that though the rent is so high the proprietors do not keep up the house and fences, &c., as they ought. Many of the blacks, however, have their own houses and little patches of land, renting as much more as is necessary to make up a decent farm; and most of them go out as labourers besides, more or less. I understand that in most parts of the low country the proprietors are willing and anxious to sell plots of land to the negroes, because that fixes them to the soil and secures a supply of labour when it is needed. I feel sure that this is the right policy. Here the negroes are generally well off, when they can get employment and are really paid. The difficulty seems, rather, to be to get employment, than for employers to get hands; but I am told that any man who works well and steadily, and is honest, is sure of employment. There is much complaint about their stealing chickens and such things; otherwise they seem to be a good sort of people. I am again struck by the easy, laughing familiarity between Mr. W and the blacks, and the free chaff which passes about the election. One disagreeable result, however, of the less independent character of the negroes in these parts, and of the electioneering which has been going on, is, that very many of them seem ready to beg for assistance in one shape or another. On the other

hand, they are always ready to give any little assistance and to do odd jobs whenever they are asked to do so, and are perfectly content when a little tobacco is given them in return. They certainly seem a remarkably easily-managed, good-natured set of people. The next day was Sunday; we went out to visit a rural chapel in the woods, and found the congregation in full and tremendous chorus of psalmody; one could hear them half a mile off. The whole thing was very pleasant, I thought. Afterwards we returned to Charleston, and I went to a black church in the city-rather a fine one. The preacher was as black as night-a typical negro-and perhaps a little ridiculous in his manners; but I thought him a stirring and effective preacher. Every now and then during the sermon some of the congregation grunted out devout ejaculations in token of assent or by way of emphasising the preacher's good points. I was greatly disappointed, however, to find that instead of the fine, bold singing which I had heard in the country, there was a choir and a poor, thin imitation of civilised singing.

The following day I went to see Dr. B- the United States postmaster, a coloured man, and said to be the best specimen of his class in this part of the country; in fact, according to my informants, the only man appointed by the Republicans who is not hopelessly corrupt. He seemed a dapper, pleasant, well-educated man, and reminded me of some of the more educated East Indians in Calcutta. He is quite a Northerner. He admits that the blacks have not come much to the front in any way, and that in commerce they do not keep stores or attain any considerable position, but he explains it all by saying that the social prejudice against coloured people is so great that they have not a chance. Like many of his class, he favours the idea of Liberia, and the great Black Republic that is to be there.

I paid a visit to my namesake Mr. C, the independent Democrat, who stood for State Senator for this district, but was defeated. He is a lawyer, and all agree that he is a very superior man. I found him very moderate, and not at all inclined to be vituperative, although the election was bitterly contested. He says that he represented the principle of Conciliation against those who would not yield anything. The election was won by simple cheating; that is, by stuffing the ballot-boxes. At one polling-place not more than a thousand voted, but there were three thousand five hundred papers in the box. There was not much intimidation, but only cheating.

Afterwards I went over to James Island, to see a good long-cotton plantation, still maintained on the high farming system by Mr. H. The cotton-field seemed really very fine; they are highly manured, and give a large yield to the acre. The cost of raising it in this expensive way is, however, so great that it seems doubtful whether it pays very well. Like all who have to do with them, he speaks very well of the blacks as labourers. He is trying experiments in raising jute, but does not seem to know how to grow it. At present he has it only in single rows, from which he hopes to get seed; but it is doubtful whether that will ripen sufficiently. I spent the evening at Colonel T- 's; a very nice house and pleasant party. I had a good deal of talk with several people, among them Capt. D- an Englishman, who came out as a young man, fought in the war on the Confederate side, and is now editor of the principal newspaper here. They say that in this

lower country they have always been for conciliation, and have supported Wade Hampton in that policy against Geary and the violent white party who are in the upper country. They point to the unopposed acceptance of Wade IIampton in the present election as a proof of his success.

As a general result of all that I have been able to learn about the elections in this part of the country, I may say that there does not seem to be the least doubt that they were won by the most wholesale cheating. That is avowed in the most open way. Most people seem to praise the negroes, and to be on very good terms with them; but they all admit that, while the blacks will do almost anything else for them, when it comes to voting they cannot be influenced, and insist on voting with their party. At one place that I visited, where a considerable number of Republican votes were recorded, an old Democratic gentleman jocularly remarked that this had been the only honest poll in the whole district. They say the Republicans made the election law to suit their own purpose of cheating, and had arranged the electoral districts so as to swamp the whites with black votes. Now they are hoist with their own petard, and serve them right. The blacks seem to have accepted their defeat as a foregone conclusion, and therefore it is that they are quite good-natured over it. Perhaps, too, they really have to some degree accepted Wade Hampton and his policy, and are not so anxious to fight as they otherwise might be. Both parties seem to assume as a matter of course that whichever controls the machinery of the elections will win the elections. I am told that Wade IIampton generally appointed two Democrats and one Radical as election commissioners; that the radical was always corrupt and could be bought, and that therefore the Democrats always had it their own way. The Democrats of Charleston have done something to conciliate those blacks who accept the Democratic ticket. In this district seventeen members are sent up to the State Assembly, and of these three are Democratic blacks. The county officers are whites, but there are some blacks in the Charleston municipality. For the State Assembly the Republicans adopted a fusion ticket, including the five best of the Democrats.

Hitherto three Congressional districts in the black part of South Carolina have been represented by black men, and I am told that they were all very fair specimens. The representa

tive of the Charleston district was a well-educated negro, from the North. The Georgetown district was represented by an extremely polished black gentleman, who was formerly a very popular barber in Charleston, and is not at all a bad sort of person. The Beaufort district has long been represented by General S, who, while a slave, was employed as a pilot, and in the war distinguished himself by carrying off a Confederate vessel and delivering her to the Federals. Ile has now great influence among his own race, and is not unpopular among white people. He behaved well towards his former master's family and assisted them. In spite, however, of this favourable account, there is a general accusation that under the Carpet-bag Government all were corrupt, both black and white. Honesty was a thing unknown.

I observe that in a great number of the elections for county and local offices in these Southern States the opportunity is taken to provide for the veterans of the Confederate army who are not eligible for pensions. I saw several notices of elections of one-legged and one-armed ex-soldiers to county offices. These offices are profitable-if not paid by salaries they have considerable fees.

Looking over the accounts of the elections in other States, of which the papers are full, I observe that Governor Nicholls, of Louisiana, is said to be conciliatory and to have followed the same policy as Wade Hampton; but there the negroes fought more successfully than here; and in some cases the Democrats carried the seats in Congress only by adopting a fusion ticket and giving the blacks a good many county offices. There seems to be more bulldozing" in Mississippi than anywhere else. That is called 'the Mississippi plan.' South Carolina seems to be the only State which carried everything solidly Democratic. In all the others there has been more or less success of Republican or independent candidates.

I have heard a good deal here about the late exodus to Liberia, which was such a wretched failure. The upper class of blacks do not go themselves, but preach to their countrymen the advantage of going. There seems no doubt that the unhappy people who went found themselves much worse off than if they had stayed at home. There seems to be a much more promising field for emigration from Mississippi and the States in that part or the country to the back parts of Kansas and the Territories where land is to be got free. The negroes

seem to have been less domiciled in Mississippi than they were here, and since emancipation they have been more migratory. They are now entitled to homesteads on the same terms as white men; and if they can manage the means of cultivating virgin lands in the Far West they will do very well.

I have been looking over some of the legislation of South Carolina. It does not seem very different from that which I have noticed in other States. There is, as usual, a good deal of legislation on small subjects, such as an Act to legitimise a child, and another to make an adopted child an heir. There is a regular poor law, providing for a poor-house and outdoor relief. Nothing is said of able-bodied paupers. The relief seems to be confined to really necessitous cases. The road law gives the option of contributing either labour or money for the making of roads. There is a provision for inspecting and classifying flour and some other things, the same as I noticed at Chicago, and a limit to the rates for grinding flour. There is a 7 per cent. usury law; but I understand that in practice it is almost entirely evaded. Few people can get money here at 7 per cent., the credit is so bad. There is a law of limited partnership for sleeping partners, but companies seem to be only incorporated by special Acts, of which there are many. There is not now in South Carolina any law prohibiting the intermarriage of white and black people.

I have had a very pleasant visit to Charleston, and have received much kindness here. Mr. A-, whom I have already mentioned, and who has throughout given me much assistance, has kindly arranged for me a visit to the country. I am to go to a son-in-law of his, who has an estate in the rice country.

Travelling in this part of the country is sometimes very difficult, if one has to stop at places on the way, for there are seldom more than two trains, sometimes only one, in the course of the twenty-four hours, and they seem generally to manage to arrive and depart in the very middle of the night. However, by getting up very early I made a start from Charleston. The country through which we ran seemed mostly forest, with occasional cultivation. At Greenpond I was met by Mr. W who drove me through the forest to his rice plantation, some miles off. After breakfast we had a long and pleasant ride over his land. He has a very large extent of fine rice-fields. His farm is nearly a thousand acres,