Weekly national intelligencer., 1851-08-09
THE COMMERCE OF PHILADELPHIA.

THE COMMERCE OF PHILADELPHIA.
graoH raIIADEIrGIA connxncIAL LIST or Aueusr g.
Letter from JoB r. TysoN. Esq., Of Philadslphiu.
to the British Consul for the STATE Of Penn
syIUGniG.
7oMe Editors Of the Commercial List.
The accompanying letter has bean received by from my
friend Mr. TIsos, and the subject Of which II % ably
treats Of no less importance Phsdepha than to Liver
pool and many other Enssh por. where Ihope msy find
its way you may perhaps object to the admission Of
to the columns Of your valuable and widely circulated paper
Yours, respectfully, WILLIAM PETER
Philadelphia, July alst. 1851.
PHnADILPHIA, JULr 29, 1851.
To WILLIAM PErEs Esq, her B. NJ Consul for the State
of Pennsylvania.
Mr DrAR s1R Your official connexion with the port Of
Philadelphia has led You take interest in s commerce.
and residence Of years has enabled you form clear
notion Of its and capacities. Among other intelligent
Inquiries you have often asked, why line not merely Of
desirable these are-but Of regular steamers
to London Liverpool has not been established here in
New York and Boston, propose to throw together such
thoughts this inquiry suggests and to glance at the past
fortunes and present prospects Of the port in the belief that
both the retrospect ana ne anucpouon usy ana demand
serious effort for their introduction.
In the soicitude may discover build up the fair renown
and true grandeur Of Philadsphato hspopoiOns Of which
she s 30 easily capable you, least will not believe that
am Influenced BY sordid pecuniary object. not
merchant and have no motive senaby for the spows
inhabis but the ntses and attachment which spring from
the associations Of bh the ties Of kindred. and the memory
Of honored ancestors for six generations These make
alive to her honest ms and just rank in the great commun
y Of cities; they certainly render partial but hope
neither exavagant FOOLISH notwithstanding the sentiment
Non simul cuiquam conccditur Gmare ct sapre.
The extension Of es my heart only in
connexion with is results with that enlargement Of spirit
which great opulence usually engender and those richer
blessings Of high civilization which secures mulpes and
dlfuses
For nearly century Philadelphia was regarded in Europe
only the great city, but the focus Of refinement and
civilization in the western world. It is morifying truth
that though in all respects emnently entitled her former
repue except perhaps in numerical precedence she has
dwindled in English and European estimation be view
ed only speck in the commercial horzon-an nsign6-
cant point the American map will be my object to
show how she has thus receded from the transatlantic vson
why her foreign has declined and how
is its restoration her prosperity. shall do this mainly to
invoke your influence with British capitalists aid the in
PRODUCTION into her port Of line Of steam vessels Of the
largest class.
We are all aware Of the cloud which, to the eyes Of many
Englshmen is still suspended house, conured up
by the idle story Of intended repudaion of the public
debt To this delicate topic may in the Of my let
ter incidentally refer Permit for the present to expaae
upon the text proposed for elucidaton.
will assume, then that the ancient reputation Of Penn
ylvana for good faith and integrity though deliberately fred
not moaly wounded BY the aceous bullets Of the
reverend Canon Of st. Pauls The militant creditor
wide of the mark in aiming at so small sect a. the dab
coated gentry and holding them amenabe for the supposed
denquencies Of the State, he certainly missed in pre-
cpitatey selling his Pennsylvania bonds under par But
proceed to the main subject Of my epistle.
Pennsylvania the colony Of mark in the western world
Though the las. settled but Of the English Provinces she
outran them all in the Of population and the arts Of
life. Three quarters Of century younger than Virginia, and
sxywo years younger than Massachusetts, she dstanced,
within the lapse Of the former period from her settlement all
the other colonies but the sAncient Dominion" Every
bound Of the young giant hailed Of future
greatness by the parent country She and her sisters were
ranked among the fires flowers Of the regaG Her nge
nious sonsher Rtenhouse her Franklin, her West D
Mnrss-were received 10 London with British
Subjects and conducted to such honor learned appeca
ton and polite society could confer The literature Of Eng
land at that day conferred upon them ceeb echoed the
justice Of their domestic ae until the keensghted discove
es Of subsequent years detected the orthodoxy Of opposite
sentiments The writers who had been eloquent in
their praises made less kind by political changes could
little merit in philosophers artists who had ceased to be
British Subjects and in country which had ceased to belong
to the British crown.
But, notwithstanding the chls and damps Of British crt
csm, Philadelphia continued to maintain good humored
complacency and healthy commercial prosperity She
doyal to supply many Of the snews of to sustain
the Government. As the seat of the American Con-
gres and the chief city Of the United Colonies she freely
exposed to the pes of the conflict But she participated in
the benefits Of that unrescted commerce which the Revou
ton secured Her exports which less than eight mil
lions Of dollars in $780, in 1896 the Of
million FIVE hundred and wenty-throe thousand eight
hundred and sxtyx dollars Chiefly with Philadelphia
capital Pennylvsns made the first turnpike road excavated
the first canal and constructed the first railway Of any mag
nitude in this country The Importance of internal
employed the tongues and pens of her best speakers
and writer's at early day. These sentiments concuring
with the influence Of her example and the experience Of s
effects, dused similar spirit through New York and New
England You will not me Of induging in boast
full vaingloous spirit in relating what history records Il
s simply the truth that Philadelphia, in all the duties Of
large community in the construction Of hydraulic works for
the introduction Of pure water from without her municipal
limits in sanitary measures in complete system Of sub
eanean drainage, worthy Of imperial Rome for sodiy Of
structure, equally in advance of her sister citee Her
progress required and sustained these improvements The
rich trade Of the West seemed destined by Nature aided by
the facilities Of improved roads, to centre in Philadelphia
As the metropolis Of the colonies she became the capital OF
the United States under the laws the Federal Union Her
China trade large and secured golden The
sells of her merchants unfoded their almost every
Colossal fortunes amused by expanded intel
gen and successful commerce. Under the genial inHu-
Of kindly wealth. heavenbles charities founded
and conveniences arts, and elegancies multiplied
forms portion Of the letter nct you recount the
by which these advantages lost and how they
be restored with those accreons which time has
muated.
While thus prosperous and her commercial progress em-
Il I n a al