The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-12-10

England is much interested in the agitation
of the slavery question in the United States, and
looks anxiously upon every movement in regard
to this matter. Cotton cannot be successfully
cultivated without slave labor; they 60 par'
passal Whenever, then, slavery is abolished
the supply of cotton will fall short, and not
England alone, but the whole civilized world
will feel the blow. England, however, will par
ticulary feel it, owing to the vast amount OF
capital and number of her people employed in
the manufacture Of cotton. The prosperity OF
the South, which is necessary to the culture of
cotton, is, therefore, to her subject of vital i'm
portancc. The correspondence below, which
we extract from the London Economist, shows
in what a serious light intelligent and rejecting
men regard anything which would interrupt the
cultivation of our great staple. The idea of a
strike" amongst the negroes shows that some
of them know little of our internal affairs: an
Instruction would be something much more Sc
rious; but from this we apprehend no danger.
Were the slaves so foolish as to attempt such a
thing, they would soon be crushed by the su-
periority of the white man; the leaders would
be executed and the others again reduced to
bondage;
To the Editor Of the Economist:
S1R-Being engaged in the import of cotton
from the United States, all your able articles
touching this great staple are considered by me
with great interest-perhaps none more so than
tho one in your last number headed Slavery in
the United States"
There is, however one contingency" arising
out Of this question which you do not as yet
appear to have contemplated, yet it is one which
might lead to Il very unexpected and summary
solution of the whole mattcr-l mean Il general
strike (not All insurrection) among the slaves
themselves
at would be very interesting to me, and
doubtless to your other readers, to know what
view you take, first, of the probabilities of
such an occurrence secondly, of its consequent
ces.
81 remain, sir, an original subscriber to your
valuable paper, EDWARD HEATH.
Liverpool, Sept. IT, 1850"
The contingency to which our correspondent
alludes is somewhat alarming, and has OCCASION
ally for considerable period excited painful re-
Elections in some minds. That the prosperity
of Manchester is dependent on the treatment of
slaves in Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana, is as
curious as it is alarming. 1t demonstrates that
the whole human race have common interest
in enforcing the observance Of the principles Of
Justice AT the same time, we apprehend that
there can he nothing like strike amongst the
slaves. Their labor is always compulsory
Matters are so arragned in slave States, that a
sufficient force is always at hand, it is supposed
in the organized slave owners, rs a militia, to
repress any INSTRUMENTATION. There may be IN
therefore-an attempt to throw off
the yoke Of the masters and resist the laws and
the authorities-but there cannot be a strike
The slaves have no property, nothing to subsist
IN; they arc fed by their masters, and in an in
'urrection might subsist for short time by
but they have no resources, like Euro
,ean workmen, on which they could support
themselves for day. An Instruction Of the
laves in the States, which is every day possible, |
night interfere very much with our supply of
otton, but that terrible event the planters, for
he sake of their property and lives, continually
.uard against--Ep EcoS. '.. .3'