The future.
Whilst keeping constantly before our view the temporary evils which may follow a dissolution of the Union, it is in no wise inconsistent with the loyalty due to our own State, and to the interests of our own people, to glance at some alleviating circumstances which, in the event of the stern necessity of separation being forced upon Virginia, may more than compensate her for the troubles which may result. As the introduction of slaves, against which Virginia pretested, has been followed by universal blessings and happiness, so it may occur, in the workings of that Wisdom which often overrules apparent evils for the highest good, that the separation of the States, which all are endeavoring by every legitimate and honorable means to avert, may be productive of the greatest advantages and benefits to the South.Why is it that the free States are all on fire for Union? Why is it that Black Republicans, who hate and detest slavery, pronouncing it the sum of all villainy, hug the festering corpse to their bosom, and swear they will annihilate the wretch who seeks to disturb that glorious Union? The answer is, Dollars and Cents. The South produces vast wealth; the Northern profits absorb it.
The duties of the United States Government have not been levied with a view to revenue, but have been so adjusted as to tax Western and Southern consumers for the support of Eastern manufacturers. In the past seventy years, eleven hundred millions of dollars have in this way been paid to the Northern manufacturers as tributes from the South and West. In addition to this, the Puritan codfish catchers of the Yankee States have drawn five millions of dollars as bounties out of the Federal Treasury. In addition to this, also, the North has enjoyed a monopoly of the carrying trade, foreign vessels being excluded. The accumulation of capital thus brought about, amounting to some $600,000,000, has been invested in stocks, banks, insurance companies, &c., $356,318,000 being in banks alone, draining sixty millions per annum from the earnings of other sections. The following table gives some approximation of the annual load which Southern industry is required to carry:
| Bounties to fisheries, per annum | $1,500,000 |
| Customs, per annum, disbursed at the North | 40,000,000 |
| Profits of manufacturers | 30,000,000 |
| Profits of importers | 16,000,000 |
| Profits of shipping, imports and exports | 40,000,000 |
| Profits on travellers | 60,000,000 |
| Profits of teachers and others at the South sent North | 5,000,000 |
| Profits agents, brokers, commissions, &c. | 10,000,000 |
| Capital drawn from the South | 30,000,000 |
| $231,500,000 |
Taking an aggregate of these items for ten years only, the result is the enormous sum of $2,315,000,000; and allowing 20 per cent, of the sum only, as the aggregate of the fifty previous years, the amount is two thousand seven hundred and seventy millions of dollars earned at the South and added to Northern accumulation. Hence we can see why the Union is so ‘"glorious"’ at the North, and why the unanimous opinion of Black Republicans is, that ‘"it must and shall be preserved."’ Hence, we also see how noble and unselfish is Southern patriotism, which nurses with its life-blood the hungry bantling at its breast, and the more it bites and scratches, gouges, squeezes, and pummels the fount of life, only folds it more tenderly to its bosom, and with sweet lullabies seeks to soothe the truculent glutton:
"Hush-a-bye,
And don't you cry;
Hush-a-bye, little baby,
You shall have a coach and six," &c.
Now, if the Union, which is dear to the South from the purest and most disinterested motives, shall be rent asunder, it is some consolation that the forty millions which she now contributes to the United States Government will be at her own disposal, and be expended for her own benefit. The present exhausting drain would be stopped; and a duty as low as ten per cent. upon her foreign trade would produce thirty-five millions, which would be ten millions more than would be necessary for the support of the Southern Government, and thus the frightful bugbear of taxation vanishes into thin air. Nearly the whole of the present immense exportation of $350,000,000 is furnished by the Cotton States, which are now out of the Union, and it is only by making common cause with them that Virginia can participate in the revenue based upon these exports, and obtain relief from the burdensome taxation entailed by the New England Tariff.
Our Manufacturing interests.
For Virginia to pursue a temporizing policy is to endeavor to serve two masters and to be strongly mistrusted by both, to thrust herself between the upper and nether mills tone and be crushed to atoms. Our peculiar advantages in Richmond for becoming a great manufacturing city, have received their chief impetus and development from Southern patronage.--We will mention a single circumstance in illustration of this fact. In one week of last Spring six ships left this port with fabrics made here for the now seceded States. These States, if we prefer their friendship to that of a section which buys nothing from us, will not only continue, but, aided by their increased ability, encourage our manufacturers of every description, to a degree of which we can now form no conception. The immense manufacturing profits which have hitherto gone to the North would build up her a Manchester and Sheffield combined, whilst Norfolk, with her magnificent harbor, would become the New York of the South. That the Southern people are not unobservant spectators of events in the Border States, is made apparent enough by the reply of Gov. Ellis, of North Carolina, to a circular sent him from Baltimore, asking what amount of aid he could recommend his State to give a Baltimore enterprise of ‘"Direct Steam Communication between the Chesapeake Bay and Europe."’ He reminds his correspondents that--
"Baltimore, through her Representative, has contributed her share towards placing ‘'our National affairs in their present position.'’ A Representative of the city of Baltimore aided in placing at the head of one branch of our Government a member of the Abolition party--a party whose aim is the overthrow of Southern independence and the destruction of Southern property. I do not say that this act of his is approved of by the city of Baltimore. I trust and believe that it is not — but it remains to be seen whether it will be condemned in a practical way.
"In contrast with this, Representatives from the city of New York used their influence to prevent the result brought about by the Representative from the city of Baltimore. Now, if the ‘'present position of our National affairs '’ be a reason for the concentration of Southern trade, I cannot see that Baltimore has any preference over New York, as the point upon which that trade should be concentrated; she having, in the way referred to, aided in bringing about the ‘'present position of our National affairs,'’ and New York having done her utmost to prevent it.
‘"Nor can I see how I could consistently give Baltimore such preference over New York in any recommendation I might make to the Legislature of North Carolina."’
In view of these facts, Gov. Ellis declines to make the desired recommendation. We have no doubt he speaks the sentiment of the whole South, and that the Gulf States would infinitely prefer New York, which has always been just and patriotic, to any slave sections which do not recognize a community of interests, hopes, and affections with the whole Southern family. Of the thirty millions of profits which Northern manufacturers now absorb from the South, Richmond may secure at least ten millions, and of the fifty-six millions for importing, shipping, &c., Norfolk, the unrivalled, central, magnificent harbor, may secure twenty-five millions. On the other hand, to adhere, in the event of a separation, to the Northern States, will be to make Virginia the rump of a Northern Confederacy, in whose commerce and manufactures she will have no part or lot whatever. The North now buys nothing of the South; and in the event of an adhesion to the Lincoln Empire the South would buy nothing of us. The letter of Gov. Ellis to the Baltimoreans foreshadows the future. To be forewarned, is to be forearmed.
