Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-08-18
Letter From Hon. Jacob Thompson,
DEpARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, WASHINGTON, July 25, 1ooI.

WASHINGTON, July 25, 1857. Msssrs. Bou1,oare, Chandler, and others:
 DEAR SIRs: Your complimentary invitation to be present at Old Point Comfort on the oc- casion of the gathering of the friends of the commercial independence of the south, for the purpose of taking incipient proceedings look inq to the establishment of line of steamers between Europe and the Chesapeake bay, has been received, and 1 sincerely regret my inabi- litv to attend and to participate Tn your coun- sels.
 This is step in the right direction. Itis an important movement, and promises to be prac- tica in its results. We have been inactive long enough We have spoken and written on this subject until begin to fear, we may oe considered people of words but not ot deeds Our conventions have met, have debated, have resolved. and have. adjourned to meet again. Bnt what has been the result? Trade contin- ues within it's accustomed channels. The pro- ducer seeks the markets where his products command the highest prices The purchaser seeks those where the best bargains can be ob- tained, and each resorts to those routes to reach the places of exchange which offer the great est advantages. No conventions, no resolves, no paper appeals can change this custom oi the people or abrogate this law of trade.
 Now, if Mr. Mann shall establish the propo- sed line of steamers from tle Chesapeake Bay to Europe, and thus offer the same facilities to our travellers and to our commerce as are offer ed elsewhere, he will entite himself to the patronage and to the gratitude of the southern people; and I should be slow to believe that he would not receive the good will and favor of every patriot in every portion of the coun- try.
 There is at this moment tide of prosperity flowing throughout the southern States when has never been equalled in all thelr past hlsto- ry. Our system of labor, which has been lof- ced to encounter the most violent prejudice and the most interruptions opposition, IS daily Vlh- dicating itself before the world. The interests and necessities of the age have combined to command for it the favorable consideration of foreign nations and to compel its imitation, if not its re-adopton, by them. Our rights are acknowledged at home by all departments of the government, and at no time since the for nation of the constitution have the southern people felt more confidence in the tenure oi their property or entertained more just and well founded assurance that they were JOlnt proprietors of the vast landed possessions of the country, and equal partners ln Its great iu- ture. At no time have they had reason to contemplate with prouder satisfaction the magnificent destiny which awaits our common country-a destiny which, if wise councils con tinue to prevail and patriotic purposes continue to control the minds of the people, promises to be more brilliant and more prosperous than the history of any nation the world has hlther- to recorded.
 The products of the south are absolutely necessary to meet the wants of the clvlhzed world. Without them the onward progress of mankind would be stayed, and the advancement and prosperity of the Christian nations would receive a shock from which they would not re- cover during the next half century.
 England and France, under the guidance ot false and mistaken philanthropy, abolished the system of slave labor in their West India possessions by which acts as is now apparent to the world, they have inflicted and entailed numberless evils upon the slave, and sunk all their most fertile and beautiful islands of the Antilles beneath the wave of barrenness and barbarism, and to-day they are considering with favor, and proposing with earnestness, plans for the renewal of the African labor system, Tn order to recover the pearl they have thrown away in a moment of misdirected and lnfatua- ted benevolence; and u order to avoid the pen atv of piracv and yet secure the benehts of African labor-for which no substitute ot equal efficiency for the prOduc ion of the staples most needed by the civilized world can be tound-lt Is proposed to introduce the African upon thelr cotton plantations and sugar aud coffee estates, under the milder and less unpopular name of apprentices He is to be indentured or sold for term of years, to be worked until he becomes incapable of labor, and therefore worthless with no claim upon his master, beyond the tune for which he is bound, and subject to be driven off when overworked and cruel usage shall have enfeebled his constitution and rendered him un- fit for labor and unable to earn livelihood- system more barbarous and inhuman than any ever before devised by the cupidity oi | man.
 Since, then, our rights are secure, and since oar porducts can only be raised in sufficient quantities in our climate and by our system of labor, may we not hope to have our own line of steamers established, and thus secure the advantage of direct trade with the European natlous
 h conclusion, bid ths enterprise godspeed, as wise in its conception, and destined to be most important in its results, and for which no more appropriate starting point can be found than the shores of the Old Dominion.
 l have the honor to be, your obt servant, J. THOMPSON.