CO'] TON. 



2.VJ 



. Roze and boldly vindicated tlio course of 

 1 'orean Government in killing missionaries; 

 lie was abruptly dismissed, and not well pleased 

 with the reception accorded to him. On tlio 

 second day after the capture a dispatch was re- 

 1, written in Chinese, from the viceroy and 

 military commandant of Corea, M'ho wrote in 

 behalf of tlio king. The contents were vague 

 and diil'u-ie, and treated at great length of the 

 puui.shiui.-iit which had bci'allen the late mis- 

 si onariea, concluding by a request to the ad- 

 miral to come up to the capital and enter into 

 negotiations. The admiral in reply extolled tho 



iimrics and laid down his claims, which 

 were, the punishment of the three principal 

 uiiiii-ti-rs who instigated the execution of the 

 iiii-~ionarios, and that an officer invested with 

 full powers bo sent to treat with him. 



A few days later a convert brought intelli- 

 gence that a Corean army, 15,000 strong, was 

 -advancing from the capital to attack the French, 

 and that stone-laden junks had been sunk in the 

 river to obstruct the passage of the men-of-war. 



- from Hong-Kong, December 1st, stated 

 !io French expedition had been beaten off 



at Konghoa, with the loss of forty-five men, and 

 that the fleet had returned to Shanghai. 



It was also reported that, in October, the 

 American schooner, General Sherman, had been 



seized by pirates in the river leading to the 

 capital. They set fire to the vessel after tying 

 to the masts the crow and two English passen- 

 gers, all of whom perished. 

 COSTA RIGA. (See CENTRAL AMERICA.) 

 COTTON. The product of this great staple 

 in the United States has been large, notwith- 

 standing the disasters of the war. The re- 

 ceipts at the various seaports, which furnish 

 the only means for estimating the crop, were, 

 during the twelve months ending September 1, 

 1866, the close of the cotton year, about 2,- 

 241,222 bales. The receipts since the close of 

 the war to September 1, 1865, were 421,000, 

 making an aggregate to the close of the last 

 cotton year of 2,662,222 bales. Various esti- 

 mates have been made of the amount of the 

 old crop in the South not brought forward at 

 that date. By some it has been put at 150,000 

 bales, which would make the grand aggregate 

 of the cotton supply of the Southern States 

 since the close of the war to September 1, 

 1866, about 2,812,222 bales. The following ta- 

 ble shows the amount of bales received at the 

 respective places named during the year ending 

 September 1, 1866, the amount exported to for- 

 eign countries, and the balance on hand at those 

 places, after deducting the coastwise export, to- 

 gether with the exports for the year 1860-'61 : 



RECEIPTS AND EXPORTS OF COTTON (BALES) FROM SEPT. 1, 18S, TO SEPT. I, 18S6, AND STOCKS AT LATTER DATE. 



Thus it appears that the exports from all the 

 ports for the year were 1,552,457 bales. If 

 bales are estimated to weigh on an aver- 

 age 400 Ibs., the value in gold of the cotton 

 exports of the year exceeded $230,000,000. 



The average annual increase of the crop 

 during the forty years preceding the war was 

 four and a fraction per cent. If there had been 

 no war, and this rate of increase had continued, 

 the crop of 1865-' 66 would have been 4,916,- 

 000 bales, and for the six years from 1861 to 

 1866 inclusive, 26,714,000 bales. 



The statements made relative to the efficiency 



These are the shipments from Tennessee, Kentucky, 

 Ac., not otherwise counted. 

 i i'<-<l. 



J The receipts Included under this head are the estimated 

 amount manufactured In Virginia, the West. &c., together 

 with the amount burned In New York. 



of free negro labor were somewhat discordant. 

 Thq first trials made after the war were highly 

 discouraging. But the modifications in the 

 system made by planters, with a favorable co- 

 operation of the Freedmen's Bureau, led to bet- 

 ter fruits than were anticipated. In some parts 

 of the Southern States no such indications ex- 

 isted. It was thus concluded that with general 

 favorable indications the crop for 1866-'67 

 would be larger than the previous one, al- 

 though some sections would not produce one- 

 third or one-fourth of the ordinary yield. The 

 hiirh price of the staple, however, presents an 

 extraordinary stimulus to exertion, and will 

 have a favorable influence on the result. 



The following are the comparative prices of 

 midland cotton at New Orleans on the first day 

 of each month during a period of five years 



