1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



667 



that many of the exports from the northern states 

 are products of" the south, proceeds as I'oUows. 

 "From these resuUs it appears that of the exports 

 of this state nine-tenth part is direct and one-tenth 

 circuitous through the ports of the oiher states — 

 and assuming that her imports should be equal to 

 her exports, only one-seventh part is direct and 

 six-sevenths circuitous. Nor is that of the staph; 

 slates generally in a much belter condition. Taken 

 in the aggregate, nine-tenths ol their exports are 

 direct, and one- tenth circuitous; while of their im- 

 ports on the same assumption, only two parts are 

 direct and seven circuitous, subject to all the ex- 

 pense and burthens incident to such intercourse. 

 Considering this subject upon the received prin- 

 ciples of political economy, it would be a natural 

 inlerence, that a diminution in the imports of any 

 nation would be attended by, or. at least, would 

 indicate a corresponding decrease of its exports ; 

 and yet, startling as the (act may seem, the re- 

 verse is true of the trade of the different sections 

 of this country. The exports of the southern 

 states have been steadily increasing, during the 

 whole period that their imports have been dwin- 

 dling to their present insignificance, while the enor- 

 mous increase in the imports of the northern 

 states, has been attended with so slight an im- 

 provement in the sum of their own products, ex- 

 ported to foreign countries, as to be scarcely worthy 

 of mention. In the year 1830, the exports from 

 the United States, of the products of agriculture, 

 amounted to near ^47,000,000, of which the ar- 

 ticles of cotton, tobacco and rice alone, constituted 

 more than fbur-fiflhs ; and in the short space of 

 four years, the exports of the products of agricul- 

 ture had increased to upwards of $67,000,000, of 

 which the exports of cotton alone exceeded in 

 value the whole agricultural exports of 1830. On 

 the other hand, the exports of manufacturers, 

 which were chiefly the product of northern in- 

 dustry, amounted in the same year to only 86,- 

 258,131, and m the year 1834 to but $6,648,393, 

 showing a trifling increase of less than .$400,000, 

 while in the same period, the increase in the value 

 of the agricultural exports, which were chiefly the 

 products of the south, amounted to more than 

 twenty millions of dollars. 



If we confine our notice to the great staple of 

 cotton, which is peculiarly the product of southern 

 industry, the enormous increase in our exports 

 will be placed in a yet more striking light. This 

 article was not even cultivated in the United 

 States until about the year 1790 ; but in ten years 

 afterwards, the crop was estimated at 35 millions 

 of pounds ; in 1810 at 85 millions, in 1820, at 160 

 millions, in 1830, at 350 millions, and at the pre- 

 sent day it may be fairly computed to exceed 500 

 millions of pounds. In the year 1830, after sup- 

 plying the large domestic demand, the exports of 

 cotton to foreign countries amounted to near 30 

 millions of dollars, and in the year 1834 to the as- 

 tonishing sum of fifty millions. 



Thus is exhibited the singular anomaly, of a 

 country losing the command of its import trade, as 

 it really improves in its capacity to control it. The 

 extent of this decline, the committee now propose 

 to consider. It is a well known fiact, that before 

 the establishment of the present government of 

 the United States, the imports of Virginia largely 

 exceeded those of any other State, being at one 

 period nearly five times greater than those of New 



York, and even more than the aggregate of the 

 whole New England Stales. The address ol the 

 second commercial convention at Augusta, quoting 

 (rom a writer in the Richmond Wliig, slates the 

 value of the imports of Virginia in 1769 at jC85],- 

 140 sterling— New EnglandStates 561,000— New 

 York, 189,000- Pennsylvania, 400,000, and South 

 Carolina, 555,000. 



The committee deem it unnecessary to exhibit 

 the successive stages of deterioration in the im- 

 ports of Virginia, and the other southern states. 

 Let it suffice, to invite attention to the contrast 

 now presented, in the condition of our import 

 trade, at the last named period, when its Taiue 

 was near five limes greater than that of New 

 York, and its present slate of comparative nothing- 

 ness, when it is ninety limes less. 



It is due to candor, and to the character of the 

 southern people for energy and intelligence, lo 

 state that the decline of a considerable portion of 

 our foreign import trade, may be accounted lor in 

 the lact, that we now derive Irom the northern 

 states many of those articles that we formerly 

 imported from abroad. At no very remote period, 

 we were dependent upon Great Britain lor even 

 such wares and labrics as are now often manuliic- 

 tured in our own households; and it not unfrequently 

 happened that orders were sent abroad, lor bricks 

 and other materials for conslruciing our ver}' dwell- 

 ings. While we yet stood in the relation of co- 

 lonies to Great Britain, the hard policy of the mo- 

 ther country repressed all our endeavors to estab- 

 lish manufactories, of even the simplest articles, 

 and, in some cases, visited with severe penalties 

 those who embarked in certain prohibited employ- 

 ments. It is known that this rigorous system of 

 colonial oppression was a fruitfiil source of those 

 dissensions, which resulted in the establishment of 

 our national independence. That some idea may 

 be lorined of the extent of the importations into 

 Virginia of those articles that are now chiefly pro- 

 duced by the domestic industry of the country, the 

 committee present the following statements, com- 

 piled by a well known writer several years belbre 

 the American revolution. "The people [of Vir- 

 ginia] may amount lo about five hundred thou- 

 sand, which may reasonably be supposed lo bring 

 no small advantage lo their mother country — as 

 Irom hence they are all supplied with all the 

 NECESSARIES OF LIFE, such as liueu, silks, India 

 goods, wine, and other Ibreign manufactures : and 

 of our home ones, cloths, serges, stufl's, bays, hats, 

 and all sorts of haberdashery ware, hoes, bills, 

 axes, nails, adzes, and other iron tools, clothes 

 ready made, knives, biscuit flour, stockings, shoes, 

 caps for servants, and indeed almost every thing 

 that is made in England, to the amount of near 

 1,000,000/. sterling, which is repaid mostly in to- 

 bacco, of which it is supposed by the nicest cal- 

 culators, that near one hundred thousand hogs- 

 heads are, in time of peace, imported yearly, em- 

 ploying between three and four hundred ships, na- 

 vigated by upwards of four thousand sailors." 

 Wyndham Beawes.— From the details given by 

 the same authority, of the trade of the New 

 England States, it will be seen that they were 

 themselves dependent upon the mother country, 

 at that, time, for those wares, which ihey now sup- 

 ply in considerable quantities to others. He says, 

 " They take from hence all kinds of mercery 

 goods, linen, stockings, shoes, sail cloth, cordage, 



