Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-08-20
Fxport 81 Cotton.

Il is time the attention of the country wa,
called to this subject. We believe this running
the blockade, and attempting to run it, have
heeu productive Of most serious harm to th'
cause of The Confederate States. In no light
that occurs 10 us, can it exercise q favorable
effect upon the revolution now in progress. The
careoes that GENE in, apart from arms and mu
nilions Of waE, can be dispensed with without
serious loss, and especially when they are to b.
obtained only on such terms as q vile set of ex
t~ortioneTs may think proper in their avarice &c
impose on the public. The outgoing cGrgoeg,
on the other hand, 20, NEST of them. to build Up
the enemy and save him from Immediate ruin,
whilst the remainder only serves to keep in mo.
ton the cotton spindles of Manchester, and
make q heartless government feel that they are
independent Of Us after all
Let us illustrate this: It may be strikingly
done by reciting the history Of the steamship
Memphis, which was recently captured with a
valuable cargo aud taken into Boston. This
vessel came out, we learn, with an assorted
cargo invoiced st about $350,000 in our money.
1t was sold in Charleston for a million and a
quarter( 81 ,250, 000), leaving a beautiful margin
of nine hundred thousand dollars as profits on
q single venture 1t may be a little less from
insurance and other bills, but the sum stated is
an approximation to the actual gain. This viii
serve TO show how consumers are plundered in
order that a few may grow suddenly rich. It is
no answer to say that the people voluntarily
buy the goods and are not compelled to. 1t IS
taking advantage Of their necessities, and is as
much q swindle as any other transaction They
only have an intermediate class OF merchants,
who are silly, or avaricious enough to aid them
in the scheme Of plunder. This IS the first step
in the speculation.
In the second place, the Memphis loads up
with a return cargo Of cotton snd ~turpentine, on
which an almost equal profit would have been
made, had she cleared the blocksding feet and
made safe her way into The port OF her destina-
ton. But she did not get there. Fortune failed
TO smile on her this time, and she fell into the
hands of the enemy, g glorious prise over which
all Boston rung with hosannahs as she sailed
into port. Here ~fanatieal New England gets
another lease on existence.
Bat take another view of the question Sup
pose the Memphis had reached Nassau ia safety,
as did many Of her cotson-bearing suecersors-
how much better would it have been for US 2
We seriously doubt if the case would have
been altered one iOta, except as regards the
gains of her owners. And why? All cottons
for shipment are bought and sent out with e
distinct understanding that they are not to be
sold to the North. This is promptly pledged,
for no man would dare ship a cargo from the
Confederate States avoWing that he intended to
send it TO a Yankee market. He sends 1t,
though, to Nassau, where there are a plenty Of
Yankee buyers. He sells it ostensibly 70 the
British, but Yankeedom receives the benefit.
Late arrivals ST Northern ports prove that such
has been the course of trade, and that we OF the
South have been building up Yankee man1iac-
lures, and that in express contrayention OF both
a solemn enactment Of Congress, and the best
interests of the nation. I'll done indirectly, .ts
true, but none the less surely for them and dis
astrously for Us.
We need not enter into an argument to prove
that cotton at Nassau win 60 to New York or
Boston in preference to Liverpool, no matter
what was its original destination, when the
prices current show a balance Of from ten to IF
teen cents per pound in favor Of the former.
That one consideration settles the whole ques-
ton in favor of the Yankees.
L is thus that this cotton trade is working
most disastrously to our young and struggling
republic The Yankees have at last found outs
way to get cotton, and they are doing it as they
said they would-through the cupidity Of South
owners of the staple,
How long shall we submit to this state of
things VIII not Congress, which is soon too
meet, take prompt steps for the correction Of an
evil as discreditable to US IS 1t is ruinous Z We
hope so. We had prepared ourselves many
months ago to make war upon the entire trade,
but were dissuaded from the intention by an as
surance-which we now know to be false-that
the shipments Of cotton were on account Of the
government, and that it was the only way in
which it could effect ths necessary exchanges
for the purchase Of arms and munitions Of war.
We hope the public attention viii be directed
10 the subject, and that in advance Of the meet
ing of Congress, not another bale of cotton viii
be allowed to depart from q Confederate port.
S-aUaRaah Republican.