Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-03-10
Amo. Kendall. Letters.


The Object Of the War-The Pride Of Weah
and Lust for POsOer, FOstsred by the Cotton
Monopoly, the Cause Of the RebeiliOn--TrO
Glasses Of SIaUetolders--ORe for the Union
King Cotton an Tnsult 10 Great BTifain and
France, Gnd Conspiracy against The Com
nlercial World.
To ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United
States:
Respected Sir: In my last proposed to con-
slider in this letter the causes which have led TO
the pending rebellion, and to show the advocates
of emancipation that they have every reason TO
be satisfied with the progress shat operation is
making.
The cause or causes of the rebellion nav be
summed up in the single phrase, Pride of Wealth
and Lust for Poper. These are not peculiar TO
the South, but have their influence in the North
as well. North and South they pervade with
honorable exceptions, those classes of society
which find means to live and to enrich themselves
without manual labor. North as well as South
the feelings of these classes revolt against a
Government controlled by the toiling millions,
and would overthrow IL If they could. In the
North the attempt would be hopeless, and the
arstOcratc classes quietly acquisesce in things as
they ln the cotton region of the South the
laborers have no political rights, and the aristo
cratic classes govern in all that relates to local
affairs. But they not content with that.
Their pride revolts at association in any Govern
ment, however mild and bene6cent, in which la
boring men participate directly or indirectly To
! get rid of such Government, though it has been
the chief source of all their prosperity, is the OBJ
ject of the present rebellion The avowed de-
sign OF the South Carolina leaders is the organi-
cation of community composed OF gentlemen
and labOrers, in which the gentlemen shall he
masters and the laborers their slaves. To this
end they were, before the rebellion broke out,
avowedly In favor of reopenng the African
slave trade, and have since submitted with bad
grace to a restriction in their Confederate Con
stitutiOn, dictated by an apprehension that il
would not be safe present so far to outrage the
! feelings of the civilized world.
But there is considerable class of slavehold-
ers especially in the border slaveholding States,
who do not entertain this antipathy labor. 1t
is composed OF men of moderate means, owning
but lew slaves. They are the self-made men,
| whose industry and economy have enabled them
! to purchase one or more slaves, and may be seen
at work in the same field with their own negroes.
They do not sympathize with the cotton. rice and
! sugar planters, who reckon their slaves bv hum
drees, and who never put their own hands TO the
pillow, the hoe. the axe. These small slave
holders, numerically probably more numerous
than the richer class. have no repugnance TO be-
ing associated in a Government controlled in part
generally faithful to the Constitution and the
Union. Slavery does not make them rebels.
Cotton is more prolific element than slavery
in generating the pride of wealth and lust for
power" which have produced the rebellion,
though both have operated. Had cotton, like
wheat and corn been product of the North
well as the South, its cultivation would not have
been a source of inordinate wealth to Southern
planters; for the free labor of the North would
then have been brought into direct competition
with the slave labor of the South, and the price
of the article would have been reduced TO "A mod
crate profit. But the climate has given to the
South a monopoly of this culture, and it is a
monopoly not at all dependent the existence
of slavery. 1t would still exist as efectuaily as
it does now if slavery were swept out of existence,
and the commercial effect would probably in that
event be an enhancement of the price.
The invention OF the cotton gin and improve
ments in manufacturing machinery cheapeued
the preparation and manufacture of cotton as 20
bring it into competition, under most favorable
conditions, with every other article used in cloth
ing the human family and the demand for it so
rapidly increased that production could not keep
up with it. The consequence was an increase in
the price of the raw material, until il has reached
point far above that of any article which can
be brought in competition with il in the markets
Of the world. This is not the effect Of slavery,
but in its causes though not in its effects il is
entirely independent of that institution. But. by
this Intervention of the demand for cotton, the
SHAREHOLDERS in South Carolina and a few other
States were enabled to employ their negroes I'm
species of culture peculiar to their climate. the
profits of which could not be lessened by general
competition. Though there has been a prodi-
gious increase of production, the consumption has
fully kept pace with it, and up to the breaking
out of the rebellion, in part of the earth tor
the last thirty years. and in period Of history,
have the profits Of agricultural labor been so
great as in the cotton growing regions of the
Untej States. But these profits would have
been as great, If not greater, had the Southern
production, as in the Northern manufacture. been
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 O. their cotton, they could rule
} the world. Cotton is King" they exclaimed:
and through his power they aspred to break up
the Union and compel Great Britain and France
to aid them in the fratricidal operation 1t has
seemed strange to me that the rulers of those
tons have not seen in this rebellion, rather in
! the means by which the leaders proposed to COM
PASS success. an insult to their sovereignty and
! conspiracy against the commercial world Openly
they saw to thOse proud nations: I'VE have the
power and intend to use il. by Withholding our
cotton, to compel you to become our allies. I'M
der penalty of riot and rebellion among the OPP
, eratives in your own dominons." If they have
any such power il 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 recognition. would say TO
them: Lay down your arms, and not only give
US your cotton, but restore TO US the market of
an united and peaceful country, without which
your material will be comparatively of little
} value
But am wandering from my line of argument,
and must defer to my next one branch intended
for this letter. AMOS KENDALL
} February 10, 1862.
Chronic Disease
The following structures upon chronic disease