Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1861-08-30
COTTON AND THE WAR.


| in the rebellion. By Withholding cotton from
the North, she proposes to compel the Fed
eral Government to recognize the act OF So
cession. BY prohering to England her sup
/ ply Of cotton in the way OF direct free trade,
the South hopes to induce England to rocog
/ nize the slave Conicderacy and 20 raise the
Union blockade. Governor Hammond, Of
! South Carolina, when in the United States
Senate three years ago, boastod that should
/ the South withhold her cotton for two years,
"Old England would come topping down,
and Europe would be shaken with conyul-
sions." II did not occur to him to inquire
what would become Of the South should she
fail to exchange her cotton for the ncccssa-
ries Of life, or deprecioto its value by accumu-
lating two years stock. The Charleston
Mercury reit,rates the boast:
=" toifon IS fdr more Yesdy and certain ia Us opera
ton II is not confined In lis influence 90 the continent
~ North America. IL extends TO Europe and appcalf
70 all civilized nations 10 put an end To The war which
may prevent supplies necessary 10 The subsistence VI
millions vi their people We have ouly 20 withdraw our
Commissioners. dismiss at The foreign consuls from our
pnIts, and hud To cotton and the armies u the
United and Confederate States constitute but a small
portion N The population be- killed by the war between
them Starvation in Europe will dcstrny fifty times
more than rifles aud cannon m America. Aud IL must
do it speedily In six months there must be immet'e
aiartss, aud IN nine months conrus0, political, cum
mercia and social in more than country in Europc
eAporiauon' We can make the toregn ndfinn' t'ho te
9irc oHr co0H ftcnds-uaS, allies against the
United states to yut an end 60 tic which ntcricres
WHh lhtlt heceshuts anu welfare N1ihH n ''e't
Britain nor France would with the United States
hr ouehah rs disastrous The depreciation " ihc cot
ton Of the Confederate States The commerce ~ the IT,
niicd States is nothing tu thtm. on cfton, Mvciofe
mare Ma, on dtp'On0c10E coifop more Mun un fght-
g md nd no zee yay ior coerrHg me Jr,ogHi-
fon by foreign nations Of ne iudcpcfuics OF e toa-
fedcrafe Stafes md me fe7ntnrtioH Of the War
But the South is already at loss what TO
do with the prospective crop of cotton SO as
to make it available even as rod Of terror
against her enemies On the one hand it is
proposed to mortgage the entire crop to the
Confederate Managers as the basis Of a tnan-
cial Joan; but it begins TO be understood
that a loan which brings no money, and
whose basis will be worthless a year hence,
cannot furnish Ihe resources of war and IL
is alscsicnfed that to accumulate cotton at
Memphis or New Orleans in the shape Of
Confederate Loan, would be to place it with
in reach Of the Federal Government tn seize
and coniscate it for its own use. On the 9TH
er hand it is argued by The Charleston Ne
curry that to call upon the planters to subscribe
cotton as a loan to the Confederate Managers,
aud at the same time to forbid its expectation, !
is to ask the planters to sacrifice their whole
income, and then to cut off from them all
hope OF remuneration. The southern frogs
having swarmed out of thcir fcns to organize
themselves into kingdom, bidding defiance
to the world. are likely to find King Cotton
transformed into King Stork, deyourug his
own subjects.
In nothing, however, will they be so sorcly
disappointed as in the fruitlessnoss of their
cotton demonstration against English manu-
iacturers. Hitherto the manufacturers of
England have left the question of cotton sup
ply pretty much to the ordinary laws of trade,
not caring to inquire whether cotton was rails
ed by Tree or slave labor But few philan- .
thropsts have Of late years succeeded in en-
listing portion of the manufacturing capital
of Great Britain in the endeavor to procure
cotton by free labor and as a result of this
movement, already nearly twenty-five per cent.
of the cotton manufactured in Great Britain .
is imported from countries other than the
Southern states. Tho ratio of increase in
the cotton culture in India, Egypt Western
Africa, under the stimulus of a market and a
regular demand, is great as has ever Teen
marked in this country since the invention of
the cotton-gin. Now, under the stimulus Of
British capital and enterprise
will turn Vigovoasly tasusra tia llaat Cos the
cotton supply it has so long drawn from this .
country. There is more cotton raised in India
every year than the whole consumption of the .
British mills What is wanted to bring this |
to Liverpool is the offer of better market
for the raw material than is furnished by India /.
or China, and increased facilities for oxporta-
ton. The course of trade cannot be revolu- /
tionizcd in a year but The london EcoHo- .
mast, upon reliable data, estimates that for the /
current year India can easily furnish double /
her last years supply to England; and that, /
with the stock on hard, and u fair rate of in
crease from Africa and the West Indies the
British supply for 1862 will be more than G.
nough to keep all the cotton mills of England
running on half-time and IN u very few years
Britain can pretty much dispense with Amer
lean cotton. The effect of the Southern re-
belion therefore will be to break do,on MeI
monopoly Of The South H. cotton, and to com
pei the South herself to resort to free labor
in order to compete with India in her favorite
staple. Thus political economy, commerce,
war, government and Christianity are in one
grand league Of Providence for the overthrow
OF slavery Its doom is scaled - hdepo,dent
NAVAL pRErARArloNs. - The New York
Eren'Hg Post says:
Within few days we shall have ready
and at sea, nearly, il not quite, four hundred
the satisfaction of knowing that every one OF
this great fleet is perfectly fitted for the uses
which are to be made of it, The labor of
creating such navy as this is not slight
The time in which it has been done is not
long 1t might, perhaps have been made
less If the government had purchased, with. /.
out inquiry or examination, every vessel that
had been offered il but then We should have /
had the navy TO make over again, as we have
had the army to rccreate
q Meantime there is reason to believe thnt
the public does not know all that is going
on in the coast-guard fleet There is 81 |
lence before action; and though we are not
permitted to be more explicit, we may say
that before many days there ID reason to cx.
peet that we shall henr of aa important blow
struck by cur navy. We are not likely to
know of 1t so soon as the enemy, because he
will feel it. But le. us he patient"
How lie DOGS IA gentleman who
called upon Gen. Fremont at 81. Louis,
few days ago, on bushes Of no less import
ance than the equipment of a full regiment of
cavalry, says thai the following conversation
took place.
Gen II can oivo ron q, e., ...;.....- !