The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-08-29
COLUMBIA.
Tuesday Morning, Aug. %. 1885.
The Dsperture OF /. Late sovereign.

The Departure OF n L.ts Sovereign.
1t is, we believe, to the late Senator
Hammond that we owe the phrase,
''Cotton is King" and he employed
it, first, in relation to foreign States.
and in comparison with their several
material powers. And, certainly, had
cotton been continued, as the repre-
sentative property of the ,chole United
States, upheld by that power, and
tenaciously asserted by its cupidity,
as well as by its strength. there would
be no deposition of the monarch from
his throne. Representing the Con-
federate Government, exclusively, it
was otherwise. He then drew upon
himself the hostility of the United
States Government, and failed,
through their fears, to secure the sup
port of those foreign powers, which
we're yet largely dependent upon his
agency and aid He was for the time
ignored; and England, grooming from
the lack of cotton-her machinery
silent-her operatives starving-con-
tinued to cry aloud, through the small
treble of Lord John RUSSELL, Cotton
is not King" Of course, England
could acknowledge no king coming
from America. But cotton uas king,
and of legitimate origin, but he was
banded against, blindly and tacitly, by
those who were his proper subjects.
Had he any fair play at the hands of
the Confederate Government !? What
was his treatment by the very powers
which, finally, depended upon his
agency for NIL their resources. Had his
agency been sooner resorted to and
relied on. Mr.. Davis would not pro-
bably have SO quickly gone by the
board. At the commencement of the
late disastrous war, the South was full
of cotton. It could be bought ut -,
to 81. cents everywhere. A general
feeling Of doubt and insecurity pre-
vailed among the planters. They
lacked money. They had nothing
else to sell. A very eminent gentle
man, after consulting with his friends.
proceeded to Richmond, and coun-
selled with certain of the ruling pow
ers on this subject. He advised that
the Confederate Government should
become the proprietor of all the cot
ton in the country, at eight cents
should hold it tenaciously-should
bank upon it-and deny its use to
private speculation. This was proba-.
bly, the only process by which to assert
the sovereignty of King Cotton. But
he was laughed ut by the wiseacrcs in
power. We remember the indigna-
ton which he expressed in company
at the treatment he received "Ihave
heard" said he, "that was made the
laughing stock of certain Secretaries
and Senators, among their idiotic
underlings and Jackals" It was not
long after when this same Confederate
Government did enter the market,
and bought UP the same cotton at
prices ranging from twenty-five to
eighty cents; with the view to foreign
credit and influence at foreign courts
But this was not all. Cotton was
what we may call generic power,
and hence its sOvereignty The apen-
cies of the Government were, in brief,
So many agencies of cotton. Cotton
represented the peculiar claims of the
South-its negro capitalists local in
terests as we'll as institutions-it was
the cementing property of the State.
10 what sort of persons were these