A Port for Southern Direct Trade [pp. 164-168]

A PORT FOR SOUTHERN DIRECT TRADE.
description of this harbor is given: "The town of Beaufort in
Granville County, Carolina, North America, is situated on the
island of Port Royal, north latitude 32~ 23', about thirty
miles from Perrysburg and forty-five from Charleston to the
southwest. The continent and island form that fine capacious
harbor ealled Port Royal, which may hold the royal navy of
England. The harbor is secured by a fort with twelve culverins, but the town and island have no fortification, nor is the
harbor so well fortified as a place of this importance deserves,
especially as it lies so near Spanish Florida. There are not in
the town above fifty or sixty houses, but from its advantageous situation and goodness of harbor it is expected one day
to become the capital of Carolina. It is always the station
of the British squadron in these seas." Nor should this harbor have been unknown to France, for it is admitted that this
is the identical harbor upon which Jean Ribault founded his
colony of Frenchmen in 1562. It was the "Grand Riviere"
of the bold navigator. France should feel especial interest in
reviving commercial intercouse with that spot of earth where
her banner first waved, the emblem of mastery erected by her
sons as "the first civilized tenants of the great Western continent," nor would there be only sentiment in the intercourse.
The position of the harbor is directly on the parallel of the
great cotton-producing States; it is also in the very centre of
the rice region. The Cape Fear, the Waccamaw, the Pee
Dee, the Santee, the Cooper, the Edisto, the Ashepoo, and the
Combahee, the rice-producing rivers of the Carolinas, all lie
within a distance of two hundred miles to the northward of
this port, while to the southward, inl still closer contiguity, are
the rice rivers of Georgia-the Savannah, the Ogeechee, the
Altamaha, and the Satella. Take the 32d parallel and run it
out westward, and see what important points it will approximate. It will go through the cotton States of Georgia, of
Alabama, and of Mississippi; it will pass on the line dividing
Louisiana and Arkansas, will penetrate Northern Texas, and
will continue outward to the westward along the "Rio Gila"
to its junction with "Rio Colorado," and will strike the Pacific
Ocean in the vicinity of San Diego. This is the shortest land
route from ocean to ocean-on this line you are placed in
contact with Macon, Milledgeville, and Columbus, in Georgia,
with Montgomery in Alabama, with Jackson and Vicksburg
in Mississippi, and with Fulton and Shrevesport beyond the
Mississippi. It will be asked, if this port has these great and
decided advantages why has it remained in obscurity so long?
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