The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-10-26
THE Might nAYE BEEN.
!..:: NJ. Stephens Thinks tho South Could
Iiale Won.
NEW OnI.ENs. Oct. 4 1859

..:.: NJ. Stephens Thinks tho South Could
ia,e Won.
NEW OEIESs. Oct. 4, 1882.
10 Mt Editor Of tie Times. Dcmoc,ut
In the issue of your journal of yesterday
was published y speech of the Hon. A.
I'll, Stephens made recently at Macon,
Ga, in which appears the following par.
ugrnph:
Il saw, or thought saw, (excnse what
may seem to be vanity or eg0tism)- II
thought saw great danger from tho SUI.
peror shipping and naval power of the
North that our ports might be blockadcd.
My idea WAS TO get the 4 1900 600 bales OF
cotton that we then had out and abroad
before The blockade Commenced, by Civ.
ing the planters cents per pound in
per cent: bonds, that would have amount.
ed to S2O0,O0O,OoO BY shipping il
abroad we would have-holdine il there
IN Europe at so cents pound.-we would
have capital of at least $500 O00, 900.
~ TINS you will sec in my speeches
Did that look rs if there was any inii,lel.
ity or disloyalty to the Confederate cause :
The policy was not adopted. /. believe
it WAS afterward admitted. DIR. Craven,
Mr.. Davis physician, stated that he adj.
mitted to him in Fortress Monroe that if
tho policy had Ell adopted the financial
troubles would never have occurred. and
there might have beer change i'm our
cause. Now state, briefly and revcrent.
ly, TINT there never was anv personal
controversy or difference between Mfr.
Davis and myself"
similar assumption nf error on the
part of the Confederate Administration
was published by Gen. j. l.. Johnston,
and was 80 utterly refuted in 1874 by the
two men best able to expose the injustice
Of the assumption, viz: the first and
second secretary Of the Confederate treas.
ury; hence it could hardly have been
supposed that one less informed than Mr..
Stephens would have repeated the state.
ment. AS the letters of Messrs. Mem.
munger and Trenholm may have been
forgotten, will you, in the interest OF
Confederate history, rcpublish thcm in
your columnsY
| Q. q. MEMMINGER,
the first secretary Of the treasury, wrote
rs follows:
CHARLESTON, March q, 1874.
To tie Editor Of tie Ne,cs and Courier :
II observe by your paper of yesterday
which extracts passage from Gen.
Johnstons book, that he follows the nn-
cient example Of our torefather Adam, in
casting tho fault Of Il general cnlamity ON
somo other person. lie attributes the
failure OF the Southern Contcdcracy to
the blunder OF the government. ut its first
institution, IN not possessing itself of the
cotton crop then in the hands of the
planters. This cotton (according to the
GeneraD should nave been shipped in
| AMI ipiYnt inn .,f tIo bl, e. ,
then have furnished bass for future
credit. As was n, that time in charge
OF the treasury department, the RESPONSE
biIity of this failure would rest chiefly on
me; and you will therefore not consider
it out Of place that should correct mis-.
apPrehensions which seem TO have mir.
led yourself rs well ny Cen Johnston.
The Confederate Government was or
ganized in February, tho blockade was
instituted in May, thus leaving n period
OF three months in which the whole cot.
ton crop on hand, say 100000 bales.
ought, according to the military financier,
to have been got into the hands of the
| Confederate Government and shipped
| abroad.
| This would have required fleet OF
1000 ships, allowing 1000 bales to the
ship. Where would these vessels have
been procured in the foce OF the notifica.
ton of the blockade? And was not as
much Of the cotton shipped by private
enterprise ~ could have been shipped by
the Government? When 80 shipped the
proceeds OF tbs sale 1as in must cases
sold to the Government in the shape of
bills Of exchange. The superior adyun.
tage Of this plan is evinced by the fact
that, throughout the year the Govern
ment exchanged its own notes for bills
on Epgland at par, with which it paid for
| all ita arms and munitions of war.
"Of couree that vast amount of cotton
could only have been procured In one OF
three ways-by seizure, by purchase, or
by donation.
Certainly no one at the first inception
of the Confederacy would have ventured
to propose to seize upon the crop, then
in the hands Of the planters, and which
furnished their only means Of subsis,.
| ence.
Gould it not then have been pur.
| chased? At the commencement Of the
government the treasury iad moi fuuis
to pay for the table on which the secre.
tary was writing; and the first purchases
| OF the Government made abroad were
made on the private draft of the secreta-
ry. There was not to be found in the
whole Confederacy sheet of bank.no
paper on which to print note. Fore.
casting this need, the secretary ordered
from England consignment of note
paper and lithographic materials, the
vessel containing which was captured on
the high seas. Many Of the friends of
the late Col. Evans, Of our city, will re-.
member when he nearly lost his life in
the attempt to bring across the lines a
single parcel Of note paper. 1t is within
the memory of the printers of those notes
that months elapsed before bonds or notes
could be engraved and printed, and these
constituted our entire currency.
"How then was the cotton to be paid
for?
"When the mechanical difficulties were
overcome, the financial presented an
equal barrier. The scheme for raising
money adopted by the Congress was to
issue Confederate notes, funding the re.
dundant notes in interest. bearing bonds :;
and all payments at the treasury were
made With these notes. The daily de.
mands on the treasury exceeded greatly
the means Of supply. Now if instead Of
applying the notes to the daily payments
| required at the treasury they bad been
used TO purchase cotton the treasury
would have found itself filled with cotton.
without any money to meet the wants of
tho Government, until the cotton could
be shipped abroad and sold.
IF, instead of payment in notes, the
bonds of the Government had been used