New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-01-13

prosperity Of empires built on b, Wis VI u1''
enterprise and irgenuity." This Is ra'nef
startling staten emit, but We must do The '"f""''
the Justice 10 give the explanation contained !" '"'
following sentence: Very different Is the fitt u
ratiops who build upon the imPregnsb!e basis On
agricultural prosperity" Agricultural pros
"perity," therefore, according TO The Enquirer, Is
something so self:supported and Spontaneous as
not 10 stand in the least need of human enterprise
." and ingenuity" 1t depends solely upon what
The Enquirer is pleased to call " the ine1haust-
able bosom Of nature so that, gwen
fair fed gang of negroes, all agricultural
countries will blossom and bear like the
primal Paradise. Ergo, while manufacturing
and maritime interests "rest upon an accidental
combination Of circumstances, the agriculturst
is privileged, always provided he has negroes, 70
discard enterprise and ingenuity, rest supnely and
permit the fruits of the earth TO drop into his
mouth; therefore he has nothing to do but BY hook
or BY crook to get negroes, and wherever he goes
always to carry with him negroes; and thus, when
Low ell and Lawrence are in ruins, and not ship
sails from New-York or Boston, the South, solely
"those sudden and total ecGpses which e1tinguish
"the glory of commercial empires" Its wealth,
saws The Enquirer, will not take wings and fly
away" although unfortunately for the theory 1t
does sometimes take legs and run away. The
nader has already anticipated the cOrOllary of this
admirable reasoning. 1t follows that it is the duty
of the South "tO insist upon the legitimate expan-
no
entiOusly put Q. Z. d. at the end Of all this may
90 so; We cannot
II is not our intention to write treatise on po-
litical economy at this time nor does the occasion
require it. few very simple sentences will dis
pose of The Enquirer. Unfortunately for its the
ory, "the inexhaustible bosom of nature upon
which, in connection with negroes, il so cOnfdingly
rehes, is, if We may credit Gov. Wise, already
showing signs of exhaustion even in the highly Afr-
canized State of Virginia. and hence the Guberna-
torial tears and wrath TO which we have been so
literally treated. The experiment of discarding
human enterprise and ingenuity" does Rot appear
to have been entirely successful; and Virginia is
Just now sOrely in need of 1.-the enterprise of rota
ton crops and Of "the ingenuity Of subsOi
pOws Nor can we understand exactly how our
Southern contemporary will isolate himself upon
the impregnabe basis of agricultural prosperity
He cannot eat his cotton; he cannot eat all bis to-
bacco and yet he has profound contempt for
ships, and mortal horror Of spinning ;jennies.
After the feetiDg grandeur" Of the North is gone,
does be propose to do anything so fOOl-hardy and
sinful as to inaugura.e little heeting grandeur
at the South Really when we poor creatures Of
circumstances have net with our predestnate doom,
we are afraid that the Richmond economist, seated
upon bis improbable basis, will have a sorry
time Of il.
One would think, 10 read these rather swashy
speculaiions in The Enquirer, that free labor was
incapable of raising so much as single turnip, and
that in some way or other " human enterprise and
lbs tnuty" were at the bOttsm of the potato blight.
While glory more permanent than that OF Tyre Is
to be secured by the Southern system, the glory of
the North will fade away because it has no negroes,
and therefore can have no agriculture. Bat, I'M
fortunately for the theory, the North already has an
s,ic,,,.,,t. WINCH the figures show to be very re
spectacle Indeed, we are not at all afraid to put
the results Of free labor against those of slave labor.
Comparing New England with the Southern States,
we find that the former with area OF AL ga, so
acres Of land, is improving H. $50, 594 acres, while
the latter with an area of 165 573 760 acres are i'm
proving only &c, GA, 2s3 acres. ThusNew England
is cultyatipg 2679 per cent of its soil, while the
Southern States are cultiyatDg only 1907 per
cent. Put this against 1872 per cent cul-
tiyated in the Middle States, or against
1856 per cent cultivated in the Northwestern
States, and it will be easy TO deduce exactly how
much agriculture gains by discarding "human en-
terpri,e and ingenuity Massachusetts, with a
most sterile soil, has "a, 069 farms, while South
Caroline one of the most fertile States 10 the Union,
has 29,967; and yet the average cash value IT
farm in Massachusetts is $1,000, while in Sorth
Carolina it il only S2,75l, and in Virginia only
g, SO. Bat to multiply facts is needless.
The Enquirer will but look with less aundiced eyes
at the Free States it will find there that close union
Of manufactures of commerce and Of agriculture in
which rests the secret of permanent prosperity and
which has bestowed upon Great Britain al imperial
greatness. In this age of the world, te attempt b
separate these, or 10 claim for one interest
profit or perpetuity above the other two, would b
exceedingly absurd.
But notwithstanding the vast advantages Of ag-
ricultural pursuits, something more according to
The Enquirer, is necessary. The Union must be
preserved, and as "a last expedient," the South
" must rally upon the principle Of the extension Of
" the Pro-Slayery power Pari passu with the ag-
" grandizement of the Anti. Slavery States" Now,
;f III. Fno,,;rsr in addition 10 stha impre0nahla
" basis above mentioned, really thinks that the
South is at all dependent upon the stability of the
Uniol-or, IN other words, upon the national pros