THE COTTON TRADE. 359 



results have been achieved ? If England's commercial supremacy is the 

 chief element of her greatness and glory ; if commerce is the best missionary 

 of civilization, certain it is that the inventors of those wonderfully-pro- 

 ductive agents are entitled to a conspicuous niche among the benefactors of 

 the human race, and contributors to their country's greatness. 



Having in mind the essential maxim of that excellent matron, Mrs. 

 Glass, we shall grow our cotton before we spin it. To this end — as an acre 

 of land, with the best management, will only yield 100 lbs. of the cleaned 

 wool, we must have annually under crop, to meet the current consumption 

 of Europe and America, not less than 19,000,000 acres ; and, to ensure a 

 proper rotation, not less than fifty-seven millions of acres of land are 

 required for the production of the 1,871 millions of lbs. of cotton wool that 

 feed the spindles of the European and American manufactories. It is pro- 

 bable that an equal quantity is necessary for the Asiatic and African looms ; 

 therefore, it is fortunate that the " Gossypium" is indigenous to so large a 

 portion of the earth's surface, and that it has been found capable of naturali- 

 sation in latitudes extending thirty-five degrees on each side of the equator. 

 It has been cultivated in Italy, in Sicily, and in the south of France. 

 Egypt and Brazil supply large quantities of a superior quality, and recently 

 it has been cultivated in Australia, and at the Cape. 



Notwithstanding the wide range over which the cultivation of this plant 

 may be extended, embracing the most important colonies of Britain, it is a 

 singular fact that the attention of British capitalists has not until recently 

 been directed to the promotion of its cultivation, and the vast interests 

 involved in the manufacture of its products have been almost entirely 

 dependent on the American plantations : — so much so that, in 1856, it was 

 boasted by a writer in a New Orleans periodical, that " of the four millions 

 of bales annually consumed, three and a half millions were produced in the 

 Southern States of the Union." 



Since, and indeed for some time previous to the " secession " of the 

 Cotton States, the attention of the British manufacturers has been thoroughly 

 aroused to the danger of their position, and it is almost certain that the 

 efforts now being made will stimulate the production of cotton to an extent 

 that will give as wide a range of markets for the purchase of raw materials 

 as there now is for the sale of manufactured goods. There is no valid 

 reason why they should stop short of this desirable result, for it has been 

 abundantly demonstrated that labour is abundant in those countries where 

 the soil and climate is most suitable for the culture of cotton, and only 

 requires the enterprise and organisation of the Anglo-Saxon to train it to 

 the work. 



The first impulse has been towards India. When the Russian war 

 seriously interfered with the supply of hemp, India supplied its place with 

 " jute " and " sunn." * When British forests were found insufficient to 

 supply the dockyards with timber, India gave them " teak," and now, when 



* See an article on this subject in the present volume, ante p. 49. 



