700 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 11 



means and added to the capital of the north, and 

 yet prosecute a direct trade in foreign and domes- 

 tic supplies through the medium of our own ports 

 to the extent of the remainder of her resources, 

 phe could be far more prosperous than at preseni. 

 It is evident, that the los^s of Virginia, in conse- 

 quence of the indirect trade, exceeds the profit of 

 the northern merchants who monopolize our busi- 

 ness, inasmuch as not only the same profit, which 

 would accrue to the soulhern importer, must be 

 paid abroad, but the incidental expenses of freight, 

 insurance, travel, &c. must also be added to our 

 detriment. 



It appears to your committee, from the best 

 evidences in their possession, that the profits paid 

 to northern cities on merchandise by Virginia, 

 North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, 

 from 1816 to 1836, a period of twenty years, were 

 greater in amount than the public debt of the 

 United States which was liquidated in that lime, 

 amounting to ^ 170,000,000, with interest thereon; 

 and had the south retained the direct trade, they 

 believe that the increased value of property in her 

 cities and towns lor that period would have near- 

 ly reached a similar amount ; and, as it is obvious 

 that rich and flourishing cities enhance the value 

 of the property of the entire states to which they 

 belong, every foot of southern soil would have 

 been enriched by that process. It may here be 

 stated, that Virginia and North (Jarolina do not 

 even enjoy a direct trade with New Enirland, as 

 the greater part of the manufiictures and products 

 of that section, which are consumed in the South, 

 are obtained from New York, Philadelphia, or 

 Baltimore, and come to us well laden with the 

 charges of the indirect route. Looking at our 

 present commercial policy in all its results, your 

 committee are constrained to adopt the opinion, 

 that such another instance of self-immolation is 

 not to be found in the annals of the world. 



They beg leave llirther to illustrate the benefit 

 .of a direct trade, by staling the fact, that in all 

 .civilized states, which enjoy their own business to 

 a respectable amount, compared with their re- 

 sources, more than a moiety of the wealth will be 

 Ibund to be located in their marts of commerce 

 end business. In all the states north of us this 

 principle will apply with full force. It is true that 

 the trade of many of them is of late becoming 

 indirect, and their present ratio of increase of ca^ 

 pital is not as unilbrm as formerly ; yet at this 

 lime in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 

 Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Delaware and Maryland, either under a 

 system of fiiir taxation may draw more revenue 

 from its marts of commerce and business than 

 from all other portions of its territory. Rut this is 

 not the case with Virginia, as the assessmen! 

 value in her four principal seaports is but about 

 ,*$ 19,000,000, which is but about one-eleventh part 

 of the value of real property in the state, which 

 is as Ibllows : 



I'lihte of Hoiiscs. T'al. of Lands. A'"'rc<'nte 



Richmond, 9,639,344 8,001,540 S2 10 640 884 8" 



Norfolk, 2,188.6-2o 2,704,430 4'i?93'o-,-, " 



Petersburg, 1,921,494 866,011 "'tpt'^-.O''. 



Fredericksburg, 233,231 832,897 I'oGu'llS 



$•6,982,67-} 12,404,878 19,387,563 82 



We find again that in many of the states of 

 Europe from one third to one half of the popula- 

 tion draw their subsistence from the business 

 marts ; and in the Atlantic stales about one-fifth of 



the population are thus located ; but Virffinia is 

 very deficient in her quota, she having but about 

 49,000 souls in all her towns which have over 

 5,000 each, (which includes the eiiterprigiiig but 

 neglected towns of Portsmouth and Wheeling,) 

 our whole population heiii<j estimated at 1,300,000 

 souls; and therefore, whilst the Atlantic states, as 

 a whole, have a business population in the pro- 

 portion of one to four, Virginia has but about one 

 to twenty-five, and while our agricultural business 

 is capable ol' sustaining by this ratio, a population 

 in our marts of business ol over three hundred 

 thousand souls! It is therefore very manifest 

 that we sustain a much larger business population 

 in other states than in our own, and thai the va- 

 lue of real estate in the cities of other slates, ia 

 great in proportion to the amount in consequence 

 of business which they derive from us. The 

 value of country property in other states is also 

 augmented by the increased wealth and popula- 

 tion of their cities, which we sustain to the neglect 

 and ruin of our own. 



Your committee find that the British colonies 

 in North America are in an enviable condition 

 compared with Virginia. The Canadas, with an 

 aggreirale population less than Virginia, sustain a 

 population in their business marts as great as Vir- 

 ginia, North Carolina and Georgia together, and 

 they have few or no mechanics or artizans, and 

 they look to the mother couulry for even horse 

 shoes, and horse shoe nails, and the most com- 

 mon articles usually made at home. 



In the island of Cuba ("which is as convenient 

 to New York, as the stale of Alabama.) we find 

 that the whole population is less than in Virginia 

 — and 3'et we find thai its numbers about triple 

 our number of business population, and thai the 

 wealth and revenues of her ports is greater than 

 from all her interior, and it is evident that her re- 

 tail dealers procure their supplies in her own 

 marts. 



The same is the case in reference to Jamaica, 

 and it appears evident that if all the retail dealers 

 in those islands were to obtain iheir supplies in 

 New York, that their present flourishing and pros- 

 perous ports would snon be reduced to the condi- 

 tion of our Cobham, York Town, Tappahannock, 

 or City Point, and the destruction of those ports 

 would be ruinous alike to the prosperity and secu- 

 rity of the inhabitants of those islands. 



Your committee find that there is no state in 

 Europe which has not made a greater proj)ortion- 

 ate increase in population and wealth compared 

 with their Ibrmer condition, than Virginia, and the 

 same comparison will apply with full force in re- 

 ference lo all our northern states. 



Your committee are of the opinion that the 

 concentration of the trade of Virginia in her own 

 ports for a single year, with the prospect of its 

 continuance to an amount equal to furnishing the 

 supply liir the consumption of the people of the 

 state, would produce an increased value of pro- 

 perty in that short period to the amount of not less 

 than fifty millions of dollars. This it is admitted 

 looks extravagant, but it must be borne in mind 

 that property is valuable in proportion to the use- 

 ful or beneficial purposes lo which it may be ap- 

 plied. If the country dealers and planters would 

 purchase the amount in our porls which they now 

 purchase in those of other states, ii would be found 

 that our present state of agricultural strength 

 would require and support a seaport population of 



