There are three respects wherein the South sees, or fancies it sees its peculiar strength. First, the absolute necessity of cotton fabrics in every community for bodily and household comfort and convenience. It is avered that for these fabrics there is and can be no substitute. Second, the cotton-interest makes great account of the capital invested in, and the mechanical skill and industrial habits dependent upon, cotton manufactures. This capital must either manufacture cotton, or be worthless-it can be diverted to no other use; while the immense army of operatives must have the employment which the manufacture of cotton alone proffers or starve. It is manifest, however, that both of these considerations would have little weight as evidencing the power of the Southern cotton growers, were it not for a third assumption,-that in the culture of the indispensable staple, the South has a complete and indestructible monopoly. The cotton which the people must wear, which invested capital must manufacture, on which millions of operatives must labor or starve, can be grown, in anything like a sufficient quantity, only in the Southern States.

Of the particular first named, but little need be said. It is certain, and it would be folly to deny the fact, that cotton fabrics subserve a great many and very important uses in civilized life; and a large diminution of their quantity would subject people to very great inconveniences. Å simple inventory of what we wear, and what we have in our homes, will assure us that our actual, whatever may be our unavoidable, dependence upon "King Cotton," is very great. Nevertheless, we can easily assure 'ourselves, that we could dispense with at least seven-eighths of the cotton we now use, and not positively suffer. The sacrifice would indeed subject us to considerable annoyance, but with one eighth of what we now have, we could live, and have shelter and even comfortable raiment. Now the Southern States furnish just about seven-eighths of the cotton actually consumed; other countries, even under the hitherto comparatively slight inducements, now furnish the other eighth. Let the South withhold the staple, and the supply would still suffice for actually indispensable purposes. Let cotton become as costly as silk, and seven-eighths of what is now consumed would no longer find a market.

We need not say, that a very great advance in the price of cotton would wonderfully stimulate its culture in regions which, though capable of producing much, have as yet produced but little. As respects, then, the personal need of cotton fabrics, we consider that the South has a great advantage; but its power herein is by no means despotic.

The far more serious element of strength in the cottongrowing States, is in the capital invested in cotton-manufactures; and in the present-however it may be as to the lasting monopoly which these States enjoy in its culture.

There are, in round numbers, forty millions of spindles in the world (of which number Great Britain owns a little more than half,) which, in connection with the accompanying machinery for complete manufacture, represent a capi tal of about six hundred million dollars, giving employment to about six hundred thousand operatives. The total amount of cotton consumed by the manufactories of the world was, in 1857, about 1500 million pounds. A general conception of the importance of this department of industry may be formed by considering the fact, that twofifths of all British exports are in cotton fabrics.

If now, the supply of raw cotton were withheld for any considerable period, the disastrous effects upon invested capital and on labor must prove serious indeed. Six hundred millions of capital dependent upon this supply—almost worthless without it, certainly give an element of immense power to the communities which not only have, but can retain, (a point not conceded) the monopoly of the cotton culture. Nor must we overlook the other elements of power in favor of these communities, growing out of the necessities of over half a million mouths, most of them at present dependent for bread upon the employment which the cotton manufacture furnishes. We must also consider the demands of the immense number of laborers engaged upon cotton fabrics after these have left the mills. The shipping interest, too, at present realizing great profits in the carrying trade, is a

In 1856, the cotton factories of England and Wales employed 148,354 males, and 192,816 females, making the total number of operatives 341,170. In Lowell Mass. each operative represents about $1000 capital. If each English operative be supposed to represent the same amount the whole capital invested in the English cotton manufactories in 1856, would have been $341,170,000. This method of estimating may not be very exact, but the result is sufficiently accurate for our present purpose.

serious item. Clearly enough we must conclude, that, provided the Southern States not only have, but can retain, a monopoly of the cotton culture, it is with reason that the claim is put forth, "Cotton is King."

We shall concede that the South, at present, has the monopoly of which it boasts. Of the 1500 million pounds consumed in 1857, the Southern States produced about 1200 millions, or not far from seven-eighths of the entire amount; and this may be regarded as the average proportion annually furnished by these States. Hence there is, at this date, a reason for the boast of Southern Statesmen, as Mr. Olmsted quotes them:

"The civilized world is dependent upon the Slave States of America for a supply of cotton. The demand for this commodity has, during many years, increased faster than the supply. Sales are made of it, now, to the amount of two hundred millions of dollars in a year, yet they have a vast area of soil suitable for its production which has never been broken. With an enormous income, then, upon a steadily rising market, they hold a vast idle capital yet to be employed. Such a monopoly under such circumstances must constitute those who possess it the richest and most powerful people on the earth. The world must have cotton, and the world depends on them for it. Whatever they demand, that must be conceded them; whatever they want, they have but to stretch forth their hands and take it.' (Vol. i., p. 5.)

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It is a question, however, whether there is equal reason for the oft-quoted words of Senator Hammond of South Carolina-considered as boasting of the power which the South can keep :

"No! you dare not make war upon cotton; no power on earth dares to make war upon it. Cotton is king; until lately the Bank of England was king; but she tried to put her screws, as usual, the fall before the last, on the cotton crop, and was utterly vanquished. The last power has been conquered: who can doubt, that has looked at recent events, that cotton is supreme?'" (Vol. i., p. 7.)

We concede, then, that as matters stand to day, the South has an immense monopoly in the culture of cottonfor full seven-eighths of its necessities the world is now dependent on the cotton growing States. We do not, however, concede that these communities can retain this mono

poly. First, the South does not have a monopoly in the soil suitable to the growth of cotton. In this fundamental particular, Africa and India, to say nothing of Brazil, Egypt, and Australia-are fully equal to the demand of the entire world. But that the soil may be available, there must be irrigation, field laborers, machinery for cleaning and pressing, and, where the rivers are inadequate, canals and railroads, as facilities for transport. To establish all these conditions requires time. The South already has them; and herein is the advantage, and its only advantage. If compelled to look at once to Africa and India, the cotton manufactories would, for a time, find the supply very inadequate; and the suffering on the part of capatalists and laborers would be very great. Nevertheless, under the spur of necessity, conjoined with the inducement of greatly increased prices for the raw material, the congenial soils of Africa and Asia would fast be made available. When it will permanently "pay" to irrigate those distant regions, to transfer labor and machinery, and to construct means of transport, the work will be done.

That we are not over-confident in this conclusion is evident from the fact, that the work of which we speak is already begun. Great Britain-which far more than any other nation needs the raw material-is even now busily engaged in developing the cotton resources of its India possessions. It spends twenty-five millions of dollars annually upon canals, railways, and means for irrigation in Hindostan. Eleven hundred miles of railroad from Calcutta to Delhi are nearly completed; six hundred miles from Madras to Belary, and two hundred from Bombay into the interior, are in rapid progress; while the interior of the Scinde and the Punjaub are fast being opened by the same instrumen tality. Near a half million acres are now under irrigation in the Presidency of Madras. "In 1851, a "In 1851, a joint stock company was formed in London, to construct a canal for navigation and irrigation, through Madras, Berar, and Mysore, and another from the Malabar to the Coromandel coast, which will open 400,000 square miles of cotton-growing land, a much larger area than is now devoted to cotton in the United States."2 If British capitalists found

2 See the Article, "Cotton and the Cotton Trade" in the North American Review, for January, 1861.

an inducement to establish the growing of cotton in India at a time when the supply from this country was uninterrupted, what will they not be induced to attempt, now that this supply is, for the present, and possibly for a long period, almost wholly cut off? In view, therefore, of the facilities for growing cotton in the old world-facilities which neces sity will fast render available-there can be no reason to concede the claim, that the South can indefinitely retain its present monopoly in the culture of cotton.

We will not stop to urge, but will simply state the fact which should soften the Southern boast. Grant that the manufacturing world must buy cotton; must not the South sell? Is not the dependence of the one party on the demand, fully equal to the dependence of the other party on the supply?

Such, in brief, are the essential facts as pertaining to the present power, and the future prospects of the cotton-planters in the Southern States. And certainly they present nothing that need give very serious alarm. It is certain that European nations cannot get their usual supply from these States without war; and, as an economical consideration, it would be cheaper for the governments to support their operative classes in idleness, than to carry on a war. If the old world will but "let us alone," the blockade which every week grows more and more effective, will prove the occasion of developing the cotton resources of other regions; and so, in the end, break the monopoly which at present makes the rebellious States so boastful and defiant.

But whatever may be the soundness of our present con clusions, it is clear, that events are likely to put the merits of the cotton question beyond the possibility of dispute. If it shall prove that Cotton is really King-that its claims to the submission of capital and labor are imperative-that while the world must have cotton, only the communities now in rebellion against the Federal Government can furnish it, if the result shall prove so much, then adieu to civilization-adieu to the cherished hopes of men who struggle for liberty-adieu to the dearest civil and political interests of mankind. The spirit which has led the cotton States to their present position, teaches us what to expect, when the leaders of the rebellion become our masters.