The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1855-06-27

southern staple, directly and indirectly, rules
the commercial world; and that the political
doctrines of every civilised country, where
manufactures are prosecuted to any considera-
Bile extent, are in the hands of an oigarchy OIL
| American planters His differences are not
SO much overdrawn, as the cusual reader would
at first suspect The writer has evidently care
fully studied the influence of cotton, as from
year to year its culture and export has grown in
importance, and is fully conversant with all the
trials and troubles with which its producers
have had to contend He, also, demonstrates,
as corolIary of the main proposition, that SO
long as the culture of cotton is made the lead
ing commodity of the south. and Great Britain,
strongly anti-slavery though she be, sees no
wrong in availing herself the products of slave
laborin her manufacturing establishments, that
the system of negro slavery can never be abol-
shed in America To establish "balance of
power in this cotton governed world, " the gen
tleman of Virginia advocates "the elevation of
the free negro and the plan of the colonial
ton society is suggested as "the only feasible
means of giving position and self-control to the
emanci pated slave" We have no inclination
to argue the point, but are inclined to believe
that the author will find it rather hopeless lob
if he attempts ''to establish balance of power
in this cotton-g governed world" by mean of the
"elevatlon ofthe free negro" Southerners will
never entertain the slightest fear of competition
from free negroes, even when the sable gentry
are aided by colonization societies. A history
is given of the different efforts made to abolish
slavery in the United States, their-success at
the north, and the revulsion of feeling in the
south against abolition when the people of that
sunny region discovered the preeminent adap-
tation of their soil to cotton growing, and the
economy of negro labor in its cultivation The
increase of cotton expectation to foreign coun-
tries and the growth of slavery in America
have been in almost exact ratio To show how
vain would be any attempt to disconnectin this
~onhlly 'hC ouillf dloH VI CUttOI anu Slavery, +
The comparison between the British West India
Stands and the southern States need only be
Drawn. In 1900 the West Indies exported
l7,O00.0 900 lbs. ofcotton, and the United States
on]y 17,799,305 lbs. They were then about
'qually productive in that article. In 1910,
lfter slavery had been abolished, the West In
liza exports had dwindled down to 427, 529 lbs,
While those of the United States had increased t
o 743, 941 ,061 lbs. During all this period, t
trenuous efforts were made by enthusiasts and t
anatlcs to abolish our slavery system. A mo- /
al crusade was first preached and then the /
bo'tionist enlisted with demagogue politicians, I
aking the geographical limitation of the "pe- il
lllar institution the aim and chief ebiect of a
elr exertions. A few years have rolled on, 81
I'd what has this amalgamation accomplished? g
othing save the engenderng Of contention, T
CRY discussion and ill-feeling between the tt
nth and north. According to the treatise, the a,
ton planters, instead of being crippled, were
lie in the year ending June 1853, to export :,
I'll
] !, $40, $40 lbs. of cotton, besides consuming
o ,00O,O GOO lbs. in home manufactures. The
esent year, instead of finding slavery on the -
cilne beholds it Stronger than ever, and, not
thstandlng the excrtions and intrigues of the !.
cree administration, governor Reeder and the =.
clifton emigrant aid societies, it has DESTROY ''
its ancient barriers and expanded itself in "
nsas, and now occupies an area of country
sc enough for the profitable employment of l..
slave population, with all its natural increase ~
the next hundred years. Cotton indeed has :,
II been 'king' in the United States Itelec- r.
each OF our presidents, save Washington r.
, Tl an
John Adams. 1t has controlled every lead -,
legislative movement in the country; the
lonal bank protective tariff, internal improve =:
nts, and all those leading measures that fell ~
Ter the ban of ultra democrats and the south ~
statesrlght men, although each of these -,
asures were highly calculated to benefit the ~;
ton planter. Finding itself cramped, first of -.
Louisiana was purchased, and then Florida -,
ias was annexed because the cotton king
nted elbow room. Mexico, Directing to this, "
thrashed her, and made another offering to
cotton king by purchasing upper California, tr
subsequently traded with Santa Anna for 81;
ice of Mexico. Do not these facts demon ce
tie that cotton is king in the United States? Pc
" potent is its influence upon other coun- ap
we can best show by a quotation from the ad
'don Economist. That paper, which may do
considered as the mouth-piece of the British to
'chantsand manufacturers, says: +. no
Let any great social Or physical CONFUSION the
the United States, and England would tn:
the shock from Lands end to John O. Greats br,
lives of nearly two millions of our Eng ~
countrymen are dependent upon the cot p't
crops of America; their destiny may be said, tee
lout any kind of hyperbole, to hang upon
ad. Should any dire calamity befall the H.
OF cotton,a thousand merchant ships would I'D
IDLY IN docks; ten thousand mills must stop OF
pussy looms; over two hundred thousand ou
lths would starye for bread to feed them" da
he above is not an overweight picture 60
very word the Economist eypraccac an ah mn