Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume Three).djvu/220

 citizens immediately after the passage of the secession ordinance, hurling defiance at the government of the United States and proclaiming the success of the movement for Southern independence, as a foregone conclusion. The Charleston Hotel had been the resort of the wealthy, of the cream of South Carolina society. At the time of my arrival there, it was managed by a newcomer from the North, one of the New York Stetsons, of Astor House memory. He had put the building in tolerably good order, but the wars and the ceiling of the dining hall showed several spots recently plastered over which, as interpreted by the negro waiters, told interesting tales of scenes of great excitement caused by the Yankee artillery. On the whole the hotel made the impression of a dreary solitude.

As I learned, business in the city was slowly reviving. In the main business streets many buildings had been, or were being, made fit for use, and some stores had been opened by Northern men of recent immigration. A larger influx of Northern enterprise and Northern capital was looked for, but such a prospect did not by any means please all South Carolinians. The idea that Charleston might possibly become a “Yankee City” seemed revolting to the old South Carolina pride. I was introduced to a gentleman of venerable age and high standing in the State who assured me in the course of a long conversation, that he was one of those who fully recognized the exigencies of their present situation and were willing to accommodate themselves to them. He admitted that outside aid was wanted to restore the fallen fortunes of the Southern people. But, he added, South Carolina could not appeal to the North for financial aid without humiliating herself. He did not even know whether financial aid, if offered by the North, could consistently be accepted by South Carolina. He