The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-20 00:00:00

Ufikinit - int

LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 1850.

It was Trite unnecessary for the Honourable
Member for Manchester to offer any apology for
bringing under the notice of the house the impor•
taut subject which he on Tuesday night introduced,
with so much ability. It related to a question in
which every British citizen is deeply interested, and
on which the welfare and prosperity of the influential'
constituency which the Honourable Gentleman re-
presents in Parliament mainly depends. It is impos-
sible to estimate the extent of the mischiefs that would
result from an inadequate supply of the raw material
of our cotton manufactures. Thousands and tens of
thousands of men, women, and children would be de-
prived of employment, and would suffer the utmost
privations and misery until they took refuge in the
various workhouses. An enormous amount of capital
would remain idle and unproductive, and a
commercial crisis would ensue, exceeding in
magnitude that under which the country
suffered so severely in 1847 ; many firms of high
respectability and undoubted solvency would be re-
duced to a state of bankruptcy ; the national re-
venue would fail, and ruin and almost unparalleled
distress would prevail oa every side. We should no
longer have the purchasing power to pay for the pro-
ductions of other nations, and we should be con-
tented to do without many things which, from long
usage, have become articles of almost primary neces-
sity. No less than two millions of our population
are engaged directly in the manufacture of cotton
fabrics ; and, in addition to the vast quantity of these
articles consumed in the home market, the declared
value of the cotton goods exported during the past year
amounted to no less than 26,000,0001. sterling, or four
per cent. on the entire exports of the country.

But, notwithstanding these undoubted facts, we
have hitherto evinced a culpable negligence and
apathy with respect to the supply of this most im-
portant article. We are satisfied to place our chief,
if not our entire, dependence on the Southern States
of America, where the crop is altogether the result of
slave labour. If any unfortunate misunderstanding
should interrupt our amicable relations with that
country, or if, what we so anxiously desire, slavery
should be abolished throughout the entire western
hemisphere—if, in fact, any of the numerous con-
tingencies to which the article is peculiarly liable in its
cultivation should take place, we should too late deplore
the fatal consequences of our own blindness and fatuity.
Should these contingencies not reach to the total ab-
sence of the raw material, but merely an increase in
the cost puke thereof, to the extent of 2d. or 3d. per
pound, the consequences, although not altogether in-
surmountable, would still be very serious, and such
as noman
to
nf
encounter.
If and foresight would
be willing
If no adequate remedy could be provided for this
possible evil we should be contented to stand the
" hazard of the die"---to meet the danger we could
not possibly avert. But it is well known that among
the colonies and dependencies of the British empire
there are districts admirably adapted for the growth of
cotton, and that if due encouragement were afforded
to the cultivators, and that the obstacles which at
present impede its production were removed by wise
and judicious regulations, we should be rendered in-
dependent of the American States, and from any
undue or unreasonable increase of price. Why then
golden opportunity neg.loecat_edodp?t
thNeVhnyoodesesawrye
ptoimssib t
le failure ? The time
oi
precautionssmtiht,e while
a theregain
sits
ayneyt
when we shall bitterly
cotton, stra
lia
are well adapted to the cultivation
al
also those of the West ledia islands. Indeed, a con-
siderable as
quantity of cotton, about 60,000 bales, was
annually imported from thence in former years, a
quantity which has, however, latterly fallen off ma-
terially, so that we now receive an average of 8,000
bales per annum only, or about cne•eighth of the
former amount. This deficiency his been occasioned
partly because sugar and coffee were found or be-
lieved to be more profitable, but chiefly from the de-