Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-02-07
Foreign Trade for tho South.

throughout the State
Foreign Trade for tho South.
There are those who derde the efforts which
few patriotic men have male, within the last two
or three years, to direct the public Mind OF the
South to the achievement of our Commercial IN
dependence. They assert that tho idea Is pure
ly visionary one They declare that the project
is entirely impractbe--or, if practicable wholly
inexpedient They even pronounce 1t hes'--Some
of them-that the South should confne herself cx-
clusively to the pursuits of Agriculture, leaving
those of Commerce and Manufactures to he at'cn-
ded to solely by our brethren of the North.
The ridiculous character oi IN 'st Of our South
ern Commercial Convention has had much /" do
in creating this sentiment Certainly. where we
consider the object for which those Conventions
ayowedly assembled and contrast it with their ae-
tual proceedings We ARE not surprised Mt the bat
teries of wit and ridicule which have been ie'cll-
cd against them. Notwith Standing all this. we
assert that the commercial independence OF the
South is n perfectly practicable cnterprlse-nay
that it is even now, in actual process al rcalIza-
ton.
The figures will speak FOR ,hemselse'. We get
them from the New Orleans Delta. which Journal
has procured them from reliable Off ,Ial resources
1t appears then. that the exp rita from Hrw
York City fell off. in the year l>jS, more than
thirty millions of dollars as compared with the
year before Thirty, millions Of dollars in one
year, The newspapers of that cry attribute the
decline To the commercial reyulsion which has re-
Gently afflicted the countr, t tbs rrmarkahIe
fact is developed. that the exports OF New Orleans
INCREASED lust about IN tie sahif proportion as
those oF Aem York teRopH Notwithstanding the
prevalence of the Yellow Fever in New Orleans
for the greater portion Of the summer the returns
for 1855 show that her foreign exports. up TO the
first of September, exceeded by nineteen m'h9'"
Of dollars her exports for the same period IN the
year preceding. Her increase Tor the Who'll" year
is estimated at twenty-five millions.
Thus the commercial crisis, instead Of deereaN'
ing the trade of New Orleans. characterised
by. an increase of that trade wholly unprecedented.
The falling off Of the exports Of New York, and
the corresponding increase III those ct New or'
leans, can be ascribcd to no other cause than the
reversal of the current Of trade, and thc conSic.
tion that seems at last to nave been reached that
the South is compel emf 10 conduct her own com
merce.
The falling of of the imports into New York
city exhibits still larger figure. The dccren,'
for the last year was about seventy millions /"
dollars Add this to the decrease vi exports nn'
we have deficiency ofonc hundred millions "
dollars in the business of New York. for one year
Up to the 18th Of January of this year as up
pears from the New Orleans Price Current of tina
date the exports Of cotton from that city wer,
662745 bales against $3.50, for the year pre-
vious. Valuing each bale of cotton at forty dol
lars-and we have, for this article alone, an in
crease in one year amounting to very nearly ten
millions of dollars. In the other articles Of com
merce-snch sugar, tobacco, pork bacon, bread
stufs &c-the same result is exhibited, ct Il
manifest improvement upon the business Of tn,
preceding year.
The commercial crisis may have had something
TO do-and doubtless did have something to do
With the decrease in the trade of New lork-bu
it certainly does not explain the perceptihle in
crease Of that Of New Orleans. On the contrary
it can be ascribed properly to no other thar
conviction, on the part of the people of the South
Of their folly in paying factorasc ana commission
to the North, as they have been heretofore doing
for conducting foreign commerce that they arr
perfectly competent to conduct for themselves
There is no reason why the South, that produce
threefourths of the exports of the country SHOULD
not reap for herself all the profits which appertail
to the carrying Of those exports abroad, and tn,
bringing back in return, whatever ma,
need offoreign manufa :ture for our own consump-
ton.
What New Orleans has been doing in the way
Of conducting her own trade, may be probably
initiated BY Norfolk and Charleston and the cite,
OF the Atlantic seabosrd Her example shoulc
stir these latter to an honorable emulation lie
crowded wharvcs may serve as a stimulus to Nor
folk to follow in the same enterprise. The fo
reign and domestic trade that built up New York
and is now infusing the life-blood of prospert
into New Orleans is what Norfolk should at one
contend for. With immeasu, ablesua,ural adva,
tages over either Gf those cities. it viii, he her ow
fault and her own folly if she suffer these adya
tages to be lost through inaction. The tide
Southern Commercial Independence ia setting i
and Norfolk should prepare to take it at
flood.
Nr. Powell's Letter.