Slaves, their masters and mistresses--Hotels--Attempted
boat-journey to Fort Moultrie--Excitement at Charleston against
New York--Preparations for war--General Beauregard--Southern
opinion as to the policy of the North, and estimate of the effect
of the war on England, through the cotton market--Aristocratic
feeling in the South.
_April 18th._--It is as though we woke up in a barrack. No! There
is the distinction, that in the passages slaves are moving up
and down with cups of iced milk or water for their mistresses
in the early morning, cleanly dressed, neatly clad, with the
conceptions of Parisian millinery adumbrated to their condition,
and transmitted by the white race, hovering round their heads and
bodies. They sit outside the doors, and chatter in the passages;
and as the Irish waiter brings in my hot water for shaving, there
is that odd, round, oily, half-strangled, chuckling, gobble of a
laugh peculiar to the female Ethiop, coming in through the doorway.
Later in the day, their mistresses sail out from the inner
harbours, and launch all their sails along the passages, down
the stairs, and into the long, hot, fluffy salle-à-manger,
where, blackened with flies which dispute the viands, they take
their tremendous meals. They are pale, pretty, svelte--just as I
was about to say they were rather small, there rises before me
the recollection of one Titanic dame--a Carolinian Juno, with
two lovely peacock daughters--and I refrain from generalising.
Exceedingly proud these ladies are said to be--for a generation or
two of family suffice in this new country, if properly supported
by the possession of negroes and acres, to give pride of birth,
and all the grandeur which is derived from raising raw produce,
cereals, and cotton--suâ terrâ. Their enemies say that the
grandfathers of some of these noble people were mere pirates and
smugglers, who dealt in a cavalier fashion with the laws and with
the flotsam and jetsam of fortune on the seas and reefs hereabouts.
Cotton suddenly--almost unnaturally, as far as the ordinary laws of
commerce are concerned, grew up whilst land was cheap, and slaves
were of moderate price--the pirates, and piratesses had control of
both, and in a night the gourd swelled and grew to a prodigious
size. These are Northern stories. What the Southerners say of their
countrymen and women in the upper part of this “blessed Union” I
have written for the edification of people at home.
The tables in the eating-room are disposed in long rows, or
detached so as to suit private parties. When I was coming down
to Charleston, one of my fellow-passengers told me he was quite
shocked the first time he saw white people acting as servants; but
no such scruples existed in the Mills House, for the waiters were
all Irish, except one or two Germans. The carte is much the same
at all American hotels, the variations depending on local luxuries
or tastes. Marvellous exceedingly is it to see the quantities of
butter, treacle, and farinaceous matters prepared in the heaviest
form--of fish, of many meats, of eggs scrambled or scarred or
otherwise prepared, of iced milk and water, which an American will
consume in a few minutes in the mornings. There is, positively, no
rest at these meals--no repose. The guests are ever passing in and
out of the room, chairs are for ever pushed to and fro with a harsh
grating noise that sets the teeth on edge, and there is a continual
clatter of plates and metal. Every man is reading his paper, or
discussing the news with his neighbour. I was introduced to a vast
number of people and was asked many questions respecting my views
of Sumter, or what I thought “old Abe and Seward would do?” The
proclamation calling out 75,000 men issued by said old Abe, they
treat with the most profound contempt or unsparing ridicule, as the
case may be. Five out of six of the men at table wore uniforms this
morning.
Having made the acquaintance of several warriors, as well as that
of a Russian gentleman, Baron Sternberg, who was engaged in looking
about him in Charleston, and was, like most foreigners, impressed
with the conviction that _actum est de Republicâ_, I went out with
Major Whiting[3] and Mr. Ward, the former of whom was anxious
to show me Fort Moultrie and the left side of the Channel, in
continuation of my trip yesterday. It was arranged that we should
go off as quietly as possible, “so as to prevent the newspapers
knowing anything about it.” The major has a great dislike to the
gentlemen of the press, and General Beauregard had sent orders for
the staff-boat to be prepared, so as to be quiet and private, but
the fates were against us. On going down to the quay, we learned
that a gentleman had come down with an officer and had gone off
in our skiff, the boat-keepers believing they were the persons for
whom it was intended. In fact, our Russian friend, Baron Sternberg,
had stolen a march upon us.
After a time, the major succeeded in securing the services of the
very smallest, most untrustworthy, and ridiculous-looking craft
ever seen by mortal eyes. If Charon had put a two-horse power
engine into his skiff, it might have borne some resemblance to
this egregious cymbalus, which had once been a flat-bottomed,
open decked cutter or galley, into the midst of which the owner
had forced a small engine and paddle-wheels, and at the stern had
erected a roofed caboose, or oblong pantry, sacred to oil-cans
and cockroaches. The crew consisted of the first captain and the
second captain, a lad of tender years, and that was all. Into the
pantry we scrambled, and sat down knee to knee, whilst the engine
was getting up its steam: a very obstinate and anti-caloric little
engine it was--puffing and squeaking, leaking, and distilling drops
of water, and driving out blasts of steam in unexpected places.
As long as we lay at the quay all was right. The major was
supremely happy, for he could talk about Thackeray and his
writings--a theme of which he never tired--nay, on which his
enthusiasm reached the height of devotional fervour. Did I ever
know any one like Major Pendennis? Was it known who Becky Sharp
was? Who was the O’Mulligan? These questions were mere hooks on
which to hang rhapsodies and delighted dissertation. He might
have got down as far as Pendennis himself, when a lively swash of
water flying over the preposterous little gunwales, and dashing
over our boots into the cabin, announced that our bark was under
weigh. There is, we were told, for several months in the year, a
brisk breeze from the southward and eastward in and off Charleston
Harbour, and there was to-day a small joggle in the water which
would not have affected anything floating except our steamer;
but as we proceeded down the narrow channel by Castle Pinckney,
the little boat rolled as if she would capsize every moment, and
made no pretence at doing more than a mile an hour at her best;
and it became evident that our voyage would be neither pleasant,
prosperous, nor speedy. Still the major went on between the
lurches, and drew his feet up out of the water, in order to have “a
quiet chat,” as he said, “about my favourite author.” My companion
and myself could not condense ourselves or foreshorten our nether
limbs quite so deftly.
Standing out from the shelter towards Sumter, the sea came rolling
on our beam, making the miserable craft oscillate as if some great
hand had caught her by the funnel--Yankeeicé, smokestack--and was
rolling her backwards and forwards, as a preliminary to a final
keel over. The water came in plentifully, and the cabin was flooded
with a small sea: the latter partook of the lively character of
the external fluid, and made violent efforts to get overboard to
join it, which generally were counteracted by the better sustained
and directed attempts of the external to get inside. The captain
seemed very unhappy; the rest of the crew--our steerer--had
discovered that the steamer would not steer at all, and that we
were rolling like a log on the water. Certainly neither Pinckney,
nor Sumter, nor Moultrie altered their relative bearings and
distances towards us for half an hour or so, though they bobbed
up and down continuously. “But it is,” said the major, “in the
character of Colonel Newcome that Thackeray has, in my opinion,
exhibited the greatest amount of power; the tenderness, simplicity,
love, manliness, and ----” Here a walloping muddy green wave came
“all aboard,” and the cymbalus gave decided indications of turning
turtle. We were wet and miserable, and two hours or more had now
passed in making a couple of miles. The tide was setting more
strongly against us, and just off Moultrie, in the tideway between
its walls and Sumter, could be seen the heads of the sea-horses
unpleasantly crested. I know not what of eloquent disquisition I
lost, for the major was evidently in his finest moment and on his
best subject, but I ventured to suggest that we should bout ship
and return--and thus aroused him to a sense of his situation. And
so we wore round--a very delicate operation, which, by judicious
management in getting side bumps of the sea at favourable moments,
we were enabled to effect in some fifteen or twenty minutes; and
then we became so parboiled by the heat from the engine, that
conversation was impossible.
How glad we were to land once more I need not say. As I gave the
captain a small votive tablet of metal, he said, “I’m thinkin’
it’s very well yes turned back. Av we’d gone any further, devil
aback ever we’d have come.” “Why didn’t you say so before?” “Sure I
didn’t like to spoil the trip.” My gifted countryman and I parted
to meet no more.
* * * * *
Second and third editions and extras! News of Secession meetings
and of Union meetings! Every one is filled with indignation
against the city of New York, on account of the way in which the
news of the reduction of Fort Sumter has been received there. New
England has acted just as was expected, but better things were
anticipated on the part of the Empire city. There is no sign of
shrinking from a contest: on the contrary, the Carolinians are full
of eagerness to test their force in the field. “Let them come!” is
their boastful _mot d’ordre_.
The anger which is reported to exist in the North only adds to the
fury and animosity of the Carolinians. They are determined now to
act on their sovereign rights as a state, cost what it may, and
uphold the ordinance of secession. The answers of several State
Governors to President Lincoln’s demand for troops, have delighted
our friends. Beriah Magoffin, of Kentucky, declares he won’t give
any men for such a wicked purpose; and another gubernatorial
dignitary laconically replied to the demand for so many thousand
soldiers, “Nary one.” Letcher, Governor of Virginia, has also sent
a refusal. From the North comes news of mass-meetings, of hauling
down Secession colours, mobbing Secession papers, of military
bodies turning out, banks subscribing and lending.
Jefferson Davis has met President Lincoln’s proclamation by a
counter manifesto, issuing letters of marque and reprisal--on
all sides preparations for war. The Southern agents are buying
steamers, but they fear the Northern states will use their navy
to enforce a blockade, which is much dreaded, as it will cut off
supplies and injure the commerce, on which they so much depend.
Assuredly Mr. Seward cannot know anything of the feeling of the
South, or he would not be so confident as he was that all would
blow over, and that the states, deprived of the care and fostering
influences of the general Government, would get tired of their
Secession ordinances, and of their experiment to maintain a
national life, so that the United States will be re-established
before long.
I went over and saw General Beauregard at his quarters. He was
busy with papers, orderlies, and despatches, and the outer room
was crowded with officers. His present task, he told me, was to
put Sumter in a state of defence, and to disarm the works bearing
on it, so as to get their fire directed on the harbour approaches,
as “the North in its madness” might attempt a naval attack on
Charleston. His manner of transacting business is clear and rapid.
Two vases filled with flowers on his table, flanking his maps and
plans; and a little hand bouquet of roses, geraniums, and scented
flowers lay on a letter which he was writing as I came in, by way
of paper weight. He offered me every assistance and facility,
relying, of course, on my strict observance of a neutral’s duty. I
reminded him once more, that as the representative of an English
journal, it would be my duty to write freely to England respecting
what I saw; and that I must not be held accountable if on the
return of my letters to America, a month after they were written,
it was found they contained information to which circumstances
might attach an objectionable character. The General said, “I quite
understand you. We must take our chance of that, and leave you to
exercise your discretion.”
In the evening I dined with our excellent Consul, Mr. Bunch, who
had a small and very agreeable party to meet me. One very venerable
old gentleman, named Huger (pronounced as Hugeē), was particularly
interesting in appearance and conversation. He formerly held some
official appointment under the Federal Government, but had gone
out with his state, and had been confirmed in his appointment by
the Confederate Government. Still he was not happy at the prospect
before him or his country. “I have lived too long,” he exclaimed;
“I should have died ’ere these evil days arrived.” What thoughts,
indeed, must have troubled his mind when he reflected that his
country was but little older than himself; for, he was one who had
shaken hands with the framers of the Declaration of Independence.
But though the tears rolled down his cheeks when he spoke of the
prospect of civil war, there was no symptom of apprehension for
the result, or indeed of any regret for the contest, which he
regarded as the natural consequence of the insults, injustice, and
aggression of the North against Southern rights.
Only one of the company, a most lively, quaint, witty old lawyer
named Petigru, dissented from the doctrines of Secession; but he
seems to be treated as an amiable, harmless person, who has a
weakness of intellect or a “bee in his bonnet” on this particular
matter.
It was scarcely very agreeable to my host or myself to find that
no considerations were believed to be of consequence in reference
to England except her material interests, and that these worthy
gentlemen regarded her as a sort of appanage of their cotton
kingdom. “Why, sir, we have only to shut off your supply of cotton
for a few weeks, and we can create a revolution in Great Britain.
There are four millions of your people depending on us for their
bread, not to speak of the many millions of dollars. No, sir, we
know that England must recognise us,” &c.
Liverpool and Manchester have obscured all Great Britain to the
Southern eye. I confess the tone of my friends irritated me. I said
so to Mr. Bunch, who laughed, and remarked, “You’ll not mind it
when you get as much accustomed to this sort of thing as I am.” I
could not help saying, that if Great Britain were such a sham as
they supposed, the sooner a hole was drilled in her, and the whole
empire sunk under water, the better for the world, the cause of
truth, and of liberty.
These tall, thin, fine-faced Carolinians are great materialists.
Slavery perhaps has aggravated the tendency to look at all the
world through parapets of cotton bales and rice bags, and though
more stately and less vulgar, the worshippers here are not less
prostrate before the “almighty dollar” than the Northerners. Again
cropping out of the dead level of hate to the Yankee, grows its
climax in the profession from nearly every one of the guests, that
he would prefer a return to British rule to any reunion with New
England. “The names in South Carolina show our origin--Charleston,
and Ashley, and Cooper, &c. Our Gadsden, Sumter and Pinckney were
true cavaliers,” &c. They did not say anything about Peedee, or
Tombigee, or Sullivan’s Island, or the like. We all have our little
or big weaknesses.
I see no trace of cavalier descent in the names of Huger, Rose,
Manning, Chesnut, Pickens; but there is a profession of faith in
the cavaliers and their cause among them because it is fashionable
in Carolina. They affect the agricultural faith and the belief of
a landed gentry. It is not only over the wine glass--why call it
cup?--that they ask for a Prince to reign over them; I have heard
the wish repeatedly expressed within the last two days that we
could spare them one of our young Princes, but never in jest or in
any frivolous manner.
On my way home again I saw the sentries on their march, the
mounted patrols starting on their ride, and other evidences that
though the slaves are “the happiest and most contented race in
the world,” they require to be taken care of like less favoured
mortals. The city watch-house is filled every night with slaves,
who are confined there till reclaimed by their owners, whenever
they are found out after nine o’clock, P.M., without special passes
or permits. Guns are firing for the Ordinance of Secession of
Virginia.