The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-04-11
DISUNION.

lub OuluH NOulu pTO'c w luc ANOIbu iuuu " tbO
South. The commerce Of the United States is
by products from the slave States and
disunOn would, of necessity, create direct trade
between the South and the nations of Europe; the
agency of the North now used for carrying on
that trade would be dispensed with.
" The commerce of Boston, New York, and
would be at once transferred to
Baltimore and the sesports south of that city. A
revolution in the channels of trade such as this
world never witnessed, would take place imme-
this revolution, whilst it would sap
the foundations of Northern prosperity, would
give strength and power to the South.
" 1t is quite evident too, that the feeling which
would produce q separation of the States would
lead to a restrictive policy, prohibitOry laws, and
in fact to non-intercOurse"
These are facts, and they are facts which
should cause Northern agitators to reflect long
and seriously before they drive the South from
the Union The love which the South bears the
Union is of the most DISTINGUISHED kind and no
matter what commercial and other advantages
she ,Faj94t ,OiD by dissolution, she would never
seek it, and never permit II, 80 long as ner nsti-
tutions and her rights are respected No lust of
power, no cupidity Of wealth, can induce her to
part from this glorious Confederacy.
Richmond (Va) Republican
Such paragraphs are common in Southern
papers 80 common that their readers are
probably convinced that the South is the only
independent portion of the universe. The ma
terials of these speculations are furnished in
certain Northern newspapers and periodicals,
which labor hard to show that the Southern
States constitute grand centre around which
the whole world revolves in absolute dependence.
They parade in ingeniously arranged figures
the products Of the South, the export of cotton,
the amount of Northern shipping employed in
the expectation, the bales of cotton consumed in
the Northern States, the innumerable looms it
keeps in motion in Great Britain; and then they
proceed - suppose the Union dissolved, what
would become of the North Its shipping would
dwindle it's trade would die out its factories stop,
its cities decay, its population starve. And Eng
land, tOo-suppose her supplies of cotton arrested
her industry would be paralyZed, her laboring
population turned out to die, commissions would
shake her empire to its foundations. Then comes
the moral--how absolutely necessary is the South
to the life of the world, and what madness to in
dulge in assaults upon her system of slave labor
Chief among the Northern presses that have
given currency to such speculatoDs, feeding the
system or labor condemned by humanity and the
spirit of the age, are the Mem York Herald, and
the Democratic ReUiep, which seem as anxious
to degrade the North as to magnify that
powerful sristOcracy which has mOnOpOlized the
labor, the capital and the political power of the
Southern States
Let us examine this theory of dependence.
God never intended that men or nations should
be independent Of each other. Capacities tastes,
circumstances differ hence, the divisions of labor
and diversties of employment certain talent
in one man supplies the lack of it in another.
Men are complemental to each other, and this
fact constitutes the strongest bond of social or
ganization. Nations are dependent on one an
other for the same reason and because their pro-
auctions differ, Articles necessary or subservient
to human comfort are produced in one country
which cannot be raised with profit, if at all, in
another In this law of mutual dependence,
universal and fraternal, we recognise conclusive
reason in favor Of the unrestricted interchange Of
commodities between individuals and between
states, as an indispensable condition, it seems to
us, of full individual and national development.
To assume that one country is essential to all
others, and dependent upon none, involves an alb
surdity for the labor that raises an article of
necessary consumption, is itself dependent upon
the consumer for compensation, without which, it
would cease.
Degrees of dependence vary with the resources
of different nations. That State which raises
sufficient amount of the absolute necessaries of
life for its consumption, is less dependent than
another, which, exporting more, still depends for
such necessaries upon the industry of foreign
States. Planting countries are more dependent
than farming and these, than countries in which
capital, enterprise and labor are distributed in the
various departments of agricultural, manufactur-
ug, and commercial industry. If the one or two
staples of planting country fail the market for
hem become suddenly limited, great disturbance is
he result, amounting not unfrequently to wide
spread bankruptcy among the planters, and severe
distress among the laborers. In a farming COM
nunity if one crop be short, or find but poor
market, other crops supply the lack to such an
'xtent as to prevent any serious distress. But in
States where capital and labor are distributed in
many different forms of profitable industry, its
interests are placed in great degree
eyond injury from the vicissitudes of seasons, or
he fluctuations of markets.
The planting States of the South furnish two |
billions of bales of cotton to the looms of England,
nd half million to the spinners of the North;
ut what would become of them, should their crops
r markets fail7 Their dependence upon the for
ign manufacturer is no less absolute than his |
ependence upon them.
Suppose that miracle Dissolution of the |
JniOn-shOuld take place it would be either
eaceable or violent. II peaceable, the North
Ioud still want it's half million of bales Of cotton
rom the South, and the South could not afford
, lose the custom of the North. A diminution of
,e consumption of cotton, to the amount Of FIVE
undred thousand bales, would 30 reduce the price
Z the article as to whem the South in hopeless
,nkruptcy. The South would continue to be n
arket for the cotton fabrics of the North. for il
Guild then be seen that Northern capital, skill.
lterprise and experience, would need no prOec-
on against the competition Of Europe. The
.oits Of the capitalists might be diminished, but
ey would still be sufficient to stimulate the
altbful growth of manufacturing industry Nor
,uld the shipping of the North be seriously en-
ngered. In Cuba, where American trade is
biected to unfavorable Determinations, Ameri-
n shipping has engrossed to q large extent the
mmerce Of the island the tonnage being Tar
eater than that of any foreign nation greater
believe, than that of Spain itself Navigation
VS. may have been necessary once to give
porous impulse to the growth Of our shipping