New-York daily tribune., 1861-08-11

Even If no extraordinary efforts were maze 70
increase the supply from other quarters, "Oua
not be very difficult to meet any sudden eme.
oencv. A cotton famine has often been 'nie',
e,ed bpt the calamity has always been aver.eu,
T. 1asa tho ;mnort of cotton from the Uhl'ed
c.. 80. crsot Rr;tain showed q falling OH OF
1O7. I7s,7S4 pounds, compared win 'n0 p,o,.ou'
wear but an increase of 96,9lo, O@o pouua' HUN
the East Indies. In 1857, there was decrease
:, ,,,a .rriv,ls from the United States of 1885,.
os1 oss nonnds: but in the same year an increase
f-on, the Fast and West Indies, and Brazil, OF
Sc. 45s, ,e64 pounds. Any permanent falling of
from the American supply would be met with
even greater certainty than these temporary def
ciepcies. The cotton growers of India and
Africa only want a regular and sure market for
their produce; but SO long as America holds the
control of the market, and dictates not only the
price of its own produce but also that Of other coun-
tries. there is no nducement. for expanding the
culture in India or Africa. The cotton planters
of the South hold their monopoly on condition OF
keeping up the supply. Let them fail in this one
particular-as they must do, pending on the convul'
sions of a civil war-and they lose their POSI-
ton, and consequently the prestige Of their poll
teal Importance.
Nor is the loss of the cotton monopoly the
| only vital danger to which the South is exposed
| by the plan of Secession. 1t would inevitably
prove the great injury, if not the total destruc-
! ton, of slave property in the seeding S'ates'
The security of the system, in the first place.
would be much lesSened by the absence OF
fugitive slave law, and the facilities afforded for
a negro stampede on large scale. The labor
supply of the cotton planters would be curtaied
not only by this rapid emigration toward the
North, but by decreased production in the South;
as it is probable that although the Border States
might at first favor the South, they would before
long find their account in free labor, and aban-
don the infamous traffic with the Cotton States,
from. which the Olgarchy of slavebreeders at
present derive lucrative revenue. ln that case,
the cotton planters would doubtless attempt to
revive the slaye.trade; but the attempt would
be suicidal; the South would incur the abher-
renee of the civilized world aud, In spite OF It's
paroxysms of audacty and rage, would sink into
the lowest depth of infamy.
In comparing the progress and condition OF
the Free and Slave States, Mr.. Ellison finds the
conclusions SO much in favor of the former, as
to afford an explanation of the desire OF the
Cotton States TO seek the safety of their system
of labor by seeding from the Union. But how
much better, he argues, to 60 TO the root OF
their disease, and attack the cause, instead of
applying abortiye remedies to the effects of their
national declenson. The influence of Slavery on
the white population in the midst of which 1t ls
established, makes the same impression on the
author that it almost invariably produces on in
telligent European observers. The most enter
prising emigrants into the United States shun
the Slave States. The most industrious and
capable of the Southern nOn-slavehodlng whites
abandon the land Of their birth and settle in the
Free States and Territories of the North and
Northwest. This is due chiefly to the dishon-
orable position of labor in the South. AS the
soil is cultivated almost exclusively by the slaves,
agricultural industry, and many of the ruder
mechanical emplOyments are Stunned by the
white, or superior race, as degrading to their
caste. Hence no whites can maintain an inde-
pendent position but Shareholders and non-slaSe-
holders engaged in professional or mercantile
pursuits. Still the poor white citizens must from
necessity, engage in some species Oflabor. Many of
them work on small plots of ground owned or
rented by themselves, while others carry on some
retail business, such grocery and provision
stores, groggerits, and the like. Not a few
merely lounge about the country, and 1--we by
fishing and hunting, and the proceeds of odd jobs
here and there on the plantations. They are all
held in great contempt by the Shareholders.
There is thus almost as great social gulf be-
tween the planting interest and the poor whites
as between the slaveOwner and his slave. This
want of sympathy between the upper and lower
classes, together with the poverty of the bulk OF
the people, has prevented the introduction OF
general system Of education. Hence large pro-
portion of the population is in singularly de-
graded state. Their condition has been described
by native of South Carolina rs more degenerate
than the mixed races Of Central America.
constant deterioration is going on, the younger
portion being less educated less industrious, and
in every point of view less respectable than their
ancestors. 1t is stated by Gov. Hammond
Of South Carolina, that Of the 300, GOO
Write inhabitants Of his native State, there were
no fewer than $4,000 who were unable to pro-
j. II. Lumpkin of Georgia represents the poor
whites as degraded, balf-fed, halfclothed, and
without any just appreciation of character.
But the institution is no less pernicious in its
moral effects on the upper classes Of society, the
Shareholders themselves. The evil commences at