April 3, 1861; The New York Herald
The struggle for supremacy, commercial and political, between the two confederacies, North and South, may be said to have fairly commenced, and we recognize the opening of the battle in three or four events which have come to pass within the last few days. First, in the inauguration of the Morrill tariff on Monday last; second, in the tone of the English press upon that measure, as demonstrated by the papers which arrived here yesterday by the Borussia and New York; third, in the instructions said to have been imparted to our representatives going abroad by Mr. Seward; and fourth, in the circular addressed by Mr. Chase to the Collectors of Customs at the North, prohibiting entries of goods in bond about to be shipped to the ports of the seceded States.
Let us treat these incidents seriatim, and endeavor to arrive at the inevitable result to the future of both confederacies.
The operation of the Morrill tariff, as manifested in the New York Custom House of the past two days, and as we have described it in our columns, verifies all that has been predicted of the ruinous complication and confusion with which it was certain to surround the importing interests of this city; and, as regards its effect upon the revenue, there can be no doubt, from the present proceedings, that although for a month or so the receipts of the Custom House may increase–that is to say, while the merchants are taking out of bond those articles upon which the duties are lowered–after that time the revenue will fall off immensely, in proportion to the decrease of importations. On the first day of the operation of the new tariff $50,000 worth of sugar and molasses was withdrawn, and so with other goods upon which the duty is lessened, and which were rushed into bond in large quantities since the tariff was passed. When this spasmodic influx of money to the treasury declines, as it soon will, the government at Washington will find an alarming decrease in the revenue to be the consequence of the Morrill tariff. Many importations yet to arrive will be subject to much confusion. Of the steamers which arrived here from Europe yesterday, two of them bring cargoes, a portion of which must be levied upon under the old tariff, and a portion under the new. For instance, it is provided that all merchandise shipped on or before the 17th of March can enter at the reduced rate of the old tariff, but all goods shipped subsequent to that date must pay the exorbitant duties of the Morrill law. The Borussia left Hamburg on the 15th, Havre on the 18th and Southampton on the 19th of March. Hence her Hamburg cargo comes under the old law, while the goods shipped in the two latter ports come under the provisions of the new law. And in like manner the cargo taken on board the New York at Bremen on the 15th will only have to pay the old rates, while that taken in at Southampton on the 19th must pay the new rates of duty. This provision of the new tariff was affecting the trade of some of the manufacturing districts in England; for we find that great activity was observable in Newcastle to hurry off its chemicals and its coal for the American market before the 17th of March, in order to escape the prohibitory duties now imposed upon these articles; and also in Rochdale, to make up its shipments of woollen goods with a like purpose. But this is, as it were, the last spirit of trade in these articles with the Northern ports, for the Morrill tariff virtually excludes them.
It is evident from the tone of the English press, that all questions of American politics are completely absorbed in that country by the great commercial issue involved in the solution of the Northern and Southern tariffs. Slavery is swept out of notice altogether; there is no longer a word to be found about the negro; the vital question there now is which confederacy shall receive most favor, in view of the manufacturing interests of England, and the verdict in every quarter is on the side of the South; for, says the London Telegraph, ‘all the sympathy for the free States, we cannot suffer our industry to be cut up by the roots in order that a slaveholding faction may be prostrated.’ And the same journal says: ‘France and England will no doubt combine to thwart the Cabinet at Washington in any efforts it may undertake to coerce the cotton States by shutting them off from the trade of Europe.’ This is emphatic in favor of a recognition of the Southern confederacy. And in connection with Mr. Lincoln’s alleged project of blockading the Southern coast, the same paper adds: ‘We cannot afford to see the Southern ports blockaded for a month, a week, a day. If Mr. Lincoln attempts to blockade them, the European law of blockade will be put in force, and the navy of the republic will be at once powerless upon the seas.’ The London Times, News and Globe are equally distinct upon this point. The Times says that Mr. Lincoln, instead of ignoring the Southern confederacy, should recognise it as a reality; and it gives deserved credit to the sagacity of the Southern statesmen by adding, that while the North is passing a prohibitive tariff, the Confederate States are acting with ‘marked prudence and propriety.’
From these expressions it can be seen that the commercial necessities of the case are compelling public opinion in Europe to side with the South against the North despite of all the prejudice against Southern institutions. The fact is, that the issue of slavery upon which the republican party scrambled into power and place, is totally lost sight of in the face of graver questions which touch the dearest interests, not alone of this country, but the whole civilized world. The republicans have got the negro all to themselves, and while–like the man who won the elephant at a raffle–they are endeavoring to stow him away comfortably in the garden at Washington, all sensible nations are looking after the material interests of commerce, industry and manufacture, as they are affected by the vital commercial question involved in the operation of the Northern and Southern tariffs, and the division of the republic into two separate confederacies.