The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-04-03

In the Senate, yesterday, the private caen-
dar was under consideration.
The House of Representatives considered
and passed twenty one private bills, and ad-
journed until Monday.
Commercial Dependence Of the south on
| the North.
"There is, probably, no country on the face of
the earth possessing more natural advantages for
I large and extensive commerce than the South
and yet we have allowed those advantages to re-
| main unimproved, and the immense profits to be
| derived therefrom to be reaped by more
tive and enterprsing neighbors Of the North.
We produce the main supply Of cotton for the
world-the great artery through which the life
blood OF commerce hows-bcsides which, rice
sugar. hemp, and maIy other articles out of which
| a commerce should arise, that would enrich every
seaport at the South, AMI almost pave their strees
with gold Yet how is t, that with all these vast
| resources for commerce within grasp, our
erges should 30 long hav, remained dorma nt and
our commercial cities mere dcpots for northern
enterprsep
We take the above from DE Bo,c's Com
mercial ReuieD for the present month, in which
the supneness of southern cities and southern
merchants is contrasted with the enterprise of
northern merchants, (which peuelrates every
clime," and whose ''ships are found in the
Polar seas, in the vast Pacific, and ON the broad
Atlantic" "They come back,'' continues the
| writer
"To our shores laden with rich stores from all
quarters Of the globe; silks and teas of China oof
| fee from Brazil, the manufactures of England
France, the spice of Sumatra. the gold of CaIfor-
| mia. for almost artcle of ueress;fv nd Inv
ury VIC use from foreign countries, we are indebted
TO northern enterprise, to which we annually pay
| a largo tribute, the immense profits Of which
might accrue TO ourselves, had the enterprise
and energy to enter tho Geld Will any snan~of
sense pretend 10 say that there is any sctiom OF
the General Government to prevent merchant Of
Charleston, Savannah, or New Orleans, from it
ting out ships for the whaling business, importing
teas from Canton, coffee from Brazi.' Are the
duties on foreign goods any higher in Charleston
than in New York; Look at our foreign dry
goods trade Freights to Charleston lower in
Liverpool than to New York Exchange on Eu.
rope can be had at lower rate in Charleston than
New York. No will pretend to say that a
New York merchants money will buy more goods
in Manchester and Birmingham than Charleston
merchants. Yet how is it, that Of the vast
amount Of foreign goods sold in Charleston, so few
imported direct? How lie il, that annually our
jobbers go to the North and buy their stocks of
northern importers' They cannot be 30 verdant az
to suppose that these importers sell their goods with
out profit There bas been effort made TO secure
this trade. We have not in Charleston, a single
commission merchant for the sale Of foreign dry
goods. We have none to point out the English
French, and German manufacturer, the advan-
tagcs he might gain by shipping his surplus stocks
to our market"
Inn l..,L
they answered. Precisely as the planters of
the South, in convention assembled, have in
variably answered the question as to how they
shall establish something like steadiness in the
price of cotton-by appealing to the people Of
the South to do that which they never have
done, and nerer can do, while they shall con-
tinue TO believe that their prosperity is to be
secured by maintaining IN England monopoly
of the power TO convert their cotton into cloth.
Southern merchants" are here told that ''they |
must arouse themselves" capitalists are told |
that "they must come forward and help the |
cause" They must not, they are told, "be |
content with locking up their means in bank |
and State stocks, with five or six per cent in |
terest." Such investments, it is added, care |
only fit for old women and minor children" |
Men should in the opinion Of the writer. cal |
ways strive and work. ;" and so on TO the end of |
the chapter
The advocates Of British free trade are ac- |
customed TO assure us that there is in man ma |
tural instinct which leads him to prefer the |
profitable TO the Improbable that if we do |
not manufacture our cotton into cloth. II is
because il is more profitable to grow cotton; |
and that If the planter does not maintain direct |
trade with the world at large-consumer of his /
products-it is because it is more to his interes,
that he should feel himself compelled to trade |
with one set of men in Manchester purchasers
Of h" cotton, than it would be to trade with all |
the world, consumers Of his cloth. Never.
tbeless, we are here told that capitalists prefer
five per cent, when they might have double
or treble that If they would but engage in
trade; that importers have their goods shipped
to New York, when lreights to Charleston are
lower, and that southern dealers pay large profits
to northern jobbers, all which profits might be
saved would they but have direct trade: and
thus is proved to the satisfaction or the writer.
that the southern people do not possess that
instinct which IS required for the profitable
employment of their labor and their capital,
and that it is necessary to stimulate them to
change in their course of operation that would
long since have been adopted could
the capitalists and the traders of the Southern
States have seen that their interests would
thereby really have been promoted
We have looked in vain TO find in this article
any explanation Of the causes why the people