We should then be compelled to content
ourselves with the first price of our commodities, and to see the
profits of our trade snatched from us to enrich our enemies and p
rsecutors. That unequaled spirit of enterprise, which signalizes the
genius of the American merchants and navigators, and which is in itself
an inexhaustible mine of national wealth, would be stifled and lost, and
poverty and disgrace would overspread a country which, with wisdom,
might make herself the admiration and envy of the world.
There are rights of great moment to the trade of America which are
rights of the Union -- I allude to the fisheries, to the navigation of
the Western lakes, and to that of the Mississippi. The dissolution of
the Confederacy would give room for delicate questions concerning the
future existence of these rights; which the interest of more powerful
partners would hardly fail to solve to our disadvantage. The disposition
of Spain with regard to the Mississippi needs no comment. France and
Britain are concerned with us in the fisheries, and view them as of the
utmost moment to their navigation. They, of course, would hardly remain
long indifferent to that decided mastery, of which experience has shown
us to be possessed in this valuable branch of traffic, and by which we
are able to undersell those nations in their own markets.
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