The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-04-25

and railroads, and public edifces, and towns
) and cities. Along the route Of the great
r New York canal, Chat glorious monument to
| the glorious memory Of Dewitt ClintoD,) q
canal, railroad, and turnpike, are to be
seen in the width of perhaps hundred yards,
each of them crowded with travel, or over
flowing with commerce. Throughout their
course, lands that before their construction
!. would scarcely command five dollars the
acre, now sell for fifty, seventy five or hun
) dred. Passing along it, you see no space OF
three miles without town or village, and
you are never out of the sound OF church
bell. We Of the South are mistaken in the
character of these people, when we think of
them only as peddlers in horn tiints and bark
nutmegs. Their energy and enterprise are
directed to all objects, great and small, with
in their reach. At the fall Of scanty riyulet
they set up their mandatory OF wooden but
tons or combs-they plant barren hillside
with bro0m-corn, and make 1t into bTooms at
the bottom, and on its top they erect wind
mill. Thus, at single spot you may see the
arr the earth, and the water, all at work for
them. But at the same time, the ocean is
Whitened to its extremities with the sails of
their ships, and the land is covered with their
-'AAoo0SNAAeoSbeo
is perhaps the most hourishing of all the
Northern States. Yet Of natural productions
| she exports but two articles-granite and icei
Everything else of her commerce, from which
she derives SO much wealth, is artifcial-the |
work OF her own hands. All this is done in |
a region with bleak climate and sterile soil, |
ny the energy and intelligence of the people. |
Each man knows that the public good is his
individual advantage. The number of rail-
roads and other modes of expeditions inter-
communication knit the whole country into a
closely compacted mass, through which the
productions of commerce and of the press,
the comforts of life and the means of knowl-
edge, are universally diffused; while the close
intercourse of travel and business makes all
men neighbOrs, and promotes common in
terest and common sympathy. In IA commu-
nifty thus connected, u single flash of thought
peryades the whole land almost as rapidly as
thought itself can fly. The population be-
comes, as 1t were, single set of muscles, an $
mated by one heart, and directed by COM
mon sensorium. How different the condition )
OF things in the South! Here the face of the .
country wears the aspect of premature old (
age and decay. No improvement is seen go
ing on-nothing is done for posterity-no man =
thinks of anything beyond the present mo- s
ment. Ourlands are tasked to their utmost ca /
pacity of production, and when exhausted q
ire abandoned for the youthful West Be- a
'ause nature has been prodigal to u.s. we seem q
% think it unnecessary to do anything our is
elveS. The industry and skill that have con- !,
Terted the inclement and barren hills of New v
England into garden, in the genial climate r.
md fertile soil of the South would create al ~
most paradise. Our natural advantages are 7
mong the greatest with which Providence n.
las blessed mankind, but We lack the spirit to | Il
njoy and improve them. The rich ore is be- p
eath our feet, yet we dig not for it The
olden fruit hangs from the bough, and we
# not our hands to gather it, q,
PROTECTIVE OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES ar
Senator Calhoun alleged that the Protective he
'ariff caused our general decay The Illus &C
'ious Senator in his matchless speech on an
ne Force Bill, declares concerning the power pr
} lay protective duties, that Congress "has so
xercsed it, as to impose ruinous burden on OF
ne labor and capital of the State, by which fri
er resources are exhausted, the enioyments ST
her citizens curtailed, the means of educa-
on contracted, and all her interests essential
: and imperiOusly affected" So too, Benton ia
iys: The levy and expenditure of the tr'
ederal Government were doubtless the main d.
luse of this Southern decadence, so unnatu- by
! in the midst Of her rich staples and which ac
I'd commenced before 1916" wi
1.-THE BLIGTING EFFECTS OF SLAVERY" iaI
Inc third set of statesmen alleged that the %,
,nerai decay was the peculiar effect of our he
ocular labor system. Senator Havne seems ~;
have admitted this, and Senator Dallas de- "
AIRED that our system retains the commune NJ,
IS IN which it is established in condition of
parent INERTNEss." Such too is the COM III
on notion of Abolitionists For instance G.
arriet Martineau who carried mans head D.
woman's shoulders, nearly thirty years -,
o. thus spoke of Virginia, North and South .,S
Irolina: mo mismanagement," saws this aa az
spectacle she sage, short of employing -,
ives, will account for the deterioration of the
ricuitural wealth Of these States When
e traveller observes the quality of some of =.
e land now under cultivation, he wonders III
w other estates could have been rendered
Improbable as they are. The rich Con- r.
rec bottoms in South Carolina, look mex
ustible, but some estates once as fine, nO,o 90,
barreu and deserted. ~
MsDEAL OF DAMNATIoN.
Such were the three alleged causes of our
ction's adversely. All of course were wrong. n
eston was misled by his sight, Calhoun by
S passion, and Dallas by his conscience
'eston made the travellers mistake, Calhoun
e partisan's mistake, and Dallas the fanatics
stake. And how sad was each. From the -.
lesapeak to Matagorda Bay, our frantic =
ork proves our frantic energy. We are idle bee
lder the penalty Of inordinate loss, and our sea
iustry is organized. The spirit of our sys- p
N is the spirit Of Improvement This spirit EN-
- baar r,m,ant B.. - 4toP at
= o"L "thout the power tina
hat is the spirit =? And that is our case; we der
we been without the power; mind, muscle, anC
ID money have not been brought in and scat VIII
red among us; we have had to grow our Ia
r and thengrow our crops; we have had to and
op both the troopers and the crop. Calhoun in
D, wss aim ost as mistaken as Preston. AL fac
ough an unutterable outrage that the tariff me
ould yearly drain from our section millions
wealth; still our system can bear that loss
d check the decay. On the other hand our 80
elhles ueciare the general exhaustion and full
sertion of our lands to be ''the curse of
very" 1t actually is fanatic proverb that
lavery blights the soil which feeds it." This n
damnation misdealt For since our land =,
haustion and land @asertion are not from vi
IT system Of labor but from our scarcity of
oor, and since this scarcity is from the pro-
bition OF the African Labor Supply the
rse of God is not against those who would
rengthen the system but against those who
ould stop the supply. The blight begins in ,
e statute-books. A free Labor Supply and w.
DDS blessing or no Labor Supply and Gods
rse; such are the issues learned from our =
IS. ST. HENRY.