Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1860-04-04
A frlcnn Cotton.

NAr,uno1its, Ia, Feb, i~Go
African Cotton.
The anxiety # the cotton lords It England
about the continuous suIlcicncy ol the present
sources of the cotton supply is assuming
rcrt very uenrly approaching tho ridieulous.-
With cnpilal of fully 5000 Oooooo invested in
tho cotton manufactures, and reputation Of l.,
UOouOo persons III one way or another. dcpcn'
dent ON the production aud sale OF cotton 'uds 49,
It j. necessary enough that thu,e most largely in
,crcstcd in TINT trade should keen an active lo"k
out upon the snrp'y OF raw material. One wuull
naturally expect, th"wescr, that such cir
cumspcctan, being that Il the shrcwdrst com.
nrrcin men IN The world. would he character
ihcd by prudence AMI conspicuous pratlcaliy.--
Instead oi this beng the fact. the alarm ui the
"Maneaestci men" about the lnade,nacy oi the
present means d supply has lereIt them entirely
Of their wuntcd practical cnlmucss md their in.
quirics piriakc Of all the weakness of one whose
Judgement has been surrendered Il the control of
IL great fear. 1t is amusing to witness the eager
ness with which tn Y pursue every phantom oi
hope an the pcr>stcncy with which they pro
tract the pursuit. The Rev, Dr. Livingstone Law
ing discovered traces Of the cetton plant in the
cours, II his African travels, he WINS induced lu.
ring a recent vi-il I" England to surrender his
evangelical commission and undertake the
o! the lerlorn hope OF the cotton anrm,t,; and
consequently ever .siuce his return to Africa be
has been the lookout for great cotton country.
| Occasional communications hnye been received
from the rcyetcnd cotton explorer stating the re-
| suits Of his researches which hive afforded NOR
scls OF encoura cement to the promoters Of tho en-
torprsc but 'he most substantial success has been
communicate in letter from the brother ot DR..
! Livingstone, dated "Hivcr Shire, November j.
! 1889" and ad dressed t., Thomas Clcgg Esq. of
Nauchesicr lhc letter states that the exploring
rarty had ''discovcrcd great cotton growing and
cotton manufacturing country. The cotton l. Ut
two kinds. native and torcign. The native is
short IN the s'aplr and iecl1 more like wool than
c1tton. The foreign appears tn he oi good quail
~, with II snpc from tlnee.iourths inch to mn
inch in lerglh Ii is perennial, and requires
planting only once in three years, while the ma
tive ha~ Ia he planted onuunIlv III the highlands
vet the people lrcic@thc Latter. hecausr they say,
1t makes the stronger clnh. We remarked to II
number oil incil gent lo"klng men IN ono Village:
"luu should piant plenty oi cotton, and perhaps
the English VIII come S"nn AMI buy IT, Truly,
the country Is full OF cotton. replied one elderly
man, who was trader and bad travclc! much:
and our own observations confirmed the truth
Everywhere we saw 1t while passing thr ugh two
tnd Il hal. degrees of laliu IT,. aud il probably
tends much iurtiei. Every iimily appears to
have piece of cotton ground aud ii WAS graft
flying to see how clear Of wee Is and grass they
kept it. Doctors Livingstone aud Kirk, while
passing through part Of the samc region last
April hdN Chit'nl lii'cHcS W from bNb W tuI't
each; though this time, on different route,
we did not observe any containing moro than
third OF an acre. They were in general about
quartcru ui an acre each. in every village saw
busy cleaning, spinning and weaving cotton.
The looms ii the simplc possible constiuc
ii"n, and all the processes are exceedingly slow
The letter then goes on to state that the dscov-
cred rgon is easily accessible by a joint land
and water route that the natives are Industrious
and disposed to trading: and that il "a market be
opened, an agency appointed for tho purchase
of their cotton, etc, they will soon increase the
amount raised to large extent us it does not re;
quire the severe toll which it does in the United
States, and there frosts to kill it. Specl-
mems Of two kinds nf cotton were forwarded to Mr..
Clegs, which he values ut from 53d.(d1d., and
pronounces to be ''all exceedingly useful quail
ties"
Now, il is upon such data rs this that the cotton
of England nre hoping to find new source
Of cotton supply largely supplementary to that of the
United States. These enterprises are scanningev
rs accessible mile of country within the tropics to
discover where cotton can be grown; and when they
have carried their researches TO the last possible lin
it, how much nearer will they be than towards
actually obtaining additional supply? There is
already hundred fold more cotton territory already
known, and in The possession OF civilized communi-
ties than can be dev eoped why then go 10 unknown
regions, where neither the arts of agriculture nor Of
commcrcs are known, and where the difficulties
plies? A moments consideration OF the history Of
the cotton trade will suffice to show that nothing
be reasonably expected from barbarous or semi-bar
barous cultyators Look at India with her unlmi-
ted area of cotton country, and with the utmost for
eign ST jmulus applied TO its production, how much Of
this product has she been enabled to export? In
1859, England received from that source only about
half million of bales and in 1858 the receipts
less than in ts53sby about thirty per cent. Brazil
the next source OF supply, exported TO Great Britain
last year only $4,000 bales, whereas, ten years pre-
viously her exports hher amounted to III 900 bales
Or take Egypt, and the same tendency is mnniies'-
In 1852, Egypt exported TO England 10000 bales
last year her export 100000 bales These hgu-
show what has been the tendency as regards cot
production in those countries where there exists
low order Of civilization; instead of presenting
progress on which the world may rely for its fiture
increasing wants. the supply in these cases has di-
| mini he'd in just the same ratio rs the demand has
increased. And yet il is from such sources that the
| shrewd men of Lancaster ARE so jealous to obtain
their supply. 1t does not need to be stated what has
been the experience Of the United States producers
| In 1885, the amount of cotton exported from this
country to Great Brtrin was 4743s30 900 lbs; last