Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 182?-183?, 1832-03-09

not-We see Them Motive feel them not -
1t may be supposed, however, that we arc too
full OF prejudice, or TOO ungrateful to &C
knowledge the blessings il has bestowed M
on us. Sir, we have heard men having hon
orthrust upon them IS perhaps there may be
such thing as having benelits thrust upoa
an unwilling people yet should lhjnls that
even IN such Il case, they would soon become
reconclled TO their lot, and submit 10 their
fate with good grace. But, assure the
gentleman that the condition Of the south is
not merely one OF uneXlmpled depression,
but oil great and all pervading distress. In
my own State, the unhappy change which
has within few years past taken place i'm
The public prosperity, is OF the most appalling
Character. III we look at the present CondI-
ton Of cities, (and | will take Chailestoa by
way OF example, we fad every where tie
mourn.ul evidence of premature decay
Sir, the crumbling memorials olour former
wealth and happiness, too eloQuenily teach
us, that without some change in our policy.
The days of our prosperity care numbered -
Dir, IL Is within my own experience, that.
IN The devoted city in which my lot has been
cast, thriving foreign commerce, was,
within lew years past, carried on direct 10
Europe. We had thirty or forty ships,
many OF them built, andallowncl in Charles
ron, and giving employment to numerous
anu valuable body of mechanics and trades
men. Look at he stale of things now =
Our merchants bankrupt or driven away
their capital sunk or transferred TO other pur-
suts--our ship yards broken up-our ships
all sold!-yes, Sir, am told the very last
oil them was few months ago brought TO
The hammer-our mechanics in despair; the
very grass growing in our streets, and hous-
es Sailing into ruins real estate reduced TO
one third part of its value, and rents almost
10 nothing. The commerce, which we are
Still suffered TO enjoy, diverted from its prop
er channels, carried on with borrowed cap
ltal, and through agents sent among US, and
maintained by the tariff policy, hearing off
Their profit 10 more favored lands, eating out
The substance, and leaving 10 our own peo-
pie the miserable crumbs which fall from the
taole OF their prosperity. five fly from the
city to the country, what do we there behold
Fields abandoned the hospitable mansions
ofour fathers deserted az liculture dropping;
our slaves, like their masters, working hard
er and iaring worse the planter striving,
with unavaiIing efforts, 10 avert the ruin
which is before him. 1t has often been my
lot, Sir, TO see the once thriving planter re
duced to despair; cursing his hard fate, gath
tortune-and, with his wife and little ones,
tearing himself from the scenes OF his child
hood, ana The bones OF his ancestors, to seek,
in the wilderness, that reward for his indus
try, Of which your fatal policy has deprived
him.
Sir, when we look at our fertile fields,
and consider the genial climate with which
God has blessed the South-when we con-
template the rare felicity OF position, as The
producers OF an article, which under a sYs-
TEN OF free trsde, would command the mar
kels OF the world is ii not enough 10 fill our
hearts almost TO bursting 10 find the richest
blessing that an indulgcnt Providence ever
saowered down upon the heads OF any peo-
pie, torn from US by the cruel policy of our
own government 10 find the bounlies OF
Heaven thus blasted by the hand of man
Sir, will not deny that there are other caus-
es:besideS the tariff, which have contributed
10 produce the evils which have depicted -
Trade can, to some extent, be carried on !
with greater facility at New York, and COT
ton may be raised more proftably in Alabam- |
n; but these advantages would not have bro
ken up the commerce or depressed the aori-
culture of South Carolina, while an unre-
strcted intercourse with foreign nations. en- |
abled us to realize the most moderate pro-
fits. Men 10 not quit their accustomed en- !
Payments, or the homes Of their fathers, Tor
any small addition 10 their profits. Ii is on
ly when restriction has reached point
which leaves the door still open to one, while |
1t closes 1t against the other, this result is |
produced, and, therefore, il is, that rapil |
transfer OF capital and population is now adj |
ded 10 the other evils with which the old (
states are afflicted
In this condition OF the country, where is !
there to be found fufilmeni of the pronie-
es held out to the south in 1924? We were
then told that we had mistaken the true char
acter of this system. We were entreaicd
only to try for ii short time. We were told
that the taxes imposed on foreign articles
would be but temporary ! that the manufac-
tureres wouldwant protection but for a short
tIme-only 10 give them a siart-and that
they would soon he able to stand alone. We
were TO have double market for our cotton
high prices, reviying commerce, and re-
Eewed prosperity. Sir, afer the experience
offour years, the tariff of % came up for con
slderation, by which the protecting system
was tobe further extended & enlarged. And
what was found TO have been The result Of
Tour years experience at The South: Not
hops lulnlleI, not one promise pcri0rme -
and our cOnd lion infinitely worse than il had
been four years before Sir. the whole
South rose upa one man, and protested a
gainst any further experience with Ibis fatal
system. The whole Of the representatives
OF seven States, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missis-
siqpi, and tennessee, (with, believe, but
three dissenting voices ) recorded their votes
against that bill. Sir, do not gentlemen
find in This fact, some evidence If The dan