13 



and in other countries. Its dependence on American cotton did, indeed, seem 

 to be absolute. 



The amount received from this country in 1861 is given from the English 

 returns, for the official rejjorts here show but a small portion of it, for as the 

 cotton States had seceded early in the year, and their ports were not blockaded, 

 most of the cotton was exported without any account of it being rendered. 

 But in 1862 British imports had fallen off more than one-half, and the exports 

 from the United States reached the low amount of thirteen and a half millions. 

 But in 1864 the estimated supply will reach 1,066,000,000 pounds, of which 

 India will furnish 660,000,000 pounds. Examine the vast increase during the 

 years 1862, 1863 and 1864, from India, Egypt, Brazil and China, and nowhere 

 has the world Avitnessed such a revolution in the loss and gain of a single 

 product as the above table exhibits. Is it any wonder that, in such facts as it 

 presents, DeBow should have seen the foundation of the rebellion melt awav. 

 as the morning mists before a glowing sun ; and that in a return to its duty and 

 allegiance lay the only hope of the cotton-producing States'? 



But this is not all. The want of one textile fabric brought others into use, 

 and in the increase of wool and flax is shown a capability of substitiition for 

 cotton that never was imagiued by the leaders of the rebellion. The ability of 

 the world to clothe itself is now seen to be such, that the annihilation of the 

 cotton States by sinking into fathomless depths beneath the ocean, could not 

 now incommode merely this productive capacity, for it is equal to every demand 

 that can be made upon it. 



Thus has been settled a great fact. It is great because it has determined a 

 question which, as long as it was undecided, would have kept the Union incon- 

 stant agitation. It is as importaut as great, for it will do as much to preserve 

 the harmony of the restored Union as the power of the arms of the loyal States. 

 It is one good, at least, that has grown out of the iniquity of the rebellion. 



It is, then, one of the conditions of the growth of foreign cotton that it is 

 competent to supply the place of American cotton. 



Can it retain that plaee against it in times of peace 1 



The south must resume cotton cultivation. Its agriculture will return to this 

 product, and this product must come in conflict with the cotton production we 

 have just considered. It is easy to foresee the result of the contest. It is seen in 

 the vain effort of Great Britain to produce India cotton in antagonism to ours 

 before the war. The strength of that nation lies in its vast manufacturing 

 power, and its weakness in its dependence on other nations for the raw material. 

 Could it have been possible to have raised up a cotton production of its own. 

 Great Britain would have done so, regardless of expense. It cannot protect 

 the present cotton production of foreign nations by duties against ours, for that 

 would give to our own energetic manufticturers the exclusive control of a better 

 and cheaper raw material than that held by Great Britain, and with such an 

 advantage they would undersell it. Add to this superiority — what will be done — 

 that cotton production here will avail itself of the advantages of free labor, of 

 small farms, and of intelligent superintendence by the owner of the soil ; and it 

 wil[ rise from its present overthrow with increased strength ; it will resume all its 

 supremacy as the greatest textile fabric, but without the arrogant claims to 

 royal prerogatives, for the politician and statistician will ever bear in remem- 

 brance the table we have given above. 



But there is another reason why the United States must become the cotton 

 producer for the world. Commerce is the interchange of the surplus products 

 of different countries. No extensive or lasting trade can be kept up on any 

 other condition. The United States is the greatest consuming nation in the 

 world, because the condition of its masses is superior to that of any other na- 

 tion. At present, regardless of the struggle in which we are engaged, it is un- 

 wisely too much so. The excess of importations proves this, and the articles 



