The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-01-21
NEW YORK HERALD MONDAY, JANUARY q, 1861.

petes with Boston, Phila Aelphia and New York for
the produce of the Wet. II the political relations
OF Maryland to the great West remain unchanged
there is every reflson to believe that Baltimore
will continue 20 enjoy its share of this trade il
Maryland should secede from the Union, the recent
occurrence at Cincinnati shows how quickly this
important traffic would be lost. If, again,
Maryland should remain in the Union, there
,s every reason to suppose that it would become
leading, if not the leading, cotton shipping port
as soon as the secession Of the Gulf States had
closed their ports: cotton, in that event, would
come North in search Of a'port where it could get
. safe clearance and Baltimore would naturally
receive the bulk Of it, If Maryland secedes, Of
course baltimore would be subject to the same
disabilities ss Charleston. II must always be borne
in mind by the people Of Maryland that their neigh
bors in Virginia, in desiring them to secede from
the Union, have an eye to trade well as politics.
Every virginan believes that Norfolk was design
ed by nature to be the great seaport of the United
States. If Virginia goes out of the Union, and
Maryland stays in, Virginia viii not gain much BY
completing the railroads now in progress between
Covington and the Ohio river; for the produce Of
the West will never cross foreign country to seek
through . home channel. But if Maryland
goes out, as well as Virginia, the COM
pletion of that line of railroad will render
Norfolk a formidable competitor to Baltimore
both being on the same footing toward the West,
and Norfolk having some advantages, as being
more accessible from sea. There are other reasons
why Maryland will lose instead Of gaining by Sc
cesson. 1t is great manufacturing State. Under
its soil lie inexhaustible beds of iron and coal
The iron interest alone in Maryland, if properly
developed, would represent a far larger sum than
the slave interest. In the Union that interest will
be developed. II is known to be the intention of
the republican party to propose an increase OF the
tariff on iron, and however deeply such a step
must be deplorcd by sound economists in the pre-
sent state Of the national finances, and in the alb
sence of any practical scheme for direct taxation,
it seems unavoidable. A heavy duty on foreign
iron would enrich Maryland to surprising de-
gree. This source Of wealth will be thrown away
by secession, for the policy Of the seeding States
must in any event, for the sake Of foreign ALI
ances be based on the corner stone Of free trade.
Thus in word, secession offers to Maryland dini
nished trade, a crippled iron interest, bankrupt
railway SYSTEM and the undoing of all that ten
years Of energy and enterprise have done for Bal
timore; while a firm adherence to the Union offers
q largely increased trade with the West, newly
developed export business in cotton an enormously
developed manufacturing interest, prosperous
railway system, and the elevation Of Baltimore to
the first rank among American seaports. Is it any
wonder that so wise an executive officer as Cover
nor Hicks should have taken so firm stand for
the Union?