1837] 



FA nm ERS' REGISTER 



549 



coniP'5 fo hnhoM in fi'Tiires, tlie almost iiicrodible 

 doprcciatinn ot" PHiitherii tnule. Willi ihe hope 

 that it may exi-itp, serious refloriinn, ntul open tlie 

 eyps of the sdiithorn propio to their Inie coiiditmn 

 of mmrnorcial vnj;sala<ic, I will illustrate thesub- 

 jrrt hv artiial statistics. 



Pcriiaps it is not known that; prior to the revo- 

 hition, the import trade of VirLnnia and South Ca- 

 rolina each flir exceeded that of New Ymk, 

 Pennsylvania, or anyone ofthe northern colonies. 

 Yet such is the fact. 



From the 'Virginia Gazette' of July 2nd. 

 1747, I find the l(>llowinnf : " A list of ships and 

 ve.ssels which sailed from Hamnton roads, under 

 convoy of his majesty's siiip, Follcstone, Captain 

 Gregory.'' Then follow the names ofthe several 

 ships, their commanders, and ports of destination, 

 concludinrr with the liillowintr sentence : " There 

 are besides Ihese. manv others, which had not re- 

 ceived sailinfj orders when this list was made out, 

 the whole amountinij to filTy-lwo sail." All of 

 these ships were bound for foreifrn ports, princi • 

 pally London, Liverpool, Glascow and Bristol. 

 Scarcely, a number of the Gazette, too, that did 

 not contain a list of foreign arrivals in the ports of 

 Virtrinia, from the year 1747, to the hreakinir out 

 of the American Revolution. Then V^irtrinia, 

 hut a colony, enioyed a lartje export and import 

 trade. Tn one day, fifty-two sail left her waters, 

 freishted with domestic produce, to brine back in 

 return rich freiL^hts of Enoflish mannfiictures. 

 When (h(l we last see, or when shall we asrain 

 see, a fleet of fifty sail frlidinfj from our waters in 

 pursuit of n-)reirrn ports ? Never, until the fiscal 

 action of this crovernment shall have been chanfjed. 

 Then, be it recorecterl, there was no connection 

 of (jovernment with banks ; there were no bank^' 

 at all ; one colony was not cherished and built up, 

 at the expense of another, by the unequal fiscal 

 action of the irovernment ; each colony was upon 

 a level ; each could compete with the other; each 

 relyinof upon its native means and resources ; and 

 hence the trade of Virtrinia at that period. But 

 to continue the statistics. 



In 1769, the value of the imports of the several 

 colonies was as follows : 



Of Viririnia, £851,140 sterling. 



New England States, 561,000 do. 



New York, 189,000 do. 



Pennsylvania, 400,000 do. 



South Carolina, 555,000 do. 



The exports were in about the same proportion, 

 Virijinia exportincj nearly lour times as much as 

 New York, and South Carolina nearly twice as 

 much as New York and Pennsylvania together, 

 and five times as much as all the New England 

 states united. 



The same relative proportion of imports is pre- 

 served until the adoption of the (ederal constitu- 

 tion, when we find them to be in the year 1791, as 

 follows : 



Of New York, $3,222,000 



Virffinia, 2,486,000 



South Carolina, 1,520,000 



The above is the amount of imported merchan- 

 dise which paid ad valarem and specific duties. 

 But as there were few ooods at that time admit- 

 ted free of duty, the data given approximates to 

 the truth. There are none to show the imports 

 into the several states from the year 1791 to 1820, 



but the ffeneral fact may be assumed, that the im- 

 port trade of New ^ ork and other northern states 

 has been constantly [irogrcssiug, while that of Vir- 

 ijlnia and South Carolina has as iCLndarh- dimin- 

 ished. From 1821, to the present tlni'>, we have 

 sufficient data, and they exhibit the following, as 

 the state of the import trade : 



Thus, the import trade of New York has gra- 

 dually increased from £189,000 s'erling, about 

 £40,000, in ihe year 1769, and from about three 

 millions of dollars in 1791, lo the enormous sum, 

 in 1832, ol" fifty-seven millions of dollars! While 

 Virginia has fallen ofl'. in her import trade, Ironi 

 two and a half milliotis of dollars, in 1791, to 

 ■9875,000 in 1829. and s-550,000 in 1832, not a irreat 

 deal tnnre than the freisht of hall a dozen ships! 



From these calculations, a few curious facts ap- 

 pear. The imports of New York, were, in 1832, 

 seventy times as great as they were in 1769. and 

 nearly twenty times more than they were in 1791, 

 when the first United States' bank went into ope- 

 ration. Virginia, on the other hand, imported, in 

 1829, about one-eleverth of what she did in 1769, 

 and about one-seventh of what she did in 1791. 

 In a period too, of eight years, the acfrregate im- 

 ports of New York amounted to 311 millions of 

 dollars ; those of South Carolina to about 16 mil- 

 lions, and those of Virginia to about five millions ! 

 New York imported, therefore, in 1832, eleven 

 times as much as Virginia did in eight years pre- 

 ceding, and nearly fom- times as much in the sin- 

 gle yeHr of 1832, as South Carolina imported in a 

 period of eight years. Again, New York im- 

 ported in one year, (1832) nearly fifty times as 

 much as South Carolina in the same year, and 

 about 110 times as much as Virginia. 



Thus, it seems, that while the south produces 

 two-thirds and more of the whole domestic ex- 

 ports, which constitute the foundation of our fo- 

 reign trade, her commercial dependance upon the 

 north is most abject and complete. Her citizens 

 pay a tax of at least twenty-five per cent, on the 

 whole amount of their consumption. What the 

 exact amount of this tribute is, it is difficult to de- 

 termine. It has been generally estimated at ten 

 millions of dollars, which is more hkely to be be- 

 low than above the truth. Upon the whole, we 

 are brought to this truih, that while New York, 

 and other of our northern sisters, have progres- 

 sively advanced to a degree of commercial firos- 

 perity almost inciedible, Virginia and her neisrh- 

 borino; sisters behold their import trade reduced al- 

 nmst to annihilation. 



It becomes the southern people, if they would 

 be relieved from this discrracefiil thraldom, to en- 

 quire into the causes which have produced it. 

 We have already shown that it is not to be as- 

 cribed to the want of means or resources: In my 

 humble judiinient, it is the effect ofthe centralism 

 of moneyed power; the consolidation at the north 

 of an immense banking capital, in the form of a 

 United States' bank, aided by the fiscal action of 



