Emancipation and Cotton—The Triumph of British Policy [pp. 509-526]

EMANCIPATION AND COTTON.
521
The Railroad Record, June 5, 1862, said:
"Members of Congress from Illinois state that cotton will be extensively cultivated in
their State this year. The Illinois Central Railroad Company have prepared 2,000 acres for
this purpose.,
Tile same journal, Nov. 20, 1862, said:
"But that cotton can be profitably grown as far north as the 40th degree of north latitude
say the line of the old National Road, is manifest from the result of experiments during the
present season. No doubt large quantities of cotton will be grown in future in Southern Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois and Kansas, as well as in the bottomn lands of Kentucky."
Extensive quotations might be made of a similar character, attempting to
give currency to the idea that there need be no dread of any ill consequences
from emancipation, as any deficiencies in the production of cotton in the South
could be made up from sources outside of the slave States.
Lord Palmerston gave the whole weight of his influence to sustain this view.
At the Lord Mayor's dinner in Lo)ndon, 1861, the American Minister, Mr.
Adams, being present, his lordship, in alluding to the want of cotton from
America, said:
"That temporary evil will be productive of permanent good [cheers], and we should find
in various quarters of the globe sure and certain and ample supplies, which will render us no
longer dependent upon one source of production for that which is so necessary for the industry
and welfare of the country."
As early as 1858, this same distinguished statesman, Lord Palmerston, during
the debate in Parliament, Jtuly 13, said:
"I venture to say that you will find on the west coast of Africa a most valuable supply of
cotton, so essential to the manufactures of this country. It has every advantage for the
growth of that article. The cotton districts of Africa are more extensive than those of India.
The access to them is more easy than to the Indian cotton districts, and I venture to say that
your commerce with the western coast of Africa in the article of cotton will in a few years
prove to be far more valuable than that of any portion of the world, the United States
excepted."
But why should his lordship speak so favorably of Africa as a field of cotton
growing for England? It is known to every one familiar with the civil condition of Africa, that slavery everywhere prevails throughout its territory, inhabited by the negro race. To cultivate cotton in Africa, therefore, is to
establish slavery on a profitable basis, in a new field of tropical production.
But to do so, it was argued, was justifiable on the ground of philanthropy, as
it would tend to paralyze the slave-trade, and prevent its renewal in America;
that is to say, Englishmen assented to the encouragement of slavery in Africa,
provided its success there would destroy it in the United States. On this topic
the Lozclndon Econom7ist, in 1859, said:
'" Once let the African chiefs find out, as in many instances they have already found out,
that the sale of the laborer can be only a source of profit once, while his labor may be a source
of constant and increasing profit, and we shall hear no more of their killing the hen which
may lay so many golden eggs, for the sake of a solitary and final prize."
But wily should neither his Lordship nor the Economnist say nothing of the
sinfulness of slavery? Simply because the theory that slavery is sinful, was
never adopted as a rule of action by the Britis-h people. That theory was designed for American use, and as a maximi that might overthrowv American
slavery.
But has success attended the efforts of Great Britain to gain adequate supplies of cotton from other sources? Not at all. Very briefly it may be said
that the promises of a considerable supply from Africa, founded on the en
couragements held out by Dr. Livingstone, and the adaptation of Southern
Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, to its cultivation, were all urged in support of the
theory presented for public acceptance. Time has brought out the results.
The increased imports from Brazil, Egypt, and India have fallen far short of
what was expected from these principal sources of supply. Dr. Livingstone's
promises, in relation to Africa, have utterly failed, and his'whole expedition
come to grief. From the region where the British agent had expected a large
amount of cotton, not a pound was afforded-the wars among the native Africans having driven away the population, and the crops thus left to destruc