8 
saloon. It is appropriated to the sittings of the city police. 
Above it are arranged the meeting rooms of the magistracy and 
various separate offices. In one of these apartments I noticed an 
elegant new plan of the city, designed by an emigrant French 
engineer, Mr. Petitral. 
The Orphan-house is a brick building, three stories high, 
erected by voluntary contributions, and in it, one hundred and 
thirty-six children of both sexes are supported. I was surprized 
at the exceeding cleanliness pervading the whole establishment. 
The children sleep upon the floor, and the girls and sick only are 
allowed mattresses; the boys have a woollen coverlet, in which 
they wrap themselves. I was informed that this was done from 
fear of vermin. A very nourishing diet, and a truly maternal 
care, preserve the children healthy. At their twelfth year, they 
are provided for abroad to enable them to earn their own subsist¬ 
ence. Many of the boys enter into the United States navy, and 
it has been reported to me that two of the pupils of this institu¬ 
tion have attained the rank of officers. Behind the house is a 
moderately large chapel, in the midst of the garden. The clergy 
of all Christian professions can hold divine service here every 
Sunday afternoon; in the mornings, the service in turn is taken 
charge of by a superintendent. In front of the building is a large 
open square. In it stands an ill-preserved statue of Lord Chat¬ 
ham, which was erected by the then colony of South Carolina, 
before the breaking out of the American revolution, in memory 
of that great man, in gratitude for the opposition he maintained 
against colonial taxation. An inscription on the statue mentions 
this. During the siege, it stood at the corner of the street, near 
the City Hall. There it lost an arm by one of the first English 
balls that struck the city. 
The state prison is a small building. The prisoners are too 
much crowded together, and have no employment. The atro¬ 
cious criminals live in the upper story, and are immured two to¬ 
gether in a cell, without ever being permitted to come into the 
open air. This is allowed only to those dwelling in the first 
story, consisting of debtors, and persons who are imprisoned 
for breaches of the peace. The walls within, as well as the floor¬ 
ing, are of strong oak wood. In each apartment is an iron ring 
in the floor, for the purpose of securing dangerous prisoners. In 
the upper story there is a negro confined, who, implicated in one 
of the late conspiracies, had not committed himself so far as to 
allow of his being hung; nevertheless, his presence appeared so 
dangerous to the public tranquillity, that he is detained in prison 
till his master can find some opportunity to ship him to the West 
Indies, and there sell him. In another room was a white pri¬ 
soner, and it is not known whether he be an American or Scotch- 
