THE RELATIONS OF AMERICAN SLAVERY TO THE INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS OF OUR
COUNTRY; TO THE DEMANDS OF COMMERCE; AND TO THE PRESENT POLITICAL
CRISIS.
Present condition of Slavery--Not an isolated
system--Its relations to other industrial
interests--To manufactures, commerce, trade, human
comfort--Its benevolent aspect--The reverse
picture--Immense value of tropical possessions to
Great Britain--England's attempted monopoly of
Manufactures--Her dependence on American
Planters--Cotton Planters attempt to monopolize
Cotton markets--_Fusion_ of these parties--Free
Trade essential to their success--Influence on
agriculture, mechanics--Exports of Cotton,
Tobacco, etc.--Increased production of
Provisions--Their extent--New markets needed.
THE institution of slavery, at this moment, gives indications of a
vitality that was never anticipated by its friends or foes. Its enemies
often supposed it about ready to expire, from the wounds they had
inflicted, when in truth it had taken two steps in advance, while they
had taken twice the number in an opposite direction. In each successive
conflict, its assailants have been weakened, while its dominion has been
extended.
This has arisen from causes too generally overlooked. Slavery is not an
isolated system, but is so mingled with the business of the world, that
it derives facilities from the most innocent transactions. Capital and
labor, in Europe and America, are largely employed in the manufacture of
cotton. These goods, to a great extent, may be seen freighting every
vessel, from Christian nations, that traverses the seas of the globe;
and filling the warehouses and shelves of the merchants over two-thirds
of the world. By the industry, skill, and enterprise employed in the
manufacture of cotton, mankind are better clothed; their comfort better
promoted; general industry more highly stimulated; commerce more widely
extended; and civilization more rapidly advanced than in any preceding
age.
To the superficial observer, all the agencies, based upon the sale and
manufacture of cotton, seem to be legitimately engaged in promoting
human happiness; and he, doubtless, feels like invoking Heaven's
choicest blessings upon them. When he sees the stockholders in the
cotton corporations receiving their dividends, the operatives their
wages, the merchants their profits, and civilized people everywhere
clothed comfortably in cottons, he can not refrain from exclaiming: The
lines have fallen unto them in pleasant places; yea, they have a goodly
heritage!
But turn a moment to the source whence the raw cotton, the basis of
these operations, is obtained, and observe the aspect of things in that
direction. When the statistics on the subject are examined, it appears
that nine-tenths of the cotton consumed in the Christian world is the
product of the slave labor of the United States.[14] It is this monopoly
that has given to slavery its commercial value; and, while this monopoly
is retained, the institution will continue to extend itself wherever it
can find room to spread. He who looks for any other result, must expect
that nations, which, for centuries, have waged war to extend their
commerce, will now abandon that means of aggrandizement, and bankrupt
themselves to force the abolition of American slavery!
This is not all. The economical value of slavery, as an agency for
supplying the means of extending manufactures and commerce, has long
been understood by statesmen.[15] The discovery of the power of steam,
and the inventions in machinery, for preparing and manufacturing cotton,
revealed the important fact, that a single island, having the monopoly
secured to itself, could supply the world with clothing. Great Britain
attempted to gain this monopoly; and, to prevent other countries from
rivaling her, she long prohibited all emigration of skillful mechanics
from the kingdom, as well as all exports of machinery. As country after
country was opened to her commerce, the markets for her manufactures
were extended, and the demand for the raw material increased. The
benefits of this enlarged commerce of the world, were not confined to a
single nation, but mutually enjoyed by all. As each had products to
sell, peculiar to itself, the advantages often gained by one were no
detriment to the others. The principal articles demanded by this
increasing commerce have been coffee, sugar, and cotton, in the
production of which slave labor has greatly predominated. Since the
enlargement of manufactures, cotton has entered more extensively into
commerce than coffee and sugar, though the demand for all three has
advanced with the greatest rapidity. England could only become a great
commercial nation, through the agency of her manufactures. She was the
best supplied, of all the nations, with the necessary capital, skill,
labor, and fuel, to extend her commerce by this means. But, for the raw
material, to supply her manufactories, she was dependent upon other
countries. The planters of the United States were the most favorably
situated for the cultivation of cotton; and while Great Britain was
aiming at monopolizing its manufacture, they attempted to monopolize the
markets for that staple. This led to a fusion of interests between them
and the British manufacturers; and to the adoption of principles in
political economy, which, if rendered effective, would promote the
interests of this coalition. With the advantages possessed by the
English manufacturers, "Free Trade" would render all other nations
subservient to their interests; and, so far as their operations should
be increased, just so far would the demand for American cotton be
extended. The details of the success of the parties to this combination,
and the opposition they have had to encounter, are left to be noticed
more fully hereafter. To the cotton planters, the co-partnership has
been eminently advantageous.
How far the other agricultural interests of the United States are
promoted, by extending the cultivation of cotton, may be inferred from
the Census returns of 1850, and the Congressional Reports on Commerce
and Navigation, for 1854.[16] Cotton and tobacco, only, are largely
exported. The production of sugar does not yet equal our consumption of
the article, and we import, chiefly from slave labor countries,
445,445,680 lbs. to make up the deficiency.[17] But of cotton and
tobacco, we export more than _two-thirds_ of the amount produced; while
of other products of the agriculturists, less than the _one forty-sixth_
part is exported. Foreign nations, generally, can grow their provisions,
but can not grow their tobacco and cotton. Our surplus provisions, not
exported, go to the villages, towns, and cities, to feed the mechanics,
manufacturers, merchants, professional men, and others; or to the cotton
and sugar districts of the South, to feed the planters and their slaves.
The increase of mechanics and manufacturers at the North, and the
expansion of slavery at the South, therefore, augment the markets for
provisions, and promote the prosperity of the farmer. As the mechanical
population increases, the implements of industry and articles of
furniture are multiplied, so that both farmer and planter can be
supplied with them on easier terms. As foreign nations open their
markets to cotton fabrics, increased demands for the raw material are
made. As new grazing and grain-growing States are developed, and teem
with their surplus productions, the mechanic is benefited, and the
planter, relieved from food-raising, can employ his slaves more
extensively upon cotton. It is thus that our exports are increased; our
foreign commerce advanced; the home markets of the mechanic and farmer
extended, and the wealth of the nation promoted. It is thus, also, that
the free labor of the country finds remunerating markets for its
products--though at the expense of serving as an efficient auxiliary in
the extension of slavery!
But more: So speedily are new grain-growing States springing up; so
vast is the territory owned by the United States, ready for settlement;
and so enormous will soon be the amount of products demanding profitable
markets, that the national government has been seeking new outlets for
them, upon our own continent, to which, alone, they can be
advantageously transported. That such outlets, when our vast possessions
Westward are brought under cultivation, will be an imperious necessity,
is known to every statesman. The farmers of these new States, after the
example of those of the older sections of the country, will demand a
market for their products. This can be furnished, only, by the extension
of slavery; by the acquisition of more tropical territory; by opening
the ports of Brazil, and other South American countries, to the
admission of our provisions; by their free importation into European
countries; or by a vast enlargement of domestic manufactures, to the
exclusion of foreign goods from the country. Look at this question as it
now stands, and then judge of what it must be twenty years hence. The
class of products under consideration, in the whole country, in 1853,
were valued at $1,551,176,490; of which there were exported to foreign
countries, to the value of only $33,809,126.[18] The planter will not
assent to any check upon the foreign imports of the country, for the
benefit of the farmer. This demands the adoption of vigorous measures to
secure a market for his products by some of the other modes stated.
Hence, the orders of our executive, in 1851, for the exploration of the
valley of the Amazon; the efforts, in 1854, to obtain a treaty with
Brazil, for the free navigation of that immense river; the negotiations
for a military foothold in St. Domingo; and the determination to acquire
Cuba. But we must not anticipate topics to be considered at a later
period in our discussion.
FOOTNOTES:
[14] See Appendix, Table I.
[15] It may be well here to illustrate this point, by an extract from
McQueen, of England, in 1844, when this highly intelligent gentleman was
urging upon his government the great necessity which existed for
securing to itself, as speedily as possible, the control of the labor
and the products of tropical Africa. In reference to the benefits which
had been derived from her West India colonies, before the suppression of
the slave trade and the emancipation of the slaves had rendered them
comparatively unproductive, he said: "During the fearful struggle of a
quarter of a century, for her existence as a nation, against the power
and resources of Europe, directed by the most intelligent but
remorseless military ambition against her, the command of the
productions of the torrid zone, and the advantageous commerce which that
afforded, gave to Great Britain the power and the resources which
enabled her to meet, to combat, and to overcome, her numerous and
reckless enemies in every battle-field, whether by sea or land,
throughout the world. In her the world saw realized the fabled giant of
antiquity. With her hundred hands she grasped her foes in every region
under heaven, and crushed them with resistless energy."
In further presenting the considerations which he considered necessary
to secure the adoption of the policy he was urging, Mr. McQueen referred
to the difficulties which were then surrounding Great Britain, and the
extent to which rival nations had surpassed her in tropical cultivation.
He continued: "The increased cultivation and prosperity of foreign
tropical possessions is become so great, and is advancing so rapidly the
power and resources of other nations, that these are embarrassing this
country, (England,) in all her commercial relations, in her pecuniary
resources, and in all her political relations and negotiations." . . . .
. . "Instead of supplying her own wants with tropical productions, and
next nearly all Europe, as she formerly did, she had scarcely enough, of
some of the most important articles, for her own consumption, while her
colonies were mostly supplied with foreign slave produce." . . . . . .
"In the mean time tropical productions had been increased from
$75,000,000, to $300,000,000 annually. The English capital invested in
tropical productions in the East and West Indies, had been, by
emancipation in the latter, reduced from $750,000,000, to $650,000,000;
while, since 1808, on the part of foreign nations $4,000,000,000 of
fixed capital had been created in slaves and in cultivation wholly
dependent upon the labor of slaves." The odds, therefore, in
agricultural and commercial capital and interest, and consequently in
political power and influence, arrayed against the British tropical
possessions, were very fearful--six to one. This will be better
understood by giving the figures on the subject. The contrast is very
striking, and reveals the secret of England's untiring zeal about
slavery and the slave trade. Indeed, Mr. McQueen frankly acknowledges,
that "If the foreign slave trade be not extinguished, and the
cultivation of the tropical territories of other powers opposed and
checked by British tropical cultivation, then the interests and the
power of such states will rise into a preponderance over those of Great
Britain; and the power and the influence of the latter will cease to be
felt, feared and respected, amongst the civilized and powerful nations
of the world."
But here are the figures upon which this humiliating acknowledgement is
made. The productions of the tropical possessions of Great Britain and
foreign countries, respectively, at the period alluded to by Mr.
McQueen, and as given by himself, stood as follows:
SUGAR--1842.
British Possessions. | Foreign countries.
West Indies, cwts. 2,508,552| Cuba, cwts. 5,800,000
East Indies, " 940,452 | Brazil, " 2,400,000
Mauritius,(1841) " 544,767 | Java, " 1,105,757
------------------| Louisiana, " 1,400,000
Total 3,993,771 | ------------------
| Total 10,705,757
COFFEE--1842.
West Indies, lbs. 9,186,555 | Java, lbs. 134,842,715
East Indies, " 18,206,448 | Brazil, " 135,000,800
------------------ | Cuba, " 33,589,325
Total 27,393,003 | Venezuela, " 34,000,000
| ------------------
| Total 337,432,840
COTTON--1840.
West Indies, lbs. 427,529 | United States, lbs. 790,479,275
East Indies, " 77,015,917 | Java, " 165,504,800
To China from do. " 60,000,000 | Brazil, " 25,222,828
------------------| ------------------
Total 137,443,446 | Total 981,206,903
[16] See Appendix, Table II.
[17] Table III. For Statistics up to 1859, see chapter VI. and Appendix.
[18] See Appendix, Table II.