The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-07-31
the swift steamers entered Charleston and
Wilmington.

w EuiuStOu.
ENGLISH MERCHANTS.
Before the war the people of the Southern
States proclaimed to the world that cotton
was king They expected that England would
break the blockade by her war ships; that the
demand for cotton by the English manufacturers
and merchants would be so great that the gov
eminent would be compelled to side with the
South.
Were you to visit England and take a look
at the cities of Manchester and Rochdale you
would see forest of tall factory chimnes.
OF the 100000 spindles in the world spin
ming cotton thread more than half are in
Extraordinarily all of them in Lancashire.
Nearly all the cotton used came from the
Southern States
The crop of cotton in the South in 1861 was
very small. A pound of cotton was worth
about 10 cents in Charleston, but in Liverpool
it would sell for so cents.
Mills were stopping the machinery ceasing
to turn for want of material. When men can
make 400 per cent. on their money they are
ready to run great risks. The merchants of
Liverpool built the fast vessels, loaded them
with cannon, small-arms, powder, all varieties
of goods, which they could sell at great profit
if they could get the vessels into Confederate
port. 1t was far easier to slip out past the
blockaders than to get in, and the 400 per cent
profit on the cotton added to the profit on the
goods was so tempting that everybody was
ready to risk their money-merchants, law
yers, doctors, officers of the army and navy,
even ministers engaged in the business. ofii-
GERS of the navy obtained leave OF absence, as
sumed other Names and became captains OF
blockade runners. Some of them made a great
deal of money The merchants who owned the
vessels were ready to pay great wages for cap
tains and crews. These are the wages paid for a
single trip between Nassau and Charleston !:
Captain, $1,000; chief officer, $1,000; second
and third officers, $3.50; chief engineer, $500;
crew and fremen, $3.50; pilot, $500.
Blockade running was illegal. If a vessel
was captured the officers and crew were held
as prisoners. Though illegal and immoral,
members of Parliament, earls, lords, and men
and women occupying high positions in England
engaged in it, not only to make money, but to
help the Confederates. They wanted the South
to succeed in establishing a government with
slavery for its cornerstone.
THE LANCASHIRE PRAYER MEETING.
There was so little cotton to be had that the
machinery in many of the mills ceased its
whirling. The men and women who worked
at the looms, who tended the spinning frames
were idle. There was no work for them. They
| had little to eat. Starvation stared them in
| face. Children cried for bread. Men and women
| pinched with hunger, not knowing whether
| they could obtain anything to eat on the NOR
row, strolled the streets, seeking in vain foI
work.
"The necessity of England, the threatened
starvation of the people, viii compel the British
Government to break the blockade; that will
| bring war between England and the United
| States" said the Southern newspapers.
But when starvation stared the people Of
Lancashire in the face when they had nothing
to eat, instead of calling upon the Government
to interfere, they held monday prayer meet
ings-praying that the Northern States might
succeed in the war.
Why did they thus pray? Why did they
array themselves against the merchants, mil
owners, lords, the trading classes and the arts
| tocracy of England? Because they knew by al
instinct almost divine that the war was
| struggle between two systems oflabor, between
| freedom and slavery,-and that the people Of
! the North were fighting battle for the free
| dom of the world.
To be continued