The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-09-14

and production, were only equal to his beneuoeni
purposes toward the South, we God-defying ssman
slealers" would be, truly, In n very bad way
In his paper of the 23d, appears an article, the
character and object of which can be learned from
the following sample;
lcorroN--FLAx-HEMP. 4t0Hf
=" Advices from the South seem generally TO IN
dictate another short crop of cotton, and conse-
quent maintenance of the present extraordinary
price of that staple,f not an actual advance. We
express no opinion Of our on the subject, but
simply ,state what appears to e the general inn
preston IL this years yield Of cotton in the
States should not exceed two and a half million
bales we presume fair Orleans cannot be expect
ed TO average less than l5c per pound in New
York and 7id in Liverpool for twelve months TO
come
"This prospect prompts an inquiry which
seems TO us deserving of thoughtful consideration
WHY should the present dependence of mankind
on the cotton plant to supply half the clothing of
the human family continued Is At reasonableS Is
il beneficial II is certainly novelty in the
worlds history, based on the accident of Whit
ney snveniion Of the gin, with corresponding mn
provements in the machinery for spinning and
weaving Flax is the more hardy plant, will grow
and yield luxuriantly on far greater area of the
earth Is surface; its fiber rs far stronger and more
durable and it can be produced up TO the point
where machinery becomes essential with, a far
smaller expenditure of human labor. From some
little (though recent experience in its culture,
we estimated that six cents per pound for the FIBER
if the crop could be sold in the well cured stalk
undressed, would literally pay for the labor and
soil required for its production one year with
another; and flax is much surer crop than cotton,
while the vast extent ofterrtory on which 1t may
be grown almost precludes the possibility of def
Gent supply The single State Of Wisconsin
might grow flax to amount equal TO the entire
cotton crop Of the Union"
| Now, what a thousand pities it is, that God
made a production, like cotton, useful and ne
cessary to the comfort of civilized man, and so
absolutely indispensable TO the trade of the world
and to the industry of New Egland and Old Eng
land in particular. And how much greater sub
iect is it, for COMMUNICATION, that this pretty little
plant aoiH moi grow except in certain attitudes, and
has never been made to grow in any quantities,
except by the appropriation Of slave labor. Now,
if Mr.. Greedy had the ordering and cutting
out of the six days work, described in the first
chapter of Genesis, no doubt he could have ar
ranged all these matters upon different and better
| principles His deep philosophy must have long
since detected, that the Almighty committed
| a terrible original bunder when il made dstinc-
Eton in the color of men; and had he been the CO.
temporary of Adam and counsellor IN the grand
creation which sprang from Chaos at the divine
command, he would certainly have provided that
| the cotton plant should "sprng spontaneous
from " New England's rock-bound shore;" or at
| least that its strong and silky, and ductlle fibre
should have had no advantage over the tough, OBJ
stinate woody and intracticable hemp and flax.
| But unhappily for MIR. Greeley and the Cazeno-
vians, and most happily for the South, the AL
mighty author of All goodness to man, has given
the South this little plant as an arm of protection
against the fury of fanaticsm, and the benevo-
lence Of Mr. Greeley's philanthropy. In these
cotton bales he had vouchsaved us, the Monuments
of impregnable strength, and enabled us, if we
are wise and true, to arrest and turn back the tide
of revolution which maddened bigotry is pre-
pairing to roll over both the white and black races
| Of the South to their mutual destruction.
Cotton is our Aaron's rod-the talisman OF
power, the sceptre of dominion over the civilized
| world the little wand with which Mr.. Greeley can
be kept in check, and switched from his mad-cap
| fooleries into state Of sound reason and decent
propriety. :. Flax and hemp, wont do the ousi-
ness. friend Horace The cotton gin was nven-
! ted-that is fixed fact, which, while it invites
your lamentations, cannot be unfxed. Go on
| then. Rely on flax and hemp to feed and clothe
the millions of Europe who draw life from our
cotton-to run the spindles and looms OF New
England, fed by our slave-worked cotton heias.
on your Northern brethren to decreased and re-
| newed aggressions--drive us, step by sep, to re-
| sistance and desperate dsunion--peo on the wrongs
until even the meanest submssionsts the Soutf
contains will be forced to agonlze the groan "hold
| enough !"--force US out OF the union--compe vi
t to resort to our resources Of independence ant
power, and cut off from the South--turn out New
/ England to get rich on her own unalded resources
of granite and ice; and then halt moment to lool
at the work of your hands. You will not be abb
! TO pronounce it good You will have discov
cred that Providence was wiser than Horac
Greeley, and that talents are the most dangeron
weapons that can be conhded to the hands OF
crack drained fanatic The curses you have s
often objurgaied ont the people of the South, will
as the Arab proverb has it, have come home
roost; and if your own people don't hang you a
a witch, and excrete your memory as the architec
of their ruin, you will be the luckest fool-philoso
pher that ever went to sea IN a tub s,s4s