The New York herald., 1863-08-19
The Rebel Cotton Loan i'm Enrla nd an

tne OOgtO0 In the SOWths
The principal organ in England of JEFF.
Davis and his Southern confederacy cy-the Lon
don Times-for the encouragement of English
noodles disposed to dabble In the so-called
Confederate cotton loan, has lately published a
statement from Mr.. McRae (no doubt from
Mississippi), Confederate agent for this loan, in
which be says that s'the purchases Of cotton by
the Confederate government will probably
amount to FIVE hundred thousand bales; that
this cotton is principally in Georgia and Ala
bama,. end some also in Eastern Mississippi,
NorthEestern- Louisiana and Texas, and is
stored on the plantations Of planters, from
whom it was purchased. in sheds or warehouses,
three hundred feet from other buildings, and
that the capture of all the Confederate seaports
would naEandanger the loss Of single pound
of cotton, ,as there are no stocks of cotton
at anENnks, them," &C.; and, a. it is per-
haps rirsn this report of McRae that this rebel
cotton loan rallied in London to twenty-fiv
per cent'discount; after it had fallen to thirty.
five, we think that few facts, Of later dates
than thoserGf McRae, from the cotton districts,
will be sufaoaent to prove the insecurity Of his
Confederate cotton sheds, however remote they
may be from Southern seaports.
The following letter, for example, of the
rebel Secretary of the Treasury, will prove to
be exceedingly interesting to the London specu-
lators in this aforesaid Confederate cotton
Loan
TR1AsQRY DEPARTMENT, C. s. All
RsHxosD July Is, 1858. )
SiR-The fall OF vicksburg and Port Hudson exposes 10
the enemy the cetton purchased by the government in
mississippi and Louisiana. learn that many Of the
leave their plantations that there will be no person
whom the duty be ntrused OF preserving cotton
likely to fall into the hands OF the enemy Under these
circumstances would respectfully submit that the sub
ect be placed under the control OF the commanding
rails and that they be instructed destroy all
ton as cannot be from the hands OF the enemy
with much respect, your obedient servant,
G. g. MEMMINGER. Secretary Of the Treasury.
Inpursuance of this recommendation, J. D. B.
De Bow, general cotton purchasing agent of the
rebel government, in card to the Mobile Adrer-
tiser. dated Uniontown, Alabama, July 25, an
nounced that he had instructed his agents in Mis-
sissippi to apply the torch to all stores of Con-
federate cotton whenever in imminent and
manifest danger of falling into the hands Of the
enemy, but only in such cases." He declared
it of the "last Importance, however, that cotton
should not be trophy Of the enemy" Next,
our news dispatches from the Southwest in
formed US that over wide extent of country
in Northern Mississippi the air was filed
with the smoke and the horizon was il
Illuminated at night by the fires of the
rebel cotton burners. Jo. Johnston had been
disastrously defeated in and expelled from
jackson, and any further resistance within the
limits Of the State to the advancing yankees"
being likewise in our possession, there was no
alternative remaining bat the torch to prevent
the depots of Mississippi cotton, marked c. s.
A., falling into the hands of the u. 5. A.
Thus it is probable that since May last there
have been burned by the rebels, or carried of
or destroyed by the Union forces in Mississippi
alone, not less than one hundred thousand Of
the five hundred thousand bales Of cotton set
apart for the redemption Of this rebel cotton
loan in Europe.
Considerable quantities Of this Confederate
cotton have also been captured or destroyed
by the forces of General Banks in Louisiana;
and theroutes pursued by the cavalry expedi-
tions from the army of General Rosesrans, in
Northern Alabama and Georgia, have been
illuminated by some rebel bonares Of the same
combustble. But the worst of it is, to the
English Confederate cotton bondholders, that
nothing but the torch or some other mode of
destruction can prevent the other four hum
dred thousand bales Of re. s. Al cotton from
being gobbled up by the advancing hosts Of
the Union, whether in Alabama, Georgia,
Northwestern Louisiana or Texas; for all those
States are now absolutely at the mercy of the
overwhelming armies of Grant, Banks and
Rosecrans.
Since the lst of May last the operations of
Grant and Banks alone have resulted in rebel
losses OF soldiers-killed wounded, captured
and missing to an army of sevcnty-fve
thousand men; and the fragmentary armies
remaining to Joe Johnston and Bragg are
rapidly disintegrating and dissolving from
want, disease, despair, decentralization and de-
sertion. When the heats Of this tropical sum
mer shall have given way to the cooler atmos-
phere of autumn, there will not be Conlede
rate cotton shed in the cotton States the con-
tents Of which will be worth insuring to JEFF.
Davis at five cents pound.
We do not believe, however, that this whole
sale destruction of cotton commenced by the
rebels in Northern Mississippi will be much
longer followed up. As the conviction which
il now taking root among the Southern people
that the rebellion is a failure extends among
them, they will begin to cast about to save some
thing from the general shipwreck Of their for
tunes Despoiled Of everything OF immediate
value, except their cotton, 1t will constitute
their sole dependence for the supply Of their
families with the indispensable articles Of sub
ssteuce and clothing which they will need for
the first year Of peace. Making allowances for
all losses, shipments and home consumption since
this war began there are prohahlv mot over