The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1861-02-01
6eneral Mistellanu.
The New Decline and Fall,

Most well regulated minds entertain pro-
found pity for the drunkard who reels crazily
along the street. 1t is clear that he is on the
highway to destruction. If in his delirium
he runs violently against some sober wayfar-
er, the collision is suffered to pass without
being resented. 1t is known that the offend.
er is laboring under delusion strong enough
TO make him in some degree an unaccounta-
bic being. Hence pity and forbearance be-
come spontaneous impulses. For kindred
reasons we look upon the delirious intatua-
ton of South Carolina with equal pity, and
thus far with a merciiul forbearance. She
too, has drank of a poison which has taken
away her reason, and being thus dcmcnted
she is rceling, like the unhappy drunkard to
her certain destruction. Looking at her as
she now stands, without counting the insane
lengths to which she may yet be driven, the
ultimate consequences of her reasonable In
fatuation cannot be doubted. The leaven of
her ruin is already permeating the whole Sc
cal and monetary system.
All know that it is population which gives
value to land 1t is known, moreover, that
the average assessed value Of all the land in
South Carolina is onl y two dollars per acre,
which is lower than in any other state. Yet
we have certain evidence that her population
is rapidly diminishing under the terrorism of
her rebellion. Men are flying from this ter
ing with them such movables as they can,and
seeking in more peaceful regions a lace of
safety which can no longer be found within
her borders. Though her journals may seek
to suppress the fact, yet it cannot be con-
cealed. 1t stares at US in the advertisements
of property for sale which copiously sarnish
their columns. Private correspondence re-
veals it as existing even in the very focus of
the rebellion. 1t was Just SO in the halt-tledg-
ed rebellion of 1882. Men sold what they
then could, submitting to any sacrifice, thank
tul at being able to escape with something
| This depopuation kept the price Of land sta
tonary, If it did not actually deprcciate.
But the exodus of 1861 cannot be COM
pared with that of 1882 If the notification
of the latter year unsettled and drove away
so many, the rebellion of this must end in
general dcpopulation. Men will not live
where war is either constantly threatened or
only occasionally occurring, especially in a
country from which they can fly so readily
1t is this tear which has driven so many thou
sands from Europe to this country. There,
all has been danger-here, all has been safe
ty. AS they seek to escape from one deSpot-
ism, so the rejecting Carohnians will vi ques-
tionabiy fly from the other But, to aggra-
vate the folly which is thus destroying South
Carolina, she is not content with ostv"clzing
her native population only. Thousands of
Northern men. good and profitable citizens.
with capital and skill, are driven of, lynched
in their persons, and ruined in their pockets,
each one living warning that she closes her
doors against even the most desirable form
of immigration. Where other states invite
she repels Under combination Of meas
ures so hostile to all national prosperity, if
not to national existence itself, the end must
be clearly visible. As depopulation goes on
so taxation will become burdensome beyond
endurance. Those who choose to remain
will at las, be forced to fly from that which
they cannot fail to see will soon devour them
1t was Just so in Pennsylvania when all hel
: farms were subject to her state mortgage Of
$4O,OOO0UO. TIE interest of which at ont
time compelled the state to suspend payment
and required taxation so enormous as t,
drive cti thousands to the West. In her case
those who remained knew that this oncrou
o tax must in few years diminish under tn,
vast resources of the state, and the event ha
justified their foresight taxation there /:
row not only endurabe, but is annually ii
mniSiinS.
But the position of South Carolina is es
sentialy different. Though owing a heay
debt, which she is now Increasing at a fear
r. full rate, vet her always feeble resources ar
rapidly diminishing. Every kind of proper
ty is sinking in value, and she has no rccu
rcrative future. This deprecated propert
is now subjected to forced loans which prov
the existence of a terrific e!cspotism. Wors
70 yet, there is no prospect of their not bein
continually repeated. The banks have cor
tributed large sums TO the state, but the
have only commenced Il process whose end
certain if not close at hand. Her populatlo
numbers only 1000 white males over twer
ty years old, upon whom most of this il
creasing burden of taxation must eventual
fall. The low condition of life and busine:
is apparent III the federal government carr,
ing her mails at an annual loss of Sl40OO
while in Pcunsy lvanla the annual profit
$4,000. Her population, always sparse, wit
ct no diversified industry, has increased bl
not present. Her leading minds have bee
devoted to petty and local objects, their hig
est ambition being treasonablc and the
have so tomented their pestllent heresieS ;
to inocuale the masses with chronic apt
,ude for rebellion. Everything has bee
done to make quiet men uncomfortable, al
to drive honest ones away. This catalosl
of folly and crime can have but one result
Let the present rebellion terminate as it ma
it must be followed by a dcpopuatlon 50 ge
Mt eral that the state, for century to come, W
experience no recovery from its runous {
tects.
Take her chief city as a striking illnstr
ton. Charleston is the only seaport tow
whose population has diminished within Il
last ten lears-the diminution being near
5000. Instead of inviting a Northern i
crease she is driving off what Northern mt
she now has. Her drunken anarchy is 0
TRACKING hundreds of natives, while 9th
hundreds will leave the moment they can e
away. In the best of times her only scave
gers are buzzards, whose appetite for gar
age is relied on to cleanse the city Of fit
which is the parent of pestilence y nigh
. sleep in the miasma which surrounds her
is IS certain DEATH Her harbor is the most int
n' cate and difficult of access of any on t
We We coast, yet her people have fastened to sh
-" ~. out commerce by blocking it up with obs'
:. ~ " cles. Every marine insurance company h
y had ample experience of its hazards. y
instead OF seeking the mos: common sen
ed remedies for these great natural disadvan'