The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-06-03
wHAr n FOR TIE UNION AND WHAT AGAINST

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the Union have in point Of fact, boon Of tring inn
portance in themselves, and Of no practical
quencs or vitality in connection with the admnstra-
tion Of tho government. In other words, the great
and confessedy important material interests of the
people of tho United States have been overshadowed
by immaterial atters and the latter thrust into the
foreground and magni6ed under the tactics Of poll
hcians, have been used a. pretext for weakening
the aternal relations which should subsist between
all classes and sections Of our common country.
We deny that thsre is any essential antsgonsm
between the various branches Of American industry
wsmAintain on the other hand that institutions,
extending to AL tho laws Of the confederation,
to the whole people the highest possible measure Of
prosperity in every department Of labor, and . near
spproach to equality amongst the citizens Of every
section of the country. No condition of society
devised bears the least resemblance the principle
of free trade secured to all the States of the republic
by the federal constitution and results effects
Of human government, in ancient or modern times.
have produced beneficial ends at all corresponding
with what the people of the Union now enjoy under
tho free System OF internal trade and communication
which constitute soul ofour national prosper
to-day in the magnitude of interes involved, in sta
bility and profits, than the conf ned commerce of
like character Of all the States of Cnristendom.
And it must be confessed if we regard the earlier
periods Of our history, before the great works Of
Improvement, such as railways and canals, or even
before the application of steam to purposes of
navigation, the Typographical and geographical
features of the continent pointed to the Union
of the States as the only means of securing
the highest development of our immense nation
al resources and Of acquiring the condition of ma.
teral wealth and prosperity which may be said
now to be al that tho people can bear The general
Of great rivers from North to South; our
navigabls waters penetrating every region of our
immense territories, opening the great plain of the
lakes to the Atlantic the East and the great val
leys of the West the Gulf Of Mexico on the South
all indicate the design Of Providence that we should
be people, governed by laws which secure
to al absolute freedom Of intercourse and trade,
and affording natural facilities for the widest ex-
change Of the products of the various climates and
soils embraced within common limits.
1t is remarkable that every step we have taken in
the work of material development. in the construc-
ton Of railways, artificial watercourses the naviga
ton Of rivers and lakes. in the promotion and extern
sion Of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce,
and even in the employment of labor, to it's ut
most distribution, has served directly to consolidate
general industry. and to strengthen the bonds of
our material union. So far has this work advanced,
great industry Of the country 10 what contributes
most to strengthen the constitution and government
bnt it ID chiefly relied upon ~ breakwater against
the sgss Of fanaticism which constantly threaten
our destruction % nation.
If there are those who question the justice of the
views thus expressed. we call upon them to examine
infinitely into the relations subsistins between the
mschanical industry Of New England and the great
agricultural labor of tho South to look at tho com
merce and manufactures of the entire North in con-
nccton with the cotton, rice sugar and tobacco Of
the Sonth There il scarcely mechanic OF . laborer
in the former, product Of the mechanic arts, or
transaction in commerce, which 10 not, directly or
indirectly identified with the agricultural products
Of the latter. Then, again, that powerful agricul
ta interest in the northern aud western States now
grown to be tho most productive field of the kind on
the globs, and still in it, infancy, consuming i'm
menssly Of domestic and foreign material, maintains
with al the commercial nations of the world most
intimate and profitable trade intercourse There il
certainly no one of the entire cass 90 ignorant of the
general commerce Of the country to suppose that
tho hundred millions Of exports Of southern agricul
tural products do not exert direct and, we may
add, controlling influence upon the foreign trade
existing between the graingrowing regions and the
manufacturing States of Europe.
Again, the most powerful element Of Union exist
ing in tho development Of the material Of
tho country is to be found in the conquest of Cali
fornia, and the almost miraculous growth of that
country and it, Pacific border States, which have
served to consolidate the whole continent in one
great field Of industry and production. If we are
NOT ssupidly or wilfully blind to the progress Of
events, 10 the quick movements Of population the
eastern and western slopes of the mountains, we
shall acknowledge the power of our Pacific States
not only over the general commerce Of the confed-
sracy, but indirectly tho whole interior of the
continent; region which, commanding the great
rivses which penetrate the entire country, ccnst.