X14 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. ^ 



position. Before the introduction of the protect- 

 in^ duties, a large and profitable direct trade was 

 cctuaUy carried on. between the cities of the south 

 and the ports of Europe, by southern meVchanls, 

 and in soutiiern ships. For several years prior to 

 1807. for instance, our imports info the city of 

 Charleston, amounted to several millions of dollars 

 annually. From this period, under the operation 

 of the '"restrictive system," they ijradually dwin- 

 dled down to less than hall a million. From the 

 period, however, when the American system re- 

 ceived a lata! blow, and the government com- 

 menced retracing its steps, back to the free trade 

 system, our imports began to increase, and have 

 been steadily increasing ever since; thus showing, 

 conclusively, the true sources of southern depres- 

 sion on the one hand,;and of southern prosperity 

 on the other. Freedom is the very element 

 of the south, in which "'she lives, and moves, and 

 has her being." Freedom in "all the pursuits 

 of industry," is essential to our well-being. We 

 look back with surprise to the liict, that a people 

 possessed of such vast advantages should have so 

 long and so patiently submitted to a stale almost of 

 "colonial vassalage;" and we hesitate not to say, 

 that the page in our history, which records the rise 

 and progress of the "American system," (so 

 called,) will be regarded hereafter as disreputable 

 to the intelligence of the age, and to the public 

 spirit and virtue of the American people. But, 

 happily for our prosperity, and we will add, for the 

 peace and harmony of the Union, this system has 

 been broken down — we trust and believe jTor ever; 

 and we are coming back, by slow but sure steps, 

 to the great principles of free trade and un- 

 restricted INDUSTRY. 



To avail ourselves, however, of all the advan- 

 tages of this great and salutary change in our 

 system, it is indispensably necessary, that we 

 should free ourselves from the trammels of long- 

 established habits, opinions, and prejudices. It is 

 one of the greatest evils of misijovernnient, that 

 the efiects continue long after the evil itself has 

 been corrected, and in all commercial operations, 

 the influence of established usages, is extremely 

 difficult to overcome. To divert capital from its 

 accustomed channels, to introduce new associa- 

 tions and habits of br.siness among comniercial 

 men. is one of the most difficult tasks which any 

 people can impose upon themselves; and if it were 

 not for the high spirit and intelligence of our peo- 

 ple, we might distrust our success. When we 

 survey the actual condition of the southern and 

 south-western states, however, who can fail to 

 perceive that we possess iivraiENSE advan- 

 tages in this contest, which properly improved, 

 must, in the end, crown our efforts with triumph- 

 ant success. It is true we have but ihw ships, 

 but we have ship timber in abundance, of the 

 choicest description; and surely no southern man 

 can be insensible of the importance of securing a 

 mercantile marine, which in the future changes 

 and chances to which our country must sooner or 

 later be exposed, may be essential not only to our 

 prosperity, but to our very existence as a free 

 people. We want, also, it is said, commercial 

 capital and credit, and cannot, it is supposed, fur- 

 nish an extensive market for foreign goods, as will 

 enable us to enter into successful competition with 

 the cities of the north. Now, we base all our cal- 

 culations and rest all our hopes upon the fact, that 



it is the vaiural course of trade, to exchange di- 

 rectly, the productions of" one country for those of 

 another; and that all indirect and circuitous modes 

 of intercourse must be attended bj'^ increased ex- 

 pense, and be therelbre less advantageous to all 

 parties than the direct trade. Trade, like water, 

 always seeks its level, and unless when opposed 

 by natural or artificial barriers, will run its course 

 in the shortest and most direct line. It must be 

 admitted, therefore, that but for opposing obsta- 

 cles, which have been interposed, and which have 

 forced the commerce of the south out of its natu- 

 ral channels, our cotton, rice, and tobacco would 

 have found their markets in Europe, by the short- 

 est and most direct route from southern sea-ports 

 and in southern ships; and it is equally obvious, 

 that the foreign goods received in exchange for 

 these productions would have been returned to us 

 through the same channels. Now, can any plau- 

 sible reason be assigned, why, under a system of 

 free trade, the exports of South Carolina and Geor- 

 "■ia — amounting as has been shown to ^24,000,- 

 000 annually, should not lie sent directly to Eu- 

 rope fiom Charleston and Savannah? and why 

 the foreign goods for which they are exchanged, 

 should not be imported directly in return? Our 

 harbors are sale and commodious, the voyage is 

 shorter and safer, and the freight less. But what 

 is of infinitely more importance, we actually pro- 

 duce the very articles which are to be 

 exported, and require for our own consump- 

 tion the very goods to be received in exchange 

 for those exports. Now, can any thing be con- 

 ceived more unnatural — more out of the usual and 

 proper course of business; than that our cotton, 

 which is to be exchanged for the manufactures of 

 England, should be first shipped to New York — 

 there sold to the New York merchant — by him 

 transhipped and sent to England — there again sold 

 and converted into British goods — which goods 

 are to be first imported into New York, and from 

 thence forwarded to Charleston — thence to be sold 

 to the Carolina merchant, and paid for in bills at 

 G per cent. Count the number of agencies em- 

 ployed in this transaction; sum up the freight, in- 

 surance, commissions, profits, and other charges; 

 consider the loss of time and the risks incident to 

 such a course; and can any reasonable man enter- 

 tain a doubt, that if such a trade can be carried on 

 at all, a direct import and export trade, 

 (if there be no obstacle interposed,) must be infi- 

 nitely more profitable? Under similar circum- 

 stances, the capital required to carry on the indi- 

 rect trade must be much greater than that which 

 must be needed in the direct trade. Indeed, under 

 a system of mutual exchanges of our productions 

 lor those of Europe, the capital required, under a 

 well ordered system of commercial arrangement, 

 would be comparatively small. Credit might, to 

 a great extent, supply the place of capital, and 

 such a trade might be conducted on principles, 

 which might ensure to the planter the largest pro- 

 fits on his crops, and his supplies at the lowest 

 rates; wliile the mercliant, the ship-owner, and 

 every other class in the community, would parti- 

 cipate largely in the advantages of such a trade. 

 But let this direct intercourse be once establish- 

 ed, and capital would soon flow in from all quar- 

 ters, to supply any deficiency that might be found 

 to exist. The great law of demand and supply, 

 would not leave us long without a money capital, 



