The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-10-19
1E DAILY EVENING WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 49,

KING COTTON AND THE RBBRLLION.
How wonderful, how very wonderful, are
the ways Of Providoncei All the seemingly
evil accidents Of life have their oompensatlons.
| There Is not an event that 10 human eyes
appears 20 be unfavorable or calamitous,
which, If rightly understood, or perceived In
all its immediate and remote bearings and
consequences, would not be pronounced, even
by our finite wisdom. blessing instead OF a
curse. When God denounced against our
first parents the penalty of labor for their
traDsgressicn of His law, He conferred a bene-
faction, in the guiso Of an atllction. But for
The necessity of earning our "bread by the
sweat OF our brows" the earth would never
have been redeemed from its wilderness con-
lion, nor the inventive and mechanical
faculties of mankind been brought into
exercise.
Before the Rebellion began, the Southern
States produced staple which formed the
principal item In the list Of our exports, and
was source Of immense revenue and wealth,
not only TO the producers, but to the nation.
This was SO to such an extent that "Cottonr
was said TO be "King" and the influence
which it eXerted in the commercial and fnan-
ciol. economy of the country was 30 great,
that the people Of the South supposed they
could prefer any political pretensions, how
ever extravagsnt and unreasonable, without
Icing questioned or resisted.
But cotton has been dethroned. 1t pressed
its claims too far, aud those claims were
properly denied and resisted. The people of
the North were never unmindful Of the pecu-
MARY value to the nation ofthe cotton culture.
They fully recognized its whole Importance as
q source of national revenue and of national
commerce. But when the producers of cotton
undertook to place that single element of
national prosperity above the law of the
nation-When they presumed on the confess
sedly great share which the cotton trade had
in the general industry, traffic, and prosperity
Of the country, to the extent of debating the
policy of the Government in all domestic and
foreign affairs, the people of the North refused
to longer suffer such domination.
The consequence is before us to-day. South
ern cotton-planters thought they could rule
the whole country because they raised that
most valuable staple. In order to raise 1t,
they held slaves. Slavery was obviously
condition of Southern wealth and power; ;
and the Southern slave-owners, presumiug on
the necessity of the cotton crop to the general
comfort and aggrandizement of the nation,
undertook to control the general policy and
administration of the Republic. Failing in
that, they claimed the right to withdraw from
a'political partnership which they could no
longer direct and manage to suit themselves,
and they forthwith commenced a rebellion
against the National Government, which has
lasted nearly four years, and has cost the
country an enormous amount of expense,
both in blood and treasure. The result will
be a complete overthrow Of the Rebellion and
the reduction of "King Cotton" to the subor-
dination 1t should always have owed and paid
to the peace, unity, and happiness of the
whole cou ntry.