198 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



government is vested in every free white man, who 

 has lived a year in the state, and pays taxes equal in 

 amount to the land-tax on 50 acres. The various 

 parishes and counties of South Carolina return some 

 170 members to the Assembly, but the City of Charles- 

 ton alone sends 30. The latter figure is, to be sure, 

 vastly out of proportion, considering the number of 

 people in the city and the country; this was very well 

 known, but the larger number was chosen at the be- 

 ginning of the war so as to give more certainty of a 

 majority of votes for the war, the inhabitants of the 

 city, for reasons well known, being more inclined to 

 the war and its prosecution than were the country- 

 people. The members from the city are for the most 

 part attorneys, considerable merchants, and others, in- 

 telligent and well-informed ; hence they are fluent, en- 

 terprising, and easily get the ufpper hand of the 

 representatives from the country, when it is a matter 

 of address and a little intrigue. The full number of 

 representatives is never together ; the remoter and 

 poorer districts dread the expence of sending all their 

 representatives to Charleston. But those who do ap- 

 pear, if they have not courage or eloquence enough to 

 oppose matters which might seem to them undesirable 

 or burdensome at home, at least they know their in- 

 terests enough to refuse their assent at a vote. Thus 

 it is often matter of astonishment, that proposals fall 

 through, the possible use or necessity of which has 

 been urged by members from the city or the hither 

 districts with all the charms of eloquence, and no 

 representative from the hinterland has said anything 

 publicly in opposition. However, they are often a 



