PICTURES
OF
SOUTHERN LIFE,
SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND MILITARY.
WRITTEN FOR THE LONDON TIMES,
BY
WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL, LL. D.,
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.
NEW YORK:
J A M E S G. G R E G O R Y,
(SUCCESSOR TO W. A. TOWNSEND & CO.,)
46 WALKER STREET.
1861.
PICTURES OF SOUTHERN LIFE.
CHARLESTON, April 30, 1861.[A]
[A] Mr. Russell wrote one letter from Charleston previous tothis, but it is occupied exclusively with a description of theappearance of Fort Sumter after the siege. His “Pictures of SouthernLife” properly begin at the date above.
NOTHING I could say can be worth one fact which has forced itself uponmy mind in reference to the sentiments which prevail among the gentlemenof this state. I have been among them for several days. I have visitedtheir plantations; I have conversed with them freely and fully, and Ihave enjoyed that frank, courteous, and graceful intercourse whichconstitutes an irresistible charm of their society. From all quartershave come to my ears the echoes of the same voice; it may be feigned,but there is no discord in the note, and it sounds in wonderful strengthand monotony all over the country. Shades of George III., of North, ofJohnson, of all who contended against the great rebellion which torethese colonies from England, can you hear the chorus which rings throughthe state of Marion, Sumter, and Pinckney, and not clap your ghostlyhands in triumph? That voice says, “If we could only get one of theroyal race of England to rule over us, we should be content.” Let therebe no misconception on this point. That sentiment, varied in a hundredways, has been repeated to me over and over again. There is a generaladmission that the means to such an end are wanting, and that the desirecannot be gratified. But the admiration for monarchical institutions onthe English model, for privileged classes, and for a landed aristocracyand gentry, is undisguised and apparently genuine. With the pride ofhaving achieved their independence is mingled in the South Carolinians’hearts a strange regret at the result and consequences, and many arethey who “would go back to-morrow if we could.” An intense affection forthe British connection, a love of British habits and customs, a respectfor British sentiment, law, authority, order, civilization, andliterature, pre-eminently distinguish the inhabitants of this state,who, glorying in their descent from ancient families on the threeislands, whose fortunes they still follow, and with whose members theymaintain not unfrequently familiar relations, regard with an aversion ofwhich it is impossible to give an idea to one who has not seen itsmanifestations, the people of New England and the populations of theNorthern States, whom they regard as tainted beyond cure by the venom of“Puritanism.” Whatever may be the cause, this is the fact and theeffect. “The state of South Carolina was,” I am told, “founded bygentlemen.” It was not established by witch-burning Puritans, by cruelpersecuting fanatics, who implanted in the North the standard ofTorquemada, and breat