Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-10-17


Under this caption the New Orleans Pieayun,
Of the I4th instant has an article, which it weT'
well the people Of the North should reflect upon
before yielding al power into the hands of sbo
htiouism.
The Pieayuus says that in the crusade which
the aboitioDists are saging against slavery.
they appear to lose sight of the economy Of the
consequences Of this crusade, suppOsing it sue
osssful. Who viii losel The South, say they
Certainly, if they overthrow the system Of labor
prevailing in the South she win receive a blow
tbs, viii turn her snowy cotton fields into des.
erts, and make her poor indeed. But will moi
the recoil Of the blow extend beyond her soill
VIII it not involve North and South in one com
mon Tuin7
Cotton is selling in New York at fifty or sixty
cents s pound. 1t has been imported from Eng
land to keep the mills Of the North moving.
The stock is pretty nearly exhausted, aud when
it is all gone, whence is a supply to be had if
the system Of Southern labor be destroyed II
none can be had what becomes of such manu-
featuring towns as Lowell, Manchester, Law
renee, Nashua, etc2 The cotton Of the South
has been TIE great backbone Of the whole man.
ufacturing system of the North. The cotton
mills form but a small portion of that system.
Let The cotton bloom wither and perish, and
every species 0 findastTy in the North viii witheT
and perish also. The best market the North
has ever had viii have disappeared as BY the
wand of an encbsnter.
The South viii have nothing with which to
pay for what she may want Of the North The
immense trade by which Northern merchants
have grown rich viii be st an end. Sugar ket-
ties, steam engines, plantation pumps, scales,
plows, carriages, shoes, hardware, clothing, fur
niture and every other article required FOR plan
tsti0n, family, or personal use in The South viii
cease to be demanded. The Northern importers
AID merchants 60 not now feel the full force Of
such 3 collapse In trade as this would ereAte, be-
cause the wsT in some measure compromises for
the loss sustained by its immense acquisitions
for war supplies.
But when the war is ended, as end it must at
last, aad the government no longer iads itself
compelled TO psy out millions per week for sup
plies, what will come 10 to Eli up the void, if,
10 the m~eanwhile, The ability to produce cotton
in the South shall have been destroyed The
abolitonist is Of course ready with an answer
He does not design to prevent tbs culture OF
cotton. He viii merely change the system CT
slave labor to free labor. and he imagines that
the supply will be had in this way as usual,
This shows how profoundly ignorant he is of
She whole question Of the Southern system OF
labor. One would suppose that after the ezPeT-
iments made in Jamaica and Hayti, there
would be nothing more desired as to the posi-
biIity Of raising cotton aud sugar in The South
ern States by liberated slaves. The facts On this
head are too notorious to need repetition. They
are not denied and cannot be. If it be said
that the negroes, once freed, shall be compelled
to work if they viii not voluntarily, we reply
by asking what this will be but reducing them
sgain to slavery
We close by declaring our decided convictions
that if the abolitionists succeed in overthrow
ing slavery in the South, she VIII not suffer, in
a pecuniary point Of view, q whit more from it
than the North win. i viii be well for sober
men in the North 70 reflect well upon the econ
omy Of abolition before lending 1t their aid.