The Country in 1950, or The Conservatism of Slavery [pp. 426-439]

The Country in 1950, or the Conservatism of Slavery.
the only ones we can assign in support of
our views. Special influences, not to be
foretold, retard, disturb and modify what
seems to be the natural course of events.
There appear to have arisen, however,
in modern times influences affecting the
fate of nations, which allow of some degree of certainty in speculating upon
their final results. The elements of capital, commerce and population form ingredients in the structure of society at the
present day, which admit of approximate
measurement at least, and, which, aided
by the lamp of historical experience, may
guide our feet over the doubtful ground
of political conjecture.
Allusion has been made to the commercial importance which the North
seems destined to attain, if favored by a
continuance of the Union. In a COMMERCIAL point of view, the South may be considered as her province, with a relationship similar to that borne by the colonies
of Great Britain to the mother state.
Her profits and her trade swell, as the
South increases her supplies of produce
to the demands of the world, at the same
time that the tax on her capital and manufactures for public purposes is diminished by the same cause. Her energy
and her enterprise, exerted under such
favorable auspices, have already whitened
every sea with her canvass, and annually
pour into her bosom the tribute of the
nations to augment her growing capital.
When we consider that this has been
effected amid the discouragements incident to youthful undertakings, we may,
even now, safely award her maturer age
the palm of victory in the contest for
maritime supremacy.
The manufacturing interest of the
North seems destined to assume a no less
commanding position. Already in her
thousand towns and villages are heard the
never ending din of the loom, the laborious groans of the forge, and the shrill
shrieks, which proclaim that the Cyclopean powers of steam are being spurred
to their tasks of mechanical toil. Already
the results of this various industry successfully compete~with those of older nations in the markets of the world. Abler
pens than ours hate demonstrated how'
this suc cesi s is the offsprin g of the Unlion,
to whosh continuance, it can a lon e look
for a lengthened existence. The command
of capital arisin g from Southe rn e xpor ts;
the use of raw material, obtained at the
South w ithout restr ictio n; the unfettered
market offered the re to the i ndust ria l pr od ucts of t he N orth; and the light load
of fe deral taxation she bears, in consequtence of her connexion wit h so great
a producing and consurming r egi on;-all
aid in increasing that co mmand of means
which has a l re ady enabled he r to spurn
a secondary position in the manufacturing world. In the contest she wages with
the labor a nd capital of the old world, it
must be conceded she also derive s much
assistance from the w onderful inventive
genius, o e a n d the ale rt en erg y of an active
and intelligent people. Fostered by a
continu ance of thes e f avorable circumstances, with the labor and capital of Europe steadily flowing in to assist the final
result, who can doubt, that posterity will
there witness a commercial and manufacturing prosperity, as yet unrivalled in the
history of the world? Already the homes
of the lords of the lo om, and merchant
princes of this country, display an extravagance of luxury and splendor, that
strikes the foreign visitor, familiar with
princely state, with astonishment. We
may then safely predict that not Tyre or
Carthage in ancient times, Venice or Genoe of the middle era, or London and
Manchester of the modern world, ever in
their palmiest days presented as brilliant
a spectacle of wealth and population, as
the world of the future will behold in the
cities of this country. But here the
question naturally arises, how will this
external prosperity effect the social condition,-the political fortunes of the
North? It is precisely this consideration,
taken in connection with the actual state
and tendency of Northern society, that
has made us venture upon the prophecy,
with which we commenced. This boundless heaping up of wealth must have a
double effect. It is like the sun, which
in tropic regions, on the one hand, covers
the face of nature with a luxuriant vesture of vegetable beauty, and dresses
land and sea in dazzling colors, —and
1856.]
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