spective advantages that the South, perhaps, never would enjoy to the full extent, unless she commence now, and prepare foundations suitable for that magnificent commercial structure, which is certainly at some day to arise out of that valley. To encourage the enterprise now, there is the carrying of the Brazilian and the Buenos Ayrean mails. The correspondence between the United States, Para, Rio, Montevideo, and the Argentine Republic, is extensive; and the revenue to be derived for the transportation of these mails would, with or without previous contract, go far towards supporting the line; and the sources of all its business, freight, passengers, and mail matter, would rapidly increase. So far, geographical position only is in favor of the South. The facts we have stated, the arguments we have used, commend the enterprise as strongly to the North as to the Sonth; and if the South do not make haste soon to take it up and embark in it, we may rest assured the North will not be slow. The contract for carrying the mails would protect those who may be first to embark in this field from competition for a few years, which, while the company is getting a foothold, is no small consideration. It is useless, because the attempt would be vain, to draw a picture of what commerce and navigation with the Amazon, or on the Amazon, or up the Amazon, or down the Amazon, would do in a few years; or how the silver from the mines of Potosi and Pasco. the gold of Peru and Bolivia, and copper and tin, would all flow down the Amazon to the Atlantic, instead of crossing the Cordilleras to the Pacific. We are now informed of gold diggings, placers and washings, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, that would vie with those of California. They are in the Indian country of Amazonia; but the energy and enterprise to fight, dig and wash, are not to be found among the people there. This, how ever, we regard as among the least valuable of the immense resources of that valley. Subdued to commerce, it would be a boon indeed. There is, moreover, another point of view in which the valley of the Amazon, with its magnificent and interesting future, presents itself to the American mind. That view we will hastily sketch, presenting only the main features of it. That valley is a slave country. The European and the Indian have been contending with its forests for 300 years, and they have made no impression. If ever the vegetation there be subdued and brought under-if ever the soil be reclaimed from the forest, the reptile, and the wild beast, and subjected to the plow and the hoe, it must be done by the African, with the American axe in his hand. It is the land of parrots and monkeys. Wherever they are found, there the African delights to dwell; and he alone is equal to the task which man has to accomplish with the axe in the valley of the Amazon. At the North, the spirit of emancipation has been pressing the black man down to the South. He is now confined almost upon the waters of the gulf. In the South, the same spirit has pressed him up to the North, and assigned to him the valley of the Amazon as his last resting-place upon this continent. When that valley is subdued and peopled up, it is not for us to divine what will happen-it is too far away in the midst of the future for our ken. Sufficient is it for us to know, that even then God, in his own wise providence, will order the destiny of the black and the white race to be fulfilled, whatever it may be. Therefore, humanly speaking, and humanly perceiving, the settlement of the valley of the Amazon, its relations to this country, its bearings upon our future commerce and institutions, appear to be so close, so intimate, and withal so potential, that the destiny of the United States seems to be closely connected with, wrapped up in, and concealed by this question. Storms will come at sea, and crises will arise on the land; but no mariner or statesman ever escaped the one or avoided the other by failing to prepare for them. When the ship is too much pressed-knowing that she may be-the prudent seaman has all, ready provided and at hand, the means of relieving her. In doing this, he considers the safety of the vessel, of the cargo, and of all on board. We propose to follow his example with regard to the ship of state. The institution of slavery, as it now exists in this country, fills the minds of its statesmen with anxious solicitude. What is to become of it? If abolished, how are so many people to be got rid of? If retained, how are they to be controlled? In short, when they have increased and multiplied according to the capacity of the states to hold them, what is to be done with them, whether they be bond or free? The "slave states," so called, have the black lines drawn about them. There will soon be no more Mississippi lands to clear, no more cotton fields to subdue, and, unless some means be devised of getting rid of the negro increase, the time must come-and sooner or later it will come-when there will be an excess in these states of black people. This excess will be brought about by the operation of two causes-natural increase of the blacks on one hand, and emigration of the whites on the other. The slaves may go from one slave state to another, but they cannot go out of the slave territory. Therefore, in the slave terrritory must they remain obedient to the command, "increase and multiply." As their numbers spread, and as their labor becomes less and less valuable—as in process of time it seems likely to do-owners | true; but they did not command the master will sell or leave their negroes behind, and emigrate to other parts-thus, by their absence, increasing the proportion of blacks to whites. The New-England States and the Middle States did not emancipate their slaves; they banished them. They passed their post-natal and prospective laws of emancipation, it is to let the slave go free. Before the time came round for the slave to go free, he had, in most cases, been taken off to the South, and sold there; so that the so-called emancipation at the North was simply a transfer to the South of the slaves of the North-an act of banishment; nothing more. Statement from the Census Tables of the Free Colored Persons in the New-England and in the With a Besides their natural increase, the free natural multiplication taken together-is deblacks of New-England receive large acces-cisive as to the practical increase at the South sions to their numbers from the free colored of the difficulties in the way of setting the emigrants and runaway slaves from the South. slaves free. In their own mute style, these It is well known that the tide of emigration of figures proclaim with unutterable eloquence the free men of color flows North;-there the injury and the wrong which fanatics, never has been a reflux of it towards the styling themselves the friends of the black South. man, have inflicted upon his race. free colored population of 27,983 in 1790, the South in the next ten years, by natural increase and emancipation, swelled this class by 23,940. The natural increase due the basis of 1830, (156,633.) is nearly six times that due the basis of 1790 (27,983.) It ought to be, certainly;-yet what do we see in the above figures? Why, that with the large basis of 1830, the decennial increase is but 27,138-only 3,193 more from 156,000 in 1830, than from 27.000 in 1790! Why, the free colored race must have fallen off wonderfully in its powers to "increase and multiply," or emancipation must have become much less in vogue among southern people now than formerly. Thus, what is taken from the South by emigration is added to the North; and therefore, in a comparison of the free colored statistics between the two sectious, the whole amount of emigration from the South appears as a double difference. It is subtractive on one side of the equation, and additive on the other. Bearing these statements in mind, it appears from the above-quoted statistics, that comparatively but few slaves have ever been emancipated at the North; that as between the New-England and the southern states, the southern have been the principal scene of emancipation; that notwithstanding the emigration from the South, the South has, within the fifty years between 1790 and Not only do these figures and facts, but the 1840, doubled the number of her free blacks statute-books also, show that the practical nearly six times; whereas the New-England difficulties of emancipation have been greatly states have not, in the same interval, doubled increased at the South. We see that from theirs once; and that, moreover, during the 1790, the increase of the free colored popuperiod of prospective and post-natal emanci-lation at the South has fallen off from the pation at the North, ten slaves received their freedom at the South to one at the North.* average annual rate of 8.5 to less than 2 per cent. More properly speaking, the ratio in which it has fallen off is as 8.5 to 1.8. The South could not, if she would, banish her slaves, and then tell the world that that is emancipation, for she has no place of banishment to send them to. In the spirit of truth and candor, we do not. think we venture too far when we assert it as a probability, that neither New-England when they did the emancipation acts which nor the middle states would have passed sent their slaves into banishment, if they had not had the South or some other place to send them off to. Now, suppose that Maryland and Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, should wish to pass post-natal free laws, or a law of among the many results of this line of steamthe so-called emancipation, can it be ima-ers, is the entire suppression of the African gined that the remaining slave states would slave trade with Brazil, by a substitution permit the slaves from those states to be therefor of a slave emigration from the crowded down upon them-to be brought United States. At least so it appears to us. there and sold, as those of the New-England states were when they were emancipated. We know the free states would not permit the liberated slaves to come over, in any considerable numbers, into their borders. The new constitution of Indiana, so far as she is concerned, is conclusive upon that point. It is not to be supposed that the states in question will ever emancipate, if the liberated slaves are to stay where they are. Emancipation and citizenship both, to the slaves of the southern states, is rather too much to expect from any one of them. The negroes from the Middle* and the NewEngland states, who, under the emancipation laws of those states, were forced into the markets of Virginia and other southern states, did not thereby become more of slaves than they were before. There was a transfer of the place of servitude-that was all. Not a slave the more was made. But he that was taken from the north to the south remained in the country. Suppose he had been sent to South America instead of to South Carolina, it would have still been the same to him; but how different to the country! There would in that case have been a transfer of the place of servitude, as before; but, according to the anti-slavery tenets of fanaticism, a curse the less would have remained upon the country. This subject opens to the imagination a vista; in it the valley of the Amazon is seen as the safety-valve of the South, and this line of steamers as a strand, at least, in the cord which is to lift that valve whenever the pressure of this institution, be that when it may, shall become too powerful upon the machinery of our great ship of state. There are in the United States at this time, about three millions of slaves owned by less than three millions of people. We shall not use too large a figure if we set down the average value of each slave at $400, or in the aggregate at twelve hundred millions of dollars. Total emancipation-it makes no odds how gradual-even if commenced now, would cost these three millions of American citizens -or, in a large sense, the people of the fifteen slave states, 1,200 millions of dollars. Did ever any people incur such a tax? History affords no example of any. The slave population increases at the rate of 2 per As in the breaking away of the storm, a cent. per annum. Therefore, unless an out-streak of clear sky is welcomed by the marilet be found for the slave population-as slaves the difficulties of emancipation in these United States, so far from decreasing with time, will become greater and greater, and that, too, they are doing at a tremendous rate, and with a frightful ratio, as year after year rolls round. The fact must be obvious to the far-reaching minds of our statesmen, that unless some means of relief be devised, some channel afforded, by which the South can, when the time comes, get rid of the excess of her slave population, she will be ultimately found with regard to this institution, in the predicament of the man with the wolf by the ears -too dangerous to hold on any longer, and equally dangerous to let go. To our mind, the event is as certain to happen as any event is which depends on the contingencies of the future, viz.: that unless means be devised for gradually relieving the slave states from the undue pressure of this class upon them-unless some way be opened by which they may be rid of their surplus black population-the time will come-it may not be in the next nor in the succeeding generation-but, sooner or later, come it will, and come it must-when the two races will join in the death struggle for the mastery. The valley of the Amazon is the way; in this view, it is the safety valve of the Union. It is slave territory and a wilderness. One ner whose ship has been endangered by the elements, so, this Amazonian vista is to us. It is the first and the only streak of light, to our mind's eye, that the future throws upon the final question of slavery in this country. Every steamship has her safety-valve; but every steamship is not obliged to use it always. It is there in case of necessity. So with the valley of the Amazon: we need not go there ourselves, nor send our slaves there immediately; but it is well to have the ability to go or to send, in case it may become expedient so to do. This line of steamers, by the commercial ties which it will establish, by the business relations which it will beget, by the frequent intercourse which it will bring about between the valley of the Amazon and the southern states, will accomplish all these great results, and more, too. The subject is immense-its magnitude oppresses us. We commend it to the serious consideration of our merchants and statesmen; and in so doing, we venture, though with diffidence, to ask the question: Will not one or more of the states most concerned in the successful issue of the enterprise, give it encouragement?-M. F. Maury. * Calling Middle States, New-York, New-Jersey, and Pennsylvania, only. SOUTHERN COMMERCE-ITs EXTENSION BY SEA.-Most of the railroads run across the ridges, and go from valley to valley. In one sense, our navigable watercourses may be considered as inclined planes, and the river craft as gravity cars, which, taking advantage of a physical principle, convey the produce to market at a cheap rate along the natural descents of the country. Hence the very striking feature in our internal improvement system: the railroads and navigable rivers cross at right angles. This is the rule. The Hudson river railroad, and some of those which are either in contemplation or in process of actual construction in the south are the exceptions which make that rule general. Can the steam-car on the land successfully compete in the transportation of merchandise with the gravity car on the water? This is one of the questions which will no doubt command the deliberations of the convention. Its members will be far better able to judge than I am, whether the condition of your part of the country be such that railways may run along parallel with your magnificent water courses, and live. But in considering it, it should not be forgotten that this is an age of advancement and improvement. It was but a few years ago only that it was said, and the world believed, that the power of steam could not compete with the free winds of heaven in propelling vessels to and fro across the ocean. And I am not prepared to say that railways may not compete with the Mississippi in the transportation of merchandise, as well as of travelers. Times have greatly changed: you all can recollect, gentlemen, when the price of cotton depended upon which way the wind blew. If easterly winds prevailed so as to prevent the arrival of the cotton fleet in Liverpool, up went the staple. Some swiftfooted packet was dispatched over with the intelligence, and he who could outride the mail, and reach your markets first, made his fortune. But steam and the telegraph have done away with this. There is no more room for that sort of enterprise, as it used to be called. New-York and New-Orleans, with the forked tongue of the lightning, now talk daily together about the price of cotton and everything else; and there is no more chance for the merchant to display his enterprise by getting control of private and peculiar sources of information. All information now as to the state of markets, is common. Salem once had command of the tea-trade. Her merchants, ascertaining that the stocks on hand were small, and the sources of immediate supply scanty, would club together and buy up, for a speculation, all the tea in the country. But now, a cargo of tea arrives-the fact is known. The telegraph passes the word fore and aft through every state, and asks who wants ? If Salem merchants should demand one farthing more than those of New-York are willing to take, the telegraph would give the order to New-York. And so with every other article known to commerce. Southern and western merchants now, by reason of steam and lightning, can stay at home, send out orders, and get from France and England their supplies much sooner than a few years ago they could get them from Baltimore, New-York or Philadelphia, after having gone there to order them. The consequence is, that southern and western merchants do this; and there are now in that section of the country, houses engaged in importing from abroad. The fact is, the producer and consumer are much nearer together than they used to be; consequently, the factor does not keep the large stocks of former times on hand. He draws from the sources of supply just in proportion as the channels of demand are glutted or free. The chances of speculation are small, and profits are brought down to the smallest figure. All these circumstances have impressed themselves upon the business of the country, imparted new features to it, and made necessary important changes in the mode and means of conducting it. These changes, and the causes of them, have powerful bearings upon the subjects which the convention is called to take into consideration. They, and the operations of the warehousing system, have caused men of business to establish in St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Louisville, &c., foreign importing houses. The duties collected in these three cities for the current year, amount to nearly half a million, and the value of the foreign merchandize imported direct to, upward of a million and a half. These importers and the warehousing system are recovering back to the South a portion of the direct trade. The duties collected at Charleston this year are greater than they have ever been; and Charloston imports largely of Havana cigars for New-York. It is true that the quantity of produce coming to New-Orleans in search of a market, has fallen off; and, consequently, the number of vessels arriving and departing, has decreased. This is what has alarmed, and justly alarmed, the people of New-Orleans. The cry is, "What's the matter? Here, there is decline, where there ought to be robust, vigorous health; depletion, where we ought to look for habits plethoric and full. What is it that has brought our city to this state of decline?" It appears to me that a satisfactory answer to this question is "The revenue collected at Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Louisville, and other ports similarly situated, was derived from importations of foreign merchandise at New-Orleans. 41,859 65. 133,838 76. 149,187 15. "The importations of coffee (free) at New-Orleans, do not appear in this statement. "The returns since 1st July, 1851, compare favorably with last year up to the present date. "Dec. 15th, 1851. C. W. R." There are other places in the valley where duties are collected also; but this table shows a regular, steady, and business-like increase in the direct importations of foreign merchandise into the Mississippi valley by way of New-Orleans. The duties upon it have increased during the five years ending with the 30th June last, in round numbers, from $1,715,000 to $2,722,000, or at the average rate of nearly 12 per cent. per annum. Now, the reason that the export sea-trade of New-Orleans has decreased, and its foreign trade increased, if traced back to first principles, will be found depending for an explanation upon steam and lightning, upon the improvements of navigation and ship-building, and upon the obstructions to navigation at the mouth of the Mississippi River. In consequence of the first of these, a punctuality and a certainty have been given to commercial transactions, which, as before stated, have broken up almost entirely those transactions which were formerly known as "commercial speculations." Punctuality in filling orders and delivering goods where they are required, is now a vital principle to wholesome commerce. Dealers and factors are brought down to the smallest margin for commissions and profits. Merchants will tell you that profits now consist in parings made by close cutting: a little here, and a little there. Therefore, to save the handling of the produce of the Mississippi valley, once on its way to market, is profits. Hence, all that produce which used to be shipped from New-Orleans to New-York, and then re-shipped thence for European markets, and all that foreign merchandise which used to be imported into New-York, St Louis .$52,751 69. 60,618 38 Louisville $8,752 98 8,648 81 54,334 04. 26,663 26 59,901 00 64,795 37 122,914 91. 211,526 19. and sent thence to New-Orleans, is beginning to go and come direct to New-Orleans, in order to save the transhipment. Many of the agencies that used to be employed between the producer and consumer, have been stricken down by the lightning; and the tendency of steam and the telegraph is to bring the producer and consumer more and more into direct intercourse. In evidence of this, we may point to the importing houses that are springing up in the cities of the valley. In St. Louis, for example: there, the wholesale merchants do not, as formerly, buy of the Eastern importer, and, of course, pay him his fees, commissions and profits; but they are beginning now to go direct to the foreign producer, as the eastern importer does, and order direct; thus saving the expenses of an agency, or the part of one at least. The enterprise of Illinois has created another mouth to the Mississippi, and placed it in Lake Michigan. Much of the produce which formerly touched at New-Orleans on its way to market, now goes through that canal; and for certain articles, its influence is felt even on the plantations in the state of Louisiana; for some articles, even from there, are turning about and flowing up stream: sugar is one, molasses another. Before this canal was opened, the sugar of Louisiana, in order to reach the consumer in the lake country, had to go down to NewOrleans, then round by sea to New-York, then up to the lakes, and so across by water, boxing the compass to get to Chicago. Now that canal is beginning to supply that whole region of country with sugar and molasses, which it attracts up the Mississippi. This lessens the receipts of freight at NewOrleans; but it benefits both producer and consumer; and it is not, I apprehend, any part of the objects of the convention to interfere with a business so legitimate and proper as this is, and which all the railways in the world can no more bring back than they can stop up that canal. It is the object of the |