erpool, ■was seized, on the ground that so much 

 Cotton could not be the produce of the United 

 Stolen.* In 1785, 14 bags; in 1786, 6 bags; in 

 1787, 109 bags; in 1788, 389 bags; in 1789, 842 

 bags ; and in 1790, 81 bags were received in 

 Europe from this country ;t of these, 153 bags 

 were sent directly, and a portion of tlie remain- 

 der by tlie way of Pliiladelpliia and New-York, 

 from Charleston.! The first bag of Cotton sold 

 in South-Carolina, was purchased in 17S4, by 

 .lohn Tcasdalo, from Brian Cape, then a factor 

 in Charleston. The first bag of the wool ex- 

 ported from that city to Liverpool, anived JeIu- 

 uary 20th, 1785, per Diana, and was con.signed 

 to Messrs. ,7. & J. Teasdale & Co.fi The ex- 

 ports from 1790, though very much mixed up 

 with foreign Cottons, slovi'ly but steadily in- 

 creased until 1794, when a powerful impetus 

 was given to the Cotton culture by the inven- 

 tion of the saw gin by Eli Whitney, of Massa- 

 chusetts.|| Tlii.s ingenious but unfortunate ar- 

 tist, who by his machine doubled the wealth 

 and means of employment of his countrj-men, 

 and thereby in an especial manner conferred on 

 the Plantation States a benefit that can scarcely 

 be estimated in money,** was re\varded by 

 South-Carolina, North-Carolina and Tennessee 

 only. The first appropriated $50,000 for the 

 use of his invention within her limits ; the se- 

 cond laid a tax for five years of 2.?. Gd. upon 

 every saw in every gin that was mounted ^vith- 

 in its jurisdiction ; and the last imposed a tax of 

 37 J cents upon every saw, to be continued for 

 four years. Notwithstanding these liberal legis- 

 lative acts, the inventor derived no pecuniary 

 benefit from his gin. He expended the whole 

 amount received from South- Carolina (from the 

 other States he received a mere pittance) in de- 

 fending himself against arbitraiy and vexatious 

 suits, and in prosecutions for violations of his 

 patent right. Over the grave of this distin- 

 guished benefactor of the human race, a monu- 

 ment is erected, with this simple but expressive 

 inscription — "The Inventor of the sa^v-gi^." 



It was not the design of the writer to speak 

 particularly of the culture of gi-een seed Cotton, 

 as a crop, in South Carolina, but having gather- 

 ed a few interesting facts concerning this great 

 staple, he deems it his duty to present them to 

 the Society. The history of this and the black 

 seed Cottons i.s, indeed, intimately blended. — 

 The growing of the fonner in this country for 

 exportation was begun but a few years before 

 that of the latter ;tt the same machine for ex- 

 tracting the seed from the wool was for a long 

 while employed ; aud the modes of cultivation 

 and preparation, with one exception,|t including 



* Sniither's Liverj)oo1. 



t See note B. in the Appendix. 



J Of the 14 bags exported to Liverpool in 178.5, ten 

 of that number were shipped from Charlnjifon liy 

 John Tensdale. So short was the crop of 1789, that 

 the high piices alone uiduced the planters to cen- 

 tinue the culiivation of Cotton. 



& Smither's Liverpool — Note 15. 



II Mr. Miller, of Georda, in whose house he lived 

 at the time of the invention, was associated with 

 Whitney in his labors. The letters patent beai' date, 

 October 28th, 179.3. 



** •' If we should assert," said Judse William 

 Johnson, "that the benefits of this invention exceed 

 $100,(K)n,000, we can prove the assertion by coiTCct 

 calculation." 



tt In Georgia, the lone; staple cotton was first plant- 

 ed for market; in Virginia, South-Carolina and 

 North-Carolina, the short staple Cotton. 



U 'Hie bow-strinp; operation. A larf^e bow. made 

 clastic bv a coniplicsition of strings, is put in coi^tact 



~ (382) 



the manner of packing the bag, were al.so the 

 same. 



As a preliminary point, it may bo asked, 

 whence came the seed of this Cotton, now so 

 extensively cultivated in the Ll'nited States ? — 

 This question is probably not susceptible of a 

 positive and unexceptionable ans\\cr. That it 

 was not brought from India is perhaps obvious. 

 The policy of the East India Company, who 

 obtained their monopoly in the year IGOO, was 

 unquestionably adverse to the exportation of 

 Cotton seed. Indeed, the wool itself \\-as not first 

 exported by them. This was done by the priv- 

 ileged merchants in 1798. Individuals would 

 scarcely have deemed it necessary to draw 

 from the distant East that v^-hich was obtaina- 

 ble much nearer home, and of a quality, too, 

 greatly to be preferred. As the trade in the 

 raw material during the larger portion of the 

 periods alluded to, ^vas confined to the Medi- 

 terranean, it is a legitimate inference, in the ab- 

 sence of positive proof, that, from that quarter, 

 the nations of Europe, owning possessions in 

 the Western hemisphere, respectively introdu- 

 ced into them the new culture. This, perhaps, 

 was especially true of the Low Countries and 

 of England, as in 1560, the fonner constituted 

 the depot of Cotton goods from the Levant ; aud 

 the Turkish trade, of which Smjnia was the 

 seat, was, at the time of which -wn speak, the 

 most important to the latter. Peter Purry is re- 

 presented to have brought with him, among 

 other seeds, that of Cotton. This, and a paper 

 of the same material, received by the Trustees 

 for the settlement of Georgia, from Philip Mil- 

 ler, of Chelsea, England, it can scarcely be 

 questioned, were from the Mediterranean. Mr- 

 Wilson, already quoted, says expressly, that 

 the Carolina sort was from Cyprus and ^lalta. 

 In a pamphlet entitled " American Husbandry," 

 pujjlishcd in London, in 1775, the writer re- 

 marks, that " the Cotton cultivated in our Colo- 

 nies is of the Turkey kind." On the other 

 hand, it must be suppo.sed, from the language of 

 their historian, that the Cape Fear emigrants, 

 who began the growing of the gos.«ypium only 

 two years after they had established their .settle- 

 mens, were provided with seed from Barbadocs. 

 The vicinity of the West Indies ; the profitable- 

 ness of the Cotton crop ; and the varieties of the 

 plant, which, at an early period were cultivated 

 in those Lslands — all render it iiearly cei-tain, 

 that from thence was drawn a portion of the 

 supply with which the people were from time 

 to time provided. 



Between 1786 and 1795, Cotton from various 

 parts of the world was introduced into the 

 Southern States and Louisiana. A species of 

 the white Siam was for some time the subject 

 of experiment by the French in the latter coun- 

 try. The Naniieen came from Malta. The 

 Bourbon was brought from that Island to 

 Charleston, through the instrumentality of James 

 Hamilton, who \vas a merchant, and part owner 

 of the only India ship at that time trading be- 

 yond tlie Cape of Good Hope. The Pemambu- 



with a heap of Cotton ; the workman strikes the 

 stiins with a heavy wooden mallet, and its vibrations 

 upon the knots of the Cotton shake it from the dust 

 and diit, and raise it to a downy fleece. The bow, 

 says Mr. Baines, in his history of the Cotton Manu- 

 fat-nin" of Great Britain, has been used iinmcmorial- 

 ly throughout all the countiies of Asia, and has ita 

 appropriate name in the Arabic and other languagits. 

 In this covmtry, he remarks, it was first employed in 

 Georgia ; honce the term, still apphed in commerce, 

 •' Bowed Gcorcia Cotton." 



