such an extent that large importations of grain were made from the Mediterranean in that year to supply the deficiency. The panic of 1837 caused the people to return to their regular occupations as farmers, which enabled the States to meet the slight European demand for cereals that existed in 1839, and was the means of causing an accumulation of wheat for the year 1847, which helped to balance the short crop here in 1846, known as the Irish famine year. With the exception of a moderate business in 1853 and 1854, the wheat trade of America was very trifling; the production being very little beyond the consumption. None of the Northern Atlantic States grew enough for their own wants, and their populations had to be supplied by Virginia and the West. The Russian war intervening cut off the usual supplies from that quarter, and America was called upon for an increased quantity in 1856, at high prices, which stimulated large shipments the following year, with disastrous results, peace having restored the commerce with the North of Europe. The extravagant quotations of 1856 induced much speculation in the West, and gave a fabulous value to land; people rushed to the New States by thousands, and wheat fell from $21 to 80 cents a bushel; cities that were constructed upon paper were swept from the map; railways partially completed were left unfinished; and the bubble burst in 1857. Large tracts of country were, for this reason, thrown open to the husbandman, who was then joined by the speculators, who were obliged to resume their calling of tillers of the soil. The Southern States at this period, in consequence of the advanced price in cotton, devoted more of their labour to the production of that staple, and purchased a portion of their provisions from their neighbours north of the Ohio; and hence the extraordinary large crops of cotton in 1858, 1859, and 1860. The Western people thus finding a market for their increased yield of cereals, were induced to cultivate grain still more extensively, and their wheat crops, as well as those of Indian corn, were therefore unprecedentedly great in 1860 and 1861; and the anticipated traffic caused the completion of many of the unfinished lines of railway. The dissolution of the Union, however, which took place at this juncture, deprived them of their Southern custom; and had it not been for the short crops of the United Kingdom in those two years, and in France and other points on the continen the latter season, they would have had no market for their produce; but the European demand stepped in and relieved them of 5,000,000 quarters of wheat and flour for the twelve months ending August 31, 1861, and of 6,000,000 quarters for the year closing at the same time in 1862. Notwithstanding the large quantities of breadstuffs taken by the Southern States in the three last years of the Union, their food resources are greater, considering the population, than those of all the other States combined. This is proved by the census figures of 1860. Although the shipments of wheat for the two seasons closing August 31, 1861 and 1862, have been so large, they have yielded little profit to the farmer; prices have not been high, and the gross proceeds at the seaboard were eaten up by the heavy expense of inland transportation, commissions, &c. No inducement has, therefore, been offered for a continuance of such extensive cultivation. In fact, the land is being worn out: no manures are used; and as the agriculturist moves farther West to break virgin soil, he is subjected to increased expense in getting his supplies from, and his produce to, market. So the limit of production has not only been reached, but the increased price of labour, caused by a scarcity of hands, is another obstacle to the planting of large crops. It must be borne in mind, too, that the winters in the North-west, where the grain is principally produced, are so severe, that the seed is committed to the ground in the spring, and not in the autumn, as in most countries. The seasons of 1860 and 1861 happened to be unusually early. The harvest of 1862, as far as known, is not as large as its two immediate predecessors, and with low quotations on this side of the Atlantic, it cannot be moved forward to the shipping points at remunerating prices. The commerce in breadstuffs between the American States and the West Indian and South American ports has been carried on with flour made from wheat grown in the Southern States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri, on account of the superiority of the grain; in fact, the large cities on the Atlantic have for the same reason also been fed by the produce of these States.* * The Philadelphia 'North American' of April 1, 1863, a Republican The average number of quarters of wheat grown in all the American States is computed at 28,000,000, of which 5,000,000 are retained for seed, leaving 21,000,000 quarters for consumption (13,000,000 quarters in the North and 8,000,000 quarters in the South), and 2,000,000 quarters for exportation. The average production per acre does not exceed thirteen bushels. In the rural districts of America, Indian corn is a leading staple of food; so is rye. The exportations of the former are very large, and those of the latter are occasionally of considerable moment. The Southern States produced in 1860 55,000,000 quarters of Indian corn, against 50,000,000 quarters grown in the Northern States. The joint population of the North and South is 31,151,046 viz. 18,907,753 North, 12,243,293 South. It will be observed that the United States, unlike Russia, is not naturally a grain-exporting country, and that the business in wheat, the past two years, has been an exception, and not a rule; that the boast of the Northerners, that England cannot get on without her breadstuffs,' is most idle in its character-every intelligent corn merchant being aware that Northern Europe has at all times an almost inexhaustible supply of cereals, should the price be high enough to pay for the inland transportation. The grain crops in the South this year (1862) are very much greater than formerly, in consequence of the hands being employed in that description of agriculture, instead of cotton, tobacco, and sugar. In the minds of Europeans the South, commercially, has hitherto been associated only with its cotton, tobacco, rice, naval stores, &c., while it should really have been regarded as the great agricultural portion of the United States. Its grain-raising advantages, particularly for winter wheat, are unsurpassed; possessed of a climate which keeps the meadows always green, and obviates the necessity of providing hay in any considerable newspaper, confirms this statement as follows:-'We showed last summer, ' from the census tables, that during the decade previous to 1860, the whole 'South had made considerable and somewhat remarkable progress in the production of wheat. This was owing to the popularity in our market of the Southern varieties of wheat, and the increasing demand for it among our millers.' quantity for the maintenance of cattle in winter, there is practically no limit to its capabilities for producing live stock. This same equability of climate is, moreover, assisted by the steadiness of the most skilled agricultural labour in the world, and hence the great regularity in the increase of the growth of all its productions. The Southerners are not constantly changing their occupations, as has been the habit of the Northerners; but they have ever exhibited the same persevering energy in all their civil affairs that they have shown in their military movements since the struggle against Northern tyranny commenced. A people that is always being led off by speculations, and not content with legitimate employment, is like a man who frequently changes his business he gains no real wealth-this applies to the North. A nation that pursues the even tenor of its way undisturbed by the visionary schemes of the hour, is comparable to a good merchant, who, although he may be considered somewhat 'slow,' in the end is sure to reap success--this applies to the South. It has been a mistake to suppose that the Confederate States were dependent upon the North or West for food; a very small portion of their land is employed in the cultivation of the leading staples-cotton, tobacco, sugar, and rice. No country has such self-sustaining power, as has been proved by the experience of the last eighteen months, and no country is capable of giving such benefits to other nations, as will be proved when its ports are opened to the free commerce of the world. 139 CHAPTER XI. AMERICAN CURRENCY AND COMMERCE - THE WEST INDIA TRADE - GENERAL REMARKS. HISTORIANS and nearly all other writers on America have with one accord based their arguments upon the foregone conclusion that the States were indebted to the Constitution for all those advantages, material and political, that until lately they enjoyed as members of the Federal Union. This fallacy originated in the fact that, while the colonies flourished by unrestricted intercourse with the other possessions of Great Britain, a marked decline was visible in their prosperity after their establishment as States, by reason of their exclusion from trade with the islands. This decline, however, was attributed to want of strength' in the Articles of Confederation. Surely, when under those Articles, the States succeeded in bringing the revolutionary war to a successful issue in the face of almost insurmountable difficulties, they might, if fairly tested and amended, have been made to answer the purposes of a peace establishment. In truth, the conflict with the parent country had been carried on for six years by the Continental Congress, composed of delegates from the thirteen colonies. It was not until March 2, 1781, less than eight months previous to the decisive event at Yorktown (October 19, 1781), that the Confederation' was formed. The merits of the Union' then, as since under the Constitution, have been unreasonably over-estimated. The United 'States' have never had a name,' and there was no occasion even to give the Confederacy a local habitation.' It was a false step to dedicate any particular spot for the capital of a league of States; it would have been far better to have preserved the archives and held the sessions of Congress in some old-established city. Great trouble arose in reference to the 'location' at the very outset of the operation of the Constitution, and recent events prove very clearly that the possession of neutral territory alone |