1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



71 



west: for with corn and cotton high, the middle 

 and southern states will cease, in a measure, to 

 rear those animals, and consequently will become 

 purchasers. Wheat and tobacco depending mostly 

 on the foreign market, will not be so much af- 

 fected. But as ours is the principal tobacco grow- 

 ing country lor all Europe, and as an extension of 

 the cultivation ot corn and cotton has a tendency 

 to diminish that of tobacco, it is evident that to- 

 bacco would be more influenced than wheat by 

 rise in the price of cotton and corn. Accordingly, 

 we find that tobacco is now selling very high. 

 The high price of cotton is likewise calculated to 

 make the south a better market for all the products 

 of the north, and to give increased activity to the 

 commercial interest, in which the north possesses 

 the deepest stake. Mr. Lee, the, author of the 

 celebrated Boston Report on the Tariff, and one 

 of the best statists which this country can boast 

 of, estimated the advantage (lowing to the north 

 from the transportation of the cotton of the south, 

 as equal to $5, 000,000 on cotton, amounting in 

 value to $25,000,000. 



Summary of the causes of the present prices. 



Thus have I rapidly sketched out the causes 

 which have been operating in producing the pre- 

 sent prices. In the first place, the late removal of 

 the deposites, and the consequent caution and 

 curtailment of business on the part of the Bank of 

 the United States, together with the unfriendly 

 relations existing between that bank and the state 

 banks, which imposed the necessity of a similar 

 curtailment on the latter, gave a shock to public 

 and private credit, which plunged the country 

 into the greatest distress, and rendered the circu- 

 lating medium scarce every where, by both di- 

 minution of quantity, and of the rapidity ot" cir- 

 culation. This at once brought down prices to a 

 minimum. The importation of the. precious me- 

 tals from abroad, was the immediate consequence 

 of lowness of prices, and tended to relieve the pres- 

 sure by increasing the currency. By and by, the 

 banks that rode safely through the storm, began, 

 when things settled down, to enlarge their busi- 

 ness, confidence and credit were restored, and a 

 redundant circulating medium is the consequence. 

 This of itself is capable of producing high prices, 

 independent of other causes; but in the present 

 instance, it has been aided by the great foreign 

 demand for cotton, which together with the eman- 

 cipation of slaves in the British West Indies, has 

 made slaves rise in value throughout our slave- 

 holding country. It has indirectly contributed to 

 the high prices of corn, tobacco, and the staples of 

 the west, and will no doubt, if it continues, diffuse 

 prosperity over all the northern states, in the way 

 I have already explained. 



Prospects. 



In the mean time let me ask what are our pros- 

 pects? I answer, that this rise in prices has al- 

 ready excited a rage for speculation which will, in 

 all probability, carry up prices still higher. A 

 fever for speculation, when once excited in the 

 body politic, always produces both economically 

 and morally, the most disastrous consequences. 

 It destroys that regular persevering industry, by 

 which alone a nation can be enriched. It attracts 

 the capital and resources of the country towards 

 chimerical projects, and airy bubbles. During 



the prevalence of the South Sea scheme in Eng- 

 land, hundreds of projects were set on foot — and 

 the sums proposed to be raised by these expe- 

 dients, amounted to more than *800, 000,000, which 

 exceeded the value of all the lands in England. 

 On these occasions, so intoxicated do the people 

 become with a spirit of adventure, that they fall 

 victims to the grossest delusion. Only call it a 

 joint stock company, and thousands of dollars in- 

 stantly flow into the scheme. All are anxious to 

 enrich themselves by a single stroke of good for- 

 tune. The hard-working plodding man is looked 

 upon with contempt. Habits of the most luxuri- 

 ous and vicious character are speedily introduced. 

 There is nothing more true than the old adage, 

 "easy come — easy go." A man who makes a for- 

 tune at a stroke, is almost sure to spend it extrava- 

 gantly. He must live high and give costly enter- 

 tainments, to purchase the attention and consider- 

 ation of the new circle into which his wealth has 

 just introduced him. The great merchants, law- 

 yers, physicians, &c, follow the example which 

 is set by the speculators — a reckless profligate 

 gambling spirit is spread through the country — 

 one-half the nation is trying^ to grow wealthy by 

 the ruin of the other half! Every kind of decep- 

 tion, falsehood, and trickery are resorted to for the 

 purpose of influencing the markets. "During the 

 infatuation produced by this infamous scheme, 

 (South Sea,)" says the historian, "luxury, vice, 

 and profligacy increased to a shocking degree of 

 extravagance. The adventurers, intoxicated by 

 their imaginary wealth, pampered themselves 

 with the rarest dainties, and the most expensive 

 wines that could be imported: they purchased the 

 most sumptuous furniture, equipage and fmparel, 

 though without taste or discernment — they in- 

 dulged their criminal passions to the most scanda- 

 lous excess — their discourse was the language of 

 pride, insolence and the most ridiculous ostenta- 

 tion — they affected to scoff at religion and moral- 

 ity, and even to set heaven at defiance." A bill 

 was actually brought into the British Parliament 

 for the suppression of blasphemy and profaneness, 

 to so fearful a degree had the spirit of speculation 

 and gambling affected the morals of the people. 



The disastrous influence of this rage for spec- 

 ulation in our own country during 1817, 1818 and 

 part of 1819, was almost as great as that produced 

 in England by the celebrated South Sea bubble, 

 or in France by the Mississippi scheme. 



With regard to Virginia, I do not think the 

 mania will be so apt to reach her in its most ag- 

 gravated form. The high price of negroes and 

 cotton, is now producing a fearful emigration to 

 South West, where golden harvests will be re- 

 alized, if present prices can only be kept up. The 

 spirit for speculation will, in a great, measure, 

 direct itself towards south-western lands. Hence 

 although corn, wheat, and tobacco may rise, this 

 exhausting drain of our labor and capital to the 

 south-west, will keep land in this state from rising 

 pari passu. Our labor and capital both are swept 

 from our soil as fast as accumulated. At this 

 moment, in Virginia, there is a mighty struggle 

 going on between the elastic principle of the black 

 population on the one hand, and the drain to the 

 south-west on the other. And if the high price 

 of slaves shall be kept up for a few more years, I 

 doubt whether all the procreative energies of the 

 race can compensate for the emigration; and in 



