The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-13 00:00:00

Mr. J. CHEETHAM, the President, said the pre•
sent state of circumstances affecting the supply of
cotton to this country, alarming as it was, did not
make the arguments of this association anjr stronger
than they were at its foundation four years ago,
though its principles might be more fully recognised
now than they were at that time, by the many who
then stood aloof. The leading principle of the
association had been, from the outset, that this
vast national interest of cotton manufacture ought
not to remain in almost total dependence on
one source of supply for its raw material,
especially when the permanence of that source
was so closely bound un with a social system
liable suddenly to break down and leave us in the
direst emergency. He regretteC very much the in-
difference with which the question had been
regarded among the manufacturing interest itself,
as compared with the anxious attention paid to it
in all circles in the metropolis. Everywhere in
London the question was being asked of them,
" What are you doing in Lancasnit e, and what is
to be the result there of this crisis in the United
States ?'' Now that the crisis seemed imminent, it
was a matter for congratulation that this associa-
tion had already been in existence four ye ars, storing
up information and experience that migLit serve to
guard us from ill-considered and disastrous experi-
ments. It was easy to report of this or that part of
the world that it was capable of supplying abundance
of excellent cotton, but the point too often lost sight
of was the enormous advantages possessed by the
American planter. In the first place he had the
pre-eminent advantage of being an Anglo-Saxon,
endowed with all the skill, enterprise, and ingenuity
of that race. Then he had a country the soil and cli-
mate of which were peculiarly adapted for the cul-
ture of the article, from the lowest qualities up to the
very finest. He had an adequate and intelligent
acquaintance with the real wants of the consumers;
his own country was covered with roads, railways,
and navigation, so as to give him the greatest pas-
sible economy in conveying his produce to the port,
and there also he met the capitalists who gave hint
the means of speedy communication with all the
markets of the world. What, then, were the places
on the globe where we were able to contend with
a competitor so highly favoured ? On a review of
all those parts of the world whence cotton might
be expected to come, it was found that, apart from
the southern portion of the United States, there were
only two regions possessing the very first requisite,
which was labour to employ; and these two were
the West of Africa and the East Indies. Every
other country possessing soil and climate fit for the,
growth of cotton of a quality equal and in many
cases superior to that which America produced, was
yet placed out of the question at present by the
want of labour. And in the West of Africa, though
there was labour, the people were savage, the coun-
try was desolated by the warfare of the hostile
tribes, and the climate also was fatal to Europeans.
Thus we were at present restricted to that great
continent of India, which was now actually growing.
more cotton than any other portion of the globe. It
was calculated that the annual produce of cotton in.
India was not less than 6,000,000 bales. We also
possessed the advantage of having that country
under our own Government. There, also, we had
abundance of free labour; there was no question of
slavery to grapple with. And. yet, there were
formidable obstacles as compared with the posi-
tion of the Americans. In the cotton districts of
India, there was no such man known as the Anglo-
Saxon. The cultivation was in the hands of the
ryot, a small farmer holding a few acres of ground,
and so poor himself as to depend on bankers for his
capital. When his crop reached maturity the pro-
duce was taken by the moneylender, who, of course,
had great control over the price, and it very little
exceeded ltd, or li-d, per lb. The cotton was im-
perfectly cleaned, and underwent various adulte-
rations for the advantage of the succession of
dealers through whose Muds it passed before
reaching those of the English merchant at the place
of export. It was worthy of remembrance that
scarcely any article exported from India had ever
been brought to a satisfactory state of produc-
tion, unless under European superintendence.
But in India we were also without roads to the
seaboard, without water communications tee.so,
I and railways were only now on the point of bew
coming available. Another difficulty was the under-
stood principle of the Indian Goveeument that n
land should ever be sold in fee simple to Europeans,
and then there was the jealousy of the civil service,oro
against enterprising Englishmen in the interior
India, who were to this day regarded
Under these
on the part of the Government. though an altered tone was beginning asto be manifest
that Indian cotton
cir-
cumstances it was not surprising
was the worst grown in the hole world and fetched
The movers in this associa-
tion India as a
to smile at all proposals for relying
the lowest price, so that consumers were accustomed
there
he quality to a level
tmioaninbesloiuervceed,onfesvuePrPthlYeless, that was a prospect
not only of increas_ing the. Indiant supply to this
lastetev elevating gyears was 2,974,000
grown in America. The quantity received
country,vvroitmh Indbutia
n also
t h of f
bales, of which we had ourselves consumed only
266,000 bales per annum on the average, the annual
excess of 230,000 being taking away to various
countries on the Continent.
India was capable of
giving us a much larger quantity than 600,000
e amount last year. Probably
we could reckon o
Bombay. This on 1,200,000 bales a year from
association had lately been enabled
to hand
of a over the development of the cultivation
superior quality of cotton in India to the
efforts of a joint-stock company, who chairman
was his friend Mr. Platt, of Oldham. (Applause.)
As soon as the season permitted, the company
proposed to send out to India as its commissioner
Mr. G. R. Haywood, who had hitherto been
the secretary of this association ; and Sir Charles
Wood had placed at that gentleman's disposal
the services of Dr. Forbes, who would
accompany him. (Applause.) Mr. Cheetham
referred again to the danger of rely ing exclu-
sively on America, and pointed to the fact that
while the annual supply from the whole world in
the last 10 years had averaged only 3,984,000 bales,
the annual consumption of Great Britain, Europe,
and America had been 3,960,000. The present
price of cotton arose not so much from the actual
crisis in America as from the practical knowledge
that a million bales had been lost to us by the
failure of the harvest. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. H. ASHWORTH moved the adoption of the
annual report of the association, which was agreed
to.