The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-02-21
BALTIMORE.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 81, 1861

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 81, 1861
Many of the leading Republican journals are
iubilant over the sudden impulse which our polit-
cal troubles have given to English enterprise -
The South, they tell us, is no longer TO have the
monopoly of the production of Cotton. All at
once the exulting cry is raised that English CAPT.
tai and English energy are about TO open up, in
various quarters of the Globe new fields for the
growth of Cotton, which are TO furnish, in the
incredibly short space of year or two, immense
supplies of this important staple. The alluvial
deltas of China, mraculously placed under control
of the English at the exact moment when they
had become Indispensable, are to yield forthwith,
almost fabulous quantities of Cotton, at prices so
rdculously low as TO place it beyond the power
of our Southern planters TO enter into successful
competition. Abbeokuta, and various other dis
tricts of Africa, are to be civilized and rendered
productive within three years. Algeria, IN spite
of French experience to the contrary, is to become
a great Cotton-growing region. Central America
is to export annually its hundreds of thousands of
bales. Jamaica is to be regenerated. India,
after experimenting unsuccessfully for more
than forty years in extending the area for the
cultivation of Cotton and formally announcing,
but few months ago, through the Bombay
Chamber Of Commerce, the abandonment of the
culture for any other than domestic purposes, is
Immediately to enter upon its profitable production
Australia is to be converted into one vast Cotton
field; and, above all, wonderful regions are sud.
denly reported TO have been discovered, where
may be had in such abundance, for the mere labor
of picking the bolls, that the Cotton plantations
of the Gulf States will be rendered absolutely
vaueless.
These marvellous stories which the Republican
journals have so ostentatiousy reproduced, decora.
ted and eoored TO suit the taste ofthe North and fol-
the special purpose Of operating upon the fears OF
the South, too ridiculous TO be credited by any
sensible man. That the Lancashire Cotton man.
ufacturers are alarmed at he possible contingent
cy of receiving inadequate supplies of our South.
ern staple, is an undoubted fact 1t is also true
that the painful consciousness of their sole depen-
dence upon one great Cotton-growing district
has stimulated them to renewed efforts 10 provide
other sources Of supply. The quest neverthe,
less is almost hopeless one
For nearly halfa century they have been institu.
ting similar experiments, with this express view,
and in spite Of their acknowledged energy and
tenacity of purpose, backed by ample means, in.
creased by government subsidies and sustained
by government influence, they have encountered
nothing but disastrous failures. In India tbt
Cotton districts lie remote from the seaboard and
besides being difficult Of access, the ardty of the
soil renders irrigation absolutely essential TO sue
cess, and Il suiciency of water is not to be had
In China other obstacles exist to its extensive Gull
ture The delas of the great rivers are frequently
submerged. The greater portion of the soil
Is a compact adhesive clay; and when grown il
the Interior the cost of transportation to the sea
board, irrespective of the heavy charges incidental
TO long voyage, would render competition Will
Amerlcan-grown Cotton entirely out of the ques
ton. We come now to jamaica There the wan
OF labor has been for years so deeply felt, tina
only one-tenth part of the sugar once produced or
mat hne Island now enters into its list of exports
The magnificent estates of the old proprietors hav,
been suffered to fall into decay, and in many par
ishes the plantations have gone back into thei
original wild condition. Where sugar cannot b
SAONHi cIhPlO nun Will vi the necessary
iield-labor, how is it possible to introduce tn,
culture of Cotton? But there is Abbeokuta, ant
various other districts on the West and Eas
Coasts of Africa. All these are inhabited by say.
ages; are subject to be continually devastated by
iner-tribal wars and even if the natives were
peaceful and civilized, 1t would take many years
before their habitual lazness could be overcome
DR.. LIVINGSTONE wrote rapturously of the adapta
ton of the valley of the Zambesi for the Cotton cul
ture. When he passed through it on his homeward
journey to England he saw innumerable cottor
patches around the villages ofthe natives. On hi
return to Africa some months later, the vii
lagos were deserted and the fields lay waste. Ii
Algeria, Notwithstanding all the efforts of tn,
French government cotton has never vet beer
cheaply grown. The prolonged droughts, genera
dryness of the atmosphere, and the absence O
large rivers in Australia preclude there also tn
culture of cotton; whilst, in Central America tn
unsettled condition ofaffars and the positive wan
OF an industrious laboring population leave bu
little hope Of success in that quarter. We there
fore conclude that competition with our Southern
sapleis no more at best, than remote possibility
and that the exultng cry of the Republican Jour
nails at the injury which the Gulf States are f.
sustain is gotten up merely to subserve a politica
purpose