Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1860-02-17

Daily gir9iuiau.
THE COTTON QUESTION IN ENG
LAND


LAND.
Free Labdr Cotton Agaiast The Stare Trade In
mease Effort 10 GroW Cotton ia Ifricu and The
BRITISH Colonies Our Domestic Institution an
offence TO Engiishmen-7Ae Att.eda U,,ets 10
be Concerted 10 Industry and Ndpoieon's En-
iyrant Dcpots" Inquired Into, dc.
In tho House of Lords. on,he 9th of January,
Lord Brou CHAM. in rising TO move, according to
notice. for returns relating to the importation of
cotton said he understood there would be no OBJ
lection on the pnrt of tho government 10 granting
them. lie thought it would be most satisfactory
to oil to know that since tho repeal ot the duty
upon cotton there had been such nm enormous in
crease in the importation or cotton, lrum b3,ooo-
900 lb4 to oot 100000 lbs, an increase oi six-
teen fold, and tho imporiaiiuns from the United
Satcs alone had risen from % 100000 lbs. to
$50 600 900 lbs or nm increase OF thirtytwo fold.
This enormous increase in the importation OF cot
tun--so advantageous To our manufacturers ana
tho community general y-hnd been accomplished
at the trnng cost of Gj00b0o, which was tho
amount of the duty upon cotton previous to its
remission lie hoped the lact would DO an en-
courascmcn, to us To repeal duties without any
regard 10 what was called the reciprocity system,
but to repeal them simply because we wished To
get rid o the burden imposed upon us hy those
duties. There were now no lcss than lso articles
upu' Which excise or custom duties were levied,
tn the great disc1mint Of trade and the injury of
those no cAlt III those hItlClNs, WHllt '''hi
product 10 the revenue was under IL Wo.oVo; !;
indeed lie believed it was only about GG5o,0oo.
lie rcinicci in the lcncfts which had rcsutc tn
the people ol the United States ifum Our tcp"al 81
the duty on raw cotton; but II should not bc iar-
cotton that some Of aur colonies presented
great facilities t,r the growth of cotton, Gni he
hnprd hnt ia British Guiana .)nmnica und in Al.
ricn every encouragement would he Afforded by
the go,rrnmcn, to the cultivation ,f this most i'm
poriant material. Above nll he trusted that II
trade in rottor would he opened up On the cast
coast uI Africa, IN the districts rxp xpnrcl by pr.
Livingstone, ior upon the high land OF that coun-
try cotton to any anauut and Of the host quality.
night, wiih slight encouragement. he rnisod, -
lie was told that cnpn of 600 900 jndclously
directed there would he sufficient 10 secure this
very great advantage mud lac did hope that IT IL
were ncr rpclcnt lur the government To intcl icre
in such matters, il wealthy friends at Manches
ter aud Li,erpool would lend hand to raise that
sum If m,,nry. In thc United States they had
what was called "thc dome stie institution" (thoush
in his eye it was rather an offence than nn institu
tinn). and the slave trade nlso held To be au
institution there and one Of great antiquity. We
ourselves had sinned greatly in both of these mat
ters; but certainly 10 parallel could be found in
! any part # history to the laws said Ia have
| been recently enacted in Kansas. 1t was hardly
credible that in any age ur in any part Of the world
| such nn utro,i'y could have been committed rs II
Inv to reduce thousands Of free people of color To
n stata of slavery upon the ground TINT the local
authorities found it difliout ta deal with them. aud
could not maintain u police sufficient to restrain
| them. Yel they were to he reduced to slavery un-
! less they consented to be ban>hcd? In other
| parts Of the States, he believed this hal becn IL
| mere threat but in Arkansas such IA law was re-
| ported to have been nrted upon so that thousands
| of free people Of color had been reduced 10 BON
dape. Englshmen could not avoid expressing
their feeling on these subjects, though they had
no right to complain in any other why. 1t might
be said that bondage and slavery wee of g'cnt
| antiquity hut the same defence would uplly to
massacre and murder, for the first man who was
born murdered lhr second. Although that, ihore-
! fore might be n defence in the eyc9 of our kins-
men in the Sautlern States of America, it was
| not to his mind even an extenuation Of the crinl.
| True, it waA concern Il ours; but, ON the 9th
! er hand they had no right 10 complain if we did
| all that could 10 hgd substitute for tho cotton
| grown under the unmistic nstitution lie should
he gla to hear from ,ha noble duke IF Aewcaste)
! that ihe slntencAt respecting the law tp which he
! had ref rred was greatly exaggerated but with
out following that subject any further now, he
would move lor n return of the quantity oi cotton
imported from the various parts Of the world with
in the last two years. ending the 3Ist Of December.
1888, distinguished the several counties from
which imported, and also the amount Of revenue
| levied on the same.
| The Duke of Newcastle Of course had no OBJ
| lection 10 the production of his return aud as-ur-
| ed his noble friend Mt the same time that tho gov
ernmcHt had deep sense of the importance Of ex-
tending as much "a possible the growth oi cotton.
/ In Jamaica, as his rob Fri knew, attempts we're
| heinz. made to introduce the cotton plant. but both
| there and in other colonies the great difficulty WAS
not so much III the soil rs III the want oi sufficient
! ~ cheap labor 1t was not the practice Of the gov
ernment to enter into commercial speenlations,
which IN this country were properly leit to private
| Int. r. ,.,,iI
sist the Efforts now Icing made to further the
growth of cotton they would certainly do 50. THIS
! on receiving information that in Ccylon lands
were being brought into cultivation for this pur-
pose, the government. departing from their usual
| custom Of not parting with Crown lands except
upon sne. granted certain of those lands for the
| period Of five years. in order that the experimcn mt
! might he tried In the new colony Of Queensland
| in Australia attempts were also being mndc To in
troducc tho cotton rlant and he earnestly trusted
that both there aud in other Of the British domin.
ions this experiment would be successful.
Tie Bishop Of Oxford had heard with satisfac-
ton what Ind fallen from the noble duke. 1t was
ou true that it was not the custom Of the Brit
.h governmo nj to engage in direct specuatons to
promote the trade in any article, but with regard
| to the growth of COTTON tine British government,
| had rendered great assistance in another way
namely, by making the highways of the great con
tinent of Africa-the ryers-acccssble to English
| mel chants, so thnt cotton mght be cultivated on
each side of them, and the traders have a safe pas
sage up and down. The difficulty which was ex-
perenced in other countries Of obtaining free la
Dor to produce cotton did not exist in Africu where
there an abundant native population, whose
| cultivation of cotton would be attended with the
additional advantages Of introducing wholesome
aud lawful commerce, which would absolutely
destroy the slave trade; for the only way by which
that trade could be ultimately destroyed was by
teaching the African chiefs that the employment
Of their dependent people in the production Of the
| raw material Of cotton would be more advantage
GUS than selling them into slavery for transportn