New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-01-29
COMING EyENTS.

sense OF the British nation had been brought Il
bear upon the cotton question From states
nlau down TO cotton-spinner, it had been set
tied conviction that the American supply would
one day be interrupted. They believed this
when our crop was only million Of bales, and
were uneasy in consequence. As the crop in.
creased 90 did their industry expand. But
with greater consumption their alarm assumed
a corresponding magnitude. They saw that, a:
our product was enlarged their industry wa
more completely at our mercy. Tho defan,
insolcnce Of the cotton-growers 10 all foreign
nations was submitted TO by compulion. War
was synonymous with no cotton. But the
knowledge OF this fact only aggravated the gen.
eral apprehension of what all felt to be an iney-
table calamity. 70 escape from this bondage
to American shareholders, and to be prepared
for the shock when il did come, q multitude Of
eIpedients were tried.
! For more than twenty years these efforts were
continued. Millions Of capital were spent on
foreign cotton fields without any encouraging
results. 1t is noteworthy also, that in proper
lion as tho number of our bales increased so
was British energy developed in devising sources
of supply by which they might be dispensed
! with. Public attention was called TO the SUBJ
| jeot in a variety of ways. Presses were estab-
lishcd, In which every vibration Of the cotton
pulse was noted with feverish precision. Asso-
Citations were formed to stimulate its cultivation
throughout the tropics. The aid Of Government
was invoked. but without securing any substan-
tial support. Meantime, this country was
yiedinga continually increasing supply. Our
machinery Of production was so complete aud
thoroughly organized that competition was
practically hopeless. We produced tho best
article, and sold it at the lowest price. The
monopoly was absolute. Moreover, the
Free Trade policy Of the cotton-growers con-
ceded TO Manchester the power Of saying what
that price should be. Content with this power,
there was in consequence q large cotton-spin-
ming interest which cared nothing for the future
the present WAS good enough. Hence, though
perhaps to some extent affected by the prevail
ing alarm, yet they refused to sympathize with
the effort 10 shake OF the Shareholders monop.
oily. Foreign climes failed to yield the coveted
supplies, notwithstanding tho well-organzcd
effort to compel them. For tho thousandth
time price was shown TO DO everything. and
that the American Shareholders could undersell
the world. Thus stood the vast British cotton
interest when the cannonade of Sumter told
them that the cotton supply was at an end.
The blow was staggering one. IT fell the
moro heavily by reason Of Its coming from
wholly unexpected quarter. All who are con-
yersant with this question know that England
had regarded war with the United States as the
only event by which the cotton supply could be
interrupted. Her people did not dream OF Re
bellion. 1t was natural that they should not,
for no such infamy was anticipated by ourselves.
War. like the gathering thunder-cloud, gives
token of ils approach. Rebellion works clan
destnely, its guilty purposes concealed until
tho moment for explosion. If the North had no
Suspicion of its coming, why should England DO
spprchensiyei War between England and this
country would have given sufficient warning to
enable tho former TO accumulate years supply
of cotton, but Rebellion gave none, and in
stantly tho supply ceased. 1t was the ruinous
abruptness Of the deprivation that
placed England in such imminent peril.
But that peril was part Of tho slayeholders'
programme. The North could not lawfully
coerce the South, but the South could lawfully
coerce England. She reeled under the severest
blow that had been dealt out to her during the
century. The ocean was not wide enough to
save her from the plantation lash, and for a
time sho covered and yielded. But time has
enabled her to resume her ancient equipose.
Her cotton panic has subsidized. Price, every
whcre ruler, has brought fleets of cotton ships
into her ports, more than half her spindlcs are
AGAIN in motion, and the cotton famine is at an
end. With herself We arc equally amazed at
the firmness with which she passed an ordeal
from whose recoil we naturally feared tho
grsvest consequences. 1t was felt to be CON-
mon danger. But England at rest upon tho
cotton question, We may fold our arms in safety.
Three years ago 1t was confidently asserted
that tho South had permanently lost her hold
on tho cotton markets of the world. AT that
timo tue shareholders aud tue South were held