Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-03-20

There are some difficulties attending the collec-
ton Of the revenue the seeding States Wnlch II
win be well TO look at attentively.
That either the revenue from duties mnst DC eol-
lecte IN the norris of the rebel States, or the ports
must be closed to mportations from abroad, Is gen
orally admitted If neither of these things oe done,
our revenue laws are substantially rspea,eu inc
sources which supply our treasury VIII pc orieo up
70 shall have no money to carry on the government;
Tho nstioD win become bankrupt before the next
cron of corn is ripe There will be nothing to fur
;si ,,a.rs of subsistence to the army; nothing to
keen our navy afioat; nothing to pay the salaries OF
the nuhlic officers; the present order OF things must
come n dead stop. Allow railroad iron to be en-
serss At savannah with the low duty of ten per cent
which is all that the Southern Confederacy think OF
isv;no on imported goods, and not an ounce more
-oouIS be imported at New York; the railways
wouId be supplied from the Southern ports Let cot
ton goods, let wooen fabrics, let the various manu-
facres Of iron and steel be entered freely at Gal
yeston at the great port at the mouth of the Mssis-
sippi at Mobile, at Savannah and Charleston and
they would be Immediately sent up the rivers and
carried on the railways TO the remotest parts of
the Union. Nay, they would be sent directly from
these ports by sea to Baltimore, Philadelphia
New York and Boston. Shopkeepers would be
supplied with their silks and laces from the same
quarter. The shoe shops would be furnished with
1heir sssortments from the French stalls and the
hatters shops would be filed with the work OF
French artisans which have never paid penny to
merchandise were once in the country there would
be no way to prevent their free circulation and
sale in every part of the United States The mighty
Mississippi and its great tributaries, the long rail-
WAYS reaching from one extremity OF the U nlon 70
the other, the active feet of merchant vessels EN-,
ployed in our coasting trade, would rapidly convey
the untaxed merchandise to the most distant neigh>
berhood of our great domain.
To protect the interests of the Federal Treasury
something must be done. The general expecta
ton seems to be that the duties will be collected
on board Of armed vessels at the different ports
of entry in the seeding States. Are our readers
aware what fleet this would require There are
seven collection districts in the little State of Flo
| rida alone there are four in Alabama. At every
port there must be a collector, with his army OF
appraisers, clerks, examiners, inspectors, weigh
ers, gaugers, measurers, and so forth; there mus
be naval officer and his staff of entry clerks
The Morrill, tariff law, which we have just enacted
will make a larger number of all these necessary
than would have been required month ago
Where twenty men would have then answered the
purpose thirty will now be needed. If we collect
the revenue in this manner, with a fleet at every
port snd corps of custom house officers or
board it will cost us great deal more than all We
shall get.
But can the revenue be thus collected? The i'm
porters arriving at the Southern harbors will know
how to address the custom house officers. ave
] have 9 cargo" they will naturally say, Ton which
we de not care to pay duties lust at present; We
| must deposit it in the warehouses for the term du
ring which we are permitted to do so by law
What viii the officers of the customs do in that case
| The Government has no longer any warehouses il
the seeding ports. The hold of an armed vesse
would neither be a proper nor sufficiently spa
cious repository for the goods. The duties in thai
case caEnot be collected; and the collector will be
puzzled to know whether to let the ship proceed tC
| her port or to detain her.
We happen to kEow that there importing
houses at this moment preparing TO take advantage
of this opening for unencumbered trade They are
getting ready to convey their cargos to Charleston
or Savannah; the goods will be landed there, and
then brought coastwise to New York. where, being
| importations from port within the Union, they
will be subject TO no duty The new tariff with its
strange formalites and ingeniously devised delays
forms an additional inducement with them to take
this course.
| What then, is left for our government Shall we
let the seeding States repeal the revenue laws for
the whole Union in this manner? Or will the gov
eminent choose to consider all foreign commerce
destined for those ports where we have no custom
houses and collectors, as contraband, and stop 1t
when offering to enter the collection districts from
which our authorities have been expelled? Or viii
the President call special session of Congress to dc
what the last unwisely failed to do-to abolish all
ports of entry in the seeding States?