The Feliciana Democrat., 1858-05-01
Tbt felitiana Democrat.
TO THE PEOPLE OFTHE SOUTHERN
AND SOUTIIWESTERN STATES.

u committee to address yon in anticipation OF
the Convention which is to be held in Mont.
gomery, in the State of Alabama, on the 10th
day Of May next.
The object of the address, as we understand
it, is to remind you of the approaching session
of the Convention, and to urge you to appoint
delegates to it; and we proceed now to per-
form that duty.
The motives which prompted the organiza-
ton of Southern Commercial Convention,
was the desire to ascertain the causes of the
decline of the foreign commerce of the South.
crn States, and to devise some plan for It's re.
viyal and restoration. The people Of the sou
thern states saw and felt the anomalous fact,
that the country which produces three-ifths in
value of the exports of the nation, had not
only lost its commercial supremacy but had be-
come commercially, a dependent upon and yet
q tributary to that portion of tho country
which produces much the smallest portion of
those exports. This was not only an unnatu-
raj, but an cxhausting and depressing process
rctarding, necessarily, the growth and prospc-
rity of the south, and it was natural to desire
as it was necessary to provide a remedy for it.
This desire and necessity suggested the idea
of assembling once in every year, the people Of
the south, by deputies, in n Convention. for
the purpose Of gathering information, from the
most reliable witnesses as to the causes OF the
evil, with the hope of obtaining from the wi
scst and most devoted sons Of the south, the
suggestion Of u plan or system Of measures
which should correct it,
We regret to say, that thus far, our hopes
have not been realized, whilst the predictions
of our opponents have been to some extent, We
rifcd, although mnch good has been accom-
pishcd. Our disappointment however, has
not entirely been the fault Of the Convention
for although we have been too much divided
among ourselves as to the remedies proper to
be adopted, and have thereby impaired our cf
fciency, still much good has been done, and
much more would have been accomplished, if
we could have carried our suggestions into eX-
ccution without dependence upon the will of
Congress, and the State Legislatures. The
chief benefit, therefore, which has resulted from
the sessions of the Convention, has been the
increased knowledge Of, and sympathy for each
other. with better understanding of our
wants, resulting from thl Sc annual assemblies
Southern men have been made more extensive
ly acquainted with each other, and through
that acquaintance have learned the cheering
and delightful fact, that however we may diff.
fer about men, about party politics, or partic-
ular remedies among ourselves, there is in the
south but one heart, and one will for our ira
ducers and assailants; and that when the time
for blow at them shall arrive, if unhappily
it ever shall, all the energy, patriotism, and
courage of Il united nation will he felt in that
blow, by those who shall unhappily provoke it; F.;
that, however we may differ among ourselves
rs to the means of attack or the mode Of de-
fence, there is no difference Of opinion as to the
great conclusion that the south must be defen
ded, and all her rights protected, cost what
it may. This were cause and compensation
enough for any trouble or expense in holding
our assemblies. But rapidly occurring events
furnish additional and conclusive incentives to
the continuance of the work which we have
commemorative commercial Independence of
the south-by bringing more closely and dis
tnctly to our view the probability that we
shall at no distant day be compelled to assert
our political dependence-wthout the means
of regulating and controlling our own com
merce; for, without that power, no nation can
be free. If the south is wise then, and would
be provident, she will lose no time in providing
the best means, and all the means Within her
power to restore her own commerce to her own
ports and people For, whether she is to be
permitted to remain in the Union--cnjoying in
honorable peace all her constitutional rights,
or is to be compelled by continual and progress
sivc assaults upon her rights, her interests and
her feelings-the most unprecedented and fla
gitious which cupidty and ambition ever
pio--r.-A n assert her right to withdraw
the original compact as the rule of its govern
nent, or longer to yield submission to an op
pressivc and inquitous majority, it is of the
highest Importance to her, if not Of absolute
necessity, that she should seriously and ear
nestly address herself to the restoration of her
foreign commerce. and to the encouragement
within her limits by her own means, of the
manufacture of those articles which are ne
cessary to her comfort
The candid lover of the union of the states,
must be satisfied, as it seems to the undersgu-
ed, that if not already abrogated in spirit, by
the deliberate violations Of the compact, to the
injury, and for the injury Of the south, by many
Of the northern and eastern states, there is not
only little ground to hope for the preservation
of it, upon the basis and under the guarantees
of the constitution of 1887. but there is the
most imminent danger of its entire destruction