Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-13 00:00:00

13,

althougle there was a difference between the men of
Manchester and those of Liverpool on political
and local matters, on the present' occasion they
were both agreed, for in the present subject the port
of Liverpool was as much interested as were the people of
the city of Manchester. He felt sure that it was unneces-
sary to reiterate the able arguments that had been brought
forward on the present occasion by the preceding speakers,
but he hoped he should be permitted to call the attention
of the meeting to a few of the objections which had been
raised by some parties against this association. It had been
said that they were about to cultivate cotton to the injury
of America, It was no such thing. All that they wished
was that they might cultivate as much as they cwild, and
that other countries might be allowed to do the same.
But there was another most serious charge made against
them, and that was, that they were agitating political
principles for the purpose of making a change in
the government of the East Indies. He would
venture to deny most emphatically any such an object ;
their only object being to get a greater supply of cotton
from wherever it may come, and that was the only
purpose and aim they had in view. It was this view that
he did hope the representatives of the people would place
before the house of omm:tits, and therefore he hoped the t
that impression would be removed at once. He was sure
they hid all great confidence in the gentlemen who had
addressed them that morning, and he was sure that they
would support their arguments when elsewhere, awl do
their utmost to procure all that was necessary. There had
been coins talk about the slave labour employed in growing
the cotton in the East and West Indies, but there was also
slave lab Air in other parts. What they wanted was a
greater space for the cultivation of cotton, in order that
hey might get a sufficient quantity of it. He believed that
the East In:lies was a good field for the cultivatioa of
cotton. and from it they looked for an adequate
supply of cotton. Some short time ago, he had
some cotton, the produce of Bengal, which would
not at the present time fetch more than 44d. per lb. in the
market, but if the growers in Bengal had had the meat:4 of
having better cultivation, and the means of obtaining
irrigatirm, it would have been worth at least 8:1. per lb.,
therefore, the difference in the value would be more than
double, nod the advantage to the cultivator would he more
than four-fold, All they 7/:,11 t.l was to increase the sueely
of the raw material. He canenaled by saying, that when
he saw such a community as that, he had n a fear as to the
results of the object they had in view being ca-vied out.
Mr. BARBER (who was in the body of the room), requested
to know whether that was a meeting of an association, or
whether it wet a public meeting ? But, he said, from what
he had heard he was inclined to think that it was a meeting
of the association.
The CHAIRMAN : This is a public meeting.
Mr. BAREER, who then at the request of the meeting,
took his position on the platform, said—as it was
a public meeting, he wished to say a few Words
on the subject then under discussion. Although he
was not connected with the cotton trade, he, with many
others, felt deeply interested in its prosperity, and should
net have presumed to have taken a part in the proceedings
if it had not been for some of the statements that had beep.
made by some of the preceding speakers. It bad been.
stated that there was a deficiency in the suprly of cotton ;
but in the causes which had been assigned for that
deficiency he did not agree. He thought they should pause
before they come to conclusions, and risk the responsibility
of making such representations, and they ought to have
some security against the statements that were made. He
then alluded to the statement that had been made by Mr.
Cheetharn, as to the deficiency in the present sup sly of the
raw material, and to the causes thet that gentleman hod
assigned, and said that they must not forget the state of
the trade in 1839. The then prices was allege] to be the
state of the stock. Then the produce of cotton had outran
the consumption. Iu 1845 they had then a large stock
and low prices. From that period it appeared that no
change had taken place, although the demand had out-
stripped the consumption. He thought it would be diffi-
cult to discover the cause of the rise in the price of cotton ;
which he believed to be only temporary, and that that was
a wrong time for them to discover it, as it looked a great
deal like being self-interested in the matter. He
did hope that they would not be deceived. and
would not take any step unless they knew what
they were doing. He then alluded to the
quantity of cotton sent from India twenty years ago, and
what it had sent since, and stated what he believed to be
the cause of the falling off in the crops from that country ;
and also as to the difference between free and slave labour,
and stated that he did not find any difference—it in 1839,
and the present time—nor did he think that that had any
effect on the present prices. Ho concluded by saying that
the resolution was so moderately worded that he should not
move an amendment, but expressed it as his opinion that
if the manufacturers would consent to work their mills—
short time for a short period, it would have a great in-
fluence on the price of cotton, and would tend to relieve
them from the difficulties in which they were then placed.
After a few words in explanation from Mr. Chatham, the
resolution was put from the chair, and unauimusly adopted.
Mr. Boom= came forward to second the resolution. He
said : It has been stated that cotton, like any other com-
modity of primary use, would be forthcoming to meet the
requirements of the country, if sufficient inducement
existed with respect to the price, as it would be the
means to stimulate production ; but this, I think, would
not follow as a natural consequence, because the article
cannot be grown to advantage except in certain high
latitudes, in the neighbourhood of the sea coast, and con
sequently by labourers inured to those climates, either by
birth or long residence. Beside this, we must not leave
out of sight the encouraging demands of the world, which,
at present, exceeds the supply. I say this, because we are
depending upon the Southern States of America for the
bulk of the present yield, and where, we are told from
the best authority, large tracts of land are going out of
cultivation through the impoverishment of the soil, and
even if the present crops are not interfered with, it will take
some years before the last year's yield could be increased.
Then, again, who can anticipate the wants of the world for
future years. We have nothing to guide, unless we take
a retrospective view of the past, by which we procure the
gigantic strides consumption has taken ; for instance,
between the years 1820 and 1856, the increase hoe risen
from 450 to to three millions of bales, an-?, es I said
before, no one will assert we had too great a supply. At
the latter period it was barely sufficient to meet the exi-
gencies of the day, can any contemplate future require-
ments, especially when we take into c insideration the
enormous population in our own possessions, subject to
our control, numbering some 150th, whose average outlay
in the manufactured article now under discussion,
does not exceed some few pence per head, whilst
those in our western hemisphere, similarly situated
as to climate and occupation, consume equal to £2 each
per annum. The great question, then, is what is the bast
to be done to remedy this state of thing=, so much com-
plained of, and from which so many evil consequences
are likely to follow. I say, support the association, by
raising a fund with moderate contributions, and to make
it as general as possible; for, I am of opinion, there is
scarcely an individual that is not interested on this sub
ject either directly or indirectly. The association will
direct its attention to India—firstly, by endeavour-
ing to enlist the hearty co-operation of the East India
directors, and claiming support from her Majesty's
government in rendering every, facility practicable to
encourage the growth of cotton in those vast reeions by
such means as may be found to be most practicable.
In the next place, to impress upon the minds of her
Mei sty's government the necessity that exists for t`::r,
transfer of labourers from the Eastern climates, parte-
ularly fore India and China to our West In.lia dep.)i.d
encies, by removing such unnecessary restrictions as have
hitherto rendered emigration almost nugatory; at the
same time, taking care that evtry pro ection be afforded
towards the comfort and well-being of the emigrant. We
have there abundance of land skirting the coast for
hundreds of miles, particularly in British Gunaia, as well
as in the other neighbouring islands, admirably adapted
for the growth of cotton to an almost unlimited extent;
a great part of which has already furnished productive
crops of that article and would no doubt be re-
established at a comparatively small outlay. The
land consists of a deep alluvial deposit, yielding
crops which are perennial for years without manure
and such is the fertility of the soil that a prize was obtained
at the Exhibition of 1831 for cotton gathered off trees
growing on waste lands to which no attention whatever
had been paid, either with respect to the planting of the
seed or the culture of the tree, as the seed must havo been
scattered by
.accident. Besides advantages of this kind,
those possessions are situated within twenty-five days' run
of our own shores; most parts of the country abound with
the finest timber ; and the lands are intersected with
navigable rivers and canals, rendering navigation and
shipping comparatively inexpensive ; and last, though not
the least, the land yields the most nutritious food with
litttle or no trouble. (Hear, hear.) Then we are told—
" You never can obtain sufficient labourers to work these
possessions unless you have recourse to Africa or China;
if from the former, it is a savour too much of the old trade,
slavery ; and if from the latter, there is a growing
prejudice in consequence of the way in which it has
been carried on in Cuba." With respect to the former,
I shall refrain from making any comment; bait to the latter
assertion I must enter my protest ; as well might a com-
parison be made between the position of our own emanci-
pated blacks and the slaves in Cubs ; as to draw one
between emigration as conducted between the two countries.
It is now upwards of fifteen years since emigration com-
menced to our West Indian Colonial, I therefore imagine
sufficient time has elapsed for ns to decide whether or not
it has been a failure—whether the labourer has
found it to his advantage by improving his condition,

whether the proprietors of the soil have been enabled
to keep a portion of their properties from becoming
valueless—whether the natives of Indian and Madeira
have not benefitted themselves by realising property. an
well as their distant relatives, by making them remittances
from their accumulated earnings—whether her Majesty's
Treasnary has not been replenished by an accession of
import duties. I shall be told I must furnish some proof
of those statements. I say, in reply to such, questions, I
refer them to undoubted authority, to the despatches litom
successive governors in Downing-street, to the Colonial and
Land Emigration Commissioners, and to her Majesty's
Treasury. With India and China before us, con-
taining a population of 400 million souls, thousands
compelled to live in boats on the water. I
am aware there are a few individuals . who feel indis-
posed to encourage a continuance of emigration to our West
Indian possessions. I believe this arises fromaiwant of
information, for I cannot think otherwise the process is
carried on in conformity with your Emigration Act of
Victoria 18 and 19. p. 1. The labourers are landed on a
free soil, under the protection of the British flag,
whose influence is wielded by British o ffieers and
magistrates, who receive their commissions from the
crown, and subject to its authority and supervision.
For want of cotton, or even sugar, we have nothing to fear,
if we only avail ourselves of the opportunity of transferring
a portion of this redundant population from the east to the
west—a measure which experience has taught us meets
with the hearty concurrence of those natives How
different would the condition of our possessions in the
west have been if an opposite line of conduct had been
pursued during the last fifteen years. The industrious
population of this country would not have been obliged to
pay, out of their hard earnings, some two to four millions
of money, in the way of high prices, for articles that were
once considered a luxury, but now felt, in every man's
house, a necessary. I, therefore, call upon every one, rich
or poor, gentle or simple to aid us in this movement for we
are all deeply interested therein. Mr. Booker then con-
cluded, after some further remarks, by proposing the
second resolution.

That in the opinion of this meeting, the coloni,l dominions and
other dependencies of Great Britain afford ample resources for the
cnitivatwn and development of the cotton plant, and that it is the
duty as well as the interest of the British nation to aid in the promo-
tion of those measures by which the growth of cotton may be esta-
blished and extended, not only in the British dominions, but in all
accessible countries.
Mr. W. P. ANDREWS seconded the resolution. He said
he considered the subject one peculiarly fitted for the
the expression of public opinion in Liverpool. The supply
of cotton was not only a subject of importance to the port
of Liverpool and to Lancashire, but one of national impor-
tance. It was a subject almost identical with, and part of
the institutions of the country. He was anxious to explain
what he knew from personal experience of the capabilities
of India, and the requirements of India for the pro-
duction of cotton. The subject of British India,
it appeared to him, should have been put in a much more
prominent place than it occupied in the resolution
he was charged to second. Something had been
said by a previous speaker about British enterprise, and
British capital being applied to the development of the
supply of cotton. He considered that they were practically
shut up to British India. They might get cotton from the
West Indies, from Africa, or ultimately, as his gallant
friend, General Chesney, would tell them, from the classic
shores of the Euphrates and the Tigris, where it was now
growing in inexhaustible quantities ; but from the want of
means it was not made available. From all these places
they might get cotton to-some extent, but British India,
he contended, was the place to which they must direct their
attention, if they really desired a prompt and an efficacious
supply of that great article of manufacture. For the
successful production of cotton a variety of ingredients
were required. Soil and climate, a settled government,
and an industrious and numerous popul.stiou would be
required, and all these ingredients they had in British
India. One thing they lacked. They had irrigation.
It was quite a mistake to suppose that irrigation
was such a crying want in India. There were magnificent
irrigation works in India, there was the great Ganges Canal
which cost a million and a half of money—there was the
Dewab Canal, a magnificent and enormous work. But
what they lacked was the means of transport to a market.
In the Punjaub there was fertility so great that it was op-
pressive. The people could not cultivate any more because
they could not sell what they had cultivated, and it was
beginning to rot. In other parts of India the same
remark applied with equal force. They must corab7ne the
means of transport with the irrigation, otherwise they
would only produce an evil—a positive evil. They must
introduce railways there upon an extensive scale, such as
the Grand Trunk Railway at present. Nothing could be
more useful for the particular districts than that rail-
way ; but what was the result to other places ? The
fertile regions of Babelenud and Oude, formerly
called the gardens of India, and other districts
were debarred from the usual market which they
had. The fortunate dwellers in the neighbourhood of
the Grand Trunk Railway were enabled to undersell them
in their own neighbourhood. Astonishment was expressed
in England at the quality of the cotton sent from India,
but be felt very much astonished that uuder all the cir-
cumstances they received it anything like so good as it
was. What they did receive was almost entirely from the
maritime provinces. Until they introduced the moans of
transporting cotton cheaply and extensively, they would
never receive an adequate supply of cotton from India.
In one rPgion alone there could be grown a suffieient
sit ,ply to clothe all Europe. On the banks of the Five
Rivers, in the Punjaub, there were regions capable of sup-
plying another Europe. The price of conveying goods at
present was from 8d to 10d per ton per mile upon emit/eels,
and this mode of conveyance necessarily caused the value
of the articles to be much deterioraeed before they arrived
at the port of shipment. They arrived filled .vith dirt and
dust, and quite discoloured, if not even more seriously in-
jured. He once saw one bullock bearing cottons eating the
load of the bullock who preceded him. (Laughter.) He
saw a fellow driving a waggon smoking his pipe—a spark
from the pipe set fire to the cotton, and it was with great
difficulty the fellow was got to pat it out, he did not care
twopence about it. (Laughter.) N.,t only was it stolen
and burnt, but it was frequently stopped t‘y the monsoon,
and destroyed altogether. It was considered by those
who went into the cotton question, that an amount of
about 170 millions of pounds conk be exported from
India annually. He was informed that the Cotton cultiva-
tion from Madras had been universally successful so far as
i▪ t had gone, but it could not be extended beyond a certain
amount —it would not exceed more than two per
cent upon the consumption of the country from
the nature of the soil. He was informed that
i▪ n the lower provinces of Bengal the cotton there was not
adapted for consumption in this country. The great
supplies to this country were from Bombay. And Bom-
bay got her great supplies from the maritime provinces.
The supply here now was almost equal to the whole of
the production of the maritime provinces. The exporta-
tion from India to China had diminished in proportion
as the exportation to this country had increased. Alto-
gether, India was a country possessed of boundless
recourses and an industrious population, which, from the
want of the means of communication, Was precluded
from its fair position in the markets of the worl J. He
declared that the most tremendous blow ever struck at
slavery would be the introduction of railways into India
upon an extensive scale. If the rate of travelling
were made cheap they had there a popula-
tion ready to avail of it; and he contended
that the natives had already proved themselves
as much alive to the necessity of rapid travelling as
Europeans were. He contended that 2d was the average
cost, per lb., of cotton, in the United States, while it could
be produced in India for lid. Having replied to some of
the arguments brought . forward outside, in opposition to
the object of that meeting. Mr. Andrews c nciuded by
seconding the resolution.
Mr. Watson rose to make some observations, be: gave
way to
GENERAL CHESNEY,
Consulting Engineer to the Eu-
phrates Valley Railway Company. He described the
country through which it is intended that line shall run,
and showed how materially it will shorten the journey to
India. The line will run through where cotton abounds,
but what is more important it open on the
Indus, by which all the Prwc,elliu ctsof India
can be speedily brought to this country. He
read from the reports drawn up by. Sir John M'Neile
and himself on this project to prove Its paying qualities,
and urged that if it were carried out it would aid largely
in promoting the growth of. cotton in India.
The resolution was unanimously adopted.
Mr. C. BUSHELL proposed the next resolution, which
was as follows:—
That this meeting has observed with !atisfactiur, the, formation in
Manchester of a cotton supply woe' ,hoo, having for its object the
more extended supply
ion every support: and that a corresponding
committee. in conjunction wi h the Cotton Supply Association, con-
sorting of five gentlemen,.be and is hereby established in Liverpool,
purpose of enrolling members, receiving subscriptions, and
conducting all business connected therewith.
He observed that the first great reason for such an
association was to be found in the apathy which existed
amongst those immediately connected with the cotton
trade in relation to this question. They saw that even
that day they had not been able to retain the presence of
gentlemen immediately connected with the cotton com-
merce o f the port. Now, that in itself was a sufficient
indication of the necessity for the formation of such
an association, for it was perfectly clear that they could
not otherwise be fully impressed with the importance of
the subject. He considered thatia false dogma prevailed
among commercial men, in regard to supply and demand
regulating itself and presenting the necessity for any
action. He admitted that that dogma was true tore