previous next


Unstopped Ref-males — Curious statement of an English traveler in the South.

[From the Cincinnati Gazette]

We find in an English paper some accounts of a remarkable letter said to have recently appeared in the Edinburg Daily Retire, from a South Carolina correspondent of that paper. The correspondent writes from Charleston, and, says the Examiner, from which we quote, draws gloomy picture of the stagnation in that once busy charter.

But at the same time he gives us an idea of the way in which the enterprising citizens of the Palmetto State contrive to mitigate, in some degree, the inconveniences of the blockade. He tells how, under the guidance of a friendly cotton painter, he made a night journey to a point on the coast, of which he only indicates the position, one which can be no other than Butler Bay, named by the New York papers as the probable destination of the powerful squadron of war vessels and transports that was badly sailed for Southern waters.

Embarking with the mystery of a conspirator on board a small steaming laden with the most explosive and combustible goods, this witness for the press is carried down the dreary estuary of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, passing a few dark and rakish privateers and one or two unfinished ships intended for the Confederate navy. Streaming boldly for the open sea, he said his friend glide by Forts Sumter and Moultrie, which, together with the new earthworks and batteries on shore, appear to make of Charleston a miniature Constraint. Creeping along the coast with their hearts ill stressed for the lights of the blockading frigate shine at no great distance, and the breakers are unpleasantly near, the adventurous voyagers at length get into quiet water in a narrow sound between a low reedy inlet and the main land. They make but slow progress, for the tug has a couple of scows in low, with heavy cargoes of carton and turpentine, and, the channel being of no great depth, these are constantly sticking hard and fast upon sand-banks.

There shoot forth, however, from secluded creeks and inlets, lurking boats, by the aid of which the tug is sent forward before the unfriendly dawn can reveal her position to the Federal man- of-war. The little expedition thus reaches in safety the secluded spot where the unconquerable genius of trade has opened a new outlet for the produce of the South. The scene is thus described:

It was broad daylight when we emerged from this reed-fringed creek upon a space of opened water, skirted by broad rice fields dotted here and there with square antiquated houses and contiguous collections of negro hair. But rebellion had made this quiet bay a busy focus of industry, and as we panted up to a new wharf along and near which twenty-six vessels were lying, and I saw the desperate traffic carried on in after defiance of the blockade, I give the Southerners credit for greater energy than I had believed possible. Among the ships I observed the notorious privateer Sumter, which had arrived the day before with a prize laden with valuable silks and wines, two other privateers, and a captured Boston clipper, which was being cut down and pierced for guns.

The other prizes or merchantmen, owned in Liverpool or New York, which have brought in cargoes of foreign goods and munitions of war, were being loaded with rice, cotton, and turpentine. Nearly all the cotton, it was stated, would find its way to New England. Five ships, I was told, had sailed during the night. It was from this harbor that his. Slidels, and has friends sailed from Cubs, on their way to Europe, and until its whereabouts is discovered, and the months of the inlets effectually closed with stones or sunk lighters, the blockade is a mere sham, and the trade with Charleston virtually open. In the course of a tour through the adjoining States, the special correspondent found other ports where a thriving import and export business appeared to be carried on, without the slightest concealment or chance of interruption. At Wilmington, North Carolina, no hostile squadron had ever troubled the repose of the prosperous and contented merchants, the embouchure of Cape Fear river having apparently been overlooked by the official geographers of Washington.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: