Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-10-12
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apy possess the sources OF agricultural anu AiHSA
al wealth IN an equal if not superior degree any
other country Of the same dimensions. In their
principal agricultural products they possess the al
most exclusive control of the markets of other ceun
tries.
The time has measurably passed by when the
manufacturing interest overshadOWed all others
and gave pre-eminenee TO nations commerce
When our people manufactured for all the rest they
might we'll assume to regulate aud control the al
fairs Of trade But the manufacture of leading ar
ticlss, is becoming common among civilized nations
and the people are fast learning to supply them
selves from the workshops of their own operatives
Manchester is not singulafs because Of It's cotton
goods-nor Sheffield for its cutlery,-each meets
with rivals in the mars Of trade from countries that
were once their best customers. If the New Ing
land States pride themselves in their skill In the
making Of cotton and wooden fabrics-Watehes ana
olOcks-buttons, spoons and other EMOTIONS -tAsy'
too, are in the same category with their Engnsn
brothers, and have long since learned that tney nave
no monopoly Of the markets. While, therefore,
this process of equalization is going on, The GgT'eas-
ural interest is fast regaining its ancient dominion
The claim to ultimate commercial supremacy for
the South, rests, then, upon its agricultural pro-
ducts, and its admitted ability to furnish such arti-
Giles for trade as have become indispensable to the
comfort and welfare of ali. Tobacco, one Of our
leading staples, is raised to supply the foreign de-
mand, and it is only obtained from the South, be-
cause il can be produced nowhere else. This guam
tity can be increased too, in proportion to the in
creased demand The TOBACCO planter Of the South
unlike the manufactured has no fears of meeting
with an overstooked market from other competing
countres-he plants with the full assurance of ready
sales and remunsrating prices. The same remark
equally applies to another important Southern pro-
duetiOn.
Great Britain, as you know, has labored long and
zealously to bring her Indian territory into Oompe
ttion with the South as cotton growing region.
The patronage Of that government has been liberal
! Iy used towards accomplishing this much coveted
result: but after squandering thousands in bOOtless
experiments we have before US the demonsratedfact
that the greatest manufacturing interest of Europe
will be forced to depend upon the cotton fields Of The
| South. So absolute is this dependence that were
these supplies to be Withheld for time, it would
! shake the commerce of Europe, and millions Of
thrifty operatives would be turned paupers upon
oiety It may in truth be said that the security of
/ some European governments-the comfort Of the
/ people generally and immunity from hunger for
thousands Of the population are involved in the reg
uarity Of The supplies, of the great Southern staple
The demand for this Indispensable PRODUCTS regular
" increasing, and the ability meet that increased
demand has not yet been subject of doubt None
of the new cotton growing States have as yet de-
velOped their full capacity for production In the
/ e,,f To- 4R,o ii tara
! have scarcely made fair commeneement-Whlle IN
Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, extensive and
fertile tracts are yet covered with primeva growth
The writer is preparing this letter in the City OF
Memphis, surrounded by the movements Of trading
and active population. But from this spot he has
only to cast his eye to the western bank Of the Mis-
sissippi and it there rests upon region more fer
tile than the far famed valley of the Nile, embracing
millions Of acres of the finest cotton lana of the
South. This immense slluvial bottom is still COW
cred with its native growth, and the same breeze
that bears along the sound of the rafting car, and
the steamers whistle carries Also the report Of the
huntsman's rifle as he brings down the antlered
denizen Of the unbroken forest This magnificent
body Of country has yet to come under contribution
! to the demands of commerce What will be the in
cf6dbbu pfOQuCllOu VI COttO hANA4A4 WV @NN 49, -
twenty years cannot be conjectured. Speculation on
the subject useless and the mind is beWdered IN
the attempt to contemplate the future that awaits
this favored portion CT the world. Our prosperity
can only be blasted or trsmmelled by failing to do
justice TO ourselves and TO our peculiar interests
But sir, with our productions of cotton, tobacco
and grain so essential to the actual wants. and to
the business of Others with exhsustless supplies
of minerals that are richly imbeded in every noun
tain Of the South-With our net work of railways,
and our numerous navigable streams ready to bear
off Southern productions as freghted blessings to
the word-with all these advantages shall the South
longer persist in an unnatural and thrifess policy,
that places her commerce at the mercy Of those
whose interest it Is to grow rich at the expense Of
this section, and who have with common bond
of sympathy? The commercial domination over the
South which has so long existed, would break down
the energies, and eat out the substance Of almost
any other people.
No great Improvement, sir, was ever yet suggested
or undertaken that did not encounter oppOsitions
and often too, from those who we're really mos
deeply interested in its Laggards and false
prophets are to be found in every community, who
hang as dead weights upon any project that seeks
the general good By such characters it may be
urged that we are not yet ready for direct trade
with Europe. We reply that We never shall be
until the vessels are procured to carry it on. But
we further submit that if Virginia, in the days Of
her colonial weakness could carry on direct export
ing and importing foreign trade, is it any thing
marvellous to suppose that the same State in the
plenitude Of her strength, and banded with her
robust Southern sisters, shall be able to repeat the
same thing If the territory Of Belgium, bat little
larger than some of our western counties, can sus-
tain profitable direct trade with New York by
means Of ocean steamers, is not the very suggestion
Of Southern inability to do so, both dshonOring to
the South, and disoreditable to the objection?
The city of Memphis with population Of but
little over twenty thousand people, gives profitable
employment to a daily line of steamers to New Or,
leans tri weekly line to St. Louis, one to Louisville
and also, one to Nashville, (he latter during the
fall and winter months; besides these there are va
rous other boats in the trade, making regular trips
to different points on the Mississippi and its ribu-
taries. These boats as your Excellency well know,
are not small affairs, but many of them are APPLY
denomiuated Floating palaces" accommodating
hundreds Of passengers, and not unfrequenty laden
with from three to fUs thousand bales Of cotton,
L. T--FF rsNk