The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-12-20
THE SOUTHERN COMMERCIAL MOVEMENT.
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TIE GREAT CONVENTION IN BALTIMORE.
~~~cO~~~r~oO>~cc~o~~cS~~~~~
Appeal to The Merchants Of the South, South
west. and Weat.
Manifesto Against the North,
dss., dEc.. 10.

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Manifesto Against the North,
49,, Ao.. 10.
The Great Commercial Convention met in Balti-
more at half past eleven o'clock on Saturday morn
ing There were . large number Of Congressman
present, among whom were noticed Aessrs Brecken-
ridge, Stanton, Preston, and Underwood, Of Ken
lucky; Senator Jones, and r. P. Stanton, Of Ten
nessee; Senators Dawson, Clemens, Downs, Pratt,
SO.
The Convention was called to order BY John g.
Bruno, Chairman Of the Board Of Trade. ]. f..
Pickeren was appointed temporary Secretary. An
address Of welcome to strangers was read by Brantz
Mayer. It 10 snnexed;-
ADDRESS.
FELLow-cITIzENs OF THE SOUTH, SOUTHWEST, AND
WEST.
We have invited you to meet US, in the city Of
Baltimore in order to consider questions Of interest
to tho sections Of country whence you come we'll
- to ourselves 1t u our duty, ~ well % our
pleasure, to seize the earliest moment to thank you
FOR the alscrity and good will with which you have
80 cordially responded 70 our call
Gentlemen we have summoned you here TO. dsv
to lay, with proper services, and to cement with
hearty feeling, the corner Stone of great National
Exchange Many circumstances have lately com
biDod to direct public notice towards the city Of
Baltimore the most suitable mart for the produc
tions in which your parts of the Union are deeply
concerned When the census of 1850 was first
published, and it was seen that tho population Of
Baltimore had augmented In larger proportion
within the preceding ten years than that Of any
other Atlantic city, men asked themselves the
question why this had occurred, and found no solu-
ton save III tho facts that there jealous stir
OF enterpraipg activity among our peo pie, fosterod
by the hopeful prospect of future progress that our
internal improvements were tending TO develops .
region iIaught with wealth, not only to our State
bus to other sections, aud that Baltimore, in truth
the original and natural terminus Of our great
internal trade, indicated by Nature herself in the
geography Of our country
Anc is not this true II win be allowed by every
one who recalls the history of colonial and revou-
tiepary times, and remembers that Baltimore Town,
in those days, was the spot whence the adventuror
AID she soldier set FORTH vending their way vest
ward, by Fort Cumberland, until they penetrated
that wilderness which has been subdued and
civilized by the courageous enterprise of your hardy
ancestors 1t Was from Baltimore Town, then
already place of significance, at the head Of the
finest inland Navigation In the world, that the po-
and trader sailed forth with their trains Of
pack horses, to besr their luxuries and necessares
into the wilderness IN order to exchange them for
the peltries which were, at that time, almest the
only calculating medium OF the region Mary
land sing Ike = wedge between Pennsylvania and
VTgipis and having in its centre another wedge,
in It's magnificent bay and river, whose afuents
penetrated its porthwesternm0st corner, afforded
the easiest levels as channel OF trade for passing
the mountains and reaching the navgaola waters Of
the Ohio and thus State became tho chief line
Of American travel, and our city the chief depot
between the shores Of the Atlantic and the vaies
hey ono the Allegheny range. Baltimore. there
fore, il fairly to regarded the natural and
earliest historical friend and CONNIE rcial ally Of the
West. 1t 50 in the days when Washington and
Braddock pursued the line Of travel have ind-
Gated and 10 periods when the common interests
and ocmmon sense Of men pointed out trail for
trade, independently of all extrsne0us influences
But, gentlemen, it is not to be denied that nj
though Baltimore very soon after the adoption OF
the COM tution of the United States, was acknow-
ledgeG to be the great -four and tobacco mart Of the
country, NJ well as, perhaps, the best market for
provitiops-she still, ia time, found that her com
meyce diminished, while that Of other sections,
which apparently we're not entitled TO such advan-
tsges, became proportionably enlarged This may
be attributed to three causes-the opening Of the
navigation of the Mississippi, which gave It's mouth
vent for internal commerce; the introduction Of
stVsm that river and its tributaries a. tho motive
power for trade and crave and the construction of
the Erie canal, backed by the mastery system Of
internal improvements Of New York, which has
tapped the lakes and western waters, developed its
own immense interior resources, and poured the
wealth Of the northwest into the lap of its thriving
metropolis. THIS, the old trade. which, in earlier
days, concentrated at Pittsburg or Wheeling, and
pursued its slow journey the mountains in the
s'pack horse carravans'-was gradually absorbed
ard taken away by the ingenuity Of an opulent
rival
Bat you are aware, gentlemen, that Baltimore
was no aggard in seising the means Of asserting
her natural supremacy in the internal commerce Of
North America. We perceived the cause, and We
endsavored to apply the remedy. We saw that art,
skill, and capital had s.rivsn to overcome nature
and distance, and We resolved to make the same
elements of success restore nature to her original
rights
Accordingly, about quarter of q century ago,
many of our opulens and snterprising citizens de-
Cd tn ia MT Ui inn
ncnt, which on the first day Of January, 1858, is
to signalize the opening Of q now year by wedding
tho Ohio and the Chesapeake, and securing an IN
srD citizen and his valuable produce on tho All antc
coast within fifteen hours
This great work has been long delayed. There
were u.aby reasons, 1t was the pioneer railway Of
the Union, ~ Baltimore had been the pioneer port
had risen from mere speculation to science during
the period of its building; and, besides, we had to
encounter manifold impediments and financial die
fcu)tiee all Of which it would be idle to recount
our enterprise, that We have not suffered ourselves
to be aauDted by any obstacles. We have mined
our way through mountains, and we have taxed
ourselves heavily, both as Baltimoreans and Mary
LADDERS until with the true labor of resolved faith,
We have succeeded in completing the enormous task.
II is under such fello r. eitiz ems Of
the South and West that We ask you to come hither
and tell MS that our Judgment WAS right-that our
opinion of the channel Of trade was correct-and
that we have not lAbored in vain for the friendship
of those sections to which nature had originally
allied u.s. and to which art has once moro happily
restored us after so many years of unnatural es-
trargement.
But, gentlemen, while, in Baltimore, We have
been striving to make this work, by the expendi
ture Of private and public means, other cities have
not hestated to attempt outgeneraling in our ef.
fors to regain your favor. Boston, New York,
Philadelphia, have all striven to grasp the whole,
or, at least, to gain . considerable part, of the
wealth that your industry produces. Yet in this in
stance. all their art-al their inRenuity-oould not
effect two results, without which their attempts
must be unavailing They could not destroy the
geographical facts thai Baltimore was not emily the
natural channel Of trade, but that 1t was, Also the
central point Of the sesboard Uniop In instsntaae-
Gus intercourse With the national capital and that
its railway the shortest, drecest, and most eco
nomicsl communication between the Ohio and the
sea
In order to illustrate our position, let me ask you
to lsok, when you have time, at any skeleton map
Of the United States, on which the great lines Of