From Charleston.
[special Correspondence of the Dispatch.] Charleston, April 4th, 1861.
I said in my letter of yesterday that I would say something to capitalists in relation to the prospects of Charleston as a place of business.
In doing so, I take it for granted that Virginia will not secede.
The tariff of the United States is now a terrible drawback to that country.
It is complained of by most Northern men of business, as well as by all Europe.
No doubt it will be modified, though it can never be much modified without resorting to direct taxation, without great retrenchment in public expenses, which no one expects from the party now and forever, to be dominant.--The Government of the Confederate States have laid a tariff far below the Old United States tariff, and their policy is, and ever will be, to keep far below that of the old Government.
This they can afford, because the expenses of our Government will be very small, the Government being administered on the most economical scale, having all the corruptions of the old Government as beacons to warn us of the danger.
Already, as I have before stated, Northern merchants are seeking Southern homes, and making arrangements for future business.--Northern men are always alive to their real interests, and I look forward to the time (and not long hence) when many old and wealthy Northern houses, as well as new adventurers, will be flocking to the Southern cities, establishing jobbing houses for the Southern and Southwestern trade.
They well know that the Southern trade is the most liberal, and the most reliable.
It is this trade that has made the North fat and saucy, and they (the Northerners) will follow it up; for, as I heard Judge Barbour once say, in a speech, in quoting the words of another, ‘"the Yankee will go near enough to h — Ii to scorch his eye-brows for a bag of coffee."’
Already a line of steamships, of large burthen, has been inaugurated here, and the ships are ordered; beside, we have already a fleet of the finest ships in America, in the regular trade between this port and Liverpool.
This example is being followed by other Southern cities, and, in twelve months, we shall have every facility for importing direct everything of foreign manufacture that we now have to buy at the North.
Beside, European agencies are about being established here and at New Orleans, for the sale of all fabrics.
This city is, then, in my most honest judgement, the most favorable locality for enterprise and money-making in America.
Our merchants have been unable this spring to furnish half stocks for the trade, and even by fall, I doubt if they can be able to give a full supply for the trade that is already promised.
Now is the time, then, for merchants of capital and enterprise from other States to settle here, and they need not fear reaping a rich harvest.
I will name the different branches of trade most needed: Dry goods importers and jobbers, fancy dry goods, hardware and cutlery, shoes, hats, saddlery, stationery, queensware, drugs and medicines, carpets and matting, and furniture.
We want, also, manufactures of every description, such as shoes, clothing especially, agricultural implements, cigars, pickles, preserves, matches, shirts, collars, and, indeed, everything that man needs.
We have but few such here at present, and they are kept sickly by Northern competition.
The manufacture of pickles and preserves alone would be one of the very best pursuits that could be thought of, for no one scarcely in all the South ever thinks of pickling and preserving for their own use, and everybody uses them, and the material grows in this climate almost spontaneously.
The manufacture of yeast powders would pay admirably.
I should be happy to give any persons, at any time, all information that they wish by their addressing ‘"Virginius,"’ Key Box No. 5, Charleston P. O., and if any gentleman would be inclined to visit this city, I will cheerfully afford him all the courtesies I am master of.
I will in my next say something of Charleston as a place of residence, and the facilities for monied regulations.
Charleston, April 5th, 1861.
I told you yesterday that I would say something of our Banking institutions, and the city of Charleston as a place of residence.
We have nine Banks in this city.
One, the Bank of the State, is the fiscal agent of the State, with the resources of the State at its back.
The others are what is termed private Banks, in which the State had no stock, but every stockholder's private means is bound for all the liabilities of these Banks.
No Banks on earth are on a more safe foudation.
The aggregate active banking capital of these nine institutions is over sixteen millions of dollars; far more capital than is necessary for the wants of this community at present, hence they seek investments in other States at a higher interest, which not unfrequently, as in the last six months, causes distress here.--Had we more outlet for trade, were our Southern merchants generally to do their trading here, instead of in New York, the active banking capital of our city and State would be employed at home, to the building up of our own city and its prosperity.
Enterprising business men, with stout hearts, and heads full of brains, are therefore needed much here, for I am free to confess that old fogyism has reigned undisturbed here too long.
Charleston, as a city, is, without doubt, the most pleasant place of residence that I know of in all my acquaintance.
In winter, we scarcely ever have it cold enough to produce ice, and if at all, it melts in a few hours.--Consequently, we have fruits, vegetables and flowers from the 1st of January to the 31st of December. As a summer residence, I prefer it to any city North that I have ever visited, being almost entirely surrounded by broad salt water, with the ocean immediately in front, we are never without a fine sea breeze, rendering the hottest summer days and nights not only bearable, but positively delightful.
As to the health of Charleston, no city enjoys a greater exemption from disease.
The yellow fever has, for the last ten years, visited us every other year.
Last year was the time for its visitation, and it passed with a very few cases in the mildest form, and I do not think there were a dozen deaths caused by it. Indeed, it was seriously doubted by many of our oldest resident physicians whether it was really the yellow fever at all. Our city is now drained by what we call tidal drains.
They are immense under-ground culverts, running the whole length and width of the city, the floors of which are on a level with low water; and when the tide is at flood, the gates of these mighty receptacles are lowered, and at dead low water, at the same minute, they are all raised, when they pour their turbid contents into the bay in front, and into the rivers on either side.
It is by these culverts the city is drained — a stupendous work, and just completed, which evidently has greatly improved already the health of the city, and we look forward to the time when we shall be exempt from this unnecessarily dreaded disease.
As I once said to you, which I here repeat, that according to Hall's Journal of Health, Charleston is the third or fourth healthiest city known in the wide world.
Ague and fever are unknown here.
Typhold and congestive fevers, so much the dread of Virginia, is almost a stranger.--We use cistern water exclusively, which is the purest and best water, as all intelligent people know, and for the last ten years ice has not exceeded one cent a pound.
We have a profusion of the finest fresh fish throughout the year, with sea turtle, sea crabs, shrimps, and every luxury that the ocean affords.
Labor is cheap.
House female servants can be hired at $6 to $8 per month, exclusive of clothes, and German or Irish help at the same, each always to be had. Rents are cheap.
A dwelling with six square rooms, with gas, grates, and every convenience, at $500. We have a double daily line of railroad to Savannah, Augusta, Columbia, and Wilmington, diverging throughout the country.
Religiously, no place is more blessed.
We have over forty places of worship in the city, all highly respectable, and most of them elegant.
There are Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal and Protestant, Baptist, Lutheran, Dutch Reform, Unitarian and Jews places of worship scattered all over the city.
The Mayor sends a guardsman to each place of worship every Sunday, to see that vehicles pass slowly.
The public schools are conducted on the most perfect modern plan, and all citizens can educate every child, without paying a dollar, except a small tax indirectly.
In the vicinity of Charleston, twenty miles on the South Carolina Railroad, is the delightful town of Summer ville, where men of business can reside, and go and return every morning and afternoon.
Sullivan's Island is a grand summer resort, equal to your Cape Mays, or any other Cape.
Then there is Mount Pleasant, in sight of the city, another healthy and pleasant sea-side village.
One hundred miles on the South Carolina Railroad brings you to the renowned town of Aiken, with its health-giving atmosphere to consumptive invalids, and its numerous orchards and vineyards, and elegant society.
These are a few of the good things in and around Charleston.
Take them, Messrs. Editors, and deal them out to your readers, and if you or they wish a confirmation of what I say, come and see for yourselves. 