longer, for he was slily overlooking the manuscript, and burst out:
‘ "Colonel, surely you don't mean to confiscate my property. I opposed nullification--in eighteen thirty!"
’ The Colonel tells this story with great zest, as the nearest approach to loyalty in Charleston that he has inch among the white people yet.
Loyalty in Charleston.
There are a few white Unionists here, but they are chiefly of foreign birth, or poor, and many of these are of the "Union-as-it-was" sort. A number are beginning to claim that they have been Union all along, but were compelled to talk secession to save themselves."Why, you people here who claim to be Union," I said to one of the prominent citizens, "seem to have been greater slaves than the negroes. You say you were compelled to say what you did not believe?"
He winced a little, but replied: "Yes, it's a fact, sir; you have no idea of what people had to submit to here who were not fire-eaters."
Negro and white loyalty.
There are white loyalists in Charleston, but thus far they have shown themselves, with but two exceptions, to be infinitely inferior to the negroes in courage. They take you by the button- hole, away in some corner, or where they are certain that we are all Northern men, and tell how they have always been true to the Union. They are afraid to fling out the flag; afraid to rejoice openly with us; afraid to say that their soul is their own — which, indeed, is doubtful. But the negroes cheer us, bless us, dance for joy when they see our glorious flag — pray for us, fight for us, "can't love us enough," as they beautifully express it. The negroes may be an inferior race up North, but not down here by a good deal.
The rebel families.
The rebel families in Charleston are perfectly cowed. They live in terror of us. Thus far they are as well behaved as spaniels. It will depend on the administration here whether this appropriate sentiment of subordination — which they have taught is proper and necessary in an inferior race — shall continue until they repent of their iniquities, or whether (as at Huntsville, Alabama, and elsewhere,) they shall soon begin to assume the old airs of arrogant presumption.--We shall see.
Yankee teachers Wanted.
There is a stronghold here in Charleston, a mental Fort Sumter, in which a breach has been made that we should instantly man, and woman too — mount with our monitors in broadcloth and crinoline--Ignorance. The negro population, here as everywhere, are eager to be taught. Hitherto, the barbarous laws of this heathen State have forbidden any one to teach the loyal population — that class, at least, who are loyal without its or buts, or any other form or style of qualification — the colored people.--Send along the teachers, Massachusetts and New York, without an hour's delay. Preparations will be made at once to receive them, and to set them to work as soon as they arrive. General Webster appreciates the importance of this movement, and will give it every aid in his power. Doubtless General Gillmore will do so, also; but as I have not yet spoken to him on the subject, I write only from my general knowledge of his character.Let the daughters of New England, who are living cheerless and aimless lives at home, make a dash for the city of Charleston, instantly!
Walks in Charleston.
After passing beyond "Gillmore's Town," the appearance of Charleston changes. There are now no indications of ruins save close-up stores and streets comparatively deserted. And, as the day advances, it is seen that there is a fair proportion of adult male white citizens left — although they are mostly old men, deserters and foreigners. Governor Aiken estimates its present population at from fifteen to twenty thousand.--There are large numbers of negroes, not so many, of course, as before the rebellion (for then they were as plentiful as blackberries) but in view of the action of the insurgents in evacuating other cities. The mulatto ladies are more numerous here, and handsomer, than in any Southern city I ever visited, (and I have seen nearly all of them) with the exception, perhaps of New Orleans; and there, although they are often beautiful, they do not bear that relative proportion to the white citizens that they do in Charleston.Wherever we went we found the negroes gathered in groups, especially the women, their dusky faces beaming with joy. Any salutation to them was invariably received with the liveliest satisfaction — often answered by "God bless you," and other words of gratitude to the Lord and the Yankees, whom they look on as His agents.
A New Ticket in the Mercury office.
I write this last paragraph in the editorial rooms (down town) of the Charleston Mercury. The window glass and sashes are shattered by shot. Over the mantle piece, in pencil marks, are written these lines, which show that the irrepressible spirit of radicalism (but on the right side now) seems to inhabit the office still:For President in 1868:
Wendell Phillips, of Massachusetts.
For Vice-President:
Frederick Douglass, of New York,
Shades of Calhoun — how are the mighty fallen! Surely, the great nullifier's bones must rattle in impotent rage at the overthrow of his heathen philosophy.
