1S38] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



113 



and it operates as so much additional inducement to 

 carry on a direct forcij^n trade between the reciprocal 

 consumers and producers. Jleason would suHiciently 

 show this to be the tendency, and ultimate efi'ect, of 

 the higher pricn of the inconvertible bank notes of 

 New-York over the inconvertible bank notes of the 

 south; but facts also have proved that the effect is now 

 in progress. The few importers of Virginia have 

 sold out their stocks of newly imported goods, at good 

 profit; and so rapidly, that some of the country mer- 

 chants who stopped to buy, in preference to paying 

 the additional northern tax in exchange, could not be 

 supplied. Now is the time for Virginia and the more 

 southern states to throw off the yoke of commercial 

 bondage.— Ed. Far. Reg. 



Report of the Committee ofthirty-one to the Mer- 

 chants' Convention, presented on Wednesday 

 of the session ol that hoJv, by Gen. Robert 

 Y. Hdyne. 



The committee of thirty- one, who were in- 

 structed " to consider and report on the measures 

 proper to be adopted by tliis Convention," beg 

 leave respectfully lo report : 



That they liave bestowed upon the subject re- 

 ferred to them, the attention which its importance 

 demands. Tune does not permit, nor does the 

 occasion perliaps require, an elaborate exami- 

 nation of the subject in all its bearings, and this 

 is the less necessary, as tiie able documents re- 

 cently published by the convention, have exhi- 

 bited in the clearest light, and demonstrated in 

 the most conclusive manner, every point which it 

 could be important for us to establish. Indeed the 

 whole question is embraced in the single propo- 

 sition, that it is the interest and duty of "the slave- 

 holding states of this Union, to improve their na- 

 tural advantages, by securing to themselves that 

 portion of the commerce of the country which 

 rightfully belongs to them; a proposition wliich, if 

 it be not self-evident, cannot derive much support 

 lirom argument or illustration. We rest our whole 

 case upon the fact, which is beyond all dispute, 

 that the southern and south-western states furnish 

 tiiree-fourlhs of the entire domestic exports of the 

 whole Union, while they import but little more 

 than one-tenth of the productions received fi'om 

 abroad in exchange lor these exports. It has 

 been shown in the documents published by the 

 convention, that when the imports of the United 

 States amounted to .^ 190,000,000, those of all the 

 Atlantic states south of the Potomac and the states 

 on the Gulf of JVlexico, amounted to only -920,- 

 000,000; and while the domestic exports of the 

 Union amounted to §107,000,000, the states of 

 the south and south-west exported -978,000,000. 



South Carolina and Georijia, while fijrnishing 

 exports to the extent of .S24;000,000, actually im- 

 ported less than three millions and a half. The 

 amounts have varied in different years; but this 

 may be taken as an exemplification of the condi- 

 tion of southern trade. 



The mere statement of these facts, must surely 

 convince any unprejudiced mind, that this unnatu- 

 ral state of affairs could only have been brought 

 about, by the most powerful and extraordinary 

 causes, and that from the very nature ol" things, 

 the effect must have been highly injurious lo the 

 Vol. VI— 15 



southern states. Without attempting to trace all 

 the causes which have had an agency in produ- 

 cing this result, we will merely advert to one ol the 

 most obvious, and whicli is perhaps suliicicnt of 

 itself to account for it; we allude to the unkqual 

 ACTION OF THE FKDERAL GovKUNBiKi\T, es- 

 pecially in the iiiode of I.EVYIIVG and nisnuns- 

 iNG TIIE PUBLIC REVENUES. If, instead of 

 throwing nearly the whole of the public burdens, 

 in the shape of duties, upon those foreign goods 

 which are received almost exclusively in exchange 

 for the great staples of the south, the revenue 

 had been levied in a direct tax (however largely 

 exceeding the wants of the Government,) the 

 burden would have fallen, at least, equally upon 

 the dilferent portions of the Union. But by the 

 system which was adopted, while the labor and 

 capital of the south was borne down by a weight 

 of taxation, which in many instances, amounted 

 to one half of the whole cost of the articles re- 

 ceived in exchange for their productions, the labor 

 and capital of other portions of the Union were 

 substantially exempt from taxation, and even sti- 

 mulated by enormous bounties. Nor did the evil 

 stop here. Under the pretext of encouraging 

 "domestic industry," duties on foreign goods were 

 imposed to an amount greatly exceeding the wants 

 of the government. The amountsthus brought into 

 the treasury were arcinniiJated in the northern cities, 

 and especially in New York, from whence they 

 were drawn only to be distributed among the mili- 

 tary and naval establii^hments at the North; the 

 purj)lus being finally divider! among pensioners, and 

 internal improvements in the same quarter, and 

 in the west. Hundreds of millions of dollars were 

 thus drawn from the south, and expended north of 

 the Potomac; and our wealth was conveyed from 

 us by a steady stream, constnntly flowing north- 

 ward, in a current as undeviating and irresistible 

 as the Gulf stream itself, which "knows no re- 

 flux." With this .=:ystem, other influences were 

 combined, all having the same object in view, and 

 tending to produce the same general result. On 

 these, lime does not permit us to dwell. It is 

 sufficient for us merely to mention the long cre- 

 dits — the auction system — the centralization of 

 the exchanges; and the concentration of the whole 

 patronage, power, and influence of the Govern- 

 ment in favor of the north, and especially of the 

 city of New York — causes of themselves abun- 

 dantly sufficient to secure them those advanlaires 

 against which we so long struggled in vain. The 

 calamities under which the south labored, un- 

 der the operation of this system, belong to tluit 

 class which one of the ablest writers on political 

 economy has declared to be worse than "barren- 

 ness of the soil and the inclemency of the hea- 

 vens;" for if our fields were fl^riile and the heavens 

 propitious, the harvest was for those, " who reap- 

 ed where they had not sown." Under these cir- 

 cumstances, so far from its being a matter of sur- 

 prise, it was the result almost of an evincible ne- 

 cessity, that the commerce of the south and south- 

 west should be thrown into the hands of the north- 

 ern merchants; that the exchanges should be 

 centralized at New York; and that we should 

 be rendered tributa^piy to our northern 

 ERKTHREN. To show that we have not mista- 

 ken the character, or natural effect ol the causes 

 which we have mentioned, we will advert to one 

 among many facts illustrative of the truth of our 



