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 extending 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: The tables (pp. 120, 121) furnish an estimate of the British cotton trade from 1821 to 1860 inclusive-a period of 40 yearswith the portions received from the different countries, the quantity exported, and the stock remaining for home consumption on the 31st day of December of each year. TOTAL IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF COTTON INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM FROM ALL COUNTRIES, 1821 To 1840 INCLUSIVE. 120 TOTAL IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF COTTON INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM FROM ALL COUNTRIES, 517,218,622 88,639,776 1,707,194 21,084,744 17,460,968 646,111,304 47,222,560 598,888,744 1845 1846 1847 1850 626,650,412 58,437,426 1,394,447 20,157,633 15,340,035 721,979,953 401,949,393 34,540,143 1,201,857 14,746,321 15,418,560 364,599,291 83,934,614 1848 600,247,488 84,101,961 1849 634,504,050 70,838,515 493,153,112 118,872,742 42,916,384 679,063,569 467,856,274 65,930,704 401,925,570 793,933 19,966,922 5,412,855 474,707,615 74,954,320 399,753,295 640,437 19,971,378 8,058,897 944,307 30,738,133 18,444,007 228,913 30,299,982 21,022,112 446,529 19,339,104 703,696 26,506,144 52,019,632 350,428 24,190,628 30,437,737 409,110 19,703,000 25,233,084 468,452 24,577,952 39,896,908 462,784 21,830,704 18,328,178 41,056,176 1,023,886,304 146,660,864 877,225,440 1,443,568 29,910,832 32,868,304 969,318,896 131,927,600 837,391,296 1858 833,237,776 132,722,576 367,808 18,617,872 961,707,264 192,330,880 592,256 22,478,960 48,879,712 1,225,989,072 175,143,136 1,050,845,936 1,115,890,608 204,141,168 1,050,784 17,286,864 52,569,328 1,390,938,752 250,428,640 1,140,510,112 17,263,623,081 3,045,940,565 98,996,055 908,667,758 706,862,103 22,024,089,562 2,567,499,782 19,456,589,780 49,396,144 1,034,342,176 149,609,600 884,732,576 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-an increase 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 actually took place; but the reduction in the crops of those luxuriant regions was still more marked after it occurred. It will be observed, 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 Confederate 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. Roebuck's graphic expression, caused them to become an ' 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 business in 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 OF COTTON TAKEN FOR CONSUMPTION IN EUROPE, 1859. |