Alabama Direct Trade and Exchange Company.

437

ART. IV.-DIRECT TRADE OF THE SOUTH.

[In addition to the very able and valuable papers we have from time to time published in the Review upon the subject of the Direct Trade of the South, we recommend to the attention of our readers the following, which, though strained and speculative in many respects, embodies some sound and wholesome truths. There is a propriety in referring to such papers on the eve of another Convention at Memphis for the promotion of southern trade, and our only regret is that we cannot be present and take part in its deliberations, as we have made it a point hitherto to do.]

The Committee of Ways and Means, stances, that they should be confined, reto whom was referred the bill incorporating the Alabama Direct Trade and Exchange Company, have duly considered the same, and believing that there is no one subject in which all our citizens have a deeper or more lasting interest than a speedy and radical change in our import trade, beg leave to make the following report:

strained, punished, and, at times, even destroyed. They, too, like individuals, in obtaining or making locations on the earth's surface, have advantages or disadvantages more or less suited to their peculiar mental, moral or physical organization, propensities, habits and occupations. The country we now occupy, before it was discovered by the EuroThe skilful and prudent merchant, in pean race, was admirably suited in all selecting a site for extensive, profitable respects to the wild, savage, roving, deand durable commerce, will examine structive propensities of the Indian. carefully the whole surrounding country, By nature free and idle, he could neithconsider well its climates, soils and er be civilized nor enslaved, without deseasons; its valleys, hills and mountains; its vegetable, animal and mineral productions; its lakes, rivers and roads; its bays, seas, gulfs and oceans, with their peculiar currents, tides and winds; look well to the natural disposition, capacity, occupation, wealth, habits and customs, opinions, political, religious and moral, of the whole surrounding population. His interest is identical with the greatest prosperity and tranquillity of all his customers. He is, therefore, the natural ally of the best and most stable government.

Civilization, the arts and sciences, first appeared in the East. Their course has been westward; as the world is but a great national race-ground, in process of time they will again reach their starting point.

The Israelites, Grecians, Romans and Spaniards have exerted a powerful influence on the destinies of mankind. They were all extensive slaveholding countries in their days of progress and power. Nations, like individuals, have their birth, infancy, manhood and old age; like them, they have their peculiarities, their inferior or superior mental, moral and physical power and physical or ganization; like them, they have their fevers, consumptions, epidemics, and chronic infections, and the good of mankind requires, under certain circum

stroying his existence or happiness. In selecting a place of residence, all he desired was a wilderness to rove in, and game to gratify his destructive propensities and furnish him food and raiment.

The African, when left to himself, can only exist and be happy under a tropical sun, where summer is continual, clothing not a necessity, and food can be obtained by little effort from the spontaneous productions of the country. Freedom to him, in a cold climate, is a curse, compared to slavery under an intelligent master, in a mild one. In their native country they are a nation of human beings at rest, and likely to continue so, until highly stimulated by some race different in physical organization. If, by pestilence, the whole race in their own country were suddenly cut off, Europe and America would only feel it in an advance on ivory and a few spices. The energetic white European or American requires for the full development of his capacity and disposition, a country possessing all the natural elements of the three great pursuits of civilized man, agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. That country combining all these in the most extensive and compact form, in the most convenient location, is, above all others, the best calculated to promote his own happiness, and enable him to be useful to surrounding nations.

The white European, in the course of terial and government skill, to hers. his progress and enterprise, discovered She has a home population of twentythe American continent, on parts of seven millions on a territory about the which the attempt has been made by size of Georgia and Florida, with adlegislation to bring the Indian and Afri- vantages in position, soil, elimate, mincan up to a political equality with the eral and vegetable productions, of not white man. Political equality neces- more than one half of theirs. Her sarily brings about social equality; social colonial dominions are scattered over equality produces amalgamation. This every quarter of the globe in all latipolitical and social equality, with the tudes. Within them she has large posconsequent amalgamation, has brought sessions, devoted to the culture of coton premature consumption and rapid decay in the whole political and social mass, which threatens to bring about premature dissolution and lasting imbecility.

Tendency of African Slavery-Great Britain and her Colonies. 439

ment, that they should be opposed, checked or stopped. Great Britain made a second attempt to subjugate or check our power, in her last war with us. Failing in both instances, she now seeks to weaken us by attacking and urging others to attack, our system of African slavery.

age, disqualifies any from capacity to labor, they are thrown out of doors, paupers, upon public charity. Of this class there are now, in Great Britain, over three millions; and in Europe not less than twenty millions; a living fungus upon European governments. The accumulated miseries flowing from their system of government, keep the popula- There are four prominent, grand divition in a feverish revolutionary spirit. sions within our present extensive boundTo preserve law and order, and collect aries: our commercial and manufacturthe heavy taxes, requires in England a ing states, with their principal outlets standing army of one hundred thousand through Massachusetts, New-York, and men, stationed all over her territory; yet Pennsylvania; the agricultural states, outbreaks and insurrections are common with their principal outlets through occurrences. Notwithstanding all this, Maryland, Virginia, North and South it is said Great Britain has the freest Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and best government in Europe. We know heavy taxes, and standing armies to collect them and enforce obedience to unequal laws, abject slavery of the masses under the delusive name of free laborers, and an uncertainty in the future to every one, are general over Europe. The wealthy have no security from poverty by revolution, and the poor no security from the cannon, the sword, halter or dungeon, for revolt.

and Texas, on the Atlantic and Gulf coast; California, with the Bay of San Francisco, and Oregon, with the Columbia River, as their principal outlets on the Pacific.

Whatever may be said of California gold, Oregon's farming capacity, or commercial and manufacturing prosperity of the New-England or Northern States, a close examination into the Southern Atlantic, Gulf, and Mississippi Valley States, must convince every one that there lie, congregated together, in the most compact form, all the elements, in the highest degree, of agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing superiority. The general progress and power of the Union requires that the resources of this section be wisely and skilfully directed.

Great Britain, by unequal and inexpedient laws, forced upon her North American colonies the alternative of abject submission to unauthorized aggressions, or manly resistance in defence of their most sacred rights. After ten years' unregarded remonstrances, hope was lost, and the sword drawn; the contest appeared an unequal one, but seven Commerce is the heart of circulation years' war ended in the complete inde- in making exchanges of agricultural and pendence of our original thirteen colo- manufacturing productions to the whole nies. It was a great loss of political population. Any policy of the govern power and sectional aggrandizement to ment or habits of the community that the mother country. To the people of has a tendency to turn commerce out of the United States, and many others, it its natural channels, within the same has been a far greater gain. They government, is a drawback on the healabolished the British system of govern- thy and vigorous action of the whole ment, which holds the citizens to be system. subjects and subordinate to the King and Our navigable rivers and lakes have other departments of the government, their bluffs, which are natural landings. and made the citizens of the respective To those bluffs roads can be made, with states sovereign, and the governor more or less labor, of higher or lower President, and legislative bodies all grades. When made, they are more subordinate to the will of the people, convenient and less expensive for a cerproperly expressed through their conventions.

The love of power and aggrandizement has been in all ages, amongst individuals and nations, prominent and constant. They are powerful elements in human progress, and it is only when unjust means are used for their attain

tain surrounding population, as highways and landings, through which to send off or dispose of their surplus productions, than any other road or landing. The same landing and road is also the most convenient and least expensive, naturally, through which to obtain their purchases of other articles.

Our sea or gulf coasts have their natu- Alabama, Florida, Georgia, the Caroral landings, all of which possess their linas, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, relative advantages on account of cli- New-York and Massachusetts, also havmate, position, accessibility from the ing natural limits to the amount of trade land side by navigable rivers or lakes, that for the interest of general popula and the cheapness and low grade with tion would naturally flow to them. At which rail-roads or canals may be con- this time the most important are Boston, structed, leading from them into the in- New-York, and Philadelphia, in the terior, and the capacity of the popula- commercial and manufacturing states; tion for production. These landings Baltimore, Charleston, Mobile, New-Oralso have their relative advantages in leans, and Galveston, are the most prombays, harbors, ocean currents and winds, inent in the agricultural states. In the leading off in the most convenient di- two sections there are Boston and New rection for commercial purposes. They York as the principal outlets for the are the great landings of foreign and Northern and Eastern States, New-Orcoastwise commerce-the landings for leans and Mobile as the most prominent our exports and imports, with the same natural outlets in the agricultural states. convenience and pecuniary advantage The omitted table A, shows the eirto the whole community, in having all culation of bank paper in each state, the their foreign supplies directly landed at specie to redeem it, the exports and imthem, for all those whose convenience ports of each, their population, square or interest requires their exports to be miles, and public debt, an examination landed there, as the small landings on of which will readily show the most unthe rivers or lakes. A system of com- natural and injurious system of trade merce, to be most convenient and least that could well exist amongst intelligent expensive to the whole community, citizens living in a government of equalmust necessarily have all its import ity and justice. This table at once shows agents or merchants at their export land- that in the agricultural states all great ings or cities. Any other system is un- interests are withering under the unnanatural, inexpedient and ruinous to tural and extremely unhealthy system every interest in the whole community, of our foreign trade. The cities in the and a continual drawback on the aggre- Northern and Eastern States, during the gate prosperity and wealth of the coun- year ending June 30th, 1850, exported try at large. The first inquiry for every $70,249,809, and imported $155,291,737, class of every section in every state is, showing that by our present system of what seaport landing or city on the gulf trade they received over eighty-five or coast can be reached at the least ex- millions imports more than a natural pense on products-first, by natural high- system of trade would entitle them to. ways, as navigable rivers, lakes, &c.; The Southern and grain-growing secondly, by canals or rail-roads, at the Western States exported through their least expense of labor and capital. That own ports $81,115,702, and imported city, then, that can be approached with $21,395,805, showing that they imported exportable products with the least ex- near sixty millions less than a proper pense, will be the one naturally through trade would justify. On this large which all the imports should come. To amount the consumers of foreign goods determine, then, the best system of trade for the whole population of every section, we must divide the country into its natural divisions, and assign to each its natural amount of business. If we establish our entire foreign and domestic trade on this natural basis, it will advance most rapidly the aggregate wealth and prosperity of the Union at large, and enable us in the shortest time to excel all other countries. The present population of the United States, on the Atlantic and Gulf slope of the Rocky Mountains, have for their natural outlets cities or sites in Texas, Louisiana,

pay, to a great extent, importers' profits, jobbers' profits, double shipping, storage, drayage, and wharfage. The retail merchants spend double the time and money in going to make their purchases as would be necessary under a well regulated system of Direct Trade. Under this doubly expensive system, the retail merchants cannot sell foreign goods to consumers on an average at less than double the original foreign cost abroad.

The consumers of foreign goods in the southern and western states pay not less than twenty millions of dollars annually more for their goods than would

New-England States-Foreign and Domestic Trade.

be necessary under a properly regulated system of Direct Trade. This twenty millions, however, is but a portion of the loss to the South and West. The Southern and Western States, as classed off in table A, make annually for export one hundred and fifty millions worth of produce, which, by the completion of a few of the rail-roads now in progress, would naturally find its way out at southern ports, and by such a system as can and should be adopted by every southern seaport would, as soon as in full operation, put their import trade up to one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, with all the advantageous consequences, to all classes of our

New-Orleans and Mobile......$48,650,208... $11,625,861... $7,386,000... $8,503,000 New-York and Boston.... 63,394,563... 141,498,208... 40,306,000... 14,370,000