New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-02-08
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cotton, and the chances Of obtaining the usual sun
plies Of the same for the British manufacturers
after the dissolution of the American Union. The
article contains some errors, which we propose
briefly to correct.
In the first place, the Examiner thinks that Enc
land had better be looking elsewhere than to us
for her cotton because as it sa vs., the secession
movement will be followed certainly by partial
probably By an entire, arrangement Of labor
Throughout the Southern States.n This is a crave
mistake. The chances are that no attempt al
coercion will be made by the North, as well he.
cause OIL the folly of having Union of mere brute
force, as because the attempt itself would be q
ridiculous failure. The secession Of the Southern
States, we have every reason to believe, will be
peaceful and quiet There may be some little
hghtng but there is no prospect, we think, of any
thing like general war.
But, even if such should be the case it wonld
not be followed by any serious "derangement Of
labor in the Southern States, as the Examiner
apprehends On the contrary our agricultural
operations would go on just about as usual. We
sent troops to Mexico, and " conquered peace',
there, without having any disturbance of our plant
ing interests. If Northern troops should come
among us for hostile purposes, there would be
plenty of us to do the fighting, and still a plenty
left to superintend and direct the operations Of
agriculture. We do not believe the crop of cot.
ton would be diminished to any serious extent.
But, as we have said, we have no idea that war
viii ensue, on any large scale. Three-fourths of
the people OF the North are opposed to coercinq
the South, and some of them would take up arms
to prevent hostile invasion Of our section.
Assuming that there will be such an invasion,
the Examiner then goes on to say that the tirstact
OF the invaders will be to proclaim emancipation
to the slaves, and arm them against their masters
FMS shows that the prevalent mistake in the North
about the temper and disposition of orr slaves, is
also made by the people Of Great Britain. There
never was greater error than to suppose that
they would, as a general thing, make war mon
then masters, The reverse is precisely the true
state of the case. The negro is not naturally war
like in his character, and is averse to lighting of
every sort-but if he were to fight &C all, it would
be in defense of his master, not against him. We
are aware that the people of-the North and of
Great Britain find it difficult to believe this but il
is the truth nevertheless. When John Brown in
vaded Virginia, to Gberate the slaves, not only
would they not join him, but one faithful slave,
(hono- to his memory D was shot down in the at
tempt to protect the whites. 1t is well known.
too that at the battle near this city on the stb of
January, 1915, the negroes fought as well as they
could on our side, against the enemy We have
cehabie reports from Charleston, South Carolina |
mat the slaves there who are engaged in throwing
Up breast-works and other military defences, are |
5rnnipg with delight and satisfaction at the pros
oeet of shooting " de id Yankees.n The mis-.
about the temper and fidelity of the
southern slave seems to be general in all non slave
holding communities and no amount of assertion,
N the part Of those who are in position to know
he true facts of the case, appears to have any eff
ect in correcting the mistake.
There are other minor errors in the Examiner's
rtcle, but it is not necessary to correct them.
That we wish to impress upon those interested in
lie cotton manufacture in Great Britain ID that
ere is no occasion for any alarm about the future
lpplies Of cotton from this country. whether we /
I've war or not. Nor is there any occasion for ,
reat Britain to add to her already large expend :
re in experiments to obtain cotton elsewhere \
Il the tests have shown that it can be had No. Z
here else 50 cheapiy as in the Southern States of
orth America because nowhere else can it be
'oduced so cheaply. This is proved by the fact | r
at seFenty-siX per cent of the cotton which Eng.
nd consumes comes from this country 7
Inc Examiner, BY way of illustrating the i'm S
'rtance OF the cotton manufacture to the interests
the British people, closes its article with some t
ry suggestive figures 1t asserts that the appre- o
tie value of the cotton goods manufactured in
lgland every year is over seventy millions of c
'unds-more than three hundred and fifty mil. n
rs Of dollars! Ofthe exports of the nation, cot. +
4 goods constitute more than one-third of the 4
lue. The number Of persons inaneediatezy en- 7
dyed in the business is estimated at one millien
q half TO say nothing Of those who are DEPEND.
upon their labor Well may the Examiner. q
der the msapprehensions we have noticed, de- is
re, then, that fhe secession movement concerns so
sat Britain as much as it does New York or
v Orleans -and that sany serious damage sus- to
ned by the cotton States would spread havoc
misery far and wide, and constitute a calamity ar
re disastrous than pestilence and war; But os
t paper may rest assured that its people will be 4,
red the "ealamity'' which they SO much dread.
tn good seasons they viii have their cotton as Sc
la, and the very remote possibility of general p'
i war need cause no apprehension in regard to 81
supply. W