The national Republican., 1861-02-14

obtaining their assent, what sort Of an answer
will it be possible to make to themP
COTTON.
The Englishmen are meeting the cotton crisis
with the steadiness and manliness which are
the Just pride of that noble race. They look
the danger in the face. They neither blink it,
nor underrate its proportions. They see that
the support Of their greatest manufacture has
become precarious, by the current events in
the United States, and as the world is full Of
cotton regions, they are determined no longer
to run the hazard Of leaning upon single
source Of supply. The resources within their
reach are so numerous and so ample, that
failure is impossible, for nation SO rich, 30
energetic, and, in this case, stimulated to &C.
tivity by motives SO urgent. It may now, in
fact, be taken for certain, that the days Of the
substantial monopoly of the cotton production
heretofore enjoyed by the United States, are
de6nitively ended.
The London Times of January %, says:
"There is not an hour to be lost in providing
against this tremendous danger. To put the
case in the mildest form, three. .fourths Of our
cotton supply has become uncertain, onethird
Of our trade is in jeopardy, and the earnings Of
one-siXth of our population may be rendered
precarious. Are not these facts enough to set
US at work with will2 Not doubt exists
about the resources at our command. Cotton
can be grown almost as commonly as wheat
The best seeds and the best staples are now
we'll understood, and the proper method Of
cleaning and packing can be easily taught
OF sources of supply, the Times says:
"If in 1857 India could send US, as she did,
10000 bales, it is fair enough to presume that,
| under the pressure and with the encouragement
of q strong demand, she could raise her sup.
plies to 10000 bales-nearly half Of our i'm
mediate wants. Then, again, there is Austria.
| lia, actually inquiring for staple Of produce,
and desirous Of nothing better than to be set
cotton growing for England"
The London Post of January 2l, says:
Cup to the period of the Indian mutiny, the
proportion of our cotton supply coming from
the United States, as compared with our total
consumption, was in course Of rapid diminu.
ton. Without troubling our readers with long
arrays of figures, we may say that the proper
| ton of American cotton to the whole supply
was, in 1854, 81 per cent. in 1855, 76 per
cent. in 1856, also 76 per cent. and in 1851,
65 per cent, this great fall having arisen main.
ly from the East India supply having reached
its maximum of $50 millions of pounds, having
been $50 in the previous year, and las the year
before. In the next year, however, the effects
Of the mutiny were felt-a fall to 1872, and the
American per centage rose to go; but in 1859
the Indian supply rose to 1872, and the Ameri.
can per centage fell to IS. OF the ultimate
action of the East Indies, the original home of
cotton, in freeing rs from dependence upon the
Southern States, there can be little doubt but
it will be slow and tedious, and we want an i'm.
mediate safeguard from an imminent danger.
How to get it, we must consider the habits Of
the plant. the localities where it grows, and the
period within which it can be produced.
Land fresh brought under cultivation in the
United States will yield, on an average, from
1000 to l,200pounds of cotton per acre with the
seed, which will yield Of clean cotton from 250
to 300 pounds. In the old States the produce
is not more than half this quantity. One able.
bodied laborer is sufficient for each eight acres
Of land, if assisted in the lighter parts of the
work by the aged and in6rm, and the young
people who belong 10 these families the whole
will at the same time be able TO cultivate from
own support. Captain Basil Hall has given
details Of a plantation where 200 acres were
under cotton cultivation, and on which the en-
tire number of negroes was l22. OF these, 48
were children under IA, and four were wholly
superannuated of the remaining 10, only 80
were considered full hands, lG were 'three-
quarter hands, eleven half hands, and four
quarter hands, the whole being equal to fifty.
seven and half ablebodied laborers. This
proportion of laborers is greater than that in
stanced, Of cne able bodied laborer to eight
acres, which rests, however, upon very respect
able authority. The area Of land employed in
the United States, exclusively in the culture Of
cotton, amounts to from three to four million
acres, and our whole supply does not require
more than six one one-ftth more than the
area of the island of Sicily alone, where it is
successfully cultivated.
"But the fact is, that though the Southern
States of North America have virtually almost
a monopoly, cotton will grow over an enormous
extent Of the earths surface where it is not at
present grown. The conquerors of Mexico
found cotton cloths there it is now largely
cultivated on the coast Of Peru it comes from
Brazil, and we constantly hear of the producing
power Of South Africa the East Indies will be.
fore very long be its mighty mother. In the
seventeenth century, cotton wool was brought
from the Levant and manufactured at Man
chester, the Saracens cultivated it in Sicily, and
the Moors in Spain. In the year 1857, which
we select, because it was the year in which In.
dia most nearly approached her natural caps.
biities, we imported, in round numbers,
650,000,000 pounds from the United States,
250,000,000 pounds from India, 10000, 900
pounds from Brazil, 25,00O,0O0 pounds from
the Mediterranean, 100000 pounds from the
British West Indies, and 100000 pounds from
other countries. 1t is, however, to the cotton.
producing power of the Mediterranean that we
would more especially direct attention, mas.
much as it is that more available for the emer.
gency which may arise, and for which, how.
ever much we may depreciate it, we must be