The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-06-26
SHALL OUR PEOPLE EM1GRATE,

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SHALL OUR PEOPLE EM1GRATEf
Soon after the fall of the Confederacy many
of our people, unable to penetrate the gloom
of the future, deeming all lost and seeing no
prospect for recuperation, cast about in the
hope of finding in some foreign country priVl-
leges and conditions denied them in their own.
This was quite natural, For however hopeless
our cause may have appeared to those without
or to the more far-sighted even within the
bounds of the Confederate States, we, the rank
and file of the people, both in the army and at
home, had staked our all on its success, and
persistently, nay wilfully, refused to see aught
that could by any possibility have tendency
to slacken our hands, or to cause us to despair
of the final result. Accordingly, when the last
arrived the shock was terrible, the agony in
describable; and this not here and there only,
with the more enthusiastic natures. No, this
was the case with our entire population almost.
No one was prepared for the catastrophe. The
i
general instinct was that all was lost; chat this
country offered nothing of hope or cheering
prospects to the vanquished Confederate. We
instinctively looked abroad; and had there been
an abundance as there was scarcity of money
at that time, there can be no doubt many would
have emigrated; and long ere this would have
rcpented their rash step, just as those who
carried out such design have repentcd and re-
turned
Mexico, at that time, to our ignorant eyes,
offered fine field. The inducements held out
to emigrants from the South by the Emperor's
Government were considerable, and many were
allured in part by these favorable terms, but
still more, because at Cordoya, they hoped to
find a climate and other physical conditions
analogous to those they had left behind them,
and could at once engage in the culture of such
products as were familiar to them. They,
moreover, expected to enjoy large share Of
civil and politicalliberty, orperhaps we should
say, they hoped for awhile at least to be per-
mitted to live in obscurity and quiet, remote
from all political complications. But this was
not to be. Long before the fall even Of MAXI
MIL1ANs Empire, most of the colonists, from
one cause or another, had relinquished the
project and returned to the United States,
much better contentcd hereafter to remain
here, than those of their neighbors who had
not been away on prospecting" tours in Span
ish America.
Others of our people went to Brazil, and yet
others to Venezuela. All these States are de-
sirous Of inducing immigration; send out
agents. offer lands either free of cost, or at
nominal price, and with the modification of
defeat still ranking in the bosom of some Of
our people, we every now and then hear of
few individuals determined to try their for
tunes in these far-off lands of the South. The
political troubles here, our present unsatisfac-
tory condition, and the uncertainty of the fu-
ture are the prime causes of this continued dis
content and consequent desire to emigrate.
We feel bound to say that we know of but few
instances of either such as have gone or con-
template going whether this is because Of the
res augusta domi enforcing the Psalmists in
junction: "Dwell in the land and verify thou
shalt be fed,"-or because sober second
thought has induced healthier tone of feel
ing, we are unable to say. We hope, however,
it is the latter.
We published letter few weeks ago from
gentleman from Barnwell District, S. c., who
had been in Brazil, having gone there with
view of purchasing land, and removing his
family thither. His report is altogether ad-
verse, and his advice to his friends is to remain
here So, we doubt not, it will be found in
the case of Venezuela, and other States and
Colonies, to which our people may look as
places of refuge. The truth is, We have not
one single good reason for emigrating; and
those who, acting upon impulse rather than
mature judgment, nevertheless cmigrate, will
find, sooner or later, that in straining at the
shadow they have lost the substance.
We have here all the conditions people usu-
ally seek in a country to which they remove,
when, for good and sufficient reasons, they
emigrate from their own; and wc have, on
several occasions, fully endorsed the very inter-
esting pamphlet prepared by our Commissioner
General JOHN A. WAGNER, setting forth the
inducements South Carolina holds out to the
immigrant in search of home. These are 30
we'll known to all our readers that it is unne-
cessary for us here to enumerat0 them in detail.
But if these facts and conditions arc inducements
to the foreign immigrant, they are hundred
times more to ourselves. This is our country.
Here our fathers lived, struggled and died, and
here repose their bones. Here were we born,
and around these woods and streams, hills,
daes, creeks, islands, bays and inlets cluster the
hallowed recollcctions of our youth. Yes, these
are the scenes of the happy days of our child
hood and the theatre of the labors of our ripper
years. These oaks and pines, elms, poplars
and palmettoes, are our own, indissolubly in
tertwined with our heart strings Let them
not be rudely touched or severed.
True, we are not this time as happily situa-
ted as we have been in times past, or as we
wish to be now. But upon calm and con-
sideratc survey of tbs situation, we do not
think it will be found desperate or unprece-
dcntcd, or devoid of hope. We believe that
brighter day is dawning upon US, if we are
but true to ourselves. Let us not despair; let
us not lose faith in ourselves; let us address
ourselves honestly, and with all our might, to
the work before us, and our word for it, we