Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1866-12-21

There & 20 problem IL politics
economy more easily dsmonstrates
than, that no people ever grow rich
who are dependent upon their neigh
|bors, not merely FOR Injuries ant
comforts, but. for the accessories O
life. We are continually reminded
Of this political truism by accounts
from the South, of the alarming scar
city of food for man and beast, and
the necessity for hurrying cotton t.
market in order to procure the means
Of subsistence. Little sympathy is
justly due to people so blind t.
their true interests, and so forgetful
of the sad Lesson taught by four years
of devastation, as to strain every nerve
TO raise cotton for yankee looms and
thereby reduce themselves to the ne
cessity Of buying bread from Their
barbarous and relentless enemies.
Every induccment that patriotism
self-respect and economy can offer, ii
held out to the South to increase the
production of breadstuffs and regulate
that of cotton by the standard of the
home demand. All over that amount
pays tax Of three cents per pound
levied by government that 1enies
the right Of representation to the taz
payer, and the sum, thus extorted, il
intended to give value to the national
bonds upon which the aristocratic
holders pay no tax. Besides this
sordid application of the proceeds Of
southern labor, it is to be remember
ed that every bale Of cotton shipped
abroad serves as gold to pay the bal
lance of trade and thus give value to
an, otherwise, worthless paper cur
rency. g.u .sI' aver91
The South has devoted years Of
labor to the promotion Of the pros.
pcrity and power of the North. In
return, the North has destroyed, with
ruthless hands, the little that the
South had laid up for itself, during
those long years of voluntary servi-
tude. And now, forgetful of the ter
rible lesson, so recently taught, it re-
turns to its former condition of will
ing slavery, and is diligently labor
ing for a government that proscribes
it and people who robbed it--and
all this it does, and endures for the
paltry consideration of meat and
bread. Two years of close adherence
to the true policy of raising our own
provisions and manufacturing all the
cotton we grow, would make the yam
KEGS as eager to reinstate the South
as they now are to exclude and OPP
press it and this short experience
would convince the most incredulous,
that perseverance, in the same direc-
ton, would soon elevate US from the
condition of an enslaved and oppres.
scd people, to that of the most pros
porous and Independent on earth.
1t is perfectly idle to took to the
North for aid, orsympathy, or justice
any farther than they may be sug-
gested by sordid interest, and our
only hope lies in such a policy as will
make that section feel that the pros
perity and good will of the South are
indispensable to the financial health
of trade and government. Without
a heavy surplus Of cotton, for export,
the currency must greatly depreciate,
and the depreciation will so increase
the burdens of the people-not the
aristocracy--that the cutlery for re-
pudiation will be heard from all quar-
arters. 1t can not be doubted that
the apprehension of such result
would do more for the South than all
other considerations put together
and being master of the situation, it
is dishonorable either to do the bid
ding of an unprincipled faction, or to
furnish despotic government the
means of upholding the credit of its
rag currency. Such gratuitous SER
vitude, and deliberate political sui
eide can not. be contemplated, for a
moment, by any people worthy to be
free.
In consequence of the heavy rain
on Saturday, the Yankee show, in
No 81 y;ua Hal 10 1;enoo.o iii "a