Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-10-13
rnn 30 uu1or 40 A,.ErloAr.

ably possess the sources Of agricultural and miner
al wealth in an sous if not superior degree, to any
other country Of the sane dimensions. In Their
principal agricultural products they possess the al
most exclusive control Of the markets Of other coun
tries,
The time has messurably passed By when the
manufacturing interest OvershadOWed ali Others
and gave pre-emiDence to q nations commerce
When our people manufactured for all the rest they
might well assume to regulate aud control the al
fairs of trade But the manufacture Of leading ar
ticles, 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 singular because Of its cotton
goods-nor Sheffield for its eutlery,-each meets
with rivals in the marts of trade from countries that
we're once their best customers. If the New Eng
land States pride themselves in their skill in the
making of cotton and wooden fabrics-watches and
cloeks-buttOns, spoons and other emotions they,
too, are in the same category with their English
brothers. and have long since learned that they have
no monopoly Of the markets. While, therefore,
this process Of equalization is going on the qgreaI-
tural interest is fast reganDg its ancient dominion
The claim to ultimate commercial supremacy for
the South, res,s then, upon its agricultural pro
ducts and its admitted ability to furnish snch sri
cles for trade as have become indispensable to the
comfort and welfare of all Tobacco, Of our
leading staples is raised to supply the foreign de-
mand and it is only obtained from the South, be-
cause it can be produced nowhere else. This guam
dty can be increased too, in proportion to the in
creased demand The TOBACCO planter of the South
hos g,
with an overstocked market from other competing
COUNTRYSIDE plants with the full assurance Of ready
sales and remunerating prices. The same remark
equally applies to another important Southern pro-
duetiOn
Great Britain as you know, has labored long and
zealOusy to bring her Indian territory into oompe
Htion with the South as 8 cotton growing region
The patronage Of that government has been liberal
| ly used towards accomplishing this much coveted
result; but after squandering thousands in boOtess
experiments we have before the demonstrated fact
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 now
thrifty operatives would be turned paupers upon
ciely 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 involved in the reg
ulary of the supplies, of the great Southern staple
The demand for this indispensable PRODUCTS regular
" increasing and the ability to that increased
demand has not yet been a subject Of doubt. None
of the new cotton growing States have as yet de-
velOped their full capacity for production In the
vast cotton producing regions of Texas the planters
have scarcely made fair commenoement-While in
Alabama Louisiana, and Mississippi, extensive and
fertile tracts yet covered with primeva growth
The writer is preparing this letter in the City Of
Memphis surrounded by the movements Of a trading
and active population. But from this spot he has
only to cast his eye to the western bank Of the Mis-
sssippi, and it there rests upon region more fer
tile than the far famed valley Of the Nile, embracing
millions Of Of the finest cotton lands Of the
South This immense alluvial bottom is still Gov
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
huntsmans rife as he brings down the antlered
denizen Of the unbroken forest. This magnificent
body of country has yet to come under contribution
creased production Of cotton within the next ten or
twenty years cannot be cOnjectured Speculation on
the SUBJECTS useless and the mind is beWIdered in
the attempt 10 contemplate the future thst awaits
this favored portion Of the world. Our prosperity
can only be blasted trammelled by ling to do
justice to ourselves and to own 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 exhaustess supplies
of minerals that are richly imbeded in every noun
tain of the Seutb-with our net work Of railways,
and our numerous navigable streams ready 10 bear
off Southern productions freighted blessings to
the world-Wih all these advantages, shall the South
longer persist in an unnatural and thriftless 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 as no 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 were really most
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 a 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, but little
larger than some of our western counties, sus
tain a profitable direct trade with New York by
means of ocean steamers, is not the very suggestion
Of Southern inability to do so, both dishonOring to
the South and dscreditable 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
aud also one to Nashville (the iattef) during the
fall aud 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 qfIys but many of them are aPly
denominated floating palaces, accommodating
hundreds of passengers and not unfrequently laden
with from three to yfUs thousand bales of cotton,