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LOHDOIS" 
 
 D BT SPOTTISWOODE AKl) 
 
 IfEW-STBKET SQU.VI.E 
 
THE COTTON TRADE: 
 
 ITS BEARING UPON THE PEOSPEEITY OF GEEAT BRITALN' 
 AND COMMERCE OF THE AMEEICAN REPUBLICS 
 
 CONSIBEMD IN CONNECTION WITH THE SYSTEM OP 
 
 NEGRO SLAVERY 
 
 IN 
 
 THE CONFEDERATE STATES. 
 
 EY 
 
 GEOEGE MCHENRY. 
 
 * The resolutions of the States who favoured Abolition were adopted entirely with, the 
 view of ohtaining additional political power, and imposed on the South the strongest 
 obligation to rise in self-defence. It was a fraternal feeling which induced the Southeni 
 States to make common cause with the North in the war of the devolution. The South 
 had no especial cause of complaint ; it was flourishing by its trade with Great Britain ; 
 but it was actuated by that feeling and principle, to take up arms ; and now, was she to 
 be asked to give up her domestic institutions ? The South asked for no new guaran- 
 tees, no new security ; but she desired that the Constitution should be preserved from 
 violation.' Speech o/ Jefferson Davis, United States Senate, July 12, 1848. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SATJNDEES, OTLET, & CO., 66 BEOOE STREET, W. 
 
 1863, 
 
. 
 
 ^-nl^ 
 
 :?i-t'! 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Letter to William H. Gregory, Esq., M.P. . . . ix 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Introduction — Early Culture and Manufacture of Cotton — 
 
 Slavery . ..... . ] 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Production of the South-western States — The Monopoly 
 
 OF the Bank of the United States .... 19 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 The Mississippi Union Bank Bonds . . . . 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Present State of the Trade — The Growth of Cotton in 
 
 the World ... . . 49 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 British Opinions on the Cotton Question prior to the Dissolu- 
 tion of the American Union . . . . .0.5 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Remarks on the Speeches of Mb. Bright — Free and Slave 
 
 Labour . . • • • • 77 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Importance of American Cotton— The Political Heresies 
 
 OF Seward and Lincoln 02 
 
VUl CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The American Cotton Crops — ' Southern Wealth and Northern 
 
 Profits' ... • • 106 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The British Cotton Trade — Statistics from 1697 to 1863 . 116 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Wheat Trade of Great Britain, France, and America — 
 
 Exports of Produce from the States .... 132 
 
 chapte;r XL 
 
 American Currency and Commerce — The West India Trade — 
 
 General Remarks ........ 139 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The African Slave Trade — Free and Slave Negroes in the 
 
 American States . ... . 189 
 
 Appendix .... . . , . 261 
 
TO 
 
 WILLIAM H. GEEGOEY, ESQ., M.P. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I have written some papers on the 
 cotton trade, which, with these remarks addressed to 
 yourself, I propose pubHshing collectively. I discuss at 
 length several matters in connection with American affairs 
 that have not before, I beheve, been fuhy considered. 
 
 During the last twenty-eight weary months — weary 
 enough to aU Confederate Americans in Europe — I have 
 been more and more convinced, that the long train of 
 calamities which have occurred within that time might 
 have been averted, but for the opposition on the part of 
 the British ministry and Eadical members of Parliament 
 to the motion which you, on March 4, 1861, gave notice 
 of your intention to bring forward in favour of the recog- 
 nition of the Southern Confederacy, then composed of the 
 seven cotton States. Some time — a week or more — before 
 my departure from America, on the 30th of that month, 
 inteUigence had been received in the Northern States of 
 your proposition, which, coupled with the somewhat 
 pacific tone of President Lincoln's inaugural message de- 
 Uvered on the same day, gave assurance to the public mind 
 that the dissolution of the Federal Union would be accom- 
 plished in as peaceable a manner as was the case at its 
 formation seventy-two years before, when eleven of the 
 thirteen States ' seceded ' from the ' Articles of Confede- 
 ration.' Confidence in such a happy issue was hkewise 
 felt, from the fact that the commissioners appointed by 
 
X LETTER TO 
 
 the Confederate States* 'for the settlement of all ques- 
 tions of disagreement between the two governments upon 
 principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith,' had 
 reached Washington on March 5, but at the request of 
 Mr. Seward, through ' a friendly mediator,' did nothing 
 more than give formal notice of their arrival, in order to 
 allow time for the new administration to become fairly 
 organised. What happened subsequently is thus related 
 by President Davis in his message of April 30, 1861 : — 
 
 It was not until the 12th of the month that they officially 
 addressed the Secretary of State, informing him of their arrival, 
 and stating, in the language of their instructions, their wish 
 to make to the Government of the United States overtures for 
 the opening of negotiations, assuring the Government of the 
 United States that the President, Congress, and peoplp of the 
 Confederate States desired a peaceful solution of these great 
 questions ; that it was neither their interest nor their wish to 
 make any demand which was not founded on the strictest 
 principles of justice, nor to do any act to injure their late 
 confederates. 
 
 * South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860, and her 
 first act thereafter was to send commissioners to Washington to mahe a general 
 settlement with her late political copartners. They arrived at the Federal 
 capital on December 27, and left on January 14, 1861, the President having 
 declined to treat with them. It was not until Februaiy that South Carolina 
 united with the other cotton States in forming the Confederacy.- In the 
 meanwhile some con'espondence had been conducted with a gentleman in 
 London, who replied, upon good authority too, that an ambassador from the. 
 State would be received at this court by virtue of the Treaty of 1783. 
 South Caroliua did not cede her forts to the general government until 1806 
 and even then her conditions were, that she was to retain all sovereio-nty 
 over them, her Legislature expressly reserving that control. So the Wash- 
 ington authorities never had jurisdiction in Charleston Harbour. The Oon- 
 stitutidn (Article I. Section 8) says : — 
 
 ' Congress shall have power to exercise exclusive legislation in all 
 ' cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square") as 
 ' may, by cession of particular States and the acceptance of-Cono-ress 
 ' become the seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise 
 ' like authority over all places purchased, by the consent of the Ler/idaUire 
 ' of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, mag-azines 
 ' arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings.' ' ' 
 
WILLIAM H. GREGORY, ESQ., M.P. xi 
 
 To this communication no formal reply was received until 
 April 8. During the interval^ the commissioners had con- 
 sented to waive all questions of form, with the firm resolve to 
 avoid war if possible. They went so far even as to hold, 
 during that long period, unofficial intercourse through an 
 intermediary, whose high position and character inspired the 
 hope of success, and through whom constant assurances were 
 received from the Government of the United States of its 
 peaceful intentions, of its determination to evacuate Fort 
 Sumter ; and further, that no measures should be introduced 
 changing the existing status prejudicial to the Confederate 
 States ; that, in the event of any change in regard to Fort 
 Pickens, notice would be given to the commissioners. 
 
 The crooked path of diplomacy can scarcely furnish an 
 example so wanting in courtesy and candour and directness 
 as the course of the United States Government towards our 
 commissioners in Washington. For proof of this I refer to 
 the annexed documents marked, taken in oonnection with 
 further facts I now proceed to relate. 
 
 Early in April the attention of the whole country was 
 attracted to extraordinary preparations for an extensive mili- 
 tary and naval expedition in New York and other Northern 
 ports. These preparations commenced in secrecy for an expe- 
 dition whose destination was concealed, and only became known 
 when nearly completed, and on April 5, 6, and 7, transports 
 and vessels of war, with troops, munitions, and military sup- 
 plies, sailed from Northern ports bound southward. 
 
 Alarmed by so extraordinary a demonstration, the commis- 
 sioners requested the delivery of an answer to their official 
 communication, and the reply dated on the 15th of the 
 previous month, from which it appears that during the whole 
 interval, whilst the commissioners were receiving assurances 
 calculated to inspire hope of the success of their mission, the 
 Secretary of State and the President of the United States 
 had already determined to hold no intercourse with them 
 whatever — to refuse even to listen to any proposals they had 
 to make, and had profited by the delay created by their own 
 assurances in order to prepare secretly the means for effective 
 hostile operations. 
 
XU LETTER TO 
 
 That these assurances were given has been virtually con- 
 fessed by the Government of the United States, by its act of 
 sending a messenger to Charleston to give notice of its 
 purpose to use force if opposed in its intention of supplying 
 Fort Sumter. 
 
 No more striking proof of the absence of good faith in the 
 Government of the United States towards the Confederacy can 
 be required than is contained in the circumstances which accom- 
 panied this notice. 
 
 According to the usual course of navigation, the vessels com- 
 posing the expedition, and designed for the relief of Fort 
 Sumter, might be looked for in Charleston Harbour on April 9. 
 Yet our commissioners in Washington were detained under 
 assurances that notice should be given of any military move- 
 ment. The notice was not addressed to them, but a messenger 
 was sent to Charleston to give notice to the Governor of South 
 CaroHna, and the notice was so given at a late hour on April 8, 
 on the eve of the very day on which the fleet might be ex- 
 pected to arrive. 
 
 That this manceuvre failed in its purpose was not the fault of 
 those who controlled it. A heavy tempest delayed the arrival of 
 the expedition, and gave time to the commander of our forces at 
 Charleston to ask and receive instruction from the Government. 
 Even then, under all the provocation incident to the contemp- 
 tuous refusal to listen to our commissioners, and the treacherous 
 course of the Government of the United States, I was sincerely 
 anxious to avoid the effusion of blood, and directed a proposal 
 to be made to the commander of Fort Sumter, who had avowed 
 himself to be nearly out of provisions, that we would abstain 
 from directing our fire on Fort Sumter if he would promise not 
 to open fire on our forces unless first attacked. This proposal 
 was refused. The conclusion was, that the design of the United 
 States was to place the besieging force at Charleston between 
 the simultaneous fire of the fleet. The fort should, of course 
 be at once reduced. This order was executed by General 
 Beauregard with skill and success, which were naturally to be 
 expected from the well-known character of that gallant officer • 
 and although the bombardment lasted some thirty-three hours 
 
W. II. GKEGORY, ESQ., M.P. xiii 
 
 our flag did not wave over the battered walls j.mtil after the 
 appearance of the hostile fleet off Charleston. 
 
 Mr. William B. Eeed, of Pennsylvania, in ' a paper 
 containing a statement and vindication of certain political 
 opinions,' dated August 14, 1862,-thus furnishes an ex- 
 tract from a letter received by him from Judge Campbell, 
 which gives some details of the treachery and baseness of 
 Mr. Seward : — 
 
 Then, in the months of March and April 18G1, came the 
 interlude, if the word can be so applied, of the negotiations as 
 to Fort Sumter, between the Confederate Commissioners and 
 Mr. Seward. And on this point I feel authorised so far to in- 
 terrupt my personal narrative as to adduce some unpublished 
 testimony, if for no other reason, in order to do justice to a 
 distant friend. I have said that since these troubles began I 
 have had, with a single exception, no correspondent within 
 the limits of the Confederate States. This exception is the 
 Honourable John A. Campbell, of Alabama, formerly a Justice 
 of the Supreme Court of the United States, whom I hope there 
 is no offence in describing as an eminent jui'ist, a sound Union 
 man till the policy of the Administration rendei-ed Unionism in 
 the South impossible, and a Christian gentleman. To him, 
 having been honoured by his friendship previously, I wrote 
 urging him to retain his place in the Federal judiciary. On 
 June 5, 1861, he answered my letter, and thus referred to his 
 own patriotic agency in a last and ineffectual effort to keep 
 the peace. 
 
 'I suppose you must have seen my letters to Grovernor Seward 
 in some of the Northern papers. There are some facts con- 
 nected with them that I am glad to have an opportunity to 
 communicate to you. When I visited Grovernor Seward, I had 
 not had any communication with General Davis, or any member 
 of the Executive Department of the JMontgomery Government. 
 The first knowledge I had of the demand of the Commissioners 
 for recognition, or of Mr. Seward's embarrassment, was derived 
 from Judge Nelson and Mr. Seward. I offered to write to 
 General Davis and ask him to restrain his commissioners. I 
 
XIV LETTEK TO 
 
 supposed that Mr. Seward desired to prevent the irritation and 
 complaint that would naturally follow from the rejection of the 
 Commissioners in the South, and the reaction that their expres- 
 sion (sic) would have at the North. He informed me that 
 Sumter was to be evacuated, and that Mr. Weed said, " This 
 was a sharp and bitter pang, which he (Weed) was anxious 
 might be spared to them." Mr. Seward authorised me to com- 
 municate the fact of the evacuation to Mr. Davis, and the 
 precise object was to induce him to render his commissioners 
 inactive. I did not anticipate having any other interview with 
 Mr. Seward. I supposed that Sumter would be evacuated in 
 the course of a very few days, and without any other action on 
 my part. When upon the second and third interviews with him 
 I found there was to be delay, I conversed with Judge Nelson 
 as to the delicacy of my position, and it was at his suggestion 
 and by his counsel that I agreed to be the "intermediary" 
 until Sumter was evacuated. Neither of us doubted that the 
 fort was to be surrendered or abandoned. The first notice of 
 any other disposition was communicated on April 10. Colonel 
 Lamon, the present Marshal of the district of Columbia, came 
 to Washington with the family of Mr. Lincoln, I believe. He 
 was with him at Washington in some familiar capacity. He 
 visited Charleston in March, obtained access to Sumter, and 
 left the impression on the mind of Grovernor Pickens that he 
 was the agent of the Grovernment, engaged in making arrange- 
 ments for its evacuation. In the latter part of March, Grovernor 
 Pickens sent a telegram to ascertain what had become of Lamon. 
 I bore this to Mr. Seward, and he promised to enquire concern- 
 ing him. His answer was that the President was concerned at 
 any misconception of Lamon's words or visit, and desired me to 
 converse with him ; that Lamon did not visit Charleston for 
 him, and was not commissioned to make any pledge or assur- 
 ance to bind him. Mr. Seward said Lamon would be at the 
 State Department for me to interrogate him. I declined to 
 converse with Lamon, and recommended that he (Lamon) should 
 himself write to Grovernor Pickens to explain the matter. I 
 asked Grovernor Seward about the evacuation of the fort. With- 
 out any verbal reply, he wrote : — " The President may desire 
 to supply Sumter, but will not do so without givino' notice to 
 
W. H. GREGOKY, ESQ., M.P. XV 
 
 G-overnor Pickens." Upon reading this, I asked if the Presi- 
 dent had any design to attempt a supply of Sumter. His reply 
 contained an observation of the President. That I pass. But 
 he said he did not believe any attempt would be made to supply 
 Sumter, and there was no design to reinforce it. I told him if 
 that were the case, I should not employ this language, that it 
 would be interpreted as a design to attempt a supply, and that, 
 if such a thing were believed in Charleston, they would bom- 
 bard the fort, that they did not regard the surrender of Sumter 
 as open to question, and when they did, they would proceed to 
 extremities. He left the State Department, I remaining there 
 till his return ; and, on his return, he wrote these words : — 
 " I am satisfied that the Government will not undertake to 
 supply Sumter without giving notice to Grovernor Pickens." 
 This excluded the matter of desire, and, with what had taken 
 place, left the impression that if any attempt were made it 
 would be an open, declared, and peaceful offer to supply the 
 fort, which, being resisted by the Carolinians, the fort would be 
 abandoned as a military necessity and to spare the effusion of 
 blood — the odium of resistance and of the evacuation being 
 thrown upon the late Administration and the Confederate States. 
 Had these counsels prevailed — had the policy been marked 
 with candour and moderation — I am not sure that even before 
 this the fruit might have been seen ripening among the States 
 in renewed relations of kindness and goodwill, to be followed 
 ere long by a suitable political and civil union, adequate to the 
 security of both sections at home and abroad. The ideas of 
 union and a common country, as applied to all the States, are 
 novj simply obsolete.' 
 
 This simple and precise narrative, introduced here as having 
 been addressed to me, is, in the light of what has occurred since, 
 a sad revelation, which needs no comment. Neither at home 
 nor abroad does the Administration seem to have known that 
 the best policy is fair play. I answered Judge Campbell's 
 letter soon after its receipt, and, as evidence of my feelings and 
 opinions then, I make an extract from my letter. ' You speak 
 of the united and resolute feeling at the South. Here it is very 
 nearly as unanimous, and I can discern no signs of reaction. 
 There are (I speak of this city) a few gentlemen who hold, as I 
 
XVI LETTER TO 
 
 do, to the doctrine of recognition and peace, but it would do 
 neither us nor you any good to say so. There is a local senti- 
 ment which it is not graceful or proper to defy, and minorities 
 must sometimes be silent. What is most painful is to be made 
 conscious of insensibility of those around me to the fearful in- 
 fractions of the Constitution and conceded law which are daily 
 occurring. Professors of elementary law teach their students 
 that the President may suspend the Habeas Corpus Act. Learned 
 and hitherto patriotic men, admitting the acts of the President 
 to be wrong, justify the outrages on the ground of State necessity. 
 This is worse than the other ; and this it is which alarms me as 
 a Northern man and one whose lot must be in the North. 
 
 Had tlie objection to your motion not manifested itself 
 so strongly in the quarters mentioned, and had there been 
 any reasonable prospect of its success, the Washington 
 government would never have been sustained by the 
 American people in its attempt to invade Charleston 
 Harbour, and the ' indignity to the old flag,' as the bom- 
 bardment of Fort Sumter on April 13 Avas termed, would 
 have made no more impression on the masses than the 
 similar ' insult ' inflicted upon the transport steamer ' Star 
 of the West ' a few weeks previously.* Mr. Lincoln, 
 taking advantage of the circumstance, issued his Pro- 
 clamation on April 15, calling for 75,000 troops 'to 
 defend Washington and recapture Federal property.' 
 
 ' The •' old flag ' was adopted several years after independeuce, and only 
 u-ed for maritime purposes — the battles of the revolution were fought under - 
 the ensigns of the thirteen sovereign States. On all the buildings of the 
 commonwealth, the State colours should have been displayed, on those of 
 the city the numicipal flag. A great deal of nonsense has been talked and 
 written about the ' Stars and Stripes,' which has been productive of mis- 
 chief All 'sensation flags' and 'spread-eagleism' ought to be avoided in 
 future. The popular song, ' The Star-spangled Banner,' had not even a 
 revolutionary origin ; it, was written by the late Francis S. Key, while con- 
 fined as a prisoner with a number of other Baltimoreans on board of an 
 English ship off Fort M'llenry, during the last war with Great Britain. 
 The dcricendants of the.-e gentlemen, each and all, ignore the verses as well 
 as the Uii^, now that to ' such basu uses liaNc they come at List ' 
 
W. H. GREGORY, ESQ., M.P. Xvii 
 
 A large number of ' three months' men ' volunteered at 
 once for the protection of the capital, which in fact had 
 never been threatened : not a single Southern soldier was 
 at that time north of South CaroUna.* The same Pro- 
 clamation requested the members of Congress to meet 
 in extra session on July 4. The news of the final 
 vsdthdrawal of. your motion, at the request of Lord 
 John Eussell, on June 7, having been received in the 
 meanwhile, gave the war party confidence that they could 
 carry out their designs without interference from abroad ; 
 and the inflammatory speeches and writings of the re- 
 publican senators, representatives, and newspaper editors 
 
 * Among tlie many falsehoods circulated by the Yankees on both sides 
 of the Atlantic is the charge that the Southerners had, through the 
 Secretary of War, Mr. Floyd, been robbing the Northern arsenals. This 
 was disproved in the report of Mr. Stanton, made to the House of Repre- 
 sentatives on February 18, 1861. The testimony furnished by his com- 
 mittee established : — 
 
 1. That the Southern States obtained in 1860 less, instead of more, than 
 the quota of arms to which they were entitled by law ; and that some of 
 them. North Carolina, Mississippi, and Kentucky, received none whatever, 
 and this simply becaiise they did not ask for them. Mr. Stanton remarked, 
 ' That there are a good deal of rumours and speculations and misappre- 
 hensions as to the state of facts in regard to this matter.' 
 
 2. That the Government had on hand in the year 1859 500,000 old 
 muskets, which had been condemned 'as unsuitable for public service,' 
 imder the Act of March 3, 1825. They were of such a character that, 
 although offered at public and private sale for $2^ each, purchasers could 
 not be obtained at that rate, except for a comparatively small number. 
 On November 30, 1859, Secretary Floyd ordered about one-fifth of the 
 whole number (105,000) to be sent from the Springfield Armoury, where 
 they had accumulated, to five Southern arsenals, ' in proportion to their 
 respective means of proper storage.' This order was carried into efiect 
 by the Ordnance Bureau in the usual course of administration. Its date 
 was months before Mr. Lincoln's nomination for the Presidency, and nearly 
 a year before his election. 
 
 The Southern States were, in fact, enth-ely unprepared for the war. They 
 were even too slow in their movements when the conflict began. Fortress 
 Monroe ought to have been seized. And the surrender by Southern naval 
 commanders of the ships of war tinder their control was an act of doubtful 
 propriety. Those ships belonged to the South as much as to the North, 
 and should have been taken into Confederate ports. 
 
 a 
 
XVUl LETTEK TO 
 
 excited the public mind and started the cry of ' On to 
 Eichmond' — Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and 
 Arkansas having by that time joined the cotton States. 
 Thus the conflict began, and it has since been carried on 
 by the ofiice-holders, contractors, and other 'shoddy' 
 men of the Northern States, the peaceable inhabitants 
 being deprived of all power, even their right to express 
 the voice of dissent. 
 
 Let us examine into this question of recognition, for 
 there seems to be much misunderstanding in reference to 
 the pohtical status of the thirteen sovereign communities, 
 now known as the Confederate States of America; to 
 demand 'recognition' for them is, in truth, only to ask 
 for the fulfillment of treaties already existing. The 
 Yankee assertion, that secession is rebellion, can be 
 proved to be entirely untrue. France, on February 6, 
 1778, acknowledged the independence of the thirteen 
 American colonies, as so many independent States ; this 
 was even before the ' Articles of Confederation' were 
 adopted ; the United Netherlands followed her example 
 on October 8, 1782 ; and Sweden, on April 3, 1783 ; 
 Great Britain withheld her consent to the separation 
 until September 8, 1783, 'provisional articles' having 
 been signed on November 30, 1782 ; and Spam, 
 Prussia, and the other powers subsequently recognised 
 the States. Under the treaty of Peace, Virginia, 
 North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, were ad- 
 mitted as members (using the plural) of the family of 
 nations ; Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, 
 were included, they then being portions of those States. 
 Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, and Florida, afterwards 
 by a clause in the Federal Constitution, became 'free, 
 sovereign, and independent States,' possessed of all the 
 
W. H. GEEGOKY, ESQ., M.r. xix 
 
 rights of the original States ; and Texas, by a resolution 
 presented to the Senate by the Hon. E. J. Walker [see 
 Appendix], in 1837 rose to the dignity of an independent 
 power. France, Holland, and Belgium, likewise acknow- 
 ledged the independence of Texas in 1839 and Great 
 Britain in 1840. It was not until 1845 that Texas entered 
 the Federal Union. 
 
 According to the spirit and letter of the Constitution, 
 and the practice under it, the erection of territories into 
 States is equivalent to a recognition of their independence, 
 and joining the Union signifies nothing more than in- 
 trusting their foreign affairs, as a matter of convenience 
 and economy, to the central head.* Upon the admission 
 of a new State, the representatives of the ' Federal 
 agency ' at foreign courts ' become also the ministers for 
 that young power ; and, without protest, are received as 
 such. Here, then, are thirteen sovereign States practically 
 recognised by all the leading governments of the world. 
 
 John Adams, of Massachusetts, was the first ' commis- 
 sioner' sent to Europe to represent the thirteen original 
 
 * One of tlie argumenta used by the Federalists against tlie aoc[ui3ition of 
 tlie Louisiana territory was that the limits of the Confederation would he 
 too large, and that the States in the South-west, by the force of circum- 
 stances, might at some future time separate themselves from those on the 
 Atlantic, after having thinned the latter of a portion of their population. 
 Mr. Jefferson replied to these objections in a letter addressed to Mr. Brecken- 
 ridge dated August 12, 1803, from which the following is an extract : — 
 
 ' Besides, if it should become the great interest of those nations to separate 
 from this, if their happiness should depend upon it so strongly as to induce 
 them to go through that convulsion, why should the Atlantic States dread 
 it ? But, especially, why should we, their present inhabitants, take side in 
 such a question P . . . The future inhabitants of the Atlantic and Mississippi 
 States will be our sons. We leave them in distinct but bordering establish- 
 ments. We think we see their happiness in their union, and we wish it. 
 Events may prove it otherwise ; and if they see their interest in separation, 
 why should we take side with our Atlantic rather than our Mississippi 
 descendants? It is the elder and the younger son diflfeiing. God bless 
 them both, and keep them in union, if it be for their good, but separate 
 them if it be better ! ' 
 
 a 2 
 
XX LETTEE TO 
 
 States ; he was appointed to France in December 1777, 
 and afterwards made Minister Plenipotentiary to Great 
 Britain in 1779, but remained on the continent until after 
 the declaration of Peace. In the meanwhile, Prankhn had 
 succeeded him at Paris. Both of these statesmen received 
 their authority from the ' Congress of Delegates' from 
 the respective States, the 'Articles of Confederation' 
 not having been entered into until March 2, 1781, and 
 that ' foreign agency ' was dissolved on March 3, 1789. 
 Mr. Adams returned home in 1788, the Government 
 of England having omitted to send a corresponding re- 
 presentative to the States, who, in retaliation for this dis- 
 courtesy, refused to receive her consuls. Peace had then 
 been estabhshed for five years. On April 30, 1789, a 
 new foreign agency under the Constitution was formed 
 by eleven States, there having been in reality no union 
 whatever for the space of fifty-eight days ; but no notice 
 was given to any of the governments with which the 
 States had treaties of these changes : such notice, indeed, 
 was not necessary, the individual commonwealths, as has 
 ever been the case, having retained their sovereignty. 
 
 There was no representative from the American States 
 in England from the time of Mr. Adams' departure until 
 the arrival in London of Mr. Gouverneur Morris, of New 
 Jersey. Washington, as President of eleven States, re- 
 quested Mr. Morris, who was in Europe on private busi- 
 ness, to wait upon the Duke of Leeds, then Secretary for 
 Foreign Affairs. The following letter was his authority for 
 so doing. It bears a marked contrast to the bombastic, 
 untruthful, and lengthy despatches of Mr. Seward : 
 
 New York : October 13, 1789. 
 SiE,— It being important to both countries that the treaty of 
 peace between Great Britain and the United States should be 
 
W. H. GKEGOET, ESQ., M.P. XXI 
 
 observed and performed with perfect and mutual good faith, 
 and that a treaty of commerce should be concluded by them, on 
 principles of reciprocal advantages to both, I wish to be ascer- 
 tained of the sentiments and intentions of the Court of London 
 on these interesting subjects. 
 
 It appears to me most expedient to have these enquiries made 
 informally, by a private agent ; and understanding that you will 
 soon be in London, I desire you in that capacity, and on the 
 authority and credit of this letter, to converse with his Britan- 
 nic Majesty's ministers on these points, viz, whether there be 
 any, and what, objections to now performing those articles in the 
 treaty which remained to be performed on his part, and whether 
 they incline to a treaty of commerce with the United States on 
 any, and what, terms. 
 
 This communication ought regularly to be made to you by the 
 Secretary of State; but that office not being at present filled 
 my desire of avoiding delays induces me to make it under my 
 own hand. It is my wish to promote harmony and mutual 
 satisfaction between the two countries ; and it would give me 
 great pleasure to find that the result of your agency, in the 
 business now committed to you, will conduce to that end. 
 
 I am, &c. 
 
 G-Eo. Washington. 
 
 Gouvemeui Morris, Esq. 
 
 Can it be doubted that North Carohna and Ehode Island, 
 States remote from each other, which had not then joined 
 the new ' agency,' had a right at that time to likewise send 
 a representative, separately or conjointly? And, on the 
 same principle, are not the States comprising the Southern 
 Confederacy entitled to have ministers at the several 
 European courts ? In fact, the Union under the Consti- 
 tution might have been formed by any nine States. Surely 
 the doors of the Foreign Office could not hav^been closed 
 against the other four ? 
 
 The non-reception of the Confederate Commissioners by 
 the Governments of the European nations, to whom they 
 
XXll LETTEE TO 
 
 have been accredited, is a clear violation of existing 
 treaties, and is, in fact, simply deferring to the whims and 
 ambitious assumption of the Washington Government, 
 which has never been formally recognised by any power on 
 earth, intercourse with it having been merely held as the 
 - agent' of the respective States. Hence it was that Lord 
 Lyons, about two years ago, remonstrated with Mr. Seward 
 in regard to some violations of the Constitution, the ' power 
 of attorney,' under which authority the Lincoln adminis- 
 tration professes to act. Mr. Seward replied that he would 
 not permit any foreign government to thus dictate to him. 
 Surely, in the ordinary walks of life, we all require, in 
 dealing with agents, to know exactly the extent of their 
 powers, and have a right to disregard any acts that do 
 not come within the prescribed hmits of their delegated 
 authority. Are the Governments of Europe doing right, 
 then, in thus openly fraternising with a revolutionary 
 Government — that at Washington ? — for revolutionary it 
 is, because the Federal Constitution has been completely 
 set aside. It is not necessary to enumerate the violations 
 on the part of Mr. Lincoln, his Cabinet and his Congress, 
 of the Federal compact. They are well known. I will be 
 content to give the following extracts from Mr. Madison's 
 reports of the debates in the convention at Philadelphia, 
 which framed the Constitution, to show that the poHcy 
 of coercion was twice mooted in that body, and was 
 disapproved of on both occasions : 
 
 Tuesday, May 29, 1787.— Mr. Eandolph (Virginia) proposed 
 ' to call forth the force of the Union against any member of the 
 Union failing to fulfil its duty under the articles thereof.' 
 
 Thursday, May 31, 1787.- Mr. Madison (Virginia), in reply 
 to the above clause, observed, ' that the more he reflected on the 
 use of force, the more he doubted the practicability, the justice 
 
W. H. GREGOKY, ESQ., M.P. XXlll 
 
 and the eiBeacy of it, when applied to people collectively, and 
 not individually. A Union of the States containing such an 
 ingredient seemed to provide for its own destruction. The use 
 of force against a State would look more like a declaration of 
 war than an infliction of punishment, and would probably be 
 considered by the party attacked as a dissolution of all previous 
 compacts by which it might be bound. He hoped that such a 
 system would be framed as might render this resource unneces- 
 sary, and moved that the clause be postponed.' This motion 
 was agreed to nem. con. 
 
 Friday, June 15, 1787. — Among a series of resolutions offered 
 by Mr. Patterson (New Jersey) was the following : — ' And that 
 if any State, or any body of men in any State, shall oppose or 
 prevent the carrying into execution such acts and treaties, the 
 Federal Executive shall be authorised to call forth the power of 
 the Confederated States, or so much thereof as shall be necessary 
 to enforce and compel an obedience to such acts, or an observ- 
 ance of such treaties.' 
 
 Saturday, June 16, 1787. — Mr. Kandolph, who seems to have 
 changed his views on the subject, remarked : — ' Coercion he 
 pronounced to be impracticable, expensive, cruel to individuals. 
 It tended also to habituate the instruments of it to shed the 
 blood and riot in the spoils of their fellow-citizens, and conse- 
 quently train them up for the service of ambition.' 
 
 Wednesday, June 20, 1787. — Mr. Mason (Virginia) said: — 
 ' It was acknowledged by Mr. Patterson, that the plan could not 
 be enforced without military coercion. Does he consider the 
 force of this concession ? The most jarring elements of nature, 
 fire and water themselves, are not more incompatible than such 
 a mixture of civil Hberty and military execution. Will the 
 militia march from one State into another, in order to collect 
 the arrears of taxes from the delinquent members of the 
 Republic ? Will they maintain an army for this purpose ? 
 Will not the citizens of the invaded States assist one another, 
 till they rise as one man and shake off the Union altogether ? 
 * * * * He took this occasion to repeat that, notwithstanding 
 his solicitude to establish a national Grovernment, he never 
 would agree to abolish the States Grovernments, or render them 
 absolutely insignificant.' 
 
XXIV LETTER TO 
 
 Mr. Luther Martin (Maryland) ' agreed with Colonel Mason 
 as to the importance of the States Governments ; he would 
 support them at the expense of the general Grovernment, which 
 was instituted for the purpose of that support. * * * * At 
 the separation from the British Empire, the people of America 
 preferred the establishment of themselves into thirteen separate 
 sovereignties, instead of incorporating themselves into one. To 
 these they look up for the security of their lives, liberties, and 
 properties ; to these they must look up. The Federal Grovern- 
 ment they formed to defend the whole against foreign nations 
 in time of war, and to defend the lesser States against the am- 
 bition of the larger. They were afraid of granting powers 
 unnecessarily, lest they should defeat the original end of the 
 Union ; lest the powers should prove dangerous to the sovereign- 
 ties of the particular States which the Union was meant to 
 support, and expose the lesser to being swallowed up by the 
 larger. He conceived also that the people of the States, having 
 already vested their powers in their respective legislatures, 
 could not resume them without a dissolution of their govern- 
 ments.' 
 
 The question of coercion was then dropped. The only- 
 clause in the Constitution giving the Central Government 
 control of the mihtary, to be used except in a foreign 
 war, is contained in Article IV. Section 4, viz. — ' The 
 United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union 
 a republican form of Government, and shall protect each 
 of them against invasion ; and on application of the Legis- 
 lature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot 
 be convened), against domestic violence.' 
 
 Mr. Alexander Hamilton, also a member of the Conven- 
 tion, speaking on this subject, said : 
 
 It has been observed, to coerce States is one of the maddest 
 projects ever devised. A failure of compliance will never be 
 confined to a single State. This being the case, can we suppose 
 it wise to hazard a civil war? Suppose Massachusetts or any 
 large State should refuse, and Congress should attempt to 
 
W. H. GREGORY, ESQ., M.P. XXV 
 
 compel them, would they not have influence to procure assist- 
 ance, especially from those States which are in the same situa- 
 tion as themselves ? What picture does this idea present to our 
 view ? A complying State at war with a non-complying State, 
 Congress marching the troops of one State into the bosom of 
 another — this State collecting auxiliaries, and forming, perhaps, 
 a majority against its Federal head. Here is a nation at war 
 with itself. Can any reasonable man be well-disposed towards a 
 Grovernment which makes war and carnage the only means of 
 supporting itself — a Government that can exist only by the 
 sword ? Every such war must involve the innocent with the 
 guilty. This single consideration should be sufficient to dispose 
 any peaceable citizen against such a Government. 
 
 The great mass of ISTortliemers of the present genera- 
 tion, especially the middle classes, are very stupid on the 
 subject of pontics, though those of the highest and lowest 
 strata are, in every sense of the word, much better 
 citizens. The midway folks, of which such associations 
 as the New York Chamber of Commerce is composed, are 
 as conceited as they are ignorant, and have been much 
 flattered by the ' pot-house ' politicians ; hence the great 
 decay in pubhc morals in the North. These people, not 
 regarding the significance of the terms ' Union ' and 
 'United States,' have imagined the States to be one 
 country, whereas they are each and aU as different as 
 the nations of Europe, the Constitution being practically 
 little more than a treaty or alhance between them. The 
 Governors of the States have the highest prerogatives of 
 monarchs— the pardoning power; property is held and 
 crime punished under State laws ; no person can be a 
 citizen of two States at the same time. Any of the 
 States can have an established church, as was the case in 
 Virginia for many years after she acceded to the Constitu- 
 tion ; the clause in that document referring to this subject 
 merely prohibits Congress from interfering in the matter. 
 
XXVI LETTER TO 
 
 The United States cannot own a foot of soil in any of the 
 States without first obtaining their consent, nor has the 
 Washington Government ever had power to grant to 
 foreigners the right of holding real estate — in short, the 
 ' sovereignty ' has always resided in the individual States. 
 Yet the Federal machine — the creature — has assumed to 
 be greater than its principals, as is frequently the case in 
 private life, and for this reason it has ceased to work for 
 the benefit of those who made it. 
 
 The words, " We, the people,' and more ' perfect ' union 
 used in the preamble to the Constitution, have been pro- 
 ductive of mischief, in consequence of their not having 
 been properly understood by the masses, who have been 
 led astray by designing politicians taking advantage of 
 these expressions without explaining their true intent and 
 meaning. History settles aU difficulties on this point. 
 On August 6, 1787, the committee appointed for that 
 purpose reported the first draft of a Constitution. The 
 preamble was in these words: — 'We, the people of 
 the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Ehode 
 Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New 
 York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 
 Virginia, North Carolina, South Carohna, and Georgia, do 
 ordain, declare, and estabhsh the following Constitution, 
 for the government of ourselves and our posterity.' On 
 the next day this preamble was unanimously adopted. 
 The draft of the Constitution was discussed, and various 
 alterations made until September 8, 1787, when the 
 following resolution was passed: — 'It was moved and 
 seconded to appoint a committee of five, to revise the 
 style of and arrange the articles agreed to by the 
 House ; which passed in the affirmative.' This com- 
 mittee had no power to change the meaning of any clause 
 
W. H. GREGORY, ESQ., M.r. XXVll 
 
 which had been adopted, but were authorised merely to 
 ' revise the style ' and arrange the matter in proper order. 
 On the 12th of the same month, they made their report. 
 The preamble read : ' We, the people of the United States, 
 in order to form a more perfect Union, to establish justice, 
 insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common 
 defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the 
 blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do 
 ordain and estabUsh this Constitution, for the United 
 States of America.' On the next day (September 13) 
 ' it was moved and seconded to proceed to comparing of 
 the report from the committee of revision, with the articles 
 that were agreed to by the House, and to them referred 
 for arrangement, which passed in the afBrmative, and the 
 same was read by paragraphs, compared, and in some 
 places corrected and amended.' The only change which 
 was made in the preamble was striking out the word ' to ' 
 before the words ' estabhsh justice,' and no other change 
 was made in any of the articles except such as would 
 make the ' report of the committee of revision correspond 
 vdth the article agreed to by the House.' There is a 
 perfectly conclusive reason for the change of phraseology 
 in the preamble, from the States by name, to the more 
 general expression ' the United States,' and this, too, with- 
 out supposing that the alteration was meant to convey a 
 different idea as to the relation of the parties to the Con- 
 stitution. The revised draft contained a proviso that the 
 Constitution should go into operation when adopted and 
 ratified by nine States. It was, of course, uncertain 
 whether more than nine States would adopt it or not, 
 and, if they should not, it would be altogether improper 
 to name them as parties to the instrument. As to one 
 of them, Ehode Island, not being represented in the 
 
XXVlll LETTEE TO 
 
 Convention, it would have been improper to insert her as 
 a party. Hence it became necessary t® adopt a form of 
 expression which would apply to those who should ratify 
 the Constitution, and not to those who might refuse to do 
 so. And it simply means, ' We, the people of those States 
 who have united for that purpose, do ordain,' &c. This 
 construction corresponds with other historical facts, and 
 reconciles the language employed with the circumstances 
 of the case. The word ' people ' was both plural and 
 singular at that period ; indeed, it was so used up to the 
 year 1847, when the expression ' peoples ' was suggested 
 by Kossuth, who, employing the idiom of his native lan- 
 guage, when speaking in Enghsh, said that the Austrians 
 and Hungarians were two peoples. 
 
 The Government, under the Articles of Confederation, 
 having only been in existence six years at the time of 
 the framing of the Constitution, it would have been an 
 absurdity to repeat the word ' perpetual ' in the latter 
 document, and a term expressing less absolute permanence 
 was inserted — a ' more perfect ' union. Now, this lan- 
 guage is more quahfied in its character. The Govern- 
 ment was only to be ' perfect ' as long as it lasted. The 
 work of human hands can never be so ' perfect ' as to be 
 perpetual ; ' ' perpetual ' motion has not yet been dis- 
 covered. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, in his work ' On the Constitution and 
 Government of the United States,' thus wrote : 
 
 From all that has been stated, the inference follows, irre- 
 sistibly, that the Government is a Federal, in contradistinction 
 to a national government — a government formed by the States, 
 
 ordained and established by the States, and for the States 
 
 without any participation or agency whatever on the part of 
 the people regarded in the aggregate as forming a nation ; that 
 
W. H. GKEGOEY, ESQ., M.P. XXIX 
 
 it is throughout, in whole, and in every part, simply and purely 
 Federal — ' the Federal Government of these States ' as is accu- 
 rately and concisely expressed hy Greneral Washington, the 
 organ of the Convention, in his letter laying it before the old 
 Congress— Vords carefully selected, and with a full and accurate 
 knowledge of their import. There is, indeed, no such commu- 
 nity, politically speaking, as the people of the United States, 
 regarded in the light thereof, and as constituting one people or 
 nation. There never has been any such, in any stage of their 
 existence; and, of course, they neither could, nor ever can, 
 exercise any agency, or have any participation, in the formation 
 of our system of government. In all its parts — including the 
 Federal as well as the separate States governments, it emanated 
 from the same source — the people of the several States. The 
 whole, taken together, form a Federal community — a community 
 composed of States united by a political compact, and not a 
 nation composed of individuals united by what is called a social 
 compact. 
 
 I shall next proceed to show that it is Federal, in contra- 
 distinction to a confederacy. 
 
 It differs and agrees, but in opposite respects, with a national 
 government and a confederacy. It differs from the former 
 inasmuch as it has for its basis a confederacy, and not a nation, 
 and agrees with it in being a government ; while it agrees with 
 the latter to the extent of having a confederacy for its basis, 
 and differs from it inasmuch as the powers delegated to it are 
 carried into execution by a government, and not by a mere 
 congress of delegates, as is the case in a confederacy. To be 
 more full and explicit, a Federal government, though based on a 
 confederacy, is, to the extent of the powers delegated, as much 
 a government as a national government itself. It possesses, to 
 this extent, all the authorities possessed by the latter, and as 
 fully and perfectly. The case is different with a confederacy ; 
 for, although it is sometimes called a government, its congress, 
 or council, or the body representing it, by whatever name it 
 may be called, is much more nearly allied to an assembly of 
 diplomatists, convened to deliberate and determine how a league 
 or treaty between their several sovereigns, for certain defined 
 purposes, shall be carried into execution; leaving to the parties 
 
XXX LBTTEE TO 
 
 themselves to furnish their quota of means, and to cooperate in 
 carrying out what may have been determined on. Such was 
 the character of the congress of our confederacy ; and such, 
 substantially, was that of similar bodies in all confederated 
 communities which preceded our present government. Our 
 system is the first that ever substituted a government in lieu of 
 such bodies. This, in fact, constitutes its peculiar characteristic. 
 It is new, peculiar, and unprecedented. 
 
 In tlie opinion of many sound lawyers, each one of the 
 Northern States has now a right under the existing 
 treaties to despatch ministers to Europe. The bond of 
 union between them — the Constitution — has been broken 
 by the Lincoln Administration, and they are only held 
 together by the power of a large mihtary force. Mr. 
 Madison, in his inaugural address, declared the duties 
 of the Federal Government to be : ' to support the Con- 
 stitution, which is the cement of the Union, as well as in 
 its limitations as in its authorities ; to respect the rights 
 and autliorities reserved to the States, and to the people, 
 as equally incorporated with, and essential to, the success 
 of the general system ; to avoid the shghtest interference 
 with the rights of conscience or the functions of religion, 
 so wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction ; in behalf of 
 private and personal rights, and the freedom of the press,' 
 &c. &c. 
 
 The Lincoln Government is without doubt as revolu- 
 tionary as that of its neighbours in the South-west — the 
 Mexican States. Lideed, there is a striking similarity 
 between them. The dilEculties that have existed in the 
 latter country for the last forty years, have been in a 
 large measure owing to the interference by the central 
 authorities with the rights of the individual States, and 
 the constant effort to form a consolidated power. Now 
 
W. H. GEEGOBY, ESQ., M.P. XXXI 
 
 that Napoleon has taken charge of these people, it is to 
 be hoped that ' order will reign in Mexico.' 
 
 This brings us to the matter of secession, which is one of 
 the reserved rights of the States, as will be seen by the 
 following preamble and article from the amendments to 
 the Constitution adopted in September 1789 : — 
 
 Preamble. The conventions of a number of States having, 
 at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a 
 desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its 
 powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should 
 be added; and as extending the ground of public confidence 
 in the Grovernment will best insure the beneficent ends of its 
 institutions, therefore, Eesolved, &c. 
 
 Article 10. 'The powers not delegated to the United States 
 ' by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are 
 ' reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.' 
 
 We have the opinion of most of the leading men of 
 America in favour of the right of secession. A few 
 extracts from their speeches and writings may be given 
 in the order of date. In the year 1798, Mr. Jefferson 
 drew up sundry resolutions which passed the Kentucky 
 Legislature, among which wiU be found the following : — 
 
 Eesolved, That the several States composing the United States 
 of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited sub- 
 mission to their general government; but that by compact, 
 under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, 
 and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general govern- 
 ment for special purposes, delegated to that government certain 
 definite powers, reserving each State to itself the residuary mass 
 of right to their own self-government ; and that whensoever the 
 general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are 
 unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact 
 each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party; that 
 this government, created by this compact, was not made the 
 exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to 
 itself, since that would have made its discretion, and not the 
 
XXXU LETTER TO 
 
 Constitution, the measure of its powers ; but that, as in all 
 other cases of compact among parties having no common judge, 
 each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of 
 infractions, as of the mode and measure of redress. 
 
 Eesolved, That the Constitution of the United States is a 
 compact between the several States, as States, each sovereign 
 State being an integral party to that compact ; that, as in other 
 compacts between equal sovereigns who have no common judge, 
 each party has the right to interpret the compact for itself, and 
 is bound by no interpretation but its own ; that the general 
 government has no final right, in any of its branches, to inter- 
 pret the extent of its own powers ; that these powers are limited 
 within certain prescribed bounds ; and that all acts of the 
 general government, not warranted by its own powers, may 
 properly be nullified by a State within its own boundaries. 
 
 The Legislature of Virginia adopted siniilar resolutions 
 the same year ; on their consideration, Mr. Madison from 
 the committee submitted an argument in favour of the 
 doctrines contained in them ; he said : — 
 
 It appears to your committee to be a plain principle, founded 
 on common sense, illustrated by common practice, and essential 
 to the nature of compacts, that, where resort can be had to no 
 tribunal superior to the authority of the parties, the parties 
 themselves must be the rightful judges, in the last resort, 
 whether the bargain made has been pursued or violated. The 
 Constitution of the United States was formed by the sanction of 
 the States, given by each in its sovereign capacity. It adds to 
 the stability and dignity, as well as the authority, of the Consti- 
 tution, that it rests on this legitimate and solid foundation. 
 The States, then, being the parties to the constitutional com- 
 pact, and in their sovereign capacity, it follows, of necessity, 
 that there can be no tribunal above their authority to decide, in 
 the last resort, whether the compact made by them be violated ; 
 and consequently that, as parties to it, they must themselves 
 decide, in the last resort, such questions as may be of suflicient 
 magnitude to require their respective interposition. 
 
 Mr. Madison concluded his remarks by predictino' the 
 
W. H. GHEGOET, ESQ., M.P. XXXUl 
 
 present state of affairs in America with painful and fearful 
 exactness, drawing a picture of the catastrophe yet to 
 come. These are his words : — 
 
 If measures can mould Grovernments, and if an uncontrolled 
 power of construction is surrendered to those who admi/nister 
 them, their progress may be easily foreseen and their end easily 
 foretold. A lover of monarchy who opens the treasures of cor- 
 ruption by distributing emoluments among devoted partisans, 
 may at the same time be approaching his object, and deluding 
 the people with professions of republicanism. He may con- 
 found monarchy and republicanism by the art of definition. 
 He may varnish over the dexterity which ambition never fails 
 to display, with the pliancy of language, the seduction of expe- 
 diency, or the prejudices of the times. And he may come at 
 length to avow that so extensive a territory as that of the 
 United States can only be governed by the energies of mon- 
 archy, that it cannot be defended except by standing armies, 
 and that it cannot be united except by consolidation. Measures 
 have already been adopted which may lead to these conse- 
 quences. They consist : 
 
 In fiscal systems and arrangements, which keep an host of 
 commercial and wealthy individuals embodied and obedient to 
 the mandates of the treasury. 
 
 In armies and navies, which will, on the one hand, enlist the 
 tendency of man to pay homage to his fellow-creature who can 
 feed or honour him ; and on the other, employ the principle of 
 fear by punishing imaginary insurrections, under the pretext 
 of preventive justice. 
 
 In swarms of officers, civil and military, who can inculcate 
 political tenets, tending to consolidation and monarchy, both 
 by indulgences and severities, and can act as spies over the free 
 exercise of human reason. 
 
 In restraining the freedom of the press, and investing the 
 Executive with legislative, executive, wnd judicial powers over 
 a numerous body of men. 
 
 And, that we may shorten the catalogue, in establishing, by 
 successive precedents, such a mode of construing the Constitu- 
 tion as will rapidly remove every restraint upon Federal 
 power. 
 
XXXIV LETTER TO 
 
 Let history be consulted; let the man of experience reflect; 
 nay, let the artificers of monarchy be asked what further mate- 
 rial they can need for buUding up their favourite system. 
 
 Massachusetts at a very early day advocated secession. 
 Her representatives in Congress in 1789 threatened to 
 break up the Union that had just been formed, if the 
 Federal Capitol were located on the Potomac, and their 
 opposition was only withdrawn upon condition that the 
 Southern members would vote for the assumption of the 
 old war debt of the individual States.* The Yankees are 
 always sharp in money matters. Again, in 1803, in 
 opposing the purchase of the Louisiana territory, they 
 claimed the right to secede, and their State Legislature 
 actually passed a resolution to ' dissolve ' their connection 
 with the other States, in the event of a confirmation by 
 the Senate of the treaty with France on that subject. 
 They made a similar difficulty in 1811, upon the erection 
 of the Orleans part of that territory into a State, hi 
 1808 there was a secret plot in Massachusetts, in con- 
 nection with the other New England States, to withdraw 
 from the Union in consequence of the embargo on all 
 foreign commerce, a retahatory measure adopted by 
 Congress, against the Berhn and Milan decrees of Na- 
 poleon, and Orders hi Council of England. Mr. John 
 Quincy Adams, who had favoured the measure, resigned 
 his seat in the Senate, and communicated to the President 
 
 * In tlie course of the detate on the selection of a site for tlie Capitol, 
 September 3, 1789, Mr. Sedgwick, of Massachusetts, said : ' In my view on 
 the principle of population, it is far beyond the centre (alluding to the 
 Potomac), for I do not think it just on this subject to take the constitutional 
 computation. Will any gentleman pretend that men who are merely the 
 subjects of property or wealth should be taken into the estimate? that the 
 slaves of the country should be taken into view in determining the centi'e 
 of the Government? If they were considerate, gentlemen might as well 
 estimate the black cattle of New England. 
 
W. H. GEEGORY, ESQ., M.P. XXXV 
 
 the feeling of the Legislature and people of his State. 
 In order to preserve the Union, the Embargo Act was 
 repealed and a Non-intercourse Act substituted, which per- 
 mitted trade to be carried on with all countries other than 
 those of the belligerents. It was afterwards so modified, 
 that commerce could also be conducted with them so 
 soon as their obnoxious measures were removed. Mas- 
 sachusetts, in 1814, again avowed the same principles. 
 The committee of her Legislature, in relation to the war 
 with Great Britain, thus reported : — 
 
 We believe that this war, so fertile in calamities and so 
 threatening in consequences, has been waged with the worst 
 possible views, and carried on in the worst possible manner : 
 forming a union of wickedness and wealmess which defies, for a 
 parallel, the annals of the world. We believe, also, that its 
 worst effects are yet to come ; that war upon war, tax upon tax, 
 and exaction upon exaction, must be imposed, until the comforts 
 of the present and hopes of the rising generation are destroyed. 
 An impoverished people will be an enslaved people. An army 
 of 60,000 men, become veteran by the time the war is ended, 
 and may become the instrument, as in former times, of destroying 
 even the forms of liberty. It will be as easy to establish a Presi- 
 dent for life by their arms, as a President for four years by 
 intrigue. We tremble for the liberties of our country. We 
 think it the duty of the present generation to stand between the 
 next and despotism. 
 
 The committee had no doubt of the right of the State 
 to resist the enforcement of all unconstitutional laws. 
 They continued : 
 
 The power to regulate commerce is abused when employed 
 to destroy it, and a voluntary abuse of power sanctions the right 
 of resistance as much as a direct and palpable usurpation. The 
 sovereignty of the States was reserved to protect the citizens 
 from acts of violence by the United States, as well as for 
 purposes of domestic regulation. We spurn the idea that the 
 free, sovereign, and independent State of Massachusetts is 
 
 b2 
 
SXXVi LETTER TO 
 
 reduced to a mere municipal corporation, without power to 
 protect its people or to defend them from oppression, from 
 whatever quarter it comes. Whenever the national compact is 
 violated, and the citizens of this State oppressed by cruel and 
 unauthorised enactments, this Legislature is bound to interpose 
 its power, and to wrest from the oppressor his victim. This is 
 the spirit of our Union, and thus has it been explained by the 
 very man who now sets at defiance all the principles of his early 
 political life. The question, then, is not a question of power 
 or right, but of time and expediency. 
 
 This same Legislature appointed delegates to meet 
 others from Connecticut and Ehode Island, who assembled 
 in convention at Hartford in the first-named State, on 
 December 15, 1814. After reciting various grievances 
 against the central power, the convention declared that : 
 
 Though acts of Congress, in violation of the Constitution, 
 were merely void, yet it did not seem to consist with the respect 
 and forbearance due from a Confederated State towards the 
 general government to fly at once upon every infraction to open 
 resistance. The mode and energy of opposition ought rather 
 to conform to the nature of the violation, the intention of its 
 authors, the extent of the injury inflicted by it, the determination 
 manifested to persist in it, and the danger of delay. Yet, in 
 cases of deliberate, dangerous, and palpable infractions of the 
 Constitution affecting the sovereignty of a State and the liber- 
 ties of the people, it was not only the right, but the duty also, 
 of the State to interpose its authority for their protection. 
 When emergencies occur, either beyond the reach of the judicial 
 tribunals or too pressing to admit of the delay incident to their 
 forms. States which have no common umpire must be their own 
 judges, and execute their own decisions. 
 
 At the time the discussion took place in Congress in 
 reference to the admission of Texas, the Legislature of 
 Massachusetts protested against such a policy, declarinff 
 that, should the ' annexation' take place, she would secede 
 from the Union ; and the statute has never been repealed. 
 
W. H. GEEGOEY, ESQ., M.P. XXXVU 
 
 On all these six occasions, the Federalists, or Whigs, in 
 Massachusetts were the leading secessionists.* 
 
 Here is Pennsylvanian opinion on the same subject. 
 The Hon. Wilham Eawle, one of the ablest members of 
 the Philadelphia bar, wrote as follows, in 1825 : — 
 
 The Uniou is an association of the people of the Eepublics ; 
 its preservation is calculated to depend on the preservation of 
 those Eepublics. The people of each pledge themselves to 
 preserve that form of government in all. Thus each becomes 
 responsible to the rest that no other form of government shall 
 prevail in it, and all are bound to preserve it in everyone. 
 
 But the mere compact, without the power to enforce it, 
 would be of little value. Now, this power can be nowhere so 
 properly lodged as in the Union itself. Hence the term 
 ' guarantee ' indicates that the United States are authorised to 
 
 ' Within two montli3 after tte formation of the first Union under the 
 Articles of Confederation, and while the revolutionary war was yet pending, 
 the New England States were desirous of 'seceding' therefrom, in consequence 
 of the derangement of the finances, owing to the enormous issues of ' Con- 
 tinental Money.' The disgust and impatience of the people of Massachusetts 
 and New Hampshire (Maine at that time was a portion of the former and 
 Vermont part of the latter State) were so great that they moved for instruc- 
 tions to their delegates in Congress to make overtures for peace with Great 
 Britain. In Connecticut the miuds of the people were so directed in that 
 way, that if any influential person had stood forth, and appealed to those 
 who wished to preserve their charter and enjoy immediate peace, he would 
 have been instantly joined by a vast majority of the colony, in a resolve to 
 -withdraw from Congress, and oppose what they alleged to be the ' pernicious 
 laws by which they had been so often cheated of their propertv.' Quietness 
 was only restored by the masses discrediting the ' continental greenhaclss ' 
 and on May 7, 1781, they ceased to circulate. On this occasion, as well as 
 the second war with England, the New England States had no moral right 
 to contemplate availing themselves of their pri^Tlege of seceding from the 
 other States. They had all entered the conflict together, and it would have 
 been unfair to have left the more Southern States in the lurch. A member 
 of a mercantile firm has no right to withdraw therefrom when his house is 
 in difficulties ; ' secession ' should only take place when the concern is unem- 
 barrassed. The Yankees threw cold water upon the Mexican war, and 
 contributed but very few troops to the service. Even those persons who did 
 aid in the campaign were very unpopular until the successes of the American 
 arms began to be announced. The Puritans were then not slow in taking a 
 share of credit to themselves. 
 
XXXVIU LEXTEK TO 
 
 oppose, and, if possible, to prevent, every State in the Union 
 from relinquishing the republican form of government; and, 
 as an auxiliary means, they are expressly authorised and required 
 to employ their force, on the application of the constituted 
 authorities of each State, to repress domestic violence. If a 
 faction should atteihpt to subvert the government of a State 
 for the purpose of destroying its republican form, the paternal 
 power of the Union could be thus called forth to subdue it. 
 
 Yet it is not to be understood that its interposition would be 
 justifiable, if the people of a State should determine to retire 
 from the Union, whether they adopted another or retained the 
 same form of government ; or if they should, with the express 
 intention of seceding, expunge the representative system from 
 their code, and thereby incapacitate themselves from concurring, 
 according to the mode now prescribed, in the choice of certain 
 public oflBcers of the United States. 
 
 The principle of representation, although certaiuly the wisest 
 and best, is not essential to the being of a republic, but to 
 continue a member of the Union it must be preserved, and 
 therefore the guarantee must be so construed. It depends on 
 the State itself to retain or abolish the principle of representa- 
 tion, because it depends on itself whether it will continue a 
 member of the Union. To deny this nght would be inconsis- 
 tent with the principle on which all our political systems are 
 founded ; which is, that the people have in all cases a right to 
 determiiie how they will be governed. 
 
 This right must be considered as an ingredient in the 
 original composition of the general government, which, though 
 not expressed, was mutually understood ; and the doctrine here- 
 tofore presented to the reader in regard to the indefeasible 
 nature of personal allegiance, is so far qualified in respect to 
 allegiance to the United States. It was observed that it was 
 competent for a State to make a compact with its citizens, that 
 the reciprocal obligations of protection and allegiance might 
 cease on certain events; and it was further observed, that alle- 
 giance would necessarily cease on the dissolution of the society 
 to which it was due. The States, then, may wholly withdraw 
 from the Union, but wHle they continue they must retain the 
 character of representative Kepublics. 
 
W. H. GBEGOEY, ESQ., M.P. XXXIX 
 
 The secession of a State from the Union depends upon the 
 will of the people of such State. The people alone, as we have 
 already seen, hold the power to alter their constitution. The 
 Constitution ^f the United States is to a certain extent incor- 
 porated with the constitutions of the several States by the act of 
 the people. The State legislatures have only to perform certain 
 organic operations in respect to it. To withdraw from the Union 
 comes not within the general scope of their delegated authority. 
 There must be an express provision to that effect inserted in the 
 State constitutions. This is not at present the case with any of 
 them, and it would perhaps, be impolitic to confide it to them. 
 A matter so momentous ought not to be intrusted to those who 
 would have it in their power to exercise it lightly and precipi- 
 tately upon sudden dissatisfaction or causeless jealousy, perhaps 
 against the interests and the wishes of a majority of their con- 
 stituents. 
 
 But in any manner by which a secession is to take place, 
 nothing is more certain than that the act should be deliberate, 
 clear, and unequivocal. The perspicuity and solemnity of the 
 original obligation require correspondent qualities ia its dissolu- 
 tion. The power of the general government cannot be defeated 
 or impaired by an ambiguous or implied secession on the part of 
 the State, although a secession may perhaps be conditional. The 
 people of the State may have some reasons to complain in re- 
 spect to the acts of the general government ; they may, in such 
 cases, invest some of their own officers with the power of nego- 
 tiation, and may declare an absolute secession in case of their 
 failure. Still, however, the secession must, in such case, be 
 distinctly and peremptorily declared to take place ia that event, 
 and in such case— as in the case of an unconditional secession— 
 the previous ligament with the Union would be legitimately 
 and fairly destroyed. But in either case the people is the only 
 motive power. 
 
 To withdraw from the Union is a solemn, serious act. When- 
 ever it may appear expedient to the people of a State, it must 
 be manifested in a direct and unequivocal manner. If it is 
 ever done indirectly, the people must refuse to elect represen- 
 tatives, as well as to suffer their Legislature to reappoint 
 
xl LETTER TO 
 
 senators. The senator whose time has not yet expired must be 
 forbidden to continue in the exercise of his functions. 
 
 But -without plain decisive measures of this nature, proceed- 
 ing from the only legitimate source — ^the people. — the United 
 States cannot consider their legislative powers over such States 
 suspended, nor their executive or judicial powers in any way 
 impaired ; and they would not be obliged to desist from the 
 collection of revenue within such State. 
 
 As to the remaining States among themselves, there is no 
 opening for a doubt. 
 
 Secession may reduce the number to the smallest integer 
 admitting combination. They would remain united under the 
 same principles and regulations among themselves that now 
 apply to the whole ; for a State cannot be compelled by other 
 States to withdraw from the Union ; and, therefore, if two or 
 more determine to remain united, although all the others 
 desert them, nothing can be discovered in the Constitution to 
 prevent it. 
 
 These are opinions deliberately expressed, not in refer- 
 ence to any particular suit or any particular action, but 
 the result of tbe general reflections of a bighly educated 
 legal mind as to the Constitution of the United States ; 
 and these, too, of a man eminently conservative in his 
 character, and entirely unambitious, who eschewed poU- 
 tical life, refused an ofSce of the highest honour under 
 the greatest man our country has ever produced, and 
 belonged to a party that certamly was not indisposed to 
 carry the Federal powers to the utmost extent that the 
 Constitution justified. 
 
 Later, in 1832, South Carohna thus expressed herself, 
 when she nulhfied the protective tariff that had been 
 passed by the Federal Congress : — 
 
 That the people of South Carolina will maintain the said 
 ordinance at every hazard, and that they will consider the pass- 
 age of any Act of Congress, abolishing or closing the ports of 
 
W. H. GEEGOKY, ESQ., M.P. 
 
 xU 
 
 said State, or otherwise obstructing the free ingress or egress of 
 vessels to and from the said ports, or any other Act of the 
 Federal G-overmnent to coerce the State, shut up her ports, 
 destroy or harass her commerce, or to enforce the said Acts 
 otherwise than through the civil tribunals of the country, as 
 inconsistent with the longer continuance of South Carolina in 
 the Union ; and that the people of the said State will thence- 
 forth hold themselves absolved from all further obligation to 
 maintain or preserve their political connection with the people 
 of the other States, and will forthwith proceed to organise a 
 separate government, and do all other acts and things which 
 sovereign and independent States may of right do.* 
 
 Mr. Calliouii, in his work akeady quoted, writes — 
 
 But, according to the fundamental principles of our system, 
 sovereignty resides in the people, and not in the Government ; 
 and if in them, it must be in them, as the people of the several 
 States ; for, politically speaking, there is no other known to the 
 system. It not only resides in them, but resides in its plenitude, 
 unexhausted and unimpaired. If proof be required, it will be 
 found in the fact — ^which cannot be controverted, so far as the 
 United States are concerned — ^that the people of the several 
 States, acting in the same capacity and in the same way, 
 in which they ordained and established the Federal Constitution, 
 can, by their concurrent and united voice, change or abolish it, 
 and estabUsh another in its place ; or dissolve the Union, and 
 resolve themselves into separate and disconnected States. A 
 power which can rightfully do all this, must exist in full ple- 
 nitude, unexhausted and unimpaired; for no higher act of 
 
 sovereignty can be conceived They (the States and the 
 
 United States) stand then, as to the one, in relation of superior 
 to subordinate — the creator to the created. The people of the 
 several States called it into existence, and conferred by it, on 
 the Grovernment, whatever power or authority it possesses. 
 Regarded simply as a constitution, it is as subordinate to them. 
 
 South Carolina did not on this occasion, as is generally supposed, with- 
 draw from the soiuid position she had taken. It was not until after the 
 tariff on foreign importations was reduced hy what is known as ' the Com- 
 promise Act ' that she rescinded her ordinance of nullification. 
 
xlii LETTER TO 
 
 as are their respective State constitutions ; and it imposes no 
 more restrictions on the exercise of any of their sovereign rights 
 than they do. The case, however, is different as to the relations 
 which the people of the several States bear to each other in 
 reference to it. Having ratified and adopted it by mutual 
 agreement, they stand to it in the relation of parties to a con- 
 stitutional compact ; and, of course, it is binding between them 
 as a compact, and not on or over them as a constitution. Of 
 all compacts that can exist between independent and sovereign 
 communities, it is the most intimate, solemn, and sacred, 
 whether regarded in reference to the closeness of connection, 
 "the importance of the objects to be effected, or to the obligations 
 imposed. Laying aside all intermediate agencies, the people 
 of the several States, each in their sovereign capacity, agreed to 
 unite themselves together in the closest possible connection that 
 could be formed, without merging their respective sovereignties 
 into one common sovereignty, — to establish one common govern- 
 ment, for certain specific objects, which, regarding the mutual 
 interest and security of each, and of all, they supposed could 
 be more certainly, safely, and effectually promoted by it, than 
 by their several separate governments ; pledging their faith, in 
 the most solemn manner possible to support the compact thus 
 formed by respecting its provisions, obeying all acts of the 
 government made in conformity with them, and preserving it, as 
 far as in them lay, against all infractions. But as solemn and 
 sacred as it is, and as high as the obligations may be which it 
 imposes, — still it is but a compact and not a constitution — 
 regarded in reference to the people of the several States in 
 their sovereign capacity. To use the language of the constitu- 
 tion itself, it was ordained as a ' constitution for the United 
 States,' — not over them ; and established, not over but ' between 
 the States ratifying it:' and hence a State, acting in its 
 sovereign capacity, and in the same manner in which it ratified 
 and adopted the constitution, may be guilty of violating it as a 
 
 compact, but cannot be guilty of violating it as a law 
 
 That a State, as a party to the constitutional compact, has the 
 right to secede— acting in the same capacity in which it ratified 
 the constitution — cannot, with any show of reason, be denied by 
 anyone who regards the constitution as a compact, if a power 
 
W. H. GEBGOEY, ESQ., M.P. 
 
 xliii 
 
 should be inserted by the amending power, which would radi- 
 cally change the character of the constitution, or the nature of 
 the system ; or if the former should fail to fulfill the ends for 
 which it was established. This results necessarily from the 
 nature of a compact, -where the parties to it are sovereign, and, 
 of course, have no higher authority to which to appeal. That 
 the effect of secession would be to place her in the relation of a 
 foreign State to the others, is equally clear. Nor is it less so, 
 that it would make her (not her citizens individually,) respon- 
 sible to them, in that character. All this results, necessarily, 
 from the nature of a compact between sovereign parties. 
 
 Further New England testimony in support of the right 
 of secession will be found in Mr. John Quincy Adams' 
 address before the Historical Society of New York, on 
 the occasion of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary 
 of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 1839 : he 
 said : — 
 
 To the people alone is then reserved, as well the dissolving 
 as the constituent power ; and that power can be exercised by 
 them only under the tie of conscience, binding them to the 
 retributive justice of heaven. 
 
 With these qualifications, we may admit the same right to 
 be vested in the people of every State in the Union, with refer- 
 ence to the general government, which was exercised by the 
 people of the United colonies with reference to the supreme head 
 of the British Empire, of which they formed a part; and, 
 under these limitations, have the people of each State in the 
 Union a right to secede from the Confederated Union itself. 
 
 Thus stands the right. But the indissoluble link of union 
 between the people of the several States of this confederated 
 nation is, after all, not in the right, but in the heart. If the 
 day should ever come (may heaven avert it !) when the affections 
 of the people of these States shall be alienated from each other 
 — when the fraternal spirit shall give way to cold indifference, 
 or collisions of interest shall fester into hatred — the bands of 
 political association will not long hold together parties no longer 
 attracted by the magnetism of conciliated interests and kindly 
 
xliv LETTER TO 
 
 sympathies; and far better will it be for the people of the dis 
 united States to part in friendship from each other, than to be 
 held together by constraint. Then will be the time for reverting 
 to the precedent which occurred at the formation and adoption 
 of the Constitution to form a more perfect Union, by dissolving 
 that which could no longer bind, and to leave the separated 
 parts to be reunited by the law of political gravitation to the 
 centre. 
 
 The Congressional records, and other American State 
 papers, are replete with arguments and opinions that have 
 emanated from the ablest minds the country has produced, 
 which strongly endorse the present course of the Southern 
 States. We may, however, pass on, and read what some 
 weaker intellects say upon the subject. 
 
 Mr. Abraham Lincoln, as a member from lUinois, said 
 
 in the Federal House of Eepresentatives on January 12, 
 
 1848: 
 
 Any people, anywhere, being inclined, and having the power, 
 have a right to rise up and shake off the existing Government 
 and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most 
 valuable, a most sacred right — a right which we hope and 
 believe is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to 
 cases in which the whole people of an existing government 
 may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that 
 can, may revolutionise and make their own of so much of the 
 territory as they inhabit. More than this — a majority of any 
 portion of such people may revolutionise, putting down a 
 minority, intermingled with or near about them, who may 
 oppose their movements. It is a quality of revolution not to 
 go by old lines or old laws, but to break up both, and to make 
 new ones. 
 
 It was acting on the principle thus enunciated that 
 Mr. Lincoln ' recognised ' what is called ' Western Vir- 
 ginia,' in violation of the 3rd Section of Article IV. of 
 the Constitution, which says, 'New States may be ad- 
 mitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new 
 
W. H. GREGOBT, ESQ., SLP. sIf 
 
 State shall be formed or erected within the jrafedictiflii 
 of any other State; nor any State be finmed by the 
 junction of two or more ?tat«. or parts of Scaie^ wifli- 
 oat the consent of the Legidature of the Ss:^ coo- 
 cemed, as well as of the Offligress." 
 Mr. Edward Bat^ tie Aitnmey-GaiHal of the Tiited 
 
 States, appointed by Mr. lincofci. azii ?:ill one -;f ins 
 Cabinet, in tie subjoined later finnyies iis (^inioa ia 
 reference to the imon^itDtxiDalitj of the crrisLin of uie 
 State of Yiiginia. Mr. lincdn seems : :• disr^aid e¥€n 
 the decision of his own I^^ adxisas. 
 
 HOS. A- F. BUCHIE, TIBCnii CttSTEOSBS, V5EEZI3€i. 
 
 Sir, — Tour letta- of the 9ji iiBlaDt -j;^ reeeinEd ^iSim t^fe 
 hour, and as yea a^ an mnii«liarp ai^+a;, y*^ ^ oaaise, ~«31 
 not expect me to go dabcsat^ into the sabjeeL 
 ' I have thought a gie^ deal iqMHL "Lie qiiesti:iL of diiidm^&e 
 State of Viiginia into two States : and aaee I eame heie se a 
 member of the GoFemmeiitl have erKxrasedviih a ^wd mamf, 
 and corresponded with Sr3me vS. Ust good insm. of Wesion 
 Virginia in regard to that matter. In all this irteveom^ my 
 constant and earnest effort has been to impces vpm Ae Twiwd^ 
 of those gentlemen the vast impcrtance — so~ to b^ veaemaStf — 
 in this terrible cnsis of our naticHi^ aSma, to ahrtam fi*x& tibe 
 introduction of any new eiesaesata t£ leTohtticii. to a;ix)adL, a£ &r 
 as possible, all new and odginal i^bettnes of g'jwexBmeBi^ hat, 
 on the contzazy, in all the insmg^aiteoiamoinredflB, to sM^re, 
 as circumstances will allow, to tLe c^i 'xms&mifjosi ^cas^sxA tA 
 principle and to the tiaditiaBal habits aad thm^bts «f ti^j)% 
 people. And I ctill think Aat eoaise k dietsdied bf Cbe 
 plainest teachings of pnidfiiee. 
 
 The formation of a new State oat of ^'^^tatt. Vir^zj'ji « sa 
 original, independent aet <ii xerdbtHaa. I d« r.ot dsi^ the 
 power of revolution (I do not eall ft r^i^ fcr it w w^er fm- 
 scribed — it exists in form <m\j, and has aal «aa ha?r^ s«> ''jor 
 but the will of the rerohijkamts). Amy att«ti^ to eany it '/wt 
 
xlvi LETTER TO 
 
 involves a plain breach of both the constitutions— of Virginia 
 and the nation. And hence it is plain that you cannot take that 
 course without weakening, if not destroying, your claims upon 
 the sympathy and support of the general government, and 
 without disconcerting the plan already adopted both by Virginia 
 and the general government for the reorganisation of the revolted 
 States, and the restoration of the integrity of the Union. That 
 plan I understand to be this : when a State, by its perverted 
 functionaries, has declared itself out of the Union, we avail 
 ourselves of all the sound and loyal elements of the State — all 
 who own allegiance to and claim protection of the constitution — 
 to form a State government, as nearly as may be upon the 
 former model, and claiming to be the very State which has been 
 in part overthrown by the successful rebellion. In this way we 
 establish a constitutional nucleus around which all the shattered 
 elements of the commonwealth may meet and combine, and 
 thus restore the old State to its original integrity. 
 
 This I verily thought was the plan adopted at Wheeling, and 
 recognised and acted upon by the general government here. 
 Your convention annulled the revolutionary proceedings at 
 Eichmond, both in the convention and general assembly, and 
 your new governor formally demanded of the President the 
 fulfillment of the constitutional guarantee in favour of Virginia 
 — Virginia as known to our fathers and to us. The President 
 admitted the obligation, and promised his best efforts to fulfill 
 it, and the Senate admitted your senators, not as representing a 
 new and nameless State, now for the first time heard of in our 
 history, but as representing ' the good old commonwealth.' 
 
 Must all this be undone, and a new and hazardous experiment 
 be ventured upon, at the moment when dangers and difficulties 
 are thickening around us ? I hope not ; for the sake of the 
 nation and the State, I hope not. I had rejoiced in the move- 
 ment in Western Virginia as a legal, constitutional, and safe 
 refuge from revolution and anarchy, as at once an example and 
 fit instrument for the restoration of all the revolted States, 
 
 I have not time now to discuss the subject in its various 
 bearings. What I have written is written with a running pen, 
 and will need your charitable criticism. 
 
 If I had time I think I could give persuasive reasons for 
 
W. H. GREGOEY, ESQ., M.P. xlvii 
 
 declining to attempt to create a new State at this perilous time. 
 At another time I might be willing to go fully into the question, 
 but now I can say no more. 
 
 Most respectfully your obedient servant, 
 
 Edw. Bates. 
 
 Notwithstanding Mr.. Bates gives a correct opinion in 
 opposition to the admission of Western Virginia as a State 
 into the Federal Union, he, like every individual con- 
 nected with the Lincoln Administration, at home or 
 abroad, cannot write a ktter or express a sentiment 
 without indulging in mendacity. There were no ' revo- 
 lutionary proceedings at Eichmond,' as he insinuates. 
 ' Virginia, as known to our fathers and to us,' was the 
 first American colony that adopted a constitution. A 
 convention of delegates elected by her people assembled 
 on May 15, 1776, for that purpose, and completed their 
 task on June 12 of that year. By the ratification of the 
 Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, the colony 
 became a State ; and the ' Old Dominion ' has, without 
 intermission, continued as an independent sovereignty 
 ever since. Her constitution was amended in 1829 and 
 1830. Eichmond is the capitol of the State ; and the 
 Governor and Legislature there represent ' the good old 
 Commonwealth.' The Wheeling Government, to which 
 Mr. Bates alludes, has no authority whatever from the 
 people of Virginia. It is a sham and an imposition, put 
 in force by a {e^ Yankees and their adherents, through 
 the agency and influence of Federal ' greenbacks,' in the 
 western part of the State, and has sent two bogus senators 
 to the Northern Congress, who wiU now be joined by two 
 more of the same character from ' Western' Virginia. In 
 order to illustrate the manner of ' acceding' to and ' se- 
 ceding' from the Federal Union, the action of Virginia 
 
xlviii LETTER TO 
 
 may be cited. Her people, through delegates appointed 
 for that purpose, for such does not come within the scope 
 of the usual legislative power, adopted the following 
 ordinance on June 25, 1788 : — 
 
 "We, the delegates of the people of Virginia, duly elected iu 
 pursuance of a recommendation from the Greneral Assembly, 
 and now met in Convention, having fully and freely investigated 
 and discussed the proceedings of the Federal Convention, and 
 being prepared, as well as the most mature deliberation hath 
 enabled us, to decide thereon, do, in the name and in behalf of 
 the people of Virginia, declare and make known that the 
 powers granted under the Constitution, being derived from the 
 people of the United States, inay he reswmed by them when- 
 ever the same shall be perverted to their injury or oppression, 
 and that every power not granted thereby remains with them, 
 and at their will ; that, therefore, no right of any denomination 
 can be cancelled, abridged, restrained, or modified by Congress, 
 by the Senate, or House of Eepresentatives, acting in any 
 capacity, by the President or any department or oflScer of the 
 United States, except in those instances in which power is given 
 by the Constitution for those purposes ; and that, among other 
 essential rights, the liberty of conscience and of the press cannot 
 be cancelled, abridged, restrained, or modified by any authority 
 of the United States. 
 
 The people of Virginia again, through their delegates, 
 met in convention, and passed on April 17, 1861, an 
 ' ordinance to repeal the ratification of the constitution of 
 the United States of America, by the State of Virginia, 
 and to resume all the rights and powers granted under 
 said constitution.' 
 
 The people of the State of Virginia, in the ratification of the 
 Constitution of the United States of America, adopted by them 
 in Convention on June 25, in the year of our Lord 1788, 
 having declared that the powers granted under the said Con- 
 stitution were derived from the people of the United States, 
 and might be resumed whensoever the same should be per- 
 
W. H. 
 
 xlix 
 
 verted to their injury and oppression, and the Federal G-o- 
 vernment having perverted said powers, not only to the injury 
 of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern 
 slave-holding States : now, therefore, we, the people of Virginia, 
 do declare and ordain that the ordinance adopted by the people 
 of this State in Convention on June 25, in the year of our Lord 
 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America 
 was ratified, and all acts of the General Assembly of this State 
 ratifying or adopting amendments to said Constitution, are 
 hereby repealed and abrogated; that the union between the 
 State of Virginia and the other States under the Constitution 
 aforesaid is hereby dissolved ; and that the State of Virginia is 
 in the full possession and exercise of all the rights of sovereignty 
 which belong to a free and independent State: and they do 
 further declare that said Constitution of the United States of 
 America is no longer binding on any of the citizens of this State. 
 
 This ordinance shall take effect, and be an Act of this day, 
 when ratified by a majority of the votes of the people of this 
 State, cast at a poll to be taken thereon on the fourth Thursday 
 in May next, in pursuance to a schedule hereafter to be enacted. 
 
 Done in Convention in the city of Eichmond, on the 17th 
 day of April, in the year of our Lord 1861, and in the eighty- 
 fifth year of the Commonwealth of Virginia. 
 
 The Convention also passed the following ordinance of 
 adhesion to the Confederate Union : 
 
 We, the delegates of the people of Virginia in Convention 
 assembled, solemnly impressed by the perils which surround 
 the Commonwealth, and appealing to the Searcher of Hearts 
 for the rectitude of our intentions in assuming the grave re- 
 sponsibility of this act, do by this ordinance adopt cmd ratify 
 the Constitution of the Provisional Government of the Confe- 
 derate States of America, ordained and established at Mont- 
 gomery, Alabama, on the 8th day of February, 1861 : Provided 
 that this ordinance shall cease to have any legal operation or 
 effect, if the people of this Commonwealth, upon the vote directed 
 to be taken on the ordinance of secession passed by this Con- 
 vention on the 17th day of April, 1861, shall reject the same. 
 
 The people of Virginia, on the day appointed, duly 
 
1 LETTER TO 
 
 ratified the action of the Convention, and in due course 
 accepted the permanent Constitution of the Confederate 
 States. 
 
 Mr. WilHam H. Seward, when urging in the Federal 
 Senate the admission of the territory of Cahfornia into 
 the Union, as a ' free, sovereign, and independent State,' 
 remarked on March 11, 1850 : 
 
 And now it seems to me that the perpetual unity of our 
 empire hangs on the decision of this day and of this hour. 
 California is already a Stated — a complete and fully appointed 
 State: she never again can be less than that. The question, 
 whether she shall be one of the United States of America, has 
 depended on her and on us. Her election has been made. 
 Our consent alone remains suspended, and that consent must be 
 pronounced now or never. I say now or never. Nor will 
 California abide delay. I do not say that she contemplates 
 independence ; but if she does not, it is because she does not 
 anticipate rejection. Will you say that California could not 
 aggrandise herself by separation ? Will you say that California 
 has no ability to become independent ? Try not the temper or 
 fidelity of California, at least not now — not yet. Cherish her 
 and indulge her until you have extended your settlements to 
 her borders. * • * California would not go alone. Oregon, so 
 intimately allied to her, and, as yet, so loosely attached to us, will 
 go also, and then, at least, the entire Pacific coast would be lost. 
 
 These views of Mr. Seward are not at all novel; 
 Mr. John Quincy Adams expressed the same doctrines in 
 the case of Mchigan in 1836, declaring that if that terri- 
 tory, which had then formed a State Constitution, was 
 not admitted into the Union, she would have a right to 
 make herself, as in fact she had already done, an inde- 
 pendent power. 
 
 There is an erroneous impression in Europe in regard 
 to what has been called the 'bullying' propensities of 
 the American people. Whatever blustering there has 
 
W. H. GEEGOEY, ESQ., M.P. li 
 
 been in that respect has emanated from the North, not 
 from the South. For instance, the trouble that arose 
 between Great Britain and the United States in 1841 was 
 altogether owing to Mr. Seward, who was then Governor 
 of the State of New York, and to his partisans in and out 
 of Congress. He, on that occasion, refused to accede \.o 
 the request of the United States Government tor the 
 surrender to the Enghsh authorities of Alexander M-Lec i. 
 a British subject and civil officer, who was arrestoi and 
 put on his trial before the Circuit Court at Urica. 2s ew 
 York, on the charge of murdering Amc; Durfree. an 
 American, at the time of the burning of the sreamer 
 ' CaroHne,' at Fort Schlosser, on December i?. IS 3 7. 
 
 The ' CaroHne ' was a pirate, manned bv Sew York 
 
 filibusters, which, after committing simrirv hc—Ze a^:s 
 
 against Canada, retreated to the American side it die 
 
 river Niagara. It was proved to the saiislact: :.n of the 
 
 Administration at Washmgton, who, by its delesatei 
 
 powers under the Constitution, alone had jurisdiction in 
 
 the case, that the persons who destroyed the ' Caroline ' 
 
 acted under the instructions of the Canadian authorities, 
 
 and accordingly the affair was adjusted bv diplomatic 
 
 correspondence between the two Governments. Seward 
 
 however, was so deskous of creating a difficulty with 
 
 Great Britain, in order to carry out his favourite ^heme 
 
 of annexing Canada, and thereby making himself popular 
 
 m the North, that he thus ignored the chief purpose for 
 
 which the Union was formed-namely, for giving the 
 
 control of the foreign affairs of the individual State? to a 
 
 central head ; and so airogated to himself a power wHch 
 
 the strongest State Eights men never dreamed of clairmn. 
 
 Ihis disagreement between the State of New York and 
 
 the Government of the United States, and the threatening 
 
lii LETTER TO 
 
 aspect of affairs between Great Britain and the United 
 States, in consequence of the conduct of Governor Seward, 
 was disposed of by the acquittal of M'Leod by the jury. 
 The debates in Congress testify that the Southern members 
 energetically opposed the warhke resolutions offered by 
 Mr. Fillmore, one of Seward's satellites, in the House of 
 Eepresentatives. 
 
 A second attempt to invade Canada was made by 
 citizens of New York at this period (1841), which Mr. 
 Seward not only failed to repress — as was his duty as 
 chief executive officer of that State — but he actually con- 
 nived at the proceedings. President Tyler, a Southerner, 
 was therefore obliged to issue the following proclamation 
 (September 25, 1841) :— 
 
 Whereas it has come to the knowledge of the G-overnment of 
 the United States that sundry secret lodges, clubs, or associ- 
 ations, exist on the Northern frontier ; that the members of 
 these lodges are bound together by secret oaths ; that they have 
 collected firearms and other military materials, and secreted 
 them in sundry places ; and it is their purpose to violate the 
 laws of their country by making military and lawless incursions, 
 when opportunity shall offer, into the territories of a power with 
 which the United States are at peace. And whereas it is known 
 that travelling agitators from both sides of the line visit these 
 lodges, and harangue the members in secret meeting, stimu- 
 lating them to illegal acts. And whereas the same persons are 
 known to levy contributions on the ignorant and credulous for 
 their own benefit, thus supporting and enriching themselves by 
 the basest means. And whereas the unlawful intentions of the 
 members of these lodges have already been manifested in an 
 attempt to destroy the lives and property of the inhabitants of 
 Chippewa, in Canada, and the public property of the British 
 G-ovemment there being. Now, therefore, I, John Tyler, Pre- 
 sident of the United States, do issue this my proclamation, 
 admonishing all such evil-minded persons of the condign 
 punishment which is certain to overtake them ; assuring them 
 
W. H. GEEGOET, ESQ., M.P. liu 
 
 that the laws of the United States will be rigorously executed 
 against their iUegal acts; and that if, in any lawless incursion 
 into Canada, they fall into the hands of the British authorities, 
 they will not be reclaimed as American citizens, nor any inter- 
 ference made by this Grovemment in their behalf. 
 
 I exhort all well-meaning but deluded persons who may have 
 joined these lodges immediately to abandon them, and to have 
 nothing more to do with their secret meetings or unlawful oaths, 
 as they would avoid serious consequences to themselves. And I 
 expect the intelligent and well-disposed members of the com- 
 munity to frown on all these unlawful combinations and illegal 
 proceedings, and to assist the Government in maintaining the 
 peace of the country against the mischievous consequences of 
 the acts of these violators of the law. 
 
 It has been charged that, in the cases of the Maine 
 boundary and Oregon disputes, the Southerners desired 
 to make war with England. This is a mistake. Mr. 
 Calhoun, who everyone will admit was the leader of 
 Southern opinion, said in the Senate, when the first tcipic 
 was under discussion : 
 
 So strong, indeed, was his impression, that the dispute could 
 only be settled by a compromise or conventional line, that he 
 remarked to a friend in Jackson's Cabinet that it could only be 
 so determined ; and for that purpose some distinguished citizen 
 of Maine should be selected for the special mission to England, 
 and that neither he nor any other Southern man oug-it to be 
 thought of. 
 
 In deciding the question, it must be borne in mind that it 
 belongs much more to the State of IVIaine than to the Uniom 
 It is, in truth, but the boundary of that State, and makes a part 
 of the boundary of the United States only by being the ex- 
 terior boundary of one of the States of the Federal Union. It 
 is her sovereignty and soil that are in dispute, except the portion 
 of the latter that still remains in Massachusetts ; and it belongs, 
 in the first place, to her and to Massachusetts, as far as her 
 right of soil is involved, to say what their rights and interests 
 
liv LETTEE TO 
 
 are, and what is required to be done. The rest of the Union is 
 bound to defend them in their just claim, and to assent to what 
 they may be willing to consent to in settling the claim in con- 
 test, if there should be nothing in it inconsistent with the 
 interest, honour, or safety of the rest of the Union. It is so 
 that the controversy has ever been regarded. It is well known 
 that President Jackson would readily have agreed to the award 
 of the King of Holland, had not Maine objected ; and to over- 
 come her objection he was prepared to recommend to Congress 
 to give her, in order to get her consent, one milKon of acres of 
 the public domain, worth, at the minimum price, a million and 
 a quarter of dollars. The case is now reversed. Maine and 
 Massachusetts have both assented to the stipulations of the 
 treaty, as far as the question of boundary affects their peculiar 
 interest, through commissioners, vested with full powers to 
 represent them ; and the question for us to decide is, shall we 
 reject that to which they have assented ? Shall the Grovernment, 
 after refusing to agree to the award of the King of Holland, 
 because Maine objected, now reverse its course, and refuse to 
 agree to that to which she and Massachusetts have both 
 assented ? 
 
 These remarks were made in 1842. In 1846, when 
 the Oregon difficulty was being debated, the same states- 
 man said (March 11) : 
 
 Having been thus brought, by a line of policy to which I was 
 opposed, to choose between compromise and war, I without 
 hesitation take the former. . . I am opposed to war between 
 the United States and Great Britain. They are the two coun- 
 tries the farthest in advance in the great career of improve- 
 ment, and of amelioration of the condition of our race. They 
 are, besides, diffusing, by their widely extended commerce, 
 blessings over the whole globe. We have been raised up by 
 Providence for these great and noble purposes, and I trust we 
 shall not fail to fulfill our high destiny. I am especially opposed 
 to war with England at this time, because I hold that it is now 
 to be decided whether we are to exist in future as friends or 
 enemies. War, at this time and for this cause, would decide 
 supremacy. We should hereafter stand in the relation of ens- 
 
W. n. GBEGOBT. ESQ.. if.P. Iv 
 
 mies. It would give birth to a straggle in which one or -.he 
 other would have to succumb before it terminated, f^d whidi 
 in the end would prove ruinous to both. On the cc'nrrarr. ii 
 war can be avoided, powerful cauje? are now in operatian, ::^- 
 culated to cement and secure a laitiug — I Lope a peap^r^al — 
 peace between the two countries, by Ireaidr^ d.-s^ iLr barrkr^ 
 which impede their commerce, and Theretr iiidrii^ the:2i rcrje 
 closely by a vastly enlarged commeTdai inTeiwj-irjr eqtiaZv 
 beneficial to both. If we should nciir r^creei — i^7:i:ir tte 
 example of free trade between us, it would ftHce sZ ciij 
 civilised countries to follow it in the end. The ec zseqoeDoes 
 would be to diffuse a prosperity greater sni Bicre TuiTersBl 
 than can well be conceived, and to unite bv bc'ii.is of zzitlzz^ 
 interest the people of aU countries. E~: in advocatii^' the 
 cause of free trade, I am actuated not less by :ie piJitieal t-;^- 
 sequences likely to flow from it, than the advsii-s^es to l-e 
 derived from it in an economical poiiit of fieis-. I regard il in 
 the dispensation of Providence as one of tLe pes.- means : f 
 ushering in the happy period foreiold hj izisp.ired propLe-LS i^d 
 poets, when war shall be no more. I am fnalhr cjoos&d t:- 
 war, because peace is preeminentlv onj poKcr. 
 
 In the House of Eepresentanves. when the saice c^es- 
 tion was under consideration, ilr. VT. L. Tancev reiLarked, 
 on January 4, 1846 : 
 
 We should be careful lest prosperity and continued su<xesi 
 should blind us to consequences — lest ia our pride -a-e ia]i irr 
 it cannot be treason — it cannot be cowardlv— it eann;t be ^- 
 wise— for us calmly and dispassionatelv to consider ozi -rue 
 position in this matter. And I beg of oiir frieLis tiiat. if soiree 
 of us of the South are disposed to put a curb on tLis L-t -r - _1 
 tuosity, we shaU not be deemed their enemies on ihh -^ 
 
 ^™^ I <iesire to notice these aLin:i.te-l attacfe on 
 
 ^ngland, these burning appeals to our patriotum, th^ ..-- 
 breaks of enthusiastic love for our country, tLe^ firm resolre* 
 to resist encroachment and insult But I look around in Ta^n 
 for a point to which to apply all tMs pent-up ammunition. 
 ihis IS, then, it seems to me, a useless waste of patriotic ei-vi- 
 ^'^"^ I <=ai^ ^ell imagine, however, how such a 
 
Ivi LETTER TO 
 
 course will operate upon the putlic mind, how the honest 
 farmer, on reading such furious denunciations of what he is 
 accustomed to think his natural enemy, and of her rapacity, 
 can have his feelings wrought up under the idea that his 
 country is the object of English aggression and overbearance. 
 I much fear that this is the surest way of accounting for the 
 
 strong popular ferment in relation to this question 
 
 The arguments of the venerable gentleman from Massachusetts 
 (J. Q. Adams) breathe a fierce and energetic war spirit. Truly 
 and well did he himself depict the whole character of this 
 movement, when he illustrated it by citing a celebrated event 
 in history, exclaiming with very great emphasis, ' This is the 
 military way of doing business.' 
 
 In a continuation of the debate, on Tebruary 6, 
 1846, Mr. Jefferson Davis, in the course of his speech, 
 said : 
 
 He knew not whether he more regretted the time at which 
 this discussion has been introduced, or the manner in which it 
 has been conducted. We were engaged in delicate and highly 
 important negotiations with Mexico, the end of which, he had 
 hoped, would be an adjustment of our boundary on terms the 
 vast advantages of which it would be difficult to estimate. If, 
 sir, by this exciting discussion we shall hereafter find that we 
 have lost the key to the commerce of the Pacific, none who 
 hears me will live long enough to cease from his regrets for the 
 injury our country has sustained. Again, sir, a long peace has 
 served to extend the bonds of commerce throughout the civilised 
 world, drawing nations from remote quarters of the globe into 
 friendly alliance, and that mutual dependence which promised 
 a lasting peace and unshackled commerce. In the East there 
 appeared a rainbow which promised that the waters of national 
 jealousy and proscription were about to recede from the earth, 
 and the spirit of free trade to move over the face thereof. But 
 this, sir, is a hope not so universally cherished in this House as 
 I could desire. We have even been told that one of the advan- 
 tages to result from war will be emancipation from the manu- 
 facturers of Manchester and Birmingham. 
 
 I hope, sir, the day is far distant when measures of peace or 
 
W. H. GBEGOKT. ESQ., M.P. Ivii 
 
 war will be prompted by sectional or class interests, "War, sir. 
 is a dread alternative, and should be the last resort ; but -when 
 demanded for the maintenance of the honour of the country, or 
 for the security and protection of our citizens against outrage 
 by other governments, I trust we will not sit here for weeks to 
 discuss the propriety, to dwell upon the losses, or paint the 
 horrors of war. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, it has been asserted that the people demand 
 action, and we must advance. 'Whilst, sir. I aidmit the propriety 
 of looking to and reflecting public opinion, especially upon a 
 question which is viewed as deciding between peace or war, I 
 cannot respond to the opinion, nor consent to govern my con- 
 duct by the idea, that the public man who attempts to stem the 
 current of a war excitement must be borne down, sacrificed on 
 the altar of public indignation. Sir, may the day never come 
 when there will be so little of public virtue and patriotic devo- 
 tion among the representatives of the people that any dema- 
 gogue who chooses to make violent and unfounded appeals to 
 raise a war clamour in the country will be allowed, unopposed, 
 to mislead the people as to the true questions at issue, and to 
 rule their representatives through their love of place and poli- 
 tical timidity ! 
 
 On the occasion of this Oregon controversy, both 
 parties in the North, the Whig and the Democratic, 
 emulated each other in the race to attain popularity by 
 humiliating England and forcing her to abandon her 
 pretensions. It required the whole strength of the South 
 to keep the coimtry from drifting into a war. Mr. John 
 Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, headed the extreme 
 party in opposition to the claims of England in the House 
 of Eepresentatives, and speaking before that body advo- 
 cated the exclusion of European governments from the 
 continent of America, in a manner strikingly in accord 
 with the spirit of his Puritan ancestors, who held 
 'that the earth was the inheritance of the saints, and 
 that they were the saints.' He had the Holy Scriptures 
 
Iviii LETTER TO 
 
 read by the clerk of the House, to prove that God had 
 decreed man to multiply and replenish the earth, and 
 that to His chosen people He had given the heathen for 
 an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a 
 possession. This — he argued with a blasphemous apph- 
 cation of the Word of God to the purposes of pohtics, 
 which has never found toleration or imitation outside of 
 New England — this was the title by which the United 
 States might rightfully claim the disputed tract in Ore- 
 gon. On February 9, 1846, he added : 
 
 That same Pope at that time (1493) was in the custom of 
 giving away not only barbarous nations but civilised nations. 
 He dethroned sovereigns, put them under interdict, and excom- 
 municated them from intercourse with all other Christians, and 
 it was submitted to. And now, sir, the Government of Great 
 Britain — the nation of Great Britain — holds the island of 
 Ireland on no other title. Three hundred years before that 
 time, Pope Adrian of Eome gave, by that same power, to 
 Henry I. of England, the island of Ireland, and England has 
 held it from that day to this under that title, and no other. 
 That is, no other, unless by conquest {for it has been in a 
 continued state of rebellion ever since'), and Great Britain has 
 been obliged to conquer it half a dozen times since ; and now 
 the question is, whether Ireland shall ever become an indepen- 
 dent kingdom. If we come to a war with Great Britain, she 
 will find enough to do to maintain that island. * * » * I 
 want the country (Oregon) for our Western pioneers. 
 
 About the same time General Lewis Cass, of Michigan, 
 the acknowledged leader of the Democratic party of the 
 North, as ex-President Adams was of the Whigs, thun- 
 dered forth in the Senate threats of war and conquest 
 agaiust Great Britain. On March 29, 1846, he said : 
 
 ■ Let us have no red lines on the map of Oregon, and if war 
 comes, be it so. * * * England might as well attempt to blow 
 vip the Kock of Gibraltar with a squib as to attempt to subdue 
 
W. H. GEEGOEY, ESQ., M.P. lix 
 
 US. Why the honourable senator from South Carolina fixes upon 
 ten years for the duration of the war, I know not ; long before 
 the expiration of that period, if we are not utterly unworthy of 
 our name and our birthright, we should sweep the British power 
 from the continent of North America. 
 
 The ' blustering ' [in. reference to the San Juan a£fair a 
 few years ago was also confined to the North. The difii- 
 culty was promptly settled by a Southern Administration. 
 
 The charge has hkewise been made in some of the Anglo- 
 Yankee newspapers that Mr. Mason, the accredited repre- 
 sentative of the Confederate States to Great Britain, had 
 hitherto belonged to the ' blustering party.' This asser- 
 tion is easily disproved. Mr. Mason was not a member 
 of Congress at the time of any of the disputes with 
 England, and had, of course, no opportunity of taking part 
 in the debates. The records of the Federal Legislature, 
 however, prove that he held anything but hostile feehngs 
 towards this country; as an evidence of this, the case of 
 the ' Eesolute ' may be cited. The following is an extract 
 from the ofiicial report of the proceedings in that matter: — 
 
 United States Senate, June 10, 1856. Mr. Foster, of Con- 
 necticut, offered the following resolution : — 
 
 Eesolved, That the committee on commerce be instructed 
 to enquire into the expediency of authorising the Secretary of 
 the Treasury to issue a register to the British-built bark ' Eeso- 
 lute,' found derelict near Cumberland inlet, in the Arctic Ocean 
 by the ofScers and crew of the American whaling ship ' George 
 Henry,' of New London, Connecticut, and by said salvors 
 brought into the port of New London, where she is now lying 
 — all claim to said vessel by the British Grovernment having 
 been relinquished to the salvors. 
 
 Mr. Mason, of Virginia, in requesting the honourable 
 senator from Connecticut to withdraw his resolution, 
 spoke as follows : — 
 
Ix LETTER TO 
 
 Mr. President,— I saw, as did the whole American people, the 
 fact announced of the recovery of this vessel, and her being 
 brought successfully, and after much danger and peril, within 
 our waters. It occurred to me at the time — and I have been 
 more strongly impressed with it in thinking over the subject 
 since — that the proper disposition of that vessel would be for 
 the G-overnment of the United States to purchase her, and refit 
 her in a proper manner, and send her back to England. She 
 was the property of the English Grovernment, and was one of 
 their pubUc ships, abandoned in an enterprise of discovery in 
 which we have largely participated with them — abandoned from 
 necessity, and accidentally recovered by one of our merchant 
 ships. I had thought that such high national courtesy, which 
 I am gratified to say marks our country certainly with as much 
 distinction as any other in the great family of nations — that 
 national courtesy which does more to preserve the peace of the 
 world even than armed ships themselves — would suggest that, 
 on a suitable occasion, this ship should become the property of 
 the G-overnment, if it can be done on fair and equitable terms, 
 and should be sent back to England in the name of the American 
 people. I would, therefore, suggest to the honourable senator 
 from Connecticut, learning that she has not changed hands, 
 that, unless there be some immediate occasion for this resolu- 
 tion, it would be as well, perhaps, to let it lie over until we can 
 confer on the subject. 
 
 Mr. Mason, subsequently, on June 24, 1856, offered a 
 resolution to provide for the purchase and fitting out of 
 the ship and her return to Great Britain, making an appro- 
 priation for the expense. His resolution passed the Senate 
 without opposition. 
 
 The slavery dispute, although so prominent in American 
 politics, was not the real cause of the dissolution of the 
 Union. The North was desirous of having control of the 
 territories, in order to form them into States, and thus 
 obtain the balance of power in the Federal Congress, so as 
 to impose protective tariffs, against which the South justly 
 
W. H. GKEGOEY, ESQ., M.P. Ixi 
 
 protested. The subjoined address, issued by the South 
 Carohna Convention, December 25, 1860, explains this : — 
 
 Discontent and contention have moved in the bosom of the 
 Confederacy for the last thirty-five years. During this time. 
 South Carolina has twice called her people together in solemn 
 convention, to take into consideration the aggressions and un- 
 constitutional wrongs perpetrated by the people of the North on 
 the people of the South. These wrongs were submitted to by 
 the people of the South, under the hope and expectation that 
 they would be final. But these hopes and expectations have 
 proved to be void. 
 
 The one great evil, from which all the other evils have flowed, is 
 the overthrow of the constitution. The Grovernment is no longer 
 the government of a Confederate Eepublic, but of a consolidated 
 democracy. It is no longer a free government, but a despotism. 
 The Eevolution of 1776 turned upon one great principle — self- 
 government and self-taxation — the criterion of self-government. 
 
 The Southern States now stand in the same relation towards 
 the Northern States, in the vital matter of taxation, that our 
 ancestors stood toward the people of Great Britain. They are 
 in a minority in Congress. Their representation in Congress is 
 useless to protect them against unjust taxation ; and they are 
 taxed by the people of the Worth for their benefit, exactly as 
 the people of Great Britain taxed our ancestors, in the British 
 Parliament, for their benefit. For the last forty years, the 
 taxes laid by the Congress of the United States, have been laid 
 with a view of subserving the interests of the North. The 
 people of the South have been taxed by duties on imports, not 
 for revenue, but for an object inconsistent with revenue — to 
 promote, by prohibitions. Northern interests in the productions 
 of their mines and manufactures. The people of the Southern 
 States are not only taxed for the benefit of the people of the 
 Northern States, but, after the taxes are collected, three-fourths 
 of them are expended in the North. 
 
 In the following pages I enter largely upon the Slavery 
 question, because it is a subject so little understood in 
 Europe, the pubhc mind on this side of the Atlantic 
 
Ixii LETTER TO 
 
 having been poisoned against the South in this respect 
 by Yankee authors and orators. The views that I express 
 are those entertained by the great mass of the people of 
 my native commonwealth — Pennsylvania — the first State 
 that abohshed slavery. This was done through the 
 influence of the Quakers, after the institution ceased to 
 pay within her limits. The subjoined is a copy of the 
 enactment passed in 1780 : — 
 
 All persons, as well negroes and mulattoes as others, who shall 
 be born within this State, shall not be deemed and considered 
 as servants for life or slaves ; and all servitude for life, or slavery 
 of children, in consequence of the slavery of their mothers, in 
 the case of all children born vdthin this State from and after 
 the passing of this Act as aforesaid, shall be and hereby is 
 utterly taken away, extinguished, and for ever abolished : pro- 
 vided, however, children born hereafter of slave mothers are to 
 be held to servitude until they are twenty-eight years old. 
 
 The effect of this statute, which can be repealed at any 
 time, was very gradual, and slavery was not finally 
 extinguished within the State until 1845. The ' Friends ' 
 had held men in bondage for 150 years. Wilham Penn 
 was a slave-owner. The Constitution of Pennsylvania 
 does not prohibit slavery. It was upon the demand of 
 that State, in 1793, for the return of a slave that had 
 escaped into Maryland, that Washington recommended to 
 Congress the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, in order 
 to conform to the provisions of the Federal Constitution. 
 Until a very few years back, the votes of Pennsylvania 
 were always cast with those of her Southern sisters ; but 
 ui recent years so many New Englanders have flocked 
 within her borders, that they, with their natural im- 
 pudence and acquisitiveness, have taken control of the 
 affairs of the State, and by frauds and bribery — the 
 money sent from Massachusetts — they managed in 1860 
 
W. H. GRBGOEY, ESQ., M.P. Ixiii 
 
 to place their own candidates in the highest offices. Penn- 
 sylvanians — ' natives to the manor born' — are now re- 
 suming their pohtical duties, and, unless Federal bayonets 
 deprive them of their franchises, wiU bring about such a 
 change in matters as will astonish the world. The rural 
 districts of the State are all democratic ; it is only in the 
 cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, where the Yankees 
 and contractors have congregated, that there is any 
 strong war feeling ; and this is the reason for the great 
 apathy that existed at the time of the invasion of 
 General Lee. There has always been much jealousy be- 
 tween New York and Philadelphia ; and should Pennsyl- 
 vania apply for admission, and be received into the 
 Southern Confederacy, the latter city wiU resume her 
 former position as the centre of finance and chief dis- 
 tributing point on the western continent. Such an 
 accession would give the Confederate States the command 
 of the Delaware river, of the head waters of the Ohio, 
 and a frontage on the lakes, thus cutting the Yankee 
 snake — north-east and north-west — in two, and com- 
 pletely destroying its vitahty. That arrangement, coupled 
 with French domination in Mexico, would be a happy 
 event for the peace and prosperity of America. 
 
 Pennsylvania, under the guidance of Governor Curtin, 
 has behaved so badly, that I doubt if the South will have 
 anjrthing to do with her. To her credit, however, be it 
 said that, although the Yankee influence within her hmits 
 was so great, she, with the exception of New Jersey, is 
 the only Northern State that gave a respectable vote for 
 Mr. Breckinridge, the candidate for the Presidency, who 
 received nearly the unanimous support of the Southern 
 States. Her balloting stood thus: — Liacoln, 268,030. 
 Breckinridge, 178,871. Douglas, 16,765. BeU, 12,776. 
 
Ixiv LETTER TO 
 
 The votes of New York, the New England States, and 
 the North-western States, were chiefly cast for Lincohi 
 and Douglas. There can be no stronger evidence of the 
 decay in public virtue effected through Yankee influence 
 than that two such unworthy men should have had be- 
 stowed upon them the suffrages of the people, and it is, 
 therefore, time that the present Federal fabric should be 
 destroyed, and something better substituted in its place. 
 Mr. Lincoln, however, is doing the work of ' demoHtion ' 
 with almost electric speed. 
 
 In the early portion of this letter, I referred to a 
 violation of treaty stipulations on the part of your Go- 
 vernment towards the States now comprising the Southern 
 Confederacy — ^I mean the treaties of 1783 and 1840. 
 I now desire to call your attention to a more recent 
 agreement that has likewise been disregarded, concerning 
 which the following letters from Mr. Mason to Earl 
 EusseU, taken from the Parhamentary pubhcation, ' North 
 America, No. 2, 1863,' wiU furnish particulars : — 
 
 Mr. Mason to Earl Russell. {Received January 3.) 
 
 24 Upper Seymour Street, Portman Bc^oasi : 
 January , 1863. 
 
 My Lord, — In a communication which I had the honom- to 
 address to your Lordship, dated on the 7th July ultimo, I 
 said : — 
 
 I am instructed hy a recent despatch from the Secretary of 
 State for the Confederate States of America, to bring to the 
 attention of your Lordship what would seem to be an addition 
 engrafted by Her Majesty's Government, on the principle of 
 the law of blockade, as established by the Convention of Paris 
 in 1856, and accepted by the Confederate States of America at 
 the invitation of Her Majesty's Grovernment. 
 
 The ' addition ' to the principle of blockade referred to is 
 stated in my communication to have appeared in a letter from 
 
W. H. GREGORY, ESQ., M.P. Ixv 
 
 your Lordship to Lord Lyons, of February 15 preceding, then 
 recently laid before Parliament. 
 
 I stated further in that communication, quoting from the in- 
 structions of the President — 
 
 ' If such be the interpretation placed by Great Britain on the 
 Treaty of 1856, it is but just that this Grovernment should be so 
 officially informed,' 
 
 And after pointing out the force and effect ascribed by the 
 President to this modification of the principle of blockade, to 
 the prejudice of the interests of the Confederate States, my 
 communication to your Lordship proceeded as follows : — 
 
 ' I have therefore the honour to request, for the information 
 of my Government, that your Lordship will be good enough to 
 solve the doubt entertained by the President of .the Confederate 
 States as to the construction placed by the Government of Her 
 Majesty on the text of the Convention of Paris, as accepted by 
 the Government of the Confederate States in the terms herein- 
 before cited ; that is to say, whether a blockade is to be consi- 
 dered as effective when maintained at an enemy's port, by a 
 force sufficient to create an evident danger of entering or 
 leaving it,' and not alone where sufficient ' really to prevent 
 access.' 
 
 To that communication I was honoured only by a reply from 
 the Honourable A. H. Layard, dated at the Foreign Office on 
 July 10, informing me that he was directed by your Lordship to 
 acknowledge its receipt; nor have I since been honoured by 
 any communication from your Lordship furnishing an answer to 
 the specific and important enquiry thus made under instructions 
 from my Government. 
 
 On August 4 following, I transmitted to the Secretary of 
 State of the Confederate States a copy of my communication to 
 your Lordship of July 7, together with a copy of the reply of Mr. 
 Layard ; and asked for further instructions, made necessary by 
 the silence of the Foreign Office, in regard to the enquiries thus 
 submitted. 
 
 I have now, within a few days past, received a despatch from 
 the Secretary of State in reply to mine of 4th of August, the 
 tenour of which I am directed to communicate to your Lord- 
 ship. 
 
 d 
 
Ixvi LETTER TO 
 
 I am instructed to say that, from the papers thus submitted, 
 it would appear to the President that the Grovernment of Her 
 Majesty, after having invited the Grovernment of the Con- 
 federate States to concur in the adoption of certain principles of 
 international law, and after having obtained its assent, assumed 
 in official despatches to derogate from the principles thus 
 adopted, to the prejudice of the interests and rights of the Con- 
 federacy ; and that upon being approached, in respectful and 
 temperate terms, with a request for explanation on a matter of 
 such deep concern to the Confederation, that Cabinet refuses a 
 reply. 
 
 That Her Majesty's Grovernment can have no just ground for 
 refusing the explanation asked, because of the absence of the 
 recognition of the independence of the Confederate States by 
 the other nations of the world. It was not in the character of 
 a recognised independent nation, but in that of a recognised 
 belligerent, that the two leading powers of Western Europe 
 approached the government of those States with a proposition 
 for the adoption of certain principles of public law, as rules 
 which shall govern the mutual relations between the people of 
 the Confederacy as belligerents, and the nations of Europe as 
 neutrals, during the pending war. 
 
 Two of these rules were for the special benefit of Great 
 Britain as one of those neutral powers. It was agreed that Tier 
 flag should cover enemy's goods, and that her goods should be 
 safe under the enemy's flag. The former of these two rules con- 
 ceded to her, as a neutral, rights which she had sternly refused 
 when herself a belligerent, with a single temporary waiver 
 thereof in her late war with Eussia. To these stipulations in 
 her favour, the Grovernment of the Confederate States will 
 adhere with scrupulous fidelity. On the part of Her Majesty's 
 Grovernment, it was agreed that no blockade should be consi- 
 dered binding unless ' maintained by a force sufficient really to 
 prevent access to the coast of the enemy ; ' and yet on the first 
 occasion which arose for the application of this, the only stipu- 
 lation that could be of practical benefit to the Confederate 
 States during the war, Her Majesty's Secretary of State for 
 Foreign Affairs, in an official despatch published to the world, 
 appends a qualification which in effect destroys its whole value, 
 
W. H. GREGORY, ESQ., M.P. Ixvii 
 
 and when appealed to for an explanation of this apparent breach 
 of an existing solemn agreement between the neutral and 
 the belligerent, declines an answer. 
 
 In view of these facts, I am instructed by the President to 
 address to your Lordship, as Her Majesty's Secretary of State for 
 Foreign Affairs, this formal protest on the part of the Grovern- 
 ment of the Confederate States against the apparent (if not 
 executed) purpose of Her Majesty's Grovernment to change or 
 modify, to the prejudice of the Confederacy, the doctrine in 
 relation to blockade to which the faith of Her Majesty's Gro- 
 vernment is, by that of the Confederate States, considered to 
 be pledged. 
 
 I am further instructed to say, that the President abstains 
 for the present from taking any further action than by his 
 protest thus presented ; and to accompany it by the expression 
 of his regret that such painful impressions should be produced 
 on his mind, by so unexpected a result from the first agreement 
 or understanding between the Grovernment of the Confederate 
 States and that of Her Majesty. 
 
 I have, &c., 
 
 (Signed) J. M. Mason. 
 
 Mr. Mason to Earl Russell. {Received February 16.) 
 
 24 Upper Seymour Street, Portman Square : 
 February 16, 1863. 
 
 My Lord, — I deem it incumbent on me to ask the attention 
 of Her Majesty's Grovernment to recent intelligence received 
 here in regard to the blockade at Galveston, in the State of 
 Texas, and at Charleston, in the State of South Carolina. 
 
 First, as respects Galveston, it appears that the blockading 
 squadron of the United States was driven off from that port and 
 harbour by a superior Confederate force, on January 1 last; 
 one ship of that squadron was captured, the flag-ship destroyed, 
 and the rest escaped, making their way, it is said, to some point 
 of the Southern coast occupied by the United States' forces. 
 Whatever blockade of the port of Galveston, therefore, may 
 have previously existed, I submit, was effectually raised and 
 destroyed by the superior forces of the party blockaded. 
 
 Again, as respects the port of Charleston : through the 
 
Ixviii LETTEK TO 
 
 ordinary channel of intelligence, we have information, uncon- 
 tradicted, that the alleged blockade of that port was, in like 
 manner, raised and destroyed, by a superior Confederate force, 
 at a very early hour on January 31, ultimo ; two ships of the 
 blockading squadron having been sunk ; a third escaped disabled, 
 and what remained of the squadron afloat was entirely driven 
 off the coast. 
 
 I have the honour to submit, therefore, that any alleged pre- 
 existing blockade of the ports aforesaid was terminated at 
 Gralveston the 1st day of January last, and at Charleston on 
 the 31st of the same month ; a principle clearly stated in a letter 
 I have had the honour to receive from your Lordship, dated on 
 the 10th instant, in the following words : — ' The driving off a 
 blockading force, by a superior force, does break a blockade, 
 which must be renewed de novo, in the usual form, to be 
 binding upon neutrals ; ' — a principle uniformly admitted by 
 all text-writers on public law, and established by decisions of 
 Courts of Admiralty. 
 
 I am aware that official information of either of these events 
 may not yet have reached the Grovernment of Her Majesty, but 
 the consequences attending the removal of the blockade 
 (whether to be renewed or not) are so important to the com- 
 mercial interests involved, that I could lose no time in asking 
 that such measures may be taken by Her Majesty's Grovern- 
 ment in relation thereto as will best tend to the resumption of 
 a commercial intercourse so long placed under restraint. 
 
 I avail myself of this occasion to acknowledge the receipt of 
 your Lordship's letter of February 10, instant, to which I shall 
 have the honour of sending a reply in the course of a day or 
 two ; and am, &c., 
 
 (Signed) J. M. Mason. 
 
 It may be convenient for statesmen to ignore solemn 
 obligations, to set laws and treaties at defiance, to accede 
 to the monstrous pretensions of the imbecile and totter- 
 ing Government at Washington, and to make 'prece- 
 dents ' at the expense of a power that they know to be 
 
W. H. GEEGOKY, ESQ., M.P. Ixix 
 
 fighting for self-government, and supposed to be labour- 
 ing under great disadvantages in a war with an enemy 
 better equipped in every way than itself. But the 
 morahty or expediency of such a course may well be 
 doubted. I have said, and I have given you evidences 
 of the fact, that the hostility manifested towards England 
 in America has hitherto been confined to the Northern 
 States. I have reason to know, however, that the cold 
 indifference of the British Ministry, and unfriendly dis- 
 position occasionally evinced, as well as the strong re- 
 luctance they have shown towards according the 
 Southerners their right, is producing a marked change 
 of feeling throughout the Confederacy — a nation that 
 they might have made the most useful ally and warmest 
 Mend of this country. 
 
 I am, my dear Sir, 
 
 Very truly and faithfully yours, 
 
 GEO. M^HENEY. 
 
 Pavilion Hotel, Folkestone : 
 Auynst 31, 1863. 
 
THE 
 
 COTTON TRADE. 
 
THE COTTON TKADE. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 EAELY CULTUEE AND MANTXFACTTJEE OF COTTON— SLAVERY. 
 
 The warm interest manifested by Europeans in American affairs 
 since the secession of the Southern States from the Federal 
 Union, and the justness with which their various aspects have 
 been appreciated by a large portion of the people of England, 
 induces the publication of a work on a branch of the subject in 
 which Great Britain and the Confederate States have alike the 
 utmost concern, but which has not been so thoroughly discussed 
 in some respects as its importance would seem to warrant — 
 namely, the Cotton Teade. In presenting the following views, 
 occasion will be taken to consider the question in connection 
 with the system of negro slavery as it is established in the 
 South. The two topics are intimately associated. Cotton pro- 
 duction in the American States and cotton manufacturing -'in 
 the United Kingdom are based upon the ' peculiar institution ; ' 
 and the great developement of both industries took place, aided 
 by inventions on either side of the Atlantic, just at the period 
 of the suppression of the African slave trade. It will be ob- 
 served by these reasonings that the writer, while a ' pro-slavery ' 
 man, is, like all Confederate Americans, opposed to the traffic 
 of the ' middle passage ;' the grounds of the objection thereto 
 being mainly economic — believing that the injudicious philan- 
 thropy of the Abolitionists has been a heresy throughout, and of 
 positive injury to the African race wherever their efforts have 
 
 B 
 
2 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 been felt. The judgment of the civilised world seem§ now, 
 however, to be receding from the follies, in this respect, of the 
 last generation. While desiring to give credit to the British 
 Government for the liberality displayed in voting twenty mil- 
 lions of pounds sterling to purchase the freedom of the slaves in 
 their West Indian possessions, it is impossible to be blind to 
 the fact that such has proved a mistaken policy in every point of 
 view, nor to forget at the same time that the parliamentary grant, 
 although large, is exceedingly insignificant when compared to 
 the amount which was earned by the English people, with simple 
 interest thereon, up to the period of emancipation, 1834, from 
 their commerce in carrying slaves during the continuance of 
 the trade, 1561 to 1807 — 246 years — the sum reaching the 
 enormous figures of five hundred millions of pounds sterling. 
 In fact, the African trade was the foundation of the commercial 
 wealth of England, that of India being secondary in date and 
 advantage ;* and the cotton manufacturing interest, the result of 
 slave labour, has been of greater consequence than either, as is 
 proved by the tables of population : — 
 
 In 1086 1 England and Wales had 1,000,000 inhabitanta 
 „ 1570 „ „ 4,160,321 
 
 „ 1600 „ „ 4,811,718 
 
 „ 1630 „ „ 5,600,317 
 
 „ 1670 „ „ 5,773,646 
 
 ' Sir Jolm Hawkins, tlie first Englishman who engaged in the Africaa 
 slave trade, was shortly joined by Queen Elizabeth, in 1563. The business 
 was very profitable, and conducted with great spirit — so much so that in the 
 course of time it fell into the hands of wealthy corporations. The gains 
 were so enormous that they formed the foundation of the present credit 
 system, and materially assisted the trade with India, which was started forty 
 years afterwards. The early operations of the East India Company did not 
 much augment the wealth of England ; in fact, for many years it was a 
 large exporter of bullion, and the riches of India did not find their way to 
 these islands to any great extent until after the success of Olive in 1756. 
 Money is now truly denominated ' the soil of England,' and interest her 
 ' crops.' That she is indebted to the African slave trade for this boon history 
 abundantly proves; and through the means of her immense commerce, 
 generated chiefly and controUed by her cotton manufactures, her floating 
 capital is made productive. 
 
 t The population for 1086 is that of Doomsday-book. The figures for the 
 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries will be found in ' Porter's Progress,' 
 
THE HINDOOS AND EGYPTIANS. 3 
 
 In 1700 England and Wales Lad 6,04.5,008 inhabitants 
 
 „ 1750 „ „ 0,517,305 
 
 „ 1770 „ „ 7,227,586 
 
 „ 1790 „ „ 8,540,738 „ 
 
 „ 1801 „ „ 9,156,171 
 
 „ 1851 „ „ 18,054,170 „ 
 
 „ 1861 „ „ 20,223,746 „ 
 
 What more conclusive evidence of the importance of the 
 Southern cotton crops to England can be given than this ? The 
 great augmentation in the population, it will be seen, occurred 
 subsequent to the extension of the cotton industry of the king- 
 dom. The population of Scotland -within the same period, 
 about sixty years, aad for the same reason, nearly doubled.* 
 ■{ Of the four principal materials for human clothing — cotton, 
 silk, wool, and flax — not one is indigenous to Europe ; two only, 
 cotton and flax, are native to Africa and America, while all of 
 them belong to Asia. The Hindoos, for a vast unknown period, 
 certainly six or seven centuries before the advent of Christ, had 
 attained great perfection in the art of spinning, weaving, and 
 printing cotton ; some of their fabrics were so exquisitely light 
 and beautiful that they have been compared to the gossamer 
 web : they were very costly, and so highly esteemed as to be 
 considered fit to be worn only by princes, while their coarser 
 ' cotton goods ' were used generally by the mass of the people. 
 The Egyptians, too, at a very early date, engaged in this species 
 of industry. They did not, however, acquire an eminent degree 
 of excellence in the manufacture; the muslins worn by their 
 luxurious classes were received from India. But the Chinese, 
 in consequence of the abundance of silk, grasses, &c., did not 
 cultivate cotton extensively, or apply it to use until about the 
 year 1280, although it had then been one of their ornamental 
 
 * The progress of population in England and Wales for sixty years has 
 been surprisingly regular. In 1801 the whole number of inhabitants was 
 9,156,171 ; in 1811, 10,454,629 ; in 1821, 12,172,664 ; in 1831, 14,051,986 ; 
 in 1841, 16,035,198 ; in 1851, 18,054,170 ; in 1861, 20,223,746. The rates 
 of increase per cent, during these several decades, beginning with the end of 
 1801, were 14, 16, 15, 14, 15, 12. The falling oif in the last ten years was 
 in oonseq^uence of emigration ; dining that time 2,287,205 persons embarked 
 from the kingdom ; of this number, however, one half (1,174,179) were 
 Irish. The population of Scotland on March 10, 1801, was 1,608,420, 
 and on Api-il 8, 1861, 3,062,294, being an increase of 90-32 per cent. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 garden plants for more than 600 years : nor have they for over 
 a century grown sufQcient for their own wants, relying on India 
 and America for supplying their deficiencies, and oftentimes on 
 England for cotton goods. The Mexicans and Peruvians had 
 also reached great skill in the manufacture of cotton ; and the 
 discoverers of the other portions of America, except the territory 
 now comprising the Confederate States and that north thereof, 
 found the aborigines employing the same material for wearing 
 apparel. The cultivation and manufacture of cotton began in 
 Italy in the eleventh century; it was subsequently introduced 
 into Spain and other parts of Europe where the climate en- 
 couraged its growth. 
 
 It is a matter of much surprise that the Hindoos, with their 
 imperfect means, should be able to produce such rare fabrics, 
 unrivalled by those of other nations best skilled in mechanism. 
 This is explained by their remarkably fine sense of touch, by 
 their patience and gentleness, and by the hereditary continuance 
 of a particular kind of work through many generations. Their 
 commerce in cotton fabrics was very large from the beginning 
 of the Christian era to the end of the last century. They had 
 for hundreds of years supplied Persia, Arabia, Syria, Egypt, 
 Abyssinia, and all the eastern parts of Africa, together with 
 Europe, with their muslins. Their chief marts were Surat and 
 Calicut, on the west coast of India, and at Masulipatam, Madras, 
 and St. Thome, on the east coast. At one time the manufac- 
 turers of all Europe apprehended ruin by the cheapness and 
 competition of the cotton fabrics of India. In 1698, the Dutch 
 and English East India Companies imported these goods — 
 muslins, chintzes, and calicoes — in such large quantities, that 
 even the woollen manufacturers made a great outcry against 
 their admission, fearing that they would supersede their branch 
 of industry, as well as that of flax. Indeed, the productions 
 of India became so plentiful, that they were complained of 
 as a ' great evil ' by a host of pamphleteers ; and in the year 
 1700 Parliament passed an Act which forbade the importation 
 of Indian silks and printed calicoes for domestic use, either for 
 apparel or furniture, under a penalty of 200?. on the seller or 
 wearer, in order to ' avert the ruin of English manufacturers 
 and revive their prosperity.' 
 
 Notwithstanding India had held command — almost a mono- 
 
COTTON MANUFACTUKE IN ENGLAND. 5 
 
 poly — of the cotton trade for so long a time, and although 
 England was the last country in Europe to enter into the 
 manufacture of cotton goods, it was left for the ingenuity and 
 enterprise of the Anglo-Saxon race, on both sides of the 
 Atlantic, to develope to its present magnitude this great resource 
 provided by nature, which has contributed so much to the com- 
 fort and progress of mankind, and been the chief means of rescuing 
 '^'^'*'*'\ 4,000,000 of Africans from the depths of their original barbarity 
 — christianising and elevating them to a more respectable 
 position than has ever before been attained by men of their race. \ 
 
 The primary importations of cotton into Great Britain were 
 received from the Levant in the early part of the seventeenth 
 century. The ' Treasury of Traffic,' by Lewis Eoberts, printed 
 in 1641, states: — 
 
 ' The towne of Manchester, in Lancashire, must be also 
 ' herein remembered, and worthily for their encouragement 
 ' commended, who buy the yame of the Irish in great quantity, 
 ' and, weaving it, returne the same again into Ireland to sell. 
 ' Neither doth their industry rest here ; for they buy cotton 
 ' wool in London that comes first from Cyprus and Smyrna, 
 ' and at home worke the same, and perfect it into fustians, 
 ' vermillions, dimities, and other such stuffes, and then returne 
 ' it to London, where the same is vented and sold, and not 
 ' seldom sent into forrain parts, who have means at far easier 
 ' terms, to provide themselves of the said first materials.'. 
 
 Mention, however, is made by previous writers, and in Acts of 
 the Legislature passed at a much earlier period,* of 'Manchester 
 cottons,' ' cotton velvets,' ' fustians,' &c. ; but it is known that 
 these articles were wholly composed of wool, and had probably 
 been denominated cottons from being prepared in imitation of 
 some of the cotton fabrics imported from India and Italy. 
 
 In the first stage of the manufacture of cotton in England, 
 the weavers, who were dispersed in cottages throughout the 
 country, obtained their supplies of the raw materials in the 
 most irregular and uncertain manner, and upon the finishing of 
 their fabrics they carried them to the market towns for sale. 
 About the year 1760 a new system was introduced, which was 
 
 ' In an Act of 5 and 6 Edw. VI. 1552, entitled 'for the true making of 
 tooollm cloth,' it is ordered ' That aU cottons called Manchester, Lancashire, 
 and Cheshire cottons, full wrought for sale, shall he the length,' &c. 
 
6 THE COTTON TRADE, 
 
 the first step tov/ards lessening the cost of production, and 
 caused the 'manufacturer ' of those days to become an ' operative.' 
 The Manchester ' merchants ' then began to send agents into 
 the rural districts, -who employed weavers at wages, furnishing 
 them with linen yarn for the warp and raw cotton for the weft ; 
 the families of the * operatives ' assuming the character of 
 'spinners,' using the common spindle or distaff to turn the 
 latter article into yarn. A second advantage in the reduction 
 of cost was gained in 1764 by the spvnning jenny — an invention 
 of James Hargreaves, a carpenter at Standhill near Blackburn, 
 Lancashire,* which machine enabled eight threads to be spun 
 with the same facility as one, and it was subsequently brought 
 to such perfection that a little girl could work from eighty to 
 one hundred and twenty spindles. It was only applicable for 
 the spinning of the weft, being unable to give to the yarn the 
 necessary firmness and hardness required in the warp, which 
 deficiency was soon after supplied by Arkwright's spinning 
 frame, and it was not until 1773 that goods were made wholly 
 of cotton,f the flax of Grermany and Ireland having anterior 
 thereto provided the warp. These inventions, along with the 
 
 * Hargreaves also worked as a weaver, and, beiBg aware of the jealouay 
 and ill-will likely to be directed against the author of any mechanical 
 substitute for Land-labour, conducted his trade in secret. By 1767 he 
 had, however, mounted and sold several of his jennies. His invention 
 was for a long while confined to his family, but, becoming known through 
 the indiscretion of one of its female members, the spinsters and their 
 partisans broke into his house in a riotous manner and destroyed the 
 hated rival of their fingers. Thus finding the fruit of his ingenuity, toils, 
 and privations blasted, and the further prosecution of his plans impossible 
 amidst an enraged populace, who even threatened his life, he migrated to 
 Nottingham in 1768, where he found in Mr. Thomas James, a joiner, a 
 partner willing and able to assist him in erecting a small spinning miU upon 
 the jenny principle. He obtained a patent for his invention in 1770. He 
 died in 1778, leaving a decent provision for his wife and children. 
 
 t Messrs. Strutt and Need, the partners of Arkwiight, were tbe manu- 
 factiu'ers of these goods, and, upon discovering that there was an old law 
 'for the encoui-agement of arts,' forbidding that fabrics should be made 
 wholly of cotton, they applied to the Legislatm-e for its repeal, and succeeded 
 after much expense and delay. The following is an account of this Kepeal Act, 
 the 14 George III. c. 72 : ' Whereas a new manufacture of stuffs made entirely 
 of cotton spun in this kingdom has been lately introduced, and some doubts 
 were expressed whether it was lawful to use it, it was declared by Parliament 
 to be not only a lawful but a laudable manufactui-e, and therefore permitted 
 to be used, on paying 3d. a square yard, an kon printed, painted, or stained.' 
 
THE FEDERALISTS AND STATE RIGHTS MEN. 7 
 
 mule jenny of Crompton, 1774, and the power loom of Cart- 
 wright, as well as innumerable other improvements, with the 
 application of steam power to machinery, and the cultivation of 
 cotton in the Southern States of America, have been largely 
 instrumental in placing England on her present proud com- 
 mercial eminence, and have been the true source of the wonder- 
 ful prosperity of all the American States. 
 
 From the very outset of the settlement of the thirteen 
 American colonies, they were each and all repttblics in almost 
 everything but name, and continued to be governed pretty much 
 in their original manner until the accession of Abraham Lincoln, 
 of Illinois, ' rail splitter,' on March 4, 1861. The Crown of Great 
 Britain, to be sure, retained the veto power, but the people 
 selected their own legislators, and exercised nearly every other 
 right of sovereignty; there was no titled nobility or any aristo- 
 cratic attributes of monarchy — Conservative influences so bene- 
 ficial and necessary in all the old established countries ; * hence, 
 when the colonists successfully resisted the encroachments of 
 the mother-country upon their liberties, the 'revolution' made 
 but little practical change in their political affairs from that 
 which had before existed. They were well fitted to govern 
 themselves, which, in truth, was precisely what they had done 
 from the beginning. Two distinct parties, however, arose 
 after the cessation of the conflict ; one, the Federalists, desired 
 to consolidate the States, and have a strong central Govern- 
 ment; the other, the State Eights men, wished to maintain 
 the sovereignty of their respective commonwealths. The 
 latter party, although successful, finally consented, in eleven of 
 the States, to secede on March 3, 1789, from the 'Articles of 
 ' Confederation' which had been adopted on March 2, 1781, 
 and unite in creating a more eflScient central head, or ' foreign 
 agency,' which was established under the 'Constitution* that 
 went into operation on April 30, 1789, and which Lord Brougham 
 aptly calls a ' treaty between the States ' that are parties thereto. 
 North Carolina and Rhode Island did not accede to the 
 new arrangement until some time afterwards (November 21, 
 1789, and JMay 29, 1790). This 'treaty' has been lauded as 
 being the cause of the prosperity of the American peoples. 
 * Jolin Locke unsuccessfully attempted to establish titles in Carolina. 
 
8 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 That this is a delusion every sound thinker must admit, because 
 the Americans have been governed by State laws, enacted under 
 State constitutions formed long anterior to this boasted ' Union.' 
 It is true that, through the influence of the ' scum of Europe,' that 
 had become naturalised citizens, aided by unprincipled politicians 
 of native growth, it assumed frequently, and in the most arro- 
 gant manner, to govern the whole world, but, until the accession 
 of the present Administration at "Washington, the hand of Federal 
 power was never felt by an American while at home ; it was only 
 intended to act as a shield and protection to him when abroad. 
 It is also true that, by an assumption of power not delegated to 
 it, the Grovernment under the Constitution has been made the 
 vehicle for benefiting the North to the detriment of the South, 
 by the imposition of protective tariffs upon European manufac- 
 tures. The fallacies in reference to the Constitution, which has 
 been absurdly called the ' noblest form of government ever de- 
 vised by man,' arose from the unexampled prosperity attending 
 the States, by reason of the cultivation of cotton having been 
 commenced on an important scale a few years after their foreign 
 affairs were entrusted to this ' general agency,' which likewise 
 established unrestricted free trade between them. Massachusetts 
 and Ehode Island, while members of the old Union under the 
 ' Articles of Confederation,' had inaugurated a system of protec- 
 tive tariffs, charging duties on merchandise imported from the 
 other States as well as from Europe, in order to encourage their 
 ,^^ local manufactures. 
 '^ Cotton was introduced into Virginia as a garden plant in 1 62 1 . 
 The precise year in which it began to be grown as a crop in the 
 Southern colonies is not known. The quantity produced prior to 
 the ' Eevolution ' was of very trifling moment ; the unrestricted 
 intercourse with the sister possessions in the West Indies gave 
 large importations to the continent in exchange for provisions 
 shipped thither. No manufactories were then permitted in 
 America ; such was one of the restraints imposed by the 
 British sovereign when he gave his colonial subjects chartered 
 privileges and other rights to rule themselves. This restriction 
 did not interfere with the manufacture of 'home-spun ' clothing, 
 which was not much inferior to the ordinary productions of 
 European looms, prior to the improvements in machinery, the 
 
NAVIGATION ACT. 9 
 
 better descriptions of which it has been the aim of the free- 
 traders in America to import to this present day. It is thought, 
 however, that the first planting of cotton for use took place in 
 Virginia about the year 1661, at which period there had been an 
 over-production of tobacco, and the colonists were deprived of a 
 market for the whole of their surplus in consequence of the 
 Navigation Act of Charles II.* This directed attention to other 
 crops, cotton included. There is a paper in the historical 
 collections of South Carolina, written and published in England 
 in 1666, entitled, ' A Brief Description of the Province of Caro- 
 lina, on the Coast of Florida,' the object of which was to 
 encourage emigration, and among the inducements it states that 
 
 * The charters granted to the founders of the settlement of the colony of 
 Virginia distinctly empowered them to carry on a direct intercourse with 
 foreign States ; and they were not slow in availing themselves of this per- 
 mission, for they had, as early as 1620, established tobacco warehouses in 
 Middlebm-gh and Flushing. Tl;e British Government afterwai'ds deprived 
 them of this privilege. It was not until they had surmounted the difficulties 
 and hardships incident to their first establishment, and had begun to increase 
 rapidly in wealth, that their commerce conmienced to excite the jealousy of 
 the mother-country. Regulations were, therefore, framed with a view of 
 restricting its freedom. The Act of 1650, passed by the BepubUcan Parlia- 
 ment, laid the first foundations of the monopoly system, by confining the 
 import and export trade of the colonies exclusively to British- or colonial- 
 built ships. But the famous Navigation Act of 1660 (12 Charles 11. c. 18) 
 went further. It enacted that certain specified articles, the produce of the 
 colonies, and since well known in commerce by the name of enumerated 
 articles, should not be exported directly from the colonies to any foreign 
 country, but that they should be first sent to Britain and then unladen (the 
 words of the Act are laid upon the shore), before they could be forwarded to 
 their final destination. Sugar, molasses, ginger, fustic, tobacco, cotton, and 
 indigo were originally enumerated ; and the list was subsequently enlarged 
 by the addition of coffee, hides and skins, iron, coal, lumber, &c. In 1739 
 the monopoly system was so far relaxed that sugars were permitted to be 
 carried directly from the British plantations to any port or place south of 
 Cape Finisterre. The Act of 1764 provided that no commodity of the 
 gTowth or manufacture of Europe should be imported into the British plan- 
 tations but such as were laden and put on board in England, AYales, or 
 Berwick-upon-Tweed; and in English-built shipping, whereof the master 
 and two-thirds of the crew were English. In the Charter of Pennsylvania 
 the colonists had been empowered to carry on a direct intercourse with 
 foreign States, but that pennission by the general laws was rescinded. It 
 was not until 1803 that Great Britain began to assume a more liberal policy 
 with her dependencies. She has since taken oiF all restrictions upon 
 commerce. 
 
10 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 the lands ' grow indigo, tobacco very good, and cotton wool.' 
 In the same collections Dr. Hewett describes the manner of 
 cultivating the cotton plant, stating that the colonists did not 
 consider it of much importance. Peter Purry, a Swiss, the 
 founder of Purrysburgh in the same colony, memorialised 
 G-eorge I. in 1731, in relation to a certain country, extending 
 thirty-three degrees on either side of the equator, capable of 
 producing cotton ; he also wrote at the same time from Charles- 
 ton that ' cotton and flax thrive admirably.' Cotton was grown 
 on a limited scale, in the vicinity of Easton in Talbot County, 
 Maryland, in 1736. Miss Lucas, afterwards Mrs. Pinckney, 
 of South Carolina, the daughter of the Governor of Antigua, says 
 in her jom-nal, under date of July 1, 1739, ^ Wrote to my father 
 ' to-day on the pains I had taken to bring the indigo, ginger, 
 ' cotton, &c. to perfection, and that I had greater hopes for the 
 ' indigo than anything else.' Among the archives of the Depart- 
 ment de la Marine et des Colonies at Paris, there is a report on 
 cotton written in 1760, which speaks of the great advantage 
 Louisiana might derive from its culture ; its introduction from 
 St. Domingo, the difficulty of separating the seed from the wool, 
 and suggesting the importation of machinery from the East 
 Indies for that purpose. Just before the breaking out of the 
 revolutionary war in 1775, the Congress of South Carolina 
 recommended its people to raise cotton ; and Greneral Delegall, 
 of that colony, at that time cultivated ' thirty acres of green 
 seed cotton, near Savannah in Greorgia.' In the same year 
 cotton was grown in St. Mary's County, Maryland, Cape May 
 County, New Jersey, aniSussex County, Delaware. Mr. Jeffer- 
 son, in his 'Notes on Virginia ' in 1781, alludes to the domestic 
 economy of making cotton goods in families for their own use. 
 
 The cotton seed used, according to some authorities, came from 
 Manilla, Cyprus, and Malta ; others state that it was brought 
 from Barbadoes. No doubt all varieties were tried. The ex- 
 ports of cotton, prior to the Eevolution, consisted of seven bales 
 in 1748, and ten bales in 1770, but the produce may have been 
 of island growth. 
 
 The attention of the Americans after peace was concluded, in 
 1783, was turned more towards the cultivation of cotton, not for 
 export, but for manufacturing purposes. Previous to that event 
 
INTRODUCTION OF MACHINERY. 11 
 
 they relied on obtaining their principal supplies of the raw 
 material from the island colonies, and their best fabrics, a,s 
 stated above, came from England. There was a disposition to 
 be ' independent ' in all things. Mr. Tench Coxe of Phila- 
 delphia, who took an active interest in public affairs, in writing 
 in 1785, entertained 'the pleasing conviction that the United 
 ' States in its extensive regions south of Anne Arundel and 
 ' Talbot (Maryland) would certainly become a great cotton 
 ' producing country.' In 1786, Mr. Madison expressed himself 
 in the same manner. These impressions, together with the 
 supply of cotton that had been received at Philadelphia during 
 the Revolution, all of which had not been consumed, induced 
 Mr. Coxe to visit England, in order to purchase machinery, the 
 restrictions upon the use of Arkwright's patent having been 
 removed. He found, however, that the British laws forbade the 
 exportation of machinery. In order to overcome this difficulty, 
 he had complete brass models made, finished, and packed, 
 but they were detected by the Government examining officer, 
 and forfeited. No means then remained to obtain the benefit 
 of the British invention, but to manufacture the machinery 
 in America, and Mr. Samuel Slater, of Belper, Derbyshire, 
 who had been a pupil of Arkwright's, was engaged for that 
 purpose ; without patterns or memoranda to assist him in his 
 work, he depended solely on his memory for its accomplishment. 
 Mr. Coxe has been called ' the father of the growth of cotton 
 in America,' and Mr. Slater has been named ' the father of the 
 cotton manufacture in America<Sifc^Small as the production of 
 cotton was at that time, not being then |fajddered much more than 
 a garden plant, there seems to have been, with the receipts of that 
 of foreign growth, a surplus. In 1784, eight bales were shipped 
 to Liverpool, and were seized at the Custom House there, as an 
 illicit importation of British colonial produce; they were re- 
 stored to their consignees so soon as it was discovered that so 
 ' large ' a quantity of cotton could be grown on the American 
 continent. Exportations have been continued from that day 
 to this. Neither the embargoes of 1794 and 1808, the Non- 
 intercourse Act that followed, the war of 1812-14, nor the 
 blockade of the Southern ports, nor the sinking of ' stone 
 fleets ' at the mouths of harbours, have prevented some 
 American cotton reaching Europe. 
 
12 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 Notwithstanding the occurrence at Liverpool in 1784, Mr. Jay, 
 the American Minister at London, ten years later, considered that 
 the cotton grown in the Southern States was not likely to he of 
 much consequence. In the 12th article of the treaty which he 
 negotiated with Great Britain in 1794, cotton was included with 
 molasses, sugar, coffee, and cocoa, as articles which American 
 vessels should not be permitted to carry from the Islands or from 
 the United States to any foreign country. The Senate refused to 
 ratify this provision. Mr. Jay did not regard cotton as an 
 article of regular export; indeed, the United States Tariff 
 Act of July 1, 1789, then in force, called for a duty of 
 three cents per pound on all imported — not for protection, hut 
 for revenue. It was at that time thought that American manu- 
 facturers would have to depend on other countries for a supply 
 of the raw material. This belief was so general that Congress 
 was petitioned to repeal the duty. In a few years, however, 
 it was ascertained that sufficient cotton could be grown in the 
 South, and the duty became a dead letter. The cultivation of 
 cotton from this period increased rapidly ; the improvements in 
 machinery augpaenting its use, induced its production, and 
 gave occupation to~ii« plethora of African labour, that was 
 then becoming a serious inconvenience and loss to the people 
 of the South. The negroes had, in fact, multiplied too fast, 
 although all the Southern States had passed laws preventing 
 the ingress of slaves, which the Yankees were smuggling into 
 their borders, from the North as well as from Africa. The 
 British, too, were engaged in the same traffic, though the most 
 stringent measures were adopted from time to time by all 
 the Southern States for its suppression. Not one Northern 
 State ever prohibited the trade. Massachusetts, Ehode Island, 
 and New Hampshire, were extensively engaged in the commerce, 
 iintil it was interdicted by the General Government, January 
 1, 1808. It is fortunate for .the blacks, as well as the whites, 
 that the cotton business sprang up, for the sonsj)f Africa do 
 not flourisiriBTa^ state of freedom, and, without the cultivation_ 
 2rffi£leadin£jtajile_o^ comfnerce, thefeWuldLnot have been 
 sufficient _£coupation for ithem.' The planters would ~have"p^ 
 fen-ed to manurniT their~sTaves, which in fact was done iu 
 many instances, rather than to be encumbered with idle 
 
INCEBASE OF SLAVES. 13 
 
 and superfluous hands. The natural increase of the negroes 
 has more than kept pace with the demand for their labour ; it is 
 therefore fortunate that the Southerners prohibited the African 
 slave trade at so early a day. Had they not done so, they 
 would have been overrun with savages ; and they now believe 
 that the resumption of- that commerce would so alter and 
 vitiate the character of slavery in their States as to render it 
 prejudicial to their interests; hence, there has been engrafted 
 in the Confederate Constitution a special clause that does not 
 exist in the Federal document, placing it out of the power of 
 the Southern Congress to open the traffic, while the Northern 
 Congress has a right to make it legal at any time it may 
 think proper. This was not done to please or conciliate the 
 fanaticism of Europe in reference to slavery, which is 
 altogether distinct from the African slave trade, although 
 frequently confounded therewith, but at the unanimous de- 
 mand of the people it was thus made a fundamental law 
 of the Southern Union. The slaves in all the States have 
 increased from 697,897 in 1790, to 3,953,760 in 1860. Their 
 value per head is eight or ten times greater now than at 
 the first-named date. Some political economists would argue 
 that these statistics denoted scarcity of this kind of service ; 
 the enormous stocks of American cotton and yarns, and goods 
 made therefrom, at all the various markets of the world, when 
 the war in America commenced, and the large quantities of 
 produce now in the South, disprove such a theory. The 
 Southerners have, in their slaves, advantages comparable to a 
 ' patent right,' which would be entirely lost to them were the 
 African slave trade reopened. Cotton cannot be cultivated to 
 advantage in the Confederate States — or in the West Indies— 
 except by forced labour, and African labour can only be properly 
 managed by the controlling influence of the white race. A 
 ' strike ' in the South would imperil an entire cotton crop. 
 
 The following pages will, it is to be hoped, prove that the 
 negro in the Confederate States is in his proper sphere of life, 
 and that all attempts to change his present happy condition 
 have not only been an injury to him, but that if the Southern 
 people had swerved from their sound position in the matter, 
 they would have been surrounded by this time by hordes 
 
14 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 of black barbarians, instead of industrious and useful, well- 
 clad and well-fed labourers, with lighter work and more per- 
 sonal comforts than fall to the lot of any other class of 
 farm hands. While the cruel practices connected with the 
 African slave trade during the latter days of its continuance 
 under British authority, and which have since been emulated 
 by the Yankees, cannot be too strongly condemned, it is only 
 just to say that the slave system established on the continent of 
 America by the English has been not only humane, but 
 civilising in its character. The introduction there of women 
 as well as men has been the means of founding a race far 
 siiperior to that of the native African. The same cannot be 
 said of the course pursued in the Islands, where nearly all the 
 importations were of the male sex, who were frequently ' worked 
 to death' in order to prevent their becoming a burden and 
 expense in old age upon their masters, who, unlike the slave- 
 owners in the States, have ever been mostly absentees. The 
 coolie system, established to fill up the gap caused by the 
 emancipation of the West Indian negroes, in its practical opera- 
 tions is almost equally iniquitous. 
 
 Slavery in the West Indies and on the continent of America 
 has always varied in character. It was the habit of the masters 
 of slave-ships that had a preponderance of males to land their 
 passengers on the Islands, while those that contained a majority 
 of females were discharged on the continent. For many years 
 Nassau, New Providence, was a port of call for slavers ; their 
 cargoes were distributed — the males in one direction, the females 
 in another. Negro women and children, for a century and a 
 half, were regularly exported from the Islands to the continent, 
 as remittances to pay for the supply of provisions from Penn- 
 sylvania and the other colonies. The reason for this is obvious : 
 there was no employment in the West Indies except for males, 
 and the expense of maintaining women and children there was 
 very great. The very reverse was the case on the continent : 
 the variety of labour introduced from the earliest period gave 
 occupation for both sexes and all ages, and the cheapness of 
 food assisted in the general economy. For these reasons, it has 
 been more profitable to import labour into the West Indies 
 than to raise it. This is evidenced from the fact that, while 
 
' SLAVE-BREEDING. 15 
 
 1,700,000 slaves were received into the Islands, but a little over 
 one-third, 660,000, were there at the time of emancipation. 
 Had they increased at the same rate as those on the continent 
 of America, it would have taken 500,000,000L to have settled 
 with their masters ; or, if they had decreased in the States — 
 only 350,000 having been delivered there — as they did in the 
 Islands, 4,000,000L would have been ample to have purchased 
 all the Africans in the South. There is no such thing, as has 
 been charged, as 'slave-breeding' in the Confederate States. 
 The negroes there 'increase and multiply ' in the same order as 
 the whites. The absurdity of this accusation, which has been 
 principally levelled against Virginia, is most palpable ; the 
 augmentation in that State is only at the rate of 1 per cent. 
 per annum against 3 per cent, in the more southern latitudes. 
 A large number of the wealthy citizens of Virginia own planta- 
 tions in the South-west, whither they have sent their sons, with 
 a portion of their servants, just as the Yankees have been 
 migrating to the North-west. This has given rise to the 
 erroneous impression in regard to 'slave-breeding.' Ireland 
 might, with equal propriety, be called a 'labour-breeding' 
 country. In all the Southern States there are stringent laws 
 against the introduction of slaves, unless accompanied by their 
 masters, and even then not for the purpose of sale. There are 
 also laws for the protection of negroes, who have their rights as 
 well as the whites ; in fact, the masters merely own the labour 
 of their servants, under restrictions established not only by 
 statutes, but by common sense and force of public opinion. 
 
 In the West Indies, negroes were merely articles of mer- 
 chandise, worked in large numbers upon vast plantations under 
 the care of agents, their owners mostly residing in England ; 
 and the great object was to make the yearly income as much as 
 possible. The bountiful productions of a generous soil, in a 
 region of perpetual spring, stimulated avarice to such an extent 
 that no rest was given to the labourer where none was required 
 for the land. An entirely opposite system was inaugurated 
 upon the continent of America, where the changes in climate 
 between summer and winter are very great. The planters there, 
 unlike the rich West Indian proprietors, were generally men 
 of moderate means, who had sought a home in the New World. 
 
16 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 The negro, purchased from the slave-ship, wielded his axe side 
 by side with his master in felling the forest round his rude 
 house, and was his companion in his wild hunts through the 
 pathless woods. A mutual danger made them defenders of a 
 common home from the red man and the wild beast. The 
 women were employed in spinning flax, and, in the course of 
 time, cotton. The vine, the olive, and the silk-worm were all 
 at one time cultivated, as well as tobacco and breadstuffs; 
 this gave a diversity of occupation for both women and men. 
 It has been the habit of the children of the planter and those 
 of the slaves to hunt, fish, and play together. An almost per- 
 fect equality exists between the future master and his future 
 servants. This has made slavery in the Southern States a 
 social institution, not maintained and upheld, as it was in the 
 Islands, solely for profit, but it has become part of a general 
 system, a necessity. The relation between the white and black 
 races has always been patriarchal : they stand towards each 
 other as the protector and the protected. 
 
 In point of fact, negroes, when in large numbers, are unfit 
 to be their own masters ; they need for their happiness and 
 comfort the controlling care of the white race. An example of 
 their degeneracy in a state of freedom occurred in England 
 several generations ago. About the middle of the last century 
 it was the custom of the fashionable ladies of London to be 
 attended in the streets by slave-pages, who wore brass collars 
 round their necks — a badge of servitude which has never been 
 used in America. These negroes availed themselves of the 
 decision of Lord Mansfield in the Somersett case, 1772, and 
 became freed men. In a short time they were utterly desti- 
 tute and wandered about the streets ; many of them died, and 
 those that remained, 470, were such a nuisance to the people of 
 the metropolis that, through parliamentary aid in 1787, they 
 were sent to Sierra Leone.* The population at that date 
 
 * These London negroes" were the founders of the colony of Sierra Leone ; 
 they, however, with a large number of white women of bad character, who 
 were transported to that place at the same time, nearly all died in a very 
 few years. The colony was resettled in 1796 by negroes taken from the 
 Americans during the Revolution, who had resided in the meanwhile in Nova 
 Scotia; their numbers were increased by the ' Maroons,' fugitive and rebel- 
 lious blacks, captured in the moimtains of Jamaica by the aid of blood- 
 
M. PEUNEK bey's STATEMENT. 17 
 
 was about 900,000 : if there were an equivalent number of 
 Africans within its limits now, a similar course would have 
 to be pursued in regard to them. This English incident 
 exemplifies the hostile feeling shown towards the African race 
 in the Northern States of America, where, unlike in the South, 
 they are even refused admission into public conveyances. No 
 one acquainted with the negro character can believe him the 
 equal of the white man. The marks of intellect exhibited by 
 Frederick Douglas and others arise from the white blood that 
 is in their veins ; but nature puts a stop to the continuance of 
 such mixture, and mulattoes die out in about three generations. 
 The best authority on this question is M. Pruner Bey, who 
 
 ' The capacity of the negro is limited to imitation. The 
 ' prevailing impulse is for sensuality and rest. No sooner are 
 • the physical wants satisfied than all effort ceases, and the 
 ' body abandons itself to sexual gratification and rest. The 
 ' family relations are weak ; the husband or father is little con- 
 ' cerned. Jealousy has only carnal motives, and the fidelity of 
 ' the woman is secured by mechanical contrivances. Drunken- 
 ' ness, gambling, and ornamentation of the body are the most 
 ' powerful levers in the life of the negro. The whole industry 
 ' is limited to ornaments. Instead of clothing himself, he orna- 
 ' ments his body. Like certain animals, the negro seems 
 ' apathetic under pain. The explosion of passions occur when 
 ' least expected, but are not lasting. The temperament of the 
 ' negro has been called choleric, but it is only so to a certain 
 ' extent. It is a momentary ebullition, followed instantly by 
 
 hounds; they were first sent to Lower Canada, but, like those in London and 
 Nova Scotia, became such a nuisance that they had to be removed. One of 
 the libels against the South is, that bloodhounds are used to hunt negToes. 
 This misstatement has gained ouiTency in consequence of the practice in 
 Jamaica, Cuba, and other West India Islands. 
 
 Great Britain agreed, by the seventh article of the Treaty of Peace, to 
 return the negroes that had been sent to Nova Scotia, and to compensate the 
 Americans for those transported to the West Indies and there sold into 
 renewed slavery. But she never fulfilled this portion of her agreement. 
 The Treaty of Ghent, December 24, 1814, contained a similar provision ; 
 payment, however, was avoided for the negi-oes deported during the last war 
 until 1827, although the Emperor of Russia, as Umpire, had some years 
 previously decided the case in favour of the claimants in the States. 
 
 C 
 
18 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 ' perfect apathy. Life has for the negro no longer any value 
 ' when he cannot supply the physical wants ; he never resists 
 ' by increased activity, but prefers to die in a state of apathy, 
 ' or he commits suicide. The negro has no love for war ; he is 
 ' only driven to it by hunger. War, from passion or destruc- 
 ' tiveness, is unknown to him.' 
 
 Sir Charles Lyell and others contend that the intellectual 
 progress of the negro stops at the age of fourteen. The 
 opinions of these scientific gentlemen, who have made the 
 subject a study, should carry weight with them, and drown out 
 the howling cant and wicked fanaticism of the Abolitionists. 
 
 The people of Europe have been greatly deceived as to the 
 true condition of the slaves in the Southern States. Subjected 
 to the supervision of a superior race, they are as much elevated 
 above the position of their ancestors and the present barbarous 
 inhabitants of Africa, in every respect, as they are below the 
 whites. The situation of the slaves differs less from that of 
 the agricultural labourers of some countries in Europe than is 
 generally supposed. As regards morality, and especially the 
 intercourse of the sexes, they present a marked superiority to 
 the free negroes of the Northern States. Notwithstanding the 
 stories of American romance writers, the conjugal obligation is 
 almost universally acknowledged, and every effort is made by 
 the masters to preserve among their slaves the ties of family. 
 
19 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 THE PRODUCTION OF THE SOUTH-WESTEEX STATES— THE 
 MONOPOLY OF THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The production of cotton on the North American continent, 
 north and east of Mexico, beginning in Virginia, was tried in 
 South Carolina, New Jersey, Delaware, and :Maryland. The 
 three last States soon abandoned its cultivation ; South Carolina 
 continued it; Greorgia engaged in its culture in 1791; Ten- 
 nessee, North Carolina, ^and Louisiana, in 1811 ; Alabama and 
 Mississippi, in 1821; Arkansas, in 1826; and, lastly, Florid;, 
 and Texas. Its cultivation was confined chiefly to the Atlantic 
 States until about the year 1830, when the discovery that the 
 bottom lands of the valley of the Mississippi could grow cotton 
 much cheaper than any yet tried, caused a great speculative 
 excitement in the south-west, and created a corresponding land 
 mania in the north-west, inducing persons to lay out farms and 
 project cities in tracts still covered by primeval woods or in- 
 habited only by the aborigines. Almost every State in the 
 Union became thus infatuated, and plunged itself into debt 
 for the cost of internal improvements to transport this antici- 
 pated augmentation of commerce. Large numbers of new 
 banks were incorporated to assist the financial arrangements in 
 1833, 1834, 1835, and 1836 — their capital based principally on 
 the issue of State bonds, in the delusive hope that the quantity 
 of ' money ' would be increased. As well might an extra 
 number of flour mills be expected to increase the extent of the 
 wheat crops. Yet charters were hurried through the Legisla- 
 tures : the greatest wildness ensued. In the space of five or six 
 years the nominal banking capital had risen from ^110,000,000 
 to ^378,000,000. Ohio had increased from ^1,400,000 to 
 ^12,000,000 ; New York, from ^20,000,000 to ^37,000,000 ; 
 Pennsylvania, from ^^14,000,000 to ^56,000,000 ; and Missis- 
 sippi, from ^1,000,000 to ^21,000,000 ! 
 
 2 
 
20 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 These speculations were very much fostered by the Bank of 
 the United States, whose Federal charter expired on March 3, 
 1836, when its concerns were continued by a new bank of the 
 same name and capital, that had been created by the Legislature 
 of Pennsylvania on the preceding 18th February. The bank 
 engaged in these enterprises in order to obtain popularity in 
 the South, so as to overcome, in the minds of the people, the 
 constitutional objections to its recharter urged by President 
 Jackson. It succeeded in its desires in the Halls of Congress, 
 but the President's veto deprived it of ' national hfe,' and it had 
 to resort to the State of Pennsylvania for fresh privileges. On 
 the day named the Bill passed the Legislature of that State, 
 and was entitled ' An Act to repeal the State Tax on Eeal and 
 ' Personal Property, and to continue and extend the improve- 
 ' ments of the State by Eailroads and Canals, and to charter a 
 ' State Bank, to be called the Bank of the United States.' The 
 bank, by its acceptance of the charter, came under an obliga- 
 tion to pay, as a bonus to the State, ,^2,000,000 as soon as 
 required, ^^500,000 on March 3, 1837, and ^2,000,000 in in- 
 stalments of ;^100,000 per annum for twenty yeai-s ; also, to 
 loan the State ^6,000,000', payable in 1868, at par if the in- 
 terest should be 4 per cent., or 10 per cent, premium if the 
 interest was fixed at 5 per cent. In addition to these sums, the 
 bank agreed to subscribe to various railroad and turnpike com- 
 panies in Pennsylvania to the extent of ^^67 5,000; and the 
 charge has been made that some ^^500,000 or ^600,000 were 
 squandered among newspajDer editors and members of the 
 Legislature to secure their support to the measure. This sum, 
 it has been alleged, was covered up by the profits on the ' old 
 circulation account.' These items, although costly, enabled 
 the old bank to wind up ~ by merging its affairs into the new 
 concern; its dividends had been large, and the stockholders 
 were tempted to retain their shares. With the vast sums locked 
 up in the form of loans to the new States, the fresh obligations 
 it had just entered into, and the ^^7,000,000 (made nearly 
 ^8,000,000 by overvaluing the assets) of Government stock 
 which it had to pay off, the new institution commenced business 
 with little or no actual capital. It, however, took advantage 
 of a clause in the original charter, which gave it two years 
 
THE UNITED STATES BANK. ^1 
 
 to settle witli its stockholders, and in the meanwhile pur- 
 chased the Federal stock, at the exaggerated value, on a credit 
 of two and three years ; it continued making large dividends 
 which it never earned, and availed itself of the accommo- 
 dation afforded by the reissue of the notes of the old bank, 
 which passed as currency in the distant States of the South 
 and West.* Its nominal capital was large — ^35,000,000 — 
 
 • The annexed extracts from the messages of Presidents Jackson and 
 Van Buren to Oongi-ess give some insight into the manner in which the new 
 bank 'stepped into the shoes ' of the old concern. 
 
 President Jackson in his eighth annual message, on December 6, 
 1836, said : — ' The conduct and present condition of that bank, and the 
 ' gi-eat amount of capital invested in it by the United States, require your 
 ' careful attention. Its charter expired on the 3rd day of March last, and it 
 ' has now no power hut that given in the 21st section, to use " the corporate 
 ' " name, style, and capacity, for the purpose of suits for the final settlement 
 ' " and hquidation of the affairs and accounts of the corporation, and for the 
 ' " sale and disposition of their estate, real, personal, and mixed, but not for 
 ' " any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever, nor for a period ex- 
 ' " ceeding two years after the expiration of the said term of incorporation." 
 ' Before the expiration of the charter, the stockholders of the bank obtained 
 ' an Act of inooi-poration from the Legislature of Pennsylvania, excluding 
 ' only the United States. Instead of proceeding to wind up their concerns, 
 ' and pay over to the United States the amount due on account of the stock 
 ' held by them, the President and directors of the old bank appear to have 
 ' transferred the books, papers, notes, obligations, and most or all of its pro- 
 ' perty, to this new corporation, which entered upon business as a continu- 
 ' ation of the old concern. Among other acta of questionable validity, the 
 ' notes of the expired corporation are known to have been used as its own, 
 ' and again put in circulation. That the old bank had no right to issue or 
 ' reissue its notes after the expiration of its charter, cannot be denied ; and 
 ' that it could not confer any such right on its substitute any more than 
 ' exercise it itself, is very plain. In law and in honesty, the notes of the 
 ' bank in circulation at the expiration of its charter should have been called 
 ' in by public advertisement, paid up as presented, and, together with those 
 ' in hand, cancelled and destroyed. Their reissue is sanctioned by no law, 
 ' and warranted by no necessity. If the United States be responsible in 
 ' their stock for the payment of their notes, their reissue by the new corpo- 
 ' ration for their own profit is a fraud upon the Government. If the United 
 ' States is not responsible, then there is no legal responsibility in any quarter^ 
 ' and it is a fraud on the country. They are the redeemed notes of a dis- 
 ' solved partnership, but, contrary to the wishes of the retiring partner, and 
 ' without his consent, are again reissued and cu-culated.' 
 
 President Van Buren, in his first annual message, on the 4th day of 
 December 1837, said : — 
 
 ' Just before the banking privileges ceased, its effects were transferred by 
 
22 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 and its credit, all over the world, almost unlimited. As a 
 State bank it could not, in its own name, carry on busi- 
 ness in other States, New York excepted, where it opened a 
 branch under the general Banking Law of that State. It 
 managed, however, in various ways to avoid this difficulty. 
 For instance, it had become the owner of the bonds of the State 
 of Mississippi, which were issued to form the stock of the 
 Planters' Bank in 1831 and 1833; it also, in 1838, became the 
 proprietor, in a similar manner, of the Mississippi Union Bank, 
 furnishing its whole capital, ^5,000,000, excepting ^8,000, the 
 organisation of which corporation involved a fraud upon the 
 State, by a supplement smuggled through the Legislature, con- 
 trary to law, and which nullified the provisions of its charter, 
 in order to serve the purposes of the Philadelphia institution, 
 and violated the constitution of the State of Mississippi. 
 
 The Constitution adopted by the people of the State of Mis- 
 sissippi in 1832 contains the following article: — 
 
 ' No law shall ever be passed to raise a loan of money upon 
 ' the credit of the State, or to pledge the faith of the State for 
 ' the payment or redemption of any loan or debt, unless such 
 ' law be proposed in the Senate or House of Eepresentatives, 
 
 ' the bank to a new institution tlien recently incorporated, in trust for the 
 ' discharge of its debts and the settlement of its affairs. 
 
 ' With this trustee, by authority of Congress, an adjustment was subse- 
 ' quently made of the large interest which the Government had in stock of 
 ' the institution. The manner in which a trust unexpectedly created upon 
 ' the Act granting the charter, and involving such great public interests, had 
 ' been executed, would, under any circumstances, be aiit subject of inquiry ; 
 ' but much more does it deserve your attention when it embraces the re- 
 ' demption of obligations to which the authority and credit of the United 
 ' States have given value. The two years allowed are now nearly at an end. 
 ' It ia well understood that the trustee has not redeemed and cancelled the 
 ' outstanding notes of the bank, but has reissued and is actually reissuing, 
 ' since the 3rd of March, 1836, the notes which have been received by it to 
 ' a vast amoxmt. 
 
 'According to its own official statement, so late as the lat of October 
 ' last, 1837, nineteen months after the banking privileges given by the 
 ' charter had expired, it had under its control uncancelled notes of the 
 ' late Bank of the United States to the amount of ^27,561,866, of which 
 ' ^6,175,861 were in actual circulation, ^1,468,627 at State bank agencies, 
 ' and ^3,002,390 in transitu ; thus showing that upwards of ^^10,500,000 of 
 ' the notes of the old bank wore then still kept outetanding.' 
 
OBJECTS OF THE BANK. 23 
 
 ' and be agreed to by a majority of the members of each House, 
 ' and entered in their journals, with the yeas and nays taken 
 ' thereon, and be referred to the next succeeding Legislature, 
 ' and published for three months previous to the next regular 
 ' election in three newspapers of the State, and unless a ma- 
 ' jority of each branch of the Legislature so elected after such 
 ' publication, shall agree to and pass such law ; and in such 
 ' case the yeas and nays shall be taken and entered on the 
 ' journals of each House : Provided that nothing in this section 
 ' shall be so construed as to prevent the Legislature from nego- 
 ' tiating |f 1,500,000, and vesting the same in Stock reserved to 
 ' the State by the charter of the Planters' Bank of the State of 
 ' Mississippi.' 
 
 The bank had two objects in continuing these transactions : 
 one, to keep up its credit by a system of ' kiting ;' the other, to 
 retain, as it were, influence in all the States, until the Whig or 
 Bank party should attain power, when it hoped to be able to 
 revert from a State to a Federal charter. Its operations were 
 intimately connected with the cotton trade, which, with the 
 India, China, South American, and West Indian trades, con- 
 ducted by its credits, threw into its coffers large sums of money, 
 and enabled it to select as agents in Europe the most powerful 
 and wealthy banking and mercantile houses. The commissions 
 it was thus enabled to influence to these firms amounted annually 
 to large sums. Partly with a view to benefit the immediate re- 
 latives and friends of some of its officers, but, it is believed, 
 principally to extend its sphere of financial accommodation, it 
 opened ' a house of its own ' in London and Liverpool. 
 
 The cotton planters, who migrated to the south-west from 
 Virginia and the Carolinas, with gangs of hands from their 
 paternal estates, entered largely into agricultural operations 
 through bank aid, which was extended to them from year to 
 year. The magnificent profits of the first few seasons induced 
 them to go beyond their depth ; their contemporaries in the 
 West became solely speculators, and not producers. This state 
 of afi'airs, with short crops of cereals, brought about great dis- 
 tress, which culminated in the panic of 1837. The banks of 
 New Orleans first gave way in March of that year, and by May 
 every monied institution .in the Union had suspended specie 
 
24 THE COTTOX TKADE. 
 
 payments; they did not resume until May 1838. In the mean- 
 time, on September 22, 1837, the Bank of the United States 
 appointed its cashier, Mr. Samuel Jaudon, to act as its agent, or 
 ' drawing post,' at London, whither he at once proceeded, and 
 commenced business on November 8, 1837. About the same 
 time, Mr. May Humphreys and Mr. Edward Biddle, a son of 
 Mr. Nicholas Biddle, President of the Bank of the United 
 States, started for Liverpool, where they established a com- 
 .mercial house under the firm of Humphreys, Biddle, & Co. The 
 bank made arrangements with Messrs. Bevan and Humphreys 
 of Philadelphia to accept bills drawn upon them by its agents 
 in the South against advances upon consignments of cotton to 
 the Liverpool concern, for which they were reimbursed by the 
 bank at the maturity of the drafts, receiving one-eighth per 
 cent, commission for their trouble and risk. The proceeds of 
 the cotton, or any moneys obtained by the hypothecation of the 
 same, were handed over to Mr. Jaudon, to meet his acceptances 
 of the bills of exchange drawn upon him by the bank. Mr. 
 Jaudon, too, raised large amounts of money by the issue of the 
 post notes of the Bank of the United States, at twelve months' 
 date, which were readily sold in the London market.* The 
 Southern banks, in addition to the capital furnished them by 
 the Bank of the United States, also issued post notes at twelve 
 months' date, payable in New York ; the bank itself likewise 
 did the same in every State of the Union, and a large portion 
 of the floating capital of the world was thus made to pass 
 through its channels. These transactions of the ' mammoth,' 
 as it was called, were suddenly brought to a termination by an 
 unsuccessful financial operation. In August 1839, it valued, 
 without any authority whatever, upon Messrs. Hottinguer & Co., 
 Paris, for 6,200,000 francs at 60 days' sight ; the proceeds of the 
 bills were remitted in specie to Mr. Jaudon by the same steamer 
 that conveyed them for acceptance. The Paris firm declined to 
 
 * Nearly all the public loans were at one time negotiated through the 
 Bank of the United States; bank-charter mortgages upon negroes by 
 name found ready sale in London, when the anti-slavery furore was at its 
 height. Loans upon American slaves were as ' easy ' as the loan to free the 
 blacks in the West Indies. 
 
DISASTER TO THE UNITED STATES BANK. 25 
 
 honour them, when Messrs. Hope & Co. of Amsterdam came for- 
 ward with their name, at the instance of Mr. Jaudon, who pledged 
 with them sundry State stocks, among them the Mississippis 
 alluded to above, as collateral security. The discredit of the bank 
 by Messrs. Hottinguer & Co. reflected upon it at home : it could 
 sell no more ' accommodation ' bills of exchange, and the 
 ' agency' of Mr. Jaudon became valueless for financial purposes. 
 It consequently failed on October 9, -1839, and carried along 
 with it all the banks in Pennsylvania and south of that State. 
 The institutions that were not utterly bankrupt resumed specie 
 payments by March 1842. The New York and New England 
 banks managed to weather the storm throughout. 
 
 The securities delivered to Messrs. Hope & Co. had been 
 held by the Bank of the United States for several years, and 
 were sent to London for the purpose of sale. But all State 
 credit was so low at that time that there was no market for 
 them. So depressed was the credit of these State stocks, that 
 scrip to the par value of thirteen millions of dollars was handed 
 to Messrs. Hope & Co., or about thirteen times the amount of 
 their guarantee : Pennsylvanias, Marylands, and the bonds of 
 other wealthy States were included with those of Mississippi. 
 
 The news of the disaster to the Bank of the United States 
 reached London on November 7, 1839. 'The Times' of 
 November 9, after commenting on the intelligence, and al- 
 luding to the American State securities, among which were 
 those of Mississippi, said that they had never been intro- 
 duced on the Stock Exchange, or adopted by speculators for 
 time bargains, as the South American and Portuguese stocks 
 had been, and cautioned the public in these words : — ' Should 
 ' they consequently become suddenly valueless by breach of 
 ' faith or failure of assets, there can be no gradual decline 
 ' accompanied, as in other cases, by continued fluctuations, but 
 ' the transition will be almost immediate to a mere nominal 
 ' price, at which no business could be done.' There were even 
 some doubts entertained in England at that date as to whether 
 the individual States had any right to borrow money or issue 
 scrip. These doubts elicited an opinion concerning the same from 
 Mr. Daniel Webster, who was then in Europe, and who in an 
 
26 THE COTTON TRADE, 
 
 answer to a letter addressed to him by Messrs. Baring Brotliers 
 & Co., said, under date of London, October 16, 1839 : — 
 
 ' Your enquiry is. Whether the legislature of one of the States 
 ' has legal and constitutional power to contract loans at home 
 ' and abroad ? 
 
 ' To this I answer that the legislature of a State has such 
 ' power ; and how any doubt could have arisen on this point 
 ' it is difficult for me to conceive. Every State is an inde- 
 ' pendent sovereign community, except in so far as certain 
 ' powers which it might otherwise have exercised have been 
 ' conferred on a general government, established under a written 
 ' constitution, and exerting its authority over the people of all 
 ' the States. This general government is a limited government. 
 ' Its powers are specific and enumerated. All powers not con- 
 ' ferred upon it remain with the States, and with the people. 
 ' The State legislatures, on the other hand, possess all usual and 
 ' ordinary powers of government, subject to any limitation 
 ' which may he imposed by their own constitutions, and with 
 ' the exception, as I have said, of the operation on those powers 
 ' of the constitution of the United States. 
 
 ' I have seen a suggestion that State loans must be regarded 
 ' as unconstitutional and illegal, inasmuch as the constitution of 
 ' the United States has declared that no State shall emit bills of 
 ' credit. It is certain that the constitution does contain this 
 ^ salutary clause ; but what is a bill of credit ? It has no 
 ' resemblance whatever to a bond or other security given for 
 ' the payment of money borrowed. The term " bill of credit " 
 ' is familiar in our political history, and its meaning well ascer- 
 ' tained and settled, not only by that history, but by judicial 
 ' interpretation and decisions from the highest source. For the 
 ' purpose of this opiaion it may be sufficient to say, that bills 
 ' of credit, the subject of the prohibition in the constitution of 
 ' the United States, were essentially paper money. They were 
 ' paper issues, intended for circulation, and for receipt into the 
 ' Treasury as cash, and were sometimes made a tender in pay- 
 ' ment of debts. To put an end, at once and for ever, to evils 
 ' of the sort and to dangers from this source, the constitution 
 ' of the United States has declared that no State shall emit 
 
AETICLES PKOM 'THE TIMES.' 27 
 
 ' bills of credit, nor make anything but gold and silver a tender 
 ' in payment of debts, nor pass any law which shall impair the 
 ' obligation of contracts. All this, however, proves, not that 
 ' States cannot contract debts, but that, when contracted, they 
 ' must pay them in coin, according to the stipulation.' 
 
 The London journals of the latter part of 1839 were filled 
 with articles on the affairs of the Bank of the United States. 
 Mr. Biddle visited Europe after its failure, and, in connection 
 with Mr. Jaudon, made some arrangements to prevent some of 
 his acceptances being returned to Philadelphia, in order, as it was 
 said, to save the damages ; but it was shrewdly suspected that 
 the creditors were desirous of obtaining some of the stocks in 
 Mr. Jaudon's hands : and, as part of the history of those days, 
 the subjoined articles from the City column of ' The Times ' may 
 be recurred to with interest : — 
 
 December 9, 1839. — ' It is said ia connection with American 
 ' affairs that another loan has been made to Mr. Jaudon, the 
 ' agent of the United States Bank ; but another version of the 
 ' rumour is, that the former loan, negotiated at the time of the 
 ' dishonour of the Paris bills by Messrs. Hottinguer, which was 
 ' repeatedly announced as completed, is now only disposed of, 
 ' and that its amount is 900,000L, the security being as before a 
 ' deposit of American State stocks.' 
 
 December 10, 1839.— ' Mr. Jaudon's "loan" transaction, 
 ' adverted to on Saturday, continues to be a standing topic in the 
 ' money market; but some mystery still attaches to the subject, 
 ' which no one seems able to clear up. Messrs. Eothschilds 
 ' have been named as contractors for it, and the total amount is 
 ' stated at 900,000L,* for which they are to issue five per cent. 
 ' debentures at ninety-two, and to hold as collateral security a 
 ' large deposit of Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Mississippi, 
 ' and other American State stocks. But whether Messrs. Eoths- 
 ' childs advance this money as a new transaction, or whether it 
 ' is in part to cover up advances made to take up bills refused by 
 ' Messrs. Hottinguer, or whether it was mixed up with transac- 
 ' tions of a similar kind which were under negotiation some time 
 
 ' The Times ' was in error as to the amomit of the loan : it was 800,000/. 
 sterling. 
 
28 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 ' back with Messrs. Hope & Co. of Amsterdam and Messrs. Dea- 
 ' nison and Co. of London, and which were repeatedly described 
 ' as being brought to a close, though doubts afterwards arose 
 ' whether they were actually completed, is left totally unex- 
 ' plained. That capitalists who are already deeply embarked in 
 ' American securities should endeavour to protect themselves by 
 ' calling in collateral support of this kind, and giving the name of 
 ' a " loan " to the transaction, will be readily comprehended in 
 ' the money market ; but not so readily will it be believed that 
 ' they would enter into new and extensive engagements of the 
 ' nature described, and if one of the contracting parties being at 
 ' the same time an admitted bankrupt estate, a position which no 
 ' deposit of security can alter or modify. These considerations 
 ' are likely to prevent other capitalists from taking any share in 
 ' the transaction until it is more clearly explained.' 
 
 December 14, 1839. — ' The loan of Messrs. Eothschilds to the 
 ' Bank of the United States has already been mentioned. It is 
 ' announced to-day that a deposit of 22 per cent, will be 
 ' required from subscribers to it, and that the remainder, to 
 ' make up 92L, will be in two instalments of 35?. each, payable 
 ' on January 15 and July 15 next. The redemption is fixed at 
 ' 50 per cent, in October 1841, and 50 per cent, in October 
 ' 1842, and as this redemption will be at par, the rate of 
 ' interest paid for the accommodation will be between 11 and 
 ' 12 per cent. When such terms are exacted, it need not be 
 ' enquired what notion the parties themselves entertain of the 
 ' transaction.' 
 
 When the ' loan ' taken by Messrs. Eothschilds became due, 
 the Bank of the United States was hopelessly insolvent, and 
 could not redeem the collaterals deposited for securing its pay- 
 ment. The parties in interest divided the various State stocks 
 among themselves, at very low figures, and claimed upon the 
 assignees of the bank for the difference, which demand, after 
 some difficulty, was settled by compromise. Messrs. Hum- 
 phreys and Biddle, finding their ' occupation gone,' closed up 
 their Liverpool house, and returned to Philadelphia with large 
 fortunes. Much mystery hung over these cotton transactions 
 for a long while, and it was not even known that the Bank of 
 the United States furnished all the funds to conduct the business 
 
INSOLVENCY OF UNITED STATES BANK. 29 
 
 by means of its credit, the operations being so covered up by 
 the system of exchanges. The bank for many years anterior to 
 these transactions had been a seller of bills on London, and by 
 continuing to act in that capacity did not excite any suspicion — 
 no one seemed to be aware that it was placed in funds at 
 London by the proceeds or hypothecation of the cotton ship- 
 ments, instead of, as previously, by sales of Grovernment stocks 
 and produce bills ; and, from the fact that the larger portion of 
 the consignments were from the new cotton country, it appeared 
 as if the enterprise of the ■• dashing young house ' at Liverpool 
 had taken advantage of the new trade. It turned out, however, 
 that nearly all, if not all, the officers of the Bank of the 
 United States were interested in the shipments, which, as far as 
 those made against the crops of 1836 and 1837 were concerned, 
 were successful in consequence of a considerable portion of the 
 latter year's production being withheld from market, and en- 
 abling them to divide large profits among themselves. The 
 number of pounds of cotton grown in the entire South in those 
 years was 570,000,000 and 720,000,000 respectively, while the 
 crop of 1838 was only 545,000,000 pounds, which, with the re- 
 mainder of that of 1837 held over, sold for low prices at Liver- 
 pool, notwithstanding the bank managers resorted to every means 
 to keep up the market quotations ; but they had not only the de- 
 pressing influence of superfluous quantity to contend with, but 
 the commercial world was in a paralysed condition, not having 
 recovered from the panic of 1837. The losses thus made by the 
 ofiicers of the bank outbalanced their profits, and they were com- 
 pelled to make a compromise with its shareholders, who, as well 
 as many of the directors, had been kept in ignorance of the whole 
 affair, and were very slow to believe it, even when they heard of 
 the wrongdoings charged upon the guilty parties. There is no 
 doubt that the bank was first led astray by its desire to obtain 
 political influence ; then its officers carried on the business as 
 a financial operation, and it was not until afterwards that they 
 became sharers in the profits and the losses. The fii'st inti- 
 mation.the public received of these questionable transactions was 
 through a communication which appeared in the New York 
 'Evening Post' of August 24, 1839. This was shortly after 
 the shipment of specie, the proceeds of the sales of the bills 
 
30 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 on Messrs. Hottinguer and Co., to Mr. Jaudon, which created 
 a great commotion in Wall Street, the rate of exchange 
 not warranting the transmission of the precious metals to 
 Europe. The withdrawal of so large a sum, without a legitimate 
 reason, from the vaults of the New York banks, caused much 
 surprise, and Mr. Biddle was charged with wishing to ' break ' 
 those institutions ; they in turn were charged with being jealous 
 of the power of his bank. Here is the information furnished 
 by the 'Post': — 
 
 ' BAJSTK OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ' The merchants of this city and Philadelphia feel the se- 
 ' verity of the times, but are puzzled to know to what cause to 
 ' ascribe it. They are like a blind man in the street struck 
 ' by a brickbat ; they feel themselves hurt and bruised, but see 
 ' not the hand that dealt the blow. It seems to them a stale 
 ' and poor fetch after all to ascribe it to the Administration. 
 
 ' The following statement has been drawn up by a person 
 ' whose situation has given him an opportunity to observe the 
 ' proceedings of the banks which have engaged in the cotton 
 ' monopoly. The extent to which they were concerned in that 
 ' unlucky speculation was already known, but the manner in 
 ' which they had involved themselves in the unfortunate affairs of 
 ' the south-western banks has not before been described. The 
 ' first of these errors led to the second, and both have had the 
 ' effect of disturbing and confounding the natural course of 
 ' trade. No wonder, when these great associations enter upon the 
 ' business of buying and selling merchandise — no wonder that 
 ' the regular merchant, with his comparatively small resources, 
 ' is crushed under their footsteps. 
 
 ' The winding up of these transactions is yet to come, but it is 
 ' approaching. From all appearances it is likely to be one which 
 ' the community will acquiesce in without regret, and which 
 ' will again leave the field of commerce open to individuals. 
 
 ' THE PEESENT CRISIS AND ITS CAUSE. 
 
 ' The disasters which are now grinding the business men in 
 ' this city and Philadelphia have been produced solely by the 
 
THE CRISIS OF 1839. 31 
 
 ' speculations in Wall Street and Chestnut Street, but more 
 ' particularly in the latter, as their operations were on a gigantic 
 ' scale. In 1837 and 1838, Mr. Biddle threw a large amount 
 ' of funds into the South, and invested them in cotton. He 
 ' sent his son, a youth of about twenty years of age, and an 
 ' unsuccessful merchant, May Humphreys, to Liverpool to sell 
 ' this cotton, and to transact a general commission business. 
 ' This mushroom house, though new, and without a knowledge 
 ' either of the business or the people of England, at once ob- 
 ' tained a larger amount of business than William and James 
 ' Brown & Co., the Barings, the Lizardis, or any other of the 
 ' old established and substantial houses of that great commercial 
 ' mart. Early in 1838 it was discovered that the cotton crop 
 ' would be short — that Mr. Biddle held up a large amount of 
 ' the previous crop. In the meantime he, by granting facilities 
 ' to Southern banks, induced them to make advances on cotton, 
 ' and ship a large portion of it to his son's house at Liverpool, 
 ' which would more effectually enable him. to control the cotton 
 ' market, and carry out the principle of monopoly which the 
 ' Wall Street bankers had so successfully maintained for three 
 ' or four years in the flour trade. But, as all monopolies must 
 ' be maintained by extending the sphere of their operations, 
 ' Mr. Biddle found it necessary to strengthen the Southern 
 ' banks, which had, as his indirect agents, swindled the planters 
 ' out of the cotton to be sacrificed in Liverpool at their expense, 
 ' while they were compelled to receive depreciated and depre- 
 ' elating paper for their labour. These banks had lost their 
 ' character, their paper had fallen 28 per cent, below par in the 
 ' summer of 1838, and it was seen at once that they could not 
 ' obtain control of the last crop unless they would resume specie 
 ' payments and raise the value of their paper. 
 
 ' Under these circumstances, foreign capitalists would have 
 ' flocked to the South and purchased the cotton at a fair price, 
 ' and thus, by throwing it into the Liverpool market, would 
 ' have compelled Mr. Biddle to do the same, or borrow money 
 ' and risk the market another year. Accordingly, Mr. Biddle 
 ' in August and September 1838, commenced rebuilding the 
 ' Southern banks that had engaged in the cotton trade, and 
 ' he purchased the bonds of others to enable them to go into 
 
32 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 ' operation, and to continue the cotton monopoly. He and a 
 ' few of his gambling associates in Philadelphia, principally the 
 ' officers of the Grirard Bank, commenced the purchase of State 
 ' and Bank bonds ; and in one week they invested about 
 ' ^10,000,000 in the State of Mississippi. ^5,000,000 of this 
 ■• money on credit were distributed among four insolvent banks 
 ' at a nominal interest of 7 per cent., to be repaid in three 
 ' annual instalments. These banks were the Commercial and 
 ' Eailroad Bank of Vicksburg, the Planters', the Agricultural 
 ' and Commercial Bank of Nachez ; the former has again sus- 
 ' pended, and it is believed that not one of them can now pay 
 ' the interest, much less the first instalment, which, we believe, 
 ' is due about this time. 
 
 ' Besides, the Agricultural and the Planters' Bank of Nachez 
 ' owe the Federal Government nearly ^1,000,000 ; and the Gro- 
 ' vernment owe it to the people to force its collection, and to that 
 ' extent, at least, abridge the power of the unprincipled specu- 
 ' lation. In purchasing the bonds of these banks, Mr. Biddle 
 ' and his compeers had other strong personal inducements. 
 ' They had purchased an immense amount of their notes at 
 ' 28 per cent, discount, and by the operation were enabled to 
 ' use it at par. 
 
 ' The other ^5,000,000 were invested in Mississippi State 
 ' bonds, to establish the Union Bank at Jackson ; and in one 
 ' month this new institution was flooding the country with post 
 ' notes, and was found also in the cotton trade advancing ^60 
 ' a bale. By thus holding back the crop, Mr. Biddle might be 
 ' enabled to realise a large profit on the crop of 1837 and 1838, 
 ' which he had purchased, and in the meantime the planters of 
 ' the South would be left to bear the whole of the loss from a 
 ' falling market, after the monopoly had become too heavy for 
 ' the credit system and the gambling system to sustain it any 
 ' longer. "Well, this Union Bank is now prostrate, though not 
 ' a year in operation, and commencing vrith ^5,000,000 of 
 ' capital ; its paper will now sell for 75 cents on the dollar, even 
 ' when bearing 5 per cent, interest. 
 
 ' The bonds on which the bank was established are now remain- 
 ' ing unsold in the vaults of the bank in Chestnut Street' [they 
 had been remitted to Mr. Jaudon, in London, which was the 
 
THE CRISIS OF 1839. 33 
 
 same thing, as they were still in his hands], ' and if put into the 
 market would not bring 20 cents on the dollar.' [The United 
 States Bank had purchased them on credit, and, before the 
 second payment was made upon them, the Governor of Mis- 
 sissippi proclaimed the fraud that had been practised upon the 
 State, and cautioned all persons against negotiating them ; but 
 Mr. Biddle did not heed his advice, but continued his pay- 
 ments to the Union Bank. In fact, it was simply paying out 
 of one pocket into the other — robbing Peter to pay Paul.] 
 
 ' In Arkansas, Alabama, Greorgia, and New Orleans, the same 
 ' system was resorted to ; and now we have its glorious results 
 ' in Philadelphia and New York. The bankers and speculators 
 ' have been disappointed in not getting returns from their 
 ' Southern coadjutors ; the action of the great " mammoth " 
 ' (United States Bank) in England has forced cotton into 
 ' market, and reduced its price from the monopoly standard ; 
 ' and to make up the money to keep the Grirard Bank, the 
 ' United States Bank of Pennsylvania, and the speculating con- 
 ' cerns of Wall Street, from again suspending, the honest dealer 
 ' and the regular merchant are compelled to throw their paper 
 ' into market, and sacrifice from 2 to 2^ per cent, per month to 
 ' maintain their credit and carry on their business.' 
 
 The warning contained in this communication was not 
 heeded by the people of Philadelphia ; on the contrary, they 
 condemned every man that said aught against the Bank of the 
 United States. The presidents and directors of the other banks 
 of Philadelphia were, in fact, so stupid and blinded that they 
 came to the rescue of the ' mammoth,' after its bills had been 
 dishonoured in Paris, and not only loaned it money, but 
 concluded to suspend specie payments with it on October 
 9, 1839. The utter insolvency of the Bank of the United 
 States was thus covered up for many months. So wanting 
 are many of the bank presidents in America in the know- 
 ledge of the ordinary principles of finance, that they have 
 several times all ' suspended ' in order to shield from view the 
 rottenness of one of their number. As well might all the 
 merchants in London fail when one concern happens to be 
 unable to meet its engagements. On that occasion all the 
 banks were compelled by legislative enactment to resume 
 
 D 
 
34 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 specie payments on January 15, 1841 ; they did so, but again 
 failed on February 4. The ' mammoth ' then went into liqui- 
 dation ; the other banks did not recur to gold and silver for over 
 a year. Though the conduct of Mr. Biddle has been so 
 severely criticised, and so many injurious aspersions cast upon 
 his character, he morally was not so guilty as the disastrous 
 results of his policy and commercial operations would indicate. 
 Being in effect the sole manager of the institution for a long 
 series of years, he appears to have lost sight of the fact that he 
 was only the agent for others, and responsible to them for the use 
 of the funds entrusted to his care. The flatterers and sycophants 
 who encouraged this delusion of a too prosperous man were his 
 most bitter enemies and vilifiers when he fell. At one time, 
 it was almost ' treason ' and ' disloyalty ' to even hint at or 
 question the illegality or immorality of the transactions of the 
 bank ; the Democrats of those days were nearly as much perse- 
 cuted because they were anti-bank men as their successors at 
 the present period are for their political faith. Nor would 
 the masses believe that it was the bank that assisted in bring- 
 ing about the commercial distress that existed from 1837 to 
 1840, but they charged it upon President Jackson's opposition 
 to the recharter of the ' national ' institution. Surely the 
 new bank was national enough, for it extended its sphere 
 of usefulness (?) all over the Union, and assisted the Whigs 
 or Bank party in the election of Harrison and Tyler in 
 1840. Fortunately for the country, President Harrison died 
 after being in office only one month ; this made John Tyler 
 President, whose chief acts were to veto two Bank bills that 
 had been passed by Congress at a special session called for that 
 purpose by his predecessor. Mr. Tyler, although a Whig, was 
 an anti-bank man, and his name was, therefore, placed on the 
 ticket with that of Harrison, to give it strength, and prevent too 
 much opposition from those who held that the Federal Grovern- 
 me"nt had no more right to grant a charter for a bank than 
 to engage in any other species of finance or commerce — no such 
 liSwer having been delegated to it by the States. 
 
 Since Mr. Biddle's day, the presidents of the Philadelphia 
 banks, except in a few cases, have not been remarkable for their 
 ability, but rather for their want of it. They have had the 
 
MK. CHASE AND THK BANKS. 35 
 
 weakness to furnish funds to the Lincoln administration for the 
 purpose of carrying on the crusade against the South — moneys 
 which had been entrusted to them by their stockholders to be 
 employed for legitimate business purposes. This, in its practical 
 effects, is much worse than Mr. Biddle's operations ; for they, by 
 their unauthorised and improper course, have brought irretriev- 
 able ruin and disgrace upon the country ; while the evils in- 
 flicted by the former, though widespread and carrying misery 
 to many a hearth, were felt only by individuals. The presidents 
 of the Philadelphia banks had it in their power to stay the 
 hands of those of New York and Boston. 
 
 Nor is this all : the monied institutions of the three cities 
 have been deceiving the people. It is said that they have a 
 standing arrangement with the Federal Secretary of the 
 Treasury to keep down the volume of greenback currency, 
 by taking the 5-20 loan at 80 cents on the dollar, they re- 
 ceiving the beneiit of any sales that may be made to the public 
 through the United States subscription agency. In other 
 words, all Mr. Chase's financial arrangements are now made 
 through these banks, who thus receive what is equivalent to a 
 commission of 20 per cent, on each transaction ; and for this 
 they allow him the use of the specie in their vaults to ' bear ' 
 the gold market. The result will be, that the Government and 
 the banks will break up, or rather break down, together, and 
 the ruined stockholders and outraged communities will take 
 their vengeance upon the guilty parties. 
 
 The politicians of the old Federal party, and their successors, 
 the Whigs and Eepublicans, have ever had a desire for a 
 national bank; in this they have always been opposed by 
 a large majority of the Democrats, on the ground of the in- 
 utility and unconstitutionality of the measure. Its advocates 
 base their arguments upon the success of the Bank of England 
 as the fiscal agent of the British Government, without making 
 allowance for the difference in jjolitical institutions or in 
 geographical extent of the two countries. The 'respect- 
 able old lady ' in Threadneedle Street might as well extend 
 her sphere of operations to Canada and Australia, as for a bank 
 in the American States to control the currency and regulate 
 exchanges throughout their entire space. The two banks 
 
 B 2 
 
36 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 chartered by Congress — the first in 1791, the second in 1816— 
 never accomplished what was expected of them: the latter con- 
 cern became, with the decay in public morals, a most corrupt 
 corporation ; the Pennsylvanian charter was a mere continuation 
 of the Federal grant. The circulation of the banks of the indi- 
 vidual States was always much larger than that of the Bank of 
 the United States. It took some time for the business of the 
 country to become settled after the two wars with Great Britain ; 
 and the operations of each bank created by Congress beginning 
 at a favourable period, the cause of the restoration of mercantile 
 credit was ascribed to those institutions on both occasions. 
 
 The Federals have fallen into another error in attributing 
 the success of the revolutionary struggle to financial facilities 
 afforded by the Bank of North America at Philadelphia, which 
 institution was chartered by the Congress of the Confederation 
 in 1781 ; the proposition for its organisation having originated 
 in a resolution of May 26, 1781, founded on a suggestion of the 
 Superintendent of Finance, which was carried into execution by 
 an ordinance of December 31, 1781, entitled, 'An Ordinance to 
 ' Incorporate the Subscribers to the Bank of North America ; ' 
 and it commenced business on January 7, 1782, eighty days 
 after the surrender of Yorktown, which was the decisive event 
 of the struggle. It is, therefore, folly to say that the bank 
 contributed in any degree to the success of the cause iu which 
 the Americans were then engaged. The truth is, that the bank 
 received great pecuniary aid from the Grovernment by means of 
 the credit conferred by its charter ; and how history has been 
 so warped it is difficult to comprehend. The bank was a sort 
 of close corporation, used to serve the selfish ends of some spe- 
 culators who managed its affairs. It continued in existence only 
 a few years, when it was succeeded by another bank of the same 
 title, chartered by the State of Pennsylvania, but endowed with 
 dissimilar powers, the directors of which institution have had 
 the hardihood at this late day to make the subjoined misstate- 
 ment : — 
 
 ' Bank of North America, Philadelphia : July 28, 1862. 
 ' At a meeting of the directors this day, the following pre- 
 ' amble and resolution were adopted unanimously : 
 
BANK OF NORTH AMERICA. 37 
 
 ' Whereas this bank was instituted in 1781 to aid the colonies 
 ' in the struggle for their independence ; and whereas it has ever 
 ' since prospered under the Grovernment it assisted in creating; 
 ' and whereas (in carrying out the policy of making contribu- 
 ' tions to such objects only as are in its legitimate sphere) the 
 ' stability of the Grovernment is most essential to the interests 
 ' of the stockholders : It is therefore 
 
 ' Resolved, that the sum of (,^5,000) five thousand dollars be 
 ' contributed by the bank, and disposed of in such manner as 
 ' the president may deem most expedient, to assist the Grovern- 
 ' ment in maintaining its integrity. 
 , ' Extract from the Minutes. 
 
 ' Thomas Smith, President. 
 
 ' J. Hockley, Secretary.' 
 
 The bank, chartered by Congress, never ' contributed' a penny 
 to the Federal Grovernment for any purpose whatever. It did 
 not assist in ' creating ' either the Federal or State Grovern- 
 ments, and its successor has not ' ever since prospered ; ' it has 
 failed several times, and does not at present pay its debts. Nor 
 did it meet its liabilities at the time of the passage of the above 
 resolution. Surely appropriating its stockholders' money, or 
 that of its creditors, towards prosecuting the atrocious war 
 against the South, cannot be ' carrying out the policy of making 
 contributions to such objects only as are in its legitimate 
 sphere.' 
 
 From the beginning of 1780 until the close of the war, specie 
 was very plentiful in the States. The large expenditures 
 of the English and French forces found their way into the 
 interior. The foreign loans, too, were paid in hard money; 
 and the Havannah trade, clandestinely conducted during hos- 
 tiHties, occasioned a large influx of silver dollars. In fact, 
 the operations of the war caused such a drain of the precious 
 metals from Europe, that the Bank of England was brouo-ht 
 into jeopardy, and the Caisse d'Escompte at Paris actually sus- 
 pended in 1783. 
 
 A remarkable hallucination in reference to a national debt 
 has likewise been prevalent in the Northern States. Many 
 persons have believed that such was desirable, in order to 
 
38 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 ' cemeut the Union,' again holding out the example of England 
 in order to strengthen their arguments, without making any 
 discrimination as to causes or consequences. The enormous 
 wealth thrown into the lap of England by the 'African and 
 Indian trades enabled the Grovernment to carry on success- 
 fully the wars in which it was engaged; the money having 
 been spent mostly at home, the nation became, as it were, 
 the trustee for the capital, and thus originated the Con- 
 solidated Fund. Under the operation of the laws of entail 
 and primogeniture, this arrangement has answered admirably 
 well in Great Britain. In the American States, however, 
 where each generation, with a few exceptions, has entire con- 
 trol of the principal of its property, and is not restricted to 
 the income as in England, it is right, and in accordance with 
 the spirit of the institutions of the country, that it should pay 
 its own expenses in full, and not entail a burthen on those that 
 come after it. 
 
39 
 
 CHAPTEE ni. 
 
 THE MISSISSIPPI UNION BANK BONDS. 
 
 The question of the repudiation of the Mississippi bonds 
 handed to Messrs. Hope & Co. as collateral security by Mr. 
 Jaudon having been much misunderstood, it will be appro- 
 priate here to present a copy of the correspondence between that 
 house and Grovernor McNutt, which, with the details of the trans- 
 actions of the Bank of the United States furnished in the previous 
 chapter, will throw some light on the affair, and, it is to be hoped, 
 rectify the misapprehensions in reference thereto that have for 
 so long a time taken possession of the public mind. When 
 Messrs. Hope & Co. received these bonds they were tainted 
 with repudiation. The agency of the Bank of the United States 
 in London, which was continued until its directors made an 
 assignment, in the autumn of 1841, had paid the interest on them 
 from the time they passed out of its hands in the latter part of 
 1839 up to November 1840, the amount being credited against 
 the principal of the loan contracted with Mr. Jaudon by the 
 Messrs. Eothschilds : — 
 
 To the Governor of the State of Mississippi. 
 
 The undersigned, as trustees for the holders of debentures of 
 the Bank of the United States of Philadelphia, on deposit of 
 American State stocks, and amongst others of a considerable 
 amount of bonds of the State of Mississippi, bearing five per 
 cent, interest, issued through the Union Bank of Mississippi, 
 and made payable at the agency of the United States Bank of 
 Pennsylvania, in London, the principal .in 1850 and 1858, and 
 the dividends semi-annually in May and November, having been 
 refused payment of the interest due the 1st of this month on 
 said bonds, are compelled to address themselves to the govern- 
 ment of the State of Mississippi ; and from their confidence in 
 
40 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 the faith of that government, they feel convinced that the 
 simple mentioning the fact of the non-payment will be a suffi- 
 cient stimulus for the government of the State of Mississippi to 
 take immediate measures for the payment of the interest now 
 due and which will further successively become due on those 
 bonds, and to prevent irregularities or demur, so prejudicial to 
 the interest of American credit in general, and to that of the 
 
 State of Mississippi in particular. 
 
 Hope & Co. 
 
 Amsterdam: May 22, 1841. 
 
 Executive Department, City of Jackson: July 13, 1841. 
 
 GrENTLEMEN, — I have received your letter, dated Amsterdam, 
 May 22, 1841, post-marked Washington city, June 21, 1841, 
 and bearing the official frank of the Honourable Daniel Webster, 
 Secretary of State of the United States. I have duly considered 
 the contents thereof. Those bonds were not sold in accordance 
 with the constitution and laws of this State ; they were delivered 
 by me as escrotvs, to be sold at not less than their par value, 
 and for cash, as the statute of this State required. The charter 
 of the Mississippi Union Bank prescribes not only the substance 
 but the form of the bonds ; and provides that they shall be in 
 the sum of two thousand dollars each, •■ which sum the said 
 ' State of Mississippi promises to pay in current inoney of the 
 ' United States,' to the order of the bank, with interest at the 
 rate of five per cent, per annum, payable half-yearly at the 
 place named in the indorsement of the bonds. The Act further 
 provides that ' said bonds shall not be sold under their par 
 ' value.' The bonds having been delivered to the managers of 
 the bank to be sold on certain conditions, the State cannot be 
 bound for their redemption, unless the terms prescribed were 
 complied with in the sale. The constitution of this State 
 expressly provides that ' no law shall ever be passed to raise a 
 ' loan of money upon the credit of the State, or to pledge the 
 ' faith of the State for the payment or redemption of any loan or 
 ' debt, unless such law be proposed in the Senate or House of 
 ' Representatives, and be agreed to by a majority of the members 
 ' of each House and entered on their journals, with the yeas and 
 ' nays taken thereon, -and be referred to the next succeeding 
 
MISSISSIPPI UNION BANK BONDS. 41 
 
 ' legislature, and published for three months previous to the next 
 ' regular election in three newspapers of this State, and unless 
 ' a majority of each branch of the legislature so elected after 
 ' such publication shall agree to and pass such law, and in such 
 ' case the yeas and nays shall be taken and entered on the journals 
 ' of each House : Provided that nothing in this section shall be 
 ' so construed as to prevent the legislature from negotiating a 
 ' further loan of one and a half millions of dollars, and vesting 
 ' the same in stock reserved to the State by the charter of the 
 ' Planters' Bank of the State of Mississippi.' 
 
 Five millions of State bonds, dated June 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, 
 1838, were sold by the commissioners appointed by the Missis- 
 sippi Union Bank to N. Biddle, Esq., on August 18, 1838, for 
 5,000,000 dollars lawful money of the United States, payable in 
 five equal instalments of 1,000,000 dollars each, on November 
 1, 1838, and on the 1st days of January, March, May, and 
 July, 1839, and made 'payable at the agency of the Bank of the 
 ' United States, in London, in sterling money of Great Britain, 
 ' at the rate of four shillings and sixpence to the dollar, with in- 
 ' terest payable semi-annually at the same place and rate.' No 
 authority was ever given by an act of the legislature of this 
 State to change the currency in which said bonds were made 
 payable. By selling the bonds on a credit, and changing them 
 from dollars, current money of the United States, to pounds 
 sterling of Great Britain, the following sums were lost : 
 
 Interest on five millions State bonds, from June 7, 1838 
 
 to November 1, 1838 .....,'. ^100,000 00 
 
 Interest on four millions, 2 months .... 33 330 30 
 
 Interest on three millions, 2 months 24 999 96 
 
 Interest on two millions, 2 months .... ig qqr pa 
 
 Interest on one million, 2 months .... a 300 00 
 
 ^183,338 30 
 Uiilereuce between five millions dollars, principal of State 
 bonds, in current money of the United Stat«!s and sterling 
 money of Great Britain, at four shillings and sixpence to 
 
 the dollar 
 
 Difference _ of interest on ^1,250,000 of State iDonds^ 
 payable in twelve years, between current money of the' 
 United States and pounds sterling of Great Britain, at 
 four shillings and sixpence to the dollar . . . 59,62,5 00 
 
 Cariy forward . 721,713 30 
 
 ;^478,750 00 
 
42 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 Brouglit forward . 721,713 SO 
 DifFereuoe of interest on ^^3,750,000 of State bonds, 
 payable in twenty years, between current money of tbe 
 United States and pounds sterling of Great Britain, at 
 four shillings and sixpence to tbe dollar . . . 363,038 00 
 
 ;^1,084,751 30 
 
 From the above statement it will be perceived that 183,338 
 dollars aud 30 cents were lost by selling the 5,000,000 dollars 
 of bonds on a credit, and paying interest thereon from their 
 respective dates; and the further sum of 901,343 dollars was 
 lost by changing the bonds from dollars current money of the 
 United States, to pounds sterling of Great Britain. These two 
 items amount to the enormous sum of 1,084,781 dollars and 30 
 cents. Surely such a sale cannot be binding on the State of 
 Mississippi. The faith of this State was pledged for the payment 
 of those bonds only on one condition, that they were not sold 
 at less than their par value. The State expected the full 
 amount of those bonds to be paid into the vaults of the Missis- 
 sippi Union Bank. If the full amount had been received, and 
 the currency in which they were made payable not have been 
 changed, the bank would have been better enabled to indemnify 
 the State. 
 
 It appears that the bonds were endorsed in blank by the 
 officers of the bank, and delivered to the commissioners charged 
 with the sale. Neither their power of attorney nor letter of 
 instructions authorised those gentlemen to fill up said endorse- 
 ment by making the bonds and coupons payable in pounds 
 sterling of Grreat Britain at the rate of four shillings and sixpence 
 to the dollar. If such a change had been made on the face of 
 the bonds after their execution and delivery to the bank, the 
 parties making the alteration would have been guilty of forgery, 
 and could have been immured in the penitentiary for the offence. 
 It will be no answer to the argument to allege that the endorse- 
 ment could only bind the Mississippi Union Bank. That insti- 
 tution has undertaken to pay both the principal and interest of 
 the bonds. If the bank is compelled to pay the ^1,084,784 30c. 
 for the loss sustained by the credit sale of the bonds and the 
 change in the currency in which they were made payable, her 
 means will be reduced that amount, and the risk of the State 
 
MISSISSIPPI UXIOX BA^'K BOM)S. 43 
 
 thus greatly increased. The State was willing to entrust her 
 credit to the bank on the con.liti'Mis prescribed in the charter. 
 The faith of this government Las never been pledged for the 
 illegal and fraudulent sale of t'ti 'se brnl-. 
 
 This is a constitutional governmen:. and all ::i officers take 
 an oath to support the constitution of the -Scate, and iahMoiiy 
 to discharge the duties of their resprvtive cic^s. Her c^ei 
 magistrate is required to take care that the Ii.^; "c-e tei::^iaiiy 
 executed. He would be recreant to his trast :.^d violate Ms 
 official oath were he to simer the laws of the j^d :•> be trejuple-a 
 upon and the constitution liisreiTirJed. 
 
 The contract for the sale of the State bonds sii^s tiat ihe 
 statutes of the State in relatio.n to the bot.is were Eiade a p&n 
 of the contract. The purchaser was well aware of the oinoitior^ 
 on which they were issued, and knew tL:.: the turchiir was 
 neither sanctioned by the ccnsritution and laws cf this "Tite 
 nor of Pennsylvania. The contract was guixanreM ct -::eB&zik 
 of the United States. The whole of the pTrrciii5e-:ii:ney iva^ 
 paid by that institution. The name of Mr. Biddle was merely 
 used in the contract as a device to get rotm.d that ch-.Tise in the 
 charter of the Bank of the United States which prohibits her 
 from dealing in State stocks. The currency in which the l>jn<is 
 were made payable was changed from dollars to pounds sierlirg 
 to give a false colouring to the transaction, and make it appear 
 that the bonds were sold at par value. The principle is tmi- 
 versal, that fratid vitiates all contracts. The commercial law of 
 this State relative to negotiable paper is different from that of 
 most other countries. The transfer of bonds and noters does not 
 prevent the drawer from setting up any defence against an 
 innocent purchaser which could be more available against the 
 original payee. 
 
 The State, therefore, denies all obligation to pay the bonds 
 held in trust by you, for the following reasons : — 
 
 1st. The bonds were sold on a credit. 
 
 2nd. The currency in which the bonds were made payaljle 
 was changed from ciu-rent money of the United States to pounds 
 sterling of Great Britain, at the rate of four shillings and six- 
 pence to the dollar. 
 
 3rd. The contract of the sale was fraudulent. 
 
44 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 4tli. The Bank of the United States was not authorised to 
 make the purchase. 
 
 5th. The bonds were sold at less than their par value, in vio- 
 lation of the charter of the bank. 
 
 The money paid for those bonds did not come into the State 
 Treasury. The officers of this government had no control over 
 its disbursement. The bonds were disposed of in August 1838 
 by collusion and fraud, in violation of the constitution and laws 
 of this State. The Mississippi Union Bank and the Bank of 
 the United States were parties to this unlawful transaction. 
 You have the endorsement of both of these institutions, and to 
 them you must look for payment. This State never will 
 pay the five millions of dollars of State bonds issued in June 
 1838, or any portion of the interest due, or to become due, 
 thereon. 
 
 When I ascertained, in January 1839, the terms on which 
 the bonds had been sold, I communicated the same by message 
 to the Legislature, and denounced the sale as illegal. At that 
 time only two millions of dollars had been paid on the bonds by 
 the Bank of the United States. By a proclamation I subse- 
 quently issued the sale of the second five millions of dollars of 
 State bonds delivered to the Mississippi Union Bank was pre- 
 vented ; I absolutely refused to execute the last five and a half 
 millions of dollars of State bonds demanded by that institution. 
 These decisive measures prevented the illegal disposal of ten 
 and a half millions of dollars of State bonds, and will convince 
 you that the government of this State never has countenanced 
 and cannot be made responsible for the fraudulent acts of the 
 Mississippi Union Bank. 
 
 I have forwarded to your address the journals of the legis- 
 lature of this State for the years 1840 and 1841. It will afford 
 me much pleasure to forward you such other documents as you 
 may desire. I am anxious that the bondholders should be pos- 
 sessed of all the facts in relation to the issuance and disposal of 
 the bonds held by them. Your great experience in commercial 
 affairs no doubt has made you familiar with the principle that 
 parties contract with reference to the law, and that, in a consti- 
 tutional and free government, every act of a public functionary 
 is merely an exercise of delegated power entrusted to him by 
 
MISSISSIPPI UNION BANK BONDS. 45 
 
 the people for a specific purpose, and that his acts are the 
 acts of the people only while within the powers conferred upon 
 
 him. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 A. Gr. McNtfTT. 
 Messrs. Hope & Co., Amsterdam, Holland. 
 
 Governor McNutt, in replying to Messrs. Hope & Co., seems 
 to have overlooked the fact that the Mississippi Union Bank was 
 established under a ' supplement ' to the original Act, which 
 nullified the terms of the charter, and therefore violated the 
 provisions of the constitution of the State of Mississippi. 
 
 Some eight or nine years after this correspondence took place 
 the following statement was furnished : — 
 
 ' The law which established the Mississippi Union Bank 
 ' originated in the House of Eepresentatives at the biennial 
 ' session of the Legislature in 1836 ; at the adjourned session, in 
 ' 1837, it was passed and approved by the Governor, "so far as 
 ' " the action of this Legislature is concerned." At the next 
 ' regular biennial session, in 1838, the bill again passed, received 
 ' the sanction of the Governor, and became a law on the 5th of 
 ' February, 1838. Ten days thereafter, a bill passed the Legis- 
 ' lature, and was approved by the Governor, which was entitled 
 ' " An Act supplementary to an Act to incorporate the sub- 
 ' " scribers to the Mississippi Union Bank." It was under this 
 ' supplemental act, which had not been submitted to the people, 
 ' and which had not been enacted by two successive legislatures, 
 ' that the bonds were issued, and the Union Bank came into 
 ' existence. So far from these bonds having been issued by the 
 ' authority conferred in the original charter of the Union Bank, 
 ' this supplemental act repealed the power of the Governor to 
 ' issue the bonds, according to the provisions and for the pur- 
 ' pose of the original law. If the people had agreed that the 
 ' Legislature might pledge the faith of the State, in the manner 
 ' and for the object which its discretion might select, the con- 
 ' ditions being changed would not affect the constitutional 
 ' question ; but if the conditions constituted an essential part 
 ' of the grant, those conditions could not be repealed without 
 ' carrying the grant with them. The grant, connected with 
 
46 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 ' other and incompatible conditions, would be a new and distinct 
 ' proposition. To show that such is the case in relation to the 
 ' Union Bank bonds, I will compare the original law, which, 
 ' after much deliberation and a reference to the people, passed 
 ' two successive legislatures, with the supplemental act, the 
 ' hasty creation of one. 
 
 ' The original law authorised the establishment of the Missis- 
 ' sippi Union Bank, with a capital of fifteen millions five 
 ' hundred thousand dollars, " to be obtained by the directors of 
 ' " the institution." 
 
 ' It provided for books of subscription to be opened, divided 
 ' the stock into small shares, and directed that none but owners 
 ' of real estate and citizens of the State should be stockholders. 
 ' Thus it was expected " to secure the loan of said fifteen 
 ' " millions five hundred thousand dollars," the capital stock of 
 ' the bank. 
 
 ' It further provided, " That, in order to facilitate the said 
 ' " Union Bank for the said loan of fifteen millions five 
 ' " hundred thousand dollars, the faith of this State be and is 
 ' " hereby pledged, both for the security of the capital and 
 ' " interest ; and that seven thousand five hundred bonds of 
 ' " two thousand dollars each," &c., " shall be signed by the 
 * " Grovernor of the State to the order of the Union Bank, 
 ' " countersigned," &c. 
 
 ' After guarding, with great care, against the allowance of 
 ' more stock to any subscriber than was amply secured by 
 ' mortgage, and requiring that each stockholder should " pay in 
 ' " cash," whenever required by the directors, ten per cent, upon 
 ' his stock, it further provided, " That after the closing of the 
 ' " books, and when it shall appear that at least five hundred 
 ' " thousand dollars shall have been subscribed and paid in on 
 ' " the original stock of the capital of said bank, the said 
 « " institution shall go into immediate operation." 
 
 ' It further provided, that when a board of directors, with a 
 ' president, should be organised, that the same should be notified 
 ' to the Governor of the State, "who will thereupon execute to 
 ' " the said bank, from time to time, bonds in amount propor- 
 ' " tioned to the sums subscribed, and secured to the satisfaction 
 ' " of the directors, as required by the ciiarter, until the whole 
 
MISSISSIPPI UNION BANK BONDS. 47 
 
 ' " amount of fifteen millions five hundred thousand dollars 
 ' " shall be furnished in bonds, as hereinbefore provided for." 
 
 ' The supplemental act provided, " That as soon as the books 
 ' " of subscription for stock in the said Mississippi Union Bank 
 ' " are opened, the Grovernor of this State is hereby authorised 
 ' " and required to subscribe for, in behalf of this State, fifty 
 ' " thousand shares of the stock of the original capital of the 
 ' " said bank ; the same to be paid for out of the proceeds of 
 ' " the State bonds, to be executed to the said bank as already 
 ' " provided for in the said charter." 
 
 ' Under this supplemental act the bonds were issued. Will 
 ' any candid intelligent mind fail to perceive that it was not by 
 ' the authority of the original law, but in violation of its most 
 ' important provisions, and in direct contravention to the pro- 
 ' hibition of the constitution which I have quoted ? By the law 
 • which received, in the constitutional mode, the assent of the 
 ' people, the faith of the State was to be pledged to facilitate a 
 ' loan to the Union Bank ; by the supplemental act, bonds of 
 ' the State were to be issued in payment for bank stock. By 
 ' the original law, the State was to be secured by bonds and 
 ' mortgages on real and personal estate before any liability 
 ' should be incurred ; by the supplement, the State was to 
 ' become liable for five millions of dollars, without any security 
 ' whatever, unless the stock for which she became a subscriber 
 ' be so considered. 
 
 ' The Legislature was authorised to pledge the faith of the 
 
 ' State for a specific purpose, and under certain enumerated 
 
 ' conditions. Could the authority so given be used for a totally 
 
 ' different purpose, and without the fulfillment of the con- 
 
 ' ditions? If not, then the supplemental act, and the bonds 
 
 « issued under it, impose no legal obligation upon the State 
 
 ' As an independent act, by which the faith of the State was to 
 
 ' be pledged, it was necessary that this supplement should be 
 
 • passed by the Legislature -the yeas and nays entered on the 
 
 journal-then be referred to the people by publication in 
 
 three newspapers of the State, and be again passed by the 
 
 next succeeding Legislature, before it could become a law. 
 
 Ihese constitutional requirements were not complied with, and 
 
 ' therefore we have held that the supplemental act, so far as 
 
48 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 ' it assumed to pledge the faith of the State, was, from the 
 ' beginning, constitutionally void.' 
 
 It was bad enough in the officers of the Bank of the United 
 States to part with the bonds, even as collateral security, after 
 the notification of Governor McNutt ; but it is ' passing strange' 
 that Messrs. Hope & Co., and their constituents, the Messrs. 
 Eothschilds and others, should likewise transfer them to inno- 
 cent (?) holders. But these 'innocent holders,' as the dates 
 make manifest, were aware of their worthlessness at the time 
 they received them. The real sufferers were the stockholders 
 of the Bank of the United States at Philadelphia, whose own 
 agents had committed the fraud. 
 
 The persons who received the Union Bank bonds made largely 
 by the transaction ; the other American State stocks held by 
 them having risen rapidly in value, sold for more in the market 
 than the amount of the original debt. The par figures of the 
 State securities lodged in the hands of Hope & Co. against the 
 loan of £800,000 amounted to ^14,450,506^^0 
 
 ' The Times ' of December 4, 1839, publishes a statement of 
 the affairs of the Bank of the United States, furnished to the 
 Legislature of Pennsylvania the preceding January. Among 
 the list of assets is the item ' Mississippi bonds, ^^7,000,000.' 
 As the Union Bank bonds amounted to but ,^5,000,000, it 
 follows that the sum was made up by the ,^2,000,000 issued 
 to the Planters' Bank, which institution was likewise intimately 
 connected with Mr. Biddle's bank and the cotton transactions. 
 Since the date mentioned there has not been a market for 
 these bonds. It is quite clear, therefore, that the stockholders 
 of the Bank of the United States — the 'widows and orphans' 
 of Philadelphia — were also the actual losers by .this transaction. 
 
49 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE PRESENT STATE OF THE TRADE-THE GROWTH OF COTTON 
 IN THE WORLD. 
 
 In addition to the very large stocks of cotton and cotton 
 goods, at the various consuming points in the early part of 1861, 
 the exclusion of 8,000,000 of customers from European and 
 North American markets, by reason of the blockade of the 
 Southern ports, has made the retention of the crops of the Con- 
 federate States less inconvenient to the outer world than would 
 otherwise have been the case. The people of the South have, 
 since May 1, 1861, depended almost entirely on the production 
 of their own mills for all descriptions of ' dry goods,' and have 
 used their leading staple for almost every conceivable purpose. 
 The quantity which they have thus disposed of, up to Sep- 
 tember 1 next, will be equivalent to at least 1,500,000 bales. The 
 following estimate may, therefore, be received as approximating 
 very nearly to the amount of cotton that may be expected on 
 hand at the commencement of the next commercial year : — 
 
 Crop 0/1860 remaining over on September 1, 1861. 
 
 Bales 
 
 At the Ports, including 300 bales new crop .... 37,574 
 
 In the interior towns 6 200 
 
 On the plantations 25 000 
 
 68,774 
 
 Crop of 1861 3,500,000 
 
 „ 1862 1,000,000 
 
 „ 1863 800,000 
 
 5,300,000 
 
 5,368,774 
 
 Bales 
 
 Destroyed and damaged equal to . . . 1,350,000 
 Exported, eluded the blockade and taken by the 
 
 Yankees _ . . 150,000 
 
 Consumed 1,500,000 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 Estimated stock in the Confederacy on September 1, 1863 . 2,368,774 
 
 E 
 
50 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 Of this quantity, however, it is not likely (assuming the 
 advent of peace this summer) that more than 1,500,000 bales 
 can be sent to market prior to the close of the shipping season 
 in 1864, in consequence of the absence of the proper inland 
 transportation facilities, the operations of the war having so 
 deranged the steamboat, railroad, and wagon communications, 
 that very many months must elapse before they can be restored 
 to their former efficiency. 700,000 bales, at least, will be 
 required for consumption in the American States, North 
 and South, leaving 800,000 bales for exportation to foreign 
 countries, against 3,127,568 bales shipped during the season 
 which closed August 31, 1861, and which were distributed 
 as follows : — 
 
 Bales 
 
 Great Britain 2,175,225 
 
 France . . 578,063 
 
 North of Europe 216,250 
 
 Other Foreign Ports 158,030 
 
 3,127,568 
 
 (These figures do not include that consumed in the Northern 
 States, which will in future be classed as ' Foreign Ports.') 
 
 The average annual consumption of American cotton, on both 
 sides of the Atlantic, for the ten years preceding the discovery 
 of gold in California and Australia, was about 2,400,000 bales ; 
 since that epoch 3,000,000 bales have been required ; and it is 
 probable that the impetus that will be given to commerce by 
 the recurrence of peace may cause the demand in the next 
 decade to increase to 3,500,000 bales. The crops from 1851 to 
 1857, inclusive, averaged 3,090,943 bales each year, or just 
 equal to the wants of the world, while those of 1858, 1859, 
 and 1860, yielded an average of 4,059,112 bales per annum, 
 showing an excess of 3,000,000 bales at the breaking out of 
 the war, most of which had been converted into manufactured 
 goods, there having been an increase within those three years 
 in the spinning force of Europe and America of about thirty 
 per cent., which gave a fictitious, not an actual, consumption to 
 the extra production. This was evidenced by the enormous 
 quantities of ' dry goods ' at all the chief markets, particularly 
 those of India and China, the large profits on a few small 
 invoices that reached their ports at the close of the wars in 
 
PKESEJfT STATE OF THE TRADE. 51 
 
 which they had been engaged having stimulated excessive ship- 
 ments thereto, which business acted favourably for a time upon 
 the home trade, and for a while increased the exports, but sub- 
 sequently lessened them, as far as quantity was concerned, 
 although the value, according to the Board of Trade tables, 
 was not so greatly diminished, the enhanced price keeping up 
 the amount. With this exception, nothing whatever happened 
 to augment the demand ; in fact, the commercial panic that 
 occurred in the latter part of 1857, if it effected any change, 
 caused considerable economy in the use of cotton goods for the 
 several succeeding years. In ordinary times there is always 
 two years' supply of cottons in the crude and manufactured 
 state at the consuming points ; at the fall of Fort Sumter there 
 was a sufficiency for three years' requirements. And hence 
 European, as well as American, statesmen, who were imfamiliar 
 with the details of the trade, made an error in thinking that 
 the war would at once bring about a cotton famine. Articles 
 of commerce that are used for food are rarely carried over the 
 year of their growth, owing to their perishable nature, while 
 the materials for clothing— cotton, wool, silk, flax, &c.— can, 
 either in their raw or finished condition, be kept for an indefinite 
 time without deterioration in quality. Capital thus becomes 
 invested in them, and stocks accumulate. When money is 
 ' easy,' cotton is firm; when money is ' tight,' cotton is weak. 
 Short crops of wheat will at once create an additional demand 
 for foreign grain ; but not so with cotton or other products of a 
 like character, which of course are depreciated in value by a 
 breadstuffs scarcity causing large sums of money to be sent 
 abroad to purchase, or rather to meet the drafts valued against 
 the importations of grain. The idea now enteri;ained by many 
 of these statesmen, ' that the world having got along pretty well 
 ' so far without the usual supply of American cottons coming to 
 ' hand, indicates that other nations are not so dependent on the 
 ' Confederate States as was supposed,' is equally fallacious. Only 
 a portion of the three years has transpired; yet cotton is selling 
 at Liverpool at 'three prices,' or famine rates. What, then 
 must be Its value a few months hence ? Surely the warehouses 
 will not be permitted to be exhausted of the raw material and 
 manufactured article before an effort be made to obtain the 
 
 IS 2 
 
52 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 1,000,000 bales that could be afforded by the Cotton States 
 within the next twelve months, and which is not much over 
 one-third of a supply for all Europe, even when there are the 
 usual stocks of cotton and cotton fabrics, and allowing for the 
 quantities received from other quarters. Nor could prices, 
 in the event of that number of bales coming to hand, recede 
 much, if at all, as a large portion of the cotton, and of which 
 the earliest shipments would be composed, is already mortgaged 
 to the holders of the Confederate loans, who, it is expected, 
 will not be very pressing sellers. In addition, the breaking or 
 the abolishing of the blockade would at once give Great Britain 
 8,000,000 more customers for her textile fabrics, as well as 
 other manufactures, than she has at the present time, without 
 lessening the portion of cotton, 700,000 bales, above men- 
 tioned as the consumption in the American States; 150,000 or 
 200,000 bales are always required in the South, and the opera- 
 tion of the almost prohibitory Federal tariff will draw into the 
 Northern States, at the lowest estimate, 600,000 bales of the 
 raw material. It is difficult, however, to perceive what the 
 North will have to exchange for this vast amount of produce 
 when the South purchases direct from Europe. But the North 
 must have the cotton to clothe the people. The consumption 
 of cotton in the American States with the old and more mode- 
 rate tariff, was, in the last year of the Union, 843,740 bales. 
 Under the most favourable circumstances no cotton of any 
 moment can be received in Europe from America before next 
 November ; and, allowing two months for its fabrication, the 
 demand for goods during the whole of the current year will 
 have to be met from the present scanty •stocks, the limited 
 quantities of cotton that may be shipped, and the trifling 
 amount that will be imported from other quarters. 
 
 The usual importations of cotton into Great Britain are 80 
 per cent, of American, and 20 per cent, of other sorts ; but, as 
 the exports from hence to the continent are principally of 
 ' other sorts,' there remains 85 per cent, of American, to make 
 what are known as British fabrics, of which, up to the present 
 time, there has been an adequate reserve. After two years of 
 'agitation' on the subject, an increased supply of the raw 
 material beyond what is induced by high quotations, does not 
 
PEESENT STATE OF THE TRADE. 53 
 
 reach these shores from other countries, and even that which 
 has been despatched will not more than compensate, as will be 
 discovered, for the great waste of cotton for war purposes in the 
 Federal States. It hardly remains to be tested whether these 
 'outside* productions will ever take the place of American 
 cottons ; they may answer very well for certain kinds of goods 
 manufactured for the home demand : but it must be remembered 
 that the great export trade of England is in other descriptions 
 of fabrics. ' A silk purse cannot be made out of a sow's ear ; ' 
 no more can India ever be capable of superseding the Southern 
 States of America in quality of cotton, to say nothing of price. 
 And the same remark applies to Algeria, and other localities 
 where cotton cultivation has been tried over and over again in 
 vain, unless, by some freak of nature, the peculiar climate — 
 influenced by the Gulf-stream, and other advantages possessed 
 by the States for the culture of their principal staple (among 
 which is their excellent system of slavery, which if discontinued 
 would ruin them, and England too) — be transferred to those 
 countries, as well as the return commerce and general ramifica- 
 tions of trade upon which exchanges depend, and which ever 
 tend to lessen the cost of raw materials at the points when 
 they are needed. The truth is, that the more American cotton 
 manufactured in England, the greater will be the necessity for 
 Surat cotton, and the less American cotton that is passed through 
 British looms (the present is an exceptional period), the smaller 
 will be the quantity of Surat taken. And, in the event of the 
 total cessation of the American cotton trade, India might begin 
 to resume her former occupation of supplying the world with 
 cotton goods, or, what is more likely, her system of labour would 
 become so shipwrecked and deranged as to interfere with her 
 prosperity and entail great loss upon the people of this country, 
 who have invested their capital largely in that part of the globe. 
 Her people are not idlers, and they have various occupations 
 other than that of raising cotton. The general trade of India is 
 steadily on the increase, as will be observed by the following table, 
 which cleariy demonstrates that the British commerce with that 
 region is indirectly assisted through the agency of American 
 cottons : — 
 
54 
 
 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 Statement of Exports of ■principal products from India for the 
 years 1850-51 and 1860-61. 
 
 Cotton 
 
 Grain 
 
 Drugs 
 
 Coffee 
 
 Jute 
 
 Saltpetre 
 
 Raw Silk 
 
 Seeds 
 
 Wool 
 
 Tea . 
 
 Gross Merchandise 
 
 1860-51 
 
 1860-61 
 
 £3,474,789 
 
 £7,342,167 
 
 752,295 
 
 3,350,877 
 
 19,502 
 
 46,239 
 
 100,509 
 
 337,436 
 
 196,936 
 
 400,372 
 
 375,632 
 
 661,772 
 
 619,319 
 
 1,036,728 
 
 339,514 
 
 1,785,527 
 
 68,335 
 
 478,188 
 
 nil 
 
 151,982 
 
 £5,946,831 
 
 £15,599,288 
 
 To the minds of many persons, it is quite clear that the 
 people of England must consent to abandon the cotton trade, 
 or again turn their eyes westward for supplies. An argument 
 has recently been brought forward, however, that Grreat Britain 
 might be better oif without the industrial pursuits of Lanca- 
 shire and other districts having similar occupations, or, at least, 
 that their advantage to the country has been greatly exagge- 
 rated ; and this theory its advocates attempt to substan- 
 tiate by referring to the large Governmental ' returns ' since 
 the trade became diminished. They omit to take into con- 
 sideration that the people of this country held three years' 
 supply of American cotton, and goods and yarns made there- 
 from, at home and abroad, which had been ' laid in ' at a rate of 
 under sevenpence per pound, and that for the last two years that 
 accumulation has been ' dealt out ' to meet the demand at un- 
 precedented profits : thus constituting an equivalent to a most 
 gigantic monopoly. It will be remembered that in April, May, 
 and June, 1861, many of the exporters of Manchester goods 
 were compelled to suspend payment by reason of their inability 
 to dispose of their shipments except at ruinous sacrifices, while 
 others were on the verge of bankruptcy; the 'time' granted 
 by the creditors of the houses that had failed gave them an 
 opportunity to take advantage of tl^ rise in prices, and they 
 sold out at handsome profits. They thereby were not only able 
 
PKESElfT STATE OF THE TKADE. 55 
 
 to resume payment, but found themselves in possession of a 
 large surplus; whereas, had the Southern crop of 1861— 
 3,500,000 bales— been let loose, such a further reduction in the 
 value of their merchandise would have ensued as to have 
 caused their hopeless downfall, and a universal distress, of a 
 different character from that which is existing, would have pre- 
 vailed in all the manufacturing districts, sensibly affecting the 
 whole commercial and financial interests of the kingdom. John 
 Bull has, in fact, the past twenty-four months, been receiving 
 extra large earnings from his manufacturing horse, fed upon the 
 old supply of provender ; but the animal cannot continue to 
 work much longer for his master unless a new feed-bill be 
 contracted. The millions of pounds sterling that have been 
 expended in England and Scotland for war supplies, and which 
 cannot be considered a permanent trade, have also assisted in 
 augmenting the ' returns.' Freer trade with France has, like- 
 wise, added to the general favourable result. 
 
 This statement of the quantity of cotton in the South has 
 been made up from the most reliable sources of information ; 
 and, although the figures presented are smaller than any hitherto 
 published, it in no manner diminishes the resources of the Con- 
 federate States — on the contrary, it augments their wealth, as 
 2,300,000 bales will, at the larger price and lesser expenditure, 
 net more money to the planters than would the proceeds of 
 double that quantity, the more particularly so now, from the 
 reason that, when the Southern crops do come forward, they 
 will, for the first time in the history of the trade, meet a de- 
 mand for manufactured goods which must necessarily be for 
 very many months far in advance of the supply of the raw 
 material. It will take three or four years of large crops before 
 the quotations can again resume anything like their former 
 level. Besides the great and healthy demand for goods and 
 yams that must certainly spring up after a restoration of peace, 
 the warehouses will again begin to call for their accustomed 
 stocks. The capital withdrawn from the cotton trade since the 
 beginning of the war, and the profits earned by the rise in 
 prices, have been the means of founding many joint-stock banks 
 and financial associations ; and as these funds are not intended 
 to remain in the vaults of those institutions, they will eventually 
 
56 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 pass through the * new sieves ' only to reach their old and 
 natural channels. In short, the capital released from the cotton 
 trade in consequence of the American war, with the profits on 
 the stocks of the raw material, goods, and yarns on hand at the 
 commencement of hostilities, added to the beneficial action of 
 freer trade with France, and the American demand for war 
 supplies, have kept the British money market ' easy ' during 
 the last two years, notwithstanding thirty millions sterling has 
 been paid for grain within that time, beyond the usual cost 
 to the country for food, to say nothing of the large amount of 
 foreign loans placed in Lombard Street. 
 
 The whole cotton question, after all, depends upon the pro- 
 duction of the American States. That grown in India, China, 
 Brazil, Turkey, Egypt, &c., it is hardly worth while to consider, 
 for each and all of those countries import more cotton in the 
 shape of goods and yarns than they export of the raw material, 
 thereby showing that they do not raise enough for their own 
 wants. The crops of America have more than compensated for 
 their deficiencies, and enabled their peoples to apply themselves 
 to other pursuits. If the trade was in its usual state of vigour, 
 there would be in the hands of all classes between the planter 
 and consumer throughout the globe, on the 1st of September, 
 1863, two years' supply of cotton and cotton goods — equivalent 
 to 6,000,000 bales — liesides the crop for another year's demand 
 — 3,000,000 bales — in readiness to come forward, making a 
 total of 9,000,000 bales of American cotton. The reader can 
 easily estimate how small a proportion of that quantity will 
 be in existence at that date, and make his calculations 
 accordingly. 
 
 Allusion has already been made to the fact, that cotton ship- 
 ments from India had increased somewhat in consequence of 
 the high prices ruling in Europe. It may be remarked that the 
 extra quantity does not more than balance the portions of the 
 excessive productions of America in 1858, 1859, and 1860, 
 which had reached that country in the manufactured state, as 
 it will be remembered that British exports had been continued 
 on a moderate scale to India, in anticipation of a rise in quota- 
 tions, and in order to avoid sales at home — the value of goods 
 not responding at once to that of the raw material. Even in 
 
PEESENT STATE OF THE TR.VDE. o7 
 
 1862, the shipments thither in weight of goods luid y;\ni.s 
 allowing for waste in the manufacture, were equivalent to the 
 importations thence of cotton in ISJQ, and not far short of 
 those of 1860. Of course, high prices iu Eughmd will induce 
 exports of cotton from India, and lessen the stocks there until 
 they are reduced to a minimum point, which result may not be 
 far distant. It must not be forgotten that India, unlike the 
 Southern Confederacy, is a manufacturing country a5 well a.^ 
 a producing country, and consequently ha* always been in the 
 habit of keeping stocks on hand, while the South has had no 
 occasion to do so, but has ever parted with her entire crops fi5 
 rapidly as they could be carried to market. 
 
 Some very exaggerated ideas exist in reference to the extent 
 of cotton grown in India. In a letter from Manchester pub- 
 lished in ' The Times ' on July 7, 1862, will be found the foUtw- 
 ing remarks : — ' Your correspondent " an old Indian " endorses 
 my statement that India annually produces 6,000,000 bales of 
 cotton, and quotes Dr. J. Forbes Watson as his authori^, than 
 whom no one is more competent to form an opinion : and yet 
 in the face of this the merchants of Bombay state that they will 
 not be able to furnish us with a quantity equal to what they 
 sent us last year, viz. 986,290 bales. What, then, becomes of 
 the other 5,000,000 bales ? ' The answer is that the vast popu- 
 lation of India requires the remainder, whatever it may be, for 
 clothing purposes, notwithstanding their large importation of 
 British manufactures. It is no't possible, however, that over one- 
 third the quantity named is grown in India, as will be seen by the 
 subjoined estimate of the entire consumption of the world. 
 Cotton is not cultivated for amusement in India, or anywhere 
 else, but for use; and the erroneous statements in reference 
 thereto have, no doubt, been caused by the recent augmented 
 exports, the high prices attracting the old stocks from the interior. 
 Few persons take into consideration that India is frequently very 
 short of food, and never has a surplus. In 1840, about half a 
 million of her inhabitants perished from starvation and its at- 
 tendant diseases; the same was the case in 1861, and nearly 
 every year there is a partial famine. Iijdia, unlike America, 
 has no wide extent of fertile country with great rivers, affording 
 a natural means of conveying the produce to the consuming 
 
5S THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 points.* The truth is that the vast emigration from Europe to 
 the American States has been the cause, indirectly, of the extra- 
 ordinary increase in their cotton crops, the agricultural labour of 
 the West having thus supplied the East, thereby releasing a 
 certain portion of the plantation labour of the South for the pro- 
 duction of cotton, which would otherwise have been engaged in 
 raising food. This is strikingly manifested by the enormous 
 cotton yield of 1859 : in that year, the low prices for grain 
 in the North-west induced the people of the South to purchase 
 largely from that section of country. Indeed, while some of the 
 Southern States were exporting their grain and provisions to the 
 North, others were receiving supplies from the West. The food- 
 resources of the South, notwithstanding the smaller population, 
 are, however, greater than those of the North and West com- 
 bined.! 
 
 • Since this was written, a pamphlet has appeared from Mr. Samuel 
 Smith, a Liverpool gentleman, who has just returned from India, on page 12 
 of which will be found the subjoined remarks : — 
 
 ' Cotton in most parts of India ia cultivated in rotation with other crops, 
 and is seldom looked upon as the mainstay of the ryot, but only as a subor- 
 dinate product. The great staple of cultivation everywhere is breadstuffs in 
 some shape or another. The holdings of the ryota are extremely small, and 
 it haa been the custom from time immemorial for each individual to raise 
 sufficient food for his own family. In addition to this, he may grow a little 
 plot of cotton yielding on the average one or two bales. But the ryot will 
 not neglect the raising of food for the sake of cotton, however high its price 
 may be. No surplus stocka of grain are available to meet an emergency of 
 this kind ; the internal commerce of India is still in the crudest possible 
 shape ; no such thing exists as large districts devoted to special branches of 
 agriculture, and di'awing their supplies of food from others : the rule, speaking 
 generally, all over India is for each locality to raise its own .supplies of food, 
 and for each separate cultivator to do the same for himself. So ti'ue is this 
 that, if the grain crops fail in any one region, a famine ensues, and people 
 perish by thousands, even though the rest of India is imaffected. During 
 the famine in the North-west provinces two years ago, half a million of 
 people are said to have died from starvation, while in most of India the 
 crops were not deficient ; but so wretched were the means of internal com- 
 munication, and 80 little was the trade in breadstuffs organised, that supplies 
 coidd not be thrown into the famished districts in time to avert this awful 
 calamity. It is not, then, to be wondered that the natives are reluctant to 
 diminish their food crops in order to turn their land into cotton.' 
 
 f See article on Wheat trade, p. 133. 
 
PEESBNT STATE OF THE TEADB. 
 
 59 
 
 Consumption of Cotton in Machine Goods, 1860. 
 
 Population 
 
 France, 4 IbB. per head 37,000,000 
 
 Great Britain and Ireland, 9 lbs. per head . 29,000,000 
 Rest of Europe, average 1 lb. per head . _ . 210,000,000 
 Asia, including islands ; Australia, including 
 islands; Polynesia and Egypt, 1 lb. per hd. 
 Federal and Confederate States, 12 lbs. per hd. 
 Rest of America, 1 lb. per head . 
 
 770,000,000 
 31,000,000 
 89,000,000 
 
 Pounds 
 
 148,000,000 
 261,000,000 
 210,000,000 
 
 770,000,000 
 
 372,000,000 
 
 39,000,000 
 
 1,116,000,000 1,800,000,000 
 The average consumption in Europe is given : In Turkey and 
 Germany 3 lbs. per head are used, but in many places 
 there is none whatever ; in fact, out of the 1,116,000,000 
 of people, only 600,000,000 wear cotton. 
 Add that manufactured by hand, and stocks held over in 
 various places in the world, exclusive of the interior of 
 Afiica 600,000,000 
 
 Total 
 
 2,400,000,000 
 
 Contributed by the following countries : — 
 
 Pounds 
 
 36,000,000 
 
 8,000,000 
 
 34,000,000 
 
 35,000,000 
 
 450,000,000 
 
 Brazil 
 
 West Indies 
 
 Esypt 
 
 Rest of Africa 
 
 India . 
 
 Rest of Asia 
 
 Mexico and South America, except Brazil 
 
 Confederate States .... 
 
 1.30,000,000 
 
 57,000,000 
 
 1,650,000,000 
 
 2,400,000,000 
 
 An examination concerning the kinds of wearing apparel, 
 as well as general habits of the various nations, and taking 
 into consideration their climate, will show that this state- 
 ment is as near exactness as it is possible to reach.* It will 
 be seen that the Confederate States in 1860 supplied more 
 
 ' Mr. Smith says : ' It still appears to me probable that the native con- 
 sumption of cotton in India could never have exceeded one million of bales, 
 and the total amount grovro never equalled two millions. It may be added 
 further, in explanation of this opinion, that the amount of clothing used by 
 the population of India is incredibly small according to the European 
 standard ; vast numbers of the people wear nothing but a narrow strip of 
 calico round their loins and a turban on their head, and the great majority 
 of the little children all over the country go perfectly naked.' 
 
60 
 
 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 than two-thirds the quantity of cotton, and over three-fourths 
 that which entered the arena of commerce. In all the state- 
 ments of the stocks of cotton emanating from mercantile 
 sources, and otherwise furnished, no allowance is ever made for 
 the portion on hand in the manufactured state, and it is for this 
 reason that many errors as to the course of the markets have 
 been committed. The proper manner of giving correct infor- 
 mation on the subject is to reduce the goods to pounds weight, 
 allowing for the loss in the fabrication, just on the same prin- 
 ciple that the statistics of breadstuffs — wheat and flour — are 
 presented to the reader as so many bushels or quarters of 
 grain. 
 
 The statement is verified by the quantity of cotton used by the 
 manufactures in Europe and America, namely, 1,800,000,000 
 pounds. The American manufacturers return the gross weight of 
 the bales, the bagging of which is about equal to the number 
 of pounds of machine goods made in other parts of the world, 
 not enumerated in the following table : — 
 
 Cotton Manufactures of Europe and America, 18C0. 
 
 Great Britain 
 
 No. ol 
 factories 
 
 Hands employed 
 
 Spindles 
 
 Pounds of cotton 
 iised 
 
 3,046 
 
 650,000 
 
 21,000,000 
 
 990,000,000 
 
 France 
 
 2,600 
 
 274,830 
 
 5,500,000 
 
 140,000,000 
 
 Switzerland 
 
 132 
 
 51,908 
 
 1,112,303 
 
 30,000,000 
 
 ZoUverein . 
 
 208 
 
 110,190 
 
 2,018,536 
 
 65,000,000 
 
 Austria 
 
 99 
 
 82,010 
 
 655,000 
 
 25,000,000 
 
 Belgium 
 
 28 
 
 28,000 
 
 510,000 
 
 31,000,000 
 
 Lombardy . 
 
 33 
 
 29,000 
 
 140,000 
 
 10,000,000 
 
 Sardinia 
 
 17 
 
 14,000 
 
 210,000 
 
 17,000,000 
 
 Russia 
 
 55 
 
 60,000 
 
 1,100,000 
 
 65,281,000 
 
 United States . 
 
 90 
 
 101,000 
 
 6,000,000 
 
 426,719,000 
 
 6,308 
 
 1,350,938 
 
 38,245,839 
 
 1,800,000,000 
 
 The following is an estimate, in millions of pounds at the 
 dates named, of the 
 
GROWTH OP COTTON IN THE WORLD. 
 
 61 
 
 Growth of Cotton in the World. 
 
 Brazil . 
 
 1791 
 
 1801 
 
 1811 
 
 1821 
 
 1831 
 
 1841 
 
 1851 
 
 1861 
 
 oo 
 
 36 
 
 35 
 
 32 
 
 38 
 
 30 
 
 40 
 
 36 
 
 W.Indies . 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 Egypt . 
 Rest of Africa 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 18 
 
 25 
 
 30 
 
 Si 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 44 
 
 40 
 
 36 
 
 34 
 
 .34 
 
 35 
 
 India . 
 
 130 
 
 160 
 
 170 
 
 175 
 
 180 
 
 185 
 
 210 
 
 450 
 
 Rest of Asia 
 
 190 
 
 160 
 
 146 
 
 135 
 
 115 
 
 110 
 
 120 
 
 132 i 
 
 Mexico and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S. America, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 except Brazi] 
 
 68 
 
 56 
 
 57 
 
 44 
 
 35 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 0, 
 
 Elsewhere . 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 11 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 100 
 
 S. States . 
 
 2 
 
 48 
 
 80 
 
 180 
 
 385 
 
 654 
 
 990 
 
 1,650 
 
 469 
 
 531 
 
 556 
 
 630 
 
 820 
 
 1,094 
 
 1,482 
 
 2,.500 
 
 Average production and consumption of Cotton which entered into the 
 Channels of Commerce 1825 to 1860 (in hales). 
 
 Prodaction in bales Consnmptioii in bale= 
 
 Averag'e, 1825 to 1830 
 „ 1830 to 1836 
 „ 1835 to 1840 
 „ 1840 to 1845 
 „ 1845 to 1850 
 „ 1850 to 1855 
 1855 to 1860 
 
 Deduct consumption 
 
 per annimi 
 
 . 1,431,000 
 
 . 1,800,000 
 
 . 2,319,000 
 
 . 3,061,000 
 
 . 3,591,000 
 
 . 4,248,000 
 
 . 5,000,000 
 
 21,450,000 
 . 20,750,000 
 
 per aim nm 
 
 1.487,000 
 1,990,000 
 2,443,000 
 2,914,000 
 3,316,000 
 4,000,000 
 4,700,000 
 
 20,750,000 
 
 0^«^^"« 700,000x6=3,500,000 bales, 
 
 a large part of which had been converted into goods and yams. 
 
 In 1825, the stocks of cotton and cotton goods and yams in 
 existence must have been equivalent to about 4,000,000 bales, 
 which added to the above overplus, 3,500,000 bales, make^ 
 7,500,000 bales ; the unconsumed portion of the crops of 
 1861 amounted no doubt to 1,500,000 bales, making a gmnd 
 excess of about 9,000,000 bales of the raw material and 
 manufactured articles on hand at the breaking out of the 
 American war, not including that which never appears in the 
 markete, some of which, as already explained, has been attracted 
 from the mterior of India by high quotations. With the small 
 crops m the Southern States in 1862 and 1863, and the large 
 
C2 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 portion of their crop of 1861 destroyed and wasted, there must 
 necessarily be at the present time a much less amount of 
 cotton in the world in every shape, taking into consideration 
 the consuming population, than at any period since the trade 
 was established. 
 
 A perusal of the foregoing tables cannot fail to satisfy the 
 most sceptical reader that it is useless to rely on India as a 
 locality to occupy the place of the American States in the 
 production of cotton. In order to accomplish such a result, 
 the climate, the system of labour, the whole course of trade, 
 would have to be revolutionised. As to the superior cheapness 
 of Hindoo labour, which is so often urged in favour of the 
 opposite idea, it may be stated that one well-fed negro slave 
 comfortably cared for — and the African is unfit for service in 
 any other condition than that of bondage- — managed by the 
 intelligence of the American planters, will do more effectual 
 work, with greater ease to himself, than five uncertain Hindoos, 
 with their poor diet, and still poorer agricultural skill, inde- 
 pendent of the extreme vicissitudes of their parching climate. 
 The negro flourishes in the Cotton States of America ; the 
 climate agrees with him, and he with the climate — in fact, he 
 is the happiest ' labourer ' on the face of the globe, and in the 
 best condition of any of his race since the days of Noah. 
 
 In the calculation made concerning the consumption of 
 cotton, about two pounds per head for the aggregate popu- 
 lation have been allowed for that used in the interior of 
 Asia, South America, and Mexico. This will be found a 
 high average, as that in Europe, with the exception of Grreat 
 Britain, Ireland, and France, is but one pound per head, 
 and in this average is included three pounds per head for that 
 used in Turkey and Grermany, which are the next largest cotton- 
 consuming countries on this side of the Atlantic. In many 
 places no cotton whatever is worn. As the vast sums of 
 money now flowing back to India develope the resources of 
 that country under the careful management and control of the 
 British race, the demand for English manufactured goods 
 will greatly augment, and furnish occupation for the increased 
 slave-labour of the South. A market for the handiwork of 
 Britain may in time be opened up with the interior of Africa, 
 
GROWTH OP COTTON IN THE WORLD. 63 
 
 which will also take off a gi-eater number of pounds weight in 
 goods than it can possibly supply in the raw material. But 
 the idea entertained by some imaginative persons, that Africa 
 can be made to render Manchester independent of the South, is 
 altogether fallacious. In the tables no estimate has been given 
 of the quantity of cotton produced in the interior of that 
 country; when so much doubt exists as to the extent of its 
 population, it would be impossible to make a calculation of that 
 of production. Its population has been variously estimated at 
 from 60,000,000 to 200,000,000. Its growth of cotton, from 
 the known habits of the people, must be very limited, and 
 probably not equal to the quantity of wool, which serves as a 
 protection to the head of the negro from the vertical rays of 
 the sun of his own burning climate. It is not supposed 
 that the expansive custom of crinoline has been introduced 
 into Africa, but certain it is that the ' ladies ' indulge more in 
 the use of cotton than the ' gentlemen.' Dr. Livingstone, under 
 date of May 12, 1859, thus writes upon the subject, but he 
 does not throw much ' light ' upon so dark a matter : — 
 
 ' Cotton is cultivated largely, and the further we went the 
 ' crop appeared to be of the greater importance. The women 
 ' alone were well clothed with the produce, the men being 
 content with goat-skins and cloth made of bark of certain 
 ' trees. Everyone spins and weaves cotton. Even chiefs may 
 ' be seen with the spindle and bag, which serves as a distaff. 
 ' The process of manufacturing is one of the most rude that can 
 ' be conceived. The cotton goes through five processes with 
 ' the fingers before it comes to the loom. Time is no value. 
 ' They possess two varieties of the plant. One, indigenous, 
 ' yields cotton more like wool than that of other countries. It 
 ' is strong and feels rough in the hand. The other variety is 
 ' from imported seed, yielding a cotton that renders it unne- 
 ' cessary to furnish the people with American seed. A point in 
 ' the culture worth noticing is, the time of planting has been 
 • selected, so that the plants remain in the ground during 
 ' winter, and five months or so after sowing they come to 
 ' maturity, before the rains begin, or insects come forth to 
 ' damage the crop.' 
 
 The terms 'larger' and 'greater,' used by Dr. Livingstone, 
 
64 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 are very indefinite expressions, when applied to an area of 
 such vast extent as Africa, particularly when its population 
 requires but little clothing; and if it were possible that the 
 savage inhabitants of that country could so far compose their 
 intestine strifes, and so organise a system of labour for the 
 cultivation of the land, as to be able to raise and export a 
 sufficient quantity of cotton to affect the trade in any appreciable 
 degree, the inevitable result would be a demand on their part 
 for manufactured goods which would greatly outstrip their 
 production of the raw material. This is evidenced by the 
 experience in the trade with India and South America. The 
 demand for British manufactured cotton goods, which have to 
 be made chiefly out of American cotton, is always augmented by 
 the developement of the resources of new districts of country. 
 The Yankee charge, that the Southerners had placed an 
 embargo on the exportation of cotton, is false. The Con- 
 federate Congress, while interdicting an overland traffic with 
 the enemy, have given every facility to neutral commerce. 
 Had the export of cotton been prohibited, there would not have 
 been a single bale of the American staple in Europe for many 
 months past. In spite of the illegal and vexatious blockade, 
 the importations from Charleston and other ports have been 
 four or five times greater than are the present stocks of 
 American cotton in warehouse on this side of the Atlantic. 
 These shipments, with the quantity previously on hand, have 
 been the chief means of keeping the mills in partial operation, 
 and have paid for the supplies sent to the South. It cannot, 
 however, be expected that this business will continue, since the 
 seceded States are growing daily more independent of all kinds 
 of European manufactures. The Confederate Government 
 may, therefore, through political considerations, be shortly 
 induced to close their ports, except for the outlet of the pro- 
 duce hypothecated for the redemption of the 3,000,000Z. loan 
 contracted in Europe. 
 
65 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 BKITISH OPINIONS ON THE COTTON QUESTION PKIOE TO THE 
 DISSOLUTION OF THE AMEEICAN UNION. 
 
 Notwithstanding the importance of the subject, comparatively 
 little has been said recently in reference to the cotton question. 
 It may, therefore, be well to take a retrospective glance at the 
 views entertained in reference to the cotton supply before the 
 disruption in the American States. The following is a report of 
 the proceedings in the House of Lords, on January 27, 1860. 
 
 ' Lord Brougham, in rising to move, according to notice, for 
 ■ returns, relating to the importation of cotton, said he under- 
 ' stood there would be no objection on the part of the G-ovem- 
 ' ment to granting them. He thought it would be most satis- 
 ' factory to all to know, that since the repeal of the duty on 
 ' cotton there had been such an enormous increase in the im- 
 ' portation of cotton, from 63,000,000 lbs. to 1,024,000,000 lbs., 
 ' an increase of sixteenfold, and the importations from the 
 ' United States alone had risen from 23,000,000 lbs. to 
 ' 830,000,000 lbs., or an increase of thirty-twofold. This 
 ' enormous increase in the importation of cotton — so advan- 
 ' tageous to our manufacturers and the community generally — 
 ' had been accomplished at the trifling cost of 500,000^., which 
 ' was the amount of the duty on cotton previous to its re- 
 ' mission. He hoped the fact would be an encouragement to 
 ' us to repeal duties, without any regard to what was called the 
 'reciprocity system, but to repeal them simply because we 
 ' wished to get rid of the burden imposed upon us by those 
 ' duties. There were now no less than 480 articles upon which 
 ' excise or customs duties were levied, to the great discomfort 
 ' of trade, and the injury of those who dealt in those articles, 
 ' while the total product to the revenue was under 1,000,000J. ; 
 ' indeed, he believed it was only about 630,OOOL He rejoiced 
 • in the benefits which had resulted to the people of the United 
 
60 THE COTTON TEADB. 
 
 ' States from our repeal of tte duty on raw cotton ; but it 
 ' should not be forgotten that some of our own colonies pre- 
 ' sented great facilities for the growth of cotton, and he hoped 
 ' that in British Gruiana, Jamaica, and in Africa, every en- 
 ' couragement would be afforded by the Grovernment to the 
 ' cultivation of this most important material. Above all, he 
 ' trusted that a trade in cotton would be opened up on the 
 ' coast of Africa, in the districts explored by Dr. Livingstone, 
 ' for upon the high land of that country cotton to any amount, 
 
 * and of the best quality, might, with a slight encouragement, 
 ' be raised. He was told that a capital of 2O,O00L judiciously 
 ' directed there, would be sufficient to secure this very great 
 ' advantage ; and he did hope that if it were inexpedient for 
 ' the Grovernment to interfere in such matters, his wealthy 
 ' friends at Manchester and Liverpool would lend a hand to raise 
 ' that sum of money.' 
 
 After much vituperation against the Southern States Lord 
 Brougham was followed by the Bishop of Oxford, who said : — 
 ' That he had heard with the greatest satisfaction what had 
 
 * fallen from the noble lord. It was quite true that it was not 
 ' the custom of the British Grovernment to engage in direct 
 ' speculations to promote the trade in any article, but, with 
 
 * regard to the growth of cotton, the British Government had 
 ' rendered great assistance — namely, by making the highways of 
 ' the great continent of Africa, the rivers, accessible to English 
 ' merchants, so that cotton might be cultivated on each side of 
 ' them, and the traders have a safe passage up and down. The 
 ' difficulty which was experienced in other countries of obtain- 
 ' ing free labour to produce cotton did not exist in Africa, where 
 ' there was an abundant native population, whose cultivation of 
 ' cotton would be attended with the additional advantage of in- 
 ' troducing a wholesome and lawful commerce, which would 
 ' absolutely destroy the slave trade ; for the only way by which 
 ' that trade could be ultimately destroyed was by teaching the 
 ' African chiefs that the employment of their dependent people 
 ' m the production of the raw mMerial of cotton, would he 
 - more advantageous than the selling them into slavery for 
 ' transportation to other parts of the world. He, therefore, 
 ' earnestly trusted that the attention of the Grovernment would 
 
BEITISH OPINIONS ON THE COTTON QDESTION. 67 
 
 ' be directed to the maintenance and even to the increase of 
 ' efforts for opening the great rivers in Africa, especially the 
 ' Zambesi, the opening of which he believed the Government 
 ' was about to aid, and the Niger, which for years the Govem- 
 ' ment had assisted in opening. (Hear, hear.)' 
 
 Lord Overstone believed ' that a question of more importance 
 ' than that relating to the extension of the source for the supply 
 ' of the raw material of cotton could not be brought under the 
 ' consideration of the Legislature. (Hear, hear.) He had, there- 
 ' fore, heard with satisfaction the statement of lie noble duke, 
 ' that the attention of the Government was directed to this sub- 
 'ject, and that every encouragement consistent with sound 
 ' principles would be afforded to extend the supply of cotton. 
 ' (Hear, hear.) The noble and learned lord had staled that 
 ' within a short period the importation of cotton had multiplied 
 ' thirty-twofold in this country ; and when their lordships con- 
 ' sidered how extensive was the demand for cotton goo'is 
 ' throughout the world, they would at once perceive that it was 
 • a serious matter to have for the supply of the raw material 
 ' only a single source, Hable to be affected by the uncertainties 
 ' of cUmate, to say nothing of the obstacles which any unfor- 
 ' tunate state of political relations might raise up in the way of 
 ' our merchants applying to that source. (Hear, hear.) He 
 ' trusted that no efforts would be omitted by the people of this 
 ' country to promote every rational enterprise for the supply of 
 ' cotton in every quarter where it could be obtained, and that 
 ' all the encouragement which the Government could l^ti- 
 ' mately give would be afforded.' 
 
 Mr. KetteU, in commenting on this debate, truly remarks- 
 
 ^ The coolness with which the Bishop of Oxford states that 
 
 ^ cotton could be made by « free labour " if the « African chiefe 
 
 would emplcyy their dependent people," is amusing If 
 
 ^ instead of selHng the man, or eating him, he compeuS hirrl 
 
 to grow cotton the Bishop, it appears, would be satisfied with 
 
 the process of freedom. The discussion wa. narrowed down 
 
 to the hopes that Africa might grow cotton. If we reflect 
 
 ' 1 1 a:3'^ 1 °*'^^ -^*^^^^« ^- «l°t^-g increases rn^h 
 
 greater. The five chief materials for human clothing are 
 
 ? 2 
 
68 
 
 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 hemp, flax, silk, wool, and cotton. These have been imported 
 into England as follows : — 
 
 Imports of Raw Materials 
 
 for Textile Fabrics into Great Britain. 
 
 
 Hemp 
 
 Flax 
 
 SiO; 
 
 Wool 
 
 Total four 
 articles 
 
 Cotton 
 
 lbs. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 1835 . 
 
 72,352,200 
 
 81,916,100 
 
 4,027,649 
 
 41,718,514 
 
 160,014,463 
 
 326,407,692 
 
 1840 . 
 
 82,971,700 
 
 139,801,600 
 
 8,860,980 
 
 60,002,976 
 
 276,137,266 
 
 531,197,817 
 
 184S . 
 
 103,4,16,400 
 
 159,562,800 
 
 4,866,528 
 
 76.813,855 
 
 344,258,786 
 
 721,979,953 
 
 1850 . 
 
 119,462,100 
 
 204,928,900 
 
 6,411,934 
 
 74,326,778 
 
 404,137,912 
 
 714,502,000 
 
 1855 . 
 
 136,270,912 
 
 145,611,437 
 
 7,648,669 
 
 99,300,446 
 
 388,631,464 
 
 891,761,962 
 
 1856 . 
 
 142,618,525 
 
 189,792,112 
 
 8,236,685 
 
 116,211,892 
 
 466,863,714 
 
 1,023,886,304 
 
 1857 . 
 
 169,004,562 
 
 209,953,125 
 
 12,718,867 
 
 129,749,898 
 
 521,456,452 
 
 969,318,896 
 
 1858 . 
 
 184,316,000 
 
 144,439,332 
 
 6,685,845 
 
 127,216,973 
 
 462,608,150 
 
 1,076,519,800 
 
 1859 . 
 
 237,485,584 
 
 160,388,144 
 
 10,248,368 
 
 133,284,634 
 
 641,406,720 
 
 1.225,999,072 
 
 1860 . 
 
 177,490,840 
 
 164,058,720 
 
 9,402,982 
 
 148,396,677 
 
 499,358,119 
 
 1,390,938,762 
 
 1861 . 
 
 187,459,664 
 
 149,372,048 
 
 8,835,255 
 
 147,172,841 
 
 492,889,808 
 
 1,256,984,736 
 
 1862 . 
 
 210,513,072 
 
 201,415,202 
 
 10,434,850 
 
 171,943,472 
 
 594,306,696 
 
 623,973,296 
 
 Lord Brougham and Lord Overstone overlooked the fact, 
 that in order to cultivate cotton successfully not only a suitable 
 climate is required, but that the directing hand and system of 
 the white race, which is unobtainable in Africa, is also abso- 
 lutely indispensable ; as to the ' uncertainties of climate ' in the 
 Southern States, adverted to by the latter nobleman, for the pur- 
 pose of urging the importance of obtaining supplies elsewhere, 
 that argument completely falls to the ground upon an exa- 
 mination of the tables of the cotton crops of the Confederacy.* 
 These crops have ever been ample — in fact, of recent years 
 more than sufficient — for the supply of every demand. The 
 only vicissitudes to which they are liable are occasional frosts, 
 which but partially lessen the yield, and never spread over the 
 entire cotton region. Freed labour would not answer in those 
 States ; but, in a philanthropic point of view, the really unpre- 
 judiced and thoughtful European can have no trouble in select- 
 ing the South as his best source of supply, 'even if Nature gave 
 him the choice of any other. 
 
 ' The Times,' in alluding to the debate in the House of Lords, 
 makes the following remarks : — 
 
 ' The importation of cotton into this country has, since the 
 ' import duty was abolished, increased sixteenfold. Having 
 ' been 63,000,000 pounds, it is now 1,000,000,000 pounds. 
 
 * See table of Cotton Crops, p. 106. 
 
'BRITISH OPINIONS ON THE COTTON QUESTION. 
 
 69. 
 
 ' This is one of those giant facts which stand head and shoulders 
 ' higher than the crowd— so high and so broad that we can 
 ' neither overlook it nor affect not to see it. It proves the 
 ' existence of a thousand smaUer facts that must stand under 
 < its shadow. It tells of sixteen times as many mills, sixteea 
 ' times as many English families living by working those mills, 
 ' sixteen times as much profit derived from sixteen times as 
 ' much capital engaged in this manufacture. It carries after it 
 ' sequences of increased quantity of freights and insurances, 
 ' and necessities for sixteen times the amount of customers to 
 ' consume, to our profit, the immense amount of produce we 
 ' are turning out. There are not many such facts as these, 
 ' arising in the quiet routine of industrial history. It is so 
 ' large and so steady that we can steer our national policy by it; 
 ' it is so important to us, that we should be reduced to embar- 
 ' rassment if it were suddenly to disappear. It teaches us to 
 ' persevere in a policy which has produced so wonderful a result; 
 ' its beneficent operation makes it -essential to us to deal care- 
 ' fully with it now that we have got it. Some years ago an 
 ' island arose in the Mediterranean, and we were all discussing 
 
 * it, and quarrelling about it, and keeping up a brisk fire of 
 ' diplomatic notes over it, when one fine morning the disgusted 
 ' island suddenly went down again, and ships sent out to survey 
 ' it sailed over the site it had occupied. "We must not do any- 
 ' thing to disgust this huge lump of profitable work which has 
 ' suddenly risen among us. We are inclined to look at it with 
 ' a respectful and superstitious tenderness, rather as a gambler 
 ' does upon a run of luck at cards, hoping it may last for ever.' 
 
 ' Lord Brougham and the veterans of the old Anti-Slavery 
 ' Society do not, we fear, share our delight at this great increase 
 ' in the employment of our home population. Their minds are 
 ' still seared by those horrible stories which were burnt in upon 
 ' them in their youth, when England was not only a slave-owning, 
 ' but even a slave-trading state. Their remorse is so great, that 
 
 • the ghost of a black man is always before them. They are 
 ' benevolent and excellent people; but if a black man happened 
 ' to have broken his shin, and a white man were in danger of 
 ' drowning, we much fear that a real anti-slavery zealot would 
 ' bind up the black man's leg before he would draw the white 
 
70 THE COTTON TEADB. 
 
 * man out of the water. It is not an inconsistency, therefore, 
 ' that while we see only cause of congratulation in this 
 ' wonderful increase of trade. Lord Brougham sees in it the 
 ' exaggeration of an evil he never ceases to deplore. We, and 
 ' such as we, who are content to look upon society as Provi- 
 ' dance allows it to exist — to mend it when we can, but not to 
 ' distress ourselves immoderately for evils which are not of our 
 
 * creation — we see only the free and intelligent English families 
 ' who thrive upon the wages which these cotton bales produced.' 
 ' Lord Brougham sees only the black labourers who, on the 
 ' other side of the Atlantic, pick the cotton pods in slavery. 
 ' Lord Brougham deplores that in this tremendous importation 
 ' of a thousand million of pounds of cotton the lion's share of 
 ' the profit goes to the United States, and has been produced by 
 ' slave labour. Instead of twenty-three millions, the United 
 ' States now send us eight hundred and thirty millions, and this 
 ' is all cultivated by slaves. It is very sad that this should be 
 
 * so, but we do not see our way to a remedy. There seems to 
 ' be rather a chance of its becoming worse. If France, who iS 
 ' already moving onwards in a restless, purblind state, should 
 ' open her eyes wide, should give herself fair play by accepting 
 ' our coals, iron, and machinery, and, under the stimulus of a 
 ' wholesome competition, should take to manufacturing upon a 
 ' large scale, then these three millions will not be enough. 
 ' France will be competing with us in the foreign cotton 
 ' markets, stimulating still further the produce of Georgia and 
 ' South Carolina. The jump which the consumption of cotton 
 ' has just made is but a single leap, which may be repeated 
 ' indefinitely. There are a thousand millions of mankind upon 
 ' the globe, all of whom can be most comfortably clad in 
 ' cotton. Every year new tribes and new nations are added 
 ' to the category of cotton wearers. There is every reason to 
 
 * believe that the supply of this universal necessity will for 
 
 * many years yet to come fail to keep pace with the demand ; 
 "^ and, in the interest of that large class of our countrymen to 
 
 ' whom cotton is bread, we must continue to hope that the' 
 ' United States will be able to supply us in years to come with 
 -* twice as much as we bought of them in years past. 
 
 ' " Let us raise up another cotton market," say the anti- 
 
BEITISH OPINIONS ON THE COTTON QUESTION. 71 
 
 ' slavery people. So say we all. We know very well that the 
 * possibility of growing cotton is not confined to the New 
 ' World. The plains of Bengal grew cotton before Columbus 
 ' was born ; and we, with our mechanical advantages, can 
 ' actually afford to take the Bengal cotton from the growers 
 ' and send it back to them in yards and pieces cheaper than 
 ' they can make it up. So, also, thousands of square miles in 
 ' China are covered by the cotton plant ; and some day we may, 
 ' perhaps, repeat the same process there. Africa, too, promises 
 ' us cotton. Dr. Livingstone found a country in which the 
 ' growth was indigenous, and where the chiefs were very 
 ' anxious to be taught how to cultivate it for a European 
 ' market. There i s no lack of lands and climate where cotton 
 ' can be produced. \ It is said of gold, that no substance is more 
 
 * widely diffused and more omnipresent, but unfortunately 
 ' it is diffused under conditions which make it seldom pos- 
 ' sible to win it with a profit. So it is of cotton. ) The condi- 
 ' tions under which it becomes available for our markets are 
 ' not often present in the wild cotton which our travellers dis- 
 ' cover ; nor are they to be immediately supplied. Remember 
 
 * the efforts which the French have made to produce cotton in 
 ' Algeria, the enormous prizes they offered, the prices at which 
 ' they bought up all the produce, the care with which fabrics 
 ' were prepared from their cottons at Eouen and exhibited at 
 ' the Paris exhibition, and then note the miserable result after 
 ' so many years of artificial protection. It will come eventu 
 ' ally ; as the cotton wants of the world press heavily, and more 
 " heavily, it must come. We shall have cotton from India, 
 
 * from China, and from Africa. We would advocate every means 
 ' within reasonable limits to quicken the developement. We 
 ' would not even ask whether to introduce cotton culture upon 
 ' a large scale into Africa would be to secure that African 
 ' cotton would not be raised by slave-labour. But even Lord 
 ' Brougham would not ask us to believe that there is any proxi- 
 ' mate hope that the free cotton raised in Africa will, within 
 ' any reasonable time, drive out of culture the slave-grown 
 ' cotton of America. If this be so, of what use can it be to 
 ' make irritating speeches in the House of Lords against a state 
 ' of things by which we are content to profit ? Lord Brougham 
 
72 THE COTTON TKADB. 
 
 ' and Lord Grey are not men of such illogical minds as to be 
 " incapable of understanding that it is the demands of the 
 ' English manufacturers which stimulate the produce of slave- 
 ' grown American cotton. They are neither of them, we appre- 
 ' hend, so reckless or so wicked as to wish to close our factories 
 ' and throw some millions of our manufacturing population out 
 ' of bread. Why, then, these inconsequent and these irritating 
 ' denunciations ? Let us create new fields of produce if we can ; 
 ' but, meanwhile, it is neither just nor dignified to buy this raw 
 ' material from the Americans, and to revile them for produc- 
 ' ing it.' 
 
 This excellent leader was written before Mr. Lincoln was even 
 thought of for the Presidency, and therefore had no reference 
 to the present state of affairs in America ; and while it is true 
 and forcible in so many points, it errs in somewhat loosely 
 expressing a hope that the Southern States will cultivate 
 ' twice as much ' in future as in years past. No doubt this 
 will be the case in time — improvement is constant in the cul- 
 tivation of cotton, the increase in the negroes is steady and 
 gradual, and meets the requirements of the planter ; but it would 
 be as great folly to produce too much cotton, as to mine too 
 much coal or iron — to construct too many ships and railways. 
 
 ' The Times ' also errs in stating that India takes back the 
 identical cotton that she sends after it has passed through 
 British looms. This is not so. Before she will again touch it, it 
 must be mixed with eighty-iive per cent, of the growth of the 
 Southern States of America. Cotton is a sort of generic name 
 for the chief staple of commerce, but there is as great a variety 
 of it as there are of jewels. Some countries give rubies, others 
 diamonds, and the different precious stones are obtained from 
 corners of the earth remote from each other. All the rubies in 
 existence thrown upon the London market for sale would not 
 cause diamonds to be discarded ; on the contrary, rubies would, in 
 mercantile parlance, become a ' drug : ' so it is with cotton. With- 
 out American cottons it is likely that those of India would become 
 a ' drug,' because they need the ' setting ' of the transatlantic 
 produce. Nor in any case can India, or China, or Africa, supply 
 the place of American cotton, even if they could grow the same 
 quality at the same price. The populations of tliose countries 
 
BRITISH OPINIONS ON THE COTTON QUESTION. 73 
 
 are large, and although their territorLes are great, and their 
 peoples, in a great measure, agricultural, they never have a 
 superabundance of food. In fact, they are often very short of 
 provisions. The case of India in this respect has already been 
 adverted to. 'In the year 1780 there was a famine in China ; it 
 was of such a magnitude that the cultivation of cotton was 
 interdicted in some districts of country for a year or two, that 
 the people might devote their labour to producing food. Since 
 that time the Chinese have never raised enough cotton for their 
 own wants.* If they were to abandon the cultivation of tea, they 
 might turn their labour to cotton. It is better, however, for 
 them, and the whole world, that they should have the * monopoly' 
 of tea, that the Southerners should retain their ' monopoly ' of 
 cotton, and that the Hindoos should hold the ' monopoly ' of 
 indigo, and other produce particularly assigned to them by 
 nature ; and that Great Britain, the great distributer, banker, 
 and manufacturer, should keep those monopolies which she has 
 enjoyed for the last sixty years, but which would be lost to her 
 by the destruction of the industrial system of the Confederate 
 States, who alone have an abundance of labour suited to the 
 cultivation of cotton. 
 
 Had the torrents of invective and abuse heaped upon 
 the people of the Southern States of America by European 
 and Northern Abolitionists been allowed to influence them 
 to emancipate the slaves, their productive lands would now 
 have been an idle waste, and the condition of the negroes 
 would have been even worse than that of those in the 
 West Indies, in consequence of their greater numbers. And 
 where would have been the manufacturing strength of Great 
 Britain? The English cotton business rose up with the 
 American crops, and displaced the monopoly for ' goods ' en- 
 joyed for eighteen hundred years or more by India. All the 
 British improvements in spinning and weaving would have been 
 rendered nugatory in the absence of the cotton of the South. 
 
 * The few invoices of cotton arriving from China in England are quite an 
 exceptional business, induced by high quotations and the large stoots of 
 British manufactured goods, made out of the excessive productions of the 
 Southern States in 1858, 1859, and 1860, remaining unsold in that part of 
 the world. 
 
74 THE COTTON TKADB. 
 
 No other portions of the globe have contributed a sufficient supply 
 in either quality or quantity, nor is there any likelihood that in 
 the absence of the requisite conditions of labour or climate 
 they will be formidable competitors in the future. India, par- 
 ticularly, has had the advantage of British capital, credit, and 
 enterprise, and yet failed to fulfil the sanguine expectations of 
 those who have looked to her to supply all deficiencies, while the 
 South by her own unaided energies has advanced with rapid 
 strides, although the North in the capacity of a useless ' middle 
 man,' through the means of high tariffs, has reduced her profits 
 and drained her of millions of dollars annually. While estimating 
 highly the invention of Eli Whitey, a native of Connecticut, 
 but citizen of Greorgia, the Cotton-gin, which went into opera- 
 tion in 1793, and to which the prosperity of the South is so 
 frequently attributed, it may be remarked that other nations 
 have also had the opportunity of its use, but failed to turn it to 
 Buch good account. It has been used in India and elsewhere, 
 but no other part of the world has successfully competed with the 
 Southern States, who still retain their so-called ' monopoly ' of 
 cotton. In all the discussions that have taken place in reference 
 to the cotton question, no allusion has been made to the fact 
 that the British Tariff Act of 1787* placed a duty on the im- 
 portations of that staple from the American States of 9s. 4:d. 
 per cwt., while that which was grown in the British possessions 
 was admitted free of any charge. The tariff of 1819 raised the 
 tax on foreign cotton to 9s. "J^d. per cwt., and on colonial produce 
 to 7s. per cwt. The Act of 1834 fixed the rate on the former 
 at 2s. lid. per cwt., and on the latter of Ad. per cwt. Notwith- 
 standing these differential duties against the Southern States, and 
 with Great Britain too as their principal customer, they have 
 steadily advanced in the cultivation of cotton. It has, therefore, 
 been a great error to attribute the increase of the American 
 cotton crops to the repeal of the British tariff in 1845 ; and it 
 is absurd to say that it was the competition of the States that 
 caused the decline in the production in the West Indies. The 
 falling off in the importations from thence from 10,000,000 lbs. 
 
 * Prior to 1787, the year that Mr. Pitt's Consolidation Act was passed, 
 the tariff was always composed of numerous charges and percentages, added 
 from time to time to some ancient first duty. 
 
BRITISH OPINIONS ON THE COTTON QUESTION. 75 
 
 in 1822 down to 300,000 or 400,000 lbs. should be ascribed to 
 the true reason — the emancipation of the negro slaves. The 
 subjoined extract from ' The Times ' furnishes an excellent com- 
 mentary upon the mistaken enthusiasm of the emancipationists 
 for negro liberty. 
 
 That journal, after twenty-five years' experience, in 1859, 
 makes some graphic remarks upon the subject. In fact, it is a 
 ' confession ' from the chief labourer in the cause of emancipa- 
 tion. The Abolitionists cannot accuse the Thunderer of having 
 had ' southern proclivities ' at the time the article appeared. 
 
 ' There is no blinking the truth. Years of bitter experience ; 
 ' years of hope deferred ; of self-devotion unrequited ; of 
 ' poverty ; of humiliation ; of prayers unanswered ; of suffer- 
 
 * ings derided ; of insults unresented ; of contumely patiently 
 
 ' endured ; have convinced us of the truth. It must be spoken , 
 
 * out loudly and energetically, despite the wild mockings of 
 ' " howling cant ! " The freed West India slave will not till the 
 ' soil for wages ; the freed son of the ex-slave is as obstinate as 
 ' his sire. He will not cultivate lands which he has not bought 
 ' for his own. Yams, mangoes, and plantains — those satisfy his 
 ' wants ; he cares not for yours. Cotton, sugar, coffee, and 
 
 * tobacco, he cares but little for. And what matters it to him 
 ' that the Englishman has sunk his thousands and tens of 
 ' thousands on mills, machinery, and plants, "which now totter on 
 ' the languishing estate that for years has only returned beggary 
 ' and debt ? He eats his yams, and sniggers at " Buckra." 
 
 ' We know not why this should be so, but it is so. The negro 
 ' has been bought with a price — the price of English taxation 
 ' and English toil. He has been redeemed from bondage by 
 ' the sweat and travail of some millions of hard-working Eng- 
 ' lishmen. Twenty millions of pounds sterling — one hundred 
 
 * millions of dollars — have been distilled from the brains and 
 ' muscles of the free English labourer, of every degree, to fashion 
 ' the West India negro into a " free, independent labourer." 
 ' Free and independent enough he has become, God knows, 
 ' but labourer he is not, and, so far as we can see, never will 
 ' be. He will sing hymns and quote texts, but honest steady 
 ' industry he not only detests, but despises. We wish to 
 ' Heaven that some people in England — neither Government 
 
76 THE COTTON TRA.DE. 
 
 ' people, nor parsons, nor clergymen, but some just-minded, 
 ' honest-hearted, and clear-sighted man — would go out to some 
 ' of the islands (say Jamaica, Dominica, or Antigua) — not for a 
 ' month, or three months, but for- a year, -would watch the pre- 
 ' cious proUgS of English philanthropy, the freed negro, in his 
 ' daily habits ; would watch him as he lazily plants his little 
 'squatting; would see him as he proudly rejects agricultural 
 ' or domestic service, or accepts it, only at wages ludicrously 
 ' disproportionate to the value of his work. We wish, too, 
 ' they would watch him while, with a hide thicker than a hippo- 
 ' potamus, and a body to which fervid heat is a comfort rather 
 ' than an annoyance, he droningly lounges over the prescribed 
 ' task, over which the intrepid Englishman, uniniired to the 
 ' burning sun, consumes his impatient energy, and too often 
 ' sacrifices his life. We wish they would go out and view the 
 ' negro in all the blazonry of his idleness, his pride, his ingrati- 
 ' tude, contemptuously sneering at the industry of that race 
 ' which made him free, and then come home and teach that 
 ' memorable lesson of their experience to the fanatics who have 
 * perverted him into what he is.' 
 
77 
 
 OHAPTEE VI. 
 
 REMARKS ON THE SPEECHES OF MB. BRIGHT— FREE AND SLAVE 
 
 LABOUR. 
 
 Lord Beougham and the other eminent advocates of emancipa- 
 tion no longer appear at Exeter Hall, now that the councils of 
 that establishment are monopolised by a violent and radical 
 party, who, in their zeal for the negro, pay very little respect to 
 justice, reason, or common sense ; and, in order to enlist the 
 sympathies of the public in their designs, do not scruple to 
 resort to every species of misrepresentation. 
 
 Among these 'nobodies' are to be found two prominent 
 names — Cobden and Brjght — the apostles in former days of 
 peace and free trade. It is strange, indeed, that they should 
 now set aside their old doctrines to become the representatives 
 of a war and high-tariff party in America. There seem, how- 
 ever, to be no bounds to their fanaticism, and they seek to 
 impress the minds of the credulous with the idea that voluntary 
 industry alone can develope the cotton culture in an adequate 
 degree to meet the demands of manufacturers. ' The Times,' 
 in its issue of June 17, 1863, said — 
 
 ' Whatever may be the faults of the Southern social system, 
 ' there can be no doubt that it has been wonderfully adapted to 
 ' that end for which Mr. Bright says it is unfit — the growth of a 
 ' particular staple. If it had not been for Southern planters, 
 ' it is quite certain that there would have been no cotton 
 f manufacture to speak of in England, no Stockports and 
 ' Staleybridges, perhaps no Cobdens and Brights.' 
 
 Mr. Bright, in his speeches at the London Tavern on June 16, 
 and in the House of Commons, June 30, 1863, stated that only 
 one-fourth part ■ of the slave labour of the Confederate States 
 was engaged in the cultivation of cotton; that the remaining 
 three-fourths were employed in raising rice, sugar, tobacco, and 
 other agricultural staples; that the increase in the slaves was 
 
78 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 two and a half per cent. (2i%) per annum; that 60,000 square 
 miles of land were suited for growing cotton ; that in the absence 
 of hands only 10,000 square miles were devoted to that purpose ; 
 and that the annual augmentation, therefore, could not materi- 
 ally exceed 150,000 bales. It is certain that only one-fourth part 
 of the slave population of the entire South is directly engaged in 
 the production of cotton ; but Mr. Bright might have stated that 
 fact more intelligibly. The total number of slaves in all the 
 American States and territories, according to the census of 1860, 
 was 3,953,760. The ten cotton-growing States, however, con- 
 tained but 3,030,245 ; of these about one-third, the best male 
 hands, were cultivators of that staple, and the other two-thirds, 
 less the men and women who were too old and the children who 
 were too young, were employed in other kinds of agriculture, 
 in mechanical piirsuits and as house servants. The growth of 
 cotton averages about four bales to each negro solely occupied 
 in raising it, and the product is about 350 lbs. to the acre. 
 Mr. Bright is correct in saying that a comparatively limited 
 extent of soil is under cotton cultivation, but his figures are not 
 accurate. The area of the ten cotton-growing States, North 
 Carolina, South Carolina, Greorgia, Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, 
 Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, is 666,196 square 
 miles, or 426,365,440 acres. The crop of 1859, the largest ever 
 made, did not occupy over 7,000,000 acres. Of course all the 
 land in the States named is not suited for growing cotton ; each 
 year, however, as the clearings are opened, adds to the number 
 of cotton fields. Mr. Bright is entirely in error in intimating 
 that the wants of the world are equivalent to an extension of 
 double the quantity produced, and that ' there was not labour 
 enough in the Southern States ' to supply the demand. 
 
 By considering a series of years it is very easy to ascertain 
 what are the requirements of mankind. The American crops 
 averaged as follows : — 
 
 Number of Tears Bales per ammm 
 
 EVom 1821— 1830 . . 10 . . 686,025 
 
 1831-1840 . . 10 . . 1,427,607 
 
 1841—1850 . . 10 . . 2,189,475 
 
 1851—1857 . . 7 . . 3,090,943 
 
 1858-1860 . . 3 . . 4,059,112' 
 
 * The census of 1860 thus records the gi-owth of cotton for the year 
 previous in bales of 400 lbs. ; — . 
 
KEMAEKS ON THE SPEECHES OF MB. BRIGHT. 
 
 79 
 
 The quotations for American cotton within the same period 
 were : — 
 
 For tlie five years ending 1825 
 1830 
 1835 
 1840 
 1845 
 1850 
 1855 
 1860 
 
 Cents 
 
 The advance in value between 1850 and 1860 was caused 
 by the discovery of gold in California and Australia, creating a 
 redundancy of the currency ; but the price of cotton had reached 
 its height, was on the wane at the time of the fall of Fort 
 Sumter, in consequence of over-production, and the decline 
 was checked by the subsequent occurrences. The great rise 
 since that event has been owing to the retention of the crop 
 of 1861, the small planting of 1862 and 1863, and the large 
 quantity destroyed to prevent its falling into the hands of the 
 enemy. 
 
 It is not to the interest of the Southern people to grow more 
 cotton than is needed. There is, however, practically no limit 
 to their facilities for production. They have, even Mr. Bright 
 admits, plenty of land, and if they thought proper they could 
 
 niinoia ....... 6 
 
 Missouri 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 Kentucky- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4,092 
 
 Virginia 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12,727 
 
 Florida 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 63,322 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 145,514 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 227,450 
 
 Soutli Carolina 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 353,413 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 367,485 
 
 Texas . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 405,100 
 
 Georgia 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 701,840 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 722,218 
 
 Alabama 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 997,978 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1,195,699 
 
 5,196,944 
 
 The four first named States cannot properly be classed as cotton-growing 
 
 States. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
80 THE COTTON TEADB. 
 
 readily purchase their provisions from the North-western States, 
 and turn more of their labour on to the cultivation of cotton, 
 doubling or trebling the crop if there was any occasion for such 
 an increase in quantity. No other country has such a granary 
 at hand. The Southerners are too wise to grow more cotton 
 than is wanted, as experience has taught them that their short 
 crops have been as profitable as large ones, bringing higher 
 prices and necessitating less' expenditure. Such has been the 
 case in every instance, except that of the crop of 1838, the 
 markets then having been coquetted with by the Bank of the 
 United States. It requires five times more land to grow a 
 pound of cotton in India and China than it does in the South. 
 Asia, as before noticed, has had for a century past great dif- 
 ficulty in raising enough provisions for her teeming population. 
 It is very idle, then, to suppose that America can be superseded 
 by her in the production of cotton. 
 
 In 1790, there were 657,047 slaves in the Southern States, 
 or one-fourth too many ; they could not be profitably employed, 
 and the value of the best hands sunk to two hundred dollars. 
 Great concern was manifested by statesmen in relation to 
 their increase, when fortunately the cultivation of cotton com- 
 menced, and from that year it has regularly advanced, with the 
 augmentation in the number of the negroes. Cotton has merely 
 taken off the surplus blacks, just as emigration has thinned 
 out the plethora of farm labour in Ireland ; and it would be as 
 injurious to the South to import negroes from Africa as it 
 would be to the overcrowded districts of Ireland to receive an 
 accession of peasantry from Germany. Mr. Bright's intima- 
 tions that the Southerners desife to reopen the African slave 
 trade in order to cultivate niore cotton, are without any founda- 
 tion whatever ; and it is strange that he should be so illogical as 
 to say so, after alluding to the fact that only about 1,000,000 
 negroes were employed in its culture. It is supposed from his 
 remarks that he obtains most of his information (?) from 
 Mr. Eobert J. Walker, a Federal agent now in England. But 
 he again contradicts himself, and says.: ' I was speaking lately 
 ' to a gentleman from Mississippi well acquainted with the facts 
 ' of the case, and he told me that he had no doubt whatever 
 ' that in ten years there would be freedom in the South, either 
 
EEMAEKS ON THE SPEECHES OF MB.. BRIGHT. 81 
 
 ' in conjunction with the North, or as an independent State.' 
 This Mr. Walker was at one time Senator from Mississippi ; he 
 has not, however, resided in that State for many years. His 
 expressions on the subject of slavery at the present time are 
 insincere, and at variance with all his former professions. (See 
 Appendix.) 
 
 Had the Southern States been short of labour, they would 
 long since have followed the example of G-reat Britain and 
 France, and engaged in the coolie trade. Or the immense 
 profit growing out of the ever-increasing demand for their 
 great staple would have induced the flow of white labour into 
 that country, if the climate had allowed it, in such volumes as 
 to overwhelm any antagonistic slave interests ; and the only 
 reason why this result did not ensue is, that the facts are pre- 
 cisely the reverse of those stated by Mr. Bright. 
 
 Some of Mr. Bright's misstatements are so palpable as to 
 be easily detected; the remarks in the preceding pages are 
 a sufficient answer to many of them. According to his own 
 estimate, which is no doubt a correct one, the annual increase 
 in the yield of cotton in the Southern States does not exceed 
 150,000 bales; this is, without compounding, 1,500,000 bales 
 every ten years, or far beyond any augmentation in demand 
 that has ever taken place, and double the actual consumption 
 of recent years, though it was stimulated by the production 
 of gold in California and Australia. He, as a cotton manu- 
 facturer, should have been aware of this fact. It is patent 
 to the world that there has not only ' been a sufficient supply 
 ' of cotton for the wants of the manufacturers and spinners of 
 ' the world or for the needs of civilisation,' but a superabundance 
 of that article, or else the European Powers would not have 
 permitted the illegal blockade to exist for one moment. It is 
 true that all the slaves in the Confederate States are not en- 
 gaged in the cultivation of cotton, nor have they been at any 
 time; only the labour in excess of that which was needed 
 for other pursuits has been so employed. The removal, how- 
 ever, of such vast numbers of negroes from the Border States 
 to the Cotton States proper, will throw an additional quantity of 
 labour into them for that purpose. Very few slaves who had 
 been producers of cotton have been captured or ' run off ' by the 
 
 a 
 
82 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 Yankees, and certainly not a sufficient number to render neces- 
 sary the reopening of the African slave trade. In the event of so 
 improbable a result to the present conflict in America as the 
 subjugation of the South, and the negroes freed under the Eman- 
 cipation Proclamation, it will be discovered, in a very short time, 
 that in order to prevent their becoming a nuisance and a burden 
 upon the State, they would have to be re-enslaved, or else 
 exterminated, as the Eed Indians have been. In the latter 
 case, the Yankees would renew the importation of slaves from 
 Africa to cultivate the soil, as Europeans are unfit for agricul- 
 tural labour under the burning sun of southern latitudes. The 
 white population of North America will not endure the pre- 
 sence in their midst of an indolent and inferior race, un- 
 less they are possessed of the needful authority to compel their 
 labour and good conduct. The Abolitionists, in asserting that 
 the Southerners desire to reopen the African slave trade, are 
 guilty of a fraud for the purpose of carrying out their fanatical 
 ideas.* The Southerners were the first people to abolish the 
 traffic, and have the least inducement for reopening it. The 
 
 * The Constitution of the United States says, Article I. Section 9: 
 ' 1. The migration or importation of snch persons as any of the States now 
 ' existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress 
 ' prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight ; but a tax or duty 
 ' may be imposed upon such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each 
 ' person.' 
 
 A few months after its adoption a number of amendments were passed, 
 among which is the following : — 
 
 ' The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor 
 ' prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the 
 people.' Many able lawyers have contended that Congress was by this 
 clause deprived of the power of interfering with the slave trade; but 
 whether their views are sound or not, it is quite clear that that body can 
 reopen the traflic any tim,e it thinks fit to do so. 
 
 The Confederate Constitution prohibits the trade in a most emphatic 
 manner. Article I. Section 9 reads : ' 1. The importations of negroes of 
 ' the African race from any foreign country other than the slaveholding 
 ' States or territories of the United States of America is hereby forbidden; 
 ' and Congress is required to pass such laws as shaU effectually prevent the 
 ' same. 2. Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of 
 ' slaves from any State not a member of, or territoiy not belonging to, this 
 ' confederacy.' 
 
 AU the Southern States have laws interdicting the African slave trade. 
 
EEMAEKS Olf THE SPEECHES OF MR. BEIGHT. 83 
 
 'New York Times' of June 6, 1863, thus tacitly concedes that 
 the labour of the cotton States has not been much interfered 
 with : — 
 
 ' Slavery in Vieginia. — At the breaking out of the war, there 
 ' were just half a million slaves in Virginia to twice that number 
 ' of white people. A gentleman, a native and resident of Virginia, 
 ' who lives close to the rebel lines, and has had excellent oppor- 
 ' tunities to learn the condition of affairs in that State, assures 
 ' us that at least two-thirds of its slave population have been 
 ' carried from it, or have decamped from it, since the rebellion 
 ' begun. Probably not less than 70,000 or 80,000 have freed 
 ' themselves, or been freed by the advance of our armies ; while 
 ' tens of thousands have been sent down to the Carolinas or 
 ' Georgia to save them from the contingencies of war. Beside 
 ' all these, some 20,000 have been taken from their owners, and 
 ' are employed in various services connected with the rebel 
 ' army or the war. 
 
 ' If these statements even approximate accuracy, it will be 
 ' seen that the negro element is being pretty rapidly eliminated 
 ' from the Old Dominion. There have not been as small a 
 
 * number of slaves within her borders for a hundred years past 
 
 * as there is now.' 
 
 Cotton was introduced as a garden plant into Virginia in 
 1621 ; the previous year negroes were first landed there, but it 
 was 1 70 years before the cotton culture began in earnest, and 
 since that time (1790) the surplus negro labour has increased in 
 a full ratio to meet the demand for its cultivation. The negro 
 and the cotton plant seem to be natural allies, and their almost 
 simultaneous introduction into that part of the world now 
 known as the Confederate States of America was a most for- 
 tunate circumstance for both the white and black races. Mr. 
 Bright's theory in reference to the advantage of free African 
 labour is disproved by Mr. TroUope, a gentleman who from 
 personal experience and candid observation is well fitted to 
 speak upon the subject, as will be fotmd by a perusal of the 
 following remarks taken from 'The Times' of January 6, 
 I860:— 
 
 'Negroes, coolies, and planters — what is the position of 
 
 * each, and what are the rights of each ? In England it is too 
 
 c 2 
 
84 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 ' much the custom to regard only the first of these. Floods of 
 ' pathetic eloquence and long years of Parliamentary struggling 
 ' have taught us to imagine that the world was made for Sambo, 
 ' and that the sole use of sugar is to sweeten Sambo's esistence. 
 ' The negro is, no doubt, a very amusing and very amiable 
 ' fellow, and we ought to wish him well ; but he is also a lazy 
 ' animal, without any foresight, and therefore requiring to he 
 ' led and compelled. We must not judge him by ourselves. 
 ' That he is capable of improvement everybody admits, but ia 
 ' the meantime he is decidedly inferior — he is but very little 
 ' raised above a mere animal. The negroes know this them- 
 ' selves. They have no idea of country, and no pride of race. 
 ' They despise themselves. They know nothing of Africa, ex- 
 ' cept that it is a term of reproach, and the name which offends 
 ' them most is that of a nigger. So little confidence have they 
 ' in any being who has an admixture of their blood that no negro 
 ' will serve a mulatto when he can serve a European or a white 
 ' Creole. In his passion he calls the mulatto a nigger, and pro- 
 ' tests that he is not, never will be, like buckra man. These 
 ' coloured people, too, despise themselves, and in every possible 
 ' way try to deny their African parentage. They talk contemp- 
 ' tuously of the pure blacks, whom they describe as dirty niggers, 
 ' and nasty niggers, and mere niggers. 
 
 ' He is a very funny sort of animal, and there is something 
 ' interesting in a being so dependent as he is on the sympathy 
 ' of others ; but it is evident that he is scarcely fitted to take 
 ' care of himself. He has no care for to-morrow, and it is 
 ' enough if he can strut for a little hour in his finery. His 
 ' virtues and his vices are alike those of momentary impulse. 
 ' Although he is desperately fond of life, yet if he can lie in the 
 ' sun for an hour without pain, he will not drag himself to the 
 ' hospital to be cured of a mortal disease. Although he loves 
 ' his children, he will in his rage use them fearfully. Although 
 ' he delights to hear them praised, he will sell his daughter's 
 ' virtue for a dollar. A little makes him happy, and he is so 
 ' entirely a creature of the present, that nothing can make him 
 ' permanently wretched. Mr. Trollope compares him to a dog 
 ' in his attachments. The dog is faithful to us, and so is the 
 ' negro. In return for our protection, the dogs give us all 
 
FEEE AND SLAVE LABOUK. 85 
 
 ' their hearts, but it is not given in gratitude ; and they abstain 
 ' with all their power from injury, but they do not abstain from 
 ' judgment. The master may use either his dog or his negro 
 ' ever so cruelly — yet neither has any anger against him when 
 
 * the pain is over. If a stranger should save either from such 
 ' ill usage, there would be no thankfulness after the moment. 
 ' Affection and fidelity are things of custom with him. As for 
 
 * the negro's religion, our author has little faith in it. The 
 ' negroes, he says, much prefer to belong to a Baptist congre- 
 ' gation, or to a so-called Wesleyan body, because then an ex- 
 ' citement is allowed to them which is denied in the Church of 
 ' England. They sing, they halloo, they scream, they have 
 ' their revivals, they talk of their " dear broders " and " dear 
 » sisters," and " in their ecstatic bowlings get some fun for their 
 ' money." 
 
 ' A servile race, peculiarly fitted by nature for the hardest 
 ' physical work in a burning climate, the negro has no desire 
 ' for property strong enough to induce him to labour with 
 ' sustained power. He lives from hand to mouth. In order 
 ' that he may have his dinner, and some small finery, he will 
 ' work a little, but after that he is content to lie in the sun. 
 ' This, in Jamaica, he can very easily do, for emancipation and 
 ' free trade have combined to throw enormous tracts of land 
 ' out of cultivation, and on these the negro squats, getting all 
 " he 'vyants with very little trouble, and sinking in the most 
 ' resolute fashion back to the savage state. Lying under his 
 ' cotton-tree, he refuses to work after ten o'clock in the morning. 
 ' " No, tankee, massa, me tired now ; me no want more money." 
 ' Or, by way of variety, he may say, " No ; workee no more ; 
 ' " money no 'nuff ; workee no pay." And so the planter must 
 ' see his canes foul with weeds because he cannot prevail on 
 ' Sambo to earn a second shilling by going into the cane-fields. 
 ' He calls him a lazy nigger, and threatens him with starvation. 
 ' The answer is, " No, massa ; no starve now ; God sent plenty 
 ' " yam." These yams, be it observed, on which Sambo relies, 
 ' and on the strength of which he declines to work, are grown 
 ' on the planter's own ground, and probably planted at his 
 ' expense,' and Mr. Trollope suggests an enquiry into the 
 ' feelings of an English farmer if our labourers were to refuse 
 
86 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 ' work on the plea that there is plenty of potatoes and bacon to 
 ' be had — the potatoes and bacon being the produce of the 
 ' farmer's own fields. There lies the shiny, oily, odorous negro 
 ' under his mango-tree, eating the luscious fruit in the sun. 
 ' " He sends his black urchin up for a bread-fruit, and, behold," 
 ' says Mr. Trollope, "the family table is spread. He pierces a 
 ' " cocoa-nut, and lo ! there is his beverage. He lies on the 
 ' " ground, surrounded by oranges, bananas, and pine-apples. 
 ' " Why should he work? " Let Sambo himself reply: "No, 
 ' " massa, me weak in me belly ; me no workee to-day ; me 
 
 * " no like workee just 'em little moment." 
 
 * The evil which thus cruelly embarrasses the planters is 
 ' chiefly felt in Jamaica, and in some of the smaller islands, 
 ' Granada, Dominica, and St. Lucia, where the negro has the 
 ' chance of squatting. The negro imagined that his emancipa- 
 ' tion was to be an emancipation, not merely from slavery, but 
 ' from work ; and British philanthropy proposes to protect him 
 ' in his laziness from the competition of the coolies. 
 
 ' As far as Jamaica is concerned, what is there to tempt the 
 
 * Englishman ? It is a fact that half the sugar estates, and 
 ' more than half the coffee plantations, have gone back into a 
 ' state of bush ; and a great portion of those who are now grow- 
 ' ing canes in Jamaica are persons who have lately bought the 
 ' estates " for the value of the copper in the sugar-boilers, and 
 ' of the metal in the rum-stills." The Anti-Slavery Society 
 ' will scarcely believe in the poverty and ruin of the planter, 
 ' because they hear wonderful accounts of his hospitality. 
 ' " We send word to the people at home that we are very poor," 
 ' say the planters. " They don't believe us, and send out 
 ' " somebody to see. For this somebody we kill the fatted 
 ' " calf and bring out a bottle or two of our best. He goes home 
 ' " and reports that these Jamaica planters are princes, who swim 
 ' " in claret and champagne." The planter accordingly makes 
 
 * the complaint : " This is rather hard, seeing that our common 
 ' " fare is salt fish and rum and water." Mr. Trollope advised the 
 ' planters to produce their ordinary fare on such occasions ; but 
 ' the reply was, " Yes, and then we should get it on the other 
 ' « cheek — ^we should be abused for our stinginess. No Jamaica 
 ' " man could stand that." ' 
 
FEEB AND SLAVE LABODB, 87 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that Toussaint I'Ouverture, the only 
 black who has ever displayed any of the characteristics of 
 original genius, acknowledged that his countrymen would 
 neither till the ground nor work for a livelihood unless under 
 compulsion. This extraordinary negro, having headed the 
 horrible insurrection and massacres of St. Domingo, and driven 
 the French from the island, established an iron despotism, 
 so complete that no individual was exempt from its opera- 
 tion. Seeing that the fertile lands, deserted by planters and 
 labourers, would soon become an idle waste, he adopted the 
 violent remedy of obliging all the negroes — who had imagined 
 that freedom was to bring them immunity from toil as well as 
 civil liberty — to return to the plantations and other employ- 
 ments, and placed over them harder taskmasters than they had 
 ever known under the dominion of the whites. 
 
 The idea of working for pay never entered into black nature. 
 Mungo Park, long ago, said: 'Hired servants, by which I 
 ' mean persons of free condition, voluntarily working for pay, 
 ' are unknown in Africa ; ' and no subsequent traveller down to 
 Dr. Livingstone has given a contrary opinion. 
 
 In Lewis's 'West Indies,' written seventeen years before 
 emancipation, it is remarked : — 
 
 ' As to free blacks, they are almost uniformly lazy and im- 
 ' provident; most of them half-starved, and only anxious to live 
 ' from hand to mouth. Some lounge about the highways with 
 ' pedlar boxes stocked with various worthless baubles ; others 
 ' keep miserable stalls, provided with rancid butter, damaged 
 ' salt pork, and other such articles ; and these they are always 
 ' willing to exchange for stolen rum and sugar, which they 
 ' secretly tempt the negroes to pilfer from their proprietors : 
 ' but few of them ever endeavour to earn their livelihood 
 
 • creditably. Even those who profess to be tailors, carpenters, 
 ' or coopers, are, for the most part, careless, drunken, and dis- 
 ' sipated, and never take pains sufficient to learn any dexterity 
 
 * in their trade. As to a free negro hiring himself out for 
 '"plantation labour, no instance of such a thing was ever 
 ' known in Jamaica ; and probably no price, however great, 
 ' would be considered by them as a sufficient temptation.' 
 
 Captain Hamilton, in his examination as a witness before 
 
88 THE COTTON TBADE. 
 
 a select committee of Parliament, stated that Jamaica had 
 become ' a desert ; ' and being asked if he thought the term 
 ' desert ' was quite applicable to the state of things there, re- 
 plied : ' I should say, peculiarly applicable, without any ex- 
 ' aggeration.^ 
 
 In a memorial addressed by the Council and Assembly of 
 Jamaica to the Queen, dated February 19, 1852, after alluding 
 to the distressed condition of the island, and the probable 
 complete abandonment of the sugar culture throughout the 
 British Antilles, unless a remedy were provided, the moral 
 deterioration of the inhabitants of the island is thus 
 noticed : — 
 
 ' In conclusion, we would humbly entreat the consideration 
 ' of Your Majesty to the moral effects which must be produced 
 ' in the lower classes of the population of this island, by the 
 ' general abandonment of property and withdrawal of capital, 
 ' now unhappily in progress. Convinced that in granting 
 ' freedom to the British slave it never was intended to allow 
 ' him to sink into a state of barbarism and uncivilisation, we 
 ' still feel it our humble duty to assure Your Majesty that the 
 ' downward progress of the agricultural resources of the 
 ' colony has been already accompanied by a retrogression in, 
 ' moral conduct on the part of the lower classes ; and we are 
 ' assured that* this retrogression must and will, for obvious 
 ' reasons, keep pace with the destruction of property, and the 
 ' consequent expulsion from the colony of all whom necessity 
 ' may not compel to residence — events that must speedily occur, 
 ' unless Your Majesty should be pleased gracioiisly to receive 
 ' our petition, and obtain from the Imperial Parliament efficient 
 ' aid, ere ruin and desolation shall have taken the place of pros- 
 ' perity and cultivation, and religion and morality shall have 
 ' been superseded by barbarism and superstition.' 
 
 Since the late riots in New York, Mr. Bright has been silent 
 on the ' nigger question.' But how can he, a ' peace man,' with 
 any semblance of honesty applaud Mr. Lincoln for his Emanci- 
 pation Proclamation, when he must have seen the following 
 circular from Mr. Seward, addressed to all the diplomatic and 
 consular agents of the United States in Europe? 
 
'MILITART NECESSITY.' 89 
 
 ' Department of State, Washington : Sept. 22, 1862. 
 ' GrENTLEMEN, — You will receive by the mail which will carry 
 ' you this despatch evidence which will convince you that the 
 
 • aggressive movement of the rebels against the States remain - 
 ' ing faithful to the Union is arrested ; and that the forces of 
 
 • the Union, strengthened and reanimated, are again ready to 
 ' undertake a campaign on a vast scale. If you consult the 
 ' newspapers, you wiU easily perceive that the financial re- 
 ' sources of the insurrection decline rapidly, and that the means 
 ' of raising troops have been exhausted. 
 
 ' On the other side, you will see that the financial situation 
 
 • of the country is good, and that the call for fresh troops, with- 
 ' out which the material force of the nation would be seriously 
 ' crippled, is being promptly responded to. I have already 
 » informed our representatives abroad of the approach of a 
 
 • change in the social organisation of the rebel States. This 
 ' change continues to make itself each day more and more 
 ' apparent. In the opinion of the President, the moment has 
 ' come to place the great fact more clearly before the people of 
 ' the rebel States, and to make them understand that if these 
 ' States persist in imposing upon the country the choice he- 
 ' tween the dissolution of this Government, at once necessary 
 ' and henefloial, and the abolition of slavery, it is the Union 
 ' and not slavery that must be maintained and saved. "With 
 ' this object the President is about to publish a proclamation, in 
 
 • which he announces that slavery will do longer be recognised 
 ' in any of the States which shall be in rebellion on January 1 
 ' next. While all the good and wise men of all countries will 
 ' recognise this measure as a just and proper military act, 
 ' intended to deliver the country from a terrible civil war, they 
 ' will recognise at the same time the moderation and magna- 
 ' nimity with which the Grovernment proceeds in a matter so 
 ' solemn and important. 
 
 ' I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant, 
 
 ' William H. Sewakd.' 
 
 Mr. Seward, who has been gasconading about 'the tradi- 
 > tional policy of the American people,' pays very little respect to 
 the actions of his predecessors. 
 
90 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 In the -war of 1812, tte American troops burned Newark, 
 Long Point, and St. David's in Canada. The first adjoined 
 Fort G-eorge, and its destruction was defended by the ofiacer who 
 ordered it, on the ground that it became necessary in military 
 operations there. The act, however, was disavowed by the 
 United States Grovernment, Mr. Madison being President at the 
 time, and Mr. Monroe his Secretary of State. The burning at 
 Long Point was unauthorised, and the conduct of the officer 
 subjected to the investigation of a military tribunal. For the 
 burning of St. David's, committed by stragglers, the officer who 
 commanded in that quarter was dismissed without a trial for not 
 preventing it. ' 
 
 Mr. Monroe, in a letter to Admiral Cochrane, said, ' No sooner 
 ' were the United States compelled to go to war against Great 
 
 * Britain, than they resolved to wage it in a manner most con- 
 ' sonant to the principles of humanity, and to those friendly 
 ' relations which it was desirable to preserve between the two 
 
 * nations after the restoration of peace.' 
 
 The war with Mexico, too, was conducted in a humane spirit ; 
 and General Halleck, before he became tinctured with Seward- 
 ism, in his treatise on International Law and the Laws of War, 
 observed : ' It is sometimes alleged, in excuse for such conduct, 
 "■ that the general is unable to restrain his troops : but in the 
 ' eye of the law there is no excuse ; for he who cannot preserve 
 ' order in his army has no right to command it.' 
 
 "When the wicked Emancipation Proclamation was resolved 
 upon, Mr. Lincoln seems to have ignored the fact that in the 
 discussion with Great Britain, growing out of the first article of 
 the Treaty of Ghent, the American Government had committed 
 itself in the strongest and most pointed manner in opposition 
 to such a policy. Mr. John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, 
 in his despatch to Mr. Eush, of Pennsylvania, then minister to 
 the Court of St. James, under date of July 7, 1820, said, in 
 italics: 'The principle is that the emancipation of enemies' 
 ' slaves is not among the acts of civilised warfare ; ' and in 
 his letter of October 18, 1820, to Mr. Middleton, of South 
 Carolina, the American minister at St. Petersburg, he wrote : 
 ' The right of putting to death all prisoners in cold blood, 
 « and without special cause, might as well be pretended to be 
 
MODEEN ABOLITIONISM. 91 
 
 ' a law of war, or the right to use poisoned weapons, or to 
 ' assassinate.' 
 
 The ' rail-splitter ' President pays very slight respect even to 
 the most worthy precedents; he seems to have forgotten — 
 probably he never knew — that Napoleon, although solicited in 
 his Eussian campaign, by deputations from villages, to proclaim 
 liberty to the serfs, had refused to resort to a measure which, 
 as he said to the Senate of France, would have devoted many 
 famihes to death. 
 
 Fortunately for the negro race and the world generally, Mr. 
 Lincoln has not had the power of putting his Proclamation in 
 force except in a few instances. 
 
 After such evidences of the devotion of the negroes towards 
 their masters as has been given to the world by the circum- 
 stances connected with the war in America, it is really time 
 that such men as Mr. Bright and his ' reverend ' satellites should 
 stop their crusade against the institution of slavery in the Con- 
 federate States. Even President Lincoln admits that the freed 
 negroes will not work — that they will ' do nothing but eat, eat.' 
 And why should these ignorant philanthropists (?) applaud him 
 for his emancipation scheme, when he boldly declares that it 
 was promulgated only as a ' military necessity? ' Nor is there 
 any excuse whatever for Mr. Bright's blunders in regard to the 
 cotton question. He said in the House of Commons on June 30 
 that he knew ' a little about cotton,' and that, ' professedly,' he 
 had been all his life ' connected with the cotton trade.' He is, 
 then, either so blinded by fanaticism that he cannot see the 
 truth, or he has made wilful misrepresentations to serve his 
 political purposes. 
 
92 THE COTTON TKADB. 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 THE IMPOETANCE OF AMERICAN COTTON— THE POLITICAL 
 HERESIES OF SEWAED AND LINCOLN. 
 
 The cotton question, although so simple in its character, is 
 generally imperfectly understood. This is evidenced by speeches 
 in Parliament, and many articles that have appeared in the 
 public prints. It would seem that persons unfamiliar with the 
 trade have regarded all descriptions of cotton as available for 
 the purposes of British industry. This mistake will be made 
 apparent should the conflict in America continue another year. 
 The importance of the product of the Southern States has yet 
 to be fully appreciated. The King of Commerce is temporarily 
 dethroned, but he will rise again in all his majesty and power. 
 The cleverest exposition of the matter was given a few years 
 ago by Mr. J. B. Smith, the member for Stockport. The follow- 
 ing is his text : — 
 
 ' Everyone seems adequately impressed with the desirableness, 
 ' not to say the necessity, of multiplying to the utmost possible 
 
 * extent the sources whence we derive the supply of this raw 
 ' material of our greatest national manufacture. But one branch 
 ' of the question, though a most essential one, appears to have 
 ' been nearly overlooked. We need not only a large supply and a 
 
 * cheap supply, hut a supply of a peculiar kind and quality. 
 
 ' For practical purposes, and to facilitate the comprehension 
 ' of the subject by non-professional readers, we may state in 
 ' general terms that the cotton required for the trade of Great 
 ' Britain maybe classified into three divisions — the long staple, 
 ' the medium staple, and the short staple. 
 
 ' 1. The long staple, or long-fibre cotton, is used for making 
 ' the warp, as it is technically called, i.e. the longitudinal 
 ' threads of the woven tissue. Those threads, when of the finer 
 ' sorts — for all numbers, say above 50's — must be made of long- 
 
IMPOETANCE OF AMEEICAlSr COTTON". 93 
 
 ' staple cotton ; for numbers below 50's they may be made of 
 ' it, and would be so made were it as cheap as the lower quali- 
 ' ties of the raw material. No other quality of cotton is strong 
 ' enough or long enough either to spin into the higher and finer 
 ' numbers or to sustain the tension and friction to which the 
 ' threads are exposed in the loom. 
 
 ' 2. The medium-staple cotton, on the contrary, is used partly 
 ' for the lower numbers of the warp (and.as such enters largely 
 ' into the production of the vast quantities of " cotton yarn " 
 "• and sewing thread exported), but mainly for the weft, or trans- 
 ' verse threads of the woven tissue. It is softer and silkier than 
 ' the quality spoken of above, makes a fuller and rounder 
 ' thread, and fills up the fabric better. The long-staple article 
 ' is never used for this purpose, and could not, however cheap, 
 ' be so used with advantage ; it is ordinarily too harsh. For the 
 ' warp, strength and length of fibre is required ; for the weft, 
 ' softness and fullness. Now, as the lower numbers of " yarn " 
 ' require a far larger amount of raw cotton for their production 
 ' than the higher, and constitute the chief portion (in weight) 
 ' both of our export and consumption, and as, moreover, every 
 ' yard of calico or cotton-woven fabric, technically called cloth, 
 ' is composed of from two to five times as much weft as warp, it 
 ' is obvious that we need a far larger supply of this peculiar 
 ' character of cotton, the medium staple, than of any other. 
 
 ' 3. The short-staple cotton is used almost exclusively for 
 ' weft (except a little taken for candle-wicks), or for the very 
 ' lowest numbers of warp, say lO's and under. But it is 
 ' different in character from the second description, as well as 
 ' shorter in fibre ; it is drier, fuzzier — more like rough wool ; 
 ' and it cannot be substituted for it without impoverishing the 
 ' nature of the cloth, and making it, especially after washing or 
 ' bleaching, look thinner and more meagre ; and for the same 
 ' reason it can only be blended with it with much caution, and 
 ' in very moderate proportions. But its colour is usually good, 
 ' and its comparative cheapness its great recommendation. 
 
 ' It will be seen, therefore, that while we require for the pur- 
 ' poses of our manufacture a limited quantity of the first and 
 ' third qualities of raw cotton, we need and can consume an 
 ' almost unlimited supply of the second quality. In this fact 
 
94 THE COTTON TEADB. 
 
 ' lies our real difficulty; for, while several quarters of the world 
 ' supply the first sort, and India could supply enormous quanti- 
 ' ties of the third sort, the United States of America alone have 
 ' hitherto produced the second and most necessary kind. 
 
 ' 1. The finest long cotton in the world is called the "Sea 
 ' Island." It is grown on the low-lying lands and small islands 
 '' on the coast of Greorgia. The quantity is small, and the price 
 ' very high. It is used mostly for muslin thread, and the very 
 ' finest numbers of yarn — say lOO's and upwards ; and price, in 
 ' fact, is of little moment to the manufacturers who purchase it. 
 ' It usually sells at about two shillings per pound. A quality 
 
 * much resembling it, and almost if not quite as good, has been 
 ' grown, as a sample article, in Australia. But of this denomi- 
 ' nation of cotton the consumption is very small. Another 
 ' species— long, strong, fine, and yellowish — is grown in Egypt, 
 ' and imported in considerable quantities. An inferior quality 
 — coarse, harsh, bright in colour, but strong — is imported 
 
 * from Brazil, and a very small quantity from the West Indies. 
 
 * Doubtless if the price were adequate, and the demand here 
 ' very great and steady, the supply from many of these quarters 
 ' might be largely augmented. But it is not of this sort that 
 ' we need any considerable increase, nor could we afford the 
 ' price which probably alone would remunerate the grower. 
 
 ' 2. Our great consumption and demand is for the soft, white, 
 ' silky, moderately long cotton of America — the quality usually 
 ' called " Uplands," " Bowed Georgia," and " New Orleans." 
 ' This used to be sold at prices varying from 3d. to 6c?. per 
 ' pound (it is now from Qd. to 8fZ.) ; it can be consumed in any 
 ' quantity, for it is available not only for weft, but for warp, 
 ' except for the finer numbers. "We need and consume nine 
 ' bags of this cotton for one bag of all other qualities put 
 ' together. 
 
 ' 3. It is the insufficient supply, or the higher price of this 
 ' cotton, that has driven our manufacturers upon the short- 
 ' stapled native article of India, called Surat, If the price of 
 
 * the two were equal, scarcely a bag of Surat would be employed. 
 ' When the price of American cotton rises, owing to an inade- 
 ' quate supply, that of East India cotton follows it at a con- 
 ' siderable interval — the usual ratio being two to three — and 
 
IMPOETANCK OF AMEHICAN COTTON. 95 
 
 ' the import of the latter is greatly stimulated. It is always 
 ' grown in India in large quantities, and with improved means 
 ' of communication, and more careful preparation, might be 
 ' supplied in'time in indefinite and probably ample quantities. 
 ' But it is the quality that is in fault, and, as far as the past is a 
 ' guide, it would seem incurably in fault. Many attempts to 
 ' amend the character of this cotton have been made. American 
 ' planters and American " Saw gins " have been sent over, and 
 
 • American seed has been planted ; and the result has been a 
 ' sensible amelioration in cleanliness and colour, and some slight 
 ' increase in length of fibre, but scarcely any change in specific 
 ' character. The dry, fuzzy, woolly characteristics remain. 
 ' Sometimes the first year's samples nearly resemble the Ame- 
 ' rican article, but the resemblance never becomes permanent. 
 ' Hitherto (we believe we are correct in stating), either from 
 ' the peculiarity of the soil or of the climate, or, as some say, 
 ' from adulteration by the air -borne pollen of the inferior native 
 ' plant, the improved and altered character of the cotton has 
 ' never been kept up. 
 
 ' We are far from saying that this difficulty may not be over- 
 ' come, and American cotton be naturalised in our East Indian 
 ' possessions ; but certainly the results of our past efforts have 
 ' not been of favourable augury. So far as our own observation 
 ' and experience have gone, only from the other parts of the 
 ' world have we seen samples of cotton analogous in character 
 
 * to that of the United States, and equally available for our 
 ' purposes : one of these was the west coast of Africa, where, 
 ' we understand, there is a considerable native growth, which 
 ' doubtless our commerce might encourage aad increase ; the 
 ' other is the opposite side of the continent, where Port Natal 
 ' has exported some very hopeful samples, soft and silky,, but 
 
 * not clean nor of a very good colour, but still decidedly Ame- 
 ' rican in quality. 
 
 ' The point we have to bear in mind, then, is this : our de- 
 ' sideratum is not simply more cotton, but more cotton of the 
 ' same character and price as that now imported from the States. 
 ' If India were to send us 2,000,000 bales of Surat cotton per 
 
 • annum, the desideratum would not be supplied, and our 
 ' perilous problem would be still unsolved. We should be 
 ' almost as dependent on American as ever.' 
 
96 THE COTTON TEADK. 
 
 Mr. Smith in these very excellent and luminous remarks, 
 which were addressed to the Society of Arts some months 
 before the secession of the Confederate States from the Federal 
 Union, and when a non-supply of cotton was imminent, although 
 unfelt or even unsuspected, has erred in two particulars. He 
 says : ' It is always grown in India in large quantities, and, 
 ' with improved means of communication and more careful 
 ' preparation, might be supplied in time in indefinite and 
 ' 'probably ample quantities.' After two years' experience it is 
 found that cotton does not come forward in ' ample ' quantities. 
 Undoubtedly the importations are greater than formerly, but this 
 is owing to high quotations attracting the large surplus stock 
 that happened to be on hand, much of which is mere rubbish. 
 Nor would it have been exported to this country if the India 
 markets had not been overcrowded with British dry goods, 
 manufactured out of the usual proportion of American cotton, 
 the produce of the excessive crops of 1858, 1859, and 1860, 
 which caused an accumulation in all parts of the world, equiva- 
 lent to a year's consumption in addition to the ordinary stocks. 
 It is a mistake to suppose that the interior of India is one vast 
 cotton plantation. That country never had, for the reasons 
 given, so large a surplus as at the time of the breaking 
 out of the American war ; and, with everything in favour of a 
 large exporting trade, has fallen far short of what was expected 
 of her. In 1861, Mr. Bazley, who is not disposed to underrate 
 the resources of India, said that for every additional 2,000,000 
 bales, which would not be much more than equivalent in the 
 number of pounds to 1,500,000 of American, it would require 
 5,000,000 of bullocks to draw the cotton from the interior, 
 besides 1,000,000 attendants. Even if the cotton was there, 
 where are the bullocks and where are the attendants? Mr. 
 Smith further states, in alluding to the inferior quality of 
 India cotton : ' We are far from saying that this difficulty may 
 ' not be overcome, and American cotton naturalised in our East 
 ' Indian possessions.' In this he omits to take into considera- 
 tion the laws of climate, that no species of legislation can alter. 
 The people of the Confederate States, who are the most intel- 
 ligent cotton planters in the world, and who have studied this 
 as well as every other branch of the subject most thoroughly, 
 
' IREBPEESSIBLE CONFLICT.' 97 
 
 have never seen reason to fear rivalry from any quarter what- 
 
 ever. 
 
 Notwithstanding the leading journal of Europe commenced 
 very early to point out the dependence of other countries upon' 
 the cotton productions of the Southern States, the public mind 
 does not seem yet to comprehend fully this highly important 
 subject. Some excuse may be given for this want of know- 
 ledge, when it has been found that the people of the Northern 
 States of America, with the exception of the city of New York- 
 Boston is too fanatical, and Philadelphia too stupid— were so 
 ignorant as to the true cause of their advancement that they 
 considered the South of little moment, and that the Constitu- 
 tion was the source of their increasing wealth. Just as if any 
 species of legislation created commercial prosperity! The 
 absence of legislation is frequently beneficial. The Northern 
 States, to be sure, have reaped a temporary advantage, by 
 protective tariffs, enacted through the instrumentality of the 
 ' Union,' but not by any authority granted by the Constitution. 
 But where will they be after the war is over ? Factories they 
 will have, but no raw materials ; railways and canals, but no 
 inland commerce ; ships, but no cargoes. The Constitution, as 
 intended by its founders, and as interpreted by the Southerners, 
 was a useful treaty, embodying the principles of free trade be- 
 tween the States, and, except for revenue purposes, with the rest 
 of the world. The Yankees, however, with their desire to inter- 
 fere with their neighbours' business, have perverted the meaning 
 of the document to suit their own purposes. At the time of 
 its adoption in 1789, there were but 67,201 negroes — 40,370 
 slaves, and 26,831 free — in the Northern States, against 690,162 
 negroes — 657,527 slaves, and 32,635 free — in the Southern 
 States. Yet Mr. Seward, in speaking at Eochester on Oc- 
 tober 25, 1858, said that the encroachments of the South were 
 such that the whole Union must become all free or all slave ; 
 thus ignoring historic facts, and failing to make allowance for 
 difference in climate and productions. No wonder that the 
 Southern people declined being ruled by such a madman or 
 political trickster. Here are his words : — 
 
 ' It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring 
 ' forces, and it means that the United States must and will, 
 
 H 
 
98 THE COTTON TEADB. 
 
 ' sooner or later, become either entirely a slave-holding nation 
 ' or entirely a free-labour nation.' 
 
 Mr. Seward, finding that he had then gone too far, and in his 
 desire to obtain the nomination for the Presidency, temporarily 
 changed his tactics, and said in the Senate of the United States 
 on February 29, 1860 : 
 
 ' The whole sovereignty upon domestic concerns within the 
 ' Union is divided between us by unmistakeable boundaries ; 
 ' . . . . you have your fifteen distinct parts, we eighteen 
 ' parts, equally distinct. Each must be maintained in order 
 ' that the whole may be preserved.' 
 
 The people of the South never attempted to interfere with 
 the domestic concerns of their neighbours of the North — 
 they merely desired to be let alone. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln, on February 27, 1860, which was prior to his 
 nomination for the Presidency, and just two days before Mr. 
 Seward's speech in the Senate, made the following remarks 
 while on a visit to New York : — 
 
 ' Perhaps you will say the Supreme Court has decided the 
 ' constitutional question in your favour (Southern) ; — not quite 
 ' so. But waiving the lawyer's distinction between dictum and 
 ' decision, the courts have decided the question for you in a sort 
 ' of a way. The courts have substantially said, " It is your 
 ' " constitutional right to take slaves into the Federal terri- 
 ' " tories, and to hold them there as property." When I say 
 ' that the decision was made in a sort of a way, I mean that it 
 ' was made in a divided court, by a bare majority of the judges, 
 ' and they not quite agreeing with one another in the reasons 
 ' for making it; that it is so made, as that its avowed supporters 
 ' disagree with one another about its meaning ; and that it was 
 ' mainly based upon a mistaken statement of facts — the state- 
 ' ment in the opinion that the right of property in a slave is 
 ' distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution. An in- 
 ' spection of the Constitution will show that the right of property 
 ' in a slave is not distinctly and expressly affirmed in it. Bear 
 ' in mind that the judges do not pledge their judicial opinion 
 ' that such a right is implicitly affirmed in the Constitution, 
 ' but they pledge their veracity that it is distinctly and ex- 
 ' pressly affirmed there—" distinctly," that is, not mingled with 
 
POLITICAL HERESIES OF SEWAED AND LINCOLN. 99 
 
 ' anything else — " expressly," that is, in words meaning just 
 ' that without the aid of any inference, and susceptible of no 
 ' other meaning. If they had only pledged their judicial opinion 
 ' that such right is affirmed in the instrument by implication, 
 ' it would be open to others to show that neither the word 
 ' " slave " nor " slavery " is to be found in the Constitution ; 
 ' nor the word " property " even, in any connection with the 
 ' language alluding to the things slave or slavery ; and that 
 ' wherever, in an instrument, the slave is alluded to, he is called 
 ' a " person," and wherever his master's legal right in relation 
 ' to him is alluded to, it is spoken of as " service, or labour 
 ' " due " as a " debt," payable in service or labour. Also, it 
 ' would be open to show, by contemporaneous history, that the 
 ' mode of alluding to slaves and slavery, instead of speaking of 
 ' them, was employed on purpose to exclude from the Constitu- 
 ' tion the idea that there could be no property in man.' 
 
 This confused and untruthful speech of the man elected by 
 the Eepublican party as their President probably occasioned 
 the remarks of Mr. Seward, made so shortly afterwards. Mr. 
 Lincoln, however, in his inaugural address on March 4, 1861, 
 admitted that slavery was recognised by the Constitution, and 
 that he had no right to interfere with it.* He said : ' I have no 
 purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of 
 slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I haye no lawful 
 right to do so ; and I have no inclination to do so.' 
 
 The Federal Grovernment has no right to meddle with slavery 
 in the States or in the territories farther than to protect it. It 
 was a mistaken policy that induced any of the States to pass 
 enactments of abolition, as such only created a politico-geo- 
 graphical line that otherwise would not have existed, and did 
 not emancipate a single slave. The New England States are 
 
 * An extract from the opinion of Chief Justice Taney in the case referred 
 to by Mr. Lincoln will he found on reference to the Appendix. Associate 
 Justices Catron of Tennessee, Wayne of Georgia, Grier of Pennsylvania, and 
 Nelson of New York, concurred in the decision. Associate Justices 
 McLean of Ohio and Curtis of Massachusetts dissented. The arguments of 
 the former were simply those of a political speech, their author bein^ 
 desirous of becoming a candidate for the Presidency, while those of the 
 latter were merely law quibbles-what might be called a ' fence ' opinion. 
 
 n 2 
 
100 THE COTTON TEADB. 
 
 less to blame in this respect than is generally supposed. Maine, 
 New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts have never passed 
 any laws on the subject. The 'institution ' ceased to pay, and 
 most of their slaves were sent South ; the same was the case in 
 the other States. The Acts of Ehode Island, Connecticut, New 
 York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, did not in the slightest 
 degree hasten the disappearance of slavery from the North. 
 
 The late Sir George Cornewall Lewis gave his opinion con- 
 cerning the differences between the States. In a private letter 
 written in 1856 he said — 
 
 ' Dana's lecture on Sumner is very interesting. It illustrates 
 ' the relations of the North and South, and their feelings to one 
 ' another. People here speak of the outrage on Sumner as a 
 ' proof of the brutal manners of the Americans, and of their 
 ' low morality. To me it seems the fiest blow in a civil wae. 
 ' It betokens the advent of a state of things in which 
 ' political diffeeencbs cannot be settled by aegument, and 
 ' can only be settled by force. If half England was in 
 ' favour of a measure which involved the confiscation of the 
 ' property of the other half, my belief is that an English 
 ' Broolcs would he equally applauded. If Peel had proposed 
 ' a law which, instead of reducing rents, had annihilated them — 
 ' instead of being attacked by a man of words like Disraeli, he 
 ' would probably have been, attacked with physical arguments 
 ' by some man of blows. I see no solution of the political 
 ' diffeeences of the united states, but the sepaeation of the 
 ' Slave and Feeb States into distinct political communities. 
 ' If I was a citizen of a Northern State, I should wish it. I 
 ' should equally wish it if I was a citizen of a Southern State.' 
 
 Neither Seward nor Lincoln, nor any of their followers, are 
 sincere in their remarks on the negro question. One of their 
 representatives, Mr. Thurlow Weed, while in Europe last year, 
 admitted this. He- said: 'There has been for thirty years in 
 ' America " an irrepressible conflict " between slavery and free- 
 ' dom, limited, however, in the North, to a small minority of its 
 ' citizens, moved by philanthropic or political impulses or 
 ' objects. The great majority of Northern people, recognising 
 ' their constitutional obligations, abstained from interference 
 ' with slavery.' 
 
POLITICAL HERESIES .OF SEWARD AM) LINCOLN. lOI 
 
 After the black republican party, by corruption and fraud, 
 succeeded in electing their candidates, they were willing to give 
 the South additional guarantees. Even Mr. Charles Francis 
 Adams, the minister in London from the remnant of the 
 United States, endeavoured to retain the Southern States by 
 holding out pro-slavery measures, as the following extracts 
 from 'The New York Herald' of January 28, 1861, will 
 show : — 
 
 ' The propositions of Mr. Adams, of Massachusetts, in the 
 ' committee of thirty-three, contain a stronger element for the 
 ' settlement of the vexed question of slavery than the majority 
 ' of the people seem to understand. When discussing his pro- 
 ' positions, as a general thing, reference is only made to the 
 ' admission of New Mexico as a Stale, with or without slavery, 
 
 ' as her people may elect The great argument 
 
 ' adduced in favour of the admission of New Mexico as a State 
 ' under the present (Buchanan's) administration, is, that it 
 ' removes so much territory from being subject to the doctrines 
 ' of the Chicago platform under the Lincoln administration, and 
 ' to that extent removes a great difficulty in the pathway of 
 ' Mr. Lincoln. But this is not the vital proposition made by 
 ' Mr. Adams. The one which strikes at the evil complained of 
 ' by slaveholders is squarely met in the first proposition made 
 ' by Mr. Adams to amend the Constitution by inserting the 
 ' following article, after it has been adopted by three-fourths of 
 ' the legislatures of the several States, viz. — 
 
 ' " No amendment of this Constitution having for its objects 
 ' " any interference with the relation between their citizens and 
 ' "those (slaves) described in Section IL of the fourth article 
 ' " of the ' Constitution,' or other persons, shall originate with 
 ' " any State that does not recognise that relation within its 
 ' " own limits, or shall be valid without the consent of every one 
 ' " of the States composing the Union." * 
 
 * Article IV. Section 2 reads — 
 
 a. The citizen of each State shall he entitled to all privileges and im- 
 ' munities of citizens in the several States. 
 
 '2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who 
 ' shall fiee from justice and he found in another State, shall, on demand of 
 
102 THE COTTON TBADE. 
 
 ' This proposition of Mr. Adams not only removes that fear at 
 ' once, but, together with the New Mexico proposition, also 
 ' removes the nigger question from the politics of the country, 
 ' and will bring peace to a distracted people.' 
 
 One of Mr. Adams's abolition constituents entered his protest 
 against the proposed amendment, which elicited the following 
 reply, dated Washington, January 7, 1861. 
 
 ' DeA-H Sie, — I have received your letter, and have read it 
 ' with respectful attention. Nothing pleases me better than the 
 ' frank expression of opinion. I deal in it myself, and expect 
 ' it from others. But you may remember that I have always 
 ' claimed for myself the right to judge what I ought to do in 
 ' public affairs, though others whom I greatly respect do not 
 ' quite agree with me. But for this quality I should have 
 ' remained where I was sixteen years ago. I am so unfortunate 
 ' as to believe that I have offered no compromise, or any con- 
 ' cession which is not already granted in the Chicago platform 
 ' or in the National Statute Book. If you can show me that I 
 ' have, I will admit myself to have been wrong. In the mean- 
 ' time, it may be well to consider that what was rejected by the 
 ' other side could not have been prized much by them as an 
 ' advantage. I say no more at present; but having your 
 ' interests and your principles in my keeping, I shall endeavour 
 ' to prove to you in the long run that you may have been hasty 
 
 ' in your opinion. 
 
 " I am very truly your friend, 
 
 ' C. F. Adams.' 
 
 It will be observed that Mr. Adams places his party 
 ' platform ' on a level with the Constitution and laws of his 
 country. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Corwin, now Mr. Lincoln's minister to Mexico, 
 offered the following resolution as a substitute for that of 
 
 ' tlie executive authority of tlie State from wliieli he fled, he delivered up, 
 ' to he removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime. 
 
 ' 3. No person, held to service or lahour in one State under the laws 
 ' thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any such law or 
 ' regulation therein, he discharged from such service or lahour ; hut shall 
 ' he delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may 
 ' be due.' 
 
POLITICAL HERESIES OP SEWAKO ANH LINCOLN. 103 
 
 Mr. Adams; it covered the same ground, was passed by both 
 Houses of Congress, and approved March 3, 1861 :— 
 
 ' That no amendment shall be made to the Constitution 
 ' which will authorise or give Congress power to abolish or 
 ' interfere within any State with the domestic institutions 
 < thereof, including that of persons held to labour or servitude 
 ' by the laws of said State.' 
 
 The resolution was unanimously adopted, Mr. Seward, ot 
 course, voting for it. 
 
 Yet, after these pro-slavery amendments to the Constitution, 
 Mr. Seward and Mr. Adams affect to be Abolitionists. Here is 
 their latest appearance in the English newspapers : — 
 
 ' Legation of tlie United States : London, Aug. 22. 
 < SiK,— The President of the United States having received 
 ' at the hands of the Kev. Drs. Massie and Eylance the address 
 ' of the meeting recently held at the Free-trade Hall, Man- 
 ' Chester, I have now the honour, under instructions from 
 ' Washington, to forward to you the accompanying letter, in 
 ' reply, from the Secretary of State. 
 
 ' I have the honour to be. Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 ' Chaeles Francis Adams. 
 ' Thomas Bayley Potter, Eei^., &c.' 
 
 'Department of State, Washington: July 25. 
 ' SiK, — I have had the honour to receive from the Eev. Dr. 
 ' Massie and the Eev. Dr. Eylance your address in the name of 
 * a large public meeting, which was recently held at the Free- 
 ' trade Hall, in Manchester, to the President of the United. 
 ' States, together with papers which constitute the accompani- 
 ' ments of that communication. These papers have been sub- 
 ' mitted to the President ' of the United States, and I am 
 ' charged by him to inform you that he has read them with the 
 « most lively satisfaction, and with a profound sense of the obli- 
 ' gation which the reverend religious pastors in France and the 
 ' reverend religious pastors in Great Britain have laid upon the 
 ' world by their correspondence with each other, and their 
 ' commonjaddress to the Christian ministers and pastors through- 
 ' out the United States. The proceedings of the meeting at 
 ' Free-trade Hall, and its address to the President, touchiugly 
 
104 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 ' and admirably harmonise with the sentiments which pervade 
 ' the correspondence before mentioned. 
 
 ' The parties in these proceedings will readily understand 
 ' that the attempted revolution in the United States sensibly 
 ' affects this Grovernment, and American society itself, in many 
 ' ways which it has not fallen within the province of those 
 ' parties to examine. While the interests thus naturally, and 
 ' not improperly, overlooked in Europe furnish the strongest 
 ' possible motives to the people of the United States for sup- 
 ' pressing the insurrection and maintaining the Constitutional 
 ' Grovernment received at the hands of their fathers, the Pre- 
 ' sident readily accepts and avows, as an additional and irre- 
 ' sistible motive, the suggestion made by the friends of our 
 ' country in Europe, that the success of the insurrection 
 ' would result in the establishment, for the first time in the 
 ' history of the human race, of a State based upon the ex- 
 ' elusive foundations of African slavery. 
 
 ' I have the honour to be, Sir, your very obedient servant, 
 
 ' William H. Sewaed. 
 ' Thomas Bayley Potter, Esc[., Manchester, England.' 
 
 It is sheer nonsense in Mr. Seward to say ' that the success 
 ' of the insurrection (i. e. secession) would result in the estab- 
 ' lishment, for the first time in the history of the human race, of 
 ' a State based upon the exclusive foundations of African 
 ' slavery.' As to slavery, there is not a particle of difference 
 between the old Federal and new Confederate Constitutions, as 
 adjudicated by the Supreme Court. The Southern Constitution, 
 to be sure, provides that the master shall have the right of 
 transit with his slave through any of the States, while there is 
 no such express provision in the Federal Constitution. But it 
 is an implied right, however, repeatedly decided as such by the 
 highest tribunal in America, and likewise as an international 
 right by the verdict of the English Court in the case of Grace. 
 The express provisions in both Constitutions in reference to 
 slavery are as follows, viz. : — 
 
 1. Eepresentation and direct taxes shall be apportioned among 
 the several States according to numbers, to be ascertained by 
 adding to the whites three-fifths of the slaves. 
 
POLITICAL HERESIES OF SEWARD AND LINCOLN. 105 
 
 2. la the Federal Constitution there is no prohibition of the 
 African slave trade ; but after 1808 Congress had the power to 
 abolish it, if it saw proper. In the Confederate Constitution 
 there is an absolute prohibition of that trade; and a further 
 provision, giving Congress a discretionary power to prohibit the 
 introduction of slaves from the United States. 
 
 3. In each Constitution are provisions to render up fugitive 
 slaves to masters, and to use the military power to suppress all 
 attempts at rebellion by the slaves. 
 
 The simple truth is that both Constitutions embrace the 
 same fundamental principle, namely, the supremacy of the white 
 over the black race. Mr. Seward's representations to the con- 
 trary are nothing less than hypocrisy and an attempt to deceive 
 the European public in regard to this matter. Here are his 
 own words, delivered in the Senate Chamber on March 11, 
 1850, in contravention of his present statements : — ■ 
 
 ' The population of the United States consists of natives of 
 ' Caucasian origin, and exotics of the same derivation. The 
 ' native mass readily assimilates to itself and absorbs the exotic, 
 ' and these constitute one homogeneous people. The African 
 ' race, bond and free, and the aborigines, savage and civilised, 
 ' being incapable of such assimilation and absorption, remain 
 ' distinct, and, owing to their peculiar condition, constitute 
 ' inferior masses, and may be regarded as accidental if not 
 ' disturbing political forces.' 
 
 This is a clear confession that the maxim set forth in the 
 Declaration of Independence, ' that all men are created equal,' 
 referred only to the white race, who alone framed and adopted 
 the constitutions of all the States, as well as that of the United 
 States. And it is also an admission that the negro, although 
 ' a man,' is not ' a brother.' But Mr. Seward is guilty of an 
 absurd blunder when in his ethnological display he seeks to 
 place the Indian upon the same level with the negro. The 
 ' aborigines ' of America, unlike the natives of Africa, are 
 capable of high mental culture, and are not debarred from 
 political privileges in either section of the late Union. 
 
106 
 
 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE AMERICAIT COTTON CROPS —' SOUTHERN "WEALTH AND 
 NORTHERN PROFITS." 
 
 The extension of the trade in cotton has been the most 
 wonderful circumstance in the history of commerce, and it is 
 very clear that it has been mainly owing to the cultivation on 
 the Western continent. While the moist climate of the British 
 Isles is so well suited for its manufacture by machinery, the 
 peculiar soil and atmosphere of the Southern States is the best 
 adapted for its culture. The subjoined table gives a statement 
 of the number of pounds of cotton jdelded by those States from 
 the earliest period, the average annual price, the value, and the 
 quantity exported each year : — 
 
 Tear 
 
 Crop in lbs. 
 
 Price 
 
 Value 
 
 Exported 
 
 Value of Exports 
 
 
 
 eta. 
 
 $ 
 
 Iba. 
 
 s 
 
 1748 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 
 1754 
 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 
 1770 
 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 
 1784 
 
 
 
 
 1,085 
 
 
 1785 
 
 ■ *5,000,000 
 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 140 
 
 9,000 
 
 1786 
 
 
 
 
 70 
 
 
 1787 
 
 
 
 
 1,500 
 
 
 1788 
 
 
 
 
 6,000 
 
 
 1789 
 
 
 
 
 10,000 
 
 
 1790 
 
 1,500,000 
 
 30 
 
 450,000 
 
 1,200 
 
 3,600 
 
 1791 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 29 
 
 580,000 
 
 25,000 
 
 8,000 
 
 1792 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 26 
 
 780,000 
 
 200,000 
 
 52,000 
 
 1793 
 
 5,000,000 
 
 35 
 
 1,750,000 
 
 143,000 
 
 50,000 
 
 1794 
 
 8,000,000 
 
 45 
 
 3,500,000 
 
 1,167,000 
 
 500,000 
 
 1795 
 
 8,000,000 
 
 33 
 
 2,640,000 
 
 6,000,000 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 1796 
 
 10,000,000 
 
 33 
 
 3,300,000 
 
 6,000,000 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 1797 
 
 11,000,000 
 
 32 
 
 3,520,000 
 
 3,500,000 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 1798 
 
 15,000,000 
 
 33 
 
 4,950,000 
 
 9,000,000 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 1799 
 
 20,000,000 
 
 45 
 
 9,000,000 
 
 9,000,000 
 
 4,000,000 
 
 1800 
 
 35,000,000 
 
 35 
 
 8,750,000 
 
 17,000,000 
 
 5,000,000 
 
 1801 
 
 48,000,000 
 
 44 
 
 21,120,000 
 
 20,000,000 
 
 9,000,000 
 
 1802 
 
 55,000,000 
 
 22 
 
 12,100,000 
 
 27,000,000 
 
 5,000,000 
 
 1803 
 
 60,000,000 
 
 21 
 
 12,600,000 
 
 41,000,000 
 
 8,000,000 
 
 1804 
 
 65,000,000 
 
 24 
 
 15,600,000 
 
 38,000,000 
 
 8,000,000 
 
 1805 
 
 70,000,000 
 
 26 
 
 18,200,000 
 
 40,000,000 
 
 9,000,000 
 
 1806 
 
 80,000,000 
 
 25 
 
 20,000,000 
 
 37,000,000 
 
 8,000,000 
 
 1807 
 
 80,000,000 
 
 24 
 
 19,200,000 
 
 66,000,000 
 
 14,000,000 
 
 1808 
 
 75,000,000 
 
 17 
 
 12,750,000 
 
 12,000,000 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 1809 
 
 82,000,000 
 
 17 
 
 13,940,000 
 
 53,000,000 
 
 8,000,000 
 
 738,500,000 
 
 186,730,000 
 
 386,055,275 
 
 88,622,600 
 
 » Estimate from 1748 to 1789. 
 
AMEEICAN COTTON CEOPS. 
 
 107 
 
 Tear 
 
 Crop in Ibg. 
 
 Price 
 
 Value 
 
 Exported 
 
 Value of Exports 
 
 
 
 OtB. 
 
 $ 
 
 lbs. 
 
 $ 
 
 
 738,500,000 
 
 
 186,730,000 
 
 386,065,276 
 
 88,622,600 
 
 1810 
 
 85,000,000 
 
 17 
 
 14,450,000 
 
 93,000,000 
 
 16,000,000 
 
 1811 
 
 80,000,000 
 
 15^ 
 
 12,400,000 
 
 62,000,000 
 
 9,000,000 
 
 1812 
 
 75,000,000 
 
 9^ 
 
 7,125,000 
 
 29,000,000 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 1813 
 
 75,000,000 
 
 lOi 
 
 7,520,000 
 
 19,000,000 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 1814 
 
 70,000,000 
 
 8i 
 
 6,620,000 
 
 17,000,000 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 1815 
 
 100,000,000 
 
 20 
 
 20,000,000 
 
 83,000,000 
 
 17,000,000 
 
 1816 
 
 124,000,000 
 
 30 
 
 37,200,000 
 
 81,000,000 
 
 24,000,000 
 
 1817 
 
 130,000,000 
 
 24 
 
 31,200,000 
 
 96,000,000 
 
 24,000,000 
 
 1818 
 
 125,000,000 
 
 30 
 
 37,500,000 
 
 92,000,000 
 
 31,000,000 
 
 1819 
 
 167,000,000 
 
 25 
 
 41,750,000 
 
 88,000,000 
 
 21,000,000 
 
 1820 
 
 160,000,000 
 
 17 
 
 27,200,000 
 
 127,000,000 
 
 22,000,000 
 
 1821 
 
 180,000,000 
 
 16 
 
 28,800,000 
 
 124,803,406 
 
 20,000,000 
 
 1822 
 
 210,000,000 
 
 19 
 
 39,900,000 
 
 144,676,095 
 
 24,000,000 
 
 1823 
 
 185,000,000 
 
 14 
 
 25,900,000 
 
 173,723,270 
 
 23,000,000 
 
 1824 
 
 215,000,000 
 
 15 
 
 32,250,000 
 
 142,389,063 
 
 22,000,000 
 
 1825 
 
 225,000,000 
 
 16 
 
 36,000,000 
 
 176,449,007 
 
 29,000,000 
 
 1826 
 
 250,000,000 
 
 13 
 
 32,500,000 
 
 264,635,415 
 
 25,000,000 
 
 1827 
 
 270,000,000 
 
 14 
 
 37,800,000 
 
 294,310,115 
 
 29,000,000 
 
 1828 
 
 325,000,000 
 
 11 
 
 35,750,000 
 
 210,590,463 
 
 22,000,000 
 
 1829 
 
 365,000,000 
 
 10 
 
 36,500,000 
 
 264,837,186 
 
 26,000,000 
 
 1830 
 
 350,000,000 
 
 9 
 
 31,500,000 
 
 298,459,102 
 
 30,000,000 
 
 1831 
 
 385,000,000 
 
 9 
 
 34,650,000 
 
 276,979,784 
 
 25,000,000 
 
 1832 
 
 390,000,000 
 
 9 
 
 35,100,000 
 
 322,215,122 
 
 32,000,000 
 
 1833 
 
 445,000,000 
 
 11 
 
 48,950,000 
 
 324,698,604 
 
 36,000,000 
 
 1834 
 
 460,000,000 
 
 12 
 
 55,200,000 
 
 384,717,907 
 
 49,000,000 
 
 1835 
 
 560,000,000 
 
 16 
 
 88,000,000 
 
 387,358,992 
 
 65,000,000 
 
 1836 
 
 570,000,000 
 
 16 
 
 91,200,000 
 
 423,631,307 
 
 71,000,000 
 
 1837 
 
 720,000,000 
 
 14 
 
 100,800,000 
 
 444,211,637 
 
 63,000,000 
 
 1838 
 
 545,000,000 
 
 10 
 
 54,500,000 
 
 595,962,297 
 
 62,000,000 
 
 1839 
 
 870,000,000 
 
 14 
 
 121,800,000 
 
 413,624,212 
 
 61,000,000 
 
 1840 
 
 654,000,000 
 
 8 
 
 62,320,000 
 
 743,941,061 
 
 64,000,000 
 
 1841 
 
 673,000,000 
 
 10 
 
 67,300,000 
 
 630,204,100 
 
 54,000,000 
 
 1842 
 
 942,000,000 
 
 8 
 
 76,360,000 
 
 584,717,017 
 
 48,000,000 
 
 1843 
 
 812,000,000 
 
 6 
 
 48,720,000 
 
 792,297,106 
 
 49,000,000 
 
 1844 
 
 958,000,000 
 
 , 8 
 
 76,640,000 
 
 663,633,456 
 
 55,000,000 
 
 1846 
 
 840,000 000 
 
 6 
 
 50,400,000 
 
 872,905,996 
 
 62,000,000 
 
 1846 
 
 711,000,000 
 
 8 
 
 66,880,000 
 
 647,558,065 
 
 ^3,000,000 
 
 1847 
 
 940,000,000 
 
 10 
 
 94,000,000 
 
 527,219,958 
 
 53,000,000 
 
 1848 
 
 1,100,000,000 
 
 n 
 
 80,000,000 
 
 814,274,431 
 
 62,000,000 
 
 1849 
 
 860,000,000 
 
 6i 
 
 55,900,000 
 
 1,026,602,269 
 
 66,000,000 
 
 1850 
 
 990,000,000 
 
 11 
 
 108,900,000 
 
 635,381,604 
 
 ■72,000,000 
 
 1851 
 
 1,300,000,000 
 
 11 
 
 143,000,000 
 
 927,237,089 
 
 112,000,000 
 
 1852 
 
 1,400,000,000 
 
 8 
 
 112,000,000 
 
 1,093,230,639 
 
 88,000,000 
 
 1853 
 
 1,300,000,000 
 
 9 
 
 117,000,000 
 
 1,111,610,370 
 
 109,000,000 
 
 1854 
 
 1,200,000,000 
 
 8f 
 
 105,000,000 
 
 987,833,106 
 
 94,000,000 
 
 1855 
 
 1,550,000,000 
 
 9 
 
 139,600,000 
 
 1,008,424,601 
 
 88,000,000 
 
 1856 
 
 1,300,000,000 
 
 9 
 
 117,000,000 
 
 1,351,431,701 
 
 128,000,000 
 
 1857 
 
 1,400,000,000 
 
 12i 
 
 175,000,000 
 
 1,048,282,475 
 
 132,000,000 
 
 1858 
 
 1,750,000,000 
 
 llf 
 
 199,000,000 
 
 1,118,624,012 
 
 131,000,000 
 
 1859 
 
 2,200,000,000 
 
 111 
 
 247,600,000 
 
 1,383,802,574 
 
 159,000,000 
 
 1860 
 
 1,650,000,000 
 
 Hi 
 
 198,000,000 
 
 1,490,000,000 
 
 178,800,000 
 
 33,969,500,000 
 
 3,716,215,000 
 
 26,099,419,677 
 
 2,810,422,600 
 
108 THE COTTON TBADE. 
 
 The total value of the cotton crops of the Southern States of 
 America, from the earliest period to the dissolution of the 
 Federal Union, allowing for 5,000,000 pounds, the estimated 
 weight of that grown anterior to 1789, amounted to thirty- 
 seven hundred and sixteen millions, two hundred and fifteen 
 thousand dollars (^3,716,215,000), of which twenty-eight hun- 
 dred and ten millions, four hundred and twenty-two thousand, 
 six hundred dollars (#2,810,422,600) in value, or about three- 
 fourths the whole, was exported to foreign ports, and two-thirds 
 of the remaining one-fourth were sent to the Northern States. 
 These crops formed the basis of a commerce, the aggregate 
 amount of which it is difficult to appraise. Cotton, from the 
 time it leaves the pod until it is converted into paper, goes 
 through a greater number of hands than any other production 
 of the vegetable or animal kingdom. It will be observed that 
 prices of cotton have gradually cheapened, incidental to the 
 usual mercantile fluctuations. The trade has been subjected to 
 several interruptions — the embargo in 1808, followed by the 
 Non-intercourse Act, the war of 1812-14, and the present 
 partial blockade of the Southern ports. On these occasions 
 prices have, of course, been very high at the consuming points. 
 
 The foregoing tables and remarks bring the history of the 
 American cotton trade down to the period of the secession of 
 the Southern States from the Federal Union, which, beginning 
 with the State of South Carolina on December 20, 1860, was 
 followed by the other cotton States in January and February 
 1861. The shipments of cotton, however, were continued to 
 the close of the season — July ; the trade therefore does not show 
 much falling off for that year. The business since then has 
 been confined to the produce reshipped from the North and 
 that which has eluded the blockade. 
 
 The rapidity with which the cultivation of cotton increased 
 in the Southern States is truly astonishing. In the beginning of 
 the present century the annual exportation was about 5,000 
 bales; in 1849 the quantity grown had reached 2,445,793 bales 
 of ginned cotton of 400 lbs. each; in 1859 it had further ad- 
 vanced to 5,196,793 bales, or more than 100 per cent, in ten 
 years. The whole crop is the product of twelve States, but 
 is chiefly obtained from eight of them. Prior to the production 
 
AMEKICAJSr COTTON MANUFACTURES. 109 
 
 of cotton in the more Southern States, it was moderately culti- 
 vated for domestic purposes in North Carolina, Virginia, Mary- 
 land, Delaware, and even Southern Illinois. The ocean freights 
 for many years, earned by Northern ships in transporting cotton, 
 have averaged over twenty millions of dollars per annum. 
 When the crops were smaller, the cost of transportation was 
 higher, the vessels being of more limited capacity. 
 
 Among the branches of manufacture in the Northern States, 
 that of cotton goods holds the first rank, both as to the capital 
 employed and the value of the product. The Yankees have had 
 a great advantage in having the raw material so close at hand. 
 They have not been content with this, but have also demanded 
 protection under what is called the ' American system,' a term 
 borrowed by Henry Clay from Napoleon's expression, the 
 ' continental system.' 
 
 The total value of cotton goods manufactured in the New 
 England States in 1859 was ;^80,301,535, and in the middle 
 States ^26,272,111 — an increase of 83'4 per cent, in the 
 former and 77 "7 in the latter since the last decade. The other 
 States reached a value of ^8,564,280, making the whole pro- 
 duction ^115,137,926, against ;?65,501,687 in 1850 — an 
 augmentation of 76 per cent. The extension in cotton manu- 
 facture was as follows : — Maine and New Jersey, 152 per cent. ; 
 Pennsylvania, 102 per cent.; New Hampshire and Connecticut, 
 
 87 per cent. ; Massachusetts, 69 per cent. ; and Ehode Island, 
 
 88 per cent. The value was at the rate of ;^3y^^ for each indi- 
 vidual in all the States, equivalent to 46^ yards of cloth for 
 every person, at 8 cts. per yard. The average production in 
 1850 was but 34i yards per head. The increase, therefore, was 
 about 12 yards per individual, or equal to the entire consump- 
 tion in 1830. The number of hands employed in the manu- 
 factories in 1859 was 45,315 males and 73,605 females — an 
 increase of 10,020 and 10,944 respectively over 1850. The 
 average product of an operative was ^969, or about 200?. 
 sterling. The spindles were returned at 5,035,798, against 
 3,633,693 in 1850— an advance of 1,402,105, or 38-5 per cent. 
 The cotton manufacturing business of the New England States 
 ■vyas 78 '6 per cent, of the whole, Massachusetts alone being 29-3 
 per cent. The product per spindle was — In Maine, $22^-^-^; 
 
110 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 Massachusetts, ^2l^\^^; New Hampshire, $24:j^-^; Vermont, 
 ;^18JJ^; Rhode Island, ^16 ; Connecticut, ^16x*oV The average 
 in the New England States is #20JJig ; in the Middle States, 
 $S0^; and all the States together, $22^-0- The quantity of 
 cotton consumed in the entire Union in 1859 was 364,036,123 
 lbs. ; of this amount the New England States took about two- 
 thirds, one-half of which was used in Massachusetts. 
 
 The Yankees by these statements, which are compiled from 
 the last census, have, it will be observed, been killing the goose 
 that has laid their golden egg when they attempted to inter- 
 fere with the people of the South, who have not only supplied 
 them with the raw material, but who have been their principal 
 customers for all their manufactures. 
 
 In dilating upon this subject, the ' Boston Post,' a Democra- 
 tic paper, said in 1859, when speaking of the trade of the New 
 England States with the South : 
 
 ' The aggregate value of the merchandise sold to the South 
 ' annually we estimate at some #60,000,000. The basis of the 
 ' estimate is, first, the estimated amount of boots and shoes sold, 
 'which intelligent merchants place at from ^^20,000,000 to 
 '#30,000,000, including a limited amount that are manufac- 
 ' tured with us and sold in New York. In the next place, we 
 ' know, from merchants in the trade, that the amount of dry 
 ' goods sold South yearly is many millions of dollars, and that 
 'the amount is second only to that of the sales of boots and 
 ' shoes. In the third place, we learn from careful enquiry and 
 ' from the best sources, that the fish of various kinds sold realise 
 ' #3,000,000, or in that neighbourhood. Upwards of #1,000,000 
 ' is received for furniture sold in the South every year. The 
 ' Southern States are a much better market than the Western 
 ' for this article. It is true, since the establishment of branch 
 ' houses in New York, Philadelphia, and other cities, many of 
 'the goods manufactured in New England have reached the 
 ' South through those houses ; but still the commerce of New 
 ' England with the South, and this particular section of the 
 ' country, receives the main advantage of that commerce. And 
 ' what shall we say of New England ship-building, that is so 
 ' greatly sustained by Southern wants ? What shall we say of 
 ' that large ocean fleet that, by being the common carriers of 
 
'SOUTHERN WEALTH AND NOKTHEEN PROFITS.' Ill 
 
 ' the South, has brought so large an amount of money into the 
 ' pockets of our merchants ? We will not undertake to estimate 
 ' the value of these interests, supported directly by the South.' 
 Mr. Kettell, a New Yorker, in commenting upon the above 
 article, said: 'This estimate of the "Post" for New England 
 ' alone is about half the aggregate that the census indicates as 
 ' the sales of Northern manufactures to the South. The South 
 ' manufactures nearly as much per head of the white popula- 
 ' tion as does the West. Both these sections hold, however, a 
 ' provincial position in relation to the East. As we have seen 
 ' heretofore, the first accumulations of capital in the country 
 ' were at the East from the earnings of navigation and the slave 
 'trade. These were invested in manufactures, "protected" by 
 ' the tariffs imposed by the Federal Grovernment. The opera- 
 ' tions of these tariffs was to tax the consumers in the South 
 ' and West pro rata upon what manufactures they purchased 
 ' from the East, and, by so doing, to increase Eastern capital at 
 ' the expense of those other sections. The articles mostly pro- 
 ' tected, and of which the cost is enhanced to the consumers in 
 ' proportion to the duties, are manufactured at the East to the 
 ' extent of ^320,000,000, of which ^200,000,000 are sold South 
 ' and West. This gives an annual drain of ^50,000,000 from 
 ' the consumers of those sections, as a bonus or protection to 
 'the capital employed in manufacturing at the North. The 
 ' claim for this protection is based upon the necessity of pro- 
 ' tecting home manufactures against the overwhelming capital 
 ' of England. The manufacturers of the South and West have 
 ' to contend, however, not only against the overwhelming capi- 
 ' tal of New England created in manufactures, but against the 
 ' drain of capital from each locality, caused by the protection to 
 ' Eastern goods. In spite of this disability, as we have seen in - 
 ' the tables, the manufactures of those sections increase, and at 
 ' the South faster than at the West. There is another feature 
 ' of this manufacturing industry which deserves attention. It 
 'is, that one-third of the hands employed at the East are 
 ' females, and the product of their labour is made efficient by 
 ' steam-machinery. If we take the relative numbers employed 
 ' in cotton manufacture in each section in the cotton trade, the 
 ' result is as follows : — 
 
112 
 
 THE COTTON TEADE. 
 
 Male . 
 Female 
 
 'teas ending Jtjke 
 
 North 
 
 . 27,392 
 . 53,184 
 
 'teae ENBiNe Jtjne 
 
 1, 1850. 
 
 West 
 
 334 
 513 
 
 1, 1860. 
 
 South 
 
 5,569 
 8,960 
 
 Total 
 
 35,295 
 62,661 
 
 Male . 
 Female 
 
 North 
 
 . 38,984 
 . 64,698 
 
 West 
 
 632 
 676 
 
 South 
 
 5,664 
 8,231 
 
 Total 
 
 45,313 
 73,605 
 
 ' The Northern labour is largely performed by females, and 
 ' this element of labour is supplied by immigration in nearly its 
 ' whole extent, a very large proportion of the females employed 
 ' in the factories being Irish. At the South, female labour is 
 ' taking the same direction with great success. 
 
 'If we compare the whole number of persons employed in 
 ' manufactures of all kinds at the South with those so employed 
 ' at the West, as seen in the census tables for 1850, we find at 
 'the South the number employed is 151,944, or 1 in 41 of 
 ' the white population. At the West the number so employed 
 ' is 122,364, or 1 in 40 of the population. These figures 
 ' give no advantage to the free-labour section, as opposed to the 
 ' slave-labour section. There is here no evidence that the exist- 
 ' ence of slavery is in any degree opposed to the developement 
 ' of white industry. It is only another evidence in corroboration 
 ' of that afforded by the history of the Northern States : the 
 ' theory has been advanced against the extension of slavery into 
 ' the territories that slavery degrades labour and drives out free 
 'industry. In 1790, the New England and Middle States had 
 ' 1,968,455 inhabitants, of which 40,370 were slaves. Did that 
 ' slave labour drive out white labour ? or has not the latter ex- 
 ' tinguished the former, and cast adrift the then well-cared-for 
 ' negroes, to starve in little bands on the outskirts of the towns 
 , ' and villages, their former happy homes, the wasting monuments 
 - of the incapacity of a race, and of the selfishness of that 
 ' philanthropy which found a pecuniary relief in conferring the 
 'blessings of liberty on their henceforth useless servants ?' 
 
 If there be added to these many advantages the benefits re- 
 ceived by the North, in its capacity of importer, banker, com- 
 mission merchant, and broker, it is not surprising that great 
 cities grew up and a specious show of wealth has been paraded. 
 But the truth is, that the natural resources of the American 
 
VIEWS OF PRESIDEN'T DAVIS. 118 
 
 States lie altogether in the South. Although that section has 
 been thus partially drained, it is quite clear that she is better 
 off this day than the North. Witness the fact that nearly all 
 the bonds of the Southern States, municipalities, and various 
 corporations, including banks and railways, are owned by their 
 people. This is not the case in the North or the West, most of 
 whose railway bonds and State stocks are held in Europe. The 
 Northerners have preferred keeping their capital and that 
 borrowed from Europe (the South has no commercial indebted- 
 ness) in an active condition, not content with ordinary inte- 
 rest : much of it is invested in mill property that must neces- 
 sarily be valueless after the war is over, as their Southern 
 custom is now gone for ever. That great loss, however, has 
 not yet been felt by them, owing to the enormous expenditure 
 for Federal war supplies, which fitted in to fill up the vacuum, 
 as State after State withdrew from the Union. The war, too, 
 with the large European demand for breadstuffs that existed for 
 two years, has given temporary employment for Northern ships 
 that had hitherto been engaged in transporting Southern produce. 
 
 Historians will record the Northern crusade against the South 
 as the greatest folly ever committed. President Davis said, in 
 his inaugural message, February 1861 : 
 
 ' An agricultural people, whose chief interest is the export of 
 'a commodity required in every manufacturing country, our 
 ' true policy is peace, and the freest trade which our necessities 
 ' will permit. It is alike our interest and that of those to whom 
 ' we would sell and from whom we would buy, that there should 
 ' be the fewest practicable restrictions upon the interchange of 
 
 * commodities. There can be but little rivalry between ours 
 ' and any manufacturing or navigating community, such as the 
 ' North-eastern States of the American Union. It must follow, 
 
 * therefore, that mutual interest would invite goodwill and kind 
 ' ofiSces. If, however, passion or lust of dominion should cloud 
 'the judgment or inflame the ambition of those States, we 
 ' must prepare to meet the emergency, and maintain by the final 
 ' arbitrament of the sword the position which we have assumed 
 ' among the nations of the earth.' 
 
 As a further evidence of the superiority of the resources of 
 the South over those of the North and West combined, the 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 TPIE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 following figures are taken from the census of 1860: — The 
 population of the non-slaveholding States was 18,907,753 ; of 
 the slaveholding States, including 3,950,511 slaves, 12,243,293. 
 The assessed value of real and personal property in the North 
 was ^6,541,027,619 ; in the South, ^5,465,808,957. The num- 
 ber of acres of improved lands in the North were 88,181,466, 
 and the cash value of the farms, farming implements, and 
 machinery, ^4,209,062,835 ; in the South the acres of improved 
 land were 74,623,055, and the value of the farms and farming 
 implements, ^2,675,476,321. The North possessed of horses, 
 asses, and mules, 3,669,239 ; the South, 3,537,236. 
 
 STTMMAKT OF MILCH 
 
 In the North 
 Milch cows . 
 Working oxen 
 Other cattle . 
 Sheep . 
 Swine . 
 
 cows, WOKKINfl OXEN, AND OIHEE 
 SHEEP, AND SWINE. 
 
 In the South 
 Milch cows . 
 Working oxen 
 Other cattle 
 Sheep . 
 Swine . 
 
 5,235,254 
 
 1,011,868 
 
 6,412,200 
 
 15,367,312 
 
 11,846,629 
 
 89,873,263 
 
 The value of live stock in the North was 
 Ditto in the South .... 
 
 3,428,011 
 1,176,286 
 8,187,125 
 7,064,116 
 20,651,182 
 
 40,506,720 
 
 #574,525,612 
 524,336,743 
 
 POOD STATISTICS. 
 
 Articles 
 
 North 
 
 South 
 
 Wheat . 
 
 bushels 
 
 120,170,315 
 
 50,005,712 
 
 Rye .... 
 
 J, 
 
 16,897,379 
 
 4,067,667 
 
 Indian corn 
 
 „ 
 
 392,756,465 
 
 434,938,063 
 
 Oats 
 
 „ 
 
 138,864,580 
 
 33,224,515 
 
 Barley and buckwheat 
 
 jj 
 
 31,588,149 
 
 1,666,516 
 
 Rice. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 4,139 
 
 187,136,034 
 
 Butter . 
 
 }J 
 
 368,646,282 
 
 91,026,470 
 
 Cheese 
 
 J) 
 
 104,531,095 
 
 1,257,567 
 
 Irish and sweet potatoes 
 
 
 
 
 peas, heans . 
 
 . bushels 
 
 103,494,753 
 
 63,229,982 
 
 Sugar (cane) 
 
 hhds. 
 
 283 
 
 301,922 
 
 Sugar (maple) . 
 
 lbs. 
 
 37,186,065 
 
 1,677,533 
 
 Molasses (cane) 
 
 gallons 
 
 66 
 
 16,337,017 
 
 Molasses (maple) 
 
 ' }j 
 
 1,474,155 
 
 470,144 
 
 Molasses (sorghum) . 
 
 » 
 
 4,717,125 
 
 2,458,917 
 
 Hops 
 
 lbs. 
 
 10,982,296 
 
 27,537 
 
 Honey in wax . 
 
 ?) 
 
 10,987,926 
 
 15,382,905 
 
 Wine 
 
 gallons 
 
 1,427,516 
 
 423,303 
 
 Value of orchard prodi, 
 
 lets and 
 
 
 
 vegetables . 
 
 . 
 
 ;^26,894,014 
 
 #8,103,216 
 
 Value of animals slaughte 
 
 red . 
 
 ;?105,669,980 
 
 #106,362,075 
 
THE CENSUS OF I860. 
 
 GENEEAi STATISTICS. 
 
 115 
 
 Articles 
 
 North 
 
 South 
 
 Clover and other grass seeds . bushels 
 
 1,503,050 
 
 325,667 
 
 Hemp ..... tons 
 
 40,800 
 
 63,680 
 
 Flax lbs. 
 
 2,045,630 
 
 1,733,213 
 
 Flax seed ..... bushels 
 
 513,227 
 
 98,553 
 
 Silk cocoons .... lbs. 
 
 5,320 
 
 1,211 
 
 Tobacco „ 
 
 58,734,028 
 
 370,630,723 
 
 Cotton . ginned bales of 400 lbs. 
 
 6 
 
 5,196,938 
 
 Wool 
 
 45,247,012 
 
 14,685,316 
 
 The value of the 'home-made manufactures' in the North 
 was ^5,699,727 ; in the South, ;?18,526,734. All the naval 
 stores — rosin, tar, pitch, turpentine, &c. — amounting to many 
 millions of dollars annually, were produced in the South. A 
 large portion of the live oak, white oak, and other timber used 
 for the construction of ships in the Northern States, as well as 
 the yellow pine and much of the building material, are of the 
 growth of Southern forests. 
 
 In the census, the Northern States are credited with 17,215,952 
 tons of hay, whilst the produce of that article in the Southern 
 States is set down at 1,857,554 tons. In comparing the re- 
 sources of the two sections of the late union, this claim is 
 absurd. The South grows more food for cattle than the North, 
 but, thanks to her climate, she is not put to the expense of 
 making her grass into hay for winter keep, except to a very 
 moderate extent. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 
 
 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE BRITISH COTTON TEADE— STATISTICS FROM 1697 TO 1863. 
 
 The monopoly enjoyed by India in supplying cotton clothing 
 material and yarns ceased about the beginning of the present 
 century upon the advent of the cotton business with America. 
 It will, therefore, be interesting to review the course of the 
 British cotton trade from the earliest authentic records down to 
 that period. 
 
 The Custom House returns give the following figures as the 
 value of raw cotton imported, and manufactured goods exported 
 in the years named : — 
 
 Tears 
 
 Eaw cotton 
 
 Value ol goods 
 
 imported 
 
 exported 
 
 
 lbs. 
 
 & 
 
 1697 
 
 1,979,359 
 
 5,915 
 
 1701 
 
 1,985,868 
 
 23,253 
 
 1710 
 
 715,008 
 
 5,698 
 
 1720 
 
 1,972,805 
 
 16,200 
 
 1730 
 
 1,546,472 
 
 13,524 
 
 1741 
 
 1,645,031 
 
 20,709 
 
 1751 
 
 2,976,610 
 
 45,986 
 
 1764 
 
 3,870,392 
 
 200,354 
 
 All these cottons were received from the Levant and America. 
 
 South Carolina contributed within this period 17 bales, viz,, 
 in 1748 7 bales and 1754 10 bales— also in 1770 10 bales. 
 
 There were imported, from the year 1700 to 1760, considerable 
 quantities of cotton yarn from India, as will be seen by the fol- 
 lowing table, which shows that during the early part of that 
 period the cotton yarn imported from Hindostan bore a very 
 considerable relation to the whole cotton wool imported from 
 other places into Great Britain. Thus in 1710 the total im- 
 portation of cotton wool was-715,008 lbs., while in 1707 that of 
 
THE BRITISH COTTON' TRADE — STATISTICS. 
 
 117 
 
 Indian yarn was 219,879 lbs., and in 1713, 135,546 lbs. The 
 quantities di yarn imported by the Company seem to have 
 suffered extraordinary vicissitudes, ill accordant with the regular 
 course of the home manufactures into which they entered. It 
 is reasonable, therefore, to infer that there must have been in 
 the intervals very large importations of these yarns through the 
 contraband traders, who are known to have supplied the Euro- 
 pean markets, to a great extent, with the highly prized and then 
 inimitable muslins and calicoes of the Eastern world. 
 
 STATEMENT OE THE QTTANTITT OE COTTON' TAEN IMPOETED EEOM INDIA 
 IN EACH YEAE EEOM 1700 TO 1760. 
 
 17001 
 
 1701 \.'^^^ General Books for these years 
 
 1731 . . 
 
 lbs. 
 20,496 
 
 -^yQ2 J are missing 
 
 1732 . . 
 
 46,405 
 
 1703 114,100 lbs. 
 
 1733 . . 
 
 70,976 
 
 1704 72,938 
 
 1734 . . 
 
 5,924 
 
 1705 39,155 
 
 1735 . . 
 
 91,394 
 
 1706 48,120 
 
 1736 . . 
 
 40,274 
 
 1707 219,879 
 
 1737 . . 
 
 2,083 
 
 1708- 
 
 The General Books for these years 
 
 1738 . . 
 
 3,024 
 
 1709 
 
 do not particularise the goods im- 
 
 1739 . . 
 
 8,446 
 
 1710 
 
 ported ; the Subsidiary Books, from 
 
 1740 . . 
 
 3,339 
 
 1711 
 
 ■which the information could be 
 
 1741 . . 
 
 20,056 
 
 1712 
 
 supplied, are missing 
 
 1742 . . 
 
 11,366 
 
 1713 ...... 
 
 . 135,546 lbs. 
 
 1743 . . 
 
 9,904 
 
 1714 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12,768 
 
 1744 . . 
 
 14,593 
 
 1715 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 nil 
 
 1745 . . 
 
 nil 
 
 1716 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 nil 
 
 1746 . . 
 
 nil 
 
 1717 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 nil 
 
 1747 . . 
 
 nil 
 
 1718 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 37,714 
 
 1748 . . 
 
 nil 
 
 1719 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 nil 
 
 1749 . . 
 
 nil 
 
 1720 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 21,350 
 
 1750 . . 
 
 14,112 
 
 1721 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 50,624 
 
 1751 . . 
 
 4,704 
 
 1722 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10,800 
 
 1752 . . 
 
 336 
 
 1723 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 24,025 
 
 1753 . . 
 
 nil 
 
 1724 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 21,588 
 
 1754 . . 
 
 nil 
 
 1725 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5,809 
 
 1755 . . 
 
 37,632 
 
 1726 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 45,300 
 
 1756 . . 
 
 6,061 
 
 1727 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 27,254 
 
 1757 . . 
 
 4,357 
 
 1728 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11,424 
 
 1758 . . 
 
 12,869 
 
 1729 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18,816 
 
 1759 . . 
 
 4,390 
 
 1730 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 32,351 
 
 1760 . . 
 
 2,814 
 
 The trade continued 'steady' at about the figures of 1764 
 until 1781. The following table exhibits its extent from that 
 date until 1800, and specifies the portion received from the 
 American States. 
 
118 
 
 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 IMPORTATIONS AND EXPOEIAIIONS OP BAW COTTON" INTO GBBAT BEITAIN 
 FEOM 1781 TO 1800 — 20 TEAES — WITH THE aTTANTIIT BBCEIVBD 
 PBOM THE AMEBIOAN STATES. 
 
 Tears 
 
 Imported 
 
 American portion 
 
 Exported 
 
 
 lbs. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 1781 
 
 5,198,798 
 
 — 
 
 96,778 
 
 1782 
 
 11,828,039 
 
 
 
 421,229 
 
 1783 
 
 9,735,663 
 
 
 
 177,626 
 
 1784 
 
 11,482,083 
 
 1,085 
 
 201,845 
 
 1785 
 
 18,400,384 
 
 140 
 
 407.496 
 
 1786* 
 
 19,475,020 
 
 50 
 
 323;i53 
 
 1787 
 
 23,250,268 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,073,381 
 
 1788 
 
 20,467,436 
 
 6,000 
 
 853,146 
 
 1789 
 
 32,576,023 
 
 10,000 
 
 297,837 
 
 1790 
 
 31,447,605 
 
 1,200 
 
 844,154 
 
 1791 
 
 28,706,675 
 
 25,000 
 
 363,442 
 
 1792 
 
 34,907,497 
 
 140,000 
 
 1,485,465 
 
 1793 
 
 19,040,929 
 
 90,000 
 
 1,171,566 
 
 1794 
 
 24,358,567 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 1,349,950 
 
 1795 
 
 26,401,340 
 
 5,500,000 
 
 1,193,737 
 
 1796 
 
 32,126,357 
 
 5,500,000 
 
 694,962 
 
 1797 
 
 23,354,371 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 609,058 
 
 1798 
 
 31,880,641 
 
 8,000,000 
 
 601,189 
 
 1799 
 
 43,379,278 
 
 8,000,000 
 
 844,671 
 
 1800 
 
 56,010,732 
 
 15,000,000 
 
 4,416,610 
 
 The foregoing tables exhibit the limited extent of the British 
 cotton trade up to the beginning of the present centennial 
 period. It was not until 1788 that the first importation of 
 raw cotton from India into England took place. Prior to that 
 period, the receipts from thence were in goods and yarns, and 
 it was some years before the shipments became extensive, 
 notwithstanding the efforts of the East India Company to 
 foster the business. The Southern cotton crops, and the 
 great improvements in machinery, completely reversed the 
 current of the commerce ; and if the error committed by 
 the British Cabinet and Mr. Jay, the American minister in 
 1794, had been permitted by a want of foresight on the part 
 
 * The sources of supply this year (1786) were as follow :— 
 
 lbs 
 
 Britisli West Indies 5,650,000 
 
 French and Spanish Colonies .... 6,430,000 
 
 Dutch Colonies 1,610,000 
 
 Portuguese Colonies 1 980 000 
 
 Smyrna and Turkey 4,855,020 
 
 Southern States 0,000,050 
 
 19,475,020 
 
THE BRITISH COTTON TBADE — STATISTICS. 
 
 119 
 
 of the Senate of the United States to go uncorrected, the 
 developement of the trade might have been much retarded. 
 Until then Great Britain, feeling yet sore on the subject of 
 the 'secession' of the American colonies, was indisposed to 
 increase her commerce with her former subjects, and even at 
 that time, and subsequently, in prohibiting them to trade with 
 the West Indies, entrammeled her mercantile relations with 
 the American States. 
 
 It will be observed by the statement below that the cotton 
 trade between the Southern States and Great Britain steadily 
 increased from 1800 to 1820, and this, too, in the face of extend- 
 ing shipments to the Northern States and to the continent of 
 Europe. 
 
 The next table gives the extent of the British cotton trade 
 from 1801 to 1820 — 20 years — noting the portion (estimate) 
 received from the American States : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 Excess of Imports 
 
 Years 
 
 Imported 
 
 American portion 
 
 Exported 
 
 over Exports 
 
 Consumed 
 
 
 lbs. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 1801 
 
 66,004,305 
 
 18,500,000 
 
 1,860,872 
 
 54,203,433 
 
 1802 
 
 60,345,600 
 
 25,000,000 
 
 3,730,480 
 
 56,616,120 
 
 1803 
 
 53,813,284 
 
 39,500,000 
 
 1,661,053 
 
 52,261,231 
 
 1804 
 
 61,867,329 
 
 37,000,000 
 
 503,171 
 
 61,364,158 
 
 1805 
 
 59,682,406 
 
 38,000,000 
 
 804,243 
 
 68,178,863 
 
 1806 
 
 58,176,283 
 
 36,000,000 
 
 651,867 
 
 57,524,416 
 
 1807 
 
 74,926,806 
 
 62,000,000 
 
 2,176,943 
 
 72,248,363 
 
 1808 
 
 43,606,982 
 
 10,000,000 
 
 1,644,867 
 
 41,961,115 
 
 1809 
 
 92,812,282 
 
 51,000,000 
 
 4,351,105 
 
 88,461,177 
 
 1810 
 
 132,488,936 
 
 90,000,000 
 
 8,787,109 
 
 123,701,826 
 
 1811 
 
 91,576,635 
 
 60,000,000 
 
 1,266,867 
 
 90,309,668 
 
 1812 
 
 63,025,936 
 
 27,500,000 
 
 1,740,912 
 
 61,286,024 
 
 1813 
 
 50,000,000 
 
 16,000,000 
 
 — 
 
 50,996,000 
 
 1814 
 
 73,728,900 
 
 16,000,000 
 
 19,951,098 
 
 53,777,802 
 
 1815 
 
 96,200,200 
 
 80,000,000 
 
 3,684,249 
 
 92,516,961 
 
 1816 
 
 97,310,000 
 
 80,000,000 
 
 10,494,979 
 
 86,816,021 
 
 1817 
 
 126,240,000 
 
 93,000,000 
 
 9,482,474 
 
 116,757,526 
 
 1818 
 
 173,940,000 
 
 90,000,000 
 
 11,817,295 
 
 162,122,705 
 
 1819 
 
 137,592,000 
 
 86,000,000 
 
 4,475,149 
 
 133,116,851 
 
 1820 
 
 147,576,000 
 
 125,000,000 
 
 14,726,367 
 
 132,829,633 
 
 The tables (pp. 120, 121) furnish an estimate of the British 
 cotton trade from 1821 to 1860 inclusive — a period of 40 years — 
 with the portions received from the different countries, the quan- 
 tity exported, and the stock remaining for home consumption on 
 the 31st day of December of each year. 
 
120 
 
 THE COTTON TKADE. 
 
 
 
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THE BKITISH COTTON TEADE — STATISTICS. 
 
 121 
 
 
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1-22 THE COTTON TKADE. 
 
 The quantity given as that remaining on hand has been 
 found by deducting the exportations from the importations of 
 cotton. The figures, having passed the scrutiny of the Custom 
 House authorities, may be regarded as much more correct 
 than the brokers' reports of the portion taken for consumption. 
 This method, therefore, gives an accurate account of the cotton 
 manufactured in the United Kingdom, although the quantities 
 opposite the individual years cannot be exact, in consequence of 
 the stocks on hand at the close of each season not being the 
 same. 
 
 The last table brings the cotton trade down to December 31, 
 1860; the quantity received into the United Kingdom from 
 the Southern States in that year was 1,115,890,608 lbs. against 
 93,470,745 lbs. in 1821— anincrease of 1,022,419,863 lbs.; while 
 that from the West Indies declined from 7,138,980 lbs. in 1821 
 to 1,050,784 lbs. in 1860— a falling off of 6,088,196 lbs.: 
 and the yield of the latter year happened to be exceptionally 
 large — nearly double an ordinary crop. This decline in the 
 growth of cotton in the West Indies was altogether owing 
 to the meddling with slavery by the Abolitionists, which began 
 to embarrass the planters, some years before emancipation actu- 
 ally took place ; but the reduction in the crops of those luxuriant 
 regions was still more marked aft;er it occurred. It will be ob- 
 served, the receipts from India were enlarged from 8,827,107 lbs. 
 in 1821 to 204,141,168 lbs. in 1860. This does not argue 
 that the actual production of India has increased greatly, but 
 shows that the more American cotton is used in England the 
 greater are the requirements of that of Indian growth — a small 
 proportion of the latter being advantageously consumed in the 
 fabrication of the former. India has been enabled to spare 
 the additional quantity, in consequence of being a large purchaser 
 of British goods and yarn, which enables her to release some of 
 her raw material. 
 
 The history of commerce for the last sixty years shows 
 how closely the interests of Great Britain and the Confede- 
 rate States are allied, and that the Northern States have 
 detracted from the prosperity of both. The earnings of 
 the Yankees out of the staples of the South have, to use 
 Mr. Eoebuck's graphic expression, caused them to become an 
 
THE BRITISH COTTON TRADE — STATISTICS. 
 
 123 
 
 •upstart nation,' particularly since the revolution in Europe 
 in 1848, which threw into the North and West a very large 
 number of emigrants of the Red Republican type, who have 
 aided the Puritans in abusing England and vilifying the South. 
 And now these vast commissions, brokerages, and profits are 
 being squandered in the futile effort to subdue their benefactors, 
 who have merely desired to throw off the political and mercantile 
 shackles with which they, for so long a time, had been bound. 
 
 In order to exhibit the extent of the cotton trade, the busi- 
 ness ia Europe for 1859, the last year of moderate transactions, 
 is here given in bales. 
 
 The bales of American cotton have gradually increased from 
 about 215 lbs. to an average of 430 lbs. during the present 
 century. From 1851 to 1858, the net weight of the bales of 
 the several descriptions of cotton have ranged as follows : — 
 American 430 lbs., Egyptian 384 lbs., East Indian 376 lbs., West 
 Indian 201 lbs., and Brazilian 181 lbs. 
 
 In 1862, the weight of the bales of cotton received at 
 Liverpool averaged : Uplands, 440 lbs. ; Orleans and Mobiles, 
 452 lbs. ; Sea Islands, 338 lbs. ; Egyptian, 450 lbs. ; East Indian, 
 380 lbs. ; West Indian, 200 lbs. ; and Brazilian, 180 lbs. 
 
 BALES OP COTTON TAKEN EOE CONStrMPTION IN EUEOPE, 1859. 
 
 Great Britain . . 
 France .... 
 Belgium .... 
 Holland .... 
 Geimany. . . . 
 Trieste .... 
 
 Genoa 
 
 Spain 
 
 Surplus of Export — 
 Great Britain . 
 
 Total delivered . 
 
 IJnited 
 States 
 
 1,907,00C 
 
 452,000 
 
 38,000 
 
 62,000 
 
 146,000 
 
 31,000 
 
 41,00C 
 
 109,00C 
 
 94,000 
 
 Brazil 
 
 105,000 
 5,000 
 
 8,000 
 6,000 
 
 West 
 Indies 
 
 6,000 
 17,000 
 1,000 
 3,000 
 5,000 
 
 2,880,000 124,000 32,000 442,000 173,000 
 Add consumed in America . . . 
 
 East 
 Indies 
 
 177,000 
 15,000 
 25,000 
 59,000 
 61,000 
 14,000 
 11,000 
 1,000 
 
 79,000 
 
 Egypt 
 
 99,000 
 36,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 21,000 
 1,000 
 
 15,000 
 
 2,294,000 
 
 525,000 
 
 64,000 
 
 125,000 
 
 212,000 
 
 66,000 
 
 53,000 
 
 118,000 
 
 194,000 
 
 3,651,000 
 849,000 
 
 4,500,000 
 or 1,800,000,000 lbs, 
 
124 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 Of the 3,651,000 bales delivered for consumption in 1859 
 the Southern States of America supplied 2,880,000 bales, besides 
 furnishing the Northern States with 730,000 bales, and retaining 
 for their own use 1 1 9,000 bales. After reading the following 
 article from the ' London Cotton Supply Eeporter ' of 
 February 3, 1860, it seems strange that Englishmen should be 
 so little concerned now in reference to a supply of cotton, when, 
 long before hostilities commenced in America, they manifested 
 so much uneasiness on the subject. 
 
 ' Upwards of 500,000 workers are now employed in our 
 'cotton factories, and it has been estimated that at least 
 ' 4,000,000 persons in the country are dependent upon the cotton 
 ' trade for subsistence. A century ago Lancashire contained a 
 ' population of only 300,000 persons; it now numbers 2,300,000. 
 ' In the same period of time this enormous increase exceeds 
 ' that on any other equal surface of the globe, and is entirely 
 ' owing to the development of the cotton trade. In 1856 there 
 'were, in the United Kingdom, 2,210 factories, running 
 '28,000,000 spindles and 209,000 looms, by 97,000 horse- 
 ' power. Since that period a considerable number of new mills 
 ' have been erected, and extensive additions have been made to 
 'the spinning and weaving machinery of those previously in 
 ' existence. 
 
 ' The amount of actual capital invested in the cotton trade 
 'is estimated to be between 60,000,000L and 70,000,000?. 
 ' sterling. 
 
 ' The quantity of cotton imported into this country in 1859 
 ' was 1,181| million pounds weight, the value of which at 6d 
 'per lb. is equal to 30,000,000L sterling. Out of 2,829,110 
 ' bales of cotton imported into Great Britain, America has sup- 
 ' plied us with 2,086,341— that is, 5-7ths of the whole. In 
 ' other words, out of every 7 lbs. imported from all other coun- 
 ' tries into Great Britain, America has supplied 5 lbs. India has 
 'sent us about 500,000 bales, Egypt about 100,000, South 
 'America 124,000, and other countries between 8,000,000 and 
 ' 9,000,000 bales. In 1859 the total value of the exports from 
 ' Great Britain amounted to 130,513,185/., of which 47,020,920?. 
 ' consisted of cotton goods and yarns. Thus more than one- 
 ' third, or \l. out of every U. of our entire exports, consists of 
 
THE BBITISH COTTON TRADE — STATISTICS. 125 
 
 'cotton. Add to this the proportion of cotton which forms 
 'part of 12,000,OOOL more exported in the shape of mixed 
 ' woollens, haberdashery, millinery, silks, apparel, and slops. 
 ' Great Britain alone consumes annually 24,000,000^ worth of 
 ' cotton goods. Two conclusions, therefore, may safely be drawn 
 ' from the facts and figures now cited : first, that the interests 
 ' of every cotton-worker are bound up with a gigantic trade 
 ' which keeps in motion an enormous mass of capital, and this 
 ' capital, machinery, and labour depend for five-sevenths of its 
 ' employment upon the Slave States of America for prosperity 
 ' and continuance ; secondly, that if a war should at any time 
 ' break out between England and America, a general iasurrec- 
 ' tion take place among the slaves, disease sweep off those slaves 
 'by death, or the cotton crop fall short in quantity, whether 
 ' from severe frosts, disease of the plant, or other possible causes, 
 ' our mills would be stopped for want of cotton, employers 
 ' would be ruined, and famine would stalk abroad among the 
 ' hundreds and thousands of workpeople who are at present for- 
 ' tunately well employed. 
 
 ' Calculate the consequences for yourself. Imagine a dearth 
 ' of cotton, and you may picture the horrors of such a calamity 
 'from the scenes you may possibly have witnessed when the 
 ' mills have only run on " short time." Count up all the trades 
 ' that are kept going out of the wages of the working classes, 
 'independent of builders, mechanics, engineers, colliers, &c., 
 ' employed by the mill-owners. Eailways would cease to pay, 
 ' and our ships would lie rotting in their ports, should a scarcity 
 ' of the raw material for manufacture overtake us.' 
 
 It has been explained in the preceding pages why many of 
 the evils anticipated from a dearth of cotton have been avoided 
 up to the present time. The large stocks of cotton, cotton 
 goods, and cotton yarns on hand when hostilities commenced, 
 the imusually extensive trade in breadstufifs since that period, 
 and the business of supplying both belligerents with the 
 material of war, have kept back the distress that must yet be 
 felt unless the American cotton trade be shortly resumed. 
 
 The following table shows the course of the trade for the 
 years 1861 and 1862. In those years a considerable quantity 
 of cotton was re-shipped to the Federal States of America. 
 
126 
 
 THE COTTON TKADB. 
 
 TOIAl mPOETS AND EXPOETS OF COTTON EEOM AIL OOtlNTEIES. 
 
 1861 
 1862 
 
 American States 
 lbs. 
 
 . 819,500,528 
 13,524,224 
 
 833,024,752 
 
 East Indies 
 lbs. 
 
 369,040,428 
 392,654,528 
 
 West Indies 
 lbs. 
 
 486,-304 
 6,563,376 
 
 
 761,694,956 
 
 6,049,680 
 
 1861 
 1862 
 
 BrazU 
 lbs. 
 
 17,290,336 
 23,339,008 
 
 40,629,344 
 
 The Mediterranean 
 lbs. 
 
 41,479,200 
 65,238,320 
 
 other Countries 
 
 lbs. 
 
 9,187,920 
 
 23,653,840 
 
 
 106,717,520 
 
 32,841,760 
 
 1861 
 1862 
 
 Total Imported 
 lbs. 
 
 . 1,256,984,736 
 . 523,973,296 
 
 Exported 
 lbs. 
 
 298,287,920 
 214,714,528 
 
 513,002,448 
 
 Excess of Imports 
 lbs. 
 
 958,696,816 
 309,258,768 
 
 
 1,780,958,032 
 
 1,267,955,584 
 
 The imports of cotton for the six months ending June 30, 
 1863, were as follows : — American States, 770,112 lbs. ; East 
 Indies, 135,049,376 lbs. ; Brazil, 13,490,624 lbs. ; Egypt, 
 49,874,832 lbs. ; other countries, 39,909,856 lbs. Total, 
 239,094,800 lbs. The exports were 117,940,256 lbs. Excess 
 of imports, 121,154,544 lbs. 
 
 STOCKS OF EAW COTTON" OF AXL KINDS IN THE "UNITED KINGDOM PEOM 
 
 1814 TO 1862 iNoirsiTD — decembee 31 of each teae. 
 
 
 
 
 lbs. 
 
 
 
 
 lbs. 
 
 1814 . . . 22,272,000 
 
 1839 . . . 125,800,000 
 
 1815 
 
 
 
 . 22,300,000 
 
 1840 
 
 
 
 207,000,000 
 
 1816 
 
 
 
 22,355,000 
 
 1841 
 
 
 
 216,700,000 
 
 1817 
 
 
 
 31,034,000 
 
 1842 
 
 
 
 242,300,000 
 
 1818 
 
 
 
 . 85,800,000 
 
 1843 
 
 
 
 342,000,000 
 
 1819 
 
 
 
 88,452,000 
 
 1844 
 
 
 
 390,200,000 
 
 1820 
 
 
 
 . 103,458,000 
 
 1845 
 
 
 
 453,500,000 
 
 1821 
 
 
 
 106,800,000 
 
 1846 
 
 
 
 245,400,000 
 
 1822 
 
 
 
 76,352,000 
 
 1847 
 
 
 
 184,100,000 
 
 1823 
 
 
 
 105,875,000 
 
 1848 
 
 
 
 220,100,000 
 
 1824 
 
 
 
 64,428,000 
 
 1849 
 
 
 
 240,300,000 
 
 1825 
 
 
 
 123,968,000 
 
 1850 
 
 
 
 231,600,000 
 
 1826 
 
 
 
 100,548,000 
 
 1851 
 
 
 
 225,900,000 
 
 1827 
 
 
 
 134,244,000 
 
 1852 
 
 
 
 300,900,000 
 
 1828 
 
 
 
 120,582,000 
 
 1853 
 
 
 
 304,971,500 
 
 1829 
 
 
 
 84,966,000 
 
 1854 
 
 
 
 255,591,600 
 
 1830 
 
 
 
 95,360,000 
 
 1855 
 
 
 
 192,642,120 
 
 1831 
 
 
 
 84,090,000 
 
 1856 
 
 
 
 137,754,360 
 
 1832 
 
 
 
 73,560,000 
 
 1857 
 
 
 
 182,361,530 
 
 1833 
 
 
 
 94,400,000 
 
 1858 
 
 
 
 113,959,620 
 
 1834 
 
 
 
 82,300,000 
 
 1859 
 
 
 
 197,663,710 
 
 1835 
 
 
 
 89,600,000 
 
 1860 
 
 
 
 250,286,605 
 
 1836 
 
 
 
 116,-300,000 
 
 1861 
 
 
 
 291,674,450 
 
 1837 
 
 
 
 115,600,000 
 
 1862 
 
 
 
 160,561,870 
 
 1838 
 
 
 
 160,900,000 
 
 
 
 
THE BKITISH COTTON TRADE — STATISTICS. 
 
 127 
 
 In 1814, the first year of free trade to India,* the exports 
 of cotton goods amounted to only 818,208 yards, valued at 
 109,480^, and the shipments of cotton twist to only 8 lbs. — in 
 fact, the business in the latter article amounted to little or 
 nothing until 1822, when 22,200 lbs. were sent thither. The 
 annexed figures will exhibit the increase in commerce with that 
 part of the world. 
 
 COTTON EXPOEIS FEOM ENGLAND TO INDIA, AND IMPOETS 
 
 PROM THENCE. 
 
 Tear 
 
 Yam 
 
 Calicoes 
 
 Weight of 
 Yaxns and Goods 
 
 Raw Cotton 
 imported 
 from India 
 
 18.35 
 1841 
 1845 
 1857 
 1858 
 1859 
 1860 
 
 lbs. 
 
 5,305,212 
 13,639,562 
 14,116,237 
 20,027,859 
 36,889,583 
 45,056,180 
 31,978,364 
 
 Yards 
 
 54,227,084 
 126,003,400 
 193,029,703 
 469,958,011 
 791,537,041 
 968,179,390 
 822,029,210 
 
 lbs. 
 
 16,000,000 
 43,000,000 
 60,000,000 
 130,000,000 
 223,000,000 
 305,056,189 
 241,978,364 
 
 lbs. 
 
 43,876,820 
 100,104,510 
 
 58,437,426 
 250,338,144 
 132,722,576 
 192,330,880 
 204,141,168 
 
 The year 1857 was, like 1862, an exceptional period for im- 
 ports of cotton from India. China that year took 121,000,000 
 yards of cloth. In 1858 91,000,000 lbs. were exported to India 
 in the manufactured state, over the imports of the raw material 
 from thence. The same year the trade with Turkey and Egypt 
 consisted of imports, 38,300,000 lbs. ; exports equivalent to 
 62,000,000 lbs. South America and the West Indies also took 
 more cotton than they sent to the United Kingdom. 
 
 PJarly in 1860, the Chairman of the Manchester Chamber of 
 Commerce, at a meeting of that body, drew the attention of 
 the members to the state of the cotton trade — and this was at a 
 time when the American war was not thought of — to its amazing 
 increase during the previous twelve months, and to the neces- 
 sity there was for forethought, and an examination of the posi- 
 tion they then occupied in regard to the trade. He said : — 
 
 ' He had made, at some trouble, a calculation of the probable 
 ' exports of cotton goods for the present year. These would very 
 
 * On April 14, 1814, tlie trade to India was opened to private adven- 
 ture, and the ' monopoly ' of the East India Company of course ceased 
 from that date. 
 
128 THE COTTON TRADE. 
 
 ' nearly amount to 46,000,000?., which would be nearly an in- 
 ' crease of 3,000,000?. on last year, and of 5,000,000?. upon the 
 ' year previous. [It will be borne in mind that only a small part 
 ' of the large crop of 1859 had then come forward.] That was 
 ' a startling increase ; but on coming to look whence it arose, it 
 ' would be seen that it was due solely to one portion of the 
 ' world — India and China. Looking at the whole state of the 
 ' cotton trade, we had not yet recovered from the depreciation 
 ' before 1857. If it had not been for the increase in the exports 
 ' to India, the cotton trade would not have stood in as good a 
 ' position as it was previous to the crisis. The cause of the 
 ' great increase in the demand for goods for India arose in the 
 ' amazing increase in the capital sent out to that country, which, 
 'during the last three years, would not amount to less than 
 ' 60,000,000?. We must not consider the present state of the 
 ' cotton trade as the normal one, for unless these loans were 
 ' continued we should not find the increase of exports continue 
 ' to the East. If so, the state of our cotton trade would be 
 ' much changed in twelve months. The exports to India this 
 ' year would amount to upwards of 17,000,000?., and from this 
 ' it would be seen that the proportion of our cotton exports to 
 'the East was 17,000,000?. out of 46,000,000?. If our cotton 
 ' trade was to be increased it must probably be with the East, 
 ' and this brought him to the question of the policy of the 
 ' Indian Government. The report stated that they had sent out 
 ' a resolution protesting against any increased duties on manu- 
 ' factures to the East. There was a rumour afloat that these 
 ' duties were to be increased, and if they were, they would 
 ' materially afifect our prosperity. Nothing could be more un- 
 ' sound in policy than increased duties on manufactured goods, 
 ' going into a part really of our own country. It was burning 
 ' the candle at both ends, so to speak ; taxing ourselves for ex- 
 ' ports from India, and for the imports of the same goods again.' 
 Setting aside the economic question of tariffs, the people of 
 India will never have any occasion to send their own cotton to 
 England to be returned to them in the manufactured state. 
 They are, however, willing to sell their staple to Europeans, and 
 to take in return that of America, after it has been converted 
 into textile fabrics by British looms, for the reason that it is a 
 
THE BRITISH COTTON TRADE — STATISTICS. 129 
 
 different article from that which they produce. On the very 
 same principle, the Southerners find it to their interest to pur- 
 chase the gunny cloth of India, imported through England and 
 the North, to use as bagging for their cotton. The Americans, 
 too, by their imports of British and other European manu- 
 factures, consume a considerable portion of India and other 
 foreign cottons. Trade never works one-sidedly ; as the pros- 
 perity of India increases, her demand for goods will be still 
 more considerable. Step by step as the exports of cotton from 
 India augment, her demand for dry goods becomes greater. 
 
 A correspondent of ' The Times,' on August 27, 1863, 
 alluding to the visionary scheme of the 'African Aid Society' 
 for procuring an adequate supply of cotton from Africa, 
 says:— 'The identical passage is incorporated in the pro- 
 ' spectus of a joint-stock company launched last year for 
 ' carrying on a cotton and general trade with the districts in 
 ' question— with what success up to the present time the public 
 ' would no doubt feel gratified to know ; although, as the gen- 
 ' tleman who was appointed its gerant honourably distinguished 
 ' himself the other day by an attempt to entrap the captain of 
 ' the steamer Southerner, then at West Hartlepool, into admis- 
 ' sions as to the ownership and destination of that vessel, on 
 ' which to lodge an information against her to the Grovernment, 
 ' it would seem from this evidence of his occasional leisure that 
 ' the company is not yet in full swing enough to give unlimited 
 ' scope to his activity — unless, indeed, it comes within the com- 
 ' pass of the scheme to clear the cotton market of the risks and 
 ' chances of Southern competition, and this was one expedient for 
 ' that purpose. Be this as it may, it is clear from the cotton 
 ' importation returns just published that, although the experi- 
 ' ment has been for some time in progress, the prospect of obtain- 
 ' ing any important quantity of cotton from West Africa is so far 
 
 'a signal failure To candid and intelligent minds the 
 
 ' answer is self-evident — viz., that, from whatever cause it may 
 ' arise, the prospect of any considerable immediate importation 
 of cotton from West Africa is a sheer delusion.' The receipts 
 thence, Jan. to July 1863, were 625 cwt. against 1,250 owt. 1862. 
 The table (pp. 130, 131), gives the exports of cotton manu- 
 factures 1820 to 1862 inclusive :— 
 
130 
 
 THE COTTON TKADE. 
 
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132 BREADSTUFFS. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 THE WHEAT TRADE OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND AMERICA- 
 EXPORTS OF PRODUCE FROM THE STATES. 
 
 [This paper on the wheat trade was written about a year ago, 
 and published in 'The Index' on September 18, 1862. There 
 is now no reason to change the views then expressed. The 
 wants of Great Britain have not been greater than in ordinary 
 seasons, although the receipts of wheat and flour within the 
 twelve months have been nearly as large (equivalent to 
 8,800,000 quarters) as those during the corresponding period 
 ending in 1862. So, instead of the granaries of the United 
 Kingdom having very limited stocks, as was the case on 
 August 31 of last year, they are at present filled to overflow- 
 ing, and there is probably on hand a greater quantity of wheat 
 and flour than at any former time. The importations of Indian 
 corn have likewise been excessive, 2,500,000 quarters, one-half 
 of which came from America. The warehouses, in fact, are 
 crowded with all kinds of breadstuffs, and prices in consequence 
 rule very low. The wheat harvest of Great Britain and Ireland 
 is supposed to be the most abundant ever known, and the chances 
 are that less foreign grain will be required during the coming 
 year than at any time since 1845. France has resumed her 
 position as an exporter of wheat and flour, and, with Northern 
 Europe, will be fully able to supply any deficiency that may 
 exist in these islands. The exports from the Federal States 
 from September 1, 1862, to August 31, 1863, will amount to 
 about 3,750,000 quarters of wheat and flour, against 6,000,000 
 quarters the year previous ; and 1,250,000 quarters of Indian 
 corn. The shipments from thence for the coming year must 
 necessarily be very trifling in the absence of an European 
 demand ; nor is it likely that the surplus produce of the West 
 can possibly reach the figures of the last three seasons, by 
 reason of the scarcity of hands, the drain of men for the war 
 having so reduced the farm labour of the agricultural sections 
 of the country, that women, as in Germany, but for the first 
 time in America, have been employed to reap the crops. It was 
 the rapid advance in the rate of bills on London that induced 
 the large shipments of cereals to this side of the Atlantic; but 
 the decline in the prices in England, in consequence of the 
 
THE COMMERCE IN WHEAT. 133 
 
 ' glut ' of produce, has been greater than the anticipated profits. 
 The fall in the value of gold, caused by Mr. Chase's ' bearing ' 
 the market, reducing the quotations for foreign exchange, 
 coupled with dull and drooping accounts received from Europe, 
 has put a check upon this commerce, which has supplied the 
 Northern States since the election of Mr. Lincoln, including 
 the freights and insurances, with very nearly forty millions of 
 pounds sterling. This exceptional trade has, therefore, in a 
 measure, balanced the loss to the Federals, by the absence of the 
 handling of cotton and the other productions of the South ; and 
 by putting them in possession of an immense amount of specie 
 funds, the grand crash in their finances, which is now imminent, 
 has thus far been avoided.] 
 
 The course of business in wheat for the past two years is with- 
 out a parallel in the history of commerce. Under the benign 
 influence of free trade the extraordinary wants of Western Europe 
 have been supplied at moderate prices. The usual annual impor- 
 tations of flour and wheat from all places into Great Britain and 
 Ireland are equivalent to a little under 5,000,000 quarters, but 
 the bad harvest of 1860 necessitated a draft from other countries 
 of 10,000,000 quarters, and the short crops of 1861, with the 
 1,000,000 quarters exported to the continent early in the season, 
 have demanded about 9,000,000 quarters to be brought from 
 abroad ; this latter quantity would have been much increased but 
 for the economy in consumption in the manufacturing districts, 
 and the smaller stocks than usual at present held by the middle 
 men that furnish those neighbourhoods. England began the 
 commercial year with a less amount of old wheat on hand than 
 ever before ; the harvest of 1862, however, owing to the additional 
 breadth of land sown with that grain, is, no doubt, over an 
 average; the drain from other countries for the year ending 
 August 31, 1863, will therefore probably not exceed the usual 
 quantity, 5,000,000 quarters. The annual consumption of the 
 British Islands is 22,500,000 quarters, with 3,000,000 quarters 
 taken for seed, making 25,500,000 quarters ; the usual production 
 IS 20,500,000 quarters, leaving 5,000,000 quarters to be received 
 from other sources. In addition to wheat, the importations of 
 Indian corn are generally about 1,500,000 quarters, but they 
 reached. 3,000,000 quarters last year. The population of the 
 United Kingdom is 29,031,298. 
 
134 THE GRAIN CROPS OF FRANCE. 
 
 Prior to the year 1775 each one of the three divisions of the 
 United Kingdom produced more grain of every kind than was 
 required for its people, oftentimes exporting to foreign parts. 
 After that date a reverse current set in, and the consumption 
 outstripped the quantity grown. The annual deficiency up to 
 1825 was about 50,000 quarters wheat; in 1835, 750,000 
 quarters; in 1845, 2,500,000 quarters; in 1851 it had reached 
 5,000,000 quarters. The average production per acre is twenty- 
 five bushels. 
 
 The wheat crops of France, including Savoy and Nice, average 
 37,000,000 quarters, of which 6,000,000 quarters are retained 
 for seed, 29,500,000 quarters consumed, and 1,500,000 exported. 
 The harvest of the last year (1861), however, was deficient, 
 6,000,000 quarters being brought from other parts. The growth 
 of this season is said to be much larger than usual, and it is ex- 
 pected that there will be a surplus of 3,000,000 quarters. The 
 cultivation of wheat in recent years has much increased ; in 1850, 
 14,700,000 acres were occupied with that grain; in 1862, 
 18,000,000 acres. The average production is seventeen bushels 
 to the acre. 
 
 France is the largest bread-consuming country in the world ; 
 her population is about 37,000,000 ; besides wheat, she requires 
 1 0,000,000 quarters of rye, which is mostly produced from her 
 own soil ; also considerable quantities of maize ; chesnuts, too, 
 are an important article of food : it is said that 2,000,000 of her 
 inhabitants subsist upon them. 
 
 In ordinary years the exportation of wheat from all the Ame- 
 rican States does not much exceed 1,000,000 quarters, sometimes 
 not over 150,000 quarters ; the exceptions have been for the 
 period ending August 31, 1847, when 3,000,000 quarters were 
 shipped ; for that closing in 1854, 2,000,000 ; in 1856, 2,750,000; 
 in 1857,2,250,000; in 1858,2,000,000; in 1861,5,000,000; 
 and m 1862, 6,000,000 quarters. The vast surplus quantity 
 on these occasions can readily be accounted for. For several 
 years prior to the expiration of the Charter of the Bank of the 
 United States in 1836, there had been great speculations in 
 America, so much so that a considerable portion of the inhabit- 
 ants of the West had become consumers instead of producers ; 
 the consequence was that agricultural pursuits were neglected to 
 
EXPORTS OF PEODUCE FROM THE STATES. 135 
 
 such an extent that large importations of grain were made from 
 the Mediterranean in that year to supply the deficiency.- The 
 panic of 1837 caused the people to return to their regular occupa- 
 tions as farmers, which enabled the States to meet the slight 
 European demand for cereals that existed in 1839, and was the 
 means of causing an accumulation of wheat for the year 1847, 
 which helped to balance the short crop here in 1846, known as 
 the Irish famine year. With the exception of a moderate 
 business in 1853 and 1854, the wheat trade of America was 
 very trifling ; the production being very little beyond the con- 
 sumption. None of the Northern Atlantic States grew enough 
 for their ovm wants, and their populations had to be supplied by 
 Virginia and the West. The Eussian war intervening cut off the 
 usual supplies from that quarter, and America was called upon 
 for an increased quantity in 1856, at high prices, which stimu- 
 lated large shipments the following year, with disastrous results, 
 peace having restored the commerce with the North of Europe. 
 The extravagant quotations of 1856 induced much speculation 
 in the West, and gave a fabulous value to land ; people rushed 
 to the New States by thousands, and wheat fell from $2^ to 80 
 cents a bushel ; cities that were constructed upon paper were 
 swept from the map ; railways partially completed were left 
 unfinished; and the bubble burst in 1857. Large tracts of 
 country were, for this reason, thrown open to the husbandman, 
 who was then joined by the speculators, who were obliged to 
 resume their calling of tillers of the soil. The Southern States 
 at this period, in consequence of the advanced price in cotton, 
 devoted more of their labour to the production of that staple, and 
 purchased a portion of their provisions from their neighbours north 
 of the Ohio ; and hence the extraordinary large crops of cotton 
 in 1858, 1859, and 1860. The Western people thus finding a 
 market for their increased yield of cereals, were induced to 
 cultivate grain still more extensively, and their wheat crops, 
 as well as those of Indian corn, were therefore unprecedentedly 
 great in 1860 and 1861 ; and the anticipated traffic caused the 
 completion of many of the unfinished lines of railway. The 
 dissolution of the Union, however, which took place at this 
 juncture, deprived them of their Southern custom ; and had it 
 not been for the short crops of the United Kingdom in those 
 
136 BEEADSTUFFS. 
 
 two years, and in France and other points on the continent 
 the latter season, they would have had no market for their 
 produce ; but the European demand stepped in and relieved 
 them of 5,000,000 quarters of wheat and flour for the twelve 
 months ending August 31, 1861, and of 6,000,000 quarters for 
 the year closing at the same time in 1862. Notwithstanding 
 the large quantities of breadstuffs taken by the Southern States 
 in the three last years of the Union, their food resources are 
 greatei", considering the population, than those of all the other 
 States combined. This is proved by the census figures of 1860. 
 
 Although the shipments of wheat for the two seasons closing 
 August 31, 1861 and 1862, have been so large, they have yielded 
 little profit to the farmer ; prices have not been high, and the 
 gross proceeds at the seaboard were eaten up by the heavy expense 
 of inland transportation, commissions, &c. No inducement has, 
 therefore, been offered for a continuance of such extensive cul- 
 tivation. In fact, the land is being worn out : no manures are 
 used; and as the agricultiu-ist moves farther West to break 
 virgin soil, he is subjected to increased expense in getting his 
 supplies from, and his produce to, market. So the limit of pro- 
 duction has not only been reached, but the increased price of 
 labour, caused by a scarcity of hands, is another obstacle to 
 the planting of large crops. It must be borne in mind, too, 
 that the winters in the North-west, where the grain is princi- 
 pally produced, are so severe, that the seed is committed to 
 the ground in the spring, and not in the autumn, as in most 
 countries. The seasons of 1860 and 1861 happened to be 
 unusually early. The harvest of 1862, as far as known, is not as 
 large as its two immediate predecessors, and with low quotations 
 on this side of the Atlantic, it cannot be moved forward to the 
 shipping points at remunerating prices. 
 
 The commerce in breadstuffs between the American States 
 and the West Indian and South American ports has been carried 
 on with flour made from wheat grown in the Southern States 
 of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and 
 Missouri, on account of the superiority of the grain ; in fact, the 
 large cities on the Atlantic have for the same reason also been 
 fed by the produce of these States.* 
 
 ' The Philadelphia ' North American ' of April 1, 1863, a Eepuhlicaa 
 
NOETH AJSfD SOUTH. 137 
 
 The average number of quarters of wheat grown in all the 
 American States is computed at 28,000,000, of which 5,000,000 
 are retained for seed, leaving 21,000,000 quarters for consump- 
 tion (13,000,000 quarters in the North and 8,000,000 quarters 
 in the South), and 2,000,000 quarters for exportation. The 
 average production per acre does not exceed thirteen bushels. 
 
 In the rural districts of America, Indian corn is a leading 
 staple of food ; so is rye. The exportations of the former are 
 very large, and those of the latter are occasionally of con- 
 siderable moment. The Southern States produced in 1860 
 55,000,000 quarters of Indian corn, against 50,000,000 quarters 
 grown in the Northern States. The joint population of the 
 North and South is 31,151,046 —viz. 18,907,753 North, 
 12,243,293 South. 
 
 It will be observed that the United States, unlike Kussia, is 
 not naturally a grain-exporting country, and that the business in 
 wheat, the past two years, has been an exception, and not a rule ; 
 that the boast of the Northerners, that ' England cannot get on 
 without her breadstuffs,' is most idle in its character — every 
 intelligent corn merchant being aware that Northern Europe has 
 at all times an almost inexhaustible supply of cereals, should the 
 price be high enough to pay for the inland transportation. The 
 grain crops in the South this year (1862) are very much greater 
 than formerly, in consequence of the hands being employed in 
 that description of agriculture, instead of cotton, tobacco, and 
 sugar. 
 
 In 'the minds of Europeans the South, commercially, has 
 hitherto been associated only with its cotton, tobacco, rice, naval 
 stores, &c., while it should really have been regarded as the great 
 agricultural portion of the United States. Its grain-raising 
 advantages, particularly for winter wheat, are unsurpassed ; pos- 
 sessed of a climate which keeps the meadows always green, and 
 obviates the necessity of providing hay in any considerable 
 
 newspaper, con-firms this statement as follows : — ' We showed last summer 
 ' from the census tables, that during the decade previous to 18C0, the whole 
 ' South had made considerable and somewhat remarkable progress in the 
 ' production of wheat. This was owing to the popularity in our market of 
 ' the Southern varieties of wheat, and the increasing demand for it among 
 ' oiu' millers.' 
 
138 SOUTHERN KESOUECES. 
 
 quantity for the maintenance of cattle in winter, there is prac- 
 tically no limit to its capabilities for producing live stock. 
 This same equability of climate is, moreover, assisted by the 
 steadiness of the most skilled agricultural labour in the 
 world, and hence the great regularity in the increase of the 
 growth of all its productions. The Southerners are not con- 
 stantly changing their occupations, as has been the habit of 
 the Northerners ; but they have ever exhibited the same per- 
 severing energy in all their civil affairs that they have shown 
 in their military movements since the struggle against Northern 
 tyranny commenced. A people that is always being led off by 
 speculations, and not content with legitimate employment, is 
 like a man who frequently changes his business — he gains no 
 real wealth — this applies to the North. A nation that pursues 
 the even tenor of its way undisturbed by the visionary schemes 
 of the hour, is comparable to a good merchant, who, although he 
 may be considered somewhat ' slow,' in the end is sure to reap 
 success — this applies to the South. 
 
 It has been a mistake to suppose that the Confederate States 
 were dependent upon the North or West for food ; a very small 
 portion of their land is employed in the cultivation of the 
 leading staples — cotton, tobacco, sugar, and rice. No country 
 has such self-sustaining power, as has been proved by the ex- 
 perience of the last eighteen months, and no country is capable 
 of giving such benefits to other nations, as will be proved when 
 its ports are opened to the free commerce of the world. 
 
139 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 AMEEICAN CUEEENCY AND COMMEECE — THE WEST INDIA 
 TEADE — GENEEAL EEMAIIE:S. 
 
 HiSTOEiANS and nearly all other writers on America have with 
 one accord based their arguments npon the foregone conclusion 
 that the States were indebted to the Constitution for all those 
 advantages, material and poUtical, that until lately they enjoyed 
 as members of the Federal Union. This fallacy originated in 
 the fact that, while the colonies flourished by unrestricted inter- 
 course with the other possessions of Grreat Britain, a marked 
 decline was visible in their prosperity after their establishment 
 as States, by reason of their exclusion from trade with the islands. 
 This decline, however, was attributed to 'want of strength' 
 in the Articles of Confederation. Surely, when under those 
 Articles, the States succeeded in bringing the revolutionary war 
 to a successful issue in the face of almost insurmountable 
 difficulties, they might, if fairly tested and amended, have been 
 made to answer the purposes of a peace establishment. In truth, 
 the conflict with the parent country had been carried on for sis 
 years by the Continental Congress, composed of delegates from 
 the thirteen colonies. It was not until March 2, 1781, less 
 than eight months previous to the decisive event at Yorktown 
 (October 19, 1781), that the ' Confederation' was formed. The 
 merits of the ' Union' then, as since under the Constitu- 
 tion, have been unreasonably over-estimated. The 'United 
 ' States ' have never had a ' name,' and there was no occasion even 
 to give the Confederacy a ' local habitation.' It was a false step 
 to dedicate any particular spot for the capital of a league of States ; 
 it would have been far better to have preserved the archives 
 and held the sessions of Congress in some old-established city. 
 Great trouble arose in reference to the 'location' at the very 
 outset of the operation of the Constitution, and recent events 
 prove very clearly that the possession of neutral territory alone 
 
140 THE FEDERAL CAPITAL. 
 
 gives strength and force to the Lincoln Administration.* Let 
 the Confederates once seize the capital and destroy the vipers' 
 nest, and the backbone of tyranny in America will be broken. 
 Washington" politics and Washington society have been degene- 
 rating for years, under the influence of Northern spoilsmen, who 
 have gone thither to attain their own selfish ends. The hotels 
 have been crowded with ' lobby men' from New York and New 
 England ; it became one of the most disreputable cities in the 
 world, with a population that gambled away the prosperity of 
 the sovereign States and the very life of the Grovernment. 
 The conservative influences of commerce, the arts, sciences, 
 and manufactures, were much needed to give a tone of 
 sobriety and responsibility to the place. It certainly was 
 a great mistake to make the Federal seat of Government of 
 so much importance. Why should a league of States have 
 jurisdiction anywhere, except on the ocean — the highway of 
 nations ? The laws of the respective States protect life 
 and property. And how unjust it has been that in a Ee- 
 public the citizens of the District of Columbia were deprived 
 of a representation in Congress, or a voice in the selection of 
 President. A resident of Washington, no matter how great his 
 qualifications, could not be a senator or member of the House 
 of Eepresentatives, or President or Vice-President, as persons 
 
 * During the sitting of the Congress of the Confederation at Philadelphia 
 in 1783, that body was insulted hy some riotous troops who had not been 
 paid. The authorities of Pennsylvania were so timid that they failed to re- 
 press the outbreak, when the representatives of the States removed to Prince- 
 ton, New Jersey. While at that place, the question of a permanent residence 
 with jurisdiction for the 'Government' was raised, and excited a good deal 
 of local feeling ; one party was in favour of the* Delaware, another the 
 Potomac ; Maryland offered to cede Annapolis ; New York volunteered 
 Kingston on the Hudson. The Philadelphians apologised for their dereliction 
 of duty, and invited Congress back to their city. It was finally agreed that 
 two Federal capitals should be erected, at which the sessions of Congi'ess 
 should be alternately held, one near the Falls of the Delaware, the other near 
 the Falls of the Potomac. In the following year commissioners were 
 appointed to lay out a Federal city near the Falls of the Delaware, and 
 ^100,000 was voted for the purpose of erecting public buildings. A reso- 
 lution was passed that it vras inexpedient to build more than one capital 
 city at that time. Nothing, however, was done in the matter until after the 
 adoption of the Constitution. 
 
AMERICAN CUKEENCY AND COMMERCE. 141 
 
 holding those offices must by law be domiciled in the States. 
 There has been something radically wrong in the arrangement 
 from the beginning to the end. It evoked an overestimate of 
 the importance that should be attached to the Union, and there 
 is no doubt that the moral effect produced thereby has caused 
 the people of the Nprth to enter upon that career of madness 
 and cruelty that brings down on them the condemnation of 
 the civilised world. The following graphic and truthful descrip- 
 tion of the course of affairs at Wasbington was given some 
 time ago by the ' Times' : — 
 
 'What, may we ask, did Congress meet for at Washington? 
 'Did these senators and representatives do anything for the 
 'people who sent them to the Federal capital? Did they im- 
 ' prove the laws of the States? Did they make railroads or 
 ' canals, or perform any of the usual duties of legislation? No; 
 ' they merely took their seats to listen to, to join in, acrimonious 
 ' disputes on the everlasting subject of slavery. To talk about 
 'slavery, to abuse each other, defy each other, bludgeon each 
 ' other about slavery, was the whole occupation of the Federal 
 ' Congress. To this one question every other was made subser- 
 ' vient. Whether a duty was imposed, or a new State admitted, 
 ' the interests of the two rival sections were pitted against each 
 'other as if they had been hostile States making a treaty of 
 ' peace instead of component parts of the same nation. How, 
 ' then, can it be said by Mr. Seward that society on the Ame- 
 ' rican continent could encounter no reverse so disastrous as the 
 ' division of the American Union ? To us, on the contrary, it 
 ' seems that the Union has been long ago divided, that the pro- 
 ' phecy of Jefferson has been fulfilled, and that the coincidence 
 ' of a geographical line with a division of interests and institu- 
 ' tions have long since made North and South two nations. The 
 ' withdrawal from the same Confederacy is only the formal re- 
 ' cognition of this diversity. What, indeed, does it amount to ? 
 ' Merely that the two sections of the Union will not commit to 
 ' the same authority the management of their post-office, their 
 ' mint, and their national defences. In every other respect they 
 ' will remain the same. As each State legislated for itself be- 
 ' fore, so it will now. As each determined for itself the question 
 ' of freedom or slavery within its borders, so it will now. Why 
 
14> THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 ' should Virginia go to war with New York, or South Carolina 
 ' with Massachusetts, simply because they do not send delegates 
 ' to quarrel in the same dreary capital ? Under a Constitution 
 ' which had become an anachronism, and which could never be 
 ' modified, the situation of the Federal States had become in- 
 ' tolerable. A mischievous Union has bred the war now raging. 
 ' The best hope of permanent peace is a final separation.' 
 
 The Americans did not wish at first a separation from 
 England. They merely desired to resist taxation sought to 
 be imposed upon them by an assembly in which they were 
 unrepresented, and to withstand an assumption of autho- 
 rity on the part of King and Parliament that they held to 
 be antagonistic to the first principles of British freedom. 
 They had repelled by moral force the encroachments upon 
 their liberties in the matter of the Stamp Act in 1765, and 
 had hoped for equal success in obtaining a repeal of the 
 indirect taxes that were subsequently attempted to be levied 
 upon them by duties on importations ; they were even content 
 to abstain from luxuries — to do without tea, in order to avoid 
 a difficulty with the parent country : but they could not have 
 it 'forced down their throats,' and thus the 'rebellion' was, 
 inaugurated at Boston on December 14, 1773. 'Coercion' 
 was commenced at the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, 
 although the other colonies had, prior to that time, agreed 
 to come to the rescue of Massachusetts — the Vhginians declar- 
 ing that ' an attack upon one colony was an attack upon all.' 
 Even after this the American subjects of the English king had 
 little wish to make themselves independent ' citizens.' 
 
 In the Continental Congress held at Philadelphia, Franklin, 
 on July 12, 1775, presented a plan for ' Articles of Confederation 
 and Perpetual Union,' which was the groundwork for those 
 finally adopted on March 1, 1781. Article 13 said: — 
 
 ' 13th. Any and every colony from Great Britain upon the 
 ' continent of North America not at present engaged in our 
 ' association, may, upon application and joining the said associa- 
 ' tion, be received iuto the Confederation — viz. Quebec, St. 
 ' John's, Nova Scotia, Bermudas, and the East and West 
 ' Floridas, and shall thereupon be entitled to all the advantages 
 ' of our Union, mutual assistance, and commerce. 
 
THE WEST INDIA TRADE. 143 
 
 ' These Articles shall be proposed to the several provincial 
 ' conventions or assemblies, to be by them considered ; and if 
 ' approved, they are advised to empower their delegates to agree 
 ' and ratify the same in the ensuing Congress ; after which the 
 ' Union thereby established is to continue firm, till the terms of 
 ' reconciliation proposed in the petition of the last Congress to 
 ' the King are agreed to ; till the acts since made, restraining 
 ' the American colonies and fisheries, are repealed ; till repa- 
 ' ration is made for the injury done to Boston by shutting up 
 'its port; for burning Charleston; and for the expense of this 
 ' unjust war ; and till all the British troops are withdrawn 
 'from America. On the arrival of these events, the colonies 
 ' are to return to their former connection and friendship with 
 ' Great Britain ; but on failure thereof, this Confederation 'is 
 ' to be perpetual.' 
 
 It was not until nearly a year afterwards, July 4, 1776, that 
 the Declaration of Independence was approved by Congress, and 
 promulgated to the world. 
 
 The revolution terminated by the Treaty of Peace, 1783,* 
 although politically successful, inflicted a great blow upon the 
 commercial prosperity, internal and external, of the American 
 people, especially as regarded the Northern States, which enjoyed 
 but a limited outlet for their surplus produce, after being de- 
 prived of what had previously formed a great source of profit — 
 that business which had enabled them to meet their balances 
 in Europe— their unobstructed trade with the British West 
 Indies. The loss was of course felt by the agricultural and 
 other classes as well as the mercantile interests, who, in order 
 to 'protect' themselves, inaugurated a system of tariffs and ton- 
 nage dues, which in turn embarrassed their relations equally with 
 the Southern States and foreign countries, and, consequently, 
 prejudiced themselves in a corresponding degree. Nor was 
 there any direct intercourse with the Spanish- and Portuguese- 
 
 • On March i, 1782, the House of Commons passed a resolution in 
 favour of peace. Provisional articles were signed by the British and 
 American Ambassadors at Paris on November 30, 1782. The armistice 
 declaring a cessation of hostilities was dated at Versailles, January 20, 1783. 
 Peace was proclaimed by Congress on April 11, 1783. The definite treaty 
 was signed at Paris on September 3, 1783. 
 
144 THE CONTINENTAL CONGEESS. 
 
 American colonies. The commodities in mutual demand between 
 the States and the possessions of those two kingdoms had to be 
 first exchanged at a port of the dominant power, and afterwards 
 transported under its flag to the subject country. The Congress 
 of the Confederation, although entrusted with all diplomatic 
 afiairs of the States, had no power to regulate commerce between 
 them, or with other nations. Their mercantile intercourse with 
 aU parts of the world was, therefore, seriously trammelled. 
 
 So early as 1781 a member of the Continental Congress pro- 
 posed that the States should give that body power to levy 
 duties on imports for purposes of revenue, say 5 per cent., to be 
 continued until the payment of the existing debt ; but the plan 
 was rejected. It was also suggested that Congress should 
 have the regulating of the commerce between the States, but 
 that was likewise negatived. After the adoption of the Articles 
 of Confederation, similar projects were entertained, with pro- 
 posed limitations of twenty-five years ; but in 1783 they shared 
 the fate of their predecessors. Again, in 1784, the subject was 
 under consideration. The following extracts are from a report 
 of a committee presented on April 30 of that year: — 
 
 ' Already has Great Britain adopted regulations destructive 
 ' of our commerce with her West India Islands. There was reason 
 ' to expect that measures so unequal, and so little calculated to 
 * promote mercantile intercourse, would not be persevered in by 
 ' an enlightened nation. But their measures are growing into a 
 ' system. It would be the duty of Congress, as it is their wish, 
 ' to meet the attempts of Glreat Britain with similar restrictions 
 ' upon her commerce ; but their powers on this head are not 
 ' explicit, and the propositions made by the legislatures of the 
 ' several States render it necessary to take the general sense of 
 ' the Union on this subject. 
 
 ' Unless the United States in Congress assembled shall be 
 ' vested with powers competent to the protection of commerce, 
 ' they can never command reciprocal advantages in trade ; and 
 ' without them our foreign commerce must decline, and eventu- 
 ' ally be annihilated. Hence it is necessary that the States 
 ' should be explicit, and fix on some effectual mode by which 
 ' foreign commerce not founded on principles of equality may 
 ' be restrained.' 
 
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION'. 145 
 
 The committee then proposed that the States should give the 
 Central Government control of their foreign commerce for a period 
 of fifteen years. But the States refused to concur in the pro- 
 position. The condition of affairs in the North became worse 
 every year. The farmers were behind-hand in their taxes, and 
 harassed for payment by the courts. In Massachusetts there 
 was an open rebellion in 1786, and the laws were set at defiance, 
 The Union was considered to involve a useless expense. Congress 
 having failed in every other effort to obtain authority over com- 
 merce — inter-State as well as foreign — by appealing directly 
 to the States for such power, concluded to call a general Con- 
 vention; and, on February 21, 1787, by a majority of one — 
 it voted by States — passed the following preamble and resolu- 
 tion: — 
 
 ' Whereas, there is a provision, in the Articles of Confedera- 
 'tion and Perpetual Union, for making alterations therein, by 
 'the assent of a Congress of the United States and of the 
 ' Legislatures of the several States, and whereas experience has 
 ' evinced that there are defects in the present Confederation- — 
 ' as a means to the remedy of which several of the States, and 
 ' particularly of the State of New York, by express instruction 
 * to their delegates in Congress, have suggested a Convention for 
 'the purpose expressed in the following resolution, and such 
 'Convention appearing to be the most probable means of 
 'establishing, in the States, a firm national Grovernment — 
 
 - Resolved, That, in the opinion of Congress, it is expedient 
 ' that, on the second Monday of May next, a convention of dele- 
 ' gates, who shall have been appointed by the several States, be 
 'held in Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of 
 ' revising the Articles of Confederation and reporting to Con- 
 'gress, and the several legislatures, such alterations and pro- 
 ' visions therein as shall render the Federal Constitution 
 ' adequate to the exigencies of the Grovernment and the preser- 
 ' vation of the Union.'' 
 
 In accordance with this resolution delegates were appointed : 
 they met at Philadelphia, May 14, 1787, but the Convention 
 was not organised until May 25, when a quorum of States — 
 seven — were represented. The Constitution was adopted on 
 September 17, 1787, when the Convention adjourned. It 
 
146 THE CONVENTION. 
 
 concludes with the words, ' Done in Convention, by the 
 unanimous consent of the States present.' This clause is 
 somewhat ambiguous, and has led to a mistaken impression 
 that the Constitution received the assent of every member 
 of the Convention.* Colonel Hamilton was the only signer 
 from New York; his colleagues, declaring that they had no 
 authority to overthrow the Articles of Confederation, with- 
 drew from the deliberations ; and Mr. Eandolph and Colonel 
 Mason of Virginia, and Mr. Grerry of Massachusetts, refused to 
 subscribe their names to the instrument. Nor did the Constitu- 
 tion receive the signatures of the following delegates who at- 
 tended the Convention : — Caleb Strong of Massachusetts, Oliver 
 Ellsworth of Connecticut, William C. Houston of New Jersey, 
 John Francis Mercer and Luther Martin of Maryland, George 
 Wythe and James M^Clurg of Virginia, Alexander Martin and 
 William E. Davie of North Carolina, and William Pierce and 
 William Houston of Georgia- Patrick Henry of Virginia re- 
 fused even to countenance the proceedings. 
 
 A large number of the delegates to the Convention were 
 Federalists — a term applied to those who desired to consolidate 
 the States and absorb their authority in a strong central 
 government. Though sincerely and patriotically intended, their 
 policy was a mistaken one, and opposed to the feeling of the 
 people of each State, who were, for many reasons, averse to aban- 
 doning their position as sovereign communities. It was im- 
 possible to make one nation out of thirteen distinct States, 
 differing widely in the character and feelings of their inhabitants, 
 and whose climates and productions rendered their interests in- 
 compatible as homogeneoiis parts of a single empire. The Fede- 
 ralists made no allowance for extent of territory, or increase in 
 population consequent on the rapid influx of emigrants from 
 Europe. Nor, it must be remembered, had the cultivation of 
 cotton as a crop commenced at that time : this has since caused 
 the Southern States to diverge more and more widely in character, 
 
 * Mr.' Madison, in his reports of the ' Debates in the Federal ConYention,' 
 admits that this clause was a ' trick.' He says : ' This ambiguous form had 
 been drawn up by Mr. Gouverneur Morris, in order to gain the dissenting 
 members, and put into the hands of Dr. Franlilin, that it might have the 
 better chance of success.' 
 
THE CONSTITUTION. 147 
 
 habits, and social organisation from the North ; they have become 
 relatively less mercantile than previous to the revolution. New 
 England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, on the 
 other hand, having but little outlet for their surplus produce, 
 declined as agricultural States; their inhabitants were, therefore, 
 encouraged to exert their energies in commerce, in mining, 
 and in the manufacture of that staple which the South from that 
 time so abundantly supplied. The North-west was then un- 
 settled; and the entire domain beyond the Mississippi was 
 under the jurisdiction of Spain. The ' foreign element,' in- 
 stead of being diffused among the States, as was the case 
 while colonies, has, since Independence, been confined nearly 
 altogether to the North. Statesmen should have foreseen, 
 at least, some of these changes ; but one of the great parties 
 of the day was blind to the teachings of history, and could 
 not, therefore, view the future. The Federalists enthusias- 
 tically supported the principles to which they were attached ; 
 the 'State Eights' men held to theirs with equal tenacity. 
 The result was that, while the former could not accomplish 
 their object, they took advantage of the necessities of the 
 States for free commercial intercourse, and through this in- 
 fluence succeeded in investing the new Federal head with 
 more powers than were necessary to supply the deficiencies of 
 the Articles of Confederation; these have been the means of 
 creating confusion in the public mind as to the true purport and 
 importance of the general government, and an indirect cause 
 of the present disastrous condition of affairs in America, The 
 great error consisted in abolishing, instead of simply amending, 
 the Articles of Confederation. In fact, the members of the 
 Convention who voted for the Constitution became nothing less 
 than a body of secessionists ; they created what might be called 
 a peaceable revolution, for they disregarded their instructions 
 from the respective States, which were merely to revise the 
 Articles of Confederation, the 13th Section of which provides 
 that — 
 
 ' Every State shall abide by the determination of the United 
 ' States in Congress assembled, on all questions which by this 
 'Confederation are submitted to them. And the Articles of 
 ' this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, 
 
 L 2 
 
148 FORMATION OF THE UNION". 
 
 'and the Union shall he 'perpetual; nor shall any alteration 
 ' at any time hereafter be made in any of them ; unless 
 ' such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United 
 'States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of' 
 ' every State.' 
 
 Yet, in spite of this emphatic and unmistakeable language, 
 the ' Articles ' were abrogated by a portion of the States, and 
 the ' Constitution ' adopted in their stead, containing the fol- 
 lowing clause : — 
 
 ' The ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be 
 • sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution, between 
 ' the States so ratifying the same.' 
 
 No provision was made for arranging with the dissentient 
 States for the payment of the public debt, the division of the 
 public property, or in reference to the ' Crown lands ' ceded by 
 Virginia and other States to the 'Confederation' for the benefit 
 of all the States. This was in violation of a solemn compact. 
 The rights of four sovereign States which might have refused 
 to concur were deliberately set aside. The Articles of Confede- 
 ration, unlike the Constitution, did not reserve for the States, 
 or imply the right of secession. 
 
 The old Congress, too (without any authority under the 
 ' Articles,' which gave them power), so soon as nine States had 
 acceded to the Constitution, agreed to adjourn on March 3, 
 1789, and called a new Congress of the members from 
 those States, which, after much debate, had been cajoled into 
 confirming the action of the 'Secessionists' of 1787, to 
 meet on March 4. No quorum, however, of Eepresenta- 
 tives was present until April 1, or of Senators until the 
 6th. Washington was not notified of his election as President 
 until the 14th, and his inauguration did not take place until 
 April 30, when the operation of the government ' under the 
 Constitution of the United States of America ' commenced. 
 The Executive and Legislative branches being installed, dated 
 from that day their power of making laws, and appointing all 
 the ofBcers necessary to constitute the Judiciary as well as the 
 Executive departments, with subordinate oflScers both civil and 
 military. From March 3 to April 30, no 'union' whatever 
 existed, and during that period of fifty-eight days each State 
 
COLONIAL CUEEENCY. 149 
 
 midit, if so minded, have sent separate ambassadors to the 
 several European Courts. 
 
 New York did not unite with the ' Secessionists ' on that 
 occasion until after Washington had been elected President 
 North Carolina did not accede' to the arrangement until 
 November 21, 1789, while Ehode Island withheld her assent 
 until May 29, 1790. Washington postponed his Cabinet 
 appointments until September 1789. Mr. Jefferson, to whom 
 he confided the portfolio of the foreign department, was ap- 
 pointed while absent in Europe, and although he returned in 
 November 1789, he did not a&sume the duties of his office till 
 March 1790. 
 
 It so happened that the French Eevolution broke out during 
 the very throes of the organisation of the general government 
 under the Constitution. This placed in the hands of the 
 Americans a large share of the carrying trade of the world, and 
 revived their drooping commerce. Such a business was, of 
 course, temporary; but so long as it lasted gave great pros- 
 perity to the States. About the same time cotton cultivation 
 was commenced on an extensive scale, and, as has been shown 
 in the preceding pages, soon became a paramount and lasting 
 staple and article of export. 
 
 COLONIAL CURRENCY. 
 The first settlers of a country do not require a great deal of 
 money for a medium of exchange. Trade can be carried on by 
 barter. The coin brought by emigrants generally returns to 
 the parent country for supplies. Such was the condition of the 
 financial affairs of the colonists in Virginia at a very early day. 
 Their Grovernor, Argall, in 1618, ordered ' that all goods should 
 ' be sold at an advance of 25 per cent., and tobacco taken in 
 ' payment at 3s. per lb., and not more or less, on the penalty of 
 'three years' servitude to the colony.' In 1623 the 'council' 
 fixed a scale of exchange between specie and tobacco. Canary, 
 Malaga, Alicant, Muscadel, and Bastard wines were rated at 
 6s. in specie, or 9s. in tobacco per gallon. Sherry, sack, and 
 aqua-vitae, at 4s. in specie, or 4s. 6d. in tobacco. Cider and 
 beer-vinegar, at 2s. in specie, or 3s. in tobacco. Newfoundland 
 fish, 21. in specie, or 3L 10s. in tobacco per cwt. English meal 
 
150 ALTERATION OF VALUES. 
 
 sold at lOs., and Indian corn at 8s. per bushel. The price of 
 labour was also fixed. The colonists were generally without 
 families, and, in order to supply this deficiency, the London 
 Virginia Company sent over, in 1620, 90 girls, 'young and 
 uncorrupt,' and 60 more the following year. The price of a 
 wife at first was 100 pounds of tobacco, but, ' becoming scarce,' 
 advanced to 150 pounds, the debt so incurred taking precedence 
 of all other claims. In 1 641 the General Court of Massachusetts 
 ' made orders about payment of debts, settling corn at the usual 
 ' price, and making it payable for all debts which should arise 
 ' after a time prefixed.' Two years afterwards the same Court 
 ordered 'that Wampompeag should pass current in the payment 
 ' of debts to the amount of 40s., the white at eight a penny, the 
 ' black at four a penny, except at county rates.' This was an 
 article of traffic with the Indians, and did not answer as a legal 
 tender. The measure was, however, in accordance with the 
 orders of 1633, declaring 'that artificers, such as carpenters and 
 ' masons, should not receive more than 2s. a day, and propor- 
 ' tionately, and that merchants should not advance more than 
 'fourpence in the shilling' above what their goods cost in 
 England. Eice was a legal tender in the Carolinas, and tobacco 
 and maize in Maryland. An unsuccessful attempt was made 
 in Pennsylvania, in 1 700, to use ' domestic products ' for the 
 same purpose. 
 
 There was very little necessity for barter after the year 1640. 
 A clandestine commerce with the Spanish Main, and a trade 
 that had sprung up vdth the West Indies, caused silver dollars to 
 become very plentiful. The balances, however, being in favour of 
 Great Britain, much of the specie was transmitted in settlement. 
 This excited the jealousy of the colonists, and they attempted 
 by legislative action to prevent the precious metals leaving 
 their shores. Virginia, in 1645, altered the value of the dollar 
 piece, worth four shillings and sixpence sterling, to six shillings, 
 as the measure of currency. The New England colonies did 
 the same. In Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Mary- 
 land it was fixed at seven shillings and sixpence; New York 
 and North Carolina rated it at eight shillings; and in South 
 Carolina and Georgia it passed for five shillings. Thus although 
 all accounts were kept in pounds, shillings, and pence, lOOL of 
 
PAPER MONEY. 151 
 
 money of Great Britain was equal in Virginia and New England 
 to 1331^. ; in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Dela- 
 ware, to 166-|i. ; in New York and North Carolina, to 177^; in 
 South Carolina and Greorgia, to lOSi?.* Changing the value of 
 the silver dollar did not have the desired effect, and bills on 
 London have been calculated from that day to this on the basis 
 of its real value, four shillings and sixpence sterling, or four 
 dollars forty cents, and forty-four mills to the pound, without 
 any regard to the currency of the colonies, or that estab- 
 lished by the States in 1791. A mint was organised in Boston 
 in 1652 for coining change — shillings, sixpences, and threepenny 
 pieces ; it continued its operations until 1682, the abundance of 
 small Spanish coins rendering it unnecessary after that period. 
 Maryland likewise erected a mint for the same purpose in 
 1662 ; it lasted about twenty years. 
 
 So remunerative was the trade with the West Indies, that in 
 1698, only sixteen years after the settlement of Pennsylvania, 
 silver was more plentiful in that colony than in England. 
 
 Paper money was first issued by Massachusetts in 1690 to 
 pay some clamorous troops who had returned from Quebec, the 
 Government not having made any provision for that purpose, 
 thinking that sufficient treasure would have been wrested 
 from the French. The notes were of all denominations, from 
 2s. to lOL As long as the bills were moderate in amount, 
 silver continued to be the standard of value. After a second 
 expedition to Canada in 1711, further issues were made, when 
 an inflation commenced ; and, in order to satisfy the cry of 
 ' scarcity of money,' silver having entirely disappeared by 1713, 
 the Government of the colony in 1714 emitted 50,000L, and 
 again, in 1716, 100,000L The 5s. notes of 1690 were then 
 worth onlyScZ. in specie. In 1702 an ounce of silver was worth 
 6s. Sd. ; in 1749 it was worth 50s. Under the vicious currency 
 
 * In tlie Island colonies the same changes were made, viz. — 
 
 Sterling Currency Dollar Currency 
 
 
 £ £ 
 
 S s. d. 
 
 Jamaica . . . • 
 
 100 = 140 
 
 1 = 68 
 
 Barbadoes 
 
 100 = 135 
 
 1 = G 3 
 
 Windward Islands (except Bar- 
 
 
 
 badoes) 
 
 100 = 175 
 
 1 = 83 
 
 Leeward Islands 
 
 100 = 200 
 
 1 = 90 
 
152 MEECANTILE DISTKESS. 
 
 the trade of the province declined, and all persons with fixed 
 incomes and salaries were ruined. In 1721 the Governor 
 recommended some measures for preventing the depreciation, 
 but the Assembly idiotically passed a bill for the issue of another 
 100,000^, which contained a clause prohibiting the buying or 
 selling of silver at any higher rate than that fixed by Acts of 
 Parliament. New Hampshire followed the example of Massa- 
 chusetts in reference to paper-money; but the amoimt in 
 circulation at any one time was never very great — only 12,000Z. 
 were outstanding in 1742. Ehode Island first issued paper- 
 money in 1710, to pay its proportion of the expenses incurred 
 in the expedition against Nova Scotia, and then for the ordinary 
 expenses of Government. Emissions were subsequently made 
 for loans — a system of banking — to its inhabitants. In 1739 
 the entire sum had reached 399,300L Connecticut, in 1709, 
 met its expenses by paper-money; the notes, however, were 
 soon cancelled by taxes. Other issues were made for various 
 purposes, all of which amounted to 155,OOOZ. in 1739. A 
 charter was granted by this colony in 1733 to a society in 
 New London, to circulate ' bills of credit,' but they did not 
 obtain currency among the people, and the Government was in- 
 duced to create a medium of exchange to the extent of 50,000L 
 By 1733 there was general mercantile distress throughout 
 New England. The currency, although large, was outstripped 
 by the inflation. Massachusetts and New Hampshire were 
 prevented by royal instructions from issuing any more ' bills of 
 credit.' Ehode Island and Connecticut were under no such 
 restraint, and flooded their neighbours with their notes. The 
 merchants of Boston, too, formed a company, a sort of bank, 
 which circulated 100,000^. of bills payable in ten years in 
 silver, at 19s. per ounce; but silver rising to 27s., the bills 
 disappeared : they were hoarded. When the ' grand crash ' 
 came in 1749, the bills of Massachusetts in the hands of 
 her people amounted to 2,200,000?. Exchange on London at 
 eleven for one was the lowest price that had been quoted for 
 several years. In order to redeem the outstanding issues, the 
 colony agreed to compound with her creditors at that rate by pay- 
 ing out 180,000L in silver that had been received from England, 
 as a reimbursement for expenses incurred in obtaining Cape 
 
BILLS OF CBEDIT. 153 
 
 Breton. This redeemed 1,980,000?., and the remainder was pro- 
 vided for by a special tax. Silver of sterling alloy was then fixed 
 at 6s. 8d. the ounce, if in bullion, or dollars at 6s, each. 
 Massachusetts, however, again issued paper -money. 
 
 In 1706 New York commenced her issues of paper-money, for 
 payingthe expenses of thecolony. Three years afterwards 13,000L 
 of ' public bills ' were disbursed, as its share of the cost of the 
 expedition to Canada ; they originally bore interest, and did not, 
 as was intended, answer for currency. To prevent hoarding 
 — used as an investment — the interest was repudiated in 1710, 
 when 10,OOOL more were put in circulation.* Again, in 1714, 
 2,080i. were issued for Government expenditure, payable in 
 twenty years, to be redeemed by an excise on liquors, and in 
 1717, an addition of 16,607Z. was made, to be cancelled by duty 
 on wines and rums for seventeen years. These emissions were 
 connived at by the home boards of council, trade, and plantations, 
 and, being made without the royal approbation, established a 
 precedent, which was subsequently taken advantage of. The 
 cost of fortifications, in 1734, was paid by paper issues to the 
 extent of 12,000L, these to be liquidated by an excise on imports 
 prior to 1746 ; they were followed by an increase of 48,300?. in 
 1738, 40,000L of which were loaned to the people, redeemable 
 in 1750. This redundancy of the currency caused exchange 
 on London to rise to seventy per cent., and silver to 9s. 3d. per 
 ounce. 15,000L of the issues of 1714 and 1717 remaining in 
 circulation in 1739, it was deemed expedient to extend the 
 excise for fifteen years. 
 
 New Jersey, likewise, in 1709, emitted 3,000L of paper- 
 money, as its share of the expenses of the Canadian expedition. 
 In 1711, under pretence of a second invasion, the amount was 
 increased 5,000?., to be gradually redeemed by 1713 ; but a 
 considerable number of these bills were in circulation as late as 
 
 * Interest-liearing notes do not answer for cun'ency. The exchequer 
 bills of Great Britain, the treasury notes of the United States, and the 
 more recent emissions of Mr. Chase — the 7^^^^ three years' certificates — 
 have failed to serve that purpose. The last-mentioned class of securities, 
 although the interest was fixed at two cents per day for each himdred 
 dollars, as a matter of convenience to the holders, never passed, as was 
 intended, from hand to hand. 
 
154 THE FIRST BANK IN AMERICA. 
 
 1 724. Fresh issues of 40,000L were made that year to cancel the 
 old notes and lend ' money ' to the people ; the notes were pay- 
 able in twelve years, and they were promptly redeemed at ma- 
 turity. Other notes were issued in 1733, amounting to 20,000?., 
 having sixteen years to run, and a, ' loan ' was enacted by the 
 Assembly in 1734 for 40,000L, but the bills were not circulated 
 until 1736, in consequence of delay in receiving the royal 
 assent. From that date. New Jersey currency gradually de- 
 preciated, and sunk with that of New York, until the emissions 
 of the latter province in 1738, when the bills of the former 
 became sixpence in the pound better, and worth more by one 
 shilling in the pound than those of Pennsylvania, The sta- 
 bility of New Jersey bills, at that period, was owing to their 
 being used as currency in New York and Pennsylvania, while 
 the notes of neither of those colonies circulated in the other. 
 
 Pennsylvania, in March 1723, loaned 15,000?. in paper- 
 money, taking as security lands or plate ; the bills were a 
 legal tender, and imposed penalties on persons who would 
 value them below specie. 30,000?. more were issued in 1724. 
 These bills were to be extinguished by payments of an eighth 
 each year ; and in 1726, the colonists, finding that 6,100?. had 
 been thus sunk, obtained an Act for the reissue of the amounts 
 as they were paid in to the Government, and about 30,000?. 
 were accordingly kept in circulation for a great length of time. 
 A new issue was made in 1739 on similar terms, which, being 
 beyond the power of the community to absorb, caused exchange 
 to advance from 33 to 75 per cent. 
 
 In 1734, the Government of Maryland issued notes to the 
 amount of 90,000?., payable in three periods of fifteen years 
 apart, when exchange advanced from 33 to 150 per cent. 
 
 Virginia, as a colony, never had a paper currency. 
 
 The Provincial Assembly of Carolina, in 1702, had con- 
 tracted a debt of 6,000?. by the expedition against St. Augus- 
 tine, Florida, and to discharge the same, bills were issued, 
 to be redeemed in three years by duties laid upon liquors, 
 skins, and furs. The notes passed as specie. The same colony 
 established a bank in 1712 'to defray the cost of the war 
 ' against the Tuscaroras, and to accommodate domestic trade ;' 
 48,000?. in bills were loaned out on interest upon landed or 
 
COLONIAL COMMERCE. 155 
 
 personal property, the whole to be sunk in twelve years, at the 
 rate of 4,000?. a year. But it does not seem that they were 
 redeemed within that time. Soon after the first emissions, 
 exchange rose, and prices of all goods followed, the first year to 
 150, the second to 200, per cent. Further large issues were 
 made, on loan to the inhabitants, and for the ordinary expenses 
 of the colony. The British Parliament, in 1729, purchased the 
 proprietary rights of Carolina, and divided the territory into two 
 distinct and separate governments, known afterwards as North 
 and South Carolina. By 1731 the rate of exchange was 700 per 
 cent., at which it continued, with little variation, for forty years. 
 The amount of bills outstanding in 1739 was 250,000L At 
 that date it required eight South Carolina shillings to equal a 
 shilling sterling. Prior to 1739, North Carolina had emitted 
 40,000L of bills upon loan, and 12,500L for ordinary expenses. 
 In that year exchange was fixed by legislative enactments at 
 ten shillings of the colony for one shilling of Britain. 
 
 The currency of Georgia consisted chiefly of ' trustees and 
 old bills sterling.' The funds were allowances by Parliament, 
 and private subscriptions to carry on the settlement. 
 
 The whole paper-money system of the thirteen colonies, as 
 well as that of the British possessions in the West Indies, which 
 was equally vicious, was swept away by the passage of an 
 Act of Parliament, in 1763, 'to prevent paper bills of credit 
 ' hereafter to be issued in any of His Majesty's colonies or 
 ' plantations in America from being declared a legal tender in 
 ' payment of money, and to prevent the legal tender of such 
 ' bills as are now subsisting from being prolonged beyond the 
 ' period for calling in and sinking the same.' 
 
 COLONIAL COMMEECE. 
 
 The foreign commerce of the American colonies, up to the 
 beginning of the eighteenth century, had not become a very 
 important feature in their affairs, as far as amount was con- 
 cerned. Their West Indian trade, however, not only enabled 
 them to avoid indebtedness to England, but absolutely, as will 
 have been observed, supplied them with capital. The following 
 tables exhibit the course of their trade from 1770 up to the 
 period of the Revolution : — 
 
156 
 
 COLONIAL COMMERCE. 
 
 OOCOOt^t^OOCM.-IOr-tCO--(^CCOCOt;.JO^CO 
 
 «ftOOiOOi— iOCOCDCOCO-^t^QOCO-^ ^'"l^'^^^ 
 
 rH r-i rl T-H !-( C<» rH C<) C^ r-i CM CO CO G^ "^ -^ "^ O 
 
 COOOOOOt— lOOi— It^iCDrHCOCOlOt^CMr-ICqQOr-^O 
 OOCOCqC^OOOCDOJCqi—lOi— icDr-icor^iO-;^co 
 
 i-H i-H 1— I i-H I—I rH I— I CM r— I <M (M IM <?^ rH Csl (M I— I 1— ( 
 
 <MCX)CMC0(MCOCMlOC000CSrH.— ICOOdCO-^CDOi 
 OCOOOfMt— fCDlOC^OiCD<MOO-rhCOt-lO'=*COt>CO 
 
 cot-b-cJii-Ht^i—tCD-^CD ■^'-H Oi^cM^-^^t^ co^oq^io^o^ 
 "^ ^>^lc^'Ti^^•T:f'<:D'c3^^^co'^cx^co'^^cD'c^"<:l^r-^c^ 
 
 1— IC0^-Tt<CDi-H^Or-(C000t-C3OC»t^000i]— ICO 
 COlMtMi— ICMr-HrHCMCMCMr- iC0CM<MCMi-ICMC?^C0CO 
 
 i-HCO'— ICOQOCMlOi— Ir— ^CX)OSlOCO"^f^CO■rf^lJOCM^CO 
 CXlCXlOii— l»OCMr— lOCOCDCOCOCCOt-t^OSCDG^CO 
 "^ O CO t- '^ 00 O C3^0 <M CD lO^lO^CO OO^CT^lO C3^0i^CD_ 
 
 '^co'^o5^c4~o"cr-^co^i>rcrcri>rr-H"^'^<::crc6"orcri^ 
 
 t^Oii>-O3':01>-iJ0'^t)t^CD0(MOiCOI>CMO5I>-i— iO:iCD 
 
 CM 
 
 ■ I— I I— I I— I CM I-H I— ( 
 
 ^ 
 
 w 
 
 OOOiaOOOOCDOOb-OOi-HOOCO'-JCOOiCO"^ 
 aOG<»-^CDCOOi7HQOCMi^t^COl^b-CDCD, OSCOCOCD 
 
 '*CDCMi— lrH-^COGSX>-i— ICD CM^ 
 ^'^lO'^^LO'cCrH'Tir cm" 
 
 "^_ 1—1 CO "^i— I ■«* lO lO 
 
 cM"o'"io"-^"io"<:cr 
 
 05CMcocj5C3:i<:oi>-iocOi-i'^QO-^t--b-cM(MiO':oc» 
 
 CMO^CSi— lOCOCOCMOOO^'OCDCOCMCO'^Oi— ICO 
 =ftlOOC00000tMOC0t^00*O-Tt<-^O0ii— I000t>-0 
 
 o 
 
 OOi— l(M'^CMCOlCt-(t-lOCO'^OCOCiCOOCDlO 
 1— It— l05CDa30CiOlOC5t^t^»0<MI>-'*fMl>-'*CDlO 
 ^-^ CaCDiOCMCDiOQOGOiJO'^ 00^ lO^-^ CO CO i-H^i— ( OS CO 
 C7j'~^''co"t--"<M"l>r,-rcrCD"-^''rH"co'cxro"^''"^''CT^ 
 '■rJiOOCMi— ICMCMCOCMCMCOCOCMi— l-^'^lOlO^COlO 
 
 uj (XtCOCOc3:>COCOOCOlOc3SCM0 03-^i— llOiOGOrHCM 
 
 ■£ OOVOCMCOCMOii— 'OiCOVOr— lrHa:iO"^iOCJi0303in 
 
 rH^(^^"^^-'"c6^c^cCc^*"o6^0^03^r-^cD"'^'^oi^r-^co'"ci^od"r^"'^ 
 
 F=j "^C0C0C0C0CMCNCi'3'^CMC0CM{M'=i<XOC0C0iOC01O 
 
 CO(MlOCX)CO^Oi— llOOiOOr- (lOCX)OOOCO^-^lOt> 
 I— ICN(MOc:DO10C0O'^C0CMO1>-00U010QQ0i— I 
 C:d^O0_CO^CO CX) O O CD lO CO CO "^i-H^t^ (M CO I-H O CO CO 
 
 Cn00CDlOI>-CDlOC^i— ICMOCOCMCMCMCDtMCOCOlM 
 
 OrH(MCOM<IOCOt^COCj:iOf— ICMCO'i^iOCOt^C^OCt 
 OOOOOOOOOOrHr— <rHi— <i— li— (i— IrHi— li— ( 
 
COLONIAL COMMEECK. 
 
 157 
 
 M 00 O 
 OrH 1— I 
 (M O 
 
 S C 
 
 ) U5 1— l(N Ti) 1— I «D -^ 
 ^ I CT> CT rH 1— I O 03 <N 
 00 CD 03 1— I O t~ -^^OT, 
 
 COOOOCO"^<MCOlOW3C303i— lt^iO^00C00003<M 
 
 ^ <>ri-rorQcrcrT-rco'':D^r-roo'r-rorcD't-rcr»o'"^r~r^':d^ 
 
 CDOt~l>03<3505CD05i-li0i0(Mt-CT'^i— IOO-*OT 
 rHi— IrHrHrHrHi— (G^lrHi-HtM 
 
 o 
 
 t 
 
 oco-^':cc5C<»'*^t><r)iOiooo':Doot^t>-oco»o 
 
 OiOt-'^COCOO:nOCD'X>00-^OiCDlOCO'<*OOOS'^ 
 (Mt^C0<N00rH02CMOC0l---i— ICM"^CD00i— IGSt-'^ 
 
 OOrHOiOi^COCOOOOOt^fMOOSCDOiaiO^T— i»o 
 -^QO^O^G^CO^t^L--, lO 0_i— ( 00 lO C^rH O^Oi rH^C^ "^"^ 
 
 COOOOOOt^'— ICNcMrHOO-^OrHOt^GiOOOiO:'-^ 
 
 O CM O -* rH QO t- 
 00 t^ CM O T— I lO T-H 
 
 ■ ' cq (M cq G<l CM 
 
 00»>-(M(Mt-i— lOeOO'^CMCO-^COt-OSCDODOO'* 
 
 <MC000C0lO00<:r'CqcOC00000G-^t^i— IrHOOCftr-ICO 
 
 eftO^O^Cq_cq^C>^05 0:1 00 (M^'^ii^iO b- »0^t^ <M 03 t^ i— I Oi i-H^ 
 
 I— I I— 1 I— I I— t 1— I I— I CM CM CM I— I 1— I 
 
 I— ^':D^-CM■^C3S-rJ^030005CqOOOlO(M■^COOOCM 
 CO'^CjJCDCMOCOt^b-CDCSiCOCDOOiOr-ICSilOO 
 
 ijio ^^^ct^CD^o^tM___cq^03^-rJ^^^--_^lq^(M^cr)^li^co^cq^»0^ 
 
 G<lCMCMi— ICO-^iOCQCOC^^-^-^-^'^lO'^COiOOiO 
 
 CO(X)i— (OOit-^Oi— l-^CO"^iOi-HtMOiO , - 
 
 F£l I— 1>— ICMCM<MCMCOCOCMr— I CM ..._...-. 
 
 t^-^aDcooootM-^oocoQt-oouriocoooo 
 
 C33lOt-t— <<MlOO»OCOOiO]— l-^i— ilOOOCOCOt> 
 
 coio^iO'Xit>ooOQOcc'CO':D':DCDcx)cx)cocMo:>o 
 
 CDCOlOC^XOr-HOCMCSiCMi— l<X)»OC0(M^G0t>CD-^ 
 OOOlOC?:)00'Mi— llOCX)<— tO'^0300lO03Q0-^i— lO 
 
 cq -^ c3:> CO 10 0^00^ 0^0^10^ ^^o^o_c^^<M^QO^t^co^'-^_cq_ 
 
 ^(3^c^I^^c^o^c^c6*lJ^■^cM'■^G^-^l--^c^Tc^^cD^o5'<3^l:D^ 
 
 ■^iO-^OCOt><:Dt-CDlOlO-^CDCDOOt-<X'(©iO'^ 
 
 OiT+fCMCOtr^OOCMt^OCMCOI^OOOiOCXJCOCOCO 
 CDCNC^QOOCDOOb-OSOOiCOOt^CDCMlO^COt-- 
 ?-lCit^'«i*lOt~-Q0(MU3F— I rH^-^ O 10 '^i— I ^'^'^'^ 
 
 ^rHC0I>-CDOO0003CDO00>-t00-^00<MCMO<M 
 ^^pH^,-HCqC<li-Hr-li— ICMrHCMi-ti— ti— t(MCM(M<M 
 
 G^CMCMtMCMG^CMCMCMCqCOCOOtiCOCOCOCOCOCOCO 
 
158 
 
 COLONIAL COMMERCE. 
 
 CO 
 
 iH (N lo CO i~ «o t- >g 
 02 CO lo o^c^"^'~i^ ' ' 
 
 •^C000i-IC»C3TH-*Tl(10>01OMQ0;^OC0i-ig 
 
 coC^lOrHOSCDCOOOC^T . 
 ^lO lO O0<H> 05 C5 CO 
 
 CMCOCOC^t^C0COt>.rH 
 
 o 
 
 I— I 
 H 
 
 o 
 
 > 
 
 p? 
 
 Eh 
 
 Ph 
 O 
 P^ 
 
 m 
 p 
 
 O 
 
 COCOOCOO-^OOOOiOOSCDCOCOCNi— (COt-H 
 C^CNi— '(Mi-H I— 1 r-1 1—1 rH Cq CM I— I CO CO C<J rH rH 
 
 1— iocooir-iioo5a>c^iot^'<^t-anot-oo553 
 
 G^lt-CDOS-^rHOC^t-COCO'^t^Oi— lOOOO-^O 
 
 ^i-H"-^i>rr-H"crco'c^»j^o^-^"^ocrcrco"or<^rH"cd"rH" 
 
 00CN(MrHI>0DO05CDC0C0C0lCTH^G0C0i-HQ0 
 1— 1 CM rH I— ( i-H i-H I— I 1— i I— I I— 1 C^ I— 1 I— i 1— I (N T-H 
 
 aJOCO<MOC^t^i— "lOi— (COOOlCt^COCDiOOOCD 
 
 o:j^t-H^^-^cq^i>-_'^^co^'::o^co^cO^O>^o^'^iO^-^:^^ 
 ^tM■I^^^-^^^<^^a^a^G<^'^"<*"od"c^G^(7^co'o^^^cc^■^ 
 
 ■^t>-(MiOOC2i— lOiCiCOOCpCDCOt-obCCii— (lO 
 COlO'stliQ-^CO'^-^'^'^lO'^lOCOlO'^COTtl'^ 
 
 ^lOi— li— lOOt^lOOCDCD-rtlOrHt-lOr-IQOCDrH 
 
 OO'^CDC^COasOOOlOG^'^^C^llOfNCOCOG^lCO 
 G^iI^CMCOCMrHCNG^CNCOCOtMCOCOCOCqCO-^-^ 
 
 COOOt^<X>COOOi(?lCO'^i— lOtXJt-OSOi— lOCO 
 
 'd^lOC<^CiTt^cot^co<:D"<^0^^-^-(^^"^co05C30o 
 
 «|jOrHlOlO"^^Hb-ODCOOSi— ICOCDlOCOCOOi— ICO 
 
 T— IOlOO'^003"^Ot-COb-':0"^t^':002CDCO 
 
 t^ o cq^co (M CM <:q -^ CO cq^t-- Oi cd_co^co_^i— i -^ os 
 
 10a3t^t><:ClOI>CX)t>COr— ICDO-^-^'^OCDCD 
 CMdi— l<M<MCMt-ICMrH(M 
 
 ODCNCOt^t^COrHiT^OOCOCNCOCjpcOCOlOCOC^O 
 ODTjiCOCDC^OO-^OSOi-HCO'Xi^lOCDlOt^CDCD 
 qj'^ 1— I iO O lO O GO^Oi^CO ''^CD^CO^CD^iq^CD^O^O^rH^Cq^ 
 r-^i-i'COiO' '^ ■•^— '■-■^— '""•"■•-*"— ■^—•^—■"—•^—''->^— "- '^ 
 (M CM r-H I— ( r 
 
 t>.0>— It-Ot-CM'^r-ICOOT— lO-^t-"— liCi— IU3 
 i>-COOSOOCMlOi— ICOr-(i>-CO-^COCDOii>-(Mi-HlO 
 
 rH-Tt^CDCOi— llO00C0"^CDCD-^Cj;>l:^CMlO»OiOu:) 
 i-H rH rH r- 1 1— I i— I tH (M CM CM i-H CM i— I i— I CM CO CO 
 
 )a5U5l>-COlOCX)COO:iCC'T:t< 
 -_ ...- JOilOOOi— (03C0C0«3»OO 
 
 CM^cT co"co" cir{xr(xrr4^c3rorc»"o^'^cd^cD^cri>ri>r cT 
 t><xiiocDiOcoo:)"^CMcO'^':ot>oo<:DiOTti(Mco 
 
 I-H !>- 05 T— I (M CO r^ c 
 
 00 '^ c::? CO 00 CO t^ ' 
 
 CM:OOS'^Ot^COCD?-H'^-^ 
 CX)OOiOt-'^(MCOCj5t^OC35 
 
 O 1-H^oq^^^Ci^^ ]— IC0C0CMC0O5C0lO"^t>C0-^CO 
 
 I>-0-^I>."^Tt<Oi-HOiCO'^01>-"^CMTticX)COCO 
 i-Hi-HrHrHi— (r-<CMCMr-(CMCOCOCMCOCOCOC0CO-^ 
 
 QrHCMCO^HOCOb-C 
 
 ^1 Tljl ^p "qi ^j1 -^fl -^t -^ ■« 
 
 )OiOrHCMCO"<*liCSC01>-CX) 
 K_ 1^ K_ 1^ tvL k: k- .c ^*'^lP^^^0iOiO^ir:>iO 
 
COLONIAL COMMERCE. 
 
 159 
 
 WOSCDCMCDCNOOt^tOOI^-COi— l00O3"^t^CD 
 
 CD c^iS<:S^rA^^oS'xo (^(T^io CO ':S^ trios' 0^ 
 
 I— i I— ( CQ CO lO CO "^ CO lO CD CO CO CO O 1— I 
 
 05r"(Q0C0iCQ0'<*CqOC0C0CD(MC0l> 
 t^CDOCOCC>COCOCD-^C3050COi-Ht>- 
 
 Tiroo^THro6^art^(TO'cd^ocr(:£rcrc>f c^t^co' ' 
 
 - Wf "ia/ *,„p* I I I 1 ^^mi ^'%/ V^a' ^J^m/ "-'■/ **'*/ ^^^ 
 
 OCC>"O00Q0-^Q0a>03OC0t~tNCqi0mt-r-l 
 
 C^r-<_iq^rH^i-H C» t-^ t-. O 00 CO Ul r-H CD C» i-H CT 
 
 "lOXl-^-^O>O-^C0-^03CDim0303-*00© 
 <MS<I(MT-l!MCOCOCTSqtN03rH-^-^eOM 
 
 ■e 
 
 HQOi— ICOCOCpCM'^Op-^COOCOCD 
 
 CT^^^O^Ir^CT^iO^CD^CD_OS^O^OO^O^OO^ 
 ^ h^ t4< »i^ »ri 1^1 ^^^ irN ^j^(N^<»rT* T'l/^is^'^ 
 
 00 rH CO 05 "-tr uu r 
 
 cq ic 00 o o Oi 
 
 ) O CO »o <M 
 H 00 O COG<I 
 
 "t^-^lOiOCMOilOi— It^CDi-HlOt^OOOitMGOCO 
 lOOlOrH-^lOOOCOOCDCOt^CMCOt— '10l>- 
 C0li3-<*-^CDlOlO^xH'^C0Tt<iOiOlOCDI>. 
 
 i>-CMO0irH(M'^0P00'<*(MCNCDO"^C0i— I 
 OQOilOOS03a>CM'<dH<MOOCC>COi:Ni— lOcocq 
 0^oq^CO^lO_CO_i--<^C^lO^CD^C»^C0^1>^CO^ 05^03^ t^ 05 
 
 ^ o^K^^^o"Qd^^o^^^^o^G4^^-^lo^o(^^^^c^co^oc^od"^-^ 
 
 iOOT#lr-tlOi— (OOt^COIr^OOrHC^iaiCMCN 
 
 ■«:#(:OiO'^xoiococo-^Tt<Ttii>-o:it^coio 
 
 1^ 
 
 ^■^Or— lOOOOOQi— iT-H-^rHCDlCCOC^IrHCNr-l 
 Cj^"<^»>;^rH^O_G^C^t-H^C0 CD^'* '"1,'"' CD r-l CD CO 05 "^ 
 
 (^^cq^o^oc^clc^cD'^»o^cD'^^^o^cD^cd'T-H'o^cc^a^lo"l--^ 
 
 CMCMCOCOCOCOCMCNCO»OtMCMCOC<JCOCOt^ 
 
 ) CM CD lO 
 
 _ -- _ _- . . , _ J lO CD CO 
 
 I— I O^O T— IrHi— (C0C0G0i-HCiC0l>-02"^CDC0C0 
 
 a500ooococD(M-t^cocaco<MOcq<M 
 
 '<*l>CMC^G^"<:iiCOCOCO-^rHi-Ht^UD-^CD 
 
 
 ■<#l0Q0Cq00l>-a)O<Nl0CDCM»OI>-CD00C0C0 
 
 co<^^-!i^ooG^c»iO(^^c^^^-^cooo^^-o-^Ot— <r-( 
 
 c^CD^i— I CD^C0_O5 CD 02^0 "<:K^rH_-^ GO 00_t>- fN^O O CO 
 
 r-rrH^c(rco^iyrc<^"<*^ ^-^'^H^^-^ co'aTio' (^q*^ cd^ cTt^ 
 
 CqtJ^-^OiOiOiOCDCOGOt^CDaiOOt^COCO 
 
 ICCDOCOOCDOJCDt-OOOT— (r-IO-^t-OO 
 00Ot^"^CDrH'!i<(7-^lOC0pHCi(Mt^i— ICOCM 
 
 t^i— (ioOiO'«^coooososo:taicooicN05<M 
 
 ** cro"orod^od^io'c>f'o^i>^c^'^u5^co^co^crt>rr-r 
 
 COQOOOoOCOi— (QOCOrHOOt-t^iCTifCOCO 
 CO '^ (M CM Cq lO CO CO -^ -?h -^ CO CO CM Tif 
 
 tCCM10COlOt^C3:>COt>.10COrHi— (ICtHCOCOCM 
 
 OOOCqCOi— (lOrHCOOt--»Oi— IGOCDCM-^OOCD 
 
 ■^ ^O.'^^'-'^'"!,'^^'^'^'^'^'^'^'^ CM iO t^ 
 
 ^irTi —*' — -" — '■" — — — — "-'--- 
 
 t^tr^iOXO'filiOOSCMT— It-CMrHOiOOCDwaO 
 CD-<*(MCOlOCDOi'^00030i»Cr— ICOU3b-CMlQ 
 O^CO CM CO C)0^*> C-T^CO^O b- C5 T:}^ rH^CO O "^ CD O 
 
 «*! t-rc3r'<drbro6'cD"r4'orcD'c3rbC'-rf o'-^t>rcq^rH"io'" 
 
 (MCSCO-^lOOU^OOi— lOC3S^(MCMCDt~-lO 
 
 lOlOCOCMCM-^'^-<*^'<#CMCO'<*OOlOlO 
 
 C^O"— <(MCO-<*»OCDt^QOOOrHC1CO"^lCCD 
 lOCDCOCOCOCOCOCOCDCDCDt^t^t-'l>-i^l>*t^ 
 
160 IMPOETS AND EXPOETS. 
 
 The foregoing tables show the imports of the Northern colo- 
 nies, for the first period, 1700 to 1719, to be 3,155,105L, against 
 those of the Southern colonies, 3,184,076^., or nearly equal in 
 amount, while the exports of the former were only 1,198,387^., 
 against the latter of 5,409,35 IL The figures for the second 
 period, 1720 to 1739, were imports North, 6,001,999Z; South, 
 4,699,628Z. The exports were 1,842,146Z., and 9,767,172?. 
 respectively. In the third period, 1740 to 1758, the import 
 account stands, North, 11,144,433 ; South, 8,653,349/.; and the 
 export returns, 1,773,668L for the one, and 12,693,601/. for the 
 other. The fourth and last colonial period records the Northern 
 imports at 21,064,445/., and the Southern at 14,007,558/.; the 
 exports at 3,726,716/., and 15,665,730/. The total Northern 
 imports reached 41,665,882/., againstthe Southern of 30,544,611/., 
 while the exports aggregated as follows : Northern, 8,540,917/. ; 
 Southern, 43,535,854/. The imports of the whole thirteen 
 colonies thus amounted to 72,210,493/., and the exports to 
 52,076,771/. The shipments from the colony of Delaware are 
 included with those of Pennsylvania, and the produce of East 
 and West Jersey was forwarded by way of New York and 
 Philadelphia. There appears a balance against the Northern 
 colonies of 33,124,965/., and a balance in favour of the Southern 
 colonies of 12,991,243Z., leaving a net deficiency of 20,133,722/. 
 The indebtedness of the North was settled by the sale of negroes 
 to the South : most of the blacks were purchased in Africa and 
 the West Indies, but some were ' bred ' at home — the increase 
 in the coloured population of New England, New York, New 
 Jersey, and Pennsylvania, thus finding a profitable outlet. The 
 money received for the negroes was invested in Southern bills of 
 exchange, drawn on Europe, against the shipments of tobacco, 
 rice, and other produce. These bills, along with the specie 
 received from the West Indies — the value of the merchandise 
 sent to the islands being always greater than that imported 
 from thence — enabled the Northerners to pay the balances due 
 by them to their correspondents in Europe. It will be observed 
 that, in a colonial condition, the South carried on a more direct 
 trade with Europe than she has since done as States. Cotton 
 cultivation, however, led her to abandon commerce in a great 
 measure and take to planting. 
 
FOREIGN TRADE. 161 
 
 As an example of the foreign trade of the colonies, statistics 
 concerning the business of the year 1764 are presented: — 
 
 New England 
 New York . 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 Total 
 Virginia and Maryland 
 Carolina 
 Georgia 
 
 Total 
 
 Imported from Exported to 
 
 England England 
 
 £459,765 £88,157 
 
 515,416 63,697 
 
 435,101 36,258 
 
 £1,410,372 £168,112 
 
 £515,192 £559,408 
 
 305,808 341,727 
 18,388 31,325 
 £839,388 £932,460 
 
 Grand total . . . £2,249,760 £1,100,572 
 
 The fact is, the Northern colonies at that time, and ever 
 since as States, had very little to export that was suited for the 
 English market. In their earlier days they had furs and skins, 
 and other rude articles of a newly settled country; but as civi- 
 lisation progressed, those commodities of course disappeared, and 
 their only surplus produce for which there was a demand on this 
 side of the Atlantic was tobacco, then grown in their own 
 neighbourhood, but of course to a much more limited extent 
 than in Maryland or Virginia ; flax-seed ; fish, sold to the Ca- 
 tholic countries of the continent; and occasionally breadstuffs. 
 The islands relieved fhem of their inferior fish, for slave con- 
 sumption, as well as beef, pork, butter, poultry, maize, flour, 
 cider, apples, cabbages, onions, horses, mules, &c. The com- 
 merce of the Northern colonies with Europe and the West 
 Indies stood thus (in dollars) in 1 764 : — 
 
 New England .... 
 
 New York 
 
 New Jersey .... 
 
 Pennsylvania .... 
 
 ^911,013 ^650,216 
 
 The exports of the Southerners always paid for more than 
 they imported. Their trade prior to Independence being direct, 
 the real state of their balances can be more readily approximated. 
 They, as well as the Northerners, earned largely by freights and 
 the sale of vessels in Europe. The outward shipments being much 
 more bulky than the receipts of manufactured goods, enabled 
 
 M 
 
 Exported to 
 
 Imported from 
 
 ^407,314 
 
 ^340,339 
 
 118,524 
 
 113,046 
 
 2,531 
 
 1,990 
 
 382,644 
 
 194,841 
 
162 AMEEICAN CUEEENCT. 
 
 them to dispose of some of their ships after their cargoes 
 were discharged in foreign j)orts. In addition to purchases of 
 negroes from the Northern colonists, the Southerners bought 
 from the English slave-traders Africans to the value of many- 
 millions of dollars. 
 
 Franklin explained the course of business carried on at that 
 time. As a representative from Pennsylvania, he was examined 
 before a committee of the House of Commons on this subject, 
 on January 28, 1765, when the following questions and answers 
 were given : — 
 
 ' What may be the amount of one year's imports into Penn- 
 ' sylvania from Britain ? — I have been informed that our 
 ' merchants compute the imports from Britain to be above 
 ' 500,000^. 
 
 'What may be the amount of produce of your province 
 ' exported to Britain ? — It must be small, as we produce little 
 ' that is wanted in Britain. I suppose it cannot exceed 40,OOOL 
 
 ' How, then, do you pay the balance ? — The balance is paid by 
 ' our produce carried to the West Indies, and sold in our own 
 '(British) islands, or to the French, Spaniards, Danes, and 
 ' Dutch ; by the same carried to other colonies in North Ame-^ 
 ' rica, as to New England, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Carolina, 
 ' and Greorgia ; by the same carried to different parts of Europe, 
 ' as Spain, Portugal, and Italy ; in all which places we receive 
 ' either money, bills of exchange, or commodities that suit for 
 'remittance to Britain, which, together with all the profits on 
 ' the industry of our merchants and mariners arising in those 
 ' circuitous voyages, and the freights made by their ships, centre 
 ' finally in Britain, to discharge the balance, and pay for, British 
 ' manufactures continually used in the province, or sold to 
 ' foreigners by our traders.' 
 
 AMEEICAN CUERENCY SUBSEQUENT TO INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 The first emissions of ' continental notes ' by the ' Congress 
 of Delegates' was under an Act passed June 23, 1775 ; the 
 bills, however, bore the date of the meeting of that body. 
 May 10, 1775. This currency professed to be redeemable in 
 silver dollars, and circulated throughout the colonies, in accord- 
 ance with the values established by them, as already noticed. 
 
CONTINENTAL MONEY. 1C3 
 
 The issues were as follow : — 
 
 Dollars 
 
 1775 and 1776 20,064,464 66-90th3 
 
 1777 26,426,333 1-90 
 
 1778 66,965,269 34-90 
 
 1779 149,703,856 77-90 
 
 1780 82,908,320 47-90 
 
 1781 11,408,095 
 
 357,476,541 45-90 
 
 Until the amount exceeded ^^9,000,000., the notes passed at 
 their nominal value, and kept near par until January 1779, when 
 the depreciation was rapid throughout the whole of that year, 
 there being a redundancy of the currency. It then and subse- 
 quently required the number of paper dollars specified in the 
 subjoined table, compiled from the books of the principal 
 merchants at Philadelphia, to exchange for the Spanish pillar 
 dollar, worth 4s. 6d. sterling silver money : — 
 
 
 1777 
 
 1778 
 
 1779 
 
 1780 
 
 1781 
 
 January . 
 
 H 
 
 4 
 
 7,8,9 
 
 40,46 
 
 100 
 
 February 
 
 U 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 45,55 
 
 100, 120 
 
 March 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 10, 11 
 
 60,65 
 
 120, 135 
 
 April 
 May 
 
 2* 
 
 6 
 
 12J, 16, 14, 22 
 
 60 
 
 135, 200 
 
 2* 
 
 5 
 
 22,24 
 
 60 
 
 200, 500 
 
 June 
 
 n 
 
 4 
 
 22, 20, 18 
 
 60 
 
 
 July 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 18, 19, 20 
 
 60,65 
 
 
 August 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 20 
 
 65,75 
 
 
 September 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 20,28 
 
 75 
 
 
 October . 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 30 
 
 75,80 
 
 
 November 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 82,45 
 
 80, 100 
 
 
 December 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 45,38 
 
 100 
 
 
 On January 11, 1776, five months after the issue was made, 
 and six months before independence was declared, Congress 
 resolved that ' whosoever shall refuse to receive in payment 
 ' continental bills should be declared and treated as an enemy 
 ' to his country ; and be precluded from intercourse with its 
 ' inhabitants,' that is, outlawed, which is the severest penalty, 
 except life and limb, known to the law. ' This principle was 
 ' continued in practice for five years, and appeared in all shapes 
 ' and forms ; i. e. in tender acts, in limitation of prices, in sin- 
 in 2 
 
164 PAPER MONEY RIOT. 
 
 ' ful and threatening declarations, in penal laws, with dreadful 
 ' and ruinous punishments, and in every other way that could 
 ' be devised, and all executed with a relentless severity by the 
 ' highest authority then in being, viz. by CongTess, by assemblies, 
 ' and by conventions of States, whose powers in those days were 
 * nearly sovereign, and even by military force.' 
 
 In 1779 these notes were made a legal tender, but this, as 
 will be seen, did not augment their value. On March 17, 
 1780, the amount had increased so much that Congress, in 
 order to lessen the * volume of currency,' called in the emissions 
 of 1777 and 1778 (^93,391,602Af) at 40 for 1, or only 21 per 
 cent, for fresh issues, and accordingly there was cancelled of 
 that sum ;?82,8 19,432, by other bills of credit amounting to 
 ^891,236j-Vo ill 1''80, and ^^1, 176,249 in 1781. This made 
 matters worse. Specie or barter then began to be used in 
 settlement of transactions, although laws had been passed regu- 
 lating the price of goods for paper-money, and by May 7, 1781, 
 continental notes ceased to be of any value. So worthless had 
 this currency become at that date, and so great the discontent 
 consequent upon its depreciation, that manifestations of im- 
 patience and disaffection became frequent. In Philadelphia a 
 large body of the inhabitants paraded the streets, with paper 
 dollars in their hats by way of cockades, displaying colours, 
 with a dog tarred, and, instead of the usual ornament of 
 feathers, his back was covered with continental money. This 
 procession, immediately under the eyes of the rulers of 
 the revolted provinces, in solemn session at the State House 
 assembled, was directly followed by the jailer, who refused 
 accepting the bills in purchase of a glass of rum, and afterwards 
 by the traders of the city, who shut up their shops, declining 
 to sell any more goods but for gold or silver. It was declared 
 also by the popular voice, that if the opposition to Grreat 
 Britain was not in future carried on by solid money instead of 
 paper bills, all further resistance were in vain, and must be 
 given up. A letter dated August 19, 1780, thus alludes to the 
 state of financial affairs :—' Ten thousand pounds Pennsylvania 
 'currency was worth 6,000^. sterling; 10,000L continental 
 ' money is worth lOOl. The difference makes a loss of 50001. 
 'sterling, being as sixty to one. This was the exchange at 
 
AN INFLATION. 165 
 
 ' Philadelphia in June last, and, as they had not then heard of 
 ' Gates' defeat, it must be now lower. Actions commenced for 
 ' considerable sums by creditors have been obliged to be with- 
 ' drawn, or a non-suit suffered; a lawyer of eminence not 
 ' opening his mouth in a trial of consequence under a fee of 
 ' 1,000?., though the legal fee is about forty; and the debt, if 
 ' recovered, being paid in continental money, dollar for dollar, 
 ' worth now but a penny, the difference between a penny and 4s. 
 ' 6d. sterling is lost to the receiver. The Congress having called 
 * in the former emissions, ^^40 for one, and giving that one in 
 ' paper, cuts off every hope of redemption. The freight of a 
 ' hogshead of tobacco is 300L, or one hogshead for the carriage 
 ' of another. Instead of the creditor pursuing the debtor with 
 ' an arrest, the debtor pursues the creditor with a tender of 
 ' continental money, and forces the bond out of his hand. 
 ' Hence it appears what the best fortunes are reduced to ; an 
 ' unpleasing reflection it must be ; for time, which lightens all 
 ' other losses, aggravates the loss of fortune. Every day we 
 'feel it. more, because we stand more in want of the conveni- 
 ' ences we have been used to. On the other hand, new fortunes 
 ' are made on the ruin of old ones. War, which keeps the 
 ' spirits in motion, has diffused a taste for gaiety and dissipation. 
 ' The French resident minister at Philadelphia gives a rout 
 ' twice a week to the ladies of that city, amongst whom French 
 ' haii'dressers, milliners, and dancers are all the ton. The Vir- 
 ' ginia jig has given place to the cotillion and Minuet de la 
 ' Cour. Congress has fallen into general contempt, for its want 
 ' of credit and power ; the army is absolute, and has declared 
 ' it will not submit to a peace made by Congress ; the people 
 ' grumble, but are obliged to surrender one piece of furniture 
 ' after another to pay their State taxes.' So long as the con- 
 tinental notes retained a market quotation, they changed hands 
 frequently, and at 200 for 1 speculators became large pur- 
 chasers; they were finally sold at 1,000 to 1. Some compulsory 
 measures upon the people being put in force in regard to them, 
 as well as to State bills, by the Executive Council of Penn- 
 sylvania, caused their complete overthrow. 
 
 None of these continental notes have ever been redeemed, 
 with the exception of ^151,740y*J-g, paid by the State of Penn- 
 
166 THE DECIMAL SYSTEM. 
 
 sylvania to the Greneral Government, on March 3, 1792, in 
 settlement for the purchase of about 200,000 acres of land, 
 north of the line of 42° N. on Lake Erie, which forms the 
 peculiar north-west corner of that State as seen in the map. 
 
 The several States during the war also emitted bills of credit, 
 in accordance with their respective currencies. They had merely 
 a local circulation. The second bank established in America 
 was the ' Eank of Pennsylvania,' opened at Philadelphia July 
 17, 1780, with a capital of 300,000L Its special object was to 
 supply the American army with provisions ; but it was of little 
 use, and lingered in its operations until its stock was merged 
 into that of the Bank of North America, which institution 
 commenced business the following year. Specie became very 
 plentiful in 1781, in consequence of the large expenditure of 
 the British and French forces finding their way into the in- 
 terior, as well as a profitable commerce that was conducted 
 with the Havannah. 
 
 Within a year after the Articles of Confederation had been 
 adopted — 1782 — the attention of Congress was called to the 
 subject of the currency, great inconvenience being felt by 
 reason of the 'measures of value' being so unlike in the 
 several States. The matter was considered under the authority 
 of Article IX., which reads : ' The United States in Con- 
 ' gress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive 
 ' right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin 
 ' struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective 
 ' States, fixing the standard of weights and measures through- 
 ' out the United States.' Mr. Morris, of New Jersey, pro- 
 posed a money unit of 1-1,440 of a dollar, which was the worth 
 of the penny of every State. Mr. Jefferson objected to Mr. 
 Morris's plan — suggested the dollar as a unit, and the other 
 coins so regulated in relation to it as to be conformable to the 
 decimal arithmetic. After much discussion this latter method 
 was adopted. In 1785 the comparative value of gold to silver 
 was estimated at 15 to 1 ; the change from the weight of the 
 original Spanish dollar to the Federal dollar made the pound ster- 
 ling worth four dollars and eighty cents, or 8 per cent, premium 
 on the par of four dollars, forty-four cents, forty-four mills. 
 No mint, however, was established until shortly after the 
 
' GEEENBACES.' 167 
 
 adoption of the Constitution.* In 1834 gold was debased, 
 in order, as the politicians vainly supposed, to keep it 
 from being exported, when the premium rose to 9 per cent., 
 or $4: 84 cents and eighty-four mills to the average sove- 
 reign. The act of Congress of March 3, 1853, reduced the 
 weight, but not the fineness of the silver coins ; this was done 
 in consequence of their being worth more as bullion on account 
 of the large quantity of gold received from California and 
 Australia, causing silver to appreciate in value. At the be- 
 ginning of the present century the production was in the 
 proportion of about one ounce of gold to forty-six ounces of 
 silver. When the mines of California were opened, it had pro- 
 bably changed to one ounce of gold to less than four ounces of 
 silver. The alterations, therefore, in the standard weight of the 
 silver coins were rendered absolutely necessary. Previous 
 to 1853, American silver was issued from the Mint at ^^1,16 
 4-11 cents per ounce; the half dollar is now fourteen and a 
 quarter grains lighter, and the smaller coins in proportion. 
 
 Mr. Chase's 'greenbacks' resemble bank bills, and 'promise,' 
 on their face, to pay gold and silver on demand. Yet, on 
 their back, in colours typifying the verdancy of the holders, 
 they nullify that obligation. The Confederate issues, unlike 
 those of the Federal Grovernment, have never been made a 
 legal tender ; they are payable ' six months after the treaty of 
 ' peace with the United States.' 
 
 The Confederate States would find much convenience in an 
 assimilation of the values of their currency to British coinage, 
 which can readily be done, without abandoning the decimal 
 system. Let their principal gold piece be a 'Sun' — Eagles 
 should be dispensed with, as well as Stars and Stripes — and the 
 dollar might be one-fifth its value ; the smaller pieces, the sub- 
 divisions of the dollar. Specie is an article of merchandise in 
 America at the present time, and the change can, therefore, be 
 readily made without confusion or interfering with the business 
 of the people. An international 'clearinghouse' might be es- 
 tablished for the precious metals, which would save the frequent 
 loss by recoinage, on the occasion of exports and imports ; and 
 
 * See Eeport of Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, 
 January 28, 1701, ' on the eatablislinient of a Miat.' 
 
168 
 
 COMMERCE OP THE CONEBDEEATION. 
 
 the 'shaves' to which travellers have always been subjected in 
 selling foreign money, would be altogether avoided. The ' Na- 
 ' poleon' might be equivalent to four American dollars, or one- 
 fifth less than a British sovereign. The ancient habit of 
 calculating exchange on London at $4: 44 cents and forty mills 
 to the pound sterling, or 4s. 6d. to the dollar, should be dis- 
 continued. A sovereign being worth $4,-^^ in American gold, 
 9 per cent, premium becomes actual par. 
 
 COinCEECE OF THE AMERICAN STATES DUEING THE ARTICLES 
 OF CONFEDEEATION. 
 
 The foreign commerce of the States was of necessity almost 
 entirely suspended during the Eevolution. The subjoined 
 table, made up from the records of the British Custom House, 
 will show the extent of the trade between that period and the 
 first year of the Union under the Constitution. 
 
 Years 
 
 Imports from 
 Britain 
 
 Exports to 
 Britain 
 
 1784 
 1785 
 
 1786 
 
 1787 
 17K8 
 178'.) 
 1790 
 
 3,679,467 
 2,308,023 
 1,603,465 
 2,009,111 
 1,886,142 
 2,525,298 
 3,431,778 
 
 749,345 
 
 893,594 
 
 443,119 
 
 893,637 
 
 1,023,784 
 
 1,050,198 
 
 1,191,071 
 
 17,443,284 
 
 6,244,748 
 
 The exports in these seven years, which were chiefly of 
 Southern produce, amounted to not much more than one-third 
 the imports. The trade to the Continent was limited, but 
 assisted, with the specie that had accumulated during the revo- 
 lution, to settle the balances due to England. The importing 
 States took advantage of their situation, and levied duties on 
 foreign goods for their own benefit, at the expense of the other 
 States. The loss of the West Indian trade was severely felt by 
 New England, New York, and Pennsylvania ; it divested them 
 of an outlet for their surplus produce which was unsuited for 
 the European markets. Pitt made an unsuccessful effort, in 
 1783, to open the colonial ports to the Americans. Mr. 
 
COMMERCE WITH THE BRITISH COLONIES. 169 
 
 Jefferson, in a letter addressed to the Marquis de la Fayette, 
 dated Paris, July 17, 1786, thus commented on the prostration 
 of American commerce posterior to the separation from Great 
 Britain : — ' With respect to the West Indian commerce I must 
 ' apprise you that this estimate does not present its present face. 
 ' No materials have enabled us to see how it stands since the 
 ' war. We can only show what it was before that period. New 
 ' regulations have changed our situation there much for the 
 ' worse. This is most sensibly felt in the exports of fish and 
 'flour. The surplus of the former, which these regulations 
 ' threw back upon us, is forced, to Europe, where, by increasing 
 ' the quantity, it lessens the price. The surplus of the latter is 
 ' sunk; and to what other objects this portion of industry is turned 
 ' or turning, I am not able to discover. The imports, too, of 
 ' sugar and coffee are thrown under great difficulties. These 
 ' increase the price, and being articles of food for the poorer 
 'classes (as you may be sensible on observing the quantities 
 ' consumed), a small increase of prices places them above the 
 ' reach of this class, which, being numerous, must occasion a 
 ' great diminution of consumption. It remains to be seen whether 
 ' the American will endeavour to baffle these new restrictions 
 ' in order to indulge his habits, or will adapt his habits to other 
 ' objects which may furnish employment to the surplus of in- 
 ' dustry formerly occupied in raising that bread which no longer 
 ' finds a vent in the West India market. If, instead of either of 
 ' these measures, he should resolve to come to Europe for coffee 
 ' and sugar, he must lessen, equivalently, his consumption of 
 ' some other European articles, in order to pay for his coffee and 
 ■ sugar — the bread which he formerly paid for them in the West 
 ' Indies not being demanded in the European market. In fact, 
 ' the catalogue of imports offers several articles more dispensable 
 ' than coffee or sugar. Of all these subjects the committee and 
 ' yourself are the most competent judges. To you, therefore, I 
 ' trust them, with every wish for their improvement.' 
 
 COMMEECE WITH THE BRITISH COLONIES. 
 
 In the treaty made with Mr. Jay in 1794, the British agreed to 
 the following clause : ' Provided always, that the said American 
 'vessels do carry and land their cargoes in the United fStates 
 
170 THE TEEATT OP 1794. 
 
 ' only, it being expressly agreed and declared that during the 
 ' continuance of this Article the United States will prohibit and 
 ' restrain the carrying of any molasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa, or 
 '•cotton* in American vessels, either from His Majesty's islands, 
 ' or from the United States, to any part of the world except the 
 'United States, reasonable sea stores excepted.' The Senate 
 refused to ratify this provision of the treaty, in the hope of ob- 
 taining better terms. In 1802, the British proposed a mutual 
 abolition of all discriminating duties between the two countries; 
 but Congress declined to concur in the arrangement. They, 
 however, threw open their West Indian ports to American ships 
 after the Berlin and Milan decrees were issued, in order to ob- 
 tain supplies. The 'Convention' of 1815 equalised the tonnage 
 duties between the British home ports and those of the States, 
 but did not arrange for those of the colonies, which were soon 
 closed to vessels of the United States. Congress, in retaliation, 
 first laid a duty on all British vessels coming from the West 
 Indies, and in 1818 excluded them altogether. The people of 
 the islands complained bitterly of this ; they were often short of 
 provisions and frequently received American flour via Liverpool, 
 an expensive and circuitous route.f Parliament in 1822 took 
 off the interdiction as far as some of the ports were concerned, 
 and permitted the entrance of vessels of all countries that gave 
 reciprocal advantages. Congress then rescinded its act of pro- 
 hibition, still, however, continuing the discriminating duties. 
 
 * Mr. Jay was not so mucli to blame for alloTviag wliat now appears to 
 be so curious a stipulation as tbe exclusion of cotton shipments in Am.erican 
 vessels from the States. At that date, 1794, cotton had juat begun to be 
 an article of export. Mr. Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, in Ha 
 report of December 5, 1791, said (in speaking of cotton) : ' Not being, like 
 ' hemp, a universal production of the country, it affords less assurance of an 
 ' adequate interna] supply; but the chief objection arises from the doubts 
 ' which are entertained concerning the quality of the national cotton. It 
 ' is alleged that the fibre of it is considerably shorter and weaker than that 
 ' of some other places ; and it has been observed, as a general rule, that the 
 ' nearer the place of growth td the equator, the better the quality of 
 ' cotton.' 
 
 t The non-intercourse with the States was oftentimes very annoying to 
 the West Indians. A report of the Committee of the Assembly of Jamaica 
 states that between 1783 and 1787, 16,000 negi-oes perished through famine, 
 occasioned by hurricanes. The same was the case at Dominica in 1817. 
 
ME, HUSKISSONS VIEWS. 171 
 
 The British imposed countervailing charges. In 1825 they re- 
 moved all restrictions, on condition that their commerce and 
 navigation should be put on a footing with the most favoured 
 nations, by those that had no colonies. Congress was unwilling 
 to grant such a favour, and the ports were again closed to the 
 ships of both powers. An effort was made by the Americans 
 for the renewal of the commerce in 1827. Mr. Grallatin, the 
 United States' minister at London, in his despatch of September 
 11 of that year, remarked : — 
 
 'Mr. Huskisson said it was the intention of the British 
 ' G-overnment to consider the intercourse of the British colonies 
 ' as being exclusively under its control, and any relaxation from 
 ' the colonial system as an indulgence to be granted on such 
 ' terms as might suit the policy of Grreat Britain at the time it 
 'was granted. I said every question of right had, on this 
 ' occasion, been waived on the part of the United States, the 
 ' only object of the present enquiry being to ascertain whether, 
 ' as a matter of mutual convenience, the intercourse might not 
 'be opened in a manner satisfactory to both countries. He 
 ' (Mr. H.) said that it had appeared as if America had enter- 
 ' tained the opinion that the British West Indies could not exist 
 'without her supplies, and that she might, therefore, compel 
 ' Grreat Britain to open the intercourse on any terms she pleased. 
 'I disclaimed any such belief or intention on the part of the 
 'United States. But it appeared to me — and I intimated it, 
 'indeed, to Mr. Huskisson — that he was acting rather under 
 ' the influence of irritated feelings, on account of past events, 
 ' than with a view to the mutual interests of both parties.' 
 
 Mr, Grallatin was succeeded at London by Mr. James Barbour, 
 who was likewise unsuccessful in his application to the British 
 Grovernment for a restoration of the West Indian commerce. 
 Mr. John Quincy Adams was President at the time ; he com- 
 plained to Congress of the obstinacy of England. President 
 Jackson came into office on March 4, 1829, and Congress, 
 through his influence, the following year passed an Act which 
 was considered at the time to be highly favourable to British 
 navigation, inasmuch as all American ports were to be opened, 
 while it was only required of the English that they should give 
 access to their ' free ' ports. The vessels of both countries were 
 
172 THE FRENCH EEVOLDTION. 
 
 allowed to carry the productions of either, but not the mer- 
 chandise of other nations, to and from the islands. The 
 English, in acceding to the American proposition, however, 
 charged higher duties on American produce imported direct into 
 the islands than through their North American colonies. Under 
 this arrangement many cargoes were first sent to the north 
 coast, and then re-shipped to the West Indies. President 
 Jackson, by proclamation dated October 5, 1830, announced the 
 West Indian ports to be open ; and they have so continued to 
 this day without interruption. All restrictions were afterwards 
 taken off by the Act of Parliament of 1849. That commerce, 
 which had been so beneficial to the northern colonies for over 
 a century, was, with a few intermissions, lost to them as States 
 for forty-seven years. 
 
 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTIOK 
 
 In the meanwhile — the very year of the organisation of the 
 second Union under the Constitution — the French Eevolution 
 broke out. The American States, preserving their neutrality, 
 became the common carriers for all nations, and conducted, in a 
 great measure, the commerce of their colonies. There was a sud- 
 den transition from the insolvency and ruin that seemed pending 
 over the American people, to an era of unprecedented prosperity. 
 Never in the history of the world was there a more rapid increase 
 in trade. Every other art and pursuit seemed eager to send its 
 votaries to * go down to the sea in ships and do business in great 
 ' waters.' The capital of all countries flowed into this channel. 
 Pennsylvania and the other Northern States shared more 
 largely the benefits arising out of the European troubles than 
 their neighbours of the South. Enormous importations were 
 made from China and India into Philadelphia for re-exportation 
 to the European markets. Despite the many captures of 
 American ships for alleged violations of the various orders and de- 
 crees of the belligerent powers, the fortunes reaped by the mer- 
 chants, in point of number, were beyond all precedent, and have 
 never since been rivalled. The cities grew rapidly in population 
 and wealth, and the capital earned was employed in seeking new 
 sources of emolument. Hence the great outcry in the North 
 when the embargo of 1808 was enacted, as such put an end to 
 
CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 
 
 173 
 
 the lucrative employment of American tonnage. This, with the 
 war with England that so soon followed, diverted the profits 
 accruing from commerce to be invested in manufactures. Dur- 
 ing all this time the cultivation of cotton was expanding, and 
 long ere the conflict at Waterloo the Southern States had, be- 
 sides supplying the North with the raw material, become the 
 largest cotton exporters in the world. 
 The next table exhibits the course of the commerce after 
 
 THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDEEAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 STATEMENT OP THE DEBT OP THE ITiaTBD STATES, THE TOTAL VALUE OP 
 
 IMPORTS AND EXPOBTS, AND THE TOTAL lOHNAeE, 
 THIBTY-ONB TEAES, PSOM 1790 TO 1820. 
 
 EACH TBAE, POE 
 
 Yeara 
 
 Debt 
 
 Importa 
 
 Exports 
 
 Tonnage 
 
 1790-91 
 
 75,463,476 
 
 $ 
 
 52,200,000 
 
 39,217,197 
 
 502,146 
 
 1792 
 
 77,227,924 
 
 31,500,000 
 
 20,753,098 
 
 564,457 
 
 1793 
 
 80,352,634 
 
 31,100,000 
 
 26,109,572 
 
 520,764 
 
 1794 
 
 78,427,405 
 
 34,600,000 
 
 33,026,233 
 
 628,618 
 
 1795 
 
 80,747,587 
 
 69,756,268 
 
 47,989,472 
 
 747,965 
 
 1796 
 
 83,762,172 
 
 81,436,164 
 
 67,064,097 
 
 831,900 
 
 1797 
 
 82,064,479 
 
 75,379,406 
 
 56,850,206 
 
 876,913 
 
 1798 
 
 79,228,529 
 
 68,551,700 
 
 61,527,097 
 
 898,.328 
 
 1799 
 
 78,408,669 
 
 79,068,148 
 
 78,665,522 
 
 939,409 
 
 1800 
 
 82,976,294 
 
 91,252,768 
 
 70,971,780 
 
 972,492 
 
 1801 
 
 83,038,050 
 
 111,363,511 
 
 94,115,925 
 
 947,577 
 
 1802 
 
 80,712,632 
 
 76,333,333 
 
 72,483,160 
 
 892,104 
 
 1803 
 
 77,054,686 
 
 64,666,666 - 
 
 55,800,033 
 
 949,172 
 
 1804 
 
 86,427,120 
 
 85,000,000 
 
 77,699,074 
 
 1,042,404 
 
 1805 
 
 82,312,150 
 
 120,600,000 
 
 95,566,021 
 
 1,140,369 
 
 1806 
 
 75,723,270 
 
 129,410,000 
 
 101,536,963 
 
 1,208,716 
 
 1807 
 
 69,218,398 
 
 138,500,000 
 
 108,34.3,150 
 
 1,268,548 
 
 1808 
 
 65,196,317 
 
 56,990,000 
 
 22,430,960 
 
 1,242,596 
 
 1809 
 
 57,028,192 
 
 59,400,000 
 
 52,203,233 
 
 1,350,281 
 
 1810 
 
 53,173,217 
 
 85,400,000 
 
 66,757,970 
 
 1,424,784 
 
 1811 
 
 48,005,587 
 
 53,400,000 
 
 61,316,833 
 
 1,232,502 
 
 1812 
 
 45,209,737 
 
 77,030,000 
 
 38,527,236 
 
 1,269,997 
 
 1813 
 
 55,962,827 
 
 22,005,000 
 
 27,855,997 
 
 1,166,629 
 
 1814 
 
 81,487,846 
 
 12,965,000 
 
 6,927,441 
 
 1,159,210 
 
 1815 
 
 99,833,660 
 
 113,041,274 
 
 62,557,753 
 
 1,368,128 
 
 1816 
 
 127,334,933 
 
 147,103,000 
 
 81,920,452 
 
 1,372,219 
 
 1817 
 
 123,491,965 
 
 99,250,000 
 
 87,671,569 
 
 1,399,912 
 
 1818 
 
 103,466,633 
 
 121,750,000 
 
 93,281,133 
 
 1,225,185 
 
 1819 
 
 95,529,648 
 
 87,125,000 
 
 70,142,521 
 
 1,260,751 
 
 1820 
 
 91,015,566 
 
 74,450,000 
 
 69,691,669 
 
 1,280,167 
 
 2,350,627,238 
 
 1,839,003,367 
 
174 
 
 THE CAERYING TEADE. 
 
 In the above table the exports, as compared with the imports, 
 exhibit a deficiency of ^^51 1,623,871. Included in the former 
 were foreign goods to the amount of nearly ^700,000,000, which 
 were cleared at their cost price, whereas the enormous profits 
 on them, as well as on the shipments of domestic produce during 
 the wars in Europe, should be placed to the credit of the 
 country. The carrying trade, as before remarked, was very 
 remunerative within this period. A large amount of unclaimed 
 property was received from St. Domingo by Grirard and others 
 at the time of the insurrection. And very many West Indians 
 and Europeans of wealth migrated to the States with their avail- 
 able fortunes, and invested, the same in Bank and other Stocks. 
 
 STATEMENT OF THTE DEBT OP THE "DOTTED STATES, THE TOTAL TAItTE OS 
 IMPOETS AND EXPOEIS, EXCLirSIVB OE SPECIE, AND THE TOTAL TONNAGE 
 EACH TEAE, EKOM 1821 TO 1847 — TWENTT-SETEN TEARS. 
 
 Tears 
 
 Debt 
 
 Imports 
 
 Exports 
 
 Tonnage 
 
 
 $ 
 
 $ 
 
 $ 
 
 
 1821 
 
 89,987,427 
 
 62,585,724 
 
 64,974,382 
 
 1,298,958 
 
 1822 
 
 93,546,676 
 
 82,241,541 
 
 72,160,281 
 
 1,324,699 
 
 1823 
 
 90,875,877 
 
 77,579,267 
 
 74,699,030 
 
 1,336,566 
 
 1824 
 
 90,269,777 
 
 80,549,007 
 
 75,986,657 
 
 1,389,163 
 
 1825 
 
 83,788,432 
 
 96,340,075 
 
 99,535,388 
 
 1,423,112 
 
 1826 
 
 81,054,059 
 
 84,974,477 
 
 77,595,322 
 
 1,534,191 
 
 1827 
 
 73,987,357 
 
 79,484,068 
 
 82,324,827 
 
 1,620,608 
 
 1828 
 
 67,475,043 
 
 88,509,824 
 
 72,264,686 
 
 1,741,392 
 
 18i>9 
 
 58,421,413 
 
 74,492,527 
 
 72,358,671 
 
 1,260,798 
 
 1830 
 
 48,565,406 
 
 70,876,920 
 
 73,849,508 
 
 1,191,776 
 
 1831 
 
 39,123,191 
 
 103,191,124 
 
 81,310,583 
 
 1,267,847 
 
 1832 
 
 24,322,235 
 
 101,029,266 
 
 87,176,943 
 
 1,439,450 
 
 1833 
 
 7,001,032 
 
 108,118,311 
 
 90,140,433 
 
 1,606,151 
 
 1834 
 
 4,760,082 
 
 126,521,332 
 
 104,336,973 
 
 1,758,907 
 
 1835 
 
 351,289 
 
 149,895,742 
 
 121,693,577 
 
 1,824,940 
 
 1836 
 
 291,089 
 
 189,980,305 
 
 128,663,040 
 
 1,822,103 
 
 1837 
 
 1,878,223 
 
 140,989,217 
 
 117,419,376 
 
 1,896,684 
 
 1838 
 
 4,857,660 
 
 113,717,404 
 
 108,486,616 
 
 1,995,640 
 
 1839 
 
 11,983,737 
 
 162,092,132 
 
 121,028,416 
 
 2,096,479 
 
 1840 
 
 5,125,077 
 
 107,141,519 
 
 132,085,946 
 
 2,180,764 
 
 1841 
 
 6,737,398 
 
 127,946,177 
 
 121,851,803 
 
 2,130,744 
 
 1842 
 
 15,028,486 
 
 100,162,087 
 
 104,691,534 
 
 2,092,391 
 
 1843 
 
 27,203,450 
 
 64,753,799* 
 
 84,346,480* 
 
 2,158,603 
 
 1844 
 
 24,748,188 
 
 108,435,035t 
 
 lll,128,278t 
 
 2,280,095 
 
 1845 
 
 17,093,794 
 
 117,254,5641 
 
 114,464,606t 
 
 2,417,002 
 
 1846 
 
 10,750,926 
 
 121,691,797t 
 
 113,488,516t 
 
 2,562,084 
 
 1847 
 
 88,956,623 
 
 ]46,545,638t 
 
 158,689,025t 
 
 2,839,046 
 
 2,888,098,579 
 
 2,666,750,897 
 
 • Only 9 months of 1843. 
 
 t For the year ending June SO. 
 
FEEIGHTS AND INVESTMENTS. 
 
 175 
 
 This second table, which includes the imports and exports of 
 specie and bullion, shows an apparent deficit of ;^221, 347,682. 
 This amount was balanced by freights and investments in 
 American securities, and profits on shipments that do not 
 appear in the Grovernment returns. A large and profitable 
 commerce was opened within this period with the new American 
 States that had thrown off the yoke of Spain, as well as with the 
 British possessions. The cotton trade augmented the exports ; 
 the reshipments of foreign goods amounted to |f508,528,939. 
 The importations of gold and silver coin and bullion between the 
 years 1821 and 1847 exceeded the exportations by ,^81,188,831, 
 to say nothing of that brought by emigrants. 
 
 STATEMENT OF THE DEBT OF THE tWITED STATES, THE TOTAI TALUB OE 
 niPOETS AND EXPOKTS, AND THE TOTAL TONNAGE EACH TEAK, FEOM 1848 
 TO 1861 — POTJEIEEN TEAKS. 
 
 Tear 
 
 Debt 
 
 Importg 
 
 Exports 
 
 Tonnage 
 
 1848 
 
 $ 
 
 48,526,379 
 
 154,998,928* 
 
 $ 
 
 154,032,131* 
 
 3,154,042 
 
 1849 
 
 64,704,693 
 
 147,851,439* 
 
 145,755,820* 
 
 3,334,016 
 
 1850 
 
 64,228,238 
 
 178,138,318* 
 
 151,898,720* 
 
 3,535,454 
 
 1851 
 
 62,560,395 
 
 216,224,932* 
 
 218,388,011* 
 
 3,772,439 
 
 1852 
 
 65,131,692 
 
 212,945,442* 
 
 209,658,366* 
 
 4,138,440 
 
 1853 
 
 67,340,628 
 
 267,978,647* 
 
 230,976,157* 
 
 4,407,010 
 
 1854 
 
 47,242,206 
 
 304,562,381* 
 
 278,24] ,064* 
 
 4,802,902 
 
 1855 
 
 39,969,731 
 
 261,468,520* 
 
 275,156,846* 
 
 5,212,001 
 
 1856 
 
 30,963,909 
 
 314,689,942* 
 
 326,964,908* 
 
 4,871,652 
 
 1857 
 
 29,060,386 
 
 360,890,141* 
 
 363,960,682* 
 
 4,940,842 
 
 1858 
 
 44,910,777 
 
 282,613,150* 
 
 324,644,421* 
 
 5,049,808 
 
 1859 
 
 58,754,699 
 
 338,765,130* 
 
 356,789,462* 
 
 6,145,038 
 
 1860 
 
 64,769,703 
 
 362,163,941* 
 
 400,122,296* 
 
 5,353,868 
 
 1861 
 
 90,867,828 
 
 334,350,453* 
 
 248,505,454* 
 
 5,539,813 
 
 3,737,591,364 
 
 3,684,094,338 
 
 This table also includes the gold and silver imported and 
 exported. In the exports are added the reshipments of foreign 
 goods, valued at cost price, ,^298,621,026. 
 
 The total exports from 1848 to 1861 amounted to within 
 ,^53,497,026 in value of the importations, according to the 
 Custom House returns ; but it is not believed that they repre- 
 
 For the year ending June 30. 
 
176 GOLD AND SILVER. 
 
 sent anything like the true figures, in consequence of the foreign 
 invoices having been undervalued, as it is supposed, to the 
 extent of ^400,000,000, in order to evade a portion of the high 
 duties imposed upon importations. Should that sum approxi- 
 mate correctness, the deficiency then would be ^453,497,026. 
 This balance was outweighed by freights, profits, sales of clipper 
 and other ships, investments by Europeans in American securities, 
 and a large floating indebtedness. Within this last period gold 
 became a regular article of export from the American States. The 
 shipments of all the precious metals in the fourteen years ex- 
 ceeded the receipts from abroad by ;^365,821,281. It is esti- 
 mated that the amount of gold and silver coin taken into the 
 American States by immigrants, has been about equal to that 
 brought to Europe by travellers. So the net importations from 
 1821 to 1847, #81,188,831, deducted from the above figures, 
 leaves the net exports ;^284, 632,450. 
 
 The value of the gold and silver bullion and coin in the 
 American States in 1821 was estimated at #25,000,000. The 
 production of the mines of North Carolina, Greorgia, Virginia, 
 Kansas, and California has been about #700,000,000, 
 making a total of #725,000,000. Deducting the net exports, 
 #284,632,450, and allowing #65,367,550 for that consumed, it 
 follows that there remained in 1861, #375,000,000 in all the 
 States. Of that quantity a greater proportion, considering the 
 difference in population, was held in the South, the slaves alone 
 being the possessors it is believed of more than #10,000,000. 
 In the Northern States the circulating medium has been chiefly 
 bank notes, but the South, like all agricultural countries, has 
 iised coin principally for currency. On January 1, 1860, the 
 last new year's day of the Union, the Southern banks contained 
 #39,033,261 in gold and silver, while those of the Northern 
 States recorded only #44,561,276. 
 
 The Southern States have furnished from the very beginning 
 about 80 per cent, of the domestic exports of all the States, exclud- 
 ing the precious metals, and even the Californian contributions 
 are owing, in a great measure, to the large quantities of southern 
 produce sent to the north, being manufactured and forwarded 
 to the Pacific. These crops of cotton, rice, tobacco, sugar, 
 breadstuffs, &c., &c., would of course have been cultivated had 
 
THE WESTERN TRADE. 177 
 
 the Constitution never been adopted. It was the yield of 
 Southern soil, with the aid of slave labour, that caused the rapid 
 progress of the American people. The ' Grreat West' has been 
 of little advantage. It is always in debt to the East, and 
 augments the Northern balances in favour of Europe. 
 
 Mr. Kettell, writing in the early part of 1860, which was 
 before the large European demand for breadstuffs set in, and 
 which, with fine harvests this year, has almost entirely ceased, 
 said : — ' In the last few years of speculative excitement at the 
 ' West, whence such floods of bonds have been sent to New 
 ' York for negotiation, the presence of the proceeds of Southern 
 ' crops lying in the New York banks, and by them used to sus- 
 ' tain the stock market, has been a great aid in the negotiations 
 ' of these Western credits, which were applied to the construc- 
 ' tion of railroads. That large expenditure reflected upon the 
 ' Western trade, producing an unusual demand for goods, which 
 ' disappeared when the railroad expenditures ceased. A very 
 ' considerable portion of the capital created at the South was 
 ' applied to the consumption of Western produce, since the 
 ' thousands of men who were employed in building railroads at 
 ' the West caused a large local demand for that produce on 
 ' one hand, while they increased the demand for goods on the 
 ' other. There has doubtless been a large amount expended for 
 ' railroad construction at the South, but this has not been 
 ' speculative. We shall in a future chapter see that although 
 ' there are as many miles of railroad in operation at the South 
 ' as at the West they have cost hardly more than half the 
 ' money per mile, and their influence in developing local 
 ' resources has been immense. We shall see that more than 
 ' 20 per cent, of Western railroad obligations is dishonoured, 
 ' while none of the Southern roads have failed to pay. The 
 ' reason is the superior cheapness of the latter. It is also a 
 ' peculiar feature of the Southern roads that their stocks and 
 ' liabilities are nearly all owned at home. The dividends and 
 ' interest do not therefore form a drain upon Southern resources, 
 ' while at the West that drain has reached a very serious extent, 
 ' and must lead to the breaking up of numerous companies. 
 
 ' The growth of steam tonnage on the Western 
 
 ' and Southern rivers has been large ; but this, as well as the 
 
178 
 
 EAILEOADS. 
 
 sail tonnage, has been much affected by the influence of rail- 
 roads, which has directed much produce from the water 
 carriage, changing the direction in many cases from down 
 stream to across the country, thus benefitting the Northern 
 roads by Southern exports. The sugar, cotton, and tobacco of 
 the South finds its way to a considerable extent across the 
 
 ■ country into the Western States ; and these roads have been 
 ' built in the Western section to a very large extent with 
 ' borrowed money. They have consequently been expensively 
 • built, far more than those which have been built at the South. 
 
 ■ The aggregate length and cost of railroads has been, at two 
 
 ■ periods, as follows : — 
 
 
 1863 
 
 I860 
 
 
 Lengtli 
 
 Cost 
 
 Length 
 
 Cost 
 
 Per mile 
 
 Nortli . 
 West . 
 South . 
 
 7,222 
 
 5,535 
 4,663 
 
 ^287,691,587 
 
 110,389,337 
 
 91,522,204 
 
 9,665 
 9,191 
 9,053 
 
 ,^481,874,434 
 365,109,701 
 221,857,503 
 
 ^50,000 
 
 40,000 
 24,100 
 
 17,420 
 
 ;^489,603,128 
 
 27,909 
 
 ,^1,068,841,638 
 
 
 ' These returns, for 1853, are from the census, and those for 
 1860 are from the " Boston Railway Times," compiled by an 
 eminent engineer. We have then the fact that the South has 
 as many miles of railroad as either of the other sections, and 
 that they cost per mile less than half the cost of the Northern 
 roads, and two-thirds the expense of the Western roads, a fact 
 which shows the economy with which the Southern roads were 
 built. We now take from "Stow's Eailway Annual" the 
 railroads delinquent on the interest of the bonds : — 
 
 Companies Amount 
 
 Soutli • . . 3 ,^2,025,000 
 
 Nortli 9 39,000,000 
 
 West ... .... 21 68,120,000 
 
 S3 ,^109,145,000 
 
 ' The business of the South has, it appears, paid the cost of 
 ' 9,053 miles of railroad, where the North has been unable to 
 ' do so, and the West has shown still less ability to sustain that 
 
FLOATING INDEBTEDNESS. 179 
 
 ' length of road. The capital supplied to the latter section for 
 ' construction of the roads came from England and the East, 
 ' and was expended in a lavish manner, stimulating business 
 ' and speculation, which has fallen through, leaving a disastrous 
 ' condition of affairs in all that region. The railroads them- 
 ' selves show, in the declining revenues, the fact that they owed 
 ' their former prosperity less to the effects of free labour than 
 ' to the factitious activity caused by a passing speculation. The 
 ' crops of that region are not, like those of the South, in con- 
 ' stant and active demand, passing always by the shortest road 
 ' to market. They depend for realisation upon short crops 
 ' abroad. In ordinary seasons the price will not pay for trans- 
 ' portation by rail.' 
 
 The New York and Erie, the New York Central, the Phila- 
 delphia and Eeading, and several other Northern railroad com- 
 panies are entirely owned in Europe. The quotations of these 
 securities at the New York and Philadelphia stock boards arise 
 merely out of speculative transactions. Not a share or a bond is 
 held for investment in America, and the money required for keep- 
 ing a certain quantity of the stocks and loans to be thus used is, 
 in reality, British capital. Ever since the regularity of Atlantic 
 steam communication the bankers and financiers of Wall Street 
 have been borrowers from Lombard Street, under a system of 
 floating indebtedness, conducted through the agency of bills of 
 exchange at sixty days' sight. The drafts passing do not as 
 formerly only represent the value of merchandise ; but in the 
 general ramifications of the money operations the amount of 
 European acceptances of American bills is probably five or six 
 times greater than the aggregate commercial transactions. This 
 business has been a great source of revenue to New York, the 
 interest charged in Europe being much less than that which is 
 earned in America by reloaning the borrowed capital. The 
 stock and bonds of the Pennsylvania and other railroad com- 
 panies are also largely held in Europe. Up to the year 1820 
 Philadelphia was the financial centre and most important 
 commerical port of the Union ; but New York having had the 
 sagacity to increase her trade with the South, took the lead of 
 the former city, notwithstanding she had the formidable influ- 
 ence of the Bank of the United States in her favour. The 
 
180 FEDERAL DEBT. 
 
 mercantile prosperity of New York was based upon the handling 
 of the Southern crops. The Erie Canal was not completed until 
 October 26, 1827. A great error has, therefore, been committed, 
 as the dates make manifest, in attributing the advancement of 
 New York to that undertaking, it being quite clear that she 
 progressed by and with the augmentation of the cotton trade. 
 And this fact will be demonstrated when the war expendi- 
 ture ceases. Trade's 'proud empire' will then ' haste to swift 
 decay.' 
 
 The Articles of Confederation provided for an army and a 
 navy, postal arrangements, coinage of money, and trade with 
 the Indians, as well as diplomatic intercourse with foreign powers. 
 And it was, as has been observed, for the purpose of bestowing 
 on a central head the regulation of commerce between the 
 States and with other nations that the Constitution was adopted. 
 Until thirty odd years ago that document was read and under- 
 stood by the people of both sections of the late Union in the 
 spirit of its authors; but since that time the Northerners, for 
 their own selfish objects, have construed it with a latitude un- 
 warranted by its text and evident meaning, and in contempt of 
 the interpretation of contemporaneous writers. In this they 
 were supported by a few ambitious politicians in the South who 
 wished to gain their favour. The false construction of the 
 Constitution was brought about mainly by the fact that a large 
 portion of the capital which had accrued from commerce during 
 the European wars had been attracted to manufactures, in con- 
 sequence of the demand for goods that existed pending the 
 second conflict with Great Britain, when the States were de- 
 prived of their customary supplies from abroad. At the com- 
 mencement of the war the Federal debt was ^45, 209,738 ; at 
 its conclusion the amount bad been increased to ^^127,334,934. 
 The country was bare of goods, notwithstanding the encourage- 
 ment afforded to the New England manufactures by the high 
 prices for their fabrics that ruled during hostilities, when the 
 cost of the raw material was lessened by reason of the outward 
 as well as the inward commerce being in a great measure sus- 
 pended. In order to reduce the debt Congress levied very high 
 duties upon importations, which, while they gave enormous re- 
 venues, added a further boon to the interests of New England. 
 
FREE TRADE AND PBOTECTION. 181 
 
 The tariff was foolishly raised in 1824 to please the Yankees, 
 and, as success stimulated cupidity, the 'black tariff' of 1828 
 marked the growth of abuse. The debt was rapidly lowered. 
 
 The people were much alarmed at the principle of protection 
 that had been introduced, when the tariff should have only 
 served the purposes of revenue. A free trade convention of 
 delegates from most of the States was held at Philadelphia on 
 October 1, 1831, when the following resolution was passed: — 
 
 ' That the present tariff system is unequal in its operation, 
 ' and therefore unjust ; that it is oppressive, because it imposes 
 ' burthens on the many for the benefit of the few ; unwise and 
 ' impolitic, since its tendency is to disturb the harmony of the 
 ' Union ; that it is inconsistent with the principle of free go- 
 ' vernment, and at variance with that spirit of justice and mutual 
 ' concession in which the Constitution was conceived and 
 ' adopted ; operating unequally and unjustly upon the different 
 ' portions of this Union ; having a dii'ect and almost inevitable 
 ' tendency to demoralise our people, and calculated to produce 
 'discontent among the people of the United States, by a 
 ' numerous and respectable portion of whom it is believed to be 
 ' unconstitutional ; and, finally, that its effect is to diminish the 
 ' productive resources of the country, and to lessen the amount 
 ' of the necessaries and conveniences of life which are enjoyed 
 ' by our people, and is in many respects infinitely more oppres- 
 ' sive upon the poor than upon the rich.' 
 
 A tariff convention met at New York on the 26th of the same 
 month, when opposing resolutions were adopted. President 
 Jackson, in 1832, recommended a reduction of duties. Congress 
 acceded ; but at the same time retained the principle of protec- 
 tion. A first step had been made in 1820 towards over-riding 
 the Constitution in the matter of the Missouri restriction con- 
 cerning slavery, which had thus opened the door for further 
 violation of that instrument, notwithstanding the remonstrances 
 of many able and virtuous statesmen. South Carolina, although 
 not fully supported by her sister States of the South, justly 
 protested against this further infringement of the rights of the 
 States, and nullified the Act of Congress. Mr. Calhoun, in the 
 midst of the difficulty, resigned the vice-presidency, and took his 
 seat on the floor of the Senate as a member for South Carolina, 
 
182 ANTHRACITE COAL. 
 
 and compelled Mr. Clay, who had been catering for Northern in- 
 fluence, to come forward with the ' Compromise Bill' which 
 annulled the Act that had been previously passed, but had not 
 gone into operation. The manufacturers of New England were 
 associated in their efforts to aggrandise themselves at the ex- 
 pense of the South with the speculators in the coal lands of 
 Pennsylvania, which had been opened in 1820, when but 365 
 tons were sent to market. The quantity had increased to only 
 34,896 tons in 1825 and 174,734 in 1830. Wood was at that 
 time used as the chief fuel for domestic purposes, and, in order 
 to augment the demand for coal, Pennsylvania thus sold herself 
 to Massachusetts. The general political character of the two 
 States, until 1860, was, however, entirely different: they only 
 voted together when the tariff question was under consideration. 
 
 The total quantity of anthracite coal produced in Pennsyl- 
 vania, as per the census returns of 1860, was 9,397,332 tons, 
 valued at ^^11,869,574, of which sum only about ^2,000,000 can 
 be credited to the ' mineral wealth' of the State, the remainder 
 being consumed in charges and freights paid to inland trans- 
 portation companies, whose proprietors are mostly foreigners. 
 For such a paltry consideration, for so populous a State, Penn- 
 sylvania has ruined her commercial and agricultural position ; 
 in fact, a disregard of the enlightened principles of free trade has 
 caused her to recede in material prosperity. She has descended 
 from the proud eminence she once held, and her people are now 
 simply ' hewers of wood (miners of coal) and drawers of water' 
 for New York and New England. Pennsylvania, from her geo- 
 graphical situation, the nature of her real interests, and charac- 
 ter of her inhabitants, held what is recognised in Europe as the 
 'balance of power' among the American States. She has un- 
 fortunately thrown her weight in the scale against the South, 
 and must suffer with the general decay that will inevitably take 
 place throughout the North. 
 
 Since the adoption of the Federal Constitution twenty-fom- 
 different tariff bills have been enacted under various pretences. 
 The first, that of 1789, was for revenue and the reduction of 
 the debt; the duties were fixed at 5, 7^, 10, 121, and 15 per 
 cent, ad valorem, and a discrimination of 10 per cent, of the 
 amount of the tax was made in favour of merchandise imported 
 
FEDERAL TARIFFS. 183 
 
 by American vessels. The Act of 1790 was intended as a 
 further provision for the payment of the debt, and that of 1792 
 for raising means to defend the frontier. In 1794 the duties 
 were increased in some instances to 20 per cent, ad valorem. 
 The tariffs of 1795, 1797, and 1800 were of a similar nature. 
 The measure of 1804 was to protect the commerce and seamen 
 of the States against the Barbary powers, and to impose more 
 specific duties. Another bill was passed in 1812 to raise revenue 
 to carry on the war ; the duties were doubled in 1816 to pay off 
 the expenses of the same. In 1813 salt was taxed. The tariff 
 of 1824 was intended for protection ; many articles of merchan- 
 dise under it were taxed 50 per cent. The Act of 1828 
 extended the scale of imposts for the same object ; that of 1830 
 reduced the rate of charges on coffee, tea, cocoa, molasses, and 
 salt, none of which commodities were connected with New 
 England or Pennsylvania, and therefore did not demand protec- 
 tion. The debt being nearly paid off, the tariff of 1832 
 lowered the duties on some articles, but retained the principle 
 of protection. Coffee and tea were for the first time admitted 
 free. As before remarked, it never went into operation ; it gave 
 place to the 'Compromise' bill of 1833, which surrendered the 
 principle of protection, with a gradual lessening of the duties 
 for ten years until they reached 20 per cent. The amount 
 of money in the Treasury had in the meanwhile increased so 
 much that Congress in 1836 resolved to divide ^37,468,859/^- 
 among the States in four equal payments on January 1, April 1, 
 July 1, and October 31, 1837, leaving the sum of ^5,000,000 on 
 hand. The first three instalments were paid ; but the ' great 
 panic' occurring caused the Government to be as needy as the 
 people, and the last amount of ^9,367,214^-^5- was retained. 
 Only ;^2 8, 10 1,644^^0 were disbursed. The tariff of 1842 was 
 passed by a Whig Congress ; it was foolishly high, and was sub- 
 stituted by the more reasonable Act of 1846. In 1856 the im- 
 posts were reduced ; in 1857 they were raised ; and several times 
 since they have been increased. No sooner did the Southern 
 representatives withdraw from Congress than the outrageous 
 Moriff tariff was passed, and the rates of duties have been 
 enlarged subsequently. In fact, if the Yankee manufacturers 
 could obtain their accustomed supply of the raw material from 
 
184 THE ' AMBEICAN SYSTEM.' 
 
 the Southern States, the present Federal laws would, as far as 
 cotton fabrics are concerned, be completely prohibitory. 
 
 One of the chief elements among the causes that have pro- 
 duced the dissolution of the Union was this very question of 
 taxing one portion of the States for the purpose of benefiting 
 another. The Abolitionists were never important enough in 
 numbers (' strong-minded women' having no franchise) to con- 
 trol any election without the cooperation of other parties, and 
 failing in their scheme to sever the non-slaveholding from the 
 slaveholding States on the isolated issue of slavery they made 
 common cause with the Protectionists, under the conviction that 
 this new policy would assist eventually in the accomplishment of 
 their designs against the integrity of the Union. The Protec- 
 tionists, blinded by their pecuniary interests, had not the sagacity 
 to perceive the tendency, or, at least, to see the full significance 
 of the measures into which they were being led. The Northerners, 
 under the ' American system,' had been appropriating to them- 
 selves much of the wealth of the South, but finding after the 
 election of Mr. Lincoln that the Southern people were in earnest 
 in regard to their determination long before expressed, of se- 
 ceding from the Union, and that they could no longer rob them 
 as formerly, they adopted the unconstitutional policy of ' coer- 
 ' cion,' and hastened the masses on with the rallying cry of the 
 old watchword of the Jacobins in France's darkest day of blood 
 and tears, ' Fraternite, ou la TnortI' 
 
 In order to guard against all future misconstruction, the 
 Confederate Constitution defines much more explicitly than the 
 Federal instrument, upon which it is founded, those powers 
 given to Congress for levying duties upon importations. Article 
 1, section 8, says : — 
 
 The Congress shall have power — 
 
 1. 'To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises for 
 ' revenue necessary to pay the debts, provide for the common de- 
 ' fence and carry on the government of the Confederate States ; 
 ' but no bounties shall be granted from the Treasury, nor shall 
 ' any duties or taxes on impoHations from foreign nations be 
 ' laid to promote or foster any branch of industry ; and all 
 ' duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the 
 ' Confederate States.' 
 
INDIRECT TAXES. 185 
 
 The above article is in exact accordance with the views held 
 by those who framed the Federal Constitution — the Secessionists 
 of 1787 — who entertained no notion of protection, but wished 
 to levy duties merely for the purposes of revenue, to meet the 
 ordinary expenditure of the Grovernment, which at that time 
 only amounted to between ^3,000,000 and ^4,000,000 per 
 annum, and to gradually sink the public debt. 
 
 Mr. Jefiferson, as Secretary of State, said : — ' Instead of em- 
 ' barrassing commerce under files of laws, duties, and prohibi- 
 ' tions, it should be relieved from all its shackles in all parts of the 
 ■• world. Would even a single nation begin with the United States 
 ' this system of free intercourse it would be advisable to begin 
 ' with that nation.' 
 
 Why should a Confederacy of States be burdened with a 
 double set of tax-gatherers? The cost of maintaining the 
 general government ought to be assessed among the States. 
 The people would not feel the direct taxes any more than the 
 indirect and more grievous charges imposed upon them by the 
 present system. The expenses of the Union of latter years 
 were about ^^65,000,000 per annum; those of the individual 
 States were ^40,000,000. As the citizens of those States paid 
 both sets of taxes it would have been much better and less costly 
 if the States as States had contributed their quota to the gene- 
 ral government, and collected the same along with their internal 
 revenues. The very fact of having so many United States' office- 
 holders — and they too nearly all residing in the importing States 
 - — prevented the harmonious working of the Federal machine, 
 caused angry debates in Congress, and, with the aid of Aboli- 
 tionism, has entailed disgrace and ruin upon the country. The 
 people of the Confederate States should as soon as practicable 
 establish unqualified free trade. 
 
 The true source of the wealth of the American States has 
 been owing nearly altogether to the productions of the South — 
 the only section of the late Union that is almost free from an 
 European indebtedness. Nor have the Southern States been, 
 as is frequently charged, trading on the borrowed capital of the 
 North. Mr. Kettell proves that the very reverse was the case ; 
 he likewise states that the annual earnings of the North out of 
 their connection with the South were as follows : — 
 
186 
 
 COMMBECIAL SHACKLES. 
 
 Bounties to fisheries 
 Customs, disbursed at the North 
 Profits of manufacturers . 
 importers . 
 shipping . 
 on travellers . 
 by schools, colleges, &c. 
 of agents, brokers, &c. . 
 on capital drawn from the South 
 
 ^^1,500,000 
 40,000,000 
 30,000,000 
 16,000,000 
 40,000,000 
 60,000,000 
 5,000,000 
 10,000,000 
 30,000,000 
 
 Total Northern drain from Southern sources . ^232,500,000 
 
 Yet, in spite of these advantages, which the North has 
 possessed, the real and personal property of the Southern States 
 is very much greater per head than that owned by the Northern 
 or Western States. The census of 1860 furnishes the subjoined 
 information in reference to this point : — 
 
 EEAL ESTATE. 
 
 North . 
 South , 
 West . 
 
 ;^2,744,679,248 
 2,418,306,661 
 1,810,120,140 
 
 ^^6,973,106,049 
 
 PEESONAX PEOPEETY. 
 
 North . 
 South , 
 West . 
 
 ^1,268,189,410 
 
 3,113,584,041 
 
 729,780,505 
 
 ;^5,111,553,956 
 
 The property of the South, too, is of a character that, when 
 relieved of Northern commercial shackles, it must necessarily 
 increase in value, while that of the North, ivith the loss of its 
 mercantile connection with the South, will beyond peradventure 
 decline rapidly. History records how the prosperity of the 
 Northern States ceased after the separation from Great Britain ; 
 and, by a slight taxing of memory, it will be recollected that the 
 secession of the Southern States and the refusal of their people 
 to make purchases to the ordinary amount from the North 
 after the election of President Lincoln, created much distress in 
 the Federal States. Manufacturers were unable to sell their 
 goods, and merchants could not' dispose of their wares. The 
 
mock; prosperity. 187 
 
 shares in the main lines of railway fell greatly in consequence 
 of the absence of the customary travel, the hotels were almost 
 without guests — many were actually closed, the colleges had but 
 few students, and every evidence existed of the deprivement of 
 what had not been before properly appreciated by the people of 
 the North — the importance to them of their commercial relations 
 with the South. And this decay occurred at the time when the 
 Southerners had continued the exportation of their produce; 
 they then had only ceased to be customers, in a lesser degree 
 than formerly, for their supplies. It was not until after the 
 enormous war expenditure of the Washington government that 
 the mock prosperity — the 'Brummagem,' the camel's hair shawl 
 era — appeared. With the cessation of hostilities it will be 
 instantaneously demonstrated that 'all is not gold that glitters.' 
 Mr. Chase's financial bubble would have burst many months 
 ago, but for the large amount of specie funds thrown into the 
 Federal States by reason of the extraordinary demand for 
 breadstuffs that existed for three seasons, and which tended, 
 in a measure, to fill up the vacuum created by the loss of the 
 Southern trade. Mr. Chase, too, has had the advantage of 
 monopolising the ' credits' of the North, directly in the matter 
 of currency and indirectly through his contractors. The 
 Southern Secretary of the Treasury has had no such advantages. 
 The people of the Confederate States have ever done business on 
 the cash principle. This is one reason why the quotations for gold 
 in the South are higher than those in the North ; another is, 
 that the Confederate Secretary is an honest man, and does not 
 attempt to deceive the people, as Mr. Chase has done, by 
 'bearing' the market; a third is, that the South is pent up by 
 the blockade, and its transactions with other countries are there- 
 fore very limited. So soon, however, as their ports are opened the 
 quantity and value of produce which they will have to spare will 
 be so much greater than what their requirements of European 
 manufactures will be, large as their wants are, that the precious 
 metals will flow into their shores in settlement of the balances. 
 The Southern debt is only one-fourth the amount of the Federal 
 debt, and, with the quotations for bills on London, in the 
 respective States, the figures of the former become incon- 
 siderable when compared to those of the latter. It must not be 
 
188 THE FUTUEE OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 forgotten that the North, unlike the South, has hardly anything 
 to export. Cheese, bacon, apples, wooden clocks, &c., -will present 
 but a sorry show in the future tables of the Federal States. 
 The statesmen of the South merely desired to sever the political 
 and commercial shackles that had bound them to the North ; 
 they were willing and anxious for a commercial treaty. Had Mr. 
 Lincoln permitted the ' wayward sisters ' to part in peace, very 
 little change in the mercantile affairs of the States, except that 
 unavoidably resulting from the annihilation of the protective 
 tariff system, would, after the first blush of excitement and 
 feeling, have ensued. All the ' commercial conventions ' that 
 could have held would have made no impression upon the course 
 of business. The grooves of trade are so convenient to use 
 that they are difficult to avoid. This cruel war has, however, 
 completely severed all ties, broken up all connections, and 
 established non-intercourse, at least to anything like its former 
 extent. The South will start fresh in a career of prosperity, 
 having all the elements of success possessed by an old country, 
 combined with all the power, strength, and energy, of a newly 
 established commercial empire. 
 
189 
 
 CHAPTEE Xn. 
 
 THE AFEICAN SLAVE TRADE. — FREE Al^D SLAVE NEGROES 
 IN THE AMERICAN STATES. 
 
 In the year 1442 some Moorish prisoners captured by the 
 Portuguese obtained their liberty by paying a ransom of ten 
 negro slaves. It is believed that the African ' slave trade of 
 modern times originated with this transaction. At all events 
 Portugal soon afterwards engaged in the traffic, and was 
 shortly followed by Spain. The Government of the latter 
 country sent the first negroes to the New World, and landed 
 them at Hispaniola in 1501. It conducted the trade until 1516, 
 when the business was placed under control of a company of 
 Grenoese merchants. The English did not engage in this 
 commerce until 1561, when Sir John Hawkins fitted out an 
 expedition for the African coast. He, as was the case with the 
 Portuguese and Spaniards, exchanged the manufactures of 
 Europe for negro slaves, the property of barbarous chiefs. 
 After discharging three cargoes at Hispaniola in 1562, he 
 returned to England in the following year. His profits were so 
 large that they were noised about, and a company was quickly 
 formed for the purpose of supplying slaves to the Spanish 
 American colonies, under a charter granted by Queen Elizabeth, 
 who became its largest stockholder. The trade in the course of 
 time grew to be very general, and was carried on by almost 
 every class of speculators; but in 1618 James I. gave to Sir 
 Eobert Eich and others the exclusive privilege of conducting it. 
 Through their operations the British American colonies were 
 furnished with black labourers. The first negroes, however, 
 twenty in number, that were received in the American States, 
 unless the Spanish had previously landed them in Florida, were 
 taken to Virginia in 1620 by a Dutch vessel. Another company 
 was organised in 1631, by authority of Charles I. Its business 
 
190 SLAVE TEADE COMPANIES. 
 
 extended so rapidly, and yielded such large returns, that for its 
 defence and accommodation it was found expedient to erect 
 numerous fortifications and warehouses on the coasts of the 
 West Indies. Charles II., in 1662, gave a monopoly of the 
 trade to an association who were authorised to import into 
 the colonies 3,000 slaves per annum. Its affairs were placed 
 under the patronage of the Queen Dowager, with the Duke of 
 York at its head. The King issued a proclamation inviting his 
 subjects to establish themselves in America, and as an encourage- 
 ment to emigrate tendered a grant of 100 acres of land for each 
 four slaves employed in its cultivation. Another slave-trading 
 company was chartered in 1672, the King being the chief 
 shareholder. It continued in operation for many years, and, 
 notwithstanding that the Parliament in 1688 abolished all such 
 privileges, it seized the vessels of private traders, until its powers 
 were again recognised. The merchants of London found their 
 trade to the slave coast so cramped by the royal monopoly, that 
 they complained bitterly to the House of Commons of their 
 exclusion from so profitable a traffic. Their remonstrance was 
 effectual, and Parliament enacted, in 1695, 'that for the better 
 ' supplyofthe plantations, all the subjects of Great Britain should 
 ' have liberty to trade in Africa for negroes, with such limits as 
 ' should be prescribed by Parliament !' In 1698 it was resolved, 
 ' that the trade was highly beneficial and advantageous to the 
 ' kingdom, and to the plantations and colonies thereunto 
 ' belonging.' The ' limits ' prescribed by Parliament were 
 removed in 1708 by the declaration 'that the trade was im- 
 ' portant, and ought to be free and open to all the Queen's 
 ' subjects trading /rom Great Britian.' Again in 1711 it was 
 enacted that 'this trade ought to be free in a regulated 
 ' company ; the plantations ought to be supplied with negroes 
 ' at reasonable rates ; a considerable stock was necessary for 
 ' carrying on the trade to the best advantage ; and that an export 
 ' of 100,000L at least in merchandise should be annually made 
 ' from Great Britian to Africa.' A short time prior to the year 
 1713 a contract had been made between Spain and the Eoyal 
 Guinea Company of France, which was technically called in 
 those days an 'assiento.' By the treaty of Utrecht, April 11, 
 1713, Great Britian obtained a transfer of the agreement to 
 
THE TREATY OF UTRECHT. 191 
 
 herself. This was considered a great triumph of diplomacy, and 
 the news of its accomplishment was hailed with enthusiasm in 
 England : Queen Anne, in a speech from the throne, boasted of 
 the success then obtained in opening a new market to English- 
 men for the trade in slaves. This acquisition was followed 
 in another month by a new contract in form, by which the 
 British Government undertook for the period of thirty years to 
 transport annually at a fixed price 4,800 slaves to the colonies 
 of Spain in America. This gave rise to a question as to 
 the true legal character of the slaves to be thus transported 
 from Africa, and, in accordance with the forms of the British 
 Constitution, the point was submitted to the twelve judges 
 of England, who declared that, ' in pursuance of His Majesty's 
 ' Order in Council, hereunto annexed, we do humbly certify 
 ' our opinion to be that negroes are merchandise.'* Fifteen 
 years afterwards the spirit of false philanthropy began to be 
 developed in Great Britain, and although large numbers of 
 negroes were held and sold daily on the public exchange in 
 London, questions arose concerning the legal right of owners 
 to retain property in slaves in England ; and the principal mer- 
 chants, alarmed, and fearing an abolition of their lucrative trade, 
 in 1729 referred the matter to Sir Philip Yorke, afterwards 
 Lord Hardwicke, and to Lord Talbot, who were then the 
 Attorney-General and Solicitor-General of the kingdom. The 
 proposition was : ' What are the rights of a British owner of 
 ' a slave in England ? ' The two legal functionaries responded 
 by certifying that — ' a slave coming from the West Indies 
 ' to England, with or without his master, doth not become free, 
 ' and his master's property in him is not thereby determined 
 ' nor varied, and his master may legally compel him to return 
 ' to the plantations.' This decision caused the slave trade to be 
 conducted with increased vigour. The company established in 
 1672 presented a claim upon the Government in consequence of 
 the infringement of its franchises by the Act of 1698; and in 
 consideration of the trade having thus been made free to all 
 persons, its shareholders were voted out of the public purse 
 
 * This was signed by Lord Chief Justice Holt, Judge Pollexfen, and 
 eight other judges. 
 
192 THE SOMEESETT CASE. 
 
 10,000L per annum for seven years, 1739 to 1746. In 1749 
 the question of the right of property in slaves again came before 
 Lord Hardwicke, then Lord Chancellor, and by a decision in 
 Chancery he re-affirmed the doctrines advanced by him when 
 Attorney- Greneral. The same year (2 3rd George II. ) Parliament 
 declared ' the slave trade to be very advantageous to Grreat 
 ' Britain, and necessary for supplying the plantations and 
 ' colonies thereunto belonging with a sufficient number of 
 ' negroes at reasonable rates.' The colony of South Carolina, 
 in 1760, passed an Act prohibiting the further importation of 
 African slaves. The Act was rejected by the Crown, the 
 Governor reprimanded, and a circular was sent to the governors 
 of all the colonies, warning them against presuming to 
 countenance such legislation. In 1765 a similar bill was twice 
 read in the Assembly of Jamaica. The intelligence that this 
 bill was under consideration reached England before its final 
 passage. Instructions were sent out to the royal governor, who, 
 in accordance therewith, forbade any further progress in the 
 measure. 
 
 In 1772 Lord Mansfield, under the pressure of fanaticism, 
 subverted the common law of England by deciding that, 
 although slaves brought into Great Britain from the West 
 Indies did not become free, their owners could exercise no 
 authority over them in England : that colonial legislation 
 which recognised the rights of the master did not extend to 
 this country. Lord Mansfield himself, no doubt, felt that this 
 was judicial legislation. The case (Somersett) was repeatedly 
 argued before him, and each time he begged the parties to 
 consent to a compromise. They refused. ' Why,' said he, ' I 
 ' have known six of those cases already, and in five out of the 
 ' six there was a compromise : you had better compromise this 
 ' matter.' But they said, no ; that they would stand upon the 
 law. Finally, after holding the case for three terms, he was able 
 to persuade himself to make the decision just adverted to. 
 
 In spite of the discountenancing action of the Home 
 Government in 1765, the Assembly of Jamaica, in 1774, passed 
 two bills prohibiting the importation of slaves, when the Earl of 
 Dartmouth, then Secretary of State, wrote to Sir Basil Keith, 
 governor of the colony, that ' their measures had created alarm 
 
NEGRO SLAVES IN GREAT BRITAIN. 193 
 
 ' to the merchants of G-reat Britain engaged in that branch of 
 ' commerce,' and forbade him, ' on pain of removal from his 
 ' government, to assent to such laws.' Finally, when the 
 revolutionary struggle in America had actually commenced, and 
 Crown Point and Ticonderoga had been taken possession of by 
 the ' rebels,' and the first blood had been shed at Lexington, the 
 same Secretary of State, in answer to the demands of the agent 
 of the continental colonies, who presented him with a copy of 
 the "Bill of Eights' adopted on October 14th, 1774, replied, 
 ' We cannot allow the colonies to check or discourage in any 
 ' degree a traffic so beneficial to the nation.' 
 
 Large numbers of Africans were imported into England, and, 
 as a badge of servitude, wore a collar round their necks, with the 
 names of their owners engraved thereon. At the time of the 
 decision in the Somersett case there were about 15,000 negro 
 slaves in Great Britain. Very few were introduced subsequently. 
 The negroes, as invariably in climates unsuited to their physical 
 organisation, rapidly diminished in numbers when no longer 
 recruited by accessions from abroad. Their' extinguishment, 
 however, was hastened by the loss of accustomed comforts and 
 restraints, when, taking advantage of Lord Mansfield's decision, 
 they left the homes and protection of their masters. By 1787 
 only 470 remained in London. This small remnant, utterly 
 worthless and demoralised, became such a nuisance in the quarter 
 where they were congregated, that, through parliamentary aid, 
 they were transported to Sierra Leone along with some white 
 women of bad character. Both races, however, soon became 
 nearly extinct, and the colony was replanted five years later by 
 the shipment thence of 1,170 blacks from Nova Scotia, who had 
 been captured from the Americans during the revolutionary war. 
 Shortly afterwards it received an addition of some rebellious 
 'maroons,' who had infested the mountains of Jamaica, but 
 were caught by the assistance of bloodhounds; a cruel and 
 barbarous practice never resorted to in the continental colonies 
 of England, nor since they assumed the position of States. 
 These negroes were first sent out of the island to Lower Canada, 
 that the loyal slaves might not be corrupted by the example of 
 their insubordination. Becoming an annoyance to the white 
 colonists, they were eventually deported to Africa. 
 
 
 
194 PROHIBITION OF SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 The last law regulating the African slave trade was enacted in 
 1788. About this time the agitation for its repression com- 
 menced ; but Great Britain did not consent to its abandonment 
 until 1807. The prohibitory bill had been violently opposed 
 for twenty years in Parliament, and it is doubtful if even, at the 
 expiration of that period, it would have been passed had not the 
 traffic ceased to be so remunerative as formerly, in consequence 
 of all the islands having then a superabundance of negro labour. 
 The Act of Congress which had just been passed to take 
 effect on January 1, 1808, also deprived those interested in the 
 slave trade of the market afforded by the American States. In 
 addition, the price of slaves had so greatly declined during the 
 later years of its existence, that the only manner in which the 
 business could be made profitable at all was by disregarding 
 the laws limiting the number of persons to be carried by a single 
 ship according to her size. The practice of overcrowding the 
 vessels with Africans occasioned sickness, and inaugurated the 
 ' horrors of the middle passage.' Previously to this, the com- 
 merce was carried on under precisely the same regulations as 
 those with which the emigration from England to America is 
 now conducted. In fact, the old passenger laws of the African 
 trade were the same as those applying to other parts of the world. 
 The repeated violation of these laws, and the circumstances arising 
 therefrom, shocked every feeling of humanity and morality, and 
 thus facilitated the adoption of the interdictory measure that had 
 for so many years ' hung fire ' in Parliament. 
 
 Many frauds, too, that had been practised upon underwriters 
 by persons sinking cheap ships, and making false representations 
 regarding the number of negroes on board, likewise tended to 
 accomplish the result. Nor would the anti- slave trade party 
 have been successful at that time had they not ardently avowed 
 their opposition to emancipation. The business was declining, 
 and must in a few years have dwindled down to be of trifling 
 moment without any adverse legislation. The numbers of negroes 
 imported from Africa would not have equalled one-fourth of those 
 who have since been carried into the Spanish islands in an illicit 
 manner. At the outset of the anti-slave trade excitement a 
 committee of Quakers from Philadelphia arrived in London, for 
 the express purpose of influencing the members of Parliament. 
 
LOED STOWELL'S OPINION. 195 
 
 Pennsylvania was then an independent State, and her people 
 had no more right to interfere in a question of English 
 policy than have the fanatics of England at the present day 
 to meddle with the internal concerns of the Confederate States. 
 The Quakers, however, were lending their energies to advance 
 a good cause — the abolition of a traffic that, by abuses, had 
 grown to be revolting to every sentiment of humanity ; while 
 the fanatical persons and their followers of this time are seeking 
 to take from the African in America his only present hope of 
 progress and civilisation. 
 
 England had carried to her own possessions and those of other 
 powers upwards of 4,000,000 of slaves. The males were mostly 
 landed in the islands ; the females on the continent of America. 
 
 Spain prohibited the African slave trade in 1820, and France 
 in 1831. 
 
 Fifty years after Lord Mansfield's decision — twenty years later 
 than the prohibition of the African slave trade, and during the 
 very height of the anti-slavery agitation, 1827 — the celebrated 
 case of the slave Grace was brought before Lord Stowell. It 
 was argued that the slave was free because she was carried to 
 England, and boasted, that the atmosphere of this kingdom was 
 too pure to be breathed by a slave. The learned Judge, in reply, 
 said that, after painful and laborious research into historical 
 records, he did not find anything touching the peculiar fitness 
 of the English atmosphere for respiration during the ten cen- 
 turies that slaves had lived in England. Lord Stowell further 
 remarked : — 
 
 ' Having adverted to most of the objections that arise to the 
 ' revival of slavery in the colonies, I have first to observe that it 
 ' returns upon the slave by the same title by which it grew up 
 ' originally. It never was in Antigua the creature of law but 
 ' of custom, which operates with the force of law ; and when it is 
 ' cried out that malus usus abolendus est, it is first to be 
 ' proved that, even in the consideration of England, the use of 
 ' slavery is considered as a malus usus in the colonies. Is that 
 ' a malus usus which the Court of the King's Privy Council and 
 ' the Courts of Chancery are every day carrying into full effect 
 ' in all considerations of property — in the one by appeal, and 
 ' in the other by original causes — and all this enjoined and 
 
 o 2 
 
196 JUDGE STORY. 
 
 confirmed by statutes ? Still less is it to be considered as a 
 malus usus in the colonies themselves, when it has been 
 incorporated into full life and establishment — where it is the 
 system of the State and of every individual in it ; and fifty 
 years have passed without any authorised condemnation of it 
 in England as a malus usus in the colonies. 
 
 ' The fact is, that in England, where villenage of both sorts 
 went into total decay, we had communication with no other 
 country ; and therefore it is triumphantly declared, as I have 
 before observed, " once a freeman, ever a freeman," there 
 being no other country with which we had immediate connec- 
 tion which, at the time of suppressing that system, we had 
 any occasion to trouble ourselves about. But slavery was a 
 very favoured introduction into the colonies ; it was deemed 
 a great source of the mercantile interest of the country, and 
 was, on that account, largely considered by the mother-country 
 as a great source of its wealth and strength. Treaties were 
 made on that account, and the colonies compelled to submit 
 to those treaties by the authority of this country. This system 
 continued entire. Instead of being condemned as malus usus, 
 it was regarded as a most eminent source of its riches and 
 power. It was at a late period of the last century that it was 
 condemned in England as an institution not fit to exist here, 
 for reasons peculiar to our own condition ; but it has been 
 continued in our colonies, favoured and supported by our own 
 courts, which have liberally imparted to it their protection 
 and encouragement. To such a system, whilst it is supported, 
 I rather feel it to be too strong to apply the maxim, malus 
 usus abolendus est. The time may come when this institution 
 may fall in the colonies, as other institutions have done in 
 other flourishing countries ; but I am of opinion it can only 
 be affected at the joint expense of both countries, for it is, in 
 a peculiar manner, the crime of this country ; and I rather 
 feel it to be an objection to this species of emancipation, that 
 it is intended to be a very cheap measure here, by throwing 
 the whole expense upon the country.' 
 Lord Stowell, who was in correspondence with Judge Story, 
 
 of Massachusetts, at the time, sent him a copy of the decision. 
 
 The latter Judge, who was possessed of strong anti-slavery feel- 
 
EMANCIPATION. 107 
 
 ings and prejudices, was asked to give his views concerning the 
 matter, and in his answer will be found the following words : — 
 
 ' I have read with great attention your judgment in the 
 ' slave case. Upon the fullest consideration which I have been 
 ' able to give the subject, I entirely concur in your views. If 
 ' I had been called upon to pronounce a judgement in a like 
 ' case, I should have certainly arrived at the same result.' 
 
 The emancipation measures of Great Britain were enacted in 
 1833, to take effect on August 1, 1834, under a system of 
 apprenticeships varying from four to six years ; a sum of 
 20,000,000L was appropriated to compensate the owners for the 
 loss of their property. The number of slaves thus freed was 
 but 660,000, so great had been the mortality among them; 
 1,700,000 were imported into the British islands, yet a little 
 only over one-third were in existence at that time. The Swedes 
 followed the example of England in 1847, Denmark and France 
 in 1848. 
 
 The African slave trade was first prohibited by several of the 
 American colonies, but the Crown of Great Britain in every 
 instance refused to give its assent to the interdiction of the 
 traffic. When the preliminary Continental Congress met in the 
 autumn of 1774, they adopted a 'bill of rights,' in the form of 
 a series of resolutions, among which will be found the following 
 declaration (October 4) : — 
 
 ' That we will neither import nor purchase any slaves im- 
 ' ported after the 1st day of December next ; after which time ^e 
 ' will wholly discontinue the slave trade, and will neither be con- 
 ' cerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels, nor sell our 
 ' commodities or manufactures, to those who are engaged in it.' 
 
 Again, on April 6, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a 
 similar resolution. 
 
 This was the earliest successful legislation against the African 
 slave trade. The traffic was entirely suspended during the 
 revolution. Upon the conclusion of peace in 1783, it was 
 again resumed by the Yankee States, but not by the Southern 
 States. At this juncture, Dr. Franklin, who was the founder 
 and president of the iirst emancipation society, which was 
 established in Pennsylvania in 1780, remonstrated against 
 the renewal of the trade. In a letter addressed to the 
 
198 FRANKLIN. 
 
 Governor of New Hampshire, the people of which State were 
 actively engaged in the commerce, Franklin said : — 
 
 ' The Society have heard, with great regret, that a consider- 
 ' able part of the slaves who have been sold in the Southern 
 ' States since the establishment of peace, have been imported 
 ' in vessels fitted out in the State over which your Excellency 
 ' presides. From your Excellency's station, they hope your 
 " influence will be exerted, hereafter, to prevent a practice 
 ' which is so evidently repugnant to the political principles and 
 ' form of government lately adopted by the citizens of the 
 ' United States.' 
 
 Franklin, in his remarks, should have confined himself to the 
 truth. The ' form of government lately adopted by the citizens 
 of the United States ' did not forbid the African slave trade. 
 There is not a word in the ' Articles of Confederation,' adopted 
 on March 1, 1781, on the subject; nor had the Union under 
 them any power to interfere with that or any other species of 
 commerce. At that time, every State, even Massachusetts, 
 was slave-holding, and four years afterwards the delegates of 
 that commonwealth in the Convention which framed the Con- 
 stitution, voted against giving Congress the power to suppress 
 the traffic in slaves from Africa, or other foreign parts, prior to 
 1808. In this they were supported by the delegates from New 
 Hampshire and Connecticut. Ehode Island was unrepresented 
 in the Convention ; Maine was then a portion of Massachusetts, 
 and Vermont of New Hampshire. So all the Yankee States 
 (for Ehode Island was largely engaged in the traffic) were in 
 favour of keeping open the trade for twenty years. Franklin 
 himself, on the final vote, agreed to this extension. The clause 
 securing it is contained in Article 1, Section 9, and reads : — 
 
 ' The immigration or importation of such persons as any of 
 ' the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not 
 ' be prohibited prior to the year 1808, but a tax or duty may be 
 ' imposed on such importations not exceeding ten dollars for 
 ' each person.' 
 
 Virginia and Delaware desired the trafiic put an end to at 
 once ; they, in fact, along with Maryland and South Carolina, 
 had already prohibited it. The latter States, however, did not 
 consider it a matter to be taken in hand by the General Govern- 
 
MASSACHUSETTS. 199 
 
 ment. The legislation of all the Southern communities, both 
 as colonies and states, for more than 165 years — certainly com- 
 mencing as far back as 1698 — has been distinguished by con- 
 stant efforts either to embarrass or entirely prohibit the African 
 slave trade. Alone among the nations of Christendom, though 
 fruitlessly against the unanimous policy of the European Govern- 
 ments, they struggled to prevent the increase of slaves from 
 Africa upon the American continent; and never, from that 
 day to this, have they abandoned their determination to exclude 
 the importation of negroes. Not one of the Yankee States has 
 ever enacted laws prohibiting that commerce; nor has Penn- 
 sylvania, New York, or New Jersey. The Yankees carried on 
 the business with great vigour, imtil its prohibition by the Act 
 of Congress of March 2, 1807, which took effect on January 1, 
 1808. Previous to this, however. Acts had been passed, March 
 2, 1794, and May 10, 1800, preventing the fitting out of ships 
 in the American States for conducting the slave trade with 
 foreign countries. 350,000 slaves were imported into the 
 American States, viz. up to 1740, 130,000; between that date 
 and 1776, 170,000; from 1783 to 1808, 50,000. 
 
 There is a reason for everything, and the expression ' Yankee 
 trick ' is not an exception to this general rule. It is well 
 known that the African slave trade has been carried on 
 principally by the New Englanders, but in the multitude of 
 their new religions. Young Men's Christian Associations, and 
 evangelical (?) haranguings, they have allured the rest of the 
 world into the belief that they were the first people that 
 emancipated their slaves, when the truth is, that they never 
 gave freedom to the African race, and but two of their States — 
 Connecticut and Ehode Island — enacted laws of territorial 
 abolition affecting only unborn generations. Massachusetts, 
 the greatest braggart of them all, has never done anything in 
 the matter ; nor has Maine, New Hampshire, nor Vermont, 
 
 The erroneous impression in reference to the ' philanthropy ' 
 of Massachusetts has been induced by the knowledge that at 
 the time of the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 1789 
 she was the only State of the thirteen without slaves. By an 
 official census taken in 1754 she possessed 4,896, one-half of 
 whom were over 16 years of age, and their owners were not 
 
200 VEKMONT, NEW HAMPSHIEE, ETC. 
 
 permitted to manumit them without giving security that they 
 should not become a burden upon the parish; the greater 
 portion were, however, sent to the other colonies, and the 
 advertisements in the Boston newspapers of that date prove that 
 the young negroes were given away during infancy to the neigh- 
 bouring colonies who would take them as slaves, so that the 
 labour of the mothers might not be lost : hence the first census 
 of the United States, taken in 1790, does not record a single 
 slave ; that of 1830 notices the fact of one person being held in 
 bondage, who was probably taken there as a private servant from 
 some other State. The first slave ship fitted out in the 
 English colonies sailed from Boston in 1648. 
 
 Maine holds precisely the same position in regard to the 
 negro race as Massachusetts ; her people, who had been deserted 
 by the Commissioners appointed to govern them, united them- 
 selves with that colony in 1 652, but their action was not confirmed 
 by the Crown until 1691, Massachusetts having in the mean- 
 while purchased the proprietaries right ; the political co-partner- 
 ship continued until March 15, 1820, when Maine was admitted 
 as an independent State into the Federal Union. The census 
 of 1830 records two slaves within her borders. 
 
 The laws of Vermont also seem to be silent on the subject of 
 slavery. The political situation of this State had been very 
 singular ; she was not represented in the Eevolutionary Congress, 
 nor was she recognised as an independent commonwealth by 
 Great Britain. She applied for admission into the Union, but 
 New York and New Hampshire both claimed control over her 
 territory, and it was only upon the threat of her people to place 
 themselves again under the dominion of the British throne that 
 she was permitted to subscribe to the Federal compact on 
 March 4, 1791. The census taken in 1790 reports seventeen 
 slaves within her limits. 
 
 The statute books of New Hampshire are equally dumb in 
 reference to emancipation or abolition in any shape ; the census 
 acknowledges 158 slaves in 1790, 8 in 1800, Sin 1830, and 1 in 
 1840. 
 
 Ehode Island adopted a plan of gradual abolition, by 
 declaring that all slaves born in that State after March 1, 1784, 
 should be free. Her census figures stand thus :— 952 in 1790, 
 
NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY. 201 
 
 381 in 1800, 108 in 1810, 48 in 1820, 17 in 1830, and 5 in 
 1840. In proportion to the size of this State she was very 
 largely engaged in the slave trade, having fifty-four vessels 
 employed in that traffic when the Act of Prohibition took 
 effect, January 1, 1808. 
 
 Connecticut passed laws at the same time similar to those of 
 Khode Island: her slave. population was 2,759 in 1790, 951 in 
 1800, 310 in 1810, 97 in 1820, 25 in 1830, and 17 in 1840. 
 
 It must not be forgotten, too, that Massachusetts was the first 
 State to formally recognise ' property in man,' and has never 
 rescinded the code of rights styled ' fundamentals,' adopted as 
 early as 1641, wherein the lawfulness of Indian as well as negro 
 slavery and the African slave trade is approved. African slaves, 
 however, have always been held under common law ; they were 
 not stolen by the English from the coast of Africa, as has been 
 alleged, but regularly purchased from their owners in that 
 country when the traffic was as legal as any other branch of 
 commerce. In 1650 Connecticut passed laws causing Indians 
 who failed to make satisfaction for injuries to be seized, ' either 
 ' to serve or to be shipped out and exchanged for negroes, as 
 ' the case will justly bear.' Ehode Island joined in the general 
 habit of the day, with the exception, of the town of Providence. 
 The community of the heretical Eoger Williams alone placed 
 the services of the black and white races on the same footing. 
 
 Having shown the position of the Yankee States in reference 
 to slavery, a sketch of the institution in the other ' Free States ' 
 will be next in order. 
 
 New York, for the first time, in 1799, passed an Act making 
 free the future issue of her slaves after the males had attained 
 28, and the females 25 years. Another law was adopted in 1817, 
 declaring them free on the 4th of July, 1827. She held within 
 her borders 21,344 in 1790, 20,343 in 1800, 15,017 in 1810, 
 10,088 in 1820, 75 in 1830, and 4 in 1840. 
 
 In 1784,New Jersey enacted laws for the prospective extinction 
 of slavery — viz. : that all children born after July 4, 1804, 
 should be free. Her slave population was 11,423 in 1790, 
 12,422 in 1800, 10,851 in 1810, 7,557 in 1820, 2,254 in 1830, 
 674 in 1840, 236 in 1850, and 18 in 1860. 
 
 As early as 1780 Pennsylvania provided for gradual abolition ; 
 
202 PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 all slaves born after that time were to become free at the age of 
 28 years. Her census stood as follows: — 3,737 in 1790, 1,706 
 in 1800, 795 in 1810, 211 in 1820, 403 in 1830, 64 in 1840. 
 The Constitution of this State, adopted in 1838, does not pro- 
 hibit slavery ; her Legislature can, therefore, make her a slave- 
 holding State at any time. 
 
 New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are classed as middle 
 States. In 1626 importations of slaves commenced at New 
 York; the city itself owned shares ia a slave ship, advanced 
 money for its outfit, and participated in the profits. The slaves 
 were sold at auction to the highest bidder, and the average 
 price was about ,^140, The Grovernor was instructed to use 
 every exertion to promote the sale of negToes. Bancroft, the 
 great Yankee historian, remarks — 'that New York is not a 
 ' slave State like South Carolina, is due to climate, and not to 
 ' the superior humanity of its founders.' The slaves constituted 
 one-sixth of the population of the city of New York in 1750. 
 New Jersey was dismembered from New York when New 
 Netherlands was conquered by England in 1664. The next 
 year a bounty of seventy-five acres of land was offered by the 
 proprietaries for the importation of each able-bodied slave. 
 This was, doubtless, done in part to gain favour with the Duke 
 of York, then President of the African Company. The Quakers 
 of Pennsylvania did not entirely eschew the holding of negro 
 slaves. William Penn himself was a slaveholder. He, in 1699, 
 proposed to provide for the 'marriage, religious instruction, 
 ' and kind treatment of slaves ; ' but the Legislature vouchsafed 
 no response to his recommendation. In 1712, to a general 
 petition for the emancipation of negro slaves by law, the answer 
 of the same body was, ' it is neither just nor convenient to set 
 ' them at liberty.' Slaves, however, were never numerous in 
 Pennsylvania : and as that species of property did not ' pay,' 
 manumissions were frequent. The larger portion were to be 
 found in Philadelphia, one-fourth of the population of which 
 city, in 1750, are supposed to have been of African descent. 
 
 The States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, 
 and that part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi, were formed 
 out of the north-western territory ceded to the United States, 
 under the Articles of Confederation, in 1784, by the State of 
 
NOETH-WESTEEN TEKEITOEY. 203 
 
 Virginia. In that year Mr. Jefferson submitted to Congress a 
 report for its organisation into five States, with the following 
 proposition: 'That after the year 1800 of the Christian era 
 ' there should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in 
 ' any of the said States.' This clause was, however, rejected 
 because it did not provide for the recovery of fugitives from 
 service. In 1787 it was again presented and passed in the 
 following shape : ' There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary 
 * servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in punishment 
 ' of crimes whereof the parties shall be duly convicted;' 
 and ' that any person escaping into the same, from whom labour 
 ' or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, 
 ' such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the 
 ' person claiming his or her labour or service as aforesaid.' 
 This ' ordinance ' was adopted in the month of July during the 
 sitting of Congress at New York. At the same time, the 
 Convention that framed the Federal Constitution, consisting of 
 delegates from twelve States, Ehode Island being unrepresented, 
 was holding its meetings at Philadelphia. Virginia, and not 
 the Northern States, was the cause of the restriction in relation 
 to slavery in the north-western territory, but its climate was 
 hostile to that kind of labour, as events have proved. The 
 States, as independent sovereignties, have a right to hold slaves 
 if they deem proper. Article IV. section 2, of the Constitution, 
 says : ' The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privi- 
 ' leges and immunities of citizens in the several States.' A 
 ' coloured ' person, according to the decision of the Supreme 
 Court, cannot be a citizen of the United States. Ohio had 6 
 slaves in 1830, and 3 in 1840. Indiana possessed 135 in 1800, 
 237 in 1810, 190 in 1820, 3 in 1830, and 3 in 1840. Illinois 
 contained 168 in 1810, 917 in 1820, 747 in 1830, 331 in 1840. 
 Michigan held 24 in 1810, and 32 in 1830; and Wisconsin, 11 
 in 1840. The only other ' Free States ' are Iowa and Minnesota, 
 west of the Mississippi — in the former State there were 16 
 slaves in 1840 — and California and Oregon, that never had 
 persons ' held to labour.' 
 
 It will thus be seen that the cry of abolition or emancipation 
 by the Northerners is pure hypocrisy. Most of their slaves 
 were sent to the South, and ' philanthropy ' in the matter is a 
 
204 MANUMISSION. 
 
 perfect myth. It is believed that fifty times as many slaves 
 have been manumitted in the South as in the North. 
 
 In the decade, 1850 to 1860, 20,000 slaves were given their 
 freedom, three-fourths of whom went to Canada ; others to the 
 North, and some to Liberia. The number of fugitives in 1850 
 was 1,011, and in 1860, 803. Territorial abolition would no 
 doubt have extended to Delaware and Maryland long since, had 
 it not been for the interference and cant of the Yankees. It 
 was, however, a great mistake to have any legislation whatever 
 in regard to slavery ; it would have died out in the States where 
 it was unprofitable ; legal tinkering with the matter has only 
 produced irritation, and created a politico-geographical line 
 that otherwise would not have existed, enabling the ' Pharisees ' 
 north of the survey of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, 
 made in 1764, to settle the boundaries of Delaware, Maryland, 
 and Pennsylvania, to say to the people south of that parallel, 
 ' I am holier than thou.' 
 
 In making allusion to the few cases of manumission and 
 emancipation by birth in the North, the late Greneral Cobb, in 
 his admirable work on the ' Law of Slavery,' wrote as follows : — 
 
 ' The number of negroes emancipated in the United States 
 ' was comparatively small, but the effects do not vary materially 
 ' as to their condition from those already noticed. The fact of 
 ' their limited number, as well as the additional facts that 
 ' previous to their emancipation they were employed but little 
 ' in agricultural pursuits, and that the nature of the agiiculture 
 ' of the Northern States of the Union was ill suited to this species 
 ' of labour, protected the prosperity of those States from the 
 ' depressing influences experienced elsewhere from the aboHtion 
 ' of slavery. That their physical condition does not compare 
 ' favourably with that of the slaves of the South is evident from 
 ' the decennial census of the United States showing a much 
 ' larger increase in the la.tter than in the former. No surer test 
 ' can be applied.' 
 
 He also says : — 
 
 ' In order to obtain accurate information, I sent a circular to 
 ' the Governors and leading politicians of the non-slaveholding 
 ' States. I received answers as follow : — 
 
DEGENERACY OP FREE NEGROES. 205 
 
 ' A. With Reference to the Physical Condition. 
 
 ' Maine.— The condition of the male population varies, but is 
 ' very far below the whites. 
 
 ' Vebmont. — Their condition and character have great varieties. 
 ' They are not in as good a condition as the whites. 
 
 ' Connecticut. — Governor Pond says : " The condition of .the 
 " negro population, as a class, is not thrifty, and does not compare 
 " favourably with the whites. There are many, comparatively 
 " speaking, who are industrious." 
 
 ' Ehode Island. — They are, generally, industrious and frugal. 
 
 ' New Jeeset. — Their condition is debased ; with few ex- 
 ' ceptions, very poor ; generally indolent. 
 
 ' New Yoek. — The condition of the negro is diversified — 
 ' some prosperous, some industrious. They have no social 
 ' relations with the whites. Grenerally on about the same 
 ' lev-el that whites would occupy with the like antecedents. 
 
 ' Pennsylvania. — I deem the condition of the negro population 
 ' in this State to be that of a degraded class, much deteriorated 
 ' by freedom. They are not industrious. 
 
 ' Indiana. — They are not prosperous. The majority of them 
 ' are not doing well. We have sent off thirty or forty this year 
 ' to Liberia, and hope to send off 100 or more next year, and 
 ' finally to get rid of all we have in the State, and do not intend 
 ' to have another negro or mulatto come into the State. 
 
 ' Illinois. — As a class they are thriftless and idle. Their 
 ' condition far inferior to that of the whites. About the towns 
 ' and cities idle and dissolute, with exceptions. In the rural 
 ' districts many are industrious and prosperous. 
 
 ' lowA. — ^Very few negroes in Iowa. Far above the condition 
 ' of those met with in our eastern cities. 
 
 'Michigan. — Tolerably prosperous. Far behind the white 
 ' population. 
 
 ' B. With Reference to the Intellectual Condition. 
 
 ' Maine. — Admitted into the public schools with the whites. 
 ' Very far below them in education. 
 
 'Vermont. — Grenerally able to read and write; a few are 
 ' liberally educated ; not like the whites. 
 
206 IMMOEALITY OF FREE NEGROES. 
 
 ' Connecticut. — Fall much below the whites in education. 
 
 ' Ehode Island.— Some are educated in the district schools. 
 ' Compare well with the whites of their condition. 
 
 ' New Jeeset. — G-enerally ignorant. Far below the whites in 
 ' intelligence. 
 
 ' New Yoek. — Generally very poorly, or but little educated. 
 
 ' Pennstltania. — Not educated. It is remarkable that almost 
 ' all the decent and respectable negroes we have have been 
 ' household slaves in some Southern State. 
 
 ' Indiana. — Not educated. 
 
 ' Illinois. — Ignorant. 
 
 ' Michigan. — ^Not generally educated. Far below the whites. 
 
 ' C. With Reference to the Moral Condition. 
 
 ' Maine. — Far below the whites. 
 
 ' Veemont. — Not as good as the whites. 
 
 ' Connecticut. — Do not compare favourably with the whites. 
 ' They are, with us, an inferior caste ; and in morality much 
 ' below the whites. 
 
 ' New Jeeset. — Immoral; vicious animal propensities ; drunk- 
 ' enness, theft, and promiscuous sexual intercourse quite common. 
 ' One-fourth of the criminals in the State prison are coloured 
 ' persons, while they constitute only one twenty-fifth of the 
 ' population. 
 
 ' New Yoek. — Diversified ; some moral. 
 
 ' Pennsylvania. — Immoral. I am satisfied, from forty years' 
 ' attention to the subject, that the removal of the wholesome 
 ' restraint of slavery, and the consequent absence of the stimulus 
 ' of the coercion to the labour of that condition, have materially 
 ' affected their condition for the worse. They exhibit all the 
 ' characteristics of an inferior race, to whose personal comfort, 
 ' happiness, and morality the supervision, restraint, and coercion 
 ' of a superior race seem absolutely necessary. 
 
 'Indiana. — In many instances very immoral. 
 
 * Illinois. — Thriftless, idle, ignorant, and vicious. In towns 
 ' and cities dissolute, with exceptions. 
 
 ' Iowa. — Of a fair character. 
 
 ' Michigan.— Tolerably moral. Far below the whites. 
 
PKEE NBGBOES IN AMEKICAN STATES. 
 
 207 
 
 'Notwithstanding the very laboured efforts made for their 
 ' intellectual improvement, taken as a body, they have made no 
 ' advancement. Averse to physical labour, they are equally 
 ' averse to intellectual effort. The young negro acquires 
 ' readily the first rudiments of education, where memory and 
 ' imitation are chiefly brought into action ; but for any higher 
 ' effort of reason and judgment he is, as a general rule, utterly 
 ' incapable. 
 
 ' His moral condition compares unfavourably with that of the 
 ' slave of the South. He seeks the cities and towns, and 
 ' indulges freely in those vices to which his nature inclines him. 
 ' His friends inveigh against " the prejudice of colour," but he 
 ' rises no higher in Mexico, Central America, New Granada, or 
 ' Brazil, where no such prejudice exists. The cause lies deeper : 
 ' in the nature and constitution of the negro race.' 
 
 In all the Northern States and territories there were, in 
 1860, 237,183 free blacks, viz. : — 
 
 California 
 
 
 
 4,086 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 
 
 8,627 
 
 Illinois 
 
 
 
 7,628 
 
 Indiana 
 
 
 
 11,428 
 
 Iowa 
 
 
 
 1,069 
 
 Kansas 
 
 
 
 625 
 
 Maine 
 
 
 
 1,327 
 
 Massacliusetts 
 
 
 
 9,602 
 
 Michigan 
 
 
 
 6,799 
 
 Minnesota 
 
 
 
 259 
 
 New HampsHi 
 
 e 
 
 
 494 
 
 New Jersey . 
 
 
 
 25,318 
 
 New York 
 
 
 
 49,005 
 
 Ohio 
 
 
 
 36,673 
 
 Oregon 
 
 
 
 128 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 
 
 56,849 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 
 
 8,952 
 
 Vermont 
 
 
 
 709 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 
 
 1,171 
 
 Distiict of Columbia 
 
 . 11,131 
 
 Territories 
 
 
 
 303 
 
 But now for the Southern States : — 
 
 They contained in 1860, 250,787 free blacks, viz. : — 
 
 Alabama . . . 2,690 Mississippi 
 
 Arkansas . . . 144 Missouri 
 
 Delaware . . . 19,829 North Carolina 
 
 Florida ... 932 South Carolina 
 
 Georgia . . . 3,500 Tennessee 
 
 Kentucky . . . 10,684 Texas 
 
 Louisiana . . . 18,647 Virginia 
 
 Maayland . . . 83,942 
 
 Delaware possessed 8,887 slaves in 1790, 6,153 in 1800,4,177 
 in 1810, 4,509 in 1820, 3,292 in 1830, 2,695 in 1840, 2,290 in 
 1850, and 1,798 in 1860. 
 
 773 
 
 3,572 
 
 30,463 
 
 9,914 
 
 7,300 
 
 355 
 
 68,042 
 
208 MARYLAND. 
 
 Maryland held 103,036 slaves in 1790, 105,635 in 1800, 
 111,502 in 1810, 107,397 in 1820, 102,994 in 1830, 89,737 in 
 1840, 90,368 in 1850, and 87,188 in 1860. She, as well as 
 Delaware, passed laws in 1791 prohibiting the African slave 
 trade, and preventing the ingress of negroes from other States, 
 unless accompanied by their masters, and then not for the 
 purpose of sale. 
 
 The Yankees, New-Yorkers, Jerseymen, and Quakers of Penn- 
 sylvania, in order to get rid of their slaves, disregarded the laws 
 of Maryland ; and in 1797 it was further enacted — ■ 
 
 ' That it shall not be lawful, from and after the passing of this 
 ' Act, to import or bring into this State, by land or by water, 
 ' any negro, mulatto, or other slave for sale, or to reside within 
 ' this State ; and any person brought into the State as a slave, 
 ' contrary to this Act, if a slave before, shall thereupon imme- 
 ' diately cease to be the property of the person or persons so 
 ' importing or bringing such slave within this State, and shall 
 ' be free.' 
 
 Exceptions were, however, permitted in favour of persons 
 who came into the State with the hona-fide intention to become 
 citizens ; but even in such cases, the slaves or their mothej's were 
 required to be residents of the United States prior to 1794 
 Finding it very difficult, under the existing laws, to prevent the 
 influx of negroes from the more Northern States, the Legislature 
 in 1809 passed the following Act : — 
 
 ' That from and after the passing of this Act, if any person or 
 ' persons shall import or bring into this State any free negro or 
 ' mulatto, or any person bound to service for a term of years only, 
 ' and shall sell or otherwise dispose of such free negro, mulatto, 
 ' or person bound to service for a term of years only, as a slave for 
 ' life, or for any longer time than by law such person may be 
 ' bound to service, knowing such negro or mulatto to be free, 
 ' or entitled to freedom at a certain age, every such person or 
 ' persons shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay the sum of 
 ' ^800 ; and in case of failure to pay, the person or persons so 
 ' offending shall be condemned to work on the public roads for 
 ' a term not exceeding five years.' 
 
 The Yankees evaded this enactment, as well as the Federal 
 laws, to such an extent that more stringent measures were 
 
VIRGINIA. 209 
 
 adopted. In 1810, the Legislature passed unanimously the 
 following : — 
 
 ' Every commander of a vessel convicted of wilfully importing 
 ' into this State from any foreign country any slave, and every 
 ' person convicted of bringing into this State, by land or by water, 
 ' any negro or mulatto from any foreign country, with intent to 
 ' dispose of such negro within this State as a slave, the said 
 ' persons so ofifending shall be sentenced to confinement in the 
 ^ penitentiary for a term not less than one year, nor more than 
 ' five years.' 
 
 In 1831, the Legislature passed a law totally prohibiting the 
 importation of slaves from even the other States of the Union ; 
 but in 1833 it was thought to be oppressive upon the people of 
 the South who wished to reside near the Federal capital, within 
 the jurisdiction of Maryland, and it was, therefore, modified in 
 favour of bona fide residents. A law was passed in 1839, requiring 
 all persons who came within the State, to make an oath that they 
 did not bring any slaves for the purpose of selling them. All 
 slaves introduced within the limits of the State have to be 
 registered, with their names and full description ; the fees for 
 recording the same to be appropriated for the benefit of the 
 African Colonisation Society. 
 
 In 1753 the colony of Virginia, conformably to royal orders, 
 enacted that : — 
 
 ' All persons who have been, or shall be, imported into this 
 ' colony by sea or by land, and were not Christians in their native 
 " country, except Turks and Moors in amity with His Majesty, 
 ' and such who can prove their being free in England, or any 
 ' other Christian country, before they were shipped for transpor- 
 ' tation hither, shall be accounted slaves, and as such shall be 
 ' bought and sold, notwithstanding a conversion to Christianity 
 ' after their importation.' 
 
 Virginia at an early date abolished the African slave trade. 
 Her Constitution, adopted on June 12, 1776, after reciting 
 a series of complaints against the British Sovereign, charges 
 him with ' prompting our negroes to rise in arms among us — 
 ' those very negroes whom, by an inhuman use of his negative, 
 ' he had refused us permission to exclude by law.' Virginia 
 alone, in 1790, contained 293,427 slaves, more than seven 
 
 p 
 
210 VIRGINIA. 
 
 times as many as all the '^ Free States ' combined. Her white 
 population exceeded her slaves only 25 per cent. Her soil 
 and climate were particularly suited for negro labour, but 
 not to such an extent as the more southern States ; for this 
 reason there has been a general migration towards the cotton 
 region. Her slaves numbered 345,796 in 1800, 392,518 in 
 1810, 425,153 in 1820, 469,757 in 1830, 449,087 in 1840, 
 472,528 in 1850, and 490,887 in 1860. Virginia also prohibited 
 the importation of slaves from other States as merchandise. 
 Here are her laws on the subject, enacted in 1778 : — 
 
 ' Sec. 1. — For preventing the further importation of slaves 
 ' into this commonwealth be it enacted by General Assembly 
 ' that from and after the passing of this Act no slave or slaves 
 ' shall hereafter be imported by sea or by land, nor shall any 
 ' slave or slaves so imported be sold or bought by any person 
 ' whatever. 
 
 ' Sec. 2. — Every person hereafter importing slaves into this 
 ' commonwealth contrary to this Act shall forfeit and pay the 
 ' sum of 1,000L for every slave so imported ; and every person 
 ' selling or buying any such slaves shall in like manner forfeit and 
 ' pay the sum of 500L for every slave so sold or bought, &c. 
 
 ' Sec. 3. — That every slave imported into this commonwealth, 
 ' contrary to the true intent and meaning of this Act, shall upon 
 ' such importation become free. 
 
 ' Sec. 4. —Provided always that this Act shall not be construed 
 ' to extend to those who may incline to remove from any one of 
 ' the United States and become citizens of this State ; and 
 ' provided that within ten days after their removal into the same 
 ' they take the following oath before some magistrate of the 
 ' commonwealth : — " I, A B, do swear that my removal to the 
 ' State of Virginia was with no intention to evade the Act for 
 ' preventing the further importation of slaves within the com- 
 ' monwealth ; nor have I brought with me, or will cause to be 
 ' brought, any slaves, with an intent of selHng them, nor have any 
 ' of the slaves now in my possession been imported from Africa, 
 ' or any of the West India Islands, since the 1st day of November 
 '1778: so help me God." ' 
 
 A still more stringent law was passed in 1785, viz. : — 
 
 'That no persons shall henceforth be slaves within this 
 
VIEGIOTA. 211 
 
 ' commonwealth, except such as were so on the first day of the 
 ' present session of the Assembly, and the descendants of the 
 ' females of them. Slaves which shall hereafter be brought into 
 ' this commonwealth, and be kept therein one whole ye;u- 
 ' together, or so long at different times as shall amount to one 
 ' year, shall be free.' 
 
 This law was shortly afterwards amended in order to permit 
 persons from the North who desired to remove to Virginia to 
 bring their servants within the State. Among the slaves thus 
 introduced were a number of mulattoes. They were very 
 nearly white, with straight hair, and no marks of the African 
 race to be seen about their person. A question arose as to 
 whether they were slaves. The Northeroers insisted upon their 
 right of property in them either by descent or purchase. In 
 order to determine the matter and enable the owner to prove 
 his claims, the Legislature, in 1785, enacted — 
 
 ' That every person of whose grandfathers or grandmothers any 
 ' one is, or shall have been a negro, although all his other pro- 
 ' genitors except that descending from the negro shall have been 
 ' white persons, shall be deemed a mulatto ; and every such 
 ' person who shall have one-fourth part or more of negro blood, 
 ' shall in like manner be deemed a mulatto.' 
 
 The question again arising, the Legislature, in 1786, passed 
 the following law — 
 
 ' Every person other than a negro, of whose grandfathers or 
 ' grandmothers any one is or shall have been a negro, although 
 ' all his or her other progenitors, except that descending from a 
 ' negro, shall have been white persons, shall be deemed a 
 ' mulatto ; and so every such person who shall have one-fourth 
 ' part or more of negro blood shall in like manner be deemed 
 ' a mulatto.' 
 
 Although the laws of Virginia were so adverse to the African, 
 as well as the internal slave trade, she had great difficulty in 
 excluding slaves from her limits. The Yankees actually carried 
 on the business (?) of kidnapping free negroes in the'Northern 
 States and took them to Virginia and other Southern States for 
 the purpose of sale. To put a stop to these nefarious trans- 
 actions, the Legislature, in 1786, enacted that — 
 
 ' Wltereas several evil-disposed persons have seduced or stolen 
 
 p 2 
 
212 VIRGINIA. 
 
 'the children of black and mulatto free persons, and have 
 ' actually disposed of the persons so seduced or stolen as slaves, 
 ' and punishment adequate to such crimes not being by law 
 ' provided for such offenders : 
 
 ' Be it enacted, that any person who shall hereafter be guilty 
 ' of stealing or selling any free person for a slave, knowing the 
 ' said person so sold to be free, and thereof shall be lawfully 
 ' convicted, the person so convicted shall suffer death without 
 ' the benefit of clergy.' 
 
 In 1792 it was enacted — 
 
 'That no persons shall henceforth be slaves within this 
 ' commonwealth, except such as were so on the I7th day of 
 'October 1785; and the descendants, being slaves, as since 
 ' have been, or hereafter may be brought into this State, or 
 ' held therein pursuant to law.' 
 
 The Northerners, by 1806, were pouring their slaves into 
 Virginia in such numbers, in order to evade the territorial acts 
 of abolition passed by their own States, that the Legislature was 
 obliged to pass more stringent measures to prevent the violation 
 of her laws thus disregarded. The Act of that year says : — 
 
 ' That if any slave or slaves shall hereafter be brought into 
 ' this commonwealth, and shall either be kept therein one 
 ' whole year or so long, at different times, as shall amount to one 
 ' year, or shall be sold or hired within this commonwealth, in 
 ' every such case the owner shall forfeit all right to such slave 
 ' or slaves, which right shall absolutely vest in the overseers of 
 ' the poor of any county or corporation who shall apprehend 
 ' such forfeited slave or slaves within his jurisdiction, in trust 
 ' for the benefit of the poor of such county or corporation. 
 
 ' Any person hereafter bringing into this commonwealth 
 ' any slave or slaves, contrary to this act, shall forfeit and pay 
 ' the sum of /400 for every slave so brought in ; and every 
 ' person selling, buying, or hiring any such slave or slaves, 
 ' knowing the same to have been brought in contrary to the 
 ' provisions of this Act, shall forfeit and pay the sum of ;^400 for 
 ' every slave so brought, sold, or hired ; which forfeiture shall 
 ' accrue to the use of the commonwealth, to be recovered by 
 ' action of debt or information, in which the defendant shall be 
 ' held to special bail ; judgment shall be rendered without 
 
VIRGINIA. '213 
 
 ' regard to any exception for want or form, and an attorney's 
 ' fee of twenty dollars shall be taxed in the bill of costs.' 
 
 With a view of accommodating actual settlers from the 
 Northern States, the Legislature, in 1812, enacted — 
 
 ' That all persons now residing within this commonwealth, or 
 ' who may hereafter remove to the same with a bond fide 
 ' intention of becoming citizens and inhabitants thereof, who 
 ' now are, or at the time of his, her, or their removal, may be 
 ' the owner or owners of any slave or slaves born in any of the 
 ' United States, or territories thereof, shall be, and they are 
 ' hereby authorised to bring into and hold within this common- 
 ' wealth any such slave or slaves : provided that such owner or 
 ' owners shall, within thirty days after such slave or slaves shall 
 ' have been brought into this commonwealth, exhibit to some 
 ' justice of the peace of the county in which he, she, or they may 
 ' reside, or have removed to, a statement in writing, containing 
 ' the name, age, sex, and description of each and every slave so 
 ' brought in ; and shall, moreover, make oath, or solemn aflfirma- 
 ' tion before such justice, that the said statement contains a 
 ' true account of the slaves so brought in ; and that the said slave 
 ' or slaves were not brought into this commonwealth for the 
 ' purpose of sale, or with the intent to evade the laws preventing 
 ' the further importation of slaves ; and within sixty days there- 
 ' after return such statement, together with a certificate of said 
 ' oath or affirmation, to the Court of the same county, to be then 
 ' recorded. 
 
 'And provided, also, that the said owner or owners shall, 
 ' within three months after any slave or slaves shall have been 
 ' so brought into this commonwealth, export a female slave of the 
 ' age of ten years, and under the age of thirty, for every slave so 
 ' as aforesaid imported, and within the said period, return to the 
 ' Court of said county a statement containing the name, age, and 
 ' description of the slave or slaves so exported, and give satisfac- 
 ' tory evidence to the said Court of the performance of the said 
 ' condition, and make oath that he, she, or they have bona fide- 
 ' performed the same.' 
 
 This law disposes of the charge of 'slave-breeding.' The 
 great object of the Virginians has been for many years to lessen 
 the number of their slaves. 
 
214 NORTH CAEOLINA. 
 
 Although Virginia was the first colony to receive slaves, it does 
 not appear that they increased much for more than a half- 
 century. In 1670 there were only 2,000 within her borders. 
 
 The slave population of North Carolina amounted to 100,572 
 in 1790, 133,296 in 1800, 168,824 in 1810, 205,017 in 1820, 
 245,601 in 1830, 245,817 in 1840, 288,548 in 1850, and 
 331,081 in 1860. This State also passed laws for preventing 
 the African slave trade and against the reception of negroes 
 from the Northern States. 
 
 Here are two of her laws, the first enacted in 1786, the other 
 in 1795 :— 
 
 ' That every person who shall introduce into this State any 
 ' slave or slaves after the passing hereof, from any of the 
 ' United States which have passed laws for the liberation of slaves, 
 ' shall, on complaint thereof before any justice of the peace, be 
 ' compelled by such justice of the peace to enter into bond with 
 ' suflBcient security in the sum of 501. current money, for each 
 ' slave, for the removing of such slave or slaves to the State 
 ' from whence such slave or slaves were brought, within three 
 ' months,' &c. 
 
 'That from and after the 1st day of April next (1795) it 
 * shall not be lawful for any person coming into this State with 
 ' an intent to settle or otherwise, from any of the West Indies or 
 ' Bahama Islands, or the settlements on the Southern coasts of 
 ' America, to land any negro or negroes, or people of colour, 
 ' over the age of fifteen years, under the penalty of lOOL for 
 ' each and every slave or person of colour,' &c. 
 
 The port of Charleston was so accessible for slave traders, 
 that the Legislature of South Carolina placed many restrictions 
 upon the importation of Africans. An Act, which was passed 
 in 1698, recites that : — 
 
 ' Whereas the great number of negroes which have of late 
 ' been imported into this colony may endanger the safety there- 
 ' of if speedy measures be not taken, and encouragement given 
 ' for the importation of white servants.' 
 
 And requires each planter shall employ one white servant to 
 every six blacks. The Act of 1714 imposes a duty of \2l. upon 
 every slave over twelve years of age imported from Africa, and 
 contains the following preamble : — 
 
SOUTH CAROLINA. 215 
 
 ' And whereas the number of negroes do extremely increase 
 
 * in this province, and through the afflicting providence of God 
 ' the white persons do not proportionably multiply, by reason 
 ' whereof the safety of the said province is greatly endangered : 
 ' for the prevention of which, for the future, &c., &c.' 
 
 In 1716 another Act was passed, which offered a bounty to 
 white persons to settle in the colony. Its preamble says : — 
 
 « Whereas sad experience has taught us that the small number 
 ' of white inhabitants of this province is not sufficient to defend 
 
 * the same even against our Indian enemies ; and whereas the 
 ' number of slaves is daily increasing in this province, which 
 ' may likewise endanger the safety thereof, if speedy care be not 
 ' taken to encourage the importation of white servants.' 
 
 Again, in 1717, an Act was passed imposing an additional 
 duty of 40L upon every negro slave ' of any age or condition 
 ' whatsoever, and from any part of the world.' It will be readily 
 seen that this law was designed to prohibit altogether the intro- 
 duction of Africans, without violating the orders of the British 
 Crovernment, which denied to the colonists the privilege of ex- 
 cluding them by direct legislation. It certainly acted in this 
 manner, as will be observed by the preamble to that passed in 
 1744 ' for the further preventing the spreading of malignant and 
 ' contagious disorders,' which contains the following words : — 
 
 ' Whereas it hath been found by experience that since the 
 ' importation of negroes and slaves from the coast of Africa into 
 ' this province hath been prohibited, this province in general, 
 ' and Charleston in particular, hath been much more healthy 
 ' than heretofore it hath been,' &c. &c. 
 
 These laws failed to accomplish their purpose, and others 
 were enacted in 1750 and 1751, fixing a tax on slaves, to be 
 devoted to the encouragement of white servants. The Act of 
 1764 imposes an additional duty of lOOi. on each slave; it 
 reads : — 
 
 ' Whereas the importation of negroes, equal in number to 
 
 * what have been imported of late years, may prove of the most 
 ' dangerous consequence, in many respects, to this province, 
 ' and the best way to obviate such dangers vrill be by imposing 
 ' such additional duty upon them as may totally prevent these 
 ' evils.' 
 
216 SOUTH CAEOLINA. 
 
 Let us now pass from this period of colonial vassalage, and 
 see what was done by the independent sovereignty of South 
 Carolina as a State. In 1787 the Legislature enacted that no 
 negro or other slave shall be imported from Africa, and no slave 
 shall be imported from any other State, unless accompanied by 
 his master. A subsequent Act of the same year declares : — 
 
 ' That any person importing or bringing into this State a 
 ' negro slave contrary to the Act to regulate the recovery of 
 ' debts, and prohibiting the importation of negroes, shall, besides 
 ' the forfeiture of such negro or slave, be liable to a penalty of 
 ' 1001. in addition to the forfeiture in and by said Act pre- 
 ' scribed.' 
 
 The Act of 1788 says : — 
 
 ' No negro or other slave shall be imported or brought into 
 ' this State, either by land or by water, on or before the 1st of 
 ' January 1793, under the penalty of forfeiting every such slave 
 ' or slaves to any person who will sue or inform for the same ; 
 ' and under further penalty of paying lOOl. to the use of the 
 ' State for every such negro or slave so imported or brought in : 
 ' provided that nothing in this prohibition contained shall 
 ' extend to such slaves as are now the property of citizens of the 
 ' United States, and at the time of passing this Act shall be 
 ' within the limits of the United States.' 
 
 In 1792 the law was extended, viz. : — 
 
 ' That no slave shall be imported into this State from Africa, 
 ' the West India Islands, or any other place beyond the sea, for 
 ' and during the term of two years, commencing from the 1st 
 ' of January 1793. 
 
 ' That no slave or negro, Indian, Moor, Mulatto, or Mestizo, 
 ' bound to service for a term of years, shall be brought into this 
 ' State, by land or by water, from any of the United States or 
 ' any of the countries bordering thereon, ever hereafter: pro- 
 ' vided, however, actual citizens of the United States shall and 
 ' are hereby permitted to come into this State and settle with 
 ' their slaves.' 
 
 In 1794 the prohibition was again extended : — 
 
 ' That no slave or person of colour, bond or free, shall be 
 ' permitted to be imported, or land, or enter the State from the 
 ' Bahamas or West India Islands, or from any part of the 
 
SOUTH CAROLINA. 217 
 
 ' continent of America, witliout the limits of the United States, 
 ' or from any other parts beyond the seas.' 
 
 In 1796 the exclusion of negroes was extended to 1799, then 
 to 1801, and further to 1803. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the prohibitions and fines, a clandestine 
 trade was carried on through the ports of the Northern States 
 and the interior, very much to the injury of the commerce of 
 Charleston. As a matter of expediency the Legislature at that 
 period opened the ports for the traffic until January 1, 1808, 
 after which date it was determined that no slave should be 
 brought into the State from any part of the world, not even 
 from any of the United States, with the proviso : — 
 
 ' That it shall and may be lawful to and for any person 
 ' travelliag into or through this State to bring into the same 
 ' one or more slaves or free persons of colour, not exceeding two 
 ' as necessary attendants on such person or his or her family, 
 ' and for no other purpose whatsoever ; provided, nevertheless, 
 ' to exempt such person from the penalties of this Act, every 
 'such person shall make an oath before some justice of the 
 ' peace, near to the place where they shall enter the State, that 
 ' such slave or persons of colour is or are his or her necessary 
 ' attendants, and that he or she will not sell or dispose of such 
 ' slave or persons of colour, but will take the same back with 
 ' him or her to his or her usual place of residence.' 
 
 Further laws similar to those of Virginia were passed, and in 
 1803 it was ordered that they ' shall be, and the same are hereby 
 ' declared to be, perpetual laws.' The slaves in South Carolina, 
 by the census, stand 107,094 in 1790, 146,151 in 1800, 196,365 
 in 1810, 258,475 in 1820, 315,401 in 1830, 327,038 in 1840, 
 384,984 in 1850, and 402,541 in 1860. 
 
 During the four years that South Carolina permitted the im- 
 portation of slaves, 202 vessels arrived in Charleston harbour, 
 91 of which belonged to the British, 10 to the French, 88 to the 
 Yankees, and 13 to Southerners. They brought 39,075 negroes, 
 but many of the males were re-shipped to the West Indies, 
 where their value was greater than in the States. 
 
 South Carolina requires : — 
 
 'That all and every person or persons removing into this 
 ' Sta.te, with their slaves, shall immediately on entering the 
 
218 GEOEGIA. 
 
 ' State take the following oath before some justice of the 
 ' peace : — 
 
 ' I, A B, do swear, that my removal into the State of South 
 ' Carolina is with no intention of evading the several laws of this 
 ' State, for preventing the further importation of slaves into this 
 ' State ; nor have I brought with me any slave or slaves with an 
 ' intention of selling them ; nor will I sell or dispose of any slave 
 ' or slaves so brought with me as aforesaid within two years of 
 ' the date hereof ; and it is my intention bona fide to become 
 ' a resident and citizen of the said State.' 
 
 ' That each and every slave who shall hereafter be imported 
 * or brought into this State, except under the limitations pre- 
 ' scribed by this Act, shall be, and each and every one of them are 
 ' hereby declared to be, free, in whosoever hands they may be.' 
 
 As late as 1835 the Legislature enacted : — 
 
 ' That it shall not be lawful for any citizen of this State, or 
 ' other person, to bring into this State, under any pretext what- 
 ' ever, any slave or slaves from any port or place in the West 
 ' Indies, or Mexico, or any part of South America, or from 
 ' Europe, or from any sister State situated north of the Potomac 
 ' river, or city of Washington.' 
 
 Greorgia prohibited the African slave trade by a clause in her 
 Constitution adopted in 1798, viz. : — 
 
 'There shall be no future importation of slaves into this 
 ' State from Africa, or any foreign place, after the 1st day of 
 'October next (1798).' 
 
 She likewise enacted similar laws to the other States in 
 reference to the admission of negroes from the North. 
 
 The enactment of 1833 says : — 
 
 ' If any person or persons shall bring, import, or introduce 
 ' into this State, or aid, or assist, or knowingly become concerned 
 ' or interested in bringing, importing, or introducing into this 
 ' State, either by land or by water, or in manner whatever, any 
 ' slave or slaves, each and every such person or persons so 
 ' offending shall be deemed principals in law, and guilty of a 
 ' high misdemeanour, and may be arrested and tried in any 
 ' county in this State in which he, she, or they may be found, 
 ' and, on conviction, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding 
 ' $600 each, for each and every slave so brought, imported, or 
 
^,^ KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. 219 
 
 ' introduced, and imprisonment and labour in the penitentiary 
 ' for any term not less than one year, nor longer than four years : 
 ' provided, however, this Act shall not prohibit actual settlers 
 ' from coming into this State with their slaves from any of the 
 ' other States of the Union.' 
 
 Georgia held 29,264 slaves in 1790,59,404 in 1800, 105,218 
 in 1810, 149,654 in 1820, 217,331 in 1830, 280,944 in 1840, 
 381,602 in 1850, and 462,232 in 1860. 
 
 Kentucky was formed out of Virginia, and admitted into the 
 Union in 1793. She continued the laws of that State against 
 the African slave trade and the ingress of negroes except as 
 servants. All persons migrating thither with slaves are obliged 
 to take the following oath : — 
 
 ' I, A B, do swear that my removal to the State of Kentucky 
 ' was with an intention to become a citizen thereof, and that I 
 ' have no slave or slaves, and will bring no slave or slaves with 
 ' intent of selling them.' 
 
 In 1790, the District Assembly passed the following law : — 
 
 ' That no slave shall be imported into this State from any 
 ' foreign country, nor shall any slave who has been imported 
 ' into the United States from any foreign country since the 1st 
 ' day of January 1789, or who may be hereafter imported into 
 ' the United States from any foreign country, be imported into 
 ' the State under the penalty of ^300. 
 
 ' That no slave shall be imported into this State as merchan- 
 ' dise ; and any person so offending shall forfeit and pay a fine 
 ' of ^300.' 
 
 The census states that the territory of Kentucky possessed 
 11,830 in 1790, 40,343 in 1800, 80,561 in 1810, 126,732 in 
 1820, 165,213 in 1830, 182,258 in 1840, 210,981 in 1850, and 
 225,490 in 1860. 
 
 Tennessee was formerly a portion of North Carolina, and 
 carried the laws of the parent State with her. The Act of 
 Cession says : — ' Provided that no regulation made, or to be 
 ' made, by Congress shall tend to emancipate slaves.' Her 
 black population was 3,417 in 1790, 13,584 in 1800, 44,535 in 
 1810, 80,107 in 1820, 141,603 in 1830, 183,059 in 1840, 
 239,459 in 1850, and 275,784 in 1860. 
 
 Alabama has never permitted the African slave trade to be 
 
220 ALABAJVIA AND MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 carried on, and has always refused to admit negroes unless ac- 
 companied by their masters, and then not for the purpose of 
 sale. 
 
 Here are two of her laws. The statute of 1807 says : — 
 
 ' That if any person or persons shall be guilty of stealing or 
 ' selling any free person for a slave, knowing the said person so 
 ' sold to be free, and shall be thereof lawfully convicted, the 
 ' person or persons so convicted shall suffer death.' 
 
 The statute of 1843 reads : — 
 
 ' Any slave or slaves brought or imported into this State, con- 
 ' trary to the laws of the United States in such cases made 
 ' and provided, shall be condemned by any supreme court of this 
 ' State withia whose jurisdiction the said slave or slaves shall be 
 ' brought or be seized, upon libel filed in the said court, and 
 ' shall be sold by the proper officer of the court, to the highest 
 ' bidder at public auction, for ready money, after advertising 
 ' the time and place of such sale, in some newspaper in this 
 ' State, at least fifteen days previous thereto.' 
 
 Alabama had 41,879 slaves in 1820, 117,549 in 1830,253,532 
 in 1840, 342,844 in 1850, and 435,132 in 1860. 
 
 Mississippi is equally severe in regard to the foreign and in- 
 ternal slave traffic. 
 
 In 1822, the Legislature enacted the following law : — 
 
 ' It shall not be lawful for any person whatsoever to bring into 
 ' this State, or to hold therein, any slave or slaves born or 
 ' resident out of the limits of the United States. Every such 
 ' offender shall forfeit and pay to the State, for the use of the 
 ' Literary Fund, for each slave so brought in, sold, purchased, or 
 ' hired, a fine of ;^1,000.' 
 
 In 1839, the Legislature also enacted : — 
 
 ' That if any person shall hereafter bring or import any slave 
 « or slaves into this State, as merchandise, or for the purpose of 
 ' selling or hiring such slave or slaves, or shall be accessory 
 ' thereto, the person or persons so offending shall be deemed 
 ' guilty of a misdemeanour, and on conviction thereof shall be 
 * fined in the sum of ^^500, and be imprisoned for a term of not 
 ' less than one nor more than six months, at the discretion of the 
 ' Court, for each and every slave by him brought into this State 
 ' as merchandise, or for sale, or for hire.' 
 
LOUISIANA, AEKANSAS, FLORIDA, ETC. 221 
 
 The census of Mississippi records 3,489 slaves in 1800, 17,088 
 in 1810, 32,814 in 1820, 65,659 in 1830, 195,211 in 1840, 
 309,878 in 1850, and 436,696 in 1860. 
 
 Louisiana passed similar laws, the last of which was enacted 
 in 1825, and reads as follows : — 
 
 ' No person shall, after June 1, 1826, bring into this State 
 ' any slave with the intent to sell or hire the same, under the 
 ' penalty of beiag punished by imprisonment not exceeding two 
 ' years, and fined not exceeding ^^1,000 ; and, moreover, shall 
 ' forfeit said slave or slaves.' 
 
 The slaves in Louisiana numbered 34,660 in 1810, 69,064 in 
 1820, 109,588 in 1830, 168,452 in 1840, 244,809 in 1850, and 
 332,010 in 1860.^ 
 
 Arkansas imposes the same restrictions concerning the ingress 
 of negroes. She had 1,617 in 1820, 4,576 in 1830, 19,935 in 
 1840, 47,100 in 1850, and 111,104 in 1860. 
 
 Florida likewise followed the example of her sister States. 
 She was ceded by Spain to the United States by the treaty of 
 1819. Her slave returns are :— 15,501 in 1830, 27,717 in 1840, 
 39,310 in 1850, and 61,753 in 1860. 
 
 Missouri has the same regulations in reference to the admis- 
 sion of slaves. Her revised statutes of 1835 declare that — 
 
 ' Hereafter no person shall bring, or cause to be brought, into 
 ' this State any person, or the descendants of any person, who 
 ' shall have been imported into the United States, or any of the 
 ' territories thereof, in contravention of the laws of the United 
 ' States, and held as slaves, under a penalty of ;^500 recoverable 
 ' by indictment.' 
 
 The slave portion of the census of Missouri stands thus : — 
 3,011 in 1810, 10,222 in 1820, 25,091 in 1830, 58,240 in 1840, 
 87,422 in 1850, and 114,965 in 1860. 
 
 Texas adopted the same poUcy in relation to slave immigra- 
 tion. She was admitted into the Union in 1845. The census 
 exhibits 58,161 slaves in 1850, and 180,682 in 1860. 
 
 The district of Columbia had 3,244 slaves in 1800, 5,395 in 
 1810, 6,377 in 1820, 6,119 iu 1830, 4,694 in 1840, 3,687 in 
 1850, and 3,181 in 1860. The territory of Utah had 26 in 
 1850, and 29 in 1860. Nebraska had 10 in 1860. New 
 Mexico, 24 in 1860. Kansas, 2 in 1860. 
 
222 'SLAVE BRBEDIKG.' 
 
 The total slave population of all the American States and 
 territories was — 697,897 in 1790, 893,041 in 1800, 1,191,364 
 in 1810, 1,538,038 in 1820, 2,009,043 in 1830, 2,487,455 in 
 1840, 3,204,313 in 1850, and 3,953,587 in 1860. Legislation 
 in America has not lessened slavery to any extent ; the increase 
 in the several decades from 1790 to 1860 has been tolerably 
 regular, viz. for the ten years ending : — 
 
 1800 27^5^ 
 
 1810 83 ^VV 
 
 1820 28 t:'^ 
 
 1880 SOt^J^ 
 
 1840 23 ^Vj 
 
 1850 28 ^^V 
 
 1880 23,3j_ 
 
 These figures clearly prove that neither the territorial abolition 
 in one section, nor the territorial extension in the other, has 
 diminished or augmented the ' pecuHar institution.' 
 
 Of the 697,897 slaves in all the American States in 1790, 
 only 40,850 were in the Northern States. Canada contains 
 about that number of blacks at the present time. The Northern 
 States, in 1790, had 27,109 free negroes; the Southern States, 
 32,357. The American Colonization Society have sent about 
 10,000 blacks to Liberia. 
 
 The senseless charge of ' slave-breeding ' made against the 
 Southerners was started ia Europe by Lord Palmerston in 1838, 
 under information (?) received from New England, but was de- 
 nied and disproved at the time by the then American Minister 
 in London, the Hon. Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia. With 
 the current of opinion, however, running the other way the 
 charge seems to have become stereotyped. There never 
 has been any such occupation as ' slave breeding ' in the 
 South ; no negi-o child has ever been brought into the world 
 for the purpose of sale or augmenting the wealth of the planter. 
 The black race ' increase and multiply ' in properly organised 
 families, and with as much order as the whites. Although 
 the Africans are naturally very immoral, their propriety of 
 conduct in this particular is remarkable, and exceeds that 
 of any community of negroes in the North. Common 
 sense alone teaches that there is no such thing as 'slave- 
 
MIGRATION OP SLAVERY. 223 
 
 breeding' in the South, but to make the charge against 
 Virginia and other border States is absurd in the extreme. If 
 such a business were carried on at all it would be conducted in 
 the Grulf States, where the climate is more congenial to the 
 African race, and where their natural increase is nearly 3 per 
 cent, per annum, while in the more northerly States it is only 
 a little rising 1 per cent. The proprietors, with their servants, 
 have been merely moving in a south-westerly direction, and as 
 the latter outnumber the former on all occasions there is a 
 disparity between the white and black population which has 
 given rise to the erroneous impression alluded to. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OP THE CONVENTION THAT FORMED THE CONSTI- 
 TUTION, IN REFERENCE TO THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 The minutes of the Convention which met at Philadelphia in 
 1787 to frame the Federal Constitution give the views of that 
 body in reference to the African slaye trade. On August 6th, 
 the committee — three from the North and two from the South — ■ 
 reported a draft containing the following clause : — 
 
 ' No tax or duty shall be laid by the Legislature (of the United 
 ' States Government) on articles exported from any State ; nor 
 ' on the migration or importation of such persons as the several 
 ' States shall think proper to admit ; nor shall such migration or 
 ' importation be prohibited.' 
 
 On August 24, this provision was referred to a special com- 
 mittee of one from each of the eleven States present. Its chair- 
 man, Mr. Livingston (New Jersey), offered a substitute, viz. : — 
 
 ' The migration or importation of such persons as the several 
 ' States now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be 
 ' prohibited by the Legislature (Congress) prior to the year 
 ' 1800 ; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such migration 
 ' or importation at a rate not exceeding the average of the 
 ' duties laid on imports.' 
 
 The next day the report was considered, and ' It was moved 
 ' and seconded to amend the report of the committee of eleven, 
 ' entered on the journal on the 24th instant, as follows : — 
 
 ' To strike out the words, " the year 1800," and insert the words 
 ' " the year 1808," which passed in the affirmative. 
 
224 AFRICAN SLAVE TEABE. 
 
 ' Yeas. — New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Mary- 
 ' land, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, 7. 
 
 ' Nays. — New Jersey, Pennsylyania, Delaware, Virginia, 4.' 
 
 After this the following proceedings took place : — 
 
 ' The importation of slaves into such of the States as shall 
 ' permit the same shall not be prohibited by the Legislature of 
 ' the United States until the year 1808.' 
 
 ' YeOiS. — Connecticut, Virginia, and Greorgia, 3. 
 
 ' Nays. — Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Caro- 
 9 lina, and South Carolina, 5. 
 
 ' Maryland delegation was divided. 
 
 ' On the question to agree to the first part of the report as 
 amended, namely — 
 
 ' " The migration or importation of such persons as the several 
 ' " States now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be 
 ' " prohibited by the Legislature prior to the year 1808 : " 
 
 ' It was passed in the affirmative as follows : — 
 
 ' Yeas. — New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Mary- 
 ' land. North Carolina, South Carolina, and Greorgia, 7. 
 
 - Nays. — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, 4.' 
 
 It has been doubted by many able lawyers whether the clause 
 in the Federal Constitution giving authority to Congress to 
 abolish the slave trade, by iTnplication merely, was not 
 nullified by one of the amendments thereto, which says : — ' The 
 ' powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, 
 ' nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States 
 ' respectively, or to the people.' The Confederate Constitution, 
 however, is quite clear upon this subject. It reads: — 
 
 ' The importation of negroes of the African race from any 
 ' foreign country other than the slaveholding States or territories 
 ' of the United States of America is hereby forbidden ; and 
 ' Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually 
 ' prevent the same. Congress shall also have power to pro- 
 ' hibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member 
 ' of, or territory not belonging to, this Confederacy.' 
 
 The Federal States can reopen the slave trade at any time by 
 rescinding the Acts of Congress ; the Confederate States have 
 deprived themselves of such privilege. The natural increase of 
 negroes in the South is equal to the demand for their labour. 
 
THE QUAKERS. 225 
 
 ABOLITIONISM IN AMERICA. 
 
 The Quakers, like tte Yankees, are given to meddling with 
 other people's affairs, and it was by the indulgence of this 
 propensity that they laid the foundation of the abolition excite- 
 ment. They did not do so, however, until the system of slave 
 labour in their own neighbourhoods had ceased to be profitable. 
 In Pennsylvania, in North Carolina, and in other colonies, they 
 were slaveholders. One of their ' sect,' George Keith, a Scotch- 
 man by birth, once a follower of William Penn, renounced 
 Quakerism, and quarrelled with the ' broad-brimmed courtier.' 
 He declared Quakerism inconsistent with the exercise of po- 
 litical authority, and he preached abolition doctrines in the 
 streets of Philadelphia, stating that negro slavery was anta- 
 gonistic to the principles of good government. The Quakers 
 persecuted him for promulgating such doctrines, and he was 
 obliged to return to England in 1692. The ' institution 
 'paid' at that time in Pennsylvania, and of course it was not 
 deemed improper to hold black men in bondage. Black women 
 and children were ' remitted ' from the West Indies to Phila- 
 delphia, to settle balances due to the ' Friends.' 
 
 Abolitionism was first mooted in the Federal Congress on 
 February 11, 1790, when a memorial from the Quakers of 
 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New York, 
 and Virginia, was presented, praying for the enactment of laws 
 against the further prosecution of the African slave trade. A 
 discussion at once arose, on the abstract question of slavery 
 itself, with respect to the Constitution. Mr. Parker, of Virginia, 
 advocated the reception of the petition, and was pleased to see 
 a desire so promptly manifested to ' ascertain what coitld be 
 ' done to restrain the nefarious practice.' He was willing to 
 lay a tax of ten dollars per head on all negroes imported, and 
 otherwise unite in any measure that could be devised to dis- 
 continue the slave trade, consistent with the terms of the Con- 
 stitution. Mr. Madison did not conceive that there was any 
 cause for alarm concerning the interference by Congress with 
 slavery in the States. He was opposed to the African slave-trade, 
 so were all the members from the South, but they saw an insidious 
 attempt on the part of the Quakers to engraft abolitionism on 
 
 Q 
 
226 DEBATE IN CONGRESS. 
 
 the body politic. Mr. Stone, of Maryland, said : ' It was an 
 ' unfortunate circumstance, that it was the disposition of religious 
 ' sects to imagine that they understood the rights of human 
 ' nature better than all the world besides ; and that they would, 
 ' in consequence, be meddling with concerns in which they had 
 ' nothing to do.' Mr. Burke, of South Carolina, remarked, that 
 ' he had a respect for the Quakers, but did not believe they 
 ' had more virtue or religion than other people, nor, perhaps, so 
 ' much, if they were examined to the bottom, notwithstanding 
 ' their outward pretences.' Mr. Jackson, of Georgia, made the 
 following practical remarks : — 'He would ask those who were 
 ' desirous of freeing the negroes, if they had sufficient funds to 
 ' pay for them? If they had, they should come forward on 
 ' that business with some propriety; but if they had not, they 
 ' should keep themselves quiet, and not interfere with a 
 ' business in which they were not interested. Is the whole 
 ' morality of the United States confined to the Quakers? Are 
 ' they the only people whose feelings are to be consulted on 
 ' this occasion ? Is it to them we owe our present happiness ? 
 ' Was it they who formed our Constitution ? Did they, by their 
 ' arms or contributions, establish our independence ? I believe 
 ' they were generally opposed to that measure. But why do 
 ' these men set themselves up in a particular manner against 
 ' slavery ? Do they understand the rights of mankind, and the 
 ' disposition of Providence, better than others ? If they were 
 ' to consult that Book, which claims our regard, they would 
 ' find that slavery is not only allowed, but commended. Their 
 ' Saviour, who possessed more benevolence and commiseration 
 ' than they pretend to, allowed it ; and, if they examine the 
 ' subject, they will find that slavery has been no novel doctrine 
 ' since the days of Cain.' Mr. Sedgwick, of Massachusetts, 
 ' did not believe there would be any considerable number of 
 ' individuals in the South alarmed at the commitment of the 
 ' petition, from a fear that Congress intended to exercise an 
 ' imconstitutional authority, in order to violate their rights.' 
 Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, was of opinion that ' the me- 
 ' morialists in reality prayed for a violation of the Constitution, 
 ' and their petition " should be rejected as aa attempt upon the 
 ' " virtue and patriotism of the house." ' Mr. Tucker, from the 
 
ABOLITION MEMORIAL. 227 
 
 same State, ' thought that the least said upon the subject the 
 ' better, particularly as Congress had no power to do anything, 
 ' except to lay a duty of ten dollars upon each person imported ; 
 ' and that was a political consideration not arising from religion 
 ' or morality. If the Quakers wished to secure the abolitioti of 
 ' the slave-trade, they should present their petitions to the State 
 ' Legislatures, who alone have the power of forbidding the im- 
 ' portation.' On February 12, 1790, the discussion was resumed 
 upon the reception of a memorial from Benjamin Franklin, Pre- 
 sident of the ' Pennsylvanian Society for Promoting the Aboli- 
 ' tion of Slavery, the Eelief of Free Negroes unlawfully held in 
 ' Bondage, and the Improvement of the Condition of the African 
 ' Eace.' Mr. Tucker, of Virginia, was surprised to see the 
 petition ' signed by a man who ought to have known the Con- 
 ' stitution better.' A further debate took place on March 23, 
 1790, when the following resolutions were adopted: — 
 
 ' That the migration or importation of such persons as any of 
 ' the States now existing shall think proper to admit, cannot be 
 ' prohibited by Congress, prior to the year 1808.' 
 
 ' That Congress have no authority to interfere in the eman- 
 ' cipation of slaves, or in the treatment of them within any of 
 ' the States ; it remaining with the several States alone to pro- 
 ' vide any regulation therein, which humanity and true policy 
 ' may require.' 
 
 On November 26, 1792, an Abolition memorial from 
 Warner MifHin, a Quaker, was presented, received by the 
 House, and laid on the table. Two days afterwards, Mr. 
 Steele, of North Carolina, called attention to the matter. 
 ' He was surprised to find this subject started anew by a 
 ' fanatic, who, not content with keeping his own conscience, 
 ' undertook to keep the consciences of other men ; and, in a 
 manner which he deemed not very decent, had intruded his 
 opinions upon this House. Had an application been made to 
 him to present such a petition he would have avoided a com- 
 pliance with it. Gentlemen ot the North do not realise the 
 mischievous consequences which have already resulted from 
 measures of this kind, and, if a stop were not put to it, the 
 Southern States would be compelled to apply to the General 
 ' Government for their interference.' Mr. Ames, of Massachusetts, 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 ' BLACK PATRIOTS.' 
 
 apologised for having presented the petition, and the House 
 ordered its return to the Quaker. 
 
 The following year the Fugitive Slave Law was passed. The 
 negro question was dropped until January 30, 1797, when 
 Mr. Swanwick, of Pennsylvania, presented the petition of four 
 slaves that had escaped into that State from North Carolina. 
 The House declined receiving the petition. On November 30, 
 
 1797, Mr. Grallatin, of Pennsylvania, handed in a memorial of the 
 annual meeting of Quakers, relative to the ' oppressed state of 
 ' their African brethren,' particularly those in North Carolina, 
 who, it was alleged, had been manumitted and again reduced to 
 slavery. They furthermore requested the attention of Congress 
 against ' every species of extravagance and dissipation, such as 
 ' gaming, horse racing, cock fighting, shows, plays, and other 
 ' expensive diversions and entertainments.' The reception of 
 the petition was debated at great length, and on February 14, 
 
 1798, the House declared the subjects it embraced were 
 exclusively of judicial consequence, and that the parties have 
 leave to withdraw their memorial. The Senate concurred. 
 
 The slavery question was renewed January 2, 1799, when 
 Mr. Wain, of Pennsylvania, presented a petition, praying for 
 ' a revision of the laws of the United States relative to the 
 * slave trade ; of the Act relative to fugitives from justice ; and 
 ' for the adoption of such measures as should in due time eman- 
 ' cipate the whole of their brethren from their disagreeable 
 ' situation.' Mr. Eutledge, of South Carolina, remarked : ' The 
 ' gentlemen who formerly used to advocate liberty have re- 
 ' treated from their post, and committed the important trust to 
 ' the care of " black patriots ; " they tell the House they are in 
 ' slavery; thank Grod they are ! They say they are not repre- 
 ' sented ; certainly they are not ; and I trust the day will never 
 ' arrive when the Congress of the United States will display a 
 ' parti-coloured assembly. Too much of this new-fangled French 
 ' philosophy of liberty and equality has found its way among 
 ' these gentlemen of our plantations, for which nothing will do 
 ' but liberty.' Mr. Harrison Gr. Otis, of Massachusetts, said that 
 ' though he owned no slaves, he saw no reason why others 
 ' might not ; and that the proprietors of them were the fittest 
 ' persons, and not Congress, to regulate that species of property.' 
 
MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 229 
 
 Mr. Brown, of Rhode Island, argued that ' the petition was but 
 ' the contrivance of a combination of Jacobins, who had troubled 
 ' Congress for many years past, and he feared never would 
 ' cease.' The " Friends ' again intruded themselves with non- 
 success upon the notice of the Federal Legislature on January 
 21, 1805. 
 
 Up to the year 1818 'Abolition proclivities' seemed to be 
 confined pretty much to a section around Philadelphia, wherever 
 Quaker influence extended. It was then taken up by the 
 Yankees as a political weapon to obtain control of the general 
 government. Henry Clay, a Southerner, in order to gain popu- 
 larity in the North, began a system of compromises, by bargain- 
 ing away the rights of the South, the result of which was a 
 division of the Louisiana territory, by the establishment of the 
 ' Missouri Line,' which restricted the migration of slavery to 
 36° 30' N. lat. This arrangement was clearly a violation of the 
 Constitution, as well as of the Treaty with France in 1803, and 
 was, for those reasons, repealed in 1854. Mr. Clay, although a 
 man of great ability, thus sowed very early the seeds of discord 
 between the States. His ' American system ' — ■ high tariffs — 
 also played into the hands of the North, and were equally un- 
 constitutional. He, too, was a warm supporter of a national 
 bank. In fact, all his measures were unsound and impolitic. 
 In his case, it may be truly said, that the ' evil that men do 
 ' lives after them ; the good is oft interred with their bones.' 
 Mr. Clay, prior to his death, made several strong pro-slavery 
 speeches ; he likewise changed his views concerning a tariff 
 and a bank. 
 
 THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. 
 
 In regard to fugitive slaves, the Constitution of the United 
 States says, in Article IV. section 2, second and third para- 
 graphs : — 
 
 ' A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other 
 ' crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another 
 ' State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State 
 ' from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the 
 ' State having jurisdiction of the crime. 
 
230 FUGITIVE SLAVE LAAV. 
 
 ' No person held to service or labour in one State, under the 
 ' laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence 
 ' of any law or regulation, be discharged from such service or 
 ' labour, but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to 
 ' whom such service or labour may be due.' 
 
 In the Convention these clauses were agreed to unanimously. 
 They stipulate, first ; felons, called ' fugitives from justice ; ' 
 second, ' apprentices or indentured servants,' or persons ' held 
 ' to service ; ' and third, slaves or persons ' held to labour.' 
 These provisions render it incumbent upon all States that are 
 members of the Union to ' deliver up ' any persons of the three 
 classes, in accordance with the law entitled, ' An Act respect- 
 ' ing fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the 
 ' service of their masters,' approved by President Washington, 
 February 12, 1793, at whose recommendation it was passed 
 by Congress, the Senate voting unanimously, the House nearly 
 so. Although this Act imposed penalties on all persons who 
 would obstruct or hinder the arrest of fugitives or conceal them, 
 it was in the course of time disregarded by many of the Northern 
 States, who openly ' nullified ' its provisions.* It therefore 
 became necessary, in the year 1850, to enact amendments 
 thereto, in order to protect the Southern States from this 
 flagrant Yankee violation of the Constitution. It will be per- 
 ceived that it was George Washington, and not ]Mr. Mason, who 
 was the author of the Fugitive Slave Law. 
 
 The Constitution of the Confederate States has a similar 
 clause, but is much more honest in its expression than its 
 predecessor. It says : — 
 
 [The second paragraph is identical with that of the Federal 
 document.] 
 
 * No State lias a right to remain in the Union and nullify a constitutional 
 .Vet of C'ongi-ess : when she hecomes displeased with the provisions of the 
 Federal compact, she should secede. The case of South Carolina in 1832 
 was different from that of the Yankee States: she ignored an nnconsti- 
 tutional Act of the Washington Senate and House of Eepresentatives, as 
 she had a right to do, and forced the North to alter the taiiflf. This matter 
 of nullification has been much misstated, and not generally understood. 
 Many cities in America have refused to ahide by the action of the State 
 Legislature, in consequence of those bodies ha\Tng exceeded the authority 
 delegated to them. Counties in England, too, have frequently nullified Acts 
 of Parliament. 
 
MASSACHUSETTS NULLIFICATION. 231 
 
 The third recites : — 
 
 ' No slave or other person held to service or labour in any 
 ' State or territory of the Confederate States, under the laws 
 ' thereof, escaping or lawfully carried into another, shall, in 
 ' consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged 
 ' from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim 
 ' of the party to whom such slave belongs, or to whom such 
 ' service or labour may be due.' 
 
 Massachusetts, even after the ' compromise of 1850,' passed 
 the following Act of Nullification (in 1855) : — 
 
 ' No person, while holding any office of honour, trust, or 
 ' emolument under the laws of this commonwealth, shall in 
 ' any capacity issue any warrant or other proof, or grant any 
 ' certificate under or by virtue of an Act of Congress, approved 
 ' the 13th day of February, in the year 1793, entitled, " An 
 ' " Act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping 
 ' " from the service of their masters ; " or under or by virtue of 
 ' au Act of Congress, approved the 18th day of September, 1850, 
 ' entitled, "An Act to amend, and supplementary to an act 
 ' " respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from 
 ' " the service of their masters ; " or shall in any capacity serve 
 ' any such warrant or other process.' 
 
 If any officer of the State should comply with the provisions 
 of the Acts of 1793 and 1850 he is subject to the following 
 penalty: — 
 
 ' His office sliall be deemed vacant, and he shall for ever 
 ' thereafter be ineligible to hold any office of trust, honour, or 
 ' emolument, under the laws of this commonwealth.' 
 
 If a lawyer shall serve on behalf of the owner of the slave, 
 the law thus deals with him : — 
 
 ' He shall be deemed to have resigned any commission from 
 ' the commonwealth that he may possess ; and he shall be 
 ' thereafter incapacitated from appearing as counsel or attorney 
 ' in the courts of this commonwealth.' 
 
 Judges, too, who are sworn to support the Constitution of the 
 United States, and laws made under its authority, who may 
 issue a warrant under the Acts specified, are to be disposed of 
 in this manner : — 
 
 ' It shall be considered as a violation of good behaviour, as 
 
232 SUPREME COUKT. 
 
 ' well as a reason for loss of confidence, and as furnishing suffi- 
 ' cient grounds, either for impeachment or removal by address.' 
 
 ' And if any sheriff, gaoler, coroner, constable, or other officer 
 ' of the commonwealth, including militia officers, who shall even 
 ' aid in arresting, imprisoning, detaining, or returning any 
 ' person, for the reason that he is claimed or adjudged to be a 
 ' fugitive from service or labour, shall be punished by fine, not 
 ' less than /1, 000, and not exceeding ^^2,000, and imprisoned 
 ' in the state prison for not less than one nor more than two 
 ' years.' 
 
 Here, then, is the State of Massachusetts — -and many others 
 are equally culpable — ignoring, in the most unscrupulous man- 
 ner, a law that the Constitution expressly provided for. But 
 what can be thought of Pennsylvania, who has likewise been 
 guilty of the same misconduct ? It was at the request of this 
 latter State for the return of a slave that had escaped from her 
 borders into Maryland, that Washington advised Congress to 
 enact the Fugitive Slave Law ; and this, too, was thirteen years 
 after the passage of her Act of gradual abolition, which did not 
 free a single slave. 
 
 The Supreme Court of the United States has fully recognised 
 the constitutional protection to the right of property in slaves. 
 In the case of Prigg v. the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it 
 was asserted by every judge on the bench, that the design of 
 the clause in the Constitution above quoted was ' to secure to 
 ' the citizens of the slave-holding states the complete right and 
 ' title of ownership in the slaves, as property, in every State in 
 ' the Union into which they might escape from the State where 
 ' they were held in servitude.' These are the very words of 
 Mr. Justice Story, of Massachusetts, in delivering the opinion 
 of the Court. He added : ' The full recognition of this right 
 ' and title was indispensable to the security of this species of 
 ' property in all the slave-holding States ; and, indeed, was so 
 ' vital to the preservation of the domestic interests and institu- 
 ' tions, that it cannot be doubted that it constituted a funda- 
 ' mental article, without which the Constitution could not have 
 ' been formed.' Judge McLean of Ohio said : ' It was designed 
 ' to protect the rights of the master, and against whom ? Not 
 ' against the State, nor the people of the State, in which he 
 
DEPOETATION OF SLAVES. 233 
 
 ' resides ; but against the people and legislative action of other 
 ' States, where the fugitive from labour might be found. 
 ' Under the Confederation, the master had no legal means of 
 ' enforcing his kiohts in a State opposed to slavery. A disregard 
 ' of rights thus asserted was deeply felt in the South. It 
 ' produced great excitement, and would have led to results 
 ' destructive of the Union. To avoid this, the constitutional 
 
 ' guarantee was essential I cannot perceive how anyone 
 
 ' can doubt that the remedy given in the Constitution, if, indeed, 
 ' it give any remedy without legislation, was designed to be a 
 ' powerful one — a remedy sanctioned by judicial authority — a 
 ' remedy guarded by the forms of law. But the enquiry is 
 ' reiterated. Is not the master entitled to his property ? I 
 ' answer that he is. If is right is guaranteed by the Gonstitu- 
 ' tion; and the most summary means for its enforcement is 
 ' found in the Act of Congress. And neither the State nor its 
 ' citizens can obstruct the prosecution of this right.' 
 
 THE DEPOETATION OF SLAVES. 
 
 With the exception of the edict of Mr. Lincoln, the only 
 emancipation decree ever issued in America was that by Lord 
 Dunmore, after all control over affairs in Virginia had passed 
 out of his hands. When the House of Burgesses of that colony 
 took the matter of the Boston Port Bill into consideration, and 
 appointed June 1, 1774, the day on which it was to go into 
 operation, to be observed as a fast, he dissolved the Assembly 
 (May 26) ; but most of its members met the next day, and 
 resolved that an attack upon one colony was an attack upon all, 
 threatening ruin to the rights of all, unless repelled by the 
 ■• united wisdom of the whole,' and a committee was appointed 
 to communicate with the other colonies on the expediency of a 
 general Congress. The Governor's oppressive measures brought 
 down upon him the indignation of the people, and he was even- 
 tually compelled to fly for refuge to a British man-of-war, then 
 lying in the James Kiver, from which he some time afterwards 
 issued the following proclamation : — 
 
234 EAKL OF DUNMORE. 
 
 'By his Excellency the Eight Hon. John Earl of Dunmore, 
 ' His Majesty's Lieutenant and Grovernor-Greneral of the 
 ' Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice- Admiral of the 
 ' same: — 
 
 'A Proclamation. 
 
 ' As r have ever entertained hopes that an accommodation 
 ' might have taken place between Great Britain and this colony 
 ' without being compelled by my duty to this most disagreeable, 
 ' but now absolutely necessary step, rendered so by a body of 
 ' armed men, unlawfully assembled, firing on His Majesty's 
 ' tenders ; and the formation of an army now on their march to 
 ' attack His Majesty's troops and destroy the well-disposed 
 ' subjects of this colony ; to defeat such treasonable purposes, 
 ' and that all such traitors and their abettors may be brought 
 ' to justice, and that the peace and good order of this colony 
 ' may be again restored, which the ordinary course of the civil 
 ' law is unable to effect, I have thought fit to issue this my 
 ' proclamation, hereby declaring that until the aforesaid good 
 ' purpose can be obtained, I do, in virtue of the power and 
 ' authority to me given by His Majesty, determine to execute 
 ' martial law, and cause the same to be executed throughout this 
 ' colony. And, to the end that peace and good order may the 
 ' sooner be restored, Ido require every person capable of bearing 
 ' arms to resort to His Majesty's standard, or be looked upon as 
 ' traitors to His Majesty's Crown and Government, and thereby 
 ' become liable to the penalty the law inflicts upon such offences, 
 ' such as forfeiture of life, confiscation of lands, &c. AikI I do 
 ' hereby further declare all indentured servants, negroes, or 
 ' others {appertaining to rebels) free, that are able and ivilling 
 ' to bear artns, they joining His Majesty's troops as soon as 
 - may be, for the more speedily reducing this colony to a proper 
 ' sense of their duty to His Majesty's Croivn and dignity. I 
 ' do further order and require all His Majesty's liege subjects 
 ' to retain their quit rents, or any other taxes due, or that may 
 ' become due, till such time as peace may be again restored 
 ' to this at present most unhappy country ; or till they may be 
 ' demanded of them for their former salutary purposes by 
 ' oflScers properly authorised to receive the same. 
 
TREATY OF PEACE. 235 
 
 ' Given under my hand, on board the ship William, off 
 ' Norfolk, this 7th day of November, in the sixth year of his 
 ' Majesty's reign (a.d. 1775). 
 
 ' DUNMOEE. 
 
 ' God save the King.' 
 
 In accordance with this proclamation some 30,000 slaves 
 ■were carried off, or induced to leave their mastej's ; but they 
 were not all employed in the military service. About 3,000 
 vsfere shipped to the West Indies, and there sold into renewed 
 bondage — the average value being about 56 L sterling. 
 A large number died in Virginia of camp fever ; many 
 others, labouring under disease, and afraid to return to the 
 plantations, wandered into the woods and perished. Those 
 negroes that remained with the army were sent to Nova Scotia, 
 and in 1792, they, then numbering 1,170, were removed to 
 Sierra Leone, that colony having been founded in 1787 by 
 clearing London of all its negro inhabitants, 470. 
 
 Although the American war was virtually brought to a close 
 by the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, on the 19th of 
 October 1781, the provisional 'Articles agreed upon by and 
 ' between Richard Oswald, Esq., the Commissioner of His 
 ' Britannic Majesty, for treating of peace with the Commissioners 
 ' of the United States of America [the States mentioned by name 
 ' in the body of the document], in behalf of His said Majesty, on 
 ' the one part, and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, 
 ' and Henry Laurens, four of the Commissioners of the said 
 ' States, for treating of peace with the Commissioner of His said 
 ' Majesty, on their behalf, on the other part,' were not signed 
 at Paris until the 30th of November 1782 ; the ' Armistice de- 
 ' daring a cessation of hostilities between the United States 
 ' and Great Britain,' at Versailles, until the 30th of January 
 1783; and the 'definite treaty of peace between the United 
 ' States of America and His Britannic Majesty,' until the 
 3rd of September 1783. The seventh article of the first and 
 last treaties reads : — 
 
 ' There shall be a firm and perpetual peace between His 
 ' Britannic Majesty and the said States, and between the 
 ' subjects of the one and the citizens of the other ; wherefore 
 
236 MISUNDEKSTANDING. 
 
 ' all the hostilities, by both sea and land shall [" then im- 
 ' " mediately " in provisional, and " from henceforth " in the 
 ' definite treaty] cease ; all prisoners on both sides shall be set 
 ' at liberty, and His Britannic Majesty shall, with all convenient 
 ' speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying 
 ' away any negroes, or other property of the American in- 
 ' habitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons, and fleets from 
 ' the said United States, and from every [" port " in first, and 
 ' " post " in last document] place and harbour within the same ; 
 ' leaving in all fortifications the American artillery that may be 
 ' therein ; and shall also order and cause all archives, records, 
 ' deeds, and papers, belonging to any of the said States, or their 
 ' citizens, which in the course of the war may have fallen into 
 ' the hands of his officers, to be forthwith returned and delivered 
 ' to the proper States and persons to whom they belong.' 
 
 Great Britain did not carry out her agreement in respect to 
 the negroes. Sir Guy Carleton, in reply to Washington's 
 demand, declared that British officers could not give up those 
 who had been invited to their standard, but reserved the point 
 for his Government to consider, and in the meantime allowed and 
 facilitated the taking of schedules of all the slaves, their names, 
 ages, sex, former owners, and States to which they belonged. 
 The British Government resisted demands for compensation to 
 the owners on the ground tliat,- being taken in war, no matter 
 how, negroes became, like other plunder, the property of the 
 captors, who had a right to dispose of it as they pleased, and had 
 chosen to set it free ; that the slaves, having become free, belonged 
 to nobody, and consequently it was no breach of the treaty stipu- 
 lation to carry them away. It will be observed that the officers 
 declined to surrender the fugitives onone ground, and theGovern- 
 ment on another. But should not the case, according to the 
 latter construction, have been decided by a properly constituted 
 prize court ? The matter was contested by the ' Congress of the 
 Confederation' to the end of its existence, on the 3rd of March 
 1789, and afterwards resumed by the new Government under 
 the Constitution, which went into operation on the 30th of April 
 1789. Washington, as President, in his first message to 
 Congress, presented the non-execution of the treaty in this 
 particular, among others, as one of the justly existing causes of 
 
TREATY OF CillENT. 237 
 
 complaint against Great Britain ; and all the diplomacy of his 
 administration was exerted to obtain redress, but in vain. The 
 treaties of 1794 and 1796 made no allusion to the subject; 
 and being left unprovided for, the claim sank into the class 
 of obsolete demands; the stipulation remained a dead letter, 
 although containing the precise words and the additional one 
 ' negroes,' on which the Emperor Alexander, in quality of arbiter, 
 subsequently took the stand, as will presently be seen, which 
 commanded compensation, and dispensed with arguments founded 
 on the laws of the war. 
 
 In the war of 1812-14, the British adopted the same 
 system of warfare : they encouraged the slaves to desert from 
 their owners, promising them freedom, and finally carrying 
 them off. John Quincy Adams, Jonathan Russell, and Albert 
 Grail atin from the Northern States, and James A. Bayard and 
 Henry Clay from the Southern States, the United States' 
 Commissioners at Grhent, being aware of this, inserted in the 
 first article of the treaty concluded at that place on the 24th of 
 December 1814, these words : — 
 
 ' All territories, places, and possessions whatsoever taken by 
 ' either party from the other, during the war, or which may be 
 ' taken after the signing of this treaty, excepting only the islands 
 ' hereinafter mentioned, shall be restored without delay, and 
 ' without causing any destruction, or carrying away any of the 
 ' artillery or other public property originally captured in the said 
 ' forts or places and which shall remain therein upon the ex- 
 ' change of the ratifications of the treaty, or any slaves or other 
 ' private property.' 
 
 The British Government undertook to extend the limitation 
 applying to public property to that which was private also ; and 
 so to restore only such slaves as were within the forts, at the 
 time of the exchange of ratification — a construction which 
 would not have included the return of negroes that had been 
 induced to run away, or those that left the forts before the 
 confirmation of the treaty. She adhered to the construction 
 which she gave to the parallel article in the treaty of 1783. The 
 American Government, on the contrary, insisted upon the 
 return of all the negroes, or compensation for those that were 
 missing. 
 
238 RUSSIAN ARBITRAMENT. 
 
 The point of difference was finally left to the arbitrament of 
 the Emperor Alexander of Eussia, the United States being 
 represented by Mr. Henry Middleton, and Great Britain by Sir 
 Charles Bagot — the Coimts Nesselrode and Capo d'Istria 
 receiving the arguments to be laid before the Czar. His 
 Majesty's decision was peremptory : ' That the United States of 
 ' America are entitled to a just indemnification from Great 
 ' Britain for all private property carried away by the British 
 ' forces ; and as the question regards slaves more especially, for 
 ' all such slaves as were carried away by the British forces 
 ' from the places and territories of which the restitution was 
 ' stipulated by the treaty, in quitting the said places and 
 ' territories.' This was explicit ; but the British Minister 
 saw fit to imderstand it as not applying to slaves who 
 voluntarily joined the army to free themselves from bondage, 
 and who came from places never in possession of the British 
 troops ; and he submitted a note to that effect to the Eussian 
 Minister, Count Nesselrode, to be laid before the Emperor, to 
 which he received the following reply : — ' The Emperor having, 
 ' by the mutual consent of the two plenipotentiaries, given 
 ' an opinion founded solely upon the sense which results from 
 ' the text of the article in dispute, does not think himself called 
 ' upon to decide here any question relative to what the laws 
 ' of war permit or forbid to the belligerents ; but always faith- 
 ' ful to the grammatical interpretation, that, in quitting the 
 ' places and territories of which the treaty of Ghent stipulates 
 ' the restitution to the United States, His Britannic Majesty's 
 ' forces had no right to carry away from the same places and 
 ' territories absolutely any slave, by whatever means he had 
 ' fallen or come into their power.' A convention was then 
 formally drawn up for the purpose of putting the Emperor's 
 decision into effect, by establishing a Board to ascertain the 
 numbers and value of the disputed slaves; it was signed in 
 triplicate by the Commissioners of the three Powers. Further 
 misunderstandings arose, five years more were consumed in 
 diplomatic notes, and then a new Convention was concluded at 
 London, on the 13th of November 1826, between Albert 
 Gallatin, on the part of the United States, and the Right Hon. 
 
CONVENTION OF 1826. 239 
 
 William Huskisson and Henry Unwin Addington, Esq. on the 
 part of Great Britain. 
 
 It commenced thus : — 
 
 ' Difficulties having arisen in the execution of the convention 
 ' concluded at St. Petersburg on the 12th day of July 1822, 
 ' under the mediation of His Majesty the Emperor of all the 
 ' Eussias, between the United States of America and Great 
 ' Britain, for the purpose of carrying into effect the decision of 
 ' His Imperial Majesty upon the differences which had arisen 
 ' between the said United States and Great Britain as to the 
 ' true construction and meaning of the first article of the 
 ' treaty of peace and amity concluded at Ghent on the 24th 
 ' day of December 1814, the said United States and His 
 ' Britannic Majesty, being equally desirous to obviate such 
 ' difficulties, have respectively named plenipotentiaries to treat 
 ' and agree respecting the same. 
 
 ' Article 1. His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of 
 ' Great Britain and Ireland agrees to pay, and the United States 
 ' of America agree to receive, for the use of the persons entitled 
 ' to indemnification and compensation, by virtue of the said 
 ' decision and convention, the sum of twelve hundred and four 
 ' thousand nine hundred and sixty dollars current money of the 
 ' United States, in lieu of, and in full and complete satisfaction 
 ' for, all sums claimed or claimable from Great Britain, by any 
 ' person or persons whatsoever, under the said decision and 
 ' convention.' 
 
 The sum named in this article was satisfactory to the 
 claimants, and the United States received the money and paid 
 it over to them in 1827. More important than the acquisition 
 of money, the example and principle thus established was an 
 advantage gained by the Americans. 
 
 It will be observed by the precedent furnished in this 
 historical sketch that Mr. Lincoln's proclamation granting 
 freedom to the slaves in the Confederate States becomes so 
 much waste paper, and that the Northern States will have to 
 restore all slaves taken, as well as those that may have escaped 
 within the Federal lines, or make ample compensation to the 
 owners for their loss. 
 
240 PERSONS AND PROPERTY. 
 
 THE POSITION OF SLAVES IN THE AMEEICAI^' STATES. 
 
 Slaves are recognised as persons as well as property in 
 America. Mr. Jay thus explained, in the 'Federalist,' their 
 status : — 
 
 ' We must deny, the fact that slaves are considered merely as 
 ' property, and in no respect whatever as persons. The true state 
 ' of the case is, that they partake of both these qualities, being 
 ' considered by our laws in some respects as persons, and in 
 ' other respects as property. In being compelled to labour, not 
 ' for himself, but for a master ; in being vendible from one 
 ' master to another master ; and in being subject at all times 
 ' to be restrained in his liberty and chastised in his body by the 
 ' capricious will of his owner ; the slave may appear to be 
 ' degraded from the human rank, and classed with those 
 ' irrational animals which fall under the legal denomination of 
 ' property. In being protected, on the other hand, in his life 
 ' and in his limb, against the violence of all others, even the 
 ' master of his labour and his liberty ; and in being punishable 
 ' himself for all violence committed against others ; the slave 
 ' is no less evidently regarded by the law as a member of the 
 ' society, not as a part of the irrational creation ; as a moral 
 ' person, not as a mere article of property. The Federal Con- 
 ' stitution, therefore, decides with great propriety on the case of 
 ' our slaves, when it views them in the mixed character of 
 ' persons and property. This is, in fact, their true character ; 
 ' it is the character bestowed on them by the laws under which 
 ' they live, and it will not be disputed that these are the proper 
 ' criteria.' 
 
 Slavery, too, is recognised by international law. Mr. Bayard, 
 of Delaware, speaking on this branch of the subject in the 
 Federal Senate, March 1861, said: — 
 
 ' The doctrine that slavery only exists by positive law means, 
 ' that when the slave is carried beyond the jurisdiction of a 
 ' State which sanctions and authorises slavery by its positive 
 ' law, he becomes entitled to his freedom. If, then, the Federal 
 ' Grovernment does not recognise the right of property in slaves, 
 ' what becomes of the property in a slave when, under the 
 ' Federal flag, the vessel is more than a marine league from the 
 
SPEECH OP ME. BAYARD. 241 
 
 * shore ? There is no State jurisdiction, there is no authority to 
 ' keep him in a state of bondage, if the principle be sound, that 
 ' the moment he gets beyond the jurisdiction of a State, which 
 ' sanctions slavery, he is entitled to his freedom, unless the 
 ' Federal Government recognises the right of property in 
 ' slaves. If the vessel were forced, by stress of weather, to 
 ' enter the port of a foreign power, and the slaves were declared 
 ' free, the Federal Grovernment could make no demand upon the 
 ' foreign Grovernment for compensation to the owner, if it does 
 ' not recognise the right of property ; and in cases such as the 
 ' Enterprise, the Comet, and the Creole, would be entirely 
 ' abandoned by an administration holding this dogma of the 
 ' republican party, that freedom is national, and slavery local, 
 ' and that the Federal Grovernment does not recognise property 
 ' in slaves. In two of those cases, where the vessel was driven 
 ' into harbour by stress of weather, the British Grovernment at 
 ' first resisted the claim for compensation, but subsequently 
 ' paid the value of the slaves to the claimants. In the third, 
 ' the Creole, they refused, notwithstanding the forcible argument 
 ' of Mr. Webster, under the law of nations, in favour of the 
 ' claimant ; but, ultimately, under the convention with Grreat 
 ' Britain, when the case came before a commission, the umpire 
 ' decided in favour of the American claimant, and the sum 
 
 ' awarded as the value of the slaves was paid to him. 
 
 * * * # « 
 
 ' But it has been said that slavery is the mere creature of 
 ' positive law. All property is the creature of positive law. 
 ' The true doctrine is, that though slavery exists by virtue of 
 ' local law, as all property must, it was and is recognised by the 
 ' law of nations ; and that, being property, it is entitled to pro- 
 ' tection, unless voluntarily taken within the jurisdiction of a 
 ' State or Nation where positive law, written or unwritten, pro- 
 ' hibits the relation. I shall not trouble the Senate with an 
 ' argument on this question, but barely refer to those authorities 
 ' which I suppose to vindicate the position — the position I 
 ' assume in relation to the right of property in a slave as exist- 
 * ing under the law of nations. These are the decisions of Lord 
 ' Stowell, one of the ablest jurists and most commanding 
 ' authorities on all questions connected with the law of nations 
 
 K 
 
242 PKOPEETY IN SLAVES. 
 
 ' that can be found in the history of jurisprudence, in the case 
 ' of the Louis, in 2 Dodson ; the decision of the Supreme 
 ' Court of the United States, sanctioning that adjudication, and 
 ' adopting its principles in the case of the Antelope ; and the 
 ' decision of the Court of King's Bench in the case of Madrago 
 ' against Wilks, to be found, if my recollection is right, in 3 
 ' Barnewall and Alderson. Lord Mansfield himself explained, 
 ' in 4 Douglas, that the extravagant dictum, which is imputed 
 ' to him in the case of Somersett, does not sustain the principle 
 ' in support of which it has so often been relied upon. He 
 ' said, in the case in 4 Douglas, that where a negro came to 
 ' England as a slave, and lived with his master, if an action 
 ' were brought for the value of the service, though the service 
 ' might be rendered, he always non-suited the plaintiff, unless 
 ' there was an express contract proved ; and such never could 
 ' have been his decision, unless he recognised the existence 
 ' of the relation as continuing to that extent in England. 
 
 ' But the doctrine that the Constitution of the United States 
 ' does not recognise slavery, and that the Federal Grovernment 
 ' is not bound to protect it to the extent of its jurisdiction, 
 ' limited as that jurisdiction is, involves an absurd conclusion. 
 ' The primary object of all government is the protection of 
 ' persons and property ; and to argue that a right of property 
 ' which existed in twelve States of this Union, when the 
 ' Constitution was formed, was not intended to be within the 
 ' protection, to the extent of its jurisdiction, of the common 
 * government formed by thirteen States, is irrational and absurd. 
 ' It needs no refutation. The object of all government being 
 ' the protection of person and property, it would follow 
 ' necessarily, that when the States constituted a common 
 ' government, this property existing at the time of its con- 
 ' struction in twelve of the thirteen States, that government was 
 ' as much bound to protect such property as any other species 
 ' of property ; and if the obligation of government existed then, 
 ' I am at a loss to see how it has now ceased. 
 
 ' In addition, I will quote the language of Mr. "Webster, used 
 
 ' in the argument addressed to Lord Ashburton, in reference to 
 
 the case of the Creole. This was the case of a mutiny in which 
 
 ' the slaves took possession of the vessel, and carried her into 
 
LAW OF NATIONS. 243 
 
 ' one of the Bahama Islands, where they were set free by the 
 ' local authorities, and a claim was made for damages, which 
 ' was resisted by Great Britain; but, as I have stated, was 
 ' ultimately decided in favour of the claimants, under the Con- 
 ' vention of 1853, by the umpire. In the course of that letter, 
 ' dated August 1, 1842, Mr. Webster said: — 
 
 ' " In the Southern States of this Union, slavery exists 
 ' " by the laws of the States and under the guarantee of the 
 ' " Constitution of the United States, and it has existed in them 
 ' " for a period long antecedent to the time when they ceased 
 ' " to be British Colonies." 
 
 ' Again, after instancing the case of marriages in one country 
 ' held valid in another, though celebrated in a manner not 
 ' lawful in that other, he said : — 
 
 ' " It may be said, that in such' instances personal relations 
 ' " are founded in contract, and therefore to be respected ; 
 ' " but that the relation of master and slave is not founded in 
 ' " contract, and therefore is to be respected only by the law of 
 ' " the place which recognises it. Whoever so reasons, en- 
 ' "counters the whole body of public law, from Grrotius 
 ' " down, because there are numerous instances in which the 
 ' " law itself presumes or implies contracts ; and prominent 
 ' " among those instances is the very relation which we are now 
 ' " considering, and which relation is holden by law to draw 
 ' " after it mutuality of obligation." 
 
 ' Considering the weight and authority of the whole body of 
 ' jurists and publicists, though exceptional opinions may be 
 ' found, the result is, that slavery was the universal practice of 
 ' man for ages ; that the right to hold property in slaves became 
 ' part of the law of nations by universal usage, originating in 
 ' captivity in war; and that being so established, unless 
 ' abolished by all nations, it, of course, is a right of property 
 ' still existent ; and when one nation chooses to retain it, the 
 ' right rests not in others to alter the law of nations as it formerly 
 ' existed, though each nation may prohibit the existence of the 
 ' relation within its own jurisdiction.' 
 
 B 2 
 
244 LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS, ETC. 
 
 LAWS ADVEESE TO EEEE NEGEOES IN THE NOKTH, AND FOE 
 THE PEOTECTION OE SLAVE NEGEOES IN THE SOUTH. 
 
 The Northern States. 
 
 The Legislature of Massachusetts (then including Maine) 
 enacted in 1788 the following law, revised the same in 1798, 
 and again in 1802 : — 
 
 ' That no person, being an African or negro, other than a 
 ' subject of the Emperor of Morocco, or a citizen of the United 
 ' States, to be evidenced by a certificate, &c., shall tarry -within 
 ' this commonwealth for a longer time than two months ; if he 
 ' does, the justices have power to order such person to depart, 
 ' &c., and if such person shall not depart within ten days, &c., 
 ' such person shall be comtnitted to the prison or house of 
 ' correction. And for this offence, &c., he shall be whipped, &c., 
 ' and ordered again to depart in ten days ; and if he does not, the 
 ' same process and punishment to be inflicted, and so toties 
 ' quoties.' 
 
 Marriage between the white and black races is prohibited in 
 Massachusetts and by Maine, by the laws of 1705, 1786 and 
 1835. 
 
 Connecticut, by statute of 1792, declared: — 
 
 ' That when an inhabitant of the United States (this state 
 ' excepted) shall come to reside in any town in this state, the 
 ' civil authorities, or major part of them, are authorised, upon 
 ' the application of the select men, if they judge proper, by 
 ' warrant under their hands, directed to either of the constables 
 ' of said town, to order said person to be conveyed to the State 
 ' from whence he or she came.' 
 
 ' The select men of the town are to warn any person not an 
 ' inhabitant of this State, to depart from such town ; and the 
 ' person so warned, if he does not depart, shall forfeit and pay 
 ' to the treasurer of such town, one dollar and sixty-seven cents 
 ' per week. If such person refuse to depart or pay his fine, 
 ' such person shall be whipped on the naked body, not exceeding 
 ' ten stripes, unless such person depart in ten days.' 
 
 ' If any such person return after warning, he is to be whipped 
 ' again, and sent away, and as often as there is occasion.' 
 
LAWS OF VERMONT, ETC. 243 
 
 The statute of 1796 says : — 
 
 'Whatsoever negro, mulatto, or Indian servant, shall be 
 ' found wandering out of the bounds of the town or place to 
 ' which they belong, without a ticket or pass in writing, to be 
 ' taken up,' &c. 
 
 ' No free negro is to travel without a pass from the select men 
 ' or judges.' 
 
 ' Every free person shall be punished by fine, &c., for buying 
 ' or receiving anything from a free negro, mulatto, or Indian 
 ' servant.' 
 
 Vermont declared in 1801, that : — 
 
 ' The select men shall have power to remove from the State 
 ' any persons who come there to reside. And any person 
 ' removed, and returaing without permission of the select men, 
 ' shall be whipped not exceeding ten stripes.' 
 
 The laws of Ehode Island are : — 
 
 ' The town council shall, if any free negro or mulatto shall 
 ' keep a disorderly house, or entertain any person or persons at 
 ' unreasonable hours, break up his house and bind him out to 
 ' service for two years.' 
 
 ' That no white person, Indian, or mulatto, or negro, keeping 
 ' house in any town, shall entertain any Indian, mulatto or negro, 
 ' servant or slave ; if he does, to be punished by fine,' &c. 
 
 'That none (Indian, negroes, and mulatto servants) should 
 ' be absent at night, after nine o'clock. If found out, to be 
 ' taken up and committed to jail till morning, and then appear 
 ' before a justice of the peace, who is ordered and directed to 
 ' cause such servant or slave to be publicly whipped by the 
 ' constable, ten stripes.' 
 
 ' That whosoever is suspected of trading with a servant or 
 ' slave, and shall refuse to purge himself by oath, shall be 
 ' adjudged guilty, and sentence shall be given against him,' &c. 
 
 New York, in 1801, passed this statute : — 
 
 ' If a stranger be entertained in the dwelling-house or out- 
 ' ho.use of any citizen for fifteen days, without giving notice to 
 ' the overseers of the poor, he shall pay a fine of five dollars.' 
 
 ' If such person continue above forty days, justices can call 
 ' on the inhabitants of the town or city, and the person may 
 ' be sent to jail, &c. And the justices may cause such stranger 
 
246 LAWS OF NEW JERSEY AND OHIO. 
 
 ' to be conveyed from constable to constable, until transported 
 ' into any other State, if from thence he came.' 
 
 ' If such person return, the justices, if they think proper, 
 ' may direct him to be whipped by every constable into whose 
 ' hands he shall come : to be whipped, if a man, not exceeding 
 ' thirty-nine lashes ; and if a woman, not exceeding twenty-five 
 ' lashes ; and so as often as such person shall return.' 
 
 In 1788, the Legislature enacted, that 'no person shall 
 ' harbour or conceal a slave from his master, under the penalty 
 ' of a fine of 51. sterling ; and if the slave died while thus 
 ' harboured, the party was liable to the owner for the value of the 
 ' slave ; nor could anyone trade or traffic with slaves without the 
 ' permission of the master, under the penalty of 5L and three 
 ' times 'the value of the article traded for.' And it was further 
 enacted, that — 
 
 ' If any slave shall strike a white person, it shall be lawful for 
 ' any justice of the peace to commit such slave to prison ; and 
 ' such slave shall be tried and punished therefor,' &c. 
 
 ' That from and after the passing of this Act, no slave shall be 
 ' admitted for or against any person in any matter, cause, or thing 
 ' whatsoever, civil or criminal, except in criminal cases in which 
 ' the evidence of one slave shall be admitted for or against 
 ' another slave.' 
 
 The law of New Jersey, 1798, declares : — 
 
 ' That no free negro or mulatto, of or belonging to this 
 ' State, shall be permitted to travel or remain in any county 
 ' in this State, other than in the county where his or her place 
 ' of residence xa&j lawfully be, without a certificate from the 
 ' justices of the peace of the county in which he or she 
 ' belonged, or from the clerk of the county, under the seal of 
 ' the court, certifying that such negro or mulatto was set free, 
 ' or deemed and taken to be free in such county. 
 
 ' That no slave shall be admitted as a witness against any 
 ' white person, or even a free negro, in any matter or cause 
 ' whatsoever.' 
 
 Ohio, in 1841, enacted: — 
 
 ' That no black or mulatto person or persons shall hereafter 
 ' be permitted to be sworn or give evidence in any court of 
 ' record, or elsewhere in this State, in any cause depending, or 
 
LAWS OF INDIANA. 247 
 
 ' matter or controversy, where either party to the same is a 
 ' white person, or in any prosecution which shall be instituted 
 ' in behalf of this State, against any white person.' 
 
 In 1860, a law passed the Legislature of Ohio, entitled 'An 
 ' Act to prevent the Amalgamation of the White and Coloured 
 ' Eaces.' Its provisions forbid persons possessing a visible 
 admixture of African blood to intermarry with any person of 
 pure white blood ; and if any person solemnize such a marriage, 
 he is liable to be fined not more than ;^100; or imprisoned 
 for a term not exceeding three months, at the discretion of the 
 court. 
 
 ' No white person shall intermarry with a negro or mulatto ; 
 ' and any marriages between a white person and a negro or 
 ' mulatto shall be absolutely void, without any legal proceed- 
 ' ings'; and all children born of such persons shall be declared 
 ' illegitimate and bastards.' 
 
 ' Every person who shall knowingly counsel, abet, or assist in 
 ' any way or manner whatever, in any marriage between any 
 ' negro and white person, or between any person having one- 
 ' eighth part or more of negro blood and any white person, 
 ' shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not less 
 ' than ^100, nor more than ^1,000.' 
 
 ' No'negi-o, mulatto, or Indian shall be a witness, except on 
 ' pleas of the State, against negroes, mulattoes, or Indians ; 
 ' and, in civil causes, where negroes, mulattoes, or Indians alone 
 ' are parties, every person other than a negro having one-fourth 
 * part negro blood or more, or any whose grandfathers or grand- 
 ' mothers shall have been a negro, shall be deemed an incom- 
 ' potent witness.' 
 
 The Constitution of Indiana, adopted in 1851, says: — 
 
 ' Article XIII. — 1. No negro or mulatto shall come into or 
 ' settle in the State after the adoption of this Constitution. 
 
 ' 2. All contracts made with any negro or mulatto coming 
 ' into the State, contrary to the provision of the foregoing 
 ' section, shall be void ; and any person who shall employ such 
 ' negro or mulatto, or otherwise encourage him to remain in the 
 ' State, shall be fined in any sum not less than $\0, nor more 
 'than ^500.' • « » 
 
 ' 3. All fines which may be collected for a violation of the 
 
248 LAWS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 ' provisions of this Article, or of any law which may hereafter 
 ' be passed for the purpose of carrying the same into execution, 
 ' shall be set apart and appropriated for the colonization of such 
 ' negroes and mulattoes, and their descendants, as may be in the 
 ' State at the adoption of this Constitution, and may be willing 
 ' to emigrate.' 
 
 ' 4. The General Assembly shall pass laws to carry out the 
 ' provisions of this Article.' 
 
 The Constitution of Illinois (1810) says : — 
 
 ' No person of colour, negro or mulatto, of either sex, shall 
 ' be joined in marriage with any white person, male or female, 
 ' in this State ; and all marriage or marriage contracts entered 
 ' into between such coloured person and white person, shall he 
 ' null and void in law ; and any person marrying or contracting 
 ' to marry shall be liable to pay a fine, be whipped in not 
 ' exceeding thirty-nine lashes, and be imprisoned no less than 
 ' one year.' 
 
 In the statutes of Illinois (revised in 1833) it is declared 
 by the Act of 1819 :— 
 
 ' That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to 
 ' bring into this State any negro or mulatto who shall be a 
 ' slave, or held to service at the time, for the purpose of emaa- 
 ' cipating or setting at liberty any such negro or mulatto ; and 
 ' any person or persons who shall bring in any such negro or 
 mulatto for the purpose aforesaid, shall give a bond to the 
 ' county commissioners where such slave or slaves are emanci- 
 ' pated, in the penalty of ^^1,000, conditioned that such person 
 ' emancipated by him shall not become a charge upon any 
 ' county in the State ; and every person neglecting or refusing 
 ' to give such bond shall forfeit and pay the sum of ;^200 for 
 ' each negro or mulatto so emancipated or set at liberty.' 
 
 It was likewise enacted in 1819 : 
 
 ' That any such servant (free negro), being lazy, disorderly, 
 ' or guilty of misbehaviour to his master, or master's family, 
 ' shall be corrected by stripes,' &c. 
 
 ' That no negro, mulatto, or Indian, shall at any time pur- 
 ' chase any servant other than their own complexion.' 
 
 ' 'All contracts between masters and servants during the time 
 ' of service shall be void.' 
 
LAWS OF ILLINOIS. 249 
 
 In 1827, it was enacted that : — 
 
 ' A negro, mulatto, or Indian, shall not be a witness in any 
 ' coiu-t, or in any case against a white person. 
 
 ' A person having one-fourth part negro blood shall be 
 ' adjudged a mulatto.' 
 
 In 1829, it was further enacted that : — 
 
 ' Any person who shall hereafter bring into this State any 
 ' black or mulatto person, in order to free him or her from 
 ' slavery, or shall, directly or indirectly, bring into this State, 
 ' or aid or assist any such black or mulatto person to settle or 
 ' reside therein, shall be fined ^100 on conviction or indictment, 
 ' or before any justice of the peace of the county.' 
 
 The statutes of 1833, state : — 
 
 ' That if any person or persons shall permit or suffer any 
 ' slave or slaves, servant or servants of colour, to the number of 
 ' three or more, to assemble in his, her, or their outhouse, yard, 
 ' or shed, for the purpose of dancing or revelling either by 
 ' night or by day, the person or persons so offending shall 
 ' forfeit and pay a fine of ^^20.' It was made ' the duty of all 
 ' coroners, sheriffs, judges, and justices of the peace, who shall 
 ' see or know of, or be informed of, any such assemblage of 
 ' slaves or servants, immediately to commit such slaves or 
 ' servants to the jail of the county, and on view or proof thereof, 
 ' order each and every such slave or servant to be whipped, not 
 ' exceeding thirty-nine stripes, on his or her bare back.' 
 
 In 1853, the following law was enacted : — 
 
 ' If any negro or mulatto, bond or free, shall hereafter come 
 ' into this State, with the intention of residing in the same, 
 ' every such negro or mulatto shall be deemed guilty of a high 
 ' misdemeanor, and for the first offence shall be fined the sum 
 ' of ^50, to be recovered before any justice of the peace in the 
 
 ' county where the said negro or mulatto may be found 
 
 ' If the said negro or mulatto shall be found guilty, and the 
 ' fine assessed be not forthwith paid, it shall be the duty of the 
 * said justice to commit the said negro or mulatto to the custody 
 ' of the sheriff of the said county; or otherwise keep him, her, 
 
 ' or them in custody The said justice shall, at public 
 
 ' auction, proceed to sell the said negro or mulatto to any 
 ' person that will pay the said fine and costs, for the shortest 
 
250 LAWS OF MICHIGAN, ETU. 
 
 ' time ; and the said purchaser shall have a right to compel 
 ' the said negro or mulatto to work for and serve out the said 
 ' time,' &c. 
 
 The law of Michigan declares that : — 
 
 ' No white person shall intermarry with a negro or mtilatto.' 
 
 The Constitution of Oregon (admitted into the Union in 1859) 
 
 ' No negro, Chinaman, or mulatto, shall have the right of 
 ' suffrage ; ' and further declares that : — ■ 
 
 ' No free negro, or mulatto, not residing in this State at the 
 ' time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall ever come, 
 ' reside, or be within this State, or hold any real estate, or make 
 ' any contract, or maintain any suit therein ; and the Legislative 
 ' Assembly shall proAdde by penal laws for the removal by public 
 ' ofiScers of all such free negroes and mulattoes, and for their 
 ' effectual exclusion from the State, and for the punishment of 
 ' persons who shall bring them into the State, or employ or 
 ' harbour them therein.' 
 
 -Free negroes cannot vote in Connecticut, New Jersey, Penn- 
 sylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 
 California and Oregon. Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 
 Vermont, Ehode Island, and New York, permit them to vote : 
 but in some cases, with property qualification. 
 
 The Southern States. 
 
 The Constitutions of Delaware and Maryland make no restric- 
 tions concerning the continuance of free negroes within their 
 limits. The Constitution of Virginia authorises the Legislature 
 to ' pass laws for the relief of the State from the free negro 
 ' population, by removal or otherwise.' But no laws appear to 
 have been passed to that effect; in 1860 there were 58,042 free 
 negroes within her limits, a greater number than in any State, 
 North or South, except Maryland. 
 
 The Constitution of North Carolina declares : — 
 ' No free negro, free mulatto, or free person of mixed blood, 
 ' descended from negro ancestors to the fourth generation in- 
 ' elusive (though one ancestor of each generation may have 
 ' been a white person), shall vote for members of the Senate or 
 ' House of Commons.' 
 
LAWS OP NOETH CAROLINA. 251 
 
 In all the Southern States there are very complete laws for 
 the protection of slaves. A few extracts will suffice to show 
 their general character. 
 
 In South Carolina, in 1 703, it was enacted, that : — 
 
 ' Any slave killing an enemy in time of invasion, shall be 
 ' granted his freedom. Any slave that gets wounded in the 
 ' attempt to kill an enemy, shall be supported at the public 
 ' expense. In either case the master shall be paid for his slave 
 ' from the public treasury.' 
 
 Subsequently it was enacted, that — 
 
 ' In case any person, &c., who shall be owner, or who shall 
 ' have the care, government or charge, of any slave or slaves, 
 ' shall deny, neglect, or refuse" to allow such slave or slaves 
 ' under his or her charge, sufficient clothing, covering, or food, 
 ' it shall and may be lawful for any person, on behalf of the 
 ' said slave or slaves, to make complaint to the next neighbouring 
 ' justice in the parish where such slave or slaves live or be 
 ' employed ; and the said justice shall summon the party 
 ' against whom such complaint shall be made, and shall enquire 
 ' of, hear, and determine the same ; . . . . and shall make 
 ' such orders for the relief of such slave or slaves as he in his 
 ' discretion shall think fit ; and shall and may set and impose a 
 ' fine or penalty on any person who may offend in the premises, 
 ' in any sum not exceeding twenty pounds current money, for 
 ' each offence, to be levied by warrant of distress, and the sale 
 ' of the offender's goods.' • 
 
 ' In case any slave or slaves who shall not appear to have been 
 ' fed and clothed according to the intent and meaning of this 
 ' Act, that is to say, to have been sufficiently clothed, and to 
 ' have constantly received from the preceding year an allowance 
 ' of not less than a quart of corn per day, shall be convicted of 
 ' stealing any corn, cattle, &c. &c., from any person not the 
 ' owner of said slave or slaves, such injured person shall and 
 ' may maintain an action of trespass against the master, owner, 
 ' or possessor of such slave, &c., and shall recover his or her 
 ' damages.' 
 
 The Statute of 1820 reads : — 
 
 ' That if any person or persons shall hereafter bring, or cause 
 ' to be brought into this State, any free negro or person of colour 
 
252 LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 ' and shall hold the same as a slave, or sell or offer the same for 
 ' sale, to any person or persons in this State, as a slave, every 
 ' such person or persons shall pay for every such free negro, or 
 ' free person of colour, the sum of ^1,000 over and above 
 ' the damages which may be recovered by such free negro.' 
 
 The Act of 1837 declares— 
 
 ' That whoever shall hereafter be convicted of the forcible or 
 ' fraudulent abduction of any free person of colour living within 
 ' this State, with intent to deprive him- or her of his or her liberty 
 ' shall be fined not less than ^1,000, and be imprisoned for 
 ' not less than twelve months ! ' 
 
 ' And whoever, in addition to such abduction, shall actually sell 
 ' or assist in selling, or cause to be sold, such person or slave, 
 ' shall, upon being convicted thereof, in addition to such fine and 
 ' imprisonment, receive thirty-nine lashes on the bare back.' 
 
 Judge O'Neall, of South Carolina, remarked : — 
 
 ' Although slaves, by the Act of 1 740, are declared to be chattels 
 ' personal, yet they are also, in our law, considered as persons 
 ' with many rights and liabilities, civil and criminal. The 
 ' right of protection which would belong to a slave, as a human 
 ' being, is, by the law of slavery, transferred to his master. A 
 ' master may protect the person of his slave from injury, by 
 ' repelling force with force, or by action, and in some cases by 
 ' indictment. Any injury done to the person of his slave, he 
 ' may redress by action of trespass vi et aiinis, without laying 
 ' the injury done, with a per quod Servitum amisit, and this 
 ' even though he may have hired the slave to another.' 
 
 ' By the Act of 1821, the murder of a slave is declared to be 
 ' felony, without the benefit of clergy ; and by the same Act, to 
 ' kill any slave, on sudden heat or passion, subjects the offender, 
 ' on conviction, to a fine of not exceeding $500, and imprison- 
 ' ment not exceeding six months. To constitute the miirder 
 ' of a slave, no other ingredients are necessary than such as 
 ' enter into the offence of murder at common law. So the 
 ' killing, on sudden heat and passion, is the same as man- 
 ' slaughter, and a finding by the jury, on an indictment for the 
 ' murder of a slave, if the verdict be guilty of manslaughter, it 
 ' is good, and the offender is to receive judgment under the Act. 
 ' An attempt to kill and murder a slave by shooting at him, was 
 
LAWS OF KENTUCKY, ETC. 253 
 
 ' held to be a misdemeanor, and indictable as an assault witb 
 ' an intent to kill and murder. This was a consequence of 
 ' making it murder to kill a slave.' 
 
 ' The Act of 1841 makes the unlawful whipping or beating 
 ' of any slave, without sufficient provocation by word or act, a 
 ' misdemeanor; and subjects the offender, on conviction, to 
 ' imprisonment not exceeding six months, and a iine not ex- 
 ' ceeding ^500.' 
 
 The Constitution of Kentucky says : — 
 
 ' The General Assembly shall pass laws, providing that any 
 ' free negro or mulatto hereafter immigrating to, and refusing 
 ' to leave this State, or having left, shall return and settle 
 ' within this State, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and be 
 ' punished by confinement in the penitentiary thereof.' 
 
 The constitution of Tennessee declares that : — 
 
 ' All men of colour shall be exempt from military tax in 
 ' time of peace ; and also from paying a free poll-tax.' 
 
 The laws of Georgia declare that — • 
 
 ' Any owner of a slave or slaves, who shall cruelly beat such 
 ' slave or slaves by unnecessary or excessive whipping ; by 
 ' withholding proper food and nourishment ; by requiring greater 
 ' labour from such slave or slaves than he, or she, or they may 
 ' be able to perform ; by not affording proper clothing, whereby 
 ' the health of such slave or slaves may be injured or impaired ; 
 ' every such owner or owners of slaves shall, upon sufficient 
 ' information being laid before the grand jury, be by said grand 
 ' jury presented ; whereupon it shall be the duty of the attorney 
 ' or solicitor-general to persecute such owner or owners for 
 ' misdemeanor; who, on conviction, shall be sentenced to pay 
 ' a fine, or imprisonment in the county jail, or both, at the 
 ' discretion of the court.' 
 
 * From and after the passing of this Act (1815), it shall be 
 ' the duty of the inferior courts of the several counties in this 
 ' State, on receiving information on oath, of any infirm slave or 
 ' slaves, in a suffering condition, from the neglect of the owner 
 ' or owners of said slave or slaves, to make particular inquiries 
 ' into the situation of such slave or slaves, and render such 
 ' relief as they, in their discretion, shall think fit. The said 
 ' courts may, and are hereby authorised to, sue for and recover 
 
254 IiAWS OF LOUISIANA, ETC. 
 
 ' from the owner or owners of such slave or slaves, in any court 
 ' having jurisdiction of the same, any law, usage, or custom to 
 ' the contrary notwithstanding.' 
 
 ' Any person who shall maliciously dismember, or deprive a 
 ' slave of his life, shall suffer such punishment as would be in- 
 ' flicted in case the like oifence had been committed on a free 
 ' white person, and on the like proof, except in case of insurrec- 
 ' tion by said slave, and unless such death should happen by 
 ' accident in giving such slave moderate correction.' 
 
 Louisiana requires that: — 
 
 ' Every owner shall be held to give his slaves the quantity of 
 ' provisions hereinafter specified — to wit, one barrel of Indian 
 ' corn, or the equivalent thereof in rice, beans, or other grain, and 
 ' a pint of salt ; and to deliver the same to the slaves in kind, 
 ' every month, and never in money, under a penalty of a fine of 
 ' ten dollars for every offence. The slave who shall not have, 
 ' on the property of his owner, a lot of ground to cultivate on 
 ' his own account, shall be entitled to receive from the said 
 ' owner one linen shirt and pantaloons for the summer, and a 
 ' linen and woollen great coat and pantaloons for the winter.' 
 
 ' As for the hours of work and rest which are to be assigned 
 ' to slaves in summer, the old usage of the territory shall be 
 ' adhered to : to wit, the slave shall be allowed half an hour for 
 ' breakfast during the whole year ; from the first of May to the 
 ' first day of November, they shall be allowed two hours for 
 ' dinner ; and from the first day of November to the first day of 
 ' May, one hour and a half for dinner. Provided, however, that 
 ' the owners who will themselves take the trouble of causing to 
 ' be prepared the meals of their slaves, be, and they are hereby 
 ' authorised to abridge, by half an hour per day, the time fixed 
 ' for their rest.' 
 
 The Constitution of Missouri says : — 
 
 ' Any person who shall maliciously deprive of life, or dis- 
 ' member a slave, shall suffer such punishment as would be 
 ' inflicted for the like offence if it were committed on a white 
 ' person.' That is, he shall suffer death by hanging. 
 
 The Constitution of Texas reads — 
 
 ' They (the Legislature) shall have full power to pass laws, 
 ' which will oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with hu- 
 
THE LAWS OF FLORIDA. 255 
 
 ' manity, to provide for them necessary food and clothing, to 
 * abstain from all injuries to them, extending to life or limb ; 
 ' and, in case of their neglect or refusal to comply with the 
 ' directions of such laws, to have such slave or slaves taken from 
 ' their owner, and sold for the benefit of such owner or owners. 
 ' They may pass laws to prevent slaves from being brought into 
 ' this State as merchandise only.' 
 
 ' In the prosecution of slaves for the crimes of a higher grade 
 ' than petit larceny, the Legislature shall have no power to de- 
 ' prive them of an impartial trial by jury.' 
 
 'Any person who shall maliciously dismember or deprive a 
 ' slave of life, shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted, 
 ' in case the like offence had been committed upon a free white 
 ' person, and on the like proof, except in case of insurrection of 
 ' such slave.' 
 
 The Constitution of Florida says : — 
 
 'The General Assembly shall have power to pass laws to 
 ' prevent free negroes, mulattoes, and other persons of colour, 
 ' from immigrating to this State ; or from being discharged 
 ' from on board any vessel in any of the ports of Florida.' 
 
 The Laws of South Carolina, Greorgia, Alabama, Mississippi, 
 Louisiana, Texas, Missouri and Arkansas, do not permit the 
 ingress of free negroes. 
 
 THE ANTAGONISM OF THE EACES. 
 
 In the first chapter of this book reference was made to the 
 opinion of scientific gentlemen concerning the inferiority of the 
 negro race. It may be added that Professor Meckel (see vol. 
 iii. p. 69, Mem. Acad. Berlin) discovered that not only the 
 blood, but that the bile and cortical part of the brain are of a 
 darker colour in the negro than in the white race. In fact, 
 that he is not only a negro in the skin, but under the skin. 
 
 Nicholas Pecklin, in a work entitled De Cute JEthio'pum, 
 and Albinus {Diss, de Sede et Causa Goloris jEthiop?) re- 
 marked that the muscles as well as the blood of the negro are 
 of a darker red than of the white man. These authors also state 
 that the membranes, tendons, and aponeuroses, so brilliantly 
 
256 INFERIORITY OF THE NEGRO. 
 
 white in the Caucasian race, have a livid cloudiness in the African. 
 J. J. Virey says {Diet. Med. Sci. Paris, vol. xxxv. p. 388), that 
 the negro's flesh differs in colour from the white man's as much 
 as the flesh of the hare differs from the rabbit. He speaks, also, 
 of the blood, the smaller size of the brain, and the larger size of 
 the nerves in the negro than in the white man. Soemmerring 
 and Ebel, Cuvier, Grail, and Spurzheim confirm all these views. 
 Dr. Samuel G-eorge Morton {Observations of the Size of the 
 Brain in Various Races and Families of Man, Philadelphia, 
 1849) says ' that the negi-o's brain is nine cubic inches less than 
 ' that of the white man.' The evidence of many other scientific 
 men might be adduced to prove that the negro by nature is an 
 inferior being to the white man. But these should suf6.ce to 
 show that the efforts of the Abolitionists to elevate him to the 
 condition of the superior race will be as futile in the future as 
 they have been in the past. 
 
 Mr. Bayard, in his speech before referred to, said : — 
 ' I am perfectly aware that the senators who live in States 
 ' where the negro is sparsely scattered cannot well understand 
 ' this effect of the antagonism of race, arising from large relative 
 ' numbers of both races placed on terms of equality under the 
 ' law in the same community. In the State of Delaware the 
 ' negro has no such equality, although we have but few slaves, 
 ' and a vast mass of free negroes. Under the constitution of the 
 ' State, the negro cannot vote. Under the common law, the 
 ' presumption of freedom is against him, because his original 
 ' status was that of a slave when he came to the country. He 
 ' is not entitled to be a witness in a court of justice, under the 
 ' decisions of our courts, made early in the history of the State. 
 ' There is an exception where legislative action has given him 
 ' the right of being a witness where he sustained personal 
 ' injury. Yet, if the attempt were made to give equal civil and 
 ' political rights, in the State of Delaware, to a free negro, it 
 ' would inevitably result in a collision of races. 
 
 ' I have, in a forensic experience of more than thirty-five 
 ' years, seen this effect of the antagonism of race too strongly 
 ' exemplified to doubt its existence. It is what the Eoman 
 ' lawyers called the primary law of nature, the instincts of 
 ' mankind — such as natural affection, and the like. The white 
 
ANTAGONISM OF THE RACES. 257 
 
 ' men will not, where they exist in large relative numbers, admit 
 ' the negro on terms of civil or political, much less social, 
 ' equality with themselves ; and if the equality of rights be 
 ' given where they exist in such numbers, their assertion renders 
 ' the collision inevitable. In Delaware, the antagonism exists 
 ' now to such an extent, that in personal controversies between 
 ' the negro and the white man, the negro being disqualified to 
 ' sit on a jury, or be admitted as a witness, except in cases of 
 ' injury to his person, from the effect of this prejudice, as you 
 ' may call it — I call it the natural instincts of men — he has but 
 ' little chance of justice on the same evidence which might be 
 ' fairly weighed between one white man and another. If the 
 ' doctrine of the equality of race be true, and is once admitted, 
 ' the collision must come ; but to us it is not so formidable, for 
 ' this reason, that when the collision comes, the white race has 
 ' sufficient power, and could drive the inferior race from the State 
 ' without hazardous contest. 
 
 ' I have before stated in this chamber, what I believe the 
 ' records of history will authenticate, that where two races of 
 ' men so dissonant in their organisation that amalgamation is 
 ' out of the question, live in the same community in large 
 ' relative numbers, there is but one of two results — the sub- 
 ' jugation of the inferior race or its extermination. I do not 
 ' desire the extermination of the negro race. I would weave 
 ' into the law of slavery every possible guard against the abuse 
 ' of the power of the master, but never strike at the subjection 
 ' of the inferior to the superior race. Where the negro exists in 
 ' large relative numbers, amalgamation being out of the question, 
 * the law of races requires that he should be kept in a state of 
 ' subjection, both for his own welfare as well as that of the white 
 ' race. It is his normal condition, and the instinct of race — the 
 ' primary law of nature — demands his subjection. Any attempt 
 ' to enforce a contrary doctrine will only end in the common 
 " destruction of both races, or else in the extinction of the 
 inferior race. 
 ' Sir, this antagonism of race exists in the State of Delaware 
 ' and other States as between the negro and the white man, 
 ' only where there is a large free negro population ; it never 
 ' exists in relation to the slave. Where the inequality is admitted, 
 
258 THE CHINESE. 
 
 ' and the inferior race is held in slavery, the antagonism does 
 ' not arise. The assertion of equality alone creates it. It is not 
 ' confined to the African. In the State of California, where they 
 ' have about sixty thousand Chiaese — I make the statement on 
 ' the information of the honourable senator from that State, 
 ' whose term expired at the close of the last session, of whom I 
 ' made the inquiry during the session — in the State of California, 
 ' where there are about sixty thousand Chinese, composing about 
 ' one-seventh of the population, what is the result of the antago- 
 ' nism of race ? The Chinese are a civilised people — though, I 
 ' admit, an effete civilisation ; they are an industrious people 
 ' beyond all question : but in California the Chinese cannot be 
 ' naturalised ; the Chinese cannot exercise a single political right ; 
 ' the Chinese are not permitted to be witnesses in a court of 
 ' justice ; and, as that senator stated to me, a Chinaman might 
 ' be murdered in the presence of five hundred other Chinese by 
 ' an American, and the law would afford no redress, for no one of 
 ' the five hundred could be admitted in a court of justice for the 
 ' purpose of establishing the guilt of the murderer. This is but 
 ' an illustration of the antagonism of race which will always 
 ' exist between dissonant races residing in the same communities 
 ' in large relative numbers. The law has grown up by judicial 
 ' decision in their courts, as part of the unwritten law of the 
 ' States, founded on the antagonism of race, which exists where- 
 ' ever the dissonance of race is so great, and the relative number 
 ' is so large in the same community. You may play with the 
 ' thing, and make it a political hobby in those States in which 
 ' the negro is found in sparse numbers ; but your doctrine of 
 ' equality of races becomes too gravely serious in its effects when 
 ' asserted in those States where the relation of races exists, as it 
 * does in the small State of which I am one of the representatives 
 ' on this floor. I only wish senators could fully appreciate the 
 ' results of this doctrine of equality when applied to commu- 
 ' nities in which the relation of races does exist, and I think the 
 ' doctrine would be entirely abandoned.' 
 
 The writer of these pages was born, and has resided nearly all 
 his life in Pennsylvania, where exists the largest community of 
 free negroes in the world, and he can testify to the gradual 
 
PHILADELPHIA. 259 
 
 decay in their health and morals as slavery disappeared from 
 the neighbourhood. Neither the laws of the land, nor public 
 societies for his benefit, prevent the African from degenerating : 
 nothing but the controlling influence of a master will keep him 
 from sinking to that barbarous condition which is his natural 
 state. Notwithstanding the attentions and care bestowed upon 
 them by the Quakers, the negroes congregate in certain districts 
 of Philadelphia, live in hovels, and behave in the most disreputable 
 manner. 
 
 s 2 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 SLAVERY AND ABOLITION IN AMEEICA. 
 
 Mr. Robert J. "Walker, the author of the subjoined remarks in 
 reference to the institution of African slavery in the Confederate States,, 
 having held a prominent position in America, a sketch of his political 
 life may not be out of place. He was born in Northumberland county, 
 Pennsylvania, in 1801, and graduated at the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania, Philadelphia, in 1819, when he removed to Pittsburgh in the 
 same State. He soon took an active part in politics, and became Chair- 
 man of the Democratic State Central Committee in 1823, supporting 
 General Jackson for the presidency in 1824. None of the candidates 
 that were balloted for having the constitutional majority of the elec- 
 toral votes, Mr. John Quincy Adams, the second in plurality, was 
 chosen by the House of Representatives. Mr. Walker shortly after 
 this, in 1826, removed to Mississippi, where he began the practice of 
 the law. At that time the State could not have had over 55,000 white 
 inhabitants (the census of 1820 records only 42,634), and he at once 
 assumed a leading and influential position within its limits, taking active 
 interest in its internal affairs. In 1834 he was the Democratic nominee 
 to represent the state in the Federal Senate ; but was defeated, owing 
 to the Whigs having a majority in the Legislature ; he, however, was 
 successful the following year, and took his seat as one of the ' ambas- 
 ' sadors' from Mississippi in the Capitol at Washington in January 1836, 
 which he continued to hold until March 3, 1845, when he was ap- 
 pointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Polk, which office he 
 retained during the four years of his administration. Mr. Walker, in 
 the whole course of his career in Mississippi, in Congress, and indeed 
 up to the year 1858, was a strong State rights man, with extreme 
 Southern sentiments. He began so early as 1826 to ' agitate ' the 
 annexation of Texas, repudiating the treaty of 1819 with Spain, and 
 with persevering energy acoomphshed his wishes. It was not, how- 
 ever, untU March 3, 1836, that Texas ' seceded ' from the Mexican 
 Union. This act was followed by the Battle of San Jacinto on 
 
262 APPENDIX. 
 
 April 21, 1836, in which Santa Anna was taken prisoner, and on 
 May 20, 1836, the Mexican Government passed a decree annulling all 
 stipulations made between him and the ' rebels.' Prior to this date, on 
 May 4, 1836, Mr. Preston in the United States Senate presented a 
 petition from citizens of Philadelphia in favour of recognising the 
 independence of Texas. That petition must have been, signed within 
 a week after the battle of San Jacinto, and the intelligence of the 
 conflict could not have reached Pennsylvania at that time, as, in those 
 days, there was no telegraphic communication, and the mails were 
 conveyed in a most tedious manner. Mr. Walker, in an able and 
 earnest speech on May 23, 1836, urged upon the Senate the propriety 
 of recognising the independence of Texas ; and on June 18, 1836, 
 Mr. Clay, as chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations, agreed 
 to the same so soon as it shoiild appear that Texas had in ' successful 
 ' operation a civil government capable of performing and fulfilling the 
 ' obligations of an independent power.' The matter lay over until the 
 next session, when, on January 11, 1837, Mr. Walker introduced the 
 following resolution, which was passed on March 1, 1837, and approved 
 by President Jackson two days thereafter. 
 
 ' Resolved that the state of Texas having estabhshed and maintained 
 ' an independent government, capable of performing those duties, 
 ' foreign and domestic, which appertain to independent governments, 
 ' and it appearing there is no longer any reasonable prospect of the 
 ' successful prosecution of the war by Mexico against said State, it is 
 ' expedient and proper, and in perfect conformity with the law of 
 ' nations, and the practice of this Government in like cases, that the 
 ' independent political existence of said State be acknowledged by the 
 ' Government of the United States.' 
 
 Mr. Walker having opposed, on March 2, 1839, the pretensions of 
 England concerning the Maine boundary question, and likewise having 
 taken part, on February 16, 1843, against the assumption by the 
 Federal Government of the State debts (which idea he charged as being 
 of 'British origin'), combined with his actions in regard to Texas, 
 made him quite popular throughout the North ; and in October 1843, 
 he was put forward by the Democrats of his own State as an eligible 
 candidate for the Vice-Presidency. On November 25, 1843, he was 
 addressed by a number of the citizens of Kentucky, who requested his 
 views on the topics of the day. His reply, dated January 8, 1844, was 
 very long, extracts from which are subjoined, as noticed above. This 
 letter, although Mr. Dallas was selected by the National Democratic 
 Convention as a candidate for the Vice-Presidency, was used as an 
 electioneering pamphlet, and induced Mr. Polk to invite Mr. Walker to 
 a seat in his Cabinet. 
 
SLAVERY AND ABOLITION IN AMEKICA. 2G3 
 
 Ml'. Walker did not return to Mississippi, but, after his term of office 
 of Secretary of the Treasury expired, March 1849, he commenced the 
 practice of law at Washington. In 1851 he visited Europe, and while 
 in London, January 12, 1852, addressed a communication to Mr. Arthur 
 Davies, in which will be found the following strong Southern doctrines : — - 
 
 ' The United States of America are a Confederated Republic, formed 
 ' by and composed of separate States, with a written constitution, 
 ' limiting and designating the powers granted by the States to the 
 ' general Government, all others being reserved to the States them- 
 ' selves. . . . We think, also, that it has been confirmed by long 
 ' experience. in our country; and that all our presidents, chosen by the 
 ' people, from Washington to Fillmore, all included, in moral worth, in 
 ' exemplary deportment, public and private, in talents and patriotism, 
 ' were very far superior to any monarchs who, during any period of the 
 ' world, have, for an equal period of time, been placed by hereditary 
 ' descent and accident at the head of any country.' 
 
 Mr. Walker, from the fact of having changed his residence fi-om Mis- 
 sissippi to Washington in 1849, of course lost his influence in that State; 
 but Mr. Jefferson Davis, who entered the political arena as late as 
 November 6, 1843, did not allow his removal to interrupt the friend- 
 ship that had for a long while existed between them. Mr. Davis, after 
 having served in the campaign against Mexico, and in Congress, was 
 selected as Secretary of War by President Pierce, and entered upon 
 the duties of that office March 4, 1853. Through his influence in the 
 Cabinet, Mr. Walker was appointed Commissioner to China. He 
 received his outfit, but did not enter upon the mission, and returned 
 the amount advanced him by the Government for that purpose. At 
 Mr. Davis's request, President Buchanan selected Mr. Walker for the 
 Governorship of the territory of Kansas, and, on May 25, 1857, he 
 delivered his address to the people of that district, which had become 
 invested with a band of lawless Abolitionists from Massachusetts.* 
 In this document he said : — 
 
 * In order to exMbit the difficulties then existing in Kansas in a true light 
 before the European reader, the following account is furnished, 'with extracts fi'om 
 the Eeport of the Committee on Territories of the Federal Senate, submitted on 
 March 12, 1856. The Act of Congress for the organisation of the territories of 
 Kansas and Nebraska was designed to conform to the spirit and letter of the 
 Federal Constitution, by preserving and maintaining the fundamental principle of 
 equality among all the States of the Union, notwithstanding the restriction con- 
 tained in section 8 of the Act of March 6, 1820 [preparatory to the admission of 
 Missouri into the Union], which assumed to deny to the people for ever the right 
 to settle the (question of slavery for themselves, provided they should make their 
 homes and organise States north of 36 degrees and 30 minutes north latitude. 
 Conforming to the cardinal principle of State equality and self-government, in 
 
264 APPENDIX. 
 
 ' Under our practice, the preliminary act of framing a State Constitu- 
 tion is uniformly performed through the instrumentality of a convention 
 
 obedience to the Constitution, the Kansas-Nehraska Act declared, in the precise 
 language of the compromise measures of 1850, that, ' when admitted as a State, 
 ' the said territory, or any portion of the same, shall he received into the Union, 
 ' with or without slavery, as their Constitutions may prescribe at the time of their 
 ' admission.' Again, after declaring the said section 8 of the Missouri Act [some- 
 times called the Missouri compromise, or Missouri restriction] inoperative and 
 void, as being repugnant to these principles, the purpose of Congress in passing the 
 Act is declared in these words : — 
 
 ' It being the true intent and meaning of this Act not to legislate slavery into 
 ' State or Territory, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof per- 
 ' fectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, 
 ' subject only to the Constitution of the United States.' 
 
 The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was strenuously resisted by all persons 
 who thought it a less evil to deprive the people of new States and Territories of the 
 right of State equaUty and self-government under the Constitution, than to allow 
 them to decide the slavery question for themselves, as every State in the Union 
 had done, and must retain the undeniable right to do, so long as the Constitution 
 of the United States shall be maintained as the supreme law of the land. Finding 
 opposition to the principles of the Act unavailing in the halls of Congress and 
 under the forms of the Constitution, combinations were immediately entered into 
 in some portions of the Union to control the political destinies, and form and 
 regulate the domestic institutions of those Territories and future States, through 
 the machinery of emigrant aid societies. In order to give consistency and 
 efficiency to the movement, and surround it with the colour of legal authority, an 
 Act of incorporation was procured from the Legislature of the State of Massa- 
 chusetts, in which it was provided in section 1, that twenty persons therein 
 named, and their ' associates, successors, and assigns, are hereby made a cor- 
 ' poration, by the name of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company, for the 
 ' purpose of assisting emigrants to settle in the "West ; and for this purpose they 
 ' shall have all the powers and privileges, and be Subject to all the duties, re- 
 ' strictions, and liabUities set forth in the 38th and 44th chapters of the revised 
 ' statutes ' of Massachusetts. 
 
 The Committee here enter into a detail regarding the Massachusetts Emigrant 
 Aid Society, and remark : — 
 
 ' When a powerful corporation, with a capital of five million of dollars invested 
 ' in houses and lands, in merchandise and miUs, in cannon and rifles, in powder 
 ' and lead, in all the implements of art, agriculture and war, and employing a 
 ' corresponding number of men, all imder the management and control of non- 
 ' resident directors and stockholders, who are .'authorised by their charter to 
 ' vote by proxy to the extent of fifty shares each, enter a distant and sparsely 
 ' settled Territory with the fixed purpose of wielding all its power to control the 
 ' domestic institutions and political destinies of the Territory, it becomes a question 
 ' of fearful import how far the operations of the company are compatible with the 
 ' rights and liberties of the people. Whatever may be the extent or limit of Con- 
 ' gressional authority over the Territories, it is clear that no individual State has 
 ' the right to pass any law or authorise any Act concerning or affecting the Ter- 
 ' rltories, which it might not enact in reference to any other State.' 
 
 ' It is a weU-settled principle of Constitutional law in tliis coimtry, that while 
 
SLAVERY AND ABOLITION IN AMERICA. 265 
 
 ' of delegates, chosen by the people themselves. That convention is 
 ' now about to be elected by you, under the call of the Territorial Legis- 
 ' lature, created and so recognised by the authority of Congress, and 
 * clothed by it in the comprehensive language of the organic law, with 
 ' full power to make such an enactment. The Territorial Legislature, 
 ' then, in assembling in Convention, were fully sustained by the act of 
 ' Congress, and the authority of the Convention is distinctly recognised 
 ' in my instructions from the President of the United States. Those 
 ' who oppose this course cannot aver the alleged irregularity of the 
 ' Territorial Legislature, whose laws, in town and city elections, in corpo- 
 ' rate franchises, and all other subjects but slavery, they acknowledge 
 ' by their votes and acquiescence. If that Legislature was invalid, 
 ' then are we without law or order in Kansas; without town, city, or 
 ' county organisation ; all legal and judicial transactions are void ; all 
 ' titles null, and anarchy reigns throughout our borders. 
 
 ^ Tp ^ tF Tft yF ^ 
 
 ' The people of Kansas, then, are invited by the highest authority 
 
 ' known to the Constitution to participate fi'eely and fairly in the elec- 
 
 ' tion of delegates to frame a Constitution and State Government. The 
 
 ' law has performed its entire appropriate fanction when it extends to the 
 
 ' people the right of suffrage ; but it cannot compel the performance 
 
 ' of that duty. Throughout the whole Union, however, and wherever 
 
 ' free government prevails, those who abstain from the exercise of the 
 
 ' right of suffrage authorise those who do vote to act for them in that 
 
 ' contingency ; and the absentees are as much bound under the law and 
 
 ' constitution, where there is no fraud or violence, by the majority of 
 
 ' those who do vote, as although all had participated in the election. 
 
 ' Otherwise, as voting nrast be voluntary, self-government would be 
 
 ' impossible, and monarchy or despotism would remain as the only 
 
 ' alternative. 
 
 ******* 
 
 ' Those who oppose slavery in Kansas, do not base their opposition 
 ' upon any philanthropic principles, or any sympathy for the African 
 ' race. For their so-called constitution, fi-amed at Topeka, they deem 
 
 ' all the States of the Union are united in one for certain purposes, yet each State, 
 ' in respect to everything which affects its domestic policy and internal concerns, 
 ' stands in the relation of a foreign power to every other State.' 
 
 Hence no State has a right to pass any law or do or authorise any Act, with a 
 view to influence or change the domestic policy of any other State or Territory in 
 the Union, more than it would with reference to France or England, or any other 
 foreign State with which we are at peace. Indeed, every State of this Union is 
 under higher obligations to observe a friendly forbearance and generous amity 
 towards each other member of the Confederacy than the laws of nations can impose 
 on Eoreign States. 
 
266 APPENDIX. 
 
 ' that entire race so inferior and degraded as to exclude them all for 
 ' ever from Kansas ; yet such a clause, inserted in the Topeka constitu- 
 ' tion, was submitted by the Convention for the vote of the people, and 
 ' ratified by an overwhelming majority of the anti-slavery party. The 
 ' party here, therefore, has in the most positive manner affirmed the 
 ' constitutionality of that portion of the recent decision of the Supreme 
 ' Court of the United States, declaring that Africans are not citizens of 
 ' the United States. 
 
 ' This is the more important, inasmuch as this Topeka Constitution 
 ' was ratified with this clause, inserted by the entire Republican party 
 ' in Congress; thus distinctly affirming the recent decision of the 
 ' Supreme Court of the Union, that Africans are not citizens of the 
 ' United States, for, if citizens, they may be elected to all offices, State 
 ' and national, including the Presidency itself; they must be placed 
 ' upon a basis of perfect equality with the whites, serve with them in 
 ' the miUtia, on the bench, the legislature, the jury-box, vote in all 
 ' elections, meet us in social intercourse, and intermarry freely with the 
 ' whites.' * 
 
 * The decision of the Supreme Court was in the celebrated Dred Scott case 
 (1854). The Chief Justice Taney said : ' The question is simply this : — can a negro, 
 ' whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves, become a 
 ' member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Con- 
 ' stitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights, and 
 ' privileges, and immunities, guaranteed by that instrument to the citizen — one of 
 ' which rights is tlie privilege of suing in a Court of the United States in the cases 
 ' specified in the Constitution ? .... It becomes necessary, therefore, to determine 
 ' who were citizens of the several States when the Constitution was adopted. And 
 ' in order to do this, we must recur to the governments and institutions of the thir- 
 ■ teen colonies, when they separated from Great Britain and formed new sovereign- 
 ' ties, and took their places in the family of independent nations. "We must enquir 
 ' who, at that time, were recognised as the people or citizens of a State, whose 
 ' rights and liberties had been outraged by the English Government ; and who de- 
 ' clared their independence, and assumed the power of government to defend their 
 ' rights by force of arms. In the opinion of the Court, the legislation and' histories 
 ' of the times, and the language used in the Declaration of Independence, show 
 ' that neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor their 
 ' descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then acknowledged as a 
 ' part of the people, nor intended to be included in the general words in that 
 ' memorable instrument' After referring to a number of historical facts, Judge 
 Taney continues : — ' The language of the Declaration of Independence is equally 
 ' conclusive : it begins by declaring that, " when in the course of human events it 
 ' " becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have 
 ' " connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the 
 ' " separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle 
 ' " them, a decent respect for the opinions of manhood requires that they should 
 ' " declare the causes which impel them to the separation." It then proceeds to 
 'say.— "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; 
 ' " that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that 
 
SLAVERY AND ABOLITION IN AMERICA. 267 
 
 Governor Walker, in his first despatch to the Federal Secretary of 
 State, under date of June 2, 1857, alluded to the efforts of the 
 Abolitionists to disregard the law; and on the 14th he called for 
 troops to defend the Territory from their actions. The next day, July 
 15, he writes ' that this movement at Lawrence was the beginning of a 
 ' plan, originating in that city, to organise insurrection throughout the 
 ' Territory ; and especially in all towns, cities, or counties where the 
 ' Eepublican party have a majority. Lawrence is the hot-bed of all 
 ' the Abolition movements in the Territory. It is the town established 
 ' by the Abolition Societies of the east, and whilst there are respectable 
 ' people there, it is filled by a considerable number of mercenaries, who 
 ' are paid by Abolition Societies to perpetuate and diffuse agitation 
 ' throughout Kansas, and prevent a peaceful settlement of this question. 
 ' Having failed in inducing their own so-called Topeka State Legisla- 
 ' ture to organise this insurrection, Lawrence has committed it herself, 
 ' and, if not arrested, the rebellion will extend throughout the Territory. 
 ' . . . . In order to send this communication immediately by mail, 
 ' I must close by assuring you that the spirit of rebellion pervades the 
 ' great mass of the Eepublican party of this Territory, instigated, as I 
 ' entertain no doubt they are, by eastern Societies.' 
 
 Yet notwithstanding these declarations, Mr. Walker finally ' sym- 
 ' pathised ' with the very desperadoes that he complains of, and was in 
 consequence removed from his position by President Buchanan, when 
 he united himself with the fortunes of Stephen A. Douglas, one of the 
 greatest political demagogues America ever produced. Mr. Walker 
 ceased fi-om that moment to have any influence, but taking advantage 
 of the crusade against the South, he delivered two violent Northern 
 ' spread-eagle' speeches at Brooklyn and New York, after the fall of Fort 
 Sumter in 1861, on April 23 and May 30; and he has since been 
 more or less connected with the Lincoln administration. It is said in 
 the newspapers that he has been the chief adviser of Mr. Chase, the 
 
 ' " among them is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these 
 ' " rights, governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent 
 ' " of the governed." 
 
 ' The general words above quoted,' Judge Taney remarks, ' would seem to em- 
 ' brace the whole human family, and if they were used in a similar instrument at 
 ' this day, would be so understood. But it is too clear for dispute that the en- 
 ' slaved African race were not intended to be included, and formed no part of the 
 ' people who framed and adopted this declaration ; for if the language, as uuder- 
 ' stood in that day, would embrace them, the conduct of the distinguished men who 
 ' framed this Declaration of Independence would have been utterly and flagrantly 
 ' inconsistent with the principles they asserted ; and instead of the sympathy of 
 ' mankind, to which they so confidently appealed, they would have deserved and 
 ' received universal rebuke and reprobation.' 
 
268 APPENDIX. 
 
 Federal Secretary of the Treasury ; and it is alleged that he is now 
 in Europe as the representative of that department. 
 
 Mr. Walker has recently published two pamphlets, in which he 
 opposes the recognition by England of the Confederate States, and 
 affects to be an Abolitionist on philanthropic grounds, thus abandoning 
 the principles he advocated so zealously when the question of the 
 recognition of Texas was under discussion. 
 
 In the same pamphlets which he calls ' letters,' although they have 
 neither superscription nor address, he makes a most virulent attack 
 upon Mr. JeflFerson Davis, and endeavours to fasten upon him the 
 responsibility of Mississippi repudiation, an affair in which he was in 
 no manner concerned, and which took place some years before his 
 entrance into public life. It was only at the request of the editor 
 of the Washington Union that Mr. Davis furnished the particulars 
 connected with the Mississippi bonds for publication in that journal, 
 May 25, 1849. On being subsequently attacked by a "Whig newspaper 
 in his own State, he explained the transaction with still greater detail 
 in an article addressed to the editors of the Mississippian. * 
 
 Although Mississippi did not receive one dollar for the bonds, Mr. 
 Davis personally has been in favour of arranging the affair in question 
 by a private subscription of the property owners in that state. He has 
 never been Governor of Mississippi, as is supposed, nor did he ever 
 hold office within its limits, excepting the unimportant one of Presi- 
 dential Elector in 1844 ; and whatever influence that position con- 
 ferred upon him with the incoming administration, was employed in 
 urging Mr. Polk to invite Mr. Walker to a seat in his cabinet. 
 During the 'repudiation' excitement, Mr. Walker was the leading 
 politician in Mississippi, and Mr. Davis at that time was not a poli- 
 tician at all. Mr. Walker was a resident . of Washington when Mr. 
 Davis's letter appeared. Why did he not then reply to it ? why does 
 he wait for fourteen or fifteen years, in which interval he has been on 
 terms of friendly association with, and has been the recipient of 
 repeated favours from, the man he now seeks to defame ? 
 
 He, however, does not deny the accuracy of Mr. Davis's statements, 
 but endeavours by some ingenious use of terms to make him appear 
 as the head and front of all offending. 
 
 It may not be out of place to add that, upon the formation of the 
 Provisional Government of the Confederate States, and just after the 
 inteUigence reached this country that Mr. Davis had been selected as 
 their President, some parties in London addressed a somewhat threat- 
 
 * A history of the repudiation of these Mississippi bonds wiU be found in 
 Chapters 11. & III. of the preceding work on the Cotton Trade. 
 
SLAVERY AND ABOLITION IN AMERICA. 269 
 
 ening letter to him, intimating that they would take measures to pre- 
 vent the bonds of his Government being placed on the Stock Exchange 
 until this Mississippi affair was settled to their satisfaction. The letter 
 was despatched by the Arago on April 24, 1861, before the news of 
 the fall of Fort Sumter came to hand, but the person conveying it was 
 arrested by the authorities at New York, and returned to Europe. 
 Whether the communication has ever been received by Mr. Davis, is 
 not known. But whatever the ethical merits of the case maybe, such a 
 procedure, at such a time, cannot be too strongly condemned. It was a 
 pusillanimous attempt to extort from the necessities of a government 
 struggling for existence money that it was in no manner liable for. 
 No similar demand or threat was made to the Federal power when 
 Mississippi was a member of that Confederacy. 
 
 Extract from a Letter of the Hon. Robert J. Walker, Jan. 8, 
 1844, in favour of the Annexation of Texas. 
 
 The only remaining objection is the question of Slavery. And have 
 we a question which is to curtail the limits of the Eepublic — to threaten 
 its existence — to aim a deadly blow at all its great and vital interests — 
 to court alliances with foreign and hostile powers — to recall our com- 
 merce and expel our manufactures from bays and rivers that once were 
 all our own — to strike down the flag of the Union, as it advances 
 towards our ancient boundary — to resurrender a mighty Territory, and 
 invite to its occupancy the deadliest (in truth, the only) foes this 
 Government has ever encountered ? Is anti-slavery to do all this ? 
 And is it so to endanger New Orleans, and the valley and commerce 
 and outlet of the West, that we would hold them, not by our own 
 strength, but by the slender tenure of the will and of the mercy of 
 Great Britain ? If anti-slavery can effect all this, may God, in His 
 infinite mercy, save and perpetuate this Union — for the efforts of man 
 would be feeble and impotent. The avowed object of this party is the 
 immediate abolition of slavery. For this they traverse sea and land ; 
 for this they hold conventions in the capital of England ; and there 
 they brood over schemes of abolition in association with British 
 Societies ; there they join in denunciations of their countrymen, until 
 their hearts are filled with treason ; and they return home, Americans 
 in name, but Englishmen in feelings and principles. Let us all, then, 
 feel and know, whether we live North or South, that this party, if 
 not vanquished, mnst overthrow the Government and dissolve the 
 Union. This party propose the immediate abolition of slavery through- 
 out the Union. If this were practicable, let us look at the conse- 
 quences. By the returns of the last census, the products of the 
 
270 APPENDIX. 
 
 slavebolding States, in 1840, amouQted in value to ^404,429,368. 
 These products, then, of the South must have alone enabled it to 
 furnish a home market for all the surplus manufactures of the North, 
 as also a market for the product of its forests and fisheries — and giving 
 a mighty impulse to all its commercial and navigating interests. Now, 
 nearly all these agricultural products of the South vrhich accomplish aU 
 these great purposes, are the result of slave -labour ; and, strike down 
 these products by the immediate abolition of slavery, and the markets' 
 of the South, for want of the means to purchase, wiU be lost to the 
 people of the North ; and North and South wiU be involved in one 
 common ruin. Yes, in the harbours of the North (at Philadelphia, 
 New York, and Boston) the vessels would rot at their wharves for 
 want of exchangeable products to carry ; the building of ships would 
 cease, and the grass would grow in many a street now enlivened by an 
 active and progressive industry. In the interior, the railroads and 
 canals would languish for want of business; and the factories and 
 manufacturing towns and cities, decaying and deserted, would stand as 
 blasted monuments of the folly of man. One universal bankruptcy 
 would overspread the country, together with aU the demoralisation and 
 crime which ever accompany such a catastrophe ; and the notices at 
 every corner would point only to sales on execution, by the constable, 
 the sheriff, the marshal, and the auctioneer ; whilst the beggars would 
 ask us in the streets, not for money, but for bread. Dark as the picture 
 may be, it could not exceed the gloomy reality. Such would be the 
 effects in the North, whilst in the South no human heart can conceive, 
 nor pen describe, the dreadful consequences. Let us look at another 
 result to the North. The slaves being emancipated, not by the South, 
 but by the North, would fly there for safety and protection ; and three 
 millions of free blacks would be thrown at once, as if by a convulsion of 
 nature, upon the States of the North. They would come there, to their 
 friends of the North who had given them fi-eedom, to give them also 
 habitation, food, and clothing ; and not having it to give, many of 
 them would perish from want and exposure ; whilst the wretched 
 remainder woiild be left to live as they could, by theft or charity : 
 they would still be a degraded caste, free only in name, without the 
 reality of freedom. A few might earn a wretched and precarious 
 subsistence by competing with the white labourers of the North, and 
 reducing their wages to the lowest point in the sliding scale of starva- 
 tion and misery ; whilst the poor-house and the jaU, the asylums of 
 the deaf and dumb, the blind, the idiot, and insane, would be filled to 
 overflowing, if indeed any asylum could be afl!brded to the millions of 
 the negro race whom wretchedness and crime would drive to despair 
 and madness. 
 
SLAVERY AND ABOLITION IN AMERICA. 271 
 
 That these are sad reaKties is proved by the census of 1840. I 
 annex in an appendix a table marked No. 1, compiled by me entirely 
 from the official returns of the census of 1840, except as to prisons and 
 paupers which are obtained from city and State returns, and the results 
 are as follows : — 
 
 1st. The number of deaf and dumb, blind, idiots, and insane, of the 
 negroes in the non-slaveholding States, is 1 out of every 96 ; in the 
 slaveholding States, it is 1 out of every 672, or 7 to 1 in favour of the 
 slaves in this respect, as compared with the free blacks. 
 
 2nd. The number of whites, deaf and dumb, blind, idiots, and 
 insane, in the non-slaveholding States, is 1 in every 561, being nearly 
 6 to 1 against the free blacks in the same States. 
 
 3rd. The number of negroes, who are deaf and dumb, blind, idiots, 
 and insane, paupers, and in prison in the non-slaveholding States, is 1 
 out of every 6, and in the slaveholding States, 1 out of every 154, or 
 22 to 1 against the free blacks, as compared with the slaves. 
 
 4th. Taking tBe two extremes of North and South, in Maine, the 
 number of negroes returned as deaf and dumb, blind, insane, and 
 idiots, by the census of 1840, is 1 out of every 12, and in slave- 
 holding Florida, by the same returns, is 1 of every 1,105 ; or 92 to 
 1 in favoTur of the slaves of Florida as compared with the free blacks 
 of Maine. 
 
 By the report of the Secretary of State of Massachusetts (of November 
 1, 1843) to the Legislature, there were then in the county jaUs and 
 houses of correction in that State 4,020 whites, and 364 negroes; and 
 adding the previous returns of the State prison, 255 whites and 82 
 blacks, making in all 4,275 whites, and 396 free blacks; being 1 
 out of every 170 of the white, and 1 out of every 21 of the free 
 black population ; and by the official returns of the census of 1840, 
 and their own official returns to their own Legislature, 1 out of every 
 1 3 of the free blacks of Massachusetts was either deaf and dumb, blind, 
 idiot, or insane, or in prison — thus proving a degree of debasement 
 and misery on the part of the coloured race in that truly great State 
 which is appalling. In the last official report to the Legislature of the 
 warden of the penitentiary of Eastern Pennsylvania, he says :^ ' The 
 ' whole number of prisoners received from the opening of the insti- 
 'tution (October 25, 1829), to January 1, 1843, is 1,622; of these 
 ' 1,004 were white males, 533 coloured males; 27 white females, 
 ' and 58 coloured females ! ' or 1 out of every 847 of the white, and 
 1 out of every 64 of the negro population ; and of the white female 
 convicts, 1 out of every 16,288 ; and of the coloured female con- 
 victs, 1 out of every 349 in one prison, showing a degree of guilt and 
 debasement, on the part of the coloured females, revolting and un- 
 
272 APPENDIX. 
 
 paralleled. When such is the debasement of the coloured females, far 
 exceeding even that of the white females in the most corrupt cities of 
 Europe, extending, too, throughout one-half the limits of a great SUte, 
 we may begin to form some idea of the dreadful condition of the free 
 blacks, and how much worse it is than that of the slaves, whom we are 
 asked to liberate and consign to a similar condition of guilt and 
 misery. Where, too, are these examples ? The first is in the great 
 State of Massachusetts, that, for 64 years, has never had a slave, and 
 whose free black population, being 5,463 in 1790, and but 8,669 at 
 present, is nearly the same free negro population, and their descendants, 
 whom for more than half a century she has strived, but strived in vain, 
 to elevate in rank and comfort and morals. The other example is the 
 eastern half of the great State of Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, 
 and the Quakers of the State, who, with an industry and humanity that 
 never tired, and a charity that spared not time or money, have exerted 
 every effort to improve the morals and better the condition of their 
 free black population. But where are the great results? Let the 
 census and the reports of the prisons answer. Worse — incomparably 
 worse, than the condition of the slaves, and demonstrating that the free 
 black, in the midst of his fi'iends in the North, is sinking lower every 
 day in the scale of want and misery. The Regular Physicians' Report 
 and Review, published in 1840, says, ' the facts, then, show an increasing 
 ' disproportionate number of coloured prisoners in the eastern peniten- 
 ' tiary.' In contrasting the condition, for the same year, of the peni- 
 tentiaries of all the non-slaveholding States, as compared with all the 
 slaveholding States in which returns are made, I find the number of 
 free blacks is 54 to 1, as compared with the slaves, in proportion to 
 population, who are incarcerated in these prisons. There are no 
 paupers among the slaves, whilst, in the non-slaveholding States, great 
 is the number of coloured paupers. 
 
 From the Belgian statistics, compiled by Mr. Quetelet, tlie distin- 
 guished secretary of the Koyal Academy of Brussels, it appears that in 
 Belgium the number of deaf and dumb was 1 out of every 2,180 
 persons : in Great Britain, 1 out of every 1,539 ; in Italy, 1 out of 
 every 1,539 ; and in Europe, 1 out of every 1,474. Of the blind, 
 1 out of every 1,009 in Belgium ; 1 out of every 800 in Prussia; 
 1 out of every 1,600 in France ; and 1 out of every 1,666 in Saxony ; 
 and no further returns as to the blind are given. \_Belgian Annuaire, 
 1836, pages 213, 215, 217.] But the table shows an average in 
 Europe of 1 out of every 1,474 of deaf and dumb, and of about 1 out of 
 every 1,000 of blind ; whereas our census shows, of the deaf and 
 dumb whites of the Union, 1 out of every 2,193 ; and of the blacks in 
 the non-slaveholding States, 1 out of every 656 ; also, of the blind 
 1 eut of every 2,821 of the whites of the Union, and 1 out of every 
 
SLAVEEY AND ABOLITION IN AMERICA. 
 
 273 
 
 516 of the blacks in the non-slaveholding States. Thus we have not 
 only shown the condition of the blacks of the non-slaveholding States to 
 be far worse than that of the slaves of the South, but also far worse 
 than that of the condition of the people of Europe, deplorable as that 
 may be. It has been heretofore shown that the free blacks in the non- 
 slaveholding States were becoming, in an augmented proportion, more 
 debased in morals as they increased in numbers ; and the same pro- 
 position is true in other respects. Thus, by the census of 1830, the 
 number of deaf and dumb of the free blacks of the non-slaveholding 
 States, was 1 out of every 996 ; and of blind, 1 out of 893 ; whereas 
 we have seen, by the census of 1840, the number of free blacks, deaf 
 and dumb, in the non-slaveholding States was 1 out of every 656 ; 
 and of blind, 1 out of every 516. In the last ten years, then, the 
 alarming fact is proved, that the proportionate number of free black 
 deaf and dumb, and also of blind, has increased about fifty per cent. 
 No statements as to the insane or idiots is given in the census of 1830. 
 Let us now examine the future increase of free blacks in the States 
 adjoining the slaveholding States, if Texas is not reannexed to the 
 Union. By the census of 1790 the number of free blacks in the States 
 (adding New York) adjoining slaveholding States was 13,953. In the 
 States (adding New York) adjacent to the slaveholding States^ the 
 number of free blacks by the census of 1840 was 148,107, being an 
 aggregate increase of nearly 11 to 2 in New York, New Jersey, Penn- 
 sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Ilhnois. Now by the census and table 
 above given, the aggregate number of free blacks who were deaf and 
 dumb, blind, idiot or insane, paupers, or in prisons, in the non-slave- 
 holding States was 26,342, or 1 in every 6 of the whole number. Now 
 if the free black population should increase in the same ratio in the 
 aggregate in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and 
 Illinois, from 1840 to 1890, as it did from 1790 to 1840, the aggregate 
 free black population in these six States would be, in 1890, 1,600,000 ; 
 in 1865, 800,000 ; * in 1853, 400,000 : and the aggregate number in tliese 
 
 * The African race does not flottrisli north of Mason and Dixon's Une. Instead 
 of 800,000, as Mr. "Walker supposed there would be by this time, making his cal- 
 culations on their former increase, there were not, according to -the census of 1860, 
 notwithstanding the 20,000 manumitted slaves from the South, one-fourth that 
 number of blacks in the six States. Here are the figures : — ■ 
 
 New York 49,005 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Indiana 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Total 
 
 25,318 
 56,849 
 36,673 
 11,428 
 7,628 
 186,901. 
 
274 APPENDIX. 
 
 six States of free blacks, according to the present proportion, who would 
 then be deaf and dumb, blind, idiot or insane, paupers or in prison, 
 would be in 1890, 266,666 ; in 1865, 133,333 ; and in 1853, 66,666; 
 being, as we hare seen, one-sixth of the whole number. Now if the 
 annual cost of supporting these free blacks in these asylums, and other 
 houses, including the interest on the sums expended in their erection, 
 and for annual repairs, and the money disbursed for the arrest, trial, 
 conviction, and transportation of the criminals, amounted to $50 for 
 each, the annual tax on the people of these six States, on account of these 
 free blacks, would be in 1890, ^13,333,200 ; in 1865,^6,666,600 ; and 
 in 1853, p,333,300. 
 
 Does, then, humanity require that we should render the blacks more 
 debased and miserable by this process of abolition, with greater tempta- 
 tions to crime, with more of real guilt and less of actual comforts ? As 
 the free blacks are thrown more and more upon the cities of the North, 
 and compete more there with the white labourer, the condition of the 
 blacks becomes worse and more perilous every day, until we have 
 already seen the masses of Cincinnati and Philadelphia rise to expel 
 the negro race beyond their limits. Immediate abolition, whilst it 
 deprived the South of the means to purchase the products and manu- 
 factures of the North and West, would fill those States with an inunda- 
 tion of free black population, that would be absolutely intolerable. 
 Immediate abolition, then, has but few advocates ; but if emancipation 
 
 The census says : ' When viewed apart from the liberations or manumission in the 
 ' Southern States, the aggregate free coloured in this country must nearly represent 
 ' " a stationary population," characterised by an equality of the current of births 
 ' and deaths.' 
 
 The city registrar of Boston observes : ' The number of coloured births in this 
 city for the five years ending in 1859, was one less than the nnmber of marriages, 
 and the deaths exceeded the births in the proportion of nearly two to one. In 
 Providence, Rhode Island, in 1860, the deaths are one out of every twenty-four 
 of the coloured, and in Philadelphia during the last six months of the census year, 
 there were 184 births and 306 deaths among the negroes. In the State registries 
 of Ehode Island and Connecticut, where the distinction of colour has been Bpecified, 
 the yearly deaths of the blacks and mulattoes have generally, though not uniformly, 
 exceeded the yearly births — a high rate of mortality, chiefly ascribed to con- 
 sumption and other diseases of the respiratory system. The free coloured popula- 
 tion shows an actual decrease in the ten years, 1850 to 1860, in Maine, New 
 Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and Oregon, and their increase in the other free 
 States was very trifling. The total number of coloured emigrants sent to Liberia 
 from 1820 to 1856 was 9,502, of whom 3,676 were free bom. So the decline in 
 population was not owing to that outlet, In 1850, 1,011 slaves escaped from 
 their masters, or 1 out of every 3,165, whil-^ in 1860 there were only 803, being 
 about 1 to every 6,000. This proves conclusively that the negroes have dis- 
 covered the deceitful practices of the Northerns, and that they prefer to remain at 
 home, where they are well taken cave of.' 
 
SLA.VEEY AND ABOLITION IN AMERICA. 275 
 
 were not immediate, but only gradual, whilst slavery existed to any 
 great extent in the slaveholding States bordering upon the States of the 
 North and "West, this expulsion, by gradual abolition, of the free blacks 
 into the States immediately north of them would be very considerable, 
 and rapidly augmenting every year. If this process of gradual aboli- 
 tion only doubled the number of free blacks to be thrown upon the 
 States of the North and West, then a reference to the tables before pre- 
 sented proves that the number of free blacks in New York, Pennsyl- 
 vania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois would be, in 1890, 
 3,200,000 ; in 1865, 1,600,000 ; and in 1853, 800,000 ; and that the 
 annual expenses of the people of these six States on account of free 
 blacks would be, in 1890, ^26,666,400 ; in 1865, ,^13,333,200 ; and in 
 1853, ^6,666,600. 
 
 It was in view, no doubt, of these facts that Mr. Davis, of New 
 York, declared upon the floor of Congress on December 29, 1843, that 
 ' the abolition of slavery in the Southern States must be followed by a 
 ' deluge of black population to the North, filling our jails and poor 
 ' houses, and bringing destruction upon the labouring portion of our 
 ' people.^ Dr. Duncan also, of Cincinnati, Ohio, in his speech in Con- 
 gress on January 6, 1844, declared the result of abolition would be to 
 inundate the North with free blacks, described by him as ' paupers, 
 ' beggars, thieves, assassins, and desperadoes, aU, or nearly all, penni- 
 ' less and destitute, without skUl, means, industry, or perseverance to 
 ' obtain a livelihood, each possessing and cherishing revenge for sup- 
 ' posed or real wrongs. No man's fireside, person, family, or property 
 ' would be safe by day or night. It now requires the whole energies of 
 ' the law and the whole vigilance of the police of all our principal cities 
 ' to restrain and keep in subordination the few straggling free negroes 
 ' which now infest them.' If such be the case now, what will be the 
 result when by abolition, gradual or immediate, the number of these 
 free negroes shall be doubled, and quadrupled, and decupled in the 
 'more northern of the slaveholding States, before slavery had receded 
 fi'om their limits, and nearly the whole of which free black population 
 would be thrown on the adjacent non-slaveholding States ? Much, if 
 not all, of this great evil will be prevented by the reannexation of 
 Texas. Since the purchase of Louisiana and Florida, and the settle- 
 ment of Alabama and Mississippi, there have been carried into this 
 region, as the census demonstrates, from the States of Delaware, Mary- 
 land, Virginia, and Kentucky, half a million of slaves, including their 
 descendants, that otherwise would now be within the limits of those 
 four States. Such has been the result as to have diminished, in two of 
 these States nearest to the North, the number of tfieir slaves far below 
 
 T 2 
 
276 APPENDIX. 
 
 what they were at tlie census of 1790, and to have reduced them at the 
 census of 1840 in Delaware to the small number of 2,605. Now 
 if we double the rate of diminution, as we certainly will by the 
 reannexation of Texas, slavery will disappear from Delaware in ten 
 years, and from Maryland in twenty, and have greatly diminished 
 in Virginia and Kentucky. As, then, by reannexation slavery advances 
 in Texas, it must recede to the same extent from the more Northern of 
 the slaveholding States ; and consequently the evil to the Northern 
 States, from the expulsion into them of free blacks, by abolition, gradual 
 or immediate, would thereby be greatly mitigated, if not entirely pre- 
 vented. In the district of Columbia, by the drain to the new States 
 and Territories of the South and South-west, the slaves have been 
 reduced from 6,119, in 1830, to 4,694, in 1840; and if, by the rean- 
 nexation, slavery receded in a double ratio, then it would disappear 
 altogether from the district in twelve years ; and that question, which 
 now occupies so much of the time of Congress, and threatens so seriously 
 the harmony, if not the existence of the Union, would be put at rest 
 by the reannexation of Texas. This reannexation, then, would only 
 change the locality of the slaves and of the slaveholding States, without 
 augmenting their number. And is Texas to be lost to the Union, not 
 by the question of the existence of slavery, but of its locality only? If 
 slavery be considered by the States of the North as an evil, why should 
 they prefer that its location should be continued in States on their 
 borders, rather than in the more distant portions of the Union ? It is 
 clear that as slavery advances in Texas, it would recede from the States 
 bordering on the free States of the North and West ; and thus they 
 would be released from the actual contact with what they consider an 
 evil, and also from an influx from those States of a large and constantly 
 augmenting population. As regards the slaves, the African being from 
 a tropical climate, and from the regions of the burning sands and sun, 
 his comfort and condition would be greatly improved by a transfer from 
 northern latitudes to the genial and most salubrious climate of Texas. 
 There he would never suffer from that exposure to cold and frost which 
 he feels so much more severely than any other race ; and there also, 
 from the great fertility of the soil, and exuberance of its products, his 
 supply of food would be abundant. If a desire to improve the condition 
 and increase the comforts of the slave really animated the anti-slavery 
 party, they would be the warmest advocates of the reannexation of 
 Texas. Nor can it be disguised that, by the reannexation, as the 
 number of free blacks augmented in the slaveholding States, they 
 would be diffused gradually through Texas into Mexico, and Central 
 and South America, where nine-tenths of their present popula- 
 tion are already of the coloured races, and where, from their vast 
 
SLAVERY AND ABOLITION IN AMERICA. 277 
 
 preponderance in number, they are not a degraded caste, but upon a 
 footing not merely of legal, but, what is far more important, of actual, 
 equality with the rest of the population. Here, then, if Texas is 
 reannexed throughout the vast region and salubrious and delicious 
 climate of Mexico, and of Central and Southern America, a large and 
 rapidly increasing portion of the African race will disappear from the 
 limits of the Union. The process will be gradual and progressive, 
 without a shock, and without a convulsion ; whereas, by the loss of 
 Texas, and the imprisonment of the slave population of the Union 
 within its present limits, slavery would increase in nearly all the 
 slaveholding States, and a change in their condition would become 
 impossible ; or if it did take place by sudden or gradual abolition, the 
 result would as certainly be the sudden or gradual introduction of 
 hundreds of thousands of free blacks into the States of the North ; and 
 if their condition there is already deplorable, how would it be when 
 their number there should be augmented tenfold, and the burden 
 become intolerable? Then, indeed, by the loss of the markets of 
 Texas, by the taxation imposed by an immense free black population, 
 depressing the value of all property — then also from the competition for 
 employment of the free black with the white labourer of the North — his 
 wages would be reduced until they would fall to ten or twenty cents 
 a day, and starvation and misery would be introduced among the white 
 labouring population. There is but one way in which the North can 
 escape these evils, and that is the reannexation of Texas, which is the 
 only safety-valve for the whole Union, and the only practicable outlet for 
 the African population, through Texas into Mexico, and Central and 
 Southern America. There is a congenial climate for the African race ; 
 there cold, and want, and hunger will not drive the African, as we 
 see it does in the North, into the poor-house and the jail, and the 
 asylums of the idiot and insane. There the boundless and almost 
 unpeopled territory of Mexico, and of Central and Southern America, 
 with its delicious climate and most prolific soil, renders most easy 
 the means of subsistence ; and there they would not be a degraded 
 caste, but equals among equals, not only by law, but by feeling and 
 association. 
 
 The medical writers all say (and experience confirms the as.sertion) 
 that ill-treatment, over-work, neglect in infancy and sickness, drunk- 
 enness, want, and crime, are the chief causes of idiotcy, blindness, and 
 lunacy ; whilst none will deny that want and guilt fill the poor-house 
 and- the jail. Why is it, then, that the free black is (as the census 
 proves) much more wretched in condition and debased in morals than 
 the slave ? These free blacks are among the people of the North, and 
 their condition is most deplorable in the two great States of Maine and 
 
278 APPENDIX. 
 
 Massachusetts, where, since 1780, slavery never existed.* Now the 
 people of the North are eminently humane, religious, and intelligent. 
 What, then, is the cause of the misery and debasement of their free black 
 population ? It is chiefly in the fact that the free blacks, among their 
 real superiors — our own white population — are, and ever will be, a 
 degraded caste, free only in name, without any of the blessings of free- 
 dom. Here they can have no pride, no aspirations, no spirit of industry 
 or emulation ; and, in most cases, to live, to vegetate, is their only 
 desire. Hence the efforts to improve their condition, so long made, in 
 Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and many other States, have proved 
 utterly unavailing ; and it grows worse every year as that popula- 
 tion augments in numbers. In vain do many of the States give 
 the negro the right of suffrage, and all the legal privileges of the whites ; 
 the colour marks the dreadftd difference which here, at least, ages 
 cannot obliterate. The negroes, however equal in law, are not equal 
 in fact. They are nowhere found in the colleges or universities, upon 
 the bench or at the bar, in the muster or the jury-box, in legislative or 
 executive stations; nor does marriage, the great bond of society, unite 
 the white with the negro, except a rare occurrence of such unnatm-al 
 alliance as to call forth the scorn or disgust of the whole community. 
 Indeed, I could truly say, if passing into the immediate presence of 
 
 * It would appear from this remark that Mr. Walker is labouring under a very 
 common misconception, arising from the fact that, when the census of 1790 was 
 taken, it was found that there were no slaves within the limits of Massachusetts, at 
 which date Maine formed part of the territory of that State, not having been ad- 
 mitted into the Union as an independent commonwealth until March 15, 1820. 
 By an official census taken in 1754, Massachusetts possessed 4,896 slaves, about 
 one-half of whom were over sixteen years of age, and their owners were not per- 
 mitted to manumit them without giving security that they should not become a 
 burden upon the parish ; the greater portion were, however, sent to the other 
 colonies ; and the advertisements in the Boston newspapers of the time prove that 
 the young negroes were given away during infancy to the neighbouring colonies, 
 who would take them as slaves, so that the labour of the mothers might not be 
 lost. Neither Massachusetts nor Maine passed any abolition or emancipation laws, 
 slavery having died out from natural causes within their borders. On the contrary, 
 Massachusetts, and of course Maine, demanded through their delegates in the Con- 
 vention that framed the Constitution, in 1787, that the Federal Congress should 
 not have the power of prohibiting the African slave trade until after the year 1808, 
 and the people of these two States, one then being a territory, continued the traffic 
 until that year, which shows very clearly that they recognised the institution. 
 There is not to this day to be found in the statute books of either State any law 
 adverse to slavery. The ' BiU of Eights ' of 1780, to be sure, says that ' all men 
 ' are born free and equal,' but then that language was copied from the Constitution 
 of the State of Virginia formed in 1776, and the Declaration of Independence 
 promulgated to the world the same year ; and we all know that the clause referr'^d 
 only to white men, and it has been so decided by the Supreme Court. 
 
SLAVERY AXD ABOLITION IN AMERICA. 279 
 
 tlie Most High, that, in morals and comforts, the free black is far 
 below the slave ; and that, while the condition of the slave has been 
 greatly ameliorated, and is improving every year, that of the free 
 blacks (as the official tables demonstrate) is sinking in misery and 
 debasement at every census, as, from time to time, by emancipation 
 and other causes, they are augmented in number. Can it, then, be 
 sinful to refuse to change the condition of the slaves to a position of 
 far greater wretchedness and debasement, by reducing them to the 
 level of the free negro race, to occupy the asylums of the deaf and 
 dumb, the blind, the idiot and insane ; to wander as mendicants ; to 
 live in pestilent alleys and hovels, by theft or charity ; or to prolong a 
 miserable existence in the poor-house or the jail ? All history proves 
 that no people on earth are more deeply imbued with the love of 
 freedom, and of its diffusion everywhere, among all who can appreciate 
 and enjoy its blessings, than the people of the South ; and if the negro 
 slave were improved in morals and comforts, and rendered capable of 
 self-government, by emancipation, it would not be gradual, but im- 
 mediate, if the profits of slavery were tenfold greater than they are. 
 Is slavery, then, never to disappear from the Union ? If confined 
 within its present limits, I do not perceive when or how it is to 
 terminate. It is true Mr. George Tucker, the distinguished Virginian, 
 and professor in their great university, has demonstrated that, in a 
 period not exceeding eighty years, and probably less, from the density 
 of population in all the slaveholding States, hired labour would be as 
 abundant and cheap as slave labour, and that all pecuniary motive for 
 the continuance of slavery would then have ceased. But would it, 
 therefore, then disappear ? No, it certainly would not ; for, at the 
 lowest ratio, the slaves would then number at least ten millions. 
 Could such a mass be emancipated ? And if so, what would be the 
 result ? We have seen, by the census and other proof, that one-sixth 
 of the free blacks must be supported at the public expense, and that, 
 at the low rate of ^50 each, it would cost ,^80,000,000 per annum, to 
 be raised by taxation, to support the free blacks then in the South 
 reqiiiring support — namely 1,666,666, if manumission were permitted ; 
 but as such a tax could not be collected, emancipation would be as it 
 now is, prohibited hy law,* and slavery could*not disappear in this 
 
 * Mancmissiok of Slaves. — The foUowing is an extract from the preliminary 
 report of the Eighth Federal Census (p. 11): — 'With regard to manumission, it 
 ' appears from the retTirne that during the census year they numbered a little more 
 ' than 3,000, being more than double the number who were liberated in 1850, or at 
 ' the rate of 1 each to 1,309 ; whereas, during 1850, the manumissions were as 
 '1 to every 2,181 slaves. Great irregularity, as might naturally be expected, 
 
280 APPENDIX. 
 
 manner, even when it became unprofitable. No, ten millions of free 
 blacks, permitted to roam at large in the limits of the South, could 
 never be tolerated. Again, then, the question is asked. Is slavery 
 never to disappear from the Union 7 This is a startling and momentous 
 question, but the answer ia easy, and the proof is clear ; it will certainly 
 disappear if Texas is reannexed to the Union ; not by abolition, but 
 against and in spite of all its frenzy, slowly, and gradually, by diffusion, 
 as it has already thus nearly receded from several of the more northern 
 of the slaveholding States, and as it will continue thus more rapidly 
 to recede by the reannexation of Texas, and finally, in the distant 
 future, without a shock, without abolition, without a convulsion, dis- 
 appear into and through Texas, into Mexico and Central and Southern 
 America. Thus, that same overruling Providence that watched over 
 the landing of the emigrants and pilgrims at Jamestown and Plymouth — 
 that gave us the victory in our struggle for independence — that guided 
 by His inspiration the framers of our wonderfal Constitution — that has 
 thus fax preserved this great Union from damages so many and im- 
 minent, and is now shielding it from abolition, its most dangerous and 
 internal foe — will open Texas as a safety-valve, into and through 
 which slavery will slowly and gradually recede, and finally disappear 
 into the boundless regions of Mexico and Central and Southern America. 
 Beyond the Del Norte slavery will not pass ; not only because it is 
 forbidden by law, but because the coloured races there preponderate 
 in the ratio of ten to one over the whites ; and holding, as they do, the 
 Government, and most of the offices, in their own possession, they will 
 never permit the enslavement of .any portion of the coloured race 
 which makes and executes the laws of the country. In Bradford's 
 Atlas the facts are given as follows : — 
 
 Mexico — area, 1,690,000 square miles; population 8,000,000 — one-' 
 sixth white, and all the rest Indians, Africans, mulattoes, Zambos, and 
 other coloured races. 
 
 Central America — area, 186,000 square miles ; population nearly 
 2,000,000 — one-sixth white, and the rest negroes, Zambos, and other 
 coloured races. 
 
 South America— area, 6,500,000 square miles; population, 14,000,000 
 
 ' appears to exist for the two periods whereof we have the returns on this suhject. 
 ' By the Eighth Census, 1860, it appears that manumissions have greatly increased 
 ' in number in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carohna, 
 ' and Tennessee, while they have decreased in Delaware and Florida, and varied 
 ' but little in Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, and Virginia, and other slave- 
 ' holding States not mentioned.' Manumission is not ' prohibited by law ; ' the 
 freed negroes in many of the States have, however, without special acts of theb 
 Legislatures, to be removed from within their borders. In several of the Northern 
 States there arc stringent laws against the admission of any blaclcs. 
 
SLAVERY AND ABOLITION IN AMEfilCA. 281 
 
 — 1,000,000 white, 4,000,000 Indians, and the remainder, being 
 9,000,000, blacks and other coloured races. 
 
 The outlet for. our negro race, through this vast region, can never 
 be opened but by the reannexation of Texas ; but in that event, there, 
 in that extensive country, bordering upon our negro population, and 
 four times greater in area than the whole Union, with a sparse popu- 
 lation of but three to the square mile, where nine-tenths of the popu- 
 lation is of the coloured races^-there, upon that fertile soil, and in that 
 delicious climate, so admirably adapted to the negro race, as all ex- 
 perience has now clearly proved — the free black would find a home. 
 There, also, as slaves, in the lapse of time, from the density of popu- 
 lation and other causes, are emancipated, they wUl disappear from time 
 to time west of the Del Norte, and beyond the limits of the Union, 
 among a race of their own colour ; will be diffused throughout this 
 vast region, where they wiU not be a degraded caste, and where, as to 
 climate, and social and moral condition, and all the hopes and comforts 
 of life, they can occupy, among equals, a position they can never 
 attain in any part of this Union. 
 
 Since the foregoing pages were in type, Mr. Walker has issued 
 another pamphlet or ' letter,' headed ' American finances and resources,' 
 and to which he, as in the former productions, afiixes with his name 
 various titles — a somewhat anti-American way of making himself 
 known to the British public. This, however, would be an innocent 
 indulgence of vanity did he not ' parade ' one to which he has not 
 a proper claim. He never was ' Commissioner to China,' nor is it 
 customary on the other side of the Atlantic, or even proper here, for 
 an ex-secretary of the treasury to make use of the European expression, 
 ' Minister of Finance,' as it is the chairman of the Committee of "Ways 
 and Means in the House of Kepresentatives that holds the position 
 equivalent to that occupied by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 Mr. Walker might be pardoned for these little bits of assumption, 
 which are, no doubt, adduced in order to give weight to the unfor- 
 tunate cause which he at present represents ; but he has no right to 
 attempt to mislead the capitalists of Europe by endorsing Mr. Chase's 
 statements of the indebtedness of the Federal States, when he knows 
 that they are utterly false. Mr. Chase, however, takes the precaution 
 to add to his totals the saving clause, ' as appears by the books 
 of the Treasury department.' If he would furnish the amounts due by 
 the war, navy, state, and other branches of the Washington Government, 
 full light might be thrown upon the subject. The fact is, that the entire 
 indebtedness of the United States is ^3,000,000,000, and it is complete 
 folly in the Federal authorities to attempt to hide it from view, as it 
 
i!S2 APPENDIX. 
 
 must soon appear, now that the shipments of breadstuiFs, which have 
 given to the North nearly ^200,000,000 of specie fiinds, since the election 
 of Mr. Lincoln, will cease. That large sum, with the aid of the credit 
 system that has so long existed in the Northern States, which he has 
 completely monopolised, directly and indirectly, has enabled him ' to 
 go through ' up to the present time : but his downfall is now imminent. 
 It is probable that the several departments of the Government have 
 not ' settled,' or rather issued, paper of the various kinds, for over 
 ^2,000,000,000. This huge amount has been floated by ' currency ' to 
 the extent of ,$(500,000,000 ; the wants of the community from that 
 source having, by tfre inflation, been increased from ^350,000,000 ; 
 and, by contractors consuming the former mercantile credit of the 
 country, which was ^900,000,000 in time of peace, but has now been 
 augmented to ,^1,500,000,000, owing to the 'bubble' state of afiairs 
 that at present exist. The ' unsettled ' portion of the Federal debt is 
 about equal to the profits of the war and navy contractors, and those of 
 the host of Government employes. 
 
 Mr. "Walker does not act on the principle that ' self-praise is no 
 commendation.' He boasts that, under Ms system. Federal securities 
 were advanced to five per cent, premium. He avoids stating that at 
 the time he took his seat as Secretary of the Treasury, March 4, 1845, 
 the States had fully and fairly recovered from the panic of 1837 ; that 
 the moderate tariff' of 1846 increased their prosperity ; that the ship- 
 ments of grain and provisions, with the high freights thereon, to supply 
 the European deficiencies of that year, threw into the hands of the 
 Americans about |flOO,000,000 ; that the military successes in Mexico, 
 the acquisition of California, and the discovery of gold in that territory in 
 1848, as well as the revolution in Europe, and augmented cotton crops, 
 all taking place prior to the end of his term of office, March 3, 1849, 
 were a combination of favourable circumstances for the American 
 States that had never before existed within any period of four years. 
 
 Mr. Walker's praise of Mr. Chase's system of finance, which of course 
 is not meant to flatter the latter gentleman, is very absurd, and it is 
 practising a piece of cruelty upon history — in fact, torturing it — to give 
 him the credit (for dear knows he has enough of that already) for the 
 invention. ' Let honour be given to whom honour is due.' Mr. John 
 Law established a 'paper' system in Paris in 1715; after similar 
 ' success' to that of Mr. Chase, it exploded in three years, shaking the 
 foundations of the French Government, from which they never fairly 
 recovered. At that period, the same ' system ' was in operation in the 
 New England States, and shared a like fate. The continental money 
 of the American and the assignats of the French revolutions were both 
 of the ' same pattern,' and met with the same result. It is, therefore. 
 
SLAVERY AND ABOLITION IN AMERICA. 283 
 
 simply trifling with the good sense of his readers for Mr. Walker to 
 say that Mr. Chase's system ' is without a precedent in history.' 
 
 He, Walker, becomes quite a joker when he calls 'greenbacks' a 
 'legal tender;' he means that they are issued 'according to (John) 
 Lawi' 
 
 Eidioulous as are Mr. Walker's other assertions, it is very ungrateful 
 in him to attack Mr. Buchanan's administration, which he, by another 
 able pamphlet on the slavery question, helped to place in power. In 
 that pamphlet he stated, that in the event of the success of the Fremont 
 party — the black republicans of 1856 — the Southern States ought to 
 secede. Indeed, the documents savoured so strongly of State rights, 
 that Mr. Jefferson Davis, and a number of leading Southerners, urged 
 upon Mr. Buchanan the appointment of Mr. Walker, as Secretary of 
 State. But their efforts were outweighed by Mr. Howell Cobb and 
 other (then) Union men of the South, ' now in the traitor army,' and 
 General Cass was selected for the post. Mr. Walker accepted office 
 (Kansas) under Mr. Buchanan's administration, and this was after the 
 Ostend manifesto, and other horrible things of whichhe now complains. 
 Mr. Walker is inconsistent as well as insincere. 
 
 Mr. Walker, in charging bad financial management upon Mr. 
 Buchanan's administration purposely (because he was in confidential 
 intercourse with it at the time) overlooks the fact, that so soon as Mr. 
 Cobb took charge of the Treasury department, March 4, 1857, he, in ac- 
 cordance with the instruction of the old Congress, paid off a large 
 portion of the Federal debt ; that a commercial panic occurred in the 
 latter part of that year, and continued throughout his whole term of 
 office; and that the receipts from customs and sales of public lands, 
 the chief sources of revenue, declined fifty per cent, below those of the 
 previous administration. 
 
 Mr. Walker promises another pamphlet. In the meanwhile, his 
 knowledge of finances might be improved by a perusal of a paper 
 entitled ' Principles of Credit,' by Charles Francis Adams, which will 
 be found in Hunt's ' Merchants' Magazine,' New York, vol. ii. p. 185, 
 1840. It might also be well for him to read that clause in the consti- 
 tution which states that nothing ' but gold and silver coin ' can be made 
 a legal tender, and his own ' reports ' when Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 Mr. Walker is very reckless as to titles ; even that of his last pro- 
 duction assumes to give an account of the ' resources' of America. 
 But not a word is said on the subject. His letter of January 6, 1844, 
 the extract from which is prefixed, states in substance that the North 
 has no ' resources' whatever, and that the Federal States will be ruined, 
 without slavery, and the slave productions of the South. He, too, 
 draws a very graphic picture of their downfall. 
 
284 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE CONDITION OF THE NEaKOES IN HAYTI. 
 
 Robert M.Walsh, Esq., of Pennsylvania, who was a commissioner 
 from the United States to Hayti, wrote as follows to Mr. Webster while 
 Secretary of State : — 
 
 ' I trust you will pardon me, if I sometimes wander from the serious 
 ' tone appropriate to a despatch ; but it is difficult to preserve one's 
 ' gravity with so absurd a caricature of civilisation before one's eyes 
 ' as is here exhibited in every shape. 
 
 ' Nothing saves these people from being infinitely ridiculous but the 
 ' circumstance of their being often supremely disgusting by their 
 ' fearful atrocities. The change from a ludicrous farce to a bloody 
 ' tragedy is here as frequent as it is terrible ; and the smiles which the 
 ' former irresistibly provoke, can only be repressed by the sickening 
 ' sensations occasioned by the latter. 
 
 ' It is a conviction which has been forced upon me by what I have 
 ' learned here, that negroes only cease to be children when they dege- 
 ' nerate into savages. As long as they happen to be in a genial mood, 
 ' it is the rattle and the straw by which they are tickled and pleased ; 
 ' and when their passions are once aroused, the most potent weapons 
 ' of subjugation can alone prevent the most horrible evils. A resi- 
 ' dence here, however brief, must cause the most determined philan- 
 ' thropist to entertain serious doubts of the possibility of their ever 
 ' attaining the full stature of intellectual and civilised manhood, unless 
 ' some miraculous interposition is vouchsafed in their behalf In 
 ' proportion as the recollections and traditions of the old colonial 
 ' civilisation are fading away, and the imitative propensity, which is 
 ' so strong a characteristic of the African, is losing its opportunities of 
 ' exercise, the black inhabitants of Hayti are reverting to the primitive 
 ' state from which they were elevated by contact with the whites, a 
 ' race whose innate superiority would seem to be abundantly proved by 
 ' the mere fact that it is approaching the goal of mental progress, while 
 ' the other has scarcely made a step in advance of the position in 
 ' which it was originally placed. It is among the mulattoes alone, as 
 ' a general rule, that intelligence and education are to be found ; but 
 ' they are neither sufficiently numerous, nor virtuous, nor enlightened, 
 ' to do more than diminish the rapidity of the nation's descent, and 
 ' every day accelerates the inevitable consequence by lessening their 
 ' influence and strength. 
 
KEGKOES IN HAYTI. 285 
 
 ' The contrast between the picture which is now presented to this 
 ' country, and that which it exhibited when under the dominion of the 
 ' French, affords a melancholy confirmation of what I have said. It 
 ' was then, indeed, an " exulting and abounding " land, a land literally 
 ' flowing with milk and honey ; now, it might be affirmed, without 
 ' extravagance, that where it is not an arid and desolate waste, it is 
 ' flooded with the waters of bitterness, or covered with noisome and 
 ' poisonous weeds. 
 
 ' The Government, in spite of its constitutional forms, is a despotism 
 
 ' of the most ignorant, corrupt, and vicious description, with a military 
 
 ' establishment so enormous that, while it absorbs the largest portion 
 
 ' of the revenue for its support, it dries up the very sources of natural 
 
 ' prosperity, by depriving the fields of their necessary labourers to fill 
 
 ' the town with pestilent hordes of depraved and irreclaimable idlers. 
 
 ' The treasury is bankrupt, and every species of profligate and ruinous 
 
 ' expedient is resorted to, for the purpose of obtaining the means of 
 
 ' gratifying an insane passion for firivolous expenditure. A great 
 
 ' portion of the public revenue is wasted upon the personal vanities of 
 
 ' the Emperor, and his ridiculous efforts to surround himself with a 
 
 ' splendoxu- which he fancies to be pre-eminently imperial. It is a 
 
 ' fact, that the same legislature which voted him several hundreds of 
 
 ' thousands of francs for some absurd costume, refused an appro- 
 
 ' priation of 25,000 francs for public schools. The population, for the 
 
 ' most part, is immersed in Cimmerian darkness, that can never be 
 
 ' pierced by the few and feeble rays which emanate from the higher 
 
 ' portions of the social system, while there is a constant fermentation 
 
 ' of jealousies and antipathies between the great majority and the only 
 
 ' class at all capable of guiding the destinies of the land which threaten 
 
 ' at every moment to shatter the political vessel in which they are so 
 
 ' perilously working. As to the refining and elevating influences of 
 
 ' civilised life — the influences of religion, of literature, of science, of 
 
 ' art — they do not exert the least practical sway, even if they can be 
 
 ' said to exist at all. The priests of the altar set the worst examples of 
 
 ' every kind of vice, and are universally mere adventurers, disarmed 
 
 ' by the Church, who alone can come here in consequence of the 
 
 ' assumption by the Emperor of ecclesiastical authority which militates 
 
 ' with that of the Roman pontiff. 
 
 ' The press is shackled to such a degree as to prevent the least 
 ' freedom of opinion, and people are afraid to give utterance, even in 
 ' confidential conversation, to aught that may be tortured into the 
 ' slightest criticism upon the action of the Government. 
 
 ' In short, the combination of evil and destructive elements is such, 
 
286 APPENDIX. 
 
 ' tliat the ultimate regeneration of the Haytiana seems to me to be the 
 ' wildest of Utopian dreams. Dismal as this picture may appear, its 
 ' colouring is not exaggerated. It is as faithful a representation as 
 ' I can sketch of the general aspect of this miserable country, a 
 ' country where God has done everything to make his creature happy, 
 ' and where the creature is doing everything to mar the work of 
 ' God.' 
 
AIS^GLO-AMEBICAN COMMEKCR. 
 
 2b7 
 
 THE COMMEECE BETWEEN THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT 
 BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
 FOB THE YEAR 1860. 
 
 Importations feom the States. 
 
 Southern produce. 
 Cotton . 
 
 Flour, wheat, and maize 
 Tobacco . 
 Bacon . 
 Lard 
 Beef . 
 Pork . 
 Eice 
 Hams 
 Tallow . 
 OU seed cake . 
 Hides 
 Timber . 
 
 Spirits of turpentine 
 Turpentine 
 Eesin 
 Tar 
 Bark . 
 
 £30,069,306 
 
 2,866,147 
 
 1,181,182 
 
 224,556 
 
 188,004 
 
 147,439 
 
 50,000 
 
 81,602 
 
 15,300 
 
 47,345 
 
 64,319 
 
 33,763 
 
 414,052 
 
 213,917 
 
 85,868 
 
 178,990 
 
 19,178 
 
 24,841 
 
 rn produce. 
 
 
 
 
 Flour, wheat, and maize . £4,000,000 
 
 Cheese . 
 
 532,443 
 
 Bacon 
 
 
 
 
 200,000 
 
 Lard 
 
 
 
 
 200,000 
 
 Butter 
 
 
 
 
 347,459 
 
 Beef 
 
 
 
 
 200,000 
 
 Pork 
 
 
 
 
 58,584 
 
 Hams 
 
 
 
 
 40,000 
 
 TaUow 
 
 
 
 
 300,000 
 
 Hides 
 
 
 
 
 150,000 
 
 Hops 
 
 
 
 
 254,865 
 
 Oil seed 
 
 cake 
 
 
 
 250,000 
 
 £35,405,809 
 
 Carried forivar^ £6,533,351 
 
288 APPENDIX. 
 
 
 Southern produce — brought forward 
 
 £35,405,809 
 
 Brought fonvard £6,533,351 
 
 
 Clover seed 
 
 196,788 
 
 
 Wool . 
 
 92,211 
 
 
 Clocks . 
 
 64,888 
 
 
 Pot and pearl ashes 
 
 34,344 
 
 6,921,582 
 
 Foreign produce. 
 
 
 Skins and furs 
 
 263,686 
 
 
 Caoutchouc 
 
 92,732 
 
 
 Cigars . 
 
 62,687 
 
 
 Tea . . . 
 
 45,325 
 
 
 Logwood 
 
 41,481 
 
 
 Whale fins 
 
 34,244 
 
 
 Peruvian bark 
 
 13,921 
 
 554,076 
 
 
 
 
 
 £42,881,467 
 
 Exportation 
 
 s TO THE States. 
 
 Cotton manufacturers 
 
 . £4,534,136 
 
 
 Woollen „ 
 
 4,084,693 
 
 
 Iron 
 
 3,136,340 
 
 
 Linen 
 
 2,084,165 
 
 
 Apparel, slops, &c. 
 
 1,417,262 
 
 
 Hardwares and cutlery 
 
 1,054,908 
 
 
 Tin plates 
 
 1,018,536 
 
 
 Earthenware . 
 
 654,283 
 
 
 Soda 
 
 526,806 
 
 
 Silk manufactures . 
 
 463,420 
 
 
 Coals, &c. 
 
 192,779 
 
 
 Printed books 
 
 140,941 
 
 
 Drugs . 
 
 125,627 
 
 
 Leather 
 
 123,777 
 
 
 Salt 
 
 119,993 
 
 
 Empty bags . 
 
 104,873 
 
 
 Beer and ale . 
 
 100,375 
 
 
 Lead and shot 
 
 88,531 
 
 
 Plate and jewellery 
 
 83,839 
 
 
 Painter's colours 
 
 75,351 
 
 
 Linseed oil . 
 
 7,477 
 
 
 Glass manufactures 
 
 67,078 
 
 
 Spirits .... 
 
 66,822 
 
 
 Copper (wrought) . 
 
 64,342 
 
 
 Stationery 
 
 44,053 
 
 
 Carried forward 
 
 X'20,379,907 
 
 
AWGLO-AMERICAN COMMEECE. 
 
 Brough t forward 
 
 20,379,907 
 
 Machinery 
 
 42,238 
 
 Tin (wrought) 
 
 23,185 
 
 Wool .... 
 
 206,274 
 
 Indigo .... 
 
 154,678 
 
 Gums, lac, dye, &c. 
 
 94,486 
 
 Raw silk 
 
 72,856 
 
 Peruvian bark 
 
 56,252 
 
 Hides 
 
 47,169 
 
 Cochineal 
 
 35,930 
 
 Iron in bars . 
 
 34,466 
 
 Opium 
 
 30,893 
 
 Brandy . 
 
 24,204 
 
 "Wines . 
 
 26,233 
 
 Argol . 
 
 18,070 
 
 Bristles 
 
 16,793 
 
 Sundries 
 
 1,644,047 
 
 
 #99! f)fl7 fiSl 
 
 
 
 289 
 
 Recapitulation (1860). 
 
 Imports from the States 
 Exports to „ 
 
 Gold and silver imported 
 from the States . 
 
 Gold and silver exported 
 to the States 
 
 £42,881,467 
 22,907,681 
 
 4,792,582 
 1,724,008 
 
 19,973,786 
 
 3,068,574 
 £23,042,360 
 
 The balance of trade with the Continent of Europe, the East Indies, 
 China, and South America, was against the States, and in favour of the 
 United Kingdom ; the differences were settled by bankers' credits. 
 
290 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Tonnage employed in conducting the commerce between the United 
 Kingdom and the American States (1860). 
 
 Country 
 
 Entered 
 
 Cleared 
 
 Total 
 
 Ships 
 
 Tonnage 
 
 Ships 
 
 Tonnage 
 
 Ships 
 
 Tonnage 
 
 British 
 American 
 Other nations 
 
 Total . 
 
 613 
 
 1,174 
 
 145 
 
 488,181 
 
 1,174,991 
 
 60,876 
 
 629 
 
 1,178 
 
 193 
 
 522,678 
 
 1,164,991 
 
 117,258 
 
 1,242 
 
 2,352 
 
 339 
 
 1,010,859 
 
 2,339,101 
 
 178,134 
 
 1,932 
 
 1,724,048 
 
 2,000 
 
 1,804,046 
 
 3,932 
 
 3,628,094 
 
 A large portion of the commerce between the United Kingdom, 
 India, and China is carried on by Northern American vessels. 
 
dOLD AND SILVER. 
 
 291 
 
 The value of Gold and Silver Bullion and Coin supposed to be 
 in the American States, 1800 to 1861. 
 
 1800 . 
 
 . ^17,500,000 
 
 1831 
 
 . p4,000,000 
 
 1801 . 
 
 17,000,000 
 
 1832 
 
 . 38,000,000 
 
 1802 . 
 
 16,500,000 
 
 1833 
 
 . 45,000,000 
 
 1803 . 
 
 . 16,000,000 
 
 1834 
 
 . 49,000,000 
 
 1804 . 
 
 17,500,000 
 
 1835 
 
 . 55,000,000 
 
 1805 . 
 
 . 18,000,000 
 
 1836 
 
 . 65,000,000 
 
 1806 . 
 
 . 18,500,000 
 
 1837 
 
 . 73,000,000 
 
 1807 . 
 
 . 20,000,000 
 
 1838 
 
 87,500,000 
 
 1808 . 
 
 . 20,000,000 
 
 1839 
 
 . 87,000,000 
 
 1809 . 
 
 . 27,000,000 
 
 1840 
 
 . 83,000,000 
 
 1810 . 
 
 . 25,000,000 
 
 1841 
 
 75,000,000 
 
 1811 . 
 
 26,000,000 
 
 1842 
 
 . 76,000,000 
 
 1812 
 
 . 24,000,000 
 
 1843 
 
 . 96,000,000 
 
 1813 . 
 
 . 20,000,000 
 
 1844 
 
 . 100,000,000 
 
 1814 . 
 
 18,000,000 
 
 1845 
 
 . 96,000,000 
 
 1815 . 
 
 . 22,000,000 
 
 1846 
 
 97,000,000 
 
 1816 . 
 
 . 26,500,000 
 
 1847 
 
 . 120,000,000 
 
 1817 . 
 
 . 27,000,000 
 
 1848 
 
 . 112,000,000 
 
 1818 . 
 
 . 25,000,000 
 
 1849 
 
 120,000,000 
 
 1819 . 
 
 . 25,000,000 
 
 1850 
 
 . 154,000,000 
 
 1820 
 
 . 24,000,000 
 
 1851 
 
 . 186,000,000 
 
 1821 
 
 . 24,000,000 
 
 1852 
 
 . .204,000,000 
 
 1822 . 
 
 . 25,000,000 
 
 1853 
 
 236,000,000 
 
 1823 . 
 
 . 26,000,000 
 
 1854 
 
 . 250,000,000 
 
 1824 
 
 27,000,000 
 
 1855 
 
 . 260,000,000 
 
 1825 . 
 
 . 28,000,000 
 
 1856 
 
 . 280,000,000 
 
 1826 . 
 
 . 29,000,000 
 
 1857 
 
 . 290,000,000 
 
 1827 . 
 
 . 30,000,000 
 
 1858 
 
 . 320,000,000 
 
 1828 . 
 
 31,000,000 
 
 1859 
 
 . 330,000,000 
 
 1829 . 
 
 . 31,000,000 
 
 1860 
 
 350,000,000 
 
 1830 . 
 
 . 32,000,000 
 
 1861 
 
 . 375,000,000 
 
292 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Bank Note Circulation in the American States (1800 to 1861). 
 
 1800 
 
 . ^10,500,000 
 
 1831 . 
 
 . ;gf67,000,000 
 
 1801 . 
 
 . 11,000,000 
 
 1832 . 
 
 . 72,000,000 
 
 1802 
 
 . 10,000,000 
 
 1833 . 
 
 . 80,000,000 
 
 1803 . 
 
 11,000,000 
 
 1834 . 
 
 . 94,000,000 
 
 1804 
 
 . 14,000,000 
 
 1835 . 
 
 . 103,000,000 
 
 1805 
 
 . 15,000,000 
 
 1836 . 
 
 . 140,000,000 
 
 1806 
 
 . 17,000,000 
 
 1837 . 
 
 . 149,000,000 
 
 1807 
 
 . 18,000,000 
 
 1838 . 
 
 . 116,000,000 
 
 1808 
 
 22,500,000 
 
 1839 . 
 
 . 135,000,000 
 
 1809 . 
 
 . 20,500,000 
 
 1840 . 
 
 . 107,000,000 
 
 1810 
 
 . 25,000,000 
 
 1841 . 
 
 . 75,000,000 
 
 1811 
 
 28,000,000 
 
 1842 
 
 . 80,000,000 
 
 1812 
 
 . 40,000,000 
 
 1843 . 
 
 90,000,000 
 
 1813 
 
 . 62,000,000 
 
 1844 . 
 
 . 100,000,000 
 
 1814 
 
 . 99,000,000 
 
 1845 . 
 
 96,000,000 
 
 1815 
 
 . 53,000,000 
 
 1846 . 
 
 . 97,000,000 
 
 1816 
 
 . 69,000,000 
 
 1847 . 
 
 . 120,000,000 
 
 1817 
 
 . 45,000,000 
 
 1848 . 
 
 . 112,000,000 
 
 1818 
 
 . 45,000,000 
 
 1849 . 
 
 . 120,000,000 
 
 1819 
 
 . 46,000,000 
 
 1850 . 
 
 . 155,000,000 
 
 1820 
 
 . 45,000,000 
 
 1851 
 
 . 186,000,000 
 
 1821 
 
 . 46,000,000 
 
 1852 . 
 
 . 204,000,000 
 
 1822 
 
 . 47,000,000 
 
 1853 . 
 
 . 236,000,000 
 
 1823 
 
 . 48,000,000 
 
 1854 . 
 
 . 205,000,000 
 
 1824 
 
 . 50,000,000 
 
 1855 
 
 . 187,000,000 
 
 1825 
 
 . 53,000,000 
 
 1856 
 
 . 198,000,000 
 
 1826 
 
 . 54,000,000 
 
 1857 . 
 
 . 215,000,000 
 
 1827 
 
 . 56,000,000 
 
 1858 . 
 
 . 155,000,000 
 
 1828 
 
 . 58,000,000 
 
 1859 . 
 
 . 193,000,000 
 
 1829 
 
 60,000,000 
 
 1860 . 
 
 . 207,000,000 
 
 1830 
 
 . 61,000,000 
 
 1861 . 
 
 . 202,000,000 
 
 LONDON 
 PETNTUn BY SPOTTTSWOODE AND CO.