The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1856-10-22
THE I1AU,Y DISPATCH.
1870 49,. october 9a, 1855.


sS~"--s---s s~.S->r.,~~e~>~r
prophecy Unfniniied.
About = year afterthe American i.evosuuon'a
,vo,x entitled observations on the commerce OF
81. u.ric.n states" was written ~ John Hoi
rov.a. Earl Of Sheffield. who 10 said to have been
. man Of education and ability, peer OF tne
realm. an occupant Of high ofhesai position, ana
!. pdvy Counsellor Of George III Lord sneme'd
was not unfriendly 10 the United states, ous en.
ssrtained the idea that they could never N
populstion. commercial importance ana poiiticai
power Some quotations from ms WORK sfe mace
by contemporary which read cufious'y enough
now, when we compare them win actusl results.
Amaoe atber predictions, Lord Sheffield foretoh
that thu United States would ioee the supply Oh
the British west Indian isles with bread and
.eour xhersas the United States alone now ex-
mort mora than double the amount of breadstuffs
- The British West Indies alone that all North
America exported before the Revolution to the
Rr;tish ana Foreign West Iodian islands Lord
Sheffield also said that we should lose the ship
building trade. The entire tonnage Of vessels
built In 100 in the colonies, was 2o,00l tons.
single ship yard in New York easily exceeds that
now every year. Tobacco" says Lord Sheffield.
sis the principal article Of American commerce.
The cultivation of tobacco has been greatly inter
rupted; it piu nerv be so great again as ii has BEEN
The use Of tobacco has declined in England and
America The comment upon that prophecy is,
that Great Britain now imports from the United
stxss about forty millions of pounds of tobacco
..Rice," says Lord Sheffield sis grown in the Bra
zils of q quality much superior to that raised In
Carolina or Georgia, and the Brazls WILL in a very
few years. be able to supply all parts of the world
How strkingly has the result falsifed the predic-
ton! t
Lord shefield's reference to cotton is especially
not that he deserves to be taken to task
for his Inability to foresee that which one could
have foretold, the wonderful growth of cotton in
the United States, and its enormous consumption
in England, both of wb 'ch have almost entirely
arisen since the date of hi. book. He says, "in
the year 1863, the America States imported Of
British cotton l792Os lbs, at l0d per Id; and o
foreign cotton 217, 439 lbs" Virginia and Carroll
na raised, of coarser kind, more than sufficient
for their own use." How wonderful the change
presented by the present time, when Great Britain
exports from the United States no less q quantity
than three hundred and twenty millions of pounds
Lord Sheffield puts down the population of the
separating colonies at 500 0OO and says that there
are not, from the Cape of Florida to Philadelphia
inclusive, 400 American born Sailors exclusive of
masters and mates. There are now 100000 sailors
under the American flag, . large proportion of
whom are native-born.
OF sugars Lord Sheffield said ''The Southern
provinces of the American States, 1--WE hope that
form Of expression will not prove prophetic,) can
never succeed in that article rosts and Northwest
winds will prevent Attempts have been made at
New Orleans and failed" Again: "The truth is
we want but little of American produce in Great
Britain, corn, tobacco expected" England now
depends upon the United States for nearly all her
cotton, for eleven twelfth of her tobacco for very
large proportion of her rice, and in years of Euro.
pean scarcity, for the necessary supply of bread
stuffs.
Lord Sheffield referred to the settlements then
rapidly making west of the Alieghanies and said :
"The authority of Congress can never be main.
tanned over these distant and boundless regions,
AID her nominal subjects will speedily initiate and
multiply the examples of independence"
Here is another assertion which experience thus
far has disproved:
at will not be an easy matter to bring the
American States to act as 3 nation; they are not
to be feared as such by A stamp act, tea
act, or some such act could alone unite them ;
their climate, their staples, their manners diff
ferent their interests opposite, and that which is
beneficial to the one is destructive to the other
We might as reasonably dread the efforts of com.
binations among the German as among the Anne
rican States, and deprecate the resolves of the
Diet as those of the Congress"
Lord Sheffield also says that the Americans
have few good harbors for large ships of war, and
that there is not possibility of America meet
ing our Navy" He thus concludes:
"That country, concerning which writer's of
lively imagination have lately said so much is
weakness itself Exclusive of its poverty and
want of resources, having lost all credit; its indie
pendent governments, discordant interests, and
the great impossibility of acting again together,
circumstances alone of such vast country, with
third less of people than that small spot in Eu.
rope inhabited by the Dutch, is incompatible with
strength If the inhabitants were collected on
one.tenth part of her territory, she would be inf
nitey more powerful, and be more commercial -
Her population Is not likely to increase as it has
done, at least on her coast. On the contrary, the
present Inhabitants are likely to fall back to the
interior country, to get better land. and to avoid
to xes; and there they may, in some ages, become
As numerous as a country Of farmers without mar
kets can be expected. but the settlers beyond the
Allegheny mountains canno. become CONNER.
cial" 49,
e! Since Lord Shefields day, the cotton, rice and
tobacco of the South, and the Introduction of
steam as an agent of navigation, has pu: an en-.
tirely different face upon things. At the same
time, England has grown in like proportion with
her gigantic offshoo and these two countries are
now the strongest and weathiest of the globe
the impregnable bulwarks of civilization and lib.
erty. saa q
Cooley yoR NOVEMBER = We have received |
from John O'Neill, Broad street, Godey's Lady's |
Book for November. The contents are useful and |
interesting.
We have also received from Mr.. Jas A. Gentry |
Broad street. Harser's Magazine for November.
FLORIDA ELECTION COMPLETE. The returns
from the Florida election are now complete Per |
ry, Democrat, is elected Governor by 400 majority
and Hawkins Democrat, to Congress by 500 ma |
jority The Democratic loss since 1854 is GOO.
FROM NIcARAeuA.-Maj John p HESS, who |
8 charged BY the Nicaraguan government with |
the duty of ratification of the treaty between 4. |