Daily national Democrat., 1861-10-13
Edward Everett on the Cotton Question.

Edward Everett on the Cotton Question.
The great scholar patriot and statesman-
Edward Observation-Disclosures an address be-
fore the Agricultural Society of jefferson
county, n. Y, on the 18th ult., in which he
gave utterance to the followingi
1t is about sixty years that cotton has been
an article of great importance to Europe and
America. The civilized world clothed itself
decenty and comfortably for four or five
thousand years from other materials it will
not go naked even ii the ileecy fibre should
wholly fail. For many fabrics for which cot
ton, of late years, owing to lis cheapness, has
been forced into use, the question Is hy no
means decided between that article and wool,
flax and hemp and promising experiments
have Of late years been made (and within
few weeks repeated in your State) for the
purpose of adapting the fibre of flax to most
of the tissues for which cotton has hitherto
! been employed,
But far more important operation is go
ing on in Europe and the East While the
South is conspiring against the Union, the
whole manufacturing world is conspiring
against the South While Montgomery and
Richmond are seeding from Washington,
every spindle and every loom is seeding
from Charleston, Mobile and New Orleans
The capital and geographical science Of Eu-
rope are now most earnestly employed III
procur NJ supply of cotton from other re-
guus than our southern States. An asso-
ciation of intelligent and wealthy persons
| interested in the cotton manufacture has been
! formed in England for the purpose Of eXplo-
ing those regions Of the globe where cotton
can be cultivated with success. A report
/ from this association has lately been publish
ed, holding out a prospect OF liatleling sue
cess. To say nothing of Central America,
which our Minister considers MS favorable to
the culture OF cotton as any county on earth.
Of the West Indies, of Brazil. which possesses
on the south OF the equator, telriOty which
forms the precise counterpart of our OWL on
/ the north, Of the African Continent, where
the cotton plant is indigenous and its culture
is rapidly spreading, there is in India and
China nlune-counlries in which cotton has
been cultivated from time immemora-a re-
gion adequate to the supply of all the mar
kets i'll the world | received myself let
ter two months ago, from the head of one of
the first banking houses in England, in which
he informs me that u half million of bales OF
cotton beyond the supply Of last year, will
be furnished 10y India. Later reports double
that quantisy | know not why as much
more may not be furnished from China. 1t
is true that, though she grows vast quantities
herself. she draws at present small part OF
, her consumption from India But her climate
under the same local conditions is identical
with ours she has Il redundunce Of labor
and with an effective demand, can no doubt
/ furnish an unlimited quantity for expectation.
Large supplies are expected from Egypt,
where the reigning prince has entered cordi-
L.. O.. 4 4 Ii.
AssOcia lion.
The attention of the local government of
Syria has been called to the subject, and be-
sides all the sources of supply in the Old
World, Australia contains belt of territory
admirably adapted to cotton and already en-
gagged in its culture. In the meantime there
is always on hand in advance a seasons stock
of manufactured articles of general use,
which, with the increased supply Of the raw
material from the East, will prevent any seri
Gus Inconvenience from the failure of the
American crop of this year. 1t must be borne
in mind, also, that though the obstruction in
the American market occurred too late to
take full effect in Egypt and India the pres
ent year, Brazil and south Afiica, and Aus
tralia on the other side of the line have their
| planting season consequently six months be-
hind ours. Should the South unwisely pro-
tract the war for the second year. all further
dependence upon her will cease; ber King
Cotton will be as efiectualy dethroned as the
Bourbons and the Stuarts and Central
America, the West Indies, Africa Egypt,
Syria, India, China and Australia will feed
the looms Of the world, till our brethren at
the South shall return to their senses and be
willing again to live under the Government,
which their most intelligent statesmen, last
November, declared to be the best and most
benetcent which history gives us an account
Of AS American patriots, looking with an
equal eye to the interests of the whole coun-
| try, desiring still the welfare of the South as
sincerely as our own, we cannot but regret
a result which will no doubt t o some extent
| Ue permanent But we must admit that the
lesson was needed by our misguided fellow.
citizens, and that the lasting welfare of the
whole Union will be promoted when they
shall have awakened from the delusion, that
the prosperity of the civilized world depends
upon ther cotton crop.
In fact, when we consider the influence on
the public sentiment of the South of the eX-
tension of the cotton culture, the pernicious
delusion just mentioned, and its effect in be
traying that section of the country into this
disastrous attempt to break up the Union, at
the cost Of a civil war tf unexatnpled magni
'uue' we cannot AVOID the conclusion that 1t
would have been better, greatly better for
herself ard the world, That not bale Of cot
ton shonld ever have riI ened within her
limits, than that she should have acquired the
fancied monopoly of ii. The events which
are passing before our eyes give sad signif-
cauce to the remark Of an ancient Roman
author: ''lf we are wiling to own the
truth, 1t Is the great plantations which, hav-
ing ruined Italy, are now also running the
provinces"