CONGRESS, CONFEDERATE. 



261 



punishment of the crimes of treason, of piracy, 

 and of felony on the high seas. Here it is 

 clearly laid down that Congress cannot create 

 crime. Apart from the unconstitutionally of 

 the proposition, Mr. Wigfall objected to the 

 measure proposed for other reasons. He was 

 not sure that it was good policy for us to neg- 

 lect raising cotton. Unless we continue to 

 raise the staple in abundance, England would 

 foster its cultivation, and after the war it would be 

 difficult for us to monopolize the markets of the 

 world. If we raised no cotton in 1862 it would 

 keep the price up so high that it would pay the 

 other nations of the world to invest largely. 

 This is the policy most desired by English states- 

 men, and it is that which has prevented the 

 raising of the blockade. 



Mr. Brown could not understand why a bill 

 to punish people for not burning cotton likely 

 to fall into the hands of the enemy was not un- 

 constitutional when one to punish the produc- 

 tion of the article was. He conceived that in 

 time of war the powers of Congress were aug- 

 mented, and that it was quite different from 

 peace. 



Mr. Clay replied that persons allowing cotton 

 to fall into the hands of the enemy were guilty 

 of treason : for it is giving aid and comfort to 

 the foe, and that is treason, and treason is one 

 of the crimes defined by the constitution. Mr. 

 Clay denied, also, that the constitution was so 

 elastic that it expanded its powers in war and 

 contracted them in peace. The constitution 

 was the same always. 



Mr. Barnwell, of South Carolina, was not 

 prepared to abandon the cultivation of cotton 

 under any circumstances, though he admitted a 

 great deal of labor should be bestowed upon 

 the production of supplies, especially at this 

 juncture. On the cultivation of cotton and 

 increase of supplies for market depend not only 

 our sources of wealth, but our importance and 

 consequence, and weight with foreign nations. 

 All our interests appeal to us never to give it 

 up. We must raise it, hold it, and fight for it. 

 We must let the world know that we have it, 

 and that we will sell it cheap, and that we will 

 fight to keep it from our enemy and to protect 

 it. We should not only protect ourselves 

 against our enemy, we should not give our sole 

 strength to the production of articles of sub- 

 sistence, but we must keep up the cultivation 

 of that which gives us position in the world as 

 a nation, and by which we will control the 

 world. We must have a monopoly of all the 

 markets. We begin to find out that we have 

 not a monopoly, that cotton can be produced 

 elsewhere. Plentiful crops, low prices, and su 

 periority of the article will alone achieve our 

 ends. These at the end of the war will give us 

 our former preponderance. The proposition 

 of the gentleman from Mississippi (if r. Brown) 

 excited his unfeigned astonishment. He had 

 conceived it to be a long settled principle that 

 this Government, or one with similar powers, 

 could not create a crime under the common law. 



He protested warmly against this the grossest 

 assumption of authority he had ever witnessed. 



Mr. Semmes, of Louisiana, would like the 

 vote direct on the resolution, and for this pur- 

 pose asked that the motion to lay on the table 

 be withdrawn. 



This was done and the resolution was put 

 upon its passage. 



Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, objected to the bill 

 of Mr. Brown, for two reasons : First, he did 

 not wish to tax the patriotism of the planters ; 

 and, secondly, the want of power of Congress 

 to interfere with the internal affairs of any of 

 the States. The policy which diminishes the 

 supply of cotton will hold out no inducements 

 for England to break up the blockade. By 

 keeping cotton scarce and high, its production 

 is stimulated in other countries ; India, for in. 

 stance. If we are denied admission to the mar- 

 kets for several years, and the price is kept to 

 25 or to 30 cents, see what powerful incentives 

 are given to its production elsewhere. To bring 

 about this state of things and to become the 

 main producer is the secret of all British legis- 

 lation. This stimulates the planters in their 

 tropical colonies to raise cotton under any dis- 

 advantage ; otherwise their interests as manu- 

 facturers would have compelled them to raise 

 the blockade. Cotton is a source of power and 

 influence only so long as we can raise and keep 

 it in vast quantities at low prices. As to the 

 constitutionality of the bill proposed by Mr. 

 Brown, Mr. Hunter said the Confederate States 

 Government had not the least right to go to any 

 of the States and say how much cotton should 

 be produced. The sovereignty of the States 

 themselves hardly dare do this, much less the 

 delegated power of the Confederacy. If he 

 believed that Congress would pass any such 

 act, or the Government possessed any such 

 power, he would pronounce it a most notorious 

 despotism, worse even than that from which 

 we have just escaped. 



Mr. Brown urged that the main object of the 

 enemy being to pass down to the Mississippi 

 Valley and seize our cotton, we should prevent 

 any more being there than could be helped. 

 The idea that cotton could be raised in India 

 was, to use a homely phrase, played out. He 

 was in favor of burning all the cotton we now 

 had, and planting no more until the world was 

 disposed to do us justice. Then we could test 

 the question of cotton raising in India, with no 

 fears as to the result. Regardless of every 

 power on earth, let us act for ourselves and 

 strike blows for our own superiority. 



Mr. Semmes, of Louisiana, had long since 

 abandoned the idea that cotton is king. He 

 had arrived at the conclusion that this was a 

 mistake. Nations would violate the laws of 

 nations to supply themselves with cotton, and 

 interest was the ruling principle of the world. 

 We have tested the powers of King Cotton, 

 and have found him to be wanting. We must 

 now abandon all dependence on foreign inter- 

 vention. The English never will interfere, be- 



