New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-03-21
BRITISH FREE TRADE AT THE SOUTH.

The history of the world presents few cases Of
such extraordinary persistence in theory in the
face Of facts Of daily occurrence, sis now pre-
sented by the people Of the Southern Ststes-ad-
vo:stes Of British Free trade
Trey have cotton to sell, and they desire to cell
it dearly. They have cloth to buy, and they de-
sire to buy it cheaply. The more numerous
the buyers of cotton, the higher will be
its price; and the more numerous the sellers
of cloth, the more chesply will it be sold.
The people of Manchester and Lowell have
cotton to buy, ond they dosire to buy it ohsaply.
They have cloth to cell, and they desire to sell 1t
dearly. TIE fewer the buyers of cotton, the lower
will be it's price; and the fewer the sellers OF
cloth, the more dearly it will be sold. Theinter-
ests of the growers of cotton and those of the
people who buy cotton and sell cloth are thus
directly the opposite Of each other; and yet.
strange to say, the South is always in alliance
with Manchester and is at this moment rejoicing
Id the fact that Lowell and Lawrence have just
now openly joined the league for keeping the
price of cotton down while maintaining that OF
cloth.
can be converted into cloth, the wider must be
the sphere Of Southern trade the more perfect
tie monopoly Of cotton machinery, the less must
be its sphere of trade, and the more must it find
itself compelled to go to a single market. The
object of British Free trade s the main .enaace of
8 monopoly In the hands of the men of Manches-
ter; and the more perfect that monopoly, the
more mus! the planter find himself compelled to
send all bis crop to Liverpool in quest of a mar
ket, and the lower must be Its price. That such
is the fact is becoming from day to day more OBJ
vious; ard hence /. is that we see so many efforts
on the part Of the South for the establishment Of o
direct trade with the Continent, the last Of
which We lately chropicled in the appointment
OF gentleman Of Baltimore as sort of Commits
sioner to Europe for the purpose of devising
mean of avoiding the enormous taxation Of Liv
erpool upon all the cotton destined for the Con.
tiDent. Thus far, however all have failed, and
all must continue TO fail until the planters can
learn to distinguish between real Free trade and
the counterfeit known to us as British Free
t.ade-which il but another name for monopoly.
Under the former, men have power to trade
when, where, and with whom they will. Were
it established, the people Of the South would be
seen sending cargoes of cloth to Lima and Val.
psraiso, Rio Janeiro and Buenos Ayres, Mel.
bourne ard San Francisco, and receiving, in 70
turn, cargoes Of coffee, copper, gold, silver, and
all other Of the commodities for whose produc-
ton the countries of which those cities are the
capitals are fitted.
Crder the latter-the counterfeit that is passed
of as Free trade-the South can have no trade
with any country except those which possess
cotton machinery; and, az England enjoys almost
monopoly Of that, she is thereby enabled to
compel the planter to come to her ports, even
with the cotton that is intended for Germany,
Belgium, France or Spain. Attempts at resist
snce, under such circumstances, are an absurd
iy and the failure of the present mission will be
Is ,isnal as have been all the efforts at building
up Southern cities by help Of resolutions passed
at Nashville, Memphis, Charleston, and New. Or.
leans. Five-and-twenty years sincs, Southern
Convention resolved that Norfolk should become
great city; and yet 1t still remains village,
shall open its eyes to the destructive character of
its own policy.
Under the tariff of 1912, the South had COM
menced the building of mills and furnaces; and
had the policy inaugurated BY that measure been
maintained, the number of such establishments in
the Southern States would now count By hun
dreds; and with every step Ia this direction,