an answer from him by return of post stating
he had received the money and would forward it in
a day or two. It was his duty to send the money
immediately after receiving it. I received several
more letters from him to the same purport on the
subject, and finally one dated the 27th of Decem-
ber, appointing to meet me in London at the
Cathedral Coffeehouse. I met him there, when he
stated that he had not then got the money, but if
I would keep the matter close for a day or two
longer he was certain to obtain it. On the 31st of
December we sent out as usual the accounts to
our customers in various parts of the country. I
produce now a number of letters from them, ex-
pressing surprise at the applications, and stating
that they had paid the prisoner ; one in particular,
from Messrs. Kellingly and Co., who enclose his
receipt. I then addressed a printed circular to all
our customers in reference to the prisoner, and yes-
terday received a telegram from a customer in a
town in Kent, that the prisoner had just then en-
tered a railway carriage on his way to London. I
went to the station at London-bridge and met him
on his arrival there, when he accompanied me to
our counting-house. He remarked on the way there
that directly he saw the printed circular they had
sent out he knew " it was all up" with him, and
that Mr. King knew all about the matter. He has
never paid the £27 odd he received from Mr.
South, nor any of the other sums he has obtained
from the customers.
Cross-examined by Mr. Lewis—The prisoner
wrote me a letter on the 3d of January, saying he
would be in London on the following day, and
accompanying it with an account of moneys
received by him amounting to £4l ss. 10d.,
which I believe is the whole amount he has
received. He has overdrawn his commission
on those sums, though on some of them no com-
mission at all was due to him, the orders having
been obtained by another traveller. In that letter
he said he would bring a draught for the amount
the net night, and that he had not been actuated
by any dishonest motive. He was taken into cus-
tody at Messrs. King's, in Queen-street, and when
he was in charge of the police-constable he handed
over a check for £52 95., which he said he had
received from a customer. When in the counting-
house he said he expected his brother-in-law, who
would give him the money due from him at-once.
At first Mr. King hesitated whether he would let
him off or give him into custody, deciding at length
on the latter course. Nothing was said to the
prisoner at the interview with Mr. King about his
paying the money. I went to the station to meet
the prisoner in conseqaence of the telegram, and
not of the letter he had written to me. I was not
aware he had received the £52 odd until he pro-
duced it.

Mr. Wontner said there were three other gentle-
men in court who had charges to prefer against the
prisoner, one of whom he called as a witness.
Mr. Benjamin Elam said—l am a wholesale sad-
dler and whip manufacturer of 213, Piccadilly.
The prisoner was in my service as a commercial
traveller. I engaged him on the 17th July last on
commission. I intrusted him with a quantity of
costly goods as samples, of the value of between
£3OO and £4OO, including whips mounted with
gold and silver and saddlery. He left my service
about October last. He has returned many samples,
but he has dctainedor disposed of a number of gold
and silver mounted whips, of the value of between
£5O and £6O at least, which were entrusted to him
for sale. He could either use them as samples or
sell them. I have ascertained that he has received
about £6O, which he has not paid me.
Mr. Wontner said a memorandum—" Whips not
accounted for, £4B 3s. 6d.” was found in prisoner's
possession.

Cross examined--The fact of his receiving the
whips has never been in dispute. He selected them
himself at my shop on 17th July, priced them, and
entered them in A book in bie own hand, la noTer