“We question if any other community, certainly no other in the United States of America, have made greater exertions to resuscitate the trade of Norfolk than the mercantile portion of the inhabitants; in proof of which nineteen-twentieths of those engaged in foreign commerce have terminated in their insolvency, the principal cause of which has been in the unrelenting hostility, to this day, from the commencement of the present century, of the Virginia Legislature, with the co-operation of at least the commercial portions of the citizens of Richmond, Petersburg and Portsmouth.”
How it is, in this enlightened age, that men of ordinary intelligence can be so far led into error as to suppose that commerce, or any other noble enterprise, can be established and successfully prosecuted under the dominion of slavery, is, to us, one of the most inexplicable of mysteries. “Commercial” Conventions, composed of the self-titled lordlings of slavery—Generals, Colonels, Majors, Captains, etcætera—may act out their annual programmes of farcical nonsense from now until doomsday; but they will never add one iota to the material, moral, or mental interests of the South,—never can, until their ebony idol shall have been utterly demolished.
BALTIMORE—PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.
We are indebted to the Baltimore Patriot for the following interesting sketch of the Monumental City as it was, and as it is, and as it may be:—
“The population of Baltimore in 1790 was 13,503; in 1800, 15,514; in 1810, 35,583; in 1820, 62,738; in 1830, 80,625; in 1840, 110,313; in 1850, 169,054. The increase of inhabitants within two particular decades, will be found, by reference to the above table, to be remarkable. Between 1800 and 1810, the population nearly doubled itself; between 1840 and 1850, the increase was two-thirds; and for the past five years, the numerical extension of our population has been even more rapid than during the previous decade. We may safely assume that Baltimore contains at the present time not less than 250,000 inhabitants. But the increase in the manufactured products of the State, as shown by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, is a matter of even greater astonishment. The statistical tables of 1840 estimate the aggregate value of the manufactures of Maryland at $13,509,636—thirteen million five hundred and nine thousand six hundred and thirty-six dollars. In 1850, the value of the articles manufactured within the limits of the State amounted to $32,593,635—thirty-two million five hundred and ninety-three thousand six hundred and thirty-five dollars! A signal proof that the wealth of the State has increased with even far greater rapidity than its population. A quarter of a century ago, the sum of our manufactures did not much exceed five millions of dollars per annum. At this day it may be set down as falling but little short of fifty millions. These are facts taken from official sources, and therefore understated rather than exceeded. They are easily verified by any one who will take the necessary trouble to examine the reports for himself; and they justify us in the assertion that we are but fifteen years behind Philadelphia in population, and are only at the same relative distance from her in point of wealth.
A change has been going on for some time past in our commercial and industrial affairs which all may have noticed, but the extent of which is known to but few, and we hazard nothing in saying that this enormous progression must continue, because it is based upon a solid foundation, and therefore subject to no ordinary contingencies.
Occupying geographically the most central position on this Continent, with vast mines of coal lying within easy distance to the North and West of us, with a harbor easy of access, and with railroads penetrating by the shortest routes the most fertile sections of the Union, we need nothing but the judicious fostering of a proper spirit among our citizens to make Baltimore not only the commercial emporium of the South and West, but also the great coal mart of the Union. Our flour market is already the most extensive in the known world—we speak without exaggeration, for this also is proven by unquestionable facts. There is more guano annually brought into our port than into all the other ports of the United States put together, and the demand for this important article of commerce is steadily increasing. Our shipments of tobacco are immense, and as the improvement in the depth of the channel of the Patapsco increases, must inevitably become much greater.
Such, then, is our present condition as a commercial community, and when we add that our prosperity is as much owing to our admirable geographical position as to the energy of our merchants and manufacturers, we design to cast no imputation on these excellent citizens, but rather to stimulate them to renewed efforts in a field where enterprise cannot fail of reaping its due reward.
Take any common map of the United States and rule an air line across it from Baltimore to St. Louis, and midway between the two it will strike Cincinnati—the great inland centre of trade—traversing at the same time those wonderfully fertile valleys which lie between the latter point and the Mississippi river. Now let it be remembered that since the introduction of railways fluvial navigation has been, to a considerable extent, superseded by inland transport, because of the greater speed and certainty of the latter. Let it be remembered also that the migration westward is incessantly going on, and that with every farm opened within striking distance of a great arterial railway, or its anastomosing branches, a certain amount of freight must find its way to the seaboard markets, while the demand for manufactured products, and for domestic or foreign commodities, in exchange for breadstuffs or raw material, must necessarily increase; thereby adding greatly to the prosperity of the commercial centre towards which articles of export tend, and from which imports in return are drawn. It would be difficult to estimate the value of what this trade will be fifty years hence, or what the population of Baltimore, situated as she is, will by that time have become.
Reasoning from causes to effects, and presuming that ordinary perseverance will be used in promoting the interests of our city, industrially and commercially, we are justified in believing that its progress must be in an accelerated ratio, and that there are those now living who will look back with surprise and wonder at its growth and magnitude, as we have done while comparing its present aspect with that which it exhibited within our own memory.”