The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-07-30
From Me Ncw Or'cdns Pic"yunc
ENGLAND, COTTON AND SLAVERY.

British economists and statesmen. There
aro fixed natural laws which cxuberant
prosperity may tampcr with for time, but
they never fail TO vindicaic themselves, and
exact penalties from those who violate
them. A few years ago, under hallucina-
ton wherein n f,natical philanthropy was
blended with false views Of interest; England
emnncpatc1 her slaves. She calculated a
great deal on the productiveness Of free
labor, and indulged in the vision of FREQ
communities arising in the West Indies 10
compete with the slavelabor in tho United
States, in the production Of sugar and cot
ton for tine consumption Of tho world; and
providing for Great Britain an Independent
source of supply of the raw material which
puts her vast manufacturing industry into
motion. The effect has been to ruin The
colonies, impoverish and degrade the whites,
and reduce the blacks, the ostcnsible objects
of care and sympathies, to deeper poverty
and lower degradation. Tho products of
the islands have fallen off alarmngly: and
England, confessing the waste Of hundreds
Of millions, directly, OH u ruinous expert
mcnt, and the total sinking Of a capital of
productivcness, which was worth millions
annually, forever, is looking with alarm to
the effects Of the reaction upon her own
future at home, anG is straining her inrcn-
ton and tasking her resources, to find for
tho indispensable wants Of her own industry,
a substitute for the labor she deliberately
destroyed at so much cost.
The cotton manufactory has become her
great interest, and deficiency in her sup
ply of cotton her great fear. Millions of
ler subjects depend for work and bread on
the prosperity Of her factories, and what
ever arrests that, spreads misery; and what
ever materially checks it, cndangcrs her
whole fabric of security and government,
the stability Of her institutions and her rank
among nations. All England is, therefore,
concerned and excited about the cotton
supply, and is driven to the necessity of
meeting the labor question by which the
supply is to be determined The theories
of African emancipation have come into
direct conflict with the most obvious immc.
diate and practical necessities of the English
people and Government, and their pcrplex.
lilies are extreme. They want cheap cot.
ton and abundance Of cotton: yet it is de-
monstratcd and all but confessed, that cot
ton can be only grown by slave labor, and
that all attempts to obtain it from any
other source are failures, and there arc in
herent causes which 60 to demonstrate
that they will always prove to be failures.
The trials in India are given up, and the
schemes now advocated with most zeal
contain the principle of compulsory labor
little less than positive slavery as it exists
in the slavchoIding States of the Union.
The Coolies from Asia are slaves for term
with lifetime after Of helpless dependence,
Tor which slavery would be happy sub
stitute; and the African emigration, now
sought to be extensively organized, is
slavery without its responsibilities, or any
OF its safeguards and benefits for the slave.
The labor sought is compulsory in fact, and
lacks only those qualities of slavery which
make it most productive to the world, and
most beneficial to the laborcr.
But Coolie or African labor is the de-
mand and the necessity for England; and
IN these schemes and the imperious nocessi-
ties which dictates them, she practically
condems the whole series of emancipation
measures with which she has desolated the
West Indies and heapcd up to herself sacri-
ices. sufferings and late repentance. She
makes, too, the important confession that
free labor, such as she has delighted in her
s.aa!ies to uphold, is incompetent to do
.'e indispensable labor Of the world, and
,nat tae m ''tef'shprogrcss of citYlized man.
s'na' ooi ms it deas on tropical pro.
onctS I'D ; ee~ improved: or evc:. n...
n ;: !: sent advunce by compulsory labor.
= ~ ''e 'Haf humorous soplis,ns by
> '''1 Action is sought to be denied,
an lie and African importations made
TO 'De consistent with emancpationist doc
trlnes~but to these plain conclusions, facts
bring US irreyocably and unvoidabIy the
great present and greater prospective want
OF England is cotton the production Of
cotton is by slave labor, and no prospect
exists for the finding of substitute at anv
time, and Certainly none which lessons the
dependence upon America now for her
ssayesgrown products. British economists
and statesmen, merchants, manufactures
and laborers are unanimous in callino
upon Govesnment to omit no excrtion. at
any time, for the increase of the source
from which cotton is to be derived, ana
Che pfeseryation against auctuation or check
from any cause, Of the existing sources of