The Van Buren press., 1861-02-08
We do not, indeed. suppose that il the

we do not, indeed. suppose that If the
growth of the plant were to cease from the
earth, Great Britain would be permanently
Impoverished Or lowered among its rivals.
The energy of the people. with it's elements
OF work. would remain, and something
would be forced t" employ them upon But
Al present cotton gives the balance OF
trade; the work we put upon it, furnishes
our surplus OF earning over expenditure. 1t
will not be heard, then, with perfect indif-
terence. that the SOutherns think of supply
ing their revenue BY putting an export duty
on this raw material. The case of rags
tells us that the scheme is not an impossi-
BILE one. Manchester might have to COM
plain of an exactIon which it has houted ut
as triviality in the case of paper makers
The Southerns express their belief that the
consumer abroad would pay all this impost
They feel that the competition for their raw
material is so keen that small advance
could make no difference in the demand for
1t. They may be right-for the present
AS long as they have monopoly they may
be able to exercise its worst privileges. And
as they would receive much of their prod
uce back In manufactured state, without
custom duties, all their share in the taxa
tion would be the extra cost of their reim-
ported cotton, made into wearing apparel
They might, even, become better customers
to our manufacturers AMI If the i'm post
were strictly levied on all the exports OF raw
cotton alike. Lancashire NIGH, still hold its
relative advantages. and, therefore, its posi-
tive superiority in the manufacture But
the L" notion" will make some of our North
eastern capitalists scratch their heads and
think twice, anil resolve. even with more
than previous determination, that it is nee
essary to extend the cultivation in India.
and reach it and foster i: in Africa, rather
than be so helplessly dependent on produc-
ers iully resolved to use whatever advant
ages they possess entirely on their own be-
half.
we have no pretension to exhaust so
very large subject. We would provoke
further examination and remark. The
Americans may not quail at the notion of
foreign frontier, halt hostile though 1t be,
reaching between slave States and free
STATES, throughout their width of longitude.
bu. they will pause before they yield ire
ver>ibiy their proudest national pretensions
nay. even their most distinctive national
extravaganza We have long seen the prob
ability OF this crumbling assunder, from the
very force Of opposite interests and ambi
tions. The beam might be strong. but it is
very long, and it has immense weight at the
enis. Now that the sacredness of patriotic
unity has once been profaned. the desola-
tion is but matter of time and accident.
The Union. as having no root in the affec-
tions of the entire people. no unapproacha-
bic sanctity in the eyes of their teachers. is
henceforth, mere expediency, to be set
aside whenever expediences apparently
greater oppose it. We have a lesson To learn
from this. Patriotism among ourselves is
virtue far too much out Of fashion ant
IT sorild interests ever get completely the
upper hand OF 1t among us, although they
may not be able to rend the empire in twain
they may quite as certainly bury it in ruin