The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-03-18
CHI "A r. L E S TON.
THURSDAY MORNING, MARCH IS, 1899. ,,

! 4uONNANt, MAHCA IL, 1859.
The Westminster Keview and seats
n Carolina. .n.os
We have all heard of the bsnighted for
signer who, when about to run the block
ade during the war, wanted to know whether
anything grew in South Carolina besides
rattlesnakes and palmetto trees. We are
well aware that the continental and insular
unwIashed are firmly convinced that all
Southerners have fat noses and kinky
heads We. .a1e accustomed to hear it said
that there is neither intelligence, refine.
ment nor wealth outside of Old and New
England. And yet it is strange that South
Carolina should still be terra ncog,ita to
the traveller and the critic, and that Jour
nal of so high literary charac er as the
Westminster Review should know as little
of the cradle Of tho rebellion as of the
sartorial peculiarities of the man in the
moon or the vagrant wanderings Of run
away comet. But, knowing the fog Of pre-
Judice through which we are dinly seen,
| and the peculiar manner in which travellers
''do" the South, we are inclined 10 be indul-
gent and to extend our hearty forgiveness
to all who are innoepntly at fault. Yet must
we, when nisrepresen.ed, take up the cudg-
els in our own behalf, and say good word
for ourselves, even although We effend the
majesty Of an English reviewer.
y, The West st1einster Review quotes the fol
lowing paragraph from s.Last Winter in She
[ Omitted Ssates," a book written by =. Bar
ham Znoke: 'ssouth Carolina 10 utterly and
'.helplessly crushed. Its best estates were
Gin the sea islands. which, as they were
'''very fertile and their prsduee fetched
;tssexesptionally high prices, were daensslyy
f'jnhabitsd by blacks. The result has bsens
s.that throughout South Carolina tho most
.'abjest and irrenoverable poverty reigns,
precisely where formerly there was most
.:abnpdant wealth. and the rsvis ws + then
says; .For this State there appears to- be
emo resurrection, except in some new order
"of things under which new set Of pre- pre-
t:prietorsI win occupy the land, and culti-
"vate it with, Northern capital, aad some,
"what in the Northern fashion" We pro-
pose to conl1e ourselves to the statement
that throughout this State vrecocssabls poy.
erty raigns, that this State is utterly and
,Aelpltssiy crushed, and that for this State
there appears to be no sesurrsctioss. !, '-'",'
| At the close Of the war it did aeen2 that
we had left ell hope behind, and there were
many Of our people who cried unoeasingl y:
eve are utterly and helplessly ruined"
Others Hed despairingly from their native
State to seek 9. home among strangers.
And they found their excuse in the sombre
Epau which covered our desolate land. ~
Four hundred thousand slaves, valued 1t
two hundred million Of cdollars, were set
] free in South Carolina alone Lands which,
with slave labor to work them, brought eighty
and ninety. doAnrss Per, acre. became sdrng
! in the market. The newly emancipated
negroes, rich III all tie novelty Of freedom
and rsyelling in the expectation OF iconas-
i Gated acres, tconaacated beasts II burdsn,
and confiscated granariss and barns, soouted
the.very name Of work Sherman like a
destroying angel, had swept across the
State, leaving blackened walls, and smoking
ruins, and weeping women and children, to
mark his bloody path. and stand eternel
monuments Of the licensed ferooity Of 'hia
soldisry. The flower Of our young men had
y fallen under the banner Of the South.
9 under the GROSS which was borne with honor,
and is as venerable now rs when 1t Aoated
over serried ranks Aushed with the .ruddy
wine of victory. Our old men were,faint
and weary; our women were filed with sor-
rowing care. Then we were penniless and
desolate, with no ray Of light to. cheer ous
murky way. III ,fsafs
Il But 1t was Blood, not water, which filed
the veins Of our people. The hands which
could WELD che giaive might guide the
plough. The brain which had directed ths
revolutions Of thousands might plan the
g campaigns of commerce. The mpsket gave
/, way to the hoe; the laundering oaisson ts
II ths loaded sars Of trade. Each true man
il was enrolled in the army os svsfy aAy life
There was mo wrangiing for precedence.
They who could mot lead we're content "a
; follow; and, armed with self-revsrsnce,
sslf-knowledgs and self control, our people
worked--and are working still. = /" "a 10. 6.
h. And what have been the fruits of Four
/ yeaFs Of work and SELF denial Il 4 The hard.
!; ships ofthei eiwar taught economy. The nm,
4 certainty of free negro labor taukht ssls
reliance and selfheIp The difionlsy 81 q
borrowing money made II hard te oonsrac,
new debts, aud the terrible wsighs Of old
13ah;vSAsaa waoan vnns ~an~v AZ : A 4. w Az ~.