Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1846-03-21
From the Commercial Review Of the South
and West.

From the Commercial Review Of the South
and West.
:. INFLUENCE OF COMMERCE.
We have sometimes heard it gravely ALE
ged that the commercial spirit is unfayorabIe
to the existence 0ftrue patriotic sentiment and
e]xertioD. We have been told that it sewers
the ties which bind the individual to His native
soil, and dispases him to yield much, too
much, 10 the policy Of contemporary nations;
that the commercial spirit merges the citizens
IN the Cosmopolhe, and lwakens a keener
ssnslilreness n national interest than 10 ma
tional honor. Even Burke endorsed The doc
trine with the high authority of his name,
when he characterized the merchants desk
as his altar, his ledger as his bible, and his
money as his god! But is there anything of
trnth in the charged Has it appeared in the
development Of The worlds history that there
has been any natural hostility between tho
merchant and the patriot Has it been found
that commercial communities have been dis
posed 10 submit 10 aggression with easy COM
%pIiance, and put on the yoke ofconqnest with.
out a struggle? Was it so wi h Tyre when
the Greek conqueror was laundering at her
gatesl Did pnissant Rome, on her seven
/ h'iINA EFGi NHt3tJtH WIZ hI GItttiY UtlFIDT1
fiercer, and more desperate than The descen-
dants Of the PhGuiciau traders al CarthaFp7
Were the Italian States easy victories to the
agprossious Of foreign foes, or were they at
all less glorious in arms than in ~enterDr ise!
We shall not pause to answer such qus5-
thong.
We have no idea that Oh re arc in COM
merCe any tcnderciss like these we have
been combating. 1t ~disposes nations 10 be
just and liberal in their intercourse with o.
| th9rs, bdt il changes not their own individual
ity-their own pride IT character in any point
that it ought mt 10 be changed. Merchants
there have been in all ages and countries who
have added TO the glory and honor of their
States, by The highest and no5Iest exertious
Of patriotism. Men enjoying the confidence
of their sovercigns, and extanstihg their CUf
fers in defence of the realm, have bsen found
in.ihis class. and We shall, upon another de-
casion, enutnerlte the most distinguished ex-
amples which history furnishes us. The MGR.
chants IF London were, even in the earliest |
times, the bankers Of the crown, aud Eliza
beth in particular knew what IL was, 90 many
an occasion, in her Il exlgencies, and in
the exigencies Of the kingdom, to hive her
purse replenished BY their liberal Golfers. Ia
our own country we may be permitted TO say
that there has dn nd o C4sion been ever dis-
Played n truer love of country, aud a loftier
tone Of pairistsim than has been displayed by
our merchant citizens. They have fallen be-
hind none in the assertion df tbs rights and
the liberties of The republic,
Commerce il A natural guardian Of The arts +,
and sciences U6d1r its influence the high
est results have beeu stimulated. 70 what,
for instance, can the astonishing progress and I
perfection io which astronomy has been car {
be attributed, more than 10 the ever aris- G
wants Of navigation! The solution of 9
be problem Of the Iatilddes and Ioneitudes =
las been promised, at different periods, the
he highest premiums of government. II has Z
tot as ronomers at toll which only terminated II
n brilliant discovery. The various problems u
navigation even now demand the highest b
Of these men in every country, and The Il
mere tables OF a nautical alman4c-the caicu. b
alton of e~cijpses, occultalidns, and DaraIaxes, /;
aiIs into action a degree Of scientific skill a.
hich can scarcely be appreciated by the un- ;.
The mariners compass, quadran., "
r chron0metef, are miracles Of art an we'll az .
f science. From every n1tion in the world I'll
mmerce has Brought together her trophies, al
nd laid them at the feet of silence. With CT
ut leaving his closet the student Of nature IA
lay arrive at profound results in the intesti- ttt
alton Of animals, plarts, akells, and mine :,
lis, scattered over the whole g~l0be-aboye
lie earth and under the earth, and down TO
le depths of the sea. Every art and science III
.knowIedges its large Indebtedness to the Al
and Of for the influence it is eHa- ar
ed to WELD over nature in extending the ar
npire and dominion Of man. lol
Commerce is the parent of civilization. ha
= - z.nF4I ,,.sL L-s "
are aGqua.'te" WIN Out one agency 10,
,nS Iii srs,4r ma, md oisrasi. p7a os. anu of
and that agency Is Christianity. WI
ut even the heralds Of the cross, with all We
cir noble and inspiring theme, have not gr
further into The depths of savage 7
Ildetnesses or among the ~iercest islands of w
e ocean, have not crossed mountains and M
serts more desoIate and terrific, have not
nnged more fearlessly 10 the midst of hoy- =
idoIatry{ cannibaIism, and semidemonism,
an have these men or bales and merchan.
in their search after trade. THEY have
ne hand in hand with the missionary,
they have not acted as his prisoner tee
It was thus in the early history of Anne. CT
Marquette and Allouez, fathers in the res
man church, were even distaned by the Gel
venturous La Sale in the first visits ire
itch were made by civilized men to the AID
wilderness westward ofthe Lakes. wit
is thus with the hunters and trappers Of it i
'egon and California, who as far upward to
the Russian limit and south to Mexico, del
trade with the savage, as vet an,
lorant of his soul and Of his Maker. 1t AM
most strickingly thus in the case of the my
Islands. Commerce, acting as my
adjunct or hafidmaiden of Christianity Ian
the savages there, has transformed Ella
m into men and into citizens. We see Va
rophy won to civilization-people added W
he Christian nations of the earth. cor
Let S take the EXTREMIST limit of the rea
the stormest islet of the sea, strug- up.
ng against a thousand pillows, and what
VIC find! The sailor and the trader have 70