The southern press., 1851-05-03

is left They may have doubts of its success
as we have had Of their policy; but, with thei
. consciousness of the wrongs OF the South, and
the dangers which environ us, and their high
regard for the honor of our State, can they
counsel us to submission! Will they any lorgel
divide from us, and spread weakness throughout
our counsels? Will they not rather join us, and
make with US one brave and united effort foi
redress and independence, by the secession Of
South Carolina alone from the Union! They
must and will soon be with us. They cannot
join the Union party, which is soon to arise IN
South Carolina
/ Secession, then-secession by South Carolina
aone-is to be our policy. Let us lookit fairly
in the face, and try to estimate justly its prob
able consequences. Probability is all which ex-
fists for u.s. in the future: Certainty is in the past
and present only.
/ In the first place, in seeding from the Union,
we would declare free-trade absolutely as 1t now
exists, with all the States South of the Potomac
and Ohio rivers There would be no change
whatever, 80 far as our action is concerned, in
any of the relations we now hold towards these
States All their pr0ductions-cott0n, wheat,
tobacco, live stock, will enter our State as here
tofore, free Of all charge or duty whatever
With respect to the productions OF the otfor
States now in the Union, and all foreign ma
tons, we would lay small duty on importa-
ton, not exceeding ten per cent advalorem,
(seyen per cent. was the first duty laid by our
ancestors in putting the present government
into operation, with heavy war debt to dis
charge) Thirty per cent. is the duty now ex-
acted bv the general government in all the ports
of the United States, on the chief articles of i'm
| portation. Cur duty of ten per cent. will thus
| be twenty per cent less than the duty exacted
| ia the ports of the Union. The effect must be
| that goods in Charleston must be twenty per
cent. cheaper than in the ports OF the United
| States.
To the agricultural interest of the State, no
one can doubt the benefit. Our planters and
| farmers and all other consumers in the State,
must be supplied with goods twenty per cent
cheaper than they have heretofore obtained them.
1t is clear, therefore, that to the great mass Of
the people of South Carolina, secession, under
such circumstance, must be advantageous
Property of all kinds must be more valuable,
because more profitable in South Carolina than
where the greater burdens exist There is but
one interest which may be injuriously affected,
and that is the mercantile interest. Trade 10
very timid. 1t is liable to panics; and when
confidence is unmpaired, it is not easy to change
! the channels of commerce without some loss
although that change may be from less TO more
1
to change their importations from New York
and Boston to Liverpool and Havre, but they
will have their goods twenty per cent. cheaper
than in the ports of the United States. The
merchants in the interior of our own State will
have no inducements to 60 to New York, rs
they now do, to lay in their supplies They will
make their purchases in Charleston Here is
certain demand on the commerce of Charleston,
| which does not now exist. And out of our
State, will not the merchants of other States,
| for the same cause, pursue the same policy! So
far as our importations from those States are
concerned, We would be exactly rs We now are.
| The only difference in our trade will be, that
our merchants will be able to offer to those who
send US their productions from other States,
their supplies twenty per cent cheaper than here
tofore Will this interrupt: their trade? The
Northern manufacturers and producers, for
whose benefit the high discriminating duties in
the present tariff of the United States are laid.
will certainly object to such trade They will
be clamorous to enforce out of the people OF
Georgia and North Carolina, and the other
Southern States, the collection Of the thirty per
cent. duty, they have laid by the general govern
ment on every S0utheru consumer for their ben.
eft. They now control the general govern.
ment, and suppose will endeavor, by their Gus
other States from buying from u.s. But AL such
efforts will fail, unless human nsture shall be
marvellonsly changed by our secession. In the
opirion Of vast majority of the people of the
Southern States, the present tariff, in principle
is utterly unconstitutional. IL u only an eype-
dent by which tribute is exacted from the South
by the North But independently Of this, Ham.
burg lies opposite TO Augusta, Purysburg is not
far from Savannah whilst we have common
right to navigate the Savannah and Pee Dee
rivers, from their borders to their mouths.
Our trade with North Carolina is chiefly car
RED on by wagons. How long will custom
house officers on our North Carolina frontier,
continue TO seize the wagons Of the North Caro-
lima farmers and wagoners, on their return from
South Carolina with their usual suppliesl How
long will the people Of Georgia submit TO a
standing army Of tax collectors on their side Of
the Savannah river, spying, sezing, fighting them,
TO enforce the collection Of duties their abolition
brethren Of the North have laid upon them
We will have nothing TO do with spying or
| fighting On our side Of the river we will have
ease and peace. No controversy with the people
Of Georga-no controversy with the general
government. or its officers. We have goods 10
sell, twenty per cent. cheaper than they can be
obtained in New York, or IN any port in the
Gnion-that is all. We will neither force other
people 10 buy them, nor enter other States 10
sell them. The trade, If Il exists, will be at the
option Of those who think proper TO come TO us
and buy our goods Relations Of entire amity,
and Of mutual benefit, not Of hostility or injury,
will thus exist between us and the Southern
States. am inclined to think the trade Of our
merchants, under such circumstances, will not
b come qnte extinguished. | am inclined TO
| think that the same state Of things which now
exists on our Canada frontier, under the sklful
address Of our Yankee friends, will also prevail
along the frontiers Of SouthCarolina Twenty
per cent. viii not stop goods on an imaginary
frontier. Il gives immense acti.ity to bales and
boxes rs we'll as TO mans wits. II will not de-
stroy cur merchants. II will make our trade
pretty nearly as free in going out as in entering
our State This is certainly the opinion Of the
merchants in our Northern cities. They there
fore look upon the secession Of South Carolina
| from the Union with alarm and terror, antci.
pa'ing the loss Of the whole import trade. which
is occasioned by Southern productions. Il will
come TO M, they say. | think they are right;