Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-03-24

guinea pound. which served well for basis of
reports on the part Of those who looked TO that
source for supply of the great staple, now the
greatest in the commercial world.
am asked By all who mention the subject,
'What was the cause Of failure in the great cotton
experiment in India, which at one tihae caused 30
much anxiety lest our best interests should De sub
verified BY another country superceding US In the
production Of the great staple product OF our owni
answer that the causes of failure are both physi-
cal and moral in their nature. The physical defect
is the want OF an equable cimate--a climate OF
equal temperature, aud Of sufficient duration TO ma
ture the plant; the extremes Of excessive humidity
and excessive sridness, or drouth long continued,
and consequent heat, and even when favorable Gu
cumstances combine, and The plant is growing well,
and its abundant 'forms" or embryo fruit, promise
an abundant harvest, the "boil-worms bud the
plant, main stem, and branches, and also enter the
"fOrms," and cause them 20 fall in myrlsds, and
cover the ground with what would have been the
s'great staple,n IL maturej The plant will grow
and produce WE'LL il is irrigated, but that process
is too expensive To be pro6tatle Cotton must De
produced by the fertillzng influence OF the natural
rains which, we are told, stall on the just and the
unjust" The natural dews of heaven must fruetity
the earth, or her ordinary products cannot be prof.
{ bl produced.
The moral defect is the immobiIity Of the Hiudoo
character. They will not change; they will do as
their fathers did forever; they will not adopt the
means Of Improvements; they will not adapt them
selves to the appliances essential to success
This is a succinct account Of the cotton expert
ment in India, commenced by the East India Com
pany, under the superintendent OF American cot
ton planters in 1910. continued in it till 1880;
others remained there longer, and we have not
Seen nor felt any beneficial consequences. Mil
lions were expended in the enterprise and the only
result is, hear occasionally of the shipment OF
few bales Of American cotton from India, but, sir,
this does not constitute success. Success u not
attained until the people of the country themselves
produce the article, aud that in such quantities as
to affect the markets of the world.
Let me here add that the American cotton de-
generates to such an extent in the plains of India
| that in few years it will not germnate, end the
staple soon becomes short and weak; and that,
while have pronounced all the efforts of the East
! India Company to make India an American cotton
producing country failaTe 10 the plains generally,
yet there is large extent of territory that would
With proper appliances, such as we Southern plan
ters would adopt produce cotton WE'LL but where
that is the case would produce other things that
are more profitable than cotton, and consequently
the people of India will not cultivate the article,
and Engishmen never will or can any where.
And yet another suggestion. We have COM
Daratively limited area of country that is well
adapted by climate and soil for cotton, and that
area will produce enough cotton for the world Tor
some time yet il it we're all in cultivation but re-
member that that area of country is in a climate
that white people cannot work in in the open fell;
that the great staple must be produced by negroes;
there are not as many three millions OF negroes
in the cotton 81 mate aud ID cannot according TO
the English estimate, produce enough cotton to
clothe the many millions who use cotton,
wholly or 10 part, for clothing. These two millions
FIVE hundred thousand negroes, the producers, will
only increase naturally the supply very wisely be-
ing stopped from other sources, while the many
millions of consumers will increarse naturally in
greater ratio and the area of civilization is rapidly
widening and bringing into the list of coHsumers
nations that know not the OF cotton clothes
TO any extent
What effect will this state Of things have on the
cotton market in half a century? l answer this
question by saying that uni 50 England finds a
cotton field somewhere in her broad dominons, the
balance Of power in the commercial world will bs
lost in the next half century. Cotton ri be hing;
zoe shall be in the ascendency, being the sole pro-
ducers. Our manufactures increasing rapidly,
England cannot get supply of the raw material;
her mills stop; millions OF her people are thrown
out of employment-so many hungry EngIishmen
clsporing for bread, tread will overrun the cour-
try-cause revolution in England, and what them
Where will it stop? How far will the devastation
extend7 Statesmen! ponder this well. II you
abolish slavery in the South to-day, all these con-
tingeneies occur tomorrow.
THOMAS JAMES FINNlE,
Attorney at Law, Memphis, Tenn.