The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1866-01-12
II A RLEST TO n
FRIDAY MORNING, JANUARY 70, 1866.

affairs presented by the last summer 10 the
citizen, returning to his home after years of
exile, the scenes presented wero especially
trepulsiye The homes of honorcd citizons
seem to have been industriously filled with
negroes; our public halls were the head
quarters of officers, with whom intercourse
was necessary, and who often seemed to feel
that it was part of their duty to give us a
realizing sense of subjugation; the Citadel
afforded quarters to colored regiment, whose
evening exercises brought together thousands
upon thousands of idle and disorderly ne
groes; colored soldiers stalked the streets; /;
colored women in ilaring fnery thronged
the thoroughfarcs; plantation negroes in
thousands sprawled upon the curb-stoncs and
hung around the commissary department OF
the Freedmen's Bureau; buildings were still
SCARED and broken by shells; grog-shops
were open everywhere but hotels, all
but one, were closed and, thoug h business
in the way of merchandise was active-more
goods were sold perhaps than are sold now
but in all things else it was stagnant. No
mills, machinery, or collateral trades or en-
terprises wero in operation; our young men
returning in want from the army were with
out the opportunity or the hope of employ
ment; much of our property was in the hands
of the Frecdmen's Bureau, without the pres
cnt means of its recovery or the assurance
that it ever would bc restored; and oyer all
were the gloomy apprchensions Of still greater
political evils, which -wc had not, of our
selves, the power to avert
In many respects it must be confessed that
there has been q change for the better. Col
6red troops arc no lougcr quartered in the
Citadel; negroes have been removed from
tie houses of our citizens; officers no longer
industriously impress us with sense of sub
iugation; colored soldiers and colored women
no longer monopolizc the streets; the injuries
| from the bombardment have been generally
rcpaircd; tho droves of idle negroes have
been sent to the country or absorbed by busi7
ness property, to a great extent, has been
restored; our young men have generally
found something to which they Gun turn their
willing hands mills, machine-shops, foun-
dries, trades and collateral enterprises have
been started; civil law has been restored !;
civil officers have entered on their functions ;
the aspect of our political fortunes has bright
ened; the States, though barred from Con-
grcss, are recognized by the Government as
constituents of the Union; and, although our
condition is not yet such us we wish it were !:
though when coming to its full realization
we find our losses greater, our prospects more
gloomy than we night have hoped they would
be; though negroes in rural districts still re-
fuse to work, and on the islands are in a state
of insurrection and, though our city is
heavily charged with debt, and must incur
still greater charges in tho way of restora-
tion and repair and, although we are forced
to forcgo, for the present, the hopes of much
of that business upon which the fortunes of
our city had depended, still we are conscious
the coast is clear; that impediments are re-
moved that in business matters we are pos
sessed Of the situation TINT we have our
work before us, which, hard as it may be, is
still within our grasp; that if we cannot
make the negroes work as efficiently as we
could wish, VIC can make them serviceable to
some extent, or at least we can work our
selves that if our estates do not give us for
tunes, they will at least give US support;
and that, with patience, prudence and econo-
my, for which all are prepared, there is now
the reasonable assurance of q condition of
well.beiDg and happiness as attractive as men
usually enjoy, while there is the further conf
Portable assurance that matters must contin-
ually improve; that negroes, though some Of
them may starve, must ultimately come to
work that even our diminished agricultural
products must bring capital into the country;
that foreign labor must be attracted by the
extraordinary inducements offered that cul-
tivation must become more and more ex-
handed that our communication will extend
further into the country, md through moro
prosperous sections; and that more trade
will come to our city and that its business
must revive and expand and our present
state is Frightening, therefore, by at least
this one reflection, that it is at the worst;
that external impediments are removed; that
every change must be for the better, and every
step, small as it may be, Il step to a more at
tractivc future.
1t were but an act of justice to our present
military authorities to confess that they have