252 



CONWAY, WILLIAM. 



COTTON. 



I, therefore, call upon the citizens of this State to 

 support and uphold the authority and dignity of the 

 Government, and to abstain from every act which can 

 tend to encourage and strengthen this conspiracy ; 

 and I call upon the officers of the law to be active, 

 diligent, and fearless in arresting and in instituting 

 legal proceedings for the punishment of those who 

 disturb the public peace, of those who are guilty of 

 sedition and treason, and of those who are embraced 

 in combinations to obstruct the execution of the laws ; 

 so that peace may again be restored to our distracted 

 country, and the liberties of the people be preserved. 



Given under my hand and the seal of this State, at 

 Ilartford, this thirty-first day of August, A. D. 1861. 

 WM. A. BUCKINGHAM. 



By His Excellency's command, 



J. HAMMOND TUUMBULL, 



Secretary of State. 



On the 9th of October the Legislature met 

 in extra session on the call of the Governor, to 

 provide for more soldiers and do it liberally ; 

 to rectify some errors in the militia laws passed 

 the previous session, and to decide whether the 

 State would assume its share of the direct na- 

 tional tax or leave the Government to collect 

 it. In his Message, Gov. Buckingham stated to 

 the Legislature that the expense incurred to the 

 1st of October, on account of volunteers, had 

 been $943,939, which had been met by the 

 money in the Treasury, and the sale of $800,000 

 of the bonds authorized by the Legislature, 

 which had commanded a premium, the State 

 having no previous debt. He then proceeded 

 to say : 



" The calls made upon volunteers, for the 

 national defence, have met with a hearty re- 

 sponse, and but for a hesitancy on the part of 

 the General Government to accept more troops, 

 we might have had twelve or fifteen thousand 

 men in the field to-day. . "We have, however, 

 organized, equipped, sent into the field, and 

 have now ready nine regiments of infantry. 

 Their camp equipage was complete, and their 

 appointments were highly respectable. About 

 five thousand Sharp's and Enfield rifles have 

 been purchased, and contracts made for an 

 equal number of the latter arms, which have 

 not yet been delivered. Arrangements have 

 also been made to arm, uniform, and furnish 

 complete equipments for two other regiments 

 now rendezvousing, and for one not yet organ- 

 ized." 



The Legislature held a session of one week, 

 and before adjourning conferred on the Gover- 

 nor unlimited power to raise volunteers ; au- 

 thorized another loan of two million dollars, 

 and the assuming of the collection of the nation- 

 al tax, by which 15 per cent, would be saved 

 to the people of the State. 



Before the 1st of January, the State had thir- 

 teen fully and well equipped regiments in the 

 field; and before the 1st of March, 1862, 

 the number had been increased to fifteen regi- 

 ments, besides a large number of her citizens 

 who had joined regiments in other States or 

 arms of the service, not represented in the vol- 

 unteer corps of the State. 



CONWAY, WILLIAM. An aged seaman, who 

 was a quartermaster in the navy, on duty in 



the navy-yard at Warrington, Florida, when it 

 was surrendered on the 12th of January. When 

 ordered by Lieutenant Commanding Francis B. 

 Eenshaw to haul down the national flag, he 

 promptly and indignantly refused to obey the 

 order. A naval general court-martial held for 

 the trial of the commandant of the yard sub- 

 mitted to the Secretary of the Navy, " the pro- 

 priety, justice, and good policy of bestowing 

 some appropriate mark of approbation of the 

 loyalty, spirit, and good conduct of Conway." 

 The Department ordered this testimonial of the 

 court to be publicly read by the commanders 

 of all naval stations, and all vessels in commis- 

 sion. 



COTTON. The consumption of cotton in 

 the year 1861 was greatly curtailed by the un- 

 fortunate events in the United States, which 

 cut off the largest source of supply to the 

 manufacturing world. Comparatively, the 

 quantities consumed were as follows : 



The increase of consumption as expressed in 

 bales does not represent the whole increase, for 

 the reason that the process of packing has grad- 

 ually improved, and the bales, without occupy- 

 ing more room, contain more cotton. In 1850 

 the average weight of bales was 392 Ibs. ; in 

 1861, 425 Ibs. The weight of United States 

 cotton in 1850 was 423 Ibs., and in 1861 500 

 Ibs. Hence the actual increase of consumption 

 has been fivefold since 1826, and nearly the 

 whole of the increase has been supplied from 

 the United States. The actual production and 

 consumption in the United States, with the 

 average annual export price, down to the close 

 of the fiscal year 1861, are given in the follow- 

 ing table. (See p. 253.) 



The consumption of cotton in the United 

 States has increased very rapidly without di- 

 minishing the surplus spared for exportation. 

 On the other hand, the quantity exported has 

 nnnnally and largely increased. The United 

 States surplus has in fact long been the sole 

 dependence for supplying cotton goods to Great 

 Britain and Europe. This fact has been a 

 source of anxiety to the English Government 

 as well as to the spinners, who have foreseen 

 the great calamity of a "cotton famine" which 

 sooner or later would overtake them, and they 

 have long sought other sources of supply. For 

 more than fifty years India has been the scene 

 of extensive enterprises, and the results may 

 be expressed in the language of the report of 

 the Bombay Chamber of Commerce, January, 

 1861: "The East India Company's experi- 

 ments for the purpose of introducing American 

 cotton are now brought to a close. They com- 

 menced in 1788, and have hitherto resulted, 

 notwithstanding an expenditure of $1,750,000, 

 in signal failure." That India, as well as many 



