Direct Trade of Southern States with Europe, No. III [pp. 493-502]

DIRECT TRADE OF SOUTHERN STATES WITH EUROPE. 493
Art. VI.-DIRECT TRADE OF SOUTHERN STATES WITHI EUROPE.
No. IV.
COMPARISON OF NOR'rITHERN AND SOUTHERN MARKETS
FOR FOREIGN GOODS.
WFF desire to continue this series of papers, original and selected, and request
fie assistant e of all fiends. We should be delighted for anything sent us under
:ie heat. The )paper we now publish was prepared by the Hon. F. 1t. Elmore
of Chestibon, a name deservedly high in the country. We suppose the facts
ernbodiel id will nIlt have changed their relations in the short space which has
elatsed since tile meetiig, of the Convention.
Tie., Committee of ten, to which has been referred the resolution
,-f the Con.ention, directing them to ascertain and report whether
goods have lnot been imported and sold at the southern sea-ports,
Upon as good terms, and at as fair rates, as they can be procured at
ithe northern-and whether the country merchants cannot now pro,ure at the southern sea-ports as fill a supply aind as good assorti-ients, upon as fair terms, and as favorable periods of payment, as
they can be procured elsewhere-and whether there exist any and
what-audvantages in making purchases from the direct importers at
ihe South, respectfully submit the following report:
The inquiries to be made, in the foregoing resolution, are deeply
interesting, to all the friends of southern direct trade. If facts will
justify affirmative answers to them, the success of the enterprise, if
persevered in, is unquestionable, unless defeated by the untoward
action of the (-eneral G(overnment, or a dispensation of Providence
against whi:.l hunman prudence affords no safeguard. The facts necessary to entirely correct conclusions on these inquiries, are many,
a:rd exceedlingly complicated, requiring for their collection, consideration and arrangement, more time and opportunities than the present
occasion afliords; and y-our Committee being composed of merchants,
dealers, and planters,'rom' the interior of the States and territory
represented in this Co Atention, labor under many difficulties, in the
inve.stiation -n the r(. stilt of which, the Committee, in common with
all they represent, hai e a deep interest, being nothing less than the
discovery of those markets where they can sell their staples for the
hi,ghlest, (and( buy the goods they consumne at the lowest prices. Such
time and opportunities as they possessed have been employed to the
best of their ability, and they submit the result to the consideration
of the Convention.
The Southern States have at all times been the producers of staples of great richness and value in the commerce of the world, which
from their earliest settlement as colonies, gave them a direct trade
with foreirgn nations, of an extent and importance greatly beyond
their proportionate population. The growth and increase of this
trade kept more than even pace with the increase of population, and
enriched them with a prosperity before unparalleled. Since the
Ievo)lutioni, and duiring(r the period of free trade, it grew and expanded
to an immense extent, as has been developed in the report of the
Commrnittee ef twenty-cne already sui)mitt.'d to the Convention. The
settlement of new States south-west and west, of similar pursuits,