Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1863-10-09
HOW COTTON" MIGHT HAVE BEEN MADE A
REAL king"

The constituent Assembly of France the National As
senby and the Convention first named Of which had
Inc honor of iuauraing while the two developed TO
full the system OF aSSgnatsare justly entitled TO
the credit of having been the worst naGcerS that up to
taat period had embrOied the pecuniary affairs
pered the existence of great nation They issued du.
ring the first six years OF their existence the value of
about thousand millions of dollars in rredeemabe pa
Der the basis upon which the issue made beng the
National domain, that the forfeited lands of the Church
and nobility, worth probably half the At the end
of the six years. France declared TO be in state of
bankruptcy and the whole debt was wiped out 10 the utter
ruin of half the property holders of the nation. TIL
have been stupcndous imbecility somewhere But
we doubt very much whether the statesmen of France-f
the who then had the control of her desneS
bered any statesmen among thcm-woud had they pos
sessed in prodgous quantities an article OF merchandise
demand than any other article whatever-an art-
Gle which annually brought into The country $3.50 600
article the commercial value of which great that
it called king by its admirers and was supposed to
rule with despotc sway the commerce of the world
article which 1t alone could supply in the proper guam
tty and uuality and of which it therefore possessed al
most the monnpolyan article which it only necessary
send abroad to draw into the country perfect delu
of the precious mealswe say doubt whether had the
wretched fnanciers of the Assembly the Convention
been in possession Of such nexhaustibe resource
this they would have thought of issuing ten thou
sand millions IN irredeemabe paper based upon sreal es
tate when experience had already shown in other
tries that such security perfectly ilusoy and that
nothing could sustain the credit of paper but couverbity
into cash upon demand. Mol The tnanciers OF the Oil
ronde and the Mountain stupid enough in this re-
spect but they would have been guilty of folly
prepOsterous, enormous, and 50 entirely without the
shadow of apology explanation
We have always deeply regretted that Mr. Stephens was
selected fill office which there many others who
can fill it WELL instead of being made Sec rotary of
the Treasury where his great in statesman
Ship and sagacy in matters apperainng to finance
would have enabled him to render nesmable services to
his country He is sld and doubt not to have
at the first glance the whole truth with regard to pO
sOn and to have earnestly recommended the instant pur
chase and conveyance Europe of million of bales of
cotton 1t could have been done at that time with perfect
facility for il during the last term of Buchanan, while
the government was still in Montgomery and the ports
had not vet been bockadcd He estimated that the sale
of this cotton would bring at least OF which
part TO be expended in the equipment OF one hun
roucad going Steamers and the rest to placed
at our credit in Europe Everybody can now what
would have been the consequence of such policy but it
is the fate of genius always to lind It's farreachlng fore
sight derided neglected by ordinary minds Had he
been Secretary Of the Treasury from the commencement
the very ties of his position would have ndu ced
him enlarge his views to embrace the whole
of cotton at that time amounting to five millions of bales
For one year after the commenced the blockade
so slight that the whole of this might have been shipped
to Europe and there sold at two shlngs sterling pound
giving the government purchasing at twenty cents clear
profit of GD0000000 Or suppoSlng the enemy to have
captured one-llh ian enormous allowance we should
still have had in Europe balance OF What
might not have been done with this sum? We mi ght,
had been disposed have drained every Bank in Eu
rope specie We gh have taught the skeptcs of
the Old World and the New that the pretensOns of Cot
ton idle gasconada-that he was bona pie king,
and "every inch of kng"-that he had the nations in
the hollow his hand-and that kings aud potentaes had
choice but to obev his dictates embrace certain ruin
as the alternative Or ght have left this great sum
proper hands in Europe and drawn from it needed
it, Our Treasury would then have been equal gold
sterling bills, VIII oh good as gold, and although
tho exgcnces Of the times would have required suspen
sion of specie payment conden would have been I'M
shaken and universal.
But this simple solution Of great but perfectly exp