CHAP. XVI.] SOCIETY IN CHARLESTON. 223 



Government is too weak to enforce its authority, and the sover 

 eign state is sheltered under the segis of the grand confederacy. 



JBy virtue of a similar law, also, in force in Alabama, tho 

 crews of several vessels, consisting of free blacks, have been com 

 mitted to jail at Mobile, and the captains obliged to pay the costs, 

 and give bonds to carry them away. 



I asked a New England merchant, who is here, why the city 

 of Charleston did not increase, having such a noble harbor. He 

 said, &quot; There have been several great fires, and the rich are ab 

 sentees for half the year, flying from malaria. Besides, you will 

 find that large cities do not grow in slave states as in the North. 

 Few, if any of the ships, now in this harbor, belong to merchants 

 of Charleston.&quot; 



We were as much pleased with what we saw of the society of 

 Charleston, during this short visit, as formerly, when we were 

 here in 1842. I have heard its exclusiveness much commented 

 on ; for there are many families here, whose ancestors started 

 from genteel English stocks in Virginia two hundred years ago, 

 and they and some of the eminent lawyers and others, who, by 

 their education and talents, have qualified themselves to be re 

 ceived into the same circle, do not choose to associate on intimate 

 terms with every one who may happen to come and settle in the 

 place. There is nearly as wide a range in the degrees of refine 

 ment of manners in American as in European society, and, to 

 counterbalance some unfavorable circumstances, the social system 

 has also some advantages. There is too great a predominance 

 of the mercantile class, and the democracy often selects rude and 

 unpolished favorites to fill stations of power ; but such men are 

 scarcely ever without some talent. On the other hand, mere 

 wealth is less worshiped than in England, and there is no rank 

 and title to force men of slender abilities, and without even agree 

 able manners, into good company, or posts of political importance. 



The treatment in the southern states of governesses, who 

 usually come from the North or from England, is very kind and 

 considerate. They are placed on a much greater footing of 

 equality with the family in which they live, than in England. 

 Occasionally we find that the mother of the children has staid at 



