The national Republican., 1861-04-01
THE EUROPEAN FLEETS.

THE EUROPEAN FLEETS.
The statement Of the Paris correspondent
of the N. ?. Times, that France, England, and
Spain, have all ordered an increase OF their
naval forces on our coasts, and especially in
the Gulf of Mexico, attracts quite as much at
tention as it deserves. 1t is probably rather
good guess as to what the Powers referred to
will do, than the communication Of any abso.
lutte knowledge as to what they have done.
OF course, with the possibility of collisions
growing out Of the condition Of affairs in this
country, the nations of Europe having large
commercial interests on this side Of the Allan
tic, will naturally augment the means Of de.
tending the property and lives Of their citizens
here. The Gulf States are known to be dis.
organized and in the hands of mobs, and this
has been specially illustrated to the apprehen.
sions Of Great Britain, by the lynching Of
British captain at Savannah. Bad as the pre-
dicament Of things really is on the Gulf, it is
even worse as understood abroad, and the
European Naval Powers cannot fail to have
forces on the spot, to prevent, or punish, acts
Of barbarism which they apprehsnd in that
quarter.
But there is still another motive, and per
hsps stronger one, operating to increase the
display Of European forces in the Gulf and
that is the necessity of repressing the flibus.
tering enterprises on the side Of Cuba and
Mexico apprehended from the political views
of the conspirators who are at the head Of the
Southern Confederacy, and which are as per
fectly understood in Europe as they are here.
1t is in this matter of extending slavery,
that these conspirators will End that secession
was the worst possible policy for the object they
aim at. 1t was only under cover Of the power
Of the old Union that their schemes Of an.
nexstion were possible to be realized. De.
prived of that, and reduced to the weakness Of
petty confederacy, they will find themselves
snubbed without ceremony by English, French,
and Spanish admirals. And they may depend
upon it, that European Intervention in the
Gulf to prevent the enlargement Of their cotton
kingdom, will excite no sympathy, and provoke
no resistance, in the States which abide by the
stars and stripes.
Republic of March 29th, says that during the
three preceding days, eighteen hundred bales
of cotton had been sent east from Buffalo to
Boston, over the N. Y. Central railroad. 1t is
brought from Memphis to Cincinnati by water,
and thence by rail to Boston, at an expense
for the whole distance, of four dollars and a
half per bale Of Eve hundred dollars, which is
less than the cost of shipping from Memphis
to Boston by the way of New Orleans. As cot.
ton is now compressed, thirty bales are easily
loaded upon one car.
These inland routes to the Atlantic for the
cotton of the Mississippi valley, are growing in
importance, and mark great change in COM.
merce. But there is still another change,
which is not far distant. The cotton of the
lower valley of the Mississippi, instead of be-
ing brought to the Atlantic at all, either by rail
road, or through New Orleans and by the sea,
is to be manufactured in the upper valley,
where the manufactured products will be con.
sumed.