Independent Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1842-1844, 1843-07-01

n and can and will, if let alone, thrive and
?. improve by all kinds Unemployment. I'm.
der il, no surplus ofanylhng which exists
> is lost, as nothing abounds in am
n country needed elsewhere without fipdin1
market. Such intercourse stimulates
industry, and rewards enterprise. II DIFF
fuses, also, arts, as we'll as letters; and the
r whole world thus gradually becomes i'm.
proving and useful to the whole. We
knew how, from acorns and roots, man
has advanced in food to. grain and meats !:
from skins for clothing, to The most bcauti.
full fabrics of silk and wool, and from 10.
norance and The chase, TO learning and ali
the glorles of civilization. This has al.
ways been witnessed most rapidly where
commerce has most abounded and was
freest. Thus, in the dawn of time. il
gradually circled, and thus civilized all the
shores of the Mediterranean, 1t then
passed the pillars of Hercules, and meme.
trated the forests of what were sayooe
Britain and savage Germany; crossed The
Atlantic afterwards to little less sayaoc
people, covering the whole western con.
tlnent; explores still farther to the remot.
est isles; and is now at such height, and
such improvements in arts, laws. and liz.
erature, as TO reflect back, from the once
Gothic portions of Europe, and from bar.
barlan America, increased light and knowl-
edge. Whittier! you may ask. Even to
the seven hills of Rome, the banks of the
Tiber, as we'll as the Illssus and the Nile.
1t is curious fact, illustrating the mutual
action and reaction through commercial
intercourse, that this very year, in the city
of New York there has been formed a socie-
ty to ditfuse useful and religious knowledge
in Italy. This among us-a people whose
English ancestors, thirteen centuries ago,
were painted savages, carried into slavery
to Italy; and This in country, five cenlu-
ries ago utterly unknown TO Italy, and
full Of forests and Vandal Indians. How
irresistibly do such facts carry our memo
ries back to the conquest and civilization
of Palestine, from more commercial Egypt,
and transport our imaginations forward to
u period, not far distant, when commerce
may carry home most OF the exies from
Africa educated, and fitted to civilze her
vast waste places and reform her debased
servitude. The tenants Of those arid re.
gions, reached but seldom by foreign com.
merce, continue, like the Esquimaux, al.
most as barbarous as whca first discover
ed; and, like most communities shut up
from the liberalzing influences Of free
trade, have improved lite more than the
OK since the days Of Jon, or the swine
since the miracle of our Savior.
In fine, without the viviiying impulses
of that trade on man, the whoe world is
stationary or retrograde; While, with
them, all is progreIs, as well as apparent
development OF some useful end in the
continuance of the human race; and if any
one nation or tongue is destined to peryade
The globe otherwise than by arms aud 10
ameliorate its condition, through the arts
of peace, letters, and religion, it must be,
that one most influenced in all things by
the spirit OF free commerce. That, alone,
can surmont every obstaclc-penelrate
remotest regions--win confidence by po-
liiical iavOrs-and, through its comforts
and necessaries, il not luxuries, interest,
excite, benefit, and elevate every people.
Withdraw, too, or shackle IFS power, after
once enjoyed, as here; and though i. may
seem, at first, to affect only the humble
the sailor, or the merchant,
and the axe and the saw may only appear
10 stand still, the wharf and the warehouse
only at first to decay, rather than the
splendid abodes of wealth and the gorge
Gus temple, yet rely upon it, there is a
canker preying--a worn gnawing at the
root Of the prosperity of the whoe--a
mildew begun which will, in time, blast
every ramfcation of society.
Miserable, indeed, beyond any descrip-
ion, must be the condition of any country
where. by violation of these principles Of
rec trade, the masses must deteriora!e
-aiher than improve, and wages become
ever, and the clothing and food of the
Millions are higher taxed TO supply the ex-
ravrgancies and folles Of the few; and,
What is even worse than this, the intel
Gets of the former are left neglected, and
heir morals depraved.
But il is time to close this hasty address.
The free.trade system, as thus explained,
S, in my view, the only one suited to a
rec people or free government. Ifis
annot be restored and perpetuated here,
ny deliberate conviction, without any
want of candor or charity as to the oe
igns of our opponents, is, that our boasieu
orm of government, and all its golden
romises to mankind, must, in the end'
rove mockery. If it does not soon tn.
mph again in all its essentials, we shah
ose consistency of character overthe
lobe, and it is vain to look for restoration
f permanent prosperity, or t, cherish