The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-10-25

bfugSle, tnougn IL HllSHs os1ShJ uo s'sa'
the South bore more than her proportional share,
| both In its expenses and its battles The white
} male population over is years of age in 1870
) was about the same in Pennsylvania and Vir-
l GINA; the former being l0,7SS, and the latter
ITO ,934; vet according to General Knox's Off
cal estimate presented to the lst Congress, plr-
) ginia furnished 56,72l soldiers to the Revolu-
, ton, and Pennsylvania only 1866. New Hamp-
shire had military population 5l3 larger than
!, South Carolina yet she contributed only l4,9O6
soldiers to South Cardinals 3l,l3l--not half!
The latter quota in fact is nearly equal TO PENN
sylyanias, who had triple the military population,
and twice the whole population, free and slave.
, 1t exceeded New York's 1886, though New
I. York had much more than double the military
population and 40 per cent more of total popu-
J, lation Connecticut and Massachusetts, did more
than any Of the free States in that great war !;
yet we find that while South Carolina sent TO its
armies 81 out Of every Az citizens capable Of
a bearing arms, Massachusetts, sent but 80, Con-
necticut 80, and New Hampshire not l8 and It
must be remembered that, as General Knox says,
in some years of the greatest exertlons OF the
Southern States, there are no returns whatever
of their militia" while at the North every man
was entered on the rolls, rs the pension list too
plainly shows; that while the war assumed a
regular character there, it was here brought
I home to every ire-side and there was scarcely
man who did not shoulder his musket, even
though not regullrly in the field The slave
States not only fought their own battles, nearly
unaided but sent numerous troops to the de-
i fence of the North and when we consider that
the free States had the protection OF almost the
whole regular army, and the benefit of its large
disbursements, while the South was left to be
secured by the enemy, and that the almost utter
ruin of the incomes and private fortunes OF her
citizenss far exceeded any amount OF taxation
ever levied, we cannot doubt that her suiferings
in the great cause were far heavier than those of
the North. But we will not pause to consider
any inequality of Revolutionary burdens !; if the
| South bore more than her share, it was volun-
tary-a free-wlll offering on the altar OF lnde-
pendehce. We will pass ct once to consider
the action of the Federal Government, and its
value to the North, when the South was no
longer her own mistress. +, .I ,. -
i II has often been remarked, that orr Union is
capable of peacabe extension over wider do
minion than any other form of government that
the world has yet seen. This is due TO the happy
development of the Federal principle in our Con-
stitution--the work, not much of the wit Of
man, as of Divnely ordained circumstances. If
we keep strictly within its limitations, the central
power is confined to general legislation upon mat
ters Of common interest, and IS so organized that
it cannot be abused for purposes of sectional adj
vantage, as long the States one in character
and feeling But no human institutions are safe
4 from the selishness Of those who administer them
and were it possible for the Union to be divided
into two sections OF unequal power, with broad
and growing opposition OF character and social or
ganizaion, it would be impossible to prevent the
stronger section from plundering the weaker
This has happened in other States, between the
different classes of society, and the design of ev-
cry good constitution has been so to balance their
powers, as to make government the result or a
| col niseh eVeen
one class succeeds in establishing permanent
mastery the other, the banetul effects of its
} plundering are alleviated by the expenditure of
its fruits in the midst of the plundered This is
: not the case where Federal Government is per-
verted from its original equality the tribute drawn
, from the weaker SECTION enriches the stronger,
and the larger the confederacy, and the more dis
tant the taX-consumers from the taxpayers, the
greater is the injury to the latter. Such has been
> the relation of Ireland TO Eng land under the COM
bined effects Of taxation and absenteeism, and We
, all know her lamented condition. Our Union was
secured from these dangers at its beginning, by the
homogeneous character or the people, The diff
ferences of character in the descendants of the pill
q grims and the cavaliers only combined to make a
: more perfect whole. A common ancestry and
language were endeared by common associations
: of literature and Of history. All brought with
II them, as the very frame work Of their societies
q the same noble old common law, and all restored
its ancient Saxon spirit by clearing away its feu
dial encumbrances The Institution of negro sla-
very was foreign to none; the meddling spirit OF
a spurious philanthrophy had not yet dared to at
tack what it did not understand. Taxation would
naturally fall more equally, as there was compar-
atvely little difference in the interests of the peo-
: pie of the several States. American cotton, which
, has worked and is working, such revolution in
T the commerce of the world, was cultivated only as
a curiosity. 1t was supposed that direct taxes
would be the chief source Of revenue, and the Con-
stitution secured an equality in their imposition
h,,fi thafp cfD i,,ta
more convenient in many respects, would be suf-
iicient in time of peace.
There was, nevertheless, even in those days,
one striking difference in the interests Of the
tons; the navigating interest was almost as excu-
| svely Northern, as tobacco and rice were South
ern. Heaven had favored the South with a more
fertile soil and a more genial climate, and it was
| the duty of Government to protect her in the I'M
interrupted enjoyment Of all the advantages which
her industry could derive from the Divine bounty.
| The larger profits Of rice and tobacco planting
withheld her people from less lucrative navigating
enterprise, and they found an immense benefit in
the cheap rates at which foreign vessels trans
ported their productions to all the markets of the
world; it was, in effect, so much added to their
price. In the North, on the contrary, the profits
Of navigation equal to the average returns Of
other employments, and this explains the fact
stated by Pitkin, that in New England in ITO,
6-Sths Of the tonnage owned by natives; in
New York and Pennsylvania, 3-Sths, while in
each of the old plantation States, Maryland, Vir-
ginia, the Carolinss, and Georgia, the proportion
of domestic tonnage was only 18th. The first eff
fort Of the North was, therefore, to levy heavy
duties foreign tonnage, and thus to raise
freghs, as to repair the injustice Of providence,
aud lower Southern profits by increasing Northern.
We have been recently told by good authority,
| (Mr. CLNcMAN, in his speech on the 22d Jan.,)
that Northern ship owners charge as much for
freight between New York and New Orleans, as
between New York and Canton, and that " the
received by the Northern ship owners, has, on a
minute calculation, been set down at $40, 1885,
| 1877 However this may be, the loss must have
been very heavy, II We may judge from the warm
| opposition Of the Southern members in the lstI
Congress. The discriminating duties on tonnage
| were, however, voted through by Northern votes