CHAPTER XIII.
HOW IT IS.
IT is our object to show the reader how many gross abuses of power
exist in Charleston, and to point him to the source. In doing this,
the task becomes a delicate one, for there are so many things we
could wish were not so, because we know there are many good men in
the community whose feelings are enlisted in the right, but their
power is not coequal; and if it were, it is checked by an opposite
influence.
The more intelligent of the lower classes look upon the subject of
politics in its proper light--they see the crashing effect the
doctrine of nullification has upon their interests; yet, though
their numbers are not few, their voice is small, and cannot sound
through the channels that make popular influence. Thus all castes of
society are governed by impracticable abstractions.
The jail belongs to the county--the municipal authorities have no
voice in it; and the State, in its legislative benevolence, has
provided thirty cents a day for the maintenance of each prisoner.
This small sum, in the State of South Carolina, where provision is
extremely high, may be considered as a paltry pittance; but more
especially so when the magnificent pretensions of South Carolina are
taken into consideration, and a comparison is made between this
meagre allowance and that of other States.
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