The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-03-08

Il 10 composed Of men Of moderate means own.
Ing but few slaves. They are the seIf.made men,
whose industry and economy have elsbled them
70 purchase one or more slaves, and they may
often be seen at work 10 the same field with
their own negroes They do not sympathize
with tho cotton, rico, and sugar planters, who
reckon their slaves BY hundreds, and who never
put their own hands to the plow, the hoe, or the
axe. These small slaveholders, numerically prob.
no repugnance to being associated 10 Govern
ment controlled In part BY the laboring men of
the North. and they are generally faithful TO the
Constitution and the Union. Slavery does not
make them rebels.
Cotton 10 more prolific element than slavery
In generating the pride Of wealth and lust for
power" which have pre- duced the rebellion, tho
both have co.operated. Had cotton, like wheat
and corn, been product Of the North as well a.
che South, Its cultivation would not have been
source Of inordinste wealth to Southern plan
ters; for the free labor Of the North wouldthen
have been brought into direct competition with
the slave labor Of the South, and the price of
the article would have been reduced toya mod
crate profit. But climate has given to the South
. monopoly Of this culture, and it is monopoly
not at oil dependent on the existence Of slavery.
It would still exist as e6ectnally as it does now
If slavery we're swept out Of existence, and the
commercial effect would probably in that event
be an enhancement of the price.
4 The invention Of the cotton gin and improve.
ments in manufacturing machinery so cheapened
the preparation and manufacture OF cotton as
to bring it into composition, under most favor
able conditions, with every other article used in
clothing the human family, and the demand for
It 20 rapidly increased that production could not
keep up with It. The consequence was an in
0rfA in fha npso IF f1,a ,fal IL
has reached point far above that of any article
which can be brought in competition with it in
the markets Of the world This is not the effect
Of slavery. but In its causes, though not in its
Effects It 10 entirely independent Of that instita-
ton. But, by this Intervention Of the demand
for cotton, the slaveholders in South Carolina
and few other States were enabled to employ
their negroes in species of culture peculiar to
their climate, the profits of which could not be
lessened by general competition. Though there
has been aprodigious increase Of production,
the consumption has fully kept pace with it, and
up to the breaking out of the rebellion, in no
part OF the earth for the last thirty years. and in
no period ofhistory, have the profits of sgricul.
tural labor been SO great as in cotton growing
regions of the United States But these profits
would have been as great, If not greater, had the
Southern production, az 10 the Northern manu-
focture, been the proceeds Of hired free instead
Of slave labor.
With the immense profits of the monopoly the
cotton planters became intoxicated, and thought
that, by means of their cotton, they could rule
the world. "Cotton is King" they exclaimed
and through his power they aspired to break up
the Union and compel Great Britain and France
to aid them in the fratricidal operation. It has
seemed strange TO me that the rulers of those
nations have not seen in this rebellion or rather
in the means by which the leaders proposed to
compass success, an insult to their sovereignty
and conspiracy against the commercial world.
Openly they say to those proud nations: "Ws
haze tie poUer and intend 70 use Il. BY uittolding
our cotton, to compel you to become allies under
penalty Of riot and re6ellion among the operatives
IN your o,us dossinioas." If they have any such
power it is the interest of the world it should be
broken, and one would think that the sagacious
Napoleon and the proud Palmerston, instead of
meditating their recognition, would say to them
:. Lay do,cn your arms, and not only gios ~ your
cotton, out restore to as the market Of an,ed and
peaceful country, withoul Whieh your raw material
,cM b comparatively Of little ua'Hs. =
ls-5fyfte- AMOS KENDALL.