The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-10-27
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Tho German Eloment.

/ ~. =, ..'c ''t
There are changes in popular life which
make themselves known by waits and strays.
| To the great movement OF the stream be-
| low corresponds the drift Of straws upon
the surface. And thus it happens that the
superficial observer sometimes discovers
what the phiIosopkic thinker has vainiy
sought for. Like DR.. Johnson's shepherd,
the. former notices the maneuvres of
the sheep with their tails, Qet the kind read
er pardon an expressive Hibernicirm,) and
predicts o storm, while the latter prepares
himself for drenching by watching the
trees and the sky.
During the last half century great change
has been going on in the character OF cur
population. Immigration, after having re-;
eeiYed the irregular supplies afforded by Eng
land and France, by Ireland and Germany,
was well-nigh monopolized for time by the
Irish, as it is now by the Germans. The
latter are rapidly filing the waste places of
the country and leavening the public opin-
/ ion OF it's inhabitants. We have seen this
shifting of the tide in Charleston. Years
and years ago, the retail traffic Of the city
was commanded by the Frenchman; then
the Huguenot gave place to the Irish Catho-
lie; now every ''corner shop" is conducted
| by some fair-haired, blue-eyed disciple OF
Luther and Melancthon. And the evidences
of the prosperity of this class Of our fellow
citizens is very striking. They all have
money. Immediately after the war, they all
began to improve their dilapidated estab-
+ t rrstrrr1nrs;- auu ruey uuve unuertaKen 70
\ erect an immense cathedral which,, when
completed, viii take rank with old st. Mi
chaei;s and the Citadel Square Church, and
1.-THE Orphanhouse, as one Of the "Lions Of
| Charleston" .no =, a-... ~ .35t
| The influence of,the German element upon
national politics is Becoming more and more
Iipronounced. :, In, the late national crisis the
credit Of the government was SUSTAINED by
the Frankfort and, Bremen bankers. The
hand-toahaid aconaict in the Empire State
between the, Democrats and Republicans.
was decided by Governor Hofiman's Ger
man speeches! TO this dexterous politician
Tie Nation has assigned the soubriquet of
''The most dangerous Of Democrats. y The
latest information from that State indicates
that the contest for supremacy is renewed
by the Republicans, ia the nomination of
General Sigel, a well-known and popular
German, for the Secretaryship of State. An
other bid for the German vote, is the propo
sition on the part OF certain politicians to
transfer the capital Of the United States to
the German headquarters at the West-the
City Of St. Louis. Thus the evidences are
multiplying from day to day. proving that
an important nationality, heretofore we'll
nigh ignored by party leaders and hack pol
iticians, has assumed a position Of very great
influence in the direction Of public affairs |
Indeed, such result might have been natu-
rally expected, in view OF the continuous
and multidudin0us reiniorcements which are
annually made to our German population.
Even in the City Of New York, the Germans
win soon, II they do not now, hold the bal
ance Of power. At the West, they are COM
paratively undemonstrative, yet numerous
and consciously strong.
What will be the result of this power, here !
toiore weil-nigh latent but now beginning
to assert itself at the ballot-box aud in the
councils Of the republics Favorable, we
believe, both to order and to liberty. When
Of old the whole civilized world was tribu-
tary to Roman imperialism, the freedom Of
mankind was guarded amid the fastnesses
OF the German forests. Hermann was the |
Washington of the antique world And
when the eagles of more potent empire |
had subjugated Europe, it was the Lan6wehr
which swept away like resistess flood,
the bulwarks and thrones Of Napoleonic des-
potism. These national traditions will not
be forgotten in the new world. But with
all his enthusiasm for liberty, the German
is also conservative. He is fond of old
usages, even tQ extravagance. He holds to
his own language; he pours forth his, hap
piest emotions and tenderest confidence in
the "heart-full" gutturals Of the Elbe and
the Rhine. He preserves his own customs
the social festivals the family usages and
subordination inherited from imElemorial
time In every way he is a useful member
of the body social and the body polite. And
the hands now so busy in adjusting the
trembling scales OF trade, in welding the
ponderous pickaxe in Pennsylvania mine
and Missourian mountain, in guiding the
bright plough over Virginia farms and Min
nesota prairies, will do their part when the
American Landwehr rises against the corrupt
despotism of Washington and the selfish
greed of New England.
Of all men among US, the German trader
is receiving an instructive lesson in politics.
In every direction he is taxed and hampered |