362 THE COTTON TRADE. 



present enormous production, who shall say that Africa, with its teeming 

 population and genial climate, will not speedily increase its modest con- 

 tribution of twenty-one bales in 1859, to an amount which, if not equal to 

 that sent from America, may yet startle us by rapidity of increase. It 

 appears from the narratives of Clapperton and Landers, that cotton is 

 grown very extensively in all parts of Africa. Dr. Livingstone tells us 

 of vast ranges of country suitable for the cultivation of the plant. In 

 one place, he says, " The markets are well supplied with provisions 

 by great numbers of women, everyone of whom is seen spinning cotton 

 with a spindle and distaff, exactly like those which were in use among. 



the ancient Egyptians The cotton was brought to the market for 



sale, and I bought a pound for a penny. This was the price demanded, and 

 probably double what they ask from each other. "We saw the cotton 

 growing luxuriantly all around the market-place from seeds dropped acci- 

 dentally. It is seen also about the native huts "We met on the 



road natives passing with bundles of cops or spindles full of cotton thread, 

 and these they were carrying to other parts to be woven into cloth." In a 

 country so congenial to the production of the staple, with a population 

 naturally docile, though fond of display, there requires but the opportunity 

 and the knowledge that they can at once exchange the raw material, so 

 easily obtained, for the fabric they so highly prize, to induce them to apply 

 themselves to cultivating and collecting it at such points as may be selected 

 by the European traders for making the exchange. 



Summing up the supplies obtained from all quarters we find that Eng- 

 land, in 1859, received 1,226 millions of pounds of cotton wool, of which 

 962 millions went from the United States, and the remaining 264 millions 

 from all other countries. In 1860, this enormous quantity had increased 

 to 1,391 millions of pounds, but in 1861 it fell back again to 1,257 millions 

 of pounds. 



Such facts, showing as they do the vast preponderance of the supply 

 obtained from one source over that obtained from all others > have not 

 failed to produce their effect on the public mind here. "We find 

 Mr. J. B. Smith holding the following language in a paper read 

 before the Society of Arts, in 1857 : ' : It is much to be desired that our 

 supplies of the raw material for so great a manufacture should be derived 

 from a variety of sources, that we may, as far as possible, be thus protected 

 from the fluctuations in prices incident to good or bad seasons ; but, unfor- 

 tunately, they are chiefly derived from one source But not only are 



we exposed to the danger of being limited chiefly to one source of supply, 

 but to a still greater hazard — namely, that this supply is the production of 

 slave labour. It may be that the institution of slavery, although con- 

 demned by all civilised nations, may yet exist for ages in the United 

 States ; or it may happen that occurrences may any day endanger its con- 

 tinuance. The alarm created by recent symptoms of discontent among the 

 slaves in that country, is evidence that their owners themselves are not 

 without apprehensions of danger ; and it is impossible for those interested 



