upland cotton. The work was done by hand, the task being four pounds of
lint cotton per week from each head of a family, in addition to the
usual field-work. This would amount to one bale in two years. A French
planter of Louisiana (Dubreuil) is said to have invented a machine for
separating lint and seed as early as 1742. The demand for such a machine
not being very great at that date, no record as to its character has
been preserved. The roller-gin, in very much the same form as Nearchus,
the admiral of Alexander the Great, found it in India, was still in use.
In 1790 Dr. Joseph Eve, originally from the Bahamas, but then a resident
of Augusta, Georgia, made great improvements on this ancient machine,
and adapted it to be run by horse- or water-power. A correspondent of
the American Museum, writing from Charleston, South Carolina, in July of
that year, states "that a gentleman well acquainted with the cotton
manufacture had already completed and in operation, on the high hills of
Santee, near Statesburg, ginning, carding, and other machines driven by
water, and also spinning-machines with eighty-five spindles each, with
every article necessary for manufacturing cotton." A machine dating
anterior to this year, and having a strong resemblance to the above,
possessing in fact all the essentials of a modern cotton-gin, was
exhibited at the Atlanta Exposition in 1882. It came from the
neighborhood of Statesburg, but its history could not be ascertained.
In 1793 Eli Whitney petitioned for a patent for the invention of the saw
cotton-gin. His claims were disputed, and he defended them in the State
and Federal courts for nearly a generation, obtaining at last a verdict
in his favor. Meanwhile the saw-gin had become an established fact, and
the planter at last had a machine which enabled him to produce cotton at
a cost that would leave him a good profit. The first saw-gin to be run
by water-power was erected in 1795 by James Kincaid near Monticello, in
Fairfield County, South Carolina. Others were put up near Columbia by
Wade Hampton, Sr., in 1797, and in the year following he gathered and
ginned from six hundred acres six hundred bales of cotton.
The cotton exportation from the United States increased from four
hundred eighty-seven thousand six hundred pounds in 1793 to one million
six hundred thousand pounds in 1794, the year in which Whitney's gin was
patented. In 1796, a year after he had improved his machine, the
production had risen to ten million pounds. In fact, the increased
production was so great that the planters began to fear they would
overstock the market, and one of them, upon looking at his newly
gathered crop, exclaimed: "Well, I have done with cultivation of cotton;
there's enough in that gin-house to make stockings for all the people in
America." Yet the production of cotton did not advance with that
rapidity to which we are now accustomed.
The cotton industry being of secondary importance prior to 1790,
information and statistics relative to the amount produced are not
available, but within one hundred years, from 1790 to 1890, the
production of cotton in the United States increased from five thousand
bales to over ten million bales.
The first cotton-mill erected in the United States was built at Beverly,
Massachusetts, in 1787-1788. This was soon followed by others in various
towns along the east border of the country, especially Pawtucket and
Providence, Rhode Island; Boston, Massachusetts; New Haven and Norwich,
Connecticut; New York City; Paterson, New Jersey; Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania; and Statesburg, South Carolina. In them carding and
spinning were done by machinery, but the weaving was on hand-looms
until 1815, at which date a power-loom mill was started at Waltham,
Massachusetts. The use of hand-looms and spinning-wheels for cotton
manufacture was common in all parts of the country before the
Revolution, especially in the Southern colonies, and these continued to
be used by the women in their houses many years after the erection of
cotton factories.
DENISON OLMSTED
Mr. Whitney had scarcely set his foot in Georgia when he was met by a
disappointment which was an earnest of that long series of adverse
events which, with scarcely an exception, attended all his future
negotiations in the same State. On his arrival he was informed that Mr.
B. had employed another teacher, leaving Whitney entirely without
resources or friends, except those whom he had made in the family of
General Greene. In these benevolent people, however, his case excited
much interest, and Mrs. Greene kindly said to him: "My young friend, you
propose studying the law; make my house your home, your room your
castle, and there pursue what studies you please." He accordingly began
the study of law under that hospitable roof.
Mrs. Greene was engaged in a piece of embroidery in which she employed a
peculiar kind of frame called a tambour. She complained that it was
badly constructed, and that it tore the delicate threads of her work.
Mr. Whitney, eager for an opportunity to oblige his hostess, set himself
at work and speedily produced a tambour-frame made on a plan entirely
new, which he presented to her. Mrs. Greene and her family were greatly
delighted with it, and thought it a wonderful proof of ingenuity.
Not long afterward, a large party of gentlemen came from Augusta and the
upper country to visit the family of General Greene, consisting
principally of officers who had served under the General in the
Revolutionary Army. Among the number were Major Bremen, Forsyth, and
Pendleton. They fell into conversation upon the state of agriculture
among them, and expressed great regret that there was no means of
cleaning the green-seed cotton, or separating it from its seed, since
all the lands which were unsuitable for the cultivation of rice would
yield large crops of cotton. But until ingenuity could devise some
machine which would greatly facilitate the process of cleaning, it was
in vain to think of raising cotton for market. Separating one pound of
the clean staple from the seed was a day's work for a woman; but the
time usually devoted to picking cotton was the evening, after the labor
of the field was over. Then the slaves, men, women, and children, were
collected in circles with one whose duty it was to rouse the dozing and
quicken the indolent. While the company were engaged in this
conversation, "Gentlemen," said Mrs. Greene, "apply to my young friend,
Mr. Whitney--he can make anything." Upon which she conducted them into a
neighboring room, and showed them her tambour-frame, and a number of
toys which Mr. Whitney had made or repaired for the children. She then
introduced the gentlemen to Whitney himself, extolling his genius and
commending him to their notice and friendship. He modestly disclaimed
all pretensions to mechanical genius; and when they named their object,
he replied that he had never seen either cotton or cotton-seed in his
life. Mrs. Greene said to one of the gentlemen: "I have accomplished my
aim. Mr. Whitney is a very deserving young man, and to bring him into
notice was my object. The interest which our friends now feel for him
will, I hope, lead to his getting some employment to enable him to
prosecute the study of the law."
But a new turn that no one of the company dreamed of had been given to
Mr. Whitney's views. It being out of season for cotton in the seed, he
went to Savannah and searched among the warehouses and boats until he
found a small parcel of it. This he carried home, and communicated his
intentions to Mr. Miller, who warmly encouraged him, and assigned him a
room in the basement of the house, where he set himself at work with
such rude materials and instruments as a Georgia plantation afforded.
With these resources, however, he made tools better suited to his
purpose, and drew his own wire--of which the teeth of the earliest gins
were made--an article which was not at that time to be found in the
market of Savannah. Mrs. Greene and Mr. Miller were the only persons
ever admitted to his workshop, and the only persons who knew in what way
he was employing himself. The many hours he spent in his mysterious
pursuits afforded matter of great curiosity and often of raillery to the
younger members of the family. Near the close of the winter, the
machine was so nearly completed as to leave no doubt of its success.
Mrs. Greene was eager to communicate to her numerous friends the
knowledge of this important invention, peculiarly important at that
time, because then the market was glutted with all those articles which
were suited to the climate and soil of Georgia, and nothing could be
found to give occupation to the negroes, and support to the white
inhabitants. This opened suddenly to the planters boundless resources of
wealth, and rendered the occupations of the slaves less unhealthy and
laborious than they had been before.
Mrs. Greene, therefore, invited to her house gentlemen from different
parts of the State, and on the first day after they had assembled she
conducted them to a temporary building, which had been erected for the
machine, and they saw with astonishment and delight that more cotton
could be separated from the seed in one day, by the labor of a single
hand, than could be done in the usual manner in the space of many
months.
Mr. Whitney might now have indulged in bright reveries of fortune and of
fame; but we shall have various opportunities of seeing that he tempered
his inventive genius with an unusual share of the calm, considerate
qualities of the financier. Although urged by his friends to secure a
patent and devote himself to the manufacture and introduction of his
machines, he coolly replied that on account of the great expense and
trouble which always attend the introduction of a new invention, and the
difficulty of enforcing a law in favor of patentees, in opposition to
the individual interests of so large a number of persons as would be
concerned in the culture of this article, it was with great reluctance
that he should consent to relinquish the hopes of a lucrative
profession, for which he had been destined, with an expectation of
indemnity either from the justice or the gratitude of his countrymen,
even should the invention answer the most sanguine anticipations of his
friends.
The individual who contributed most to incite him to persevere in the
undertaking was Phineas Miller, Esq. Mr. Miller was a native of
Connecticut and graduate of Yale College. Like Mr. Whitney, soon after
he had completed his education at college, he came to Georgia as a
private teacher in the family of General Greene, and after the decease
of the general he became the husband of Mrs. Greene. He had qualified
himself for the profession of law, and was a gentleman of cultivated
mind and superior talents; but he was of an ardent temperament, and
therefore well fitted to enter with zeal into the views which the genius
of his friend had laid open to him. He had also considerable funds at
command, and proposed to Mr. Whitney to become his joint adventurer, and
to be at the whole expense of maturing the invention until it should be
patented. If the machine should succeed in its intended operation, the
parties agreed, under legal formalities, "that the profits and
advantages arising therefrom, as well as all privileges and emoluments
to be derived from patenting, making, vending, and working the same,
should be mutually and equally shared between them." This instrument
bears date May 27, 1793, and immediately afterward they began business,
under the firm of Miller & Whitney.
An invention so important to the agricultural interest, and, as has
proved, to every department of human industry, could not long remain a
secret. The knowledge of it soon spread through the State, and so great
was the excitement on the subject that multitudes of persons came from
all quarters of the State to see the machine; but it was not deemed safe
to gratify their curiosity until the patent-right had been secured. But
so determined were some of the populace to possess this treasure that
neither law nor justice could restrain them--they broke open the
building by night and carried off the machine. In this way the public
became possessed of the invention; and before Mr. Whitney could complete
his model and secure his patent, a number of machines were in successful
operation, constructed with some slight deviation from the original,
with the hope of evading the penalty for violating the patent-right.
As soon as the copartnership of Miller & Whitney was formed, Mr. Whitney
repaired to Connecticut, where, as far as possible, he was to perfect
the machine, obtain a patent, and manufacture and ship for Georgia such
a number of machines as would supply the demand.
Within three days after the conclusion of the copartnership, Mr. Whitney
having set out for the North, Mr. Miller commenced his long
correspondence relative to the cotton-gin. The first letter announces
that encroachments upon their rights had already commenced. "It will be
necessary," says Mr. Miller, "to have a considerable number of gins
made, to be in readiness to send out as soon as the patent is obtained,
in order to satisfy the absolute demand, and make people's heads easy on
the subject; _for I am informed of two other claimants for the honor of
the invention of cotton-gins, in addition to those we knew before_."
On June 20, 1793, Mr. Whitney presented his petition for a patent to Mr.
Jefferson, then Secretary of State; but the prevalence of the yellow
fever in Philadelphia--which was then the seat of government--prevented
his concluding the business relative to the patent until several months
afterward. To prevent being anticipated, he took, however, the
precaution to make oath to the invention before the notary public of the
city of New Haven, which he did October 28th of the same year.
Mr. Jefferson, who had much curiosity in regard to mechanical
inventions, took a peculiar interest in this machine, and addressed to
the inventor an obliging letter, desiring further particulars respecting
it, and expressing a wish to procure one for his own use. Mr. Whitney
accordingly sketched the history of the invention, and of the
construction and performances of the machine. "It is about a year," says
he, "since I first turned my attention to constructing this machine, at
which time I was in the State of Georgia. Within about ten days after my
first conception of the plan I made a small though imperfect model.
Experiments with this encouraged me to make one on a larger scale; but
the extreme difficulty of procuring workmen and proper materials in
Georgia prevented my completing the larger one until some time in April
last. This, though much larger than my first attempt, is not above
one-third as large as the machines may be made with convenience. The
cylinder is only two feet two inches in length and six inches diameter.
It is turned _by hand_, and requires the strength of one man to keep it
in constant motion. It is the stated task of one negro to clean fifty
weight--I mean fifty pounds after it is separated from the seed--of the
green-seed cotton per day." In the same letter Mr. Jefferson assured Mr.
Whitney that a patent would be granted as soon as the model was lodged
in the Patent Office. In mentioning the favorable notice of Mr.
Jefferson to his friend Stebbins, he adds, with characteristic
moderation, "_I hope, by perseverance, I shall make something of it
yet._"
At the close of this year (1793) Mr. Whitney was to return to Georgia
with his cotton-gins, and Mr. Miller had made arrangements for
commencing business immediately after his arrival. The plan was to erect
machines in every part of the cotton district and engross the entire
business themselves. This was evidently an unfortunate scheme. It
rendered the business very extensive and complicated, and, as it did not
at once supply the demands of the cotton-growers, it multiplied the
inducements to make the machines in violation of the patent. Had the
proprietors confined their views to the manufacture of the machines and
to the sale of patent-rights, it is probable they would have avoided
some of the difficulties with which they afterward had to contend. The
prospect of making suddenly an immense fortune by the business of
ginning, where every third pound of cotton (worth at that time from
twenty-five to thirty-three cents) was their own, presented great and
peculiar attractions. Mr. Whitney's return to Georgia was delayed until
the following April. The importunity of Mr. Miller's letters, written
during the preceding period, urging him to come on, evinces how eager
the Georgia planters were to enter the new field of enterprise which the
genius of Whitney had laid open to them. Nor did they at first, _in
general_, contemplate availing themselves of the invention unlawfully.
But the minds of the more honorable class of planters were afterward
deluded by various artifices, set on foot by designing men, with the
view of robbing Mr. Whitney of his just right.
One of the greatest difficulties experienced by men of enterprise, at
the period under review, was the extreme scarcity of money. In order to
carry on the manufacture of cotton-gins, and to make advances in the
purchase of cotton and establishments for ginning, to an extent in any
degree proportioned to their wishes, Miller & Whitney required a much
greater capital than they could command; and the sanguine temperament of
Mr. Miller was constantly prompting him to advance in hazards much
further than the more cautious spirit of Mr. Whitney would follow. But
even the latter found it necessary sometimes to borrow money at an
enormous interest. The first loan (for $2000) was made on terms which
were deemed at that time peculiarly favorable; yet the company were to
pay 5 per cent. premium in addition to the lawful interest. This was in
1794. In consequence of the numerous speculations in new lands into
which so many of our countrymen were deluded, and the want of confidence
created by the very application for a loan, the pressure for money was
continually increasing. In 1796 Mr. Whitney applied to a friend in
Boston to raise money for him on a loan, and received the following
reply: "I applied to one of those vultures called brokers, who are
preying on the purse-strings of the industrious, and was informed that
he can procure the sum you wish at a premium of 20 per cent. on the
following conditions, viz.: You must make over and deposit with him
public securities, such as funded stock, bank stock, or any kind of
State notes, or Connecticut reservation land certificates, sufficient,
at the going prices, fully to secure the debt and premium." In a more
embarrassed state of Mr. Miller's private affairs, several years
afterward, he paid the enormous interest of 5, 6, and even 7 per cent.
_per month_.
We have said that the loan contracted by Mr. Whitney, in 1794, at a
premium of 5 per cent. in addition to the lawful interest, was regarded
as peculiarly favorable; this is evident from the fact that, during the
same year, Mr. Miller urges him to contract a new loan, if possible, for
$3000, at 12 or 14 per cent. provided it could be extended over a year.
In July, 1794, Mr. Whitney was confined by a severe illness, from which
he recovered slowly; but his business received a still further
interruption from a very fatal sickness, the scarlet fever, which
prevailed in New Haven during this year, and which attacked a number of
his workmen.
Under all these discouragements Mr. Miller was constantly writing the
most urgent letters from Georgia, to press forward the manufacture of
machines. "Do not let a deficiency of money, do not let anything," says
Mr. Miller, "hinder the speedy construction of the gins. The people of
the country are almost running mad for them, and much can be said to
justify their importunity. When the present crop is harvested, there
will be a real property of at least $50,000, yes, of $100,000, lying
useless, unless we can enable the holders to bring it to market. Pray
remember that we must have from fifty to one hundred gins between this
and another fall, if there are any workmen in New England or in the
Middle States to make them. In two years we will begin to take long
steps up-hill, in the business of patent ginning, fortune favoring."
The general resort of the planters to the cultivation of cotton, and its
consequent production in vast quantities, the value of which depended
entirely upon the chance of getting it cleaned by the gin, created great
uneasiness, which first displayed itself in this pressure upon Miller &
Whitney, and afterward afforded great encouragement to the marauders
upon the patent-right, who were now becoming numerous and audacious.
The _roller-gin_ was at first the most formidable competitor with
Whitney's machine. It extricated the seeds by means of rollers, crushing
them between revolving cylinders, instead of disengaging them by means
of teeth. The fragments of seeds which remained in the cotton rendered
its execution much inferior in this respect to Whitney's gin, and it was
also much slower in its operation. Great efforts were made, however, to
create an impression in favor of its superiority in other respects.
But a still more formidable rival appeared early in the year 1795, under
the name of the _saw-gin_. It was Whitney's gin, except that the teeth
were cut in circular rims of iron, instead of being made of wires, as
was the case in the earlier forms of the patent gin. The idea of such
teeth had early occurred to Mr. Whitney, as he afterward established by
legal proof. But they would have been of no use except in connection
with the other parts of his machine, and, therefore, this was a palpable
attempt to evade the patent-right, and it was principally in reference
to this that the lawsuits were afterward held.
It would be difficult to estimate the full value of Mr. Whitney's
labors, without going into a minuteness of detail inconsistent with our
limits. Every cotton garment bears the impress of his genius, and the
ships that transported it across the waters were the heralds of his
fame, and the cities that have risen to opulence by the cotton trade
must attribute no small share of their prosperity to the inventor of the
cotton-gin. We have before us the declaration of the late Mr. Fulton,
that Arkwright, Watt, and Whitney--we would add Fulton to the
number--were the three men who did most for mankind, of any of their
contemporaries; and in the sense in which he intended it, the remark is
probably true.
EXECUTION OF LOUIS XVI
MURDER OF MARAT: CIVIL WAR IN FRANCE
A.D. 1793
THOMAS CARLYLE
In the early days of the French Revolution many moderates
who favored reform of the monarchy, but not its abolition,
were wholly alienated by the condemnation and execution of
Louis XVI, after what has been regarded as a mock trial by
the National Convention. It was a still graver effect of
this tragedy that it impelled the leading European powers to
join in the great coalition against France contemplated in
the Convention of Pillnitz (August, 1791).
Scarcely less was the influence upon the internal affairs of
France from the murder of Marat by Charlotte Corday.
Jean Paul Marat, sometimes called, from the name of a paper
which he published, the "Friend of the People," was one of
the most ultra-revolutionary of the Jacobin leaders in the
National Convention. By his murder the "Red
Republicans"--the extreme radical party in the Convention,
called the "Mountain" because they occupied the higher seats
in the hall--were confirmed in their determination to
destroy their opponents, the moderate republicans, called
Girondists or Girondins. Many of the Girondist leaders,
among them some of the most distinguished men in France,
were soon sent to the guillotine, and the Reign of Terror
was fully inaugurated. Carlyle calls Marat "atrocious," and
so most writers regard him, but there are not wanting some
to vindicate his character and purposes.
These tragic scenes, and the opening of the civil war which
followed, known as the War of La Vendee, are depicted by
Carlyle in that manner, all his own, which invests his
history of the French Revolution at once with the element of
realism and an air of romance.
Louis XVI was first deposed by the National Convention, and
then brought to trial for conspiring with foreign enemies of
France, for aiming to subvert French liberties, and for
being the cause of the massacre of the Swiss Guards who
defended the Tuileries (August 10, 1792) against a mob
seeking the King's life. Louis was found "guilty," and,
after a long wrangle in the Convention over the question of
punishment, a small majority was given (January 20, 1793)
for the decree of death. It was voted that there should be
no delay of the execution.