were estimated at twenty thousand dollars; the treasury was in rapid progress of depletion; and as yet no results.  It is not wonderful, that, under these circumstances, the most enthusiastic secessionists were not gay, and that the general physiognomy of the city was sober, not to say troubled.  It must not be understood, however, that there was any visible discontent or even discouragement.  “We are suffering in our affairs,” said a business-man to me; “but you will hear no grumbling.”  “We expect to be poor, very poor, for two or three years,” observed a lady; “but we are willing to bear it, for the sake of the noble and prosperous end.”  “Our people do not want concessions, and will never be tempted back into the Union,” was the voice of every private person, as well as of the Legislature.  “I hope the Republicans will offer no compromise,” remarked one excellent person who has not favored the revolution.  “They would be sure to see it rejected:  that would humiliate them and anger them; then there would be more danger of war.”

Hatred of Buchanan, mingled with contempt for him, I found almost universal.  If any Northerner should ever get into trouble in South Carolina because of his supposed abolition tendencies, I advise him to bestow a liberal cursing on our Old Public Functionary, assuring him that he will thereby not only escape tar and feathers, but acquire popularity.  The Carolinians called the then President double-faced and treacherous, hardly allowing him the poor credit of being a well-intentioned imbecile.  Why should they not consider him false?  Up to the garrisoning of Fort Sumter he favored the project of secession full as decidedly as he afterwards crossed it.  Did he think that he was laying a train to blow the Republicans off their platform, and leave off his labor in a fright, when he found that the powder-bags to be exploded had been placed under the foundations of the Union?  The man who could explain Mr. Buchanan would have a better title than Daniel Webster to be called The Great Expounder.

During the ten days of my sojourn, Charleston was full of surprising reports and painful expectations.  If a door slammed, we stopped talking, and looked at each other; and if the sound was repeated, we went to the window and listened for Fort Sumter.  Every strange noise was metamorphosed by the watchful ear into the roar of cannon or the rush of soldiery.  Women trembled at the salutes which were fired in honor of the secession of other States, fearing lest the struggle had commenced and the dearly-loved son or brother in volunteer uniform was already under the storm of the columbiads.  One day, a reinforcement was coming to Anderson, and the troops must attack him before it arrived; the next day, Florida had assaulted Fort Pickens, and South Carolina was bound to dash her bare bosom against Fort Sumter.  The batteries were strong enough to make a breach; and then again, the best authorities had declared them not strong