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[Frora the NHtcliitoches  (La.) Chroiiiclo.]
The Cotton Crop aud its Producliou.
We publish below a liiglily inleresling ariicle from (he pen ofourTellovv toivns- min, Gen. V. A. Morse, on "Soullicrn SUvery and llie Cotion Trade." ll con- t.iins so much of valuable'inforinalion^ and ihe views are so necessary for us to nsk our readers to give it a careful peru- 9 1. The ihemc is onc> so iiiiiinaicly in. terwoven wilh the inicrcsls and even che vitality of ihe South, thai it wili al¬ way* command atieniion.
SOUTHERN     S1,.\VEUY     .aSd     TIIE   COTTON Tl:.\DE.
Il appears to be ver}' generally con¬ sidered in this couniry and in'Europe that the regular and permanent supply of raw cotton for the coiumercial wanls o'ihe world must, lo a large extern, be produced in the United Slates and from siave labor.
The quaniiiy of raw cofton imported into England froin Brazil, Madras, Cal¬ cutta, Egypt, &;c. has not increased to any considerable extent during the last ten years, notwiilislanding liie palro¬ nage and fostering care of the Briiish Governnient ; while, on the other hand, the coiton crop of thc United Slates has continued lo augment, and now amounts to over eighty per cent, of the whole consumplion, with an increasing de¬ mand, at fully remunerating prices.
Bul tlie American cotion trade has not I cached its preseni prosperous con <* dition wiihout meeting severalyal-nost <fuinous vicissitudes. From «S35 to 1845 the annual produciion of Ameri¬ can cotton exceeded the foreign and do¬ mestic demand, and the accumulated stock in Liverpool alone al the close of ihe com'nercial year, December 31, 1845, footed up nearl}' twelve hundred thousand bales. The price, which in i 1835 vvas sixteen cents per pound, grad- U^illy depreciated, in proportion to the over-production, until 1845, wheu Ihe average of the season was only 5 3-4 cents per pound, actually less than the cost of produciion. With this immense stock on hand and the prospect of an un¬ limited future suppK', the commercial and manulaciuring classes in England not only dictated their ovvn prices to the American planter, but they seized the favorable opportunily for an at¬ tempt themselves altogether from any ...future dependence upon the Uniiea Slates for the raw niaterial of their most profitable commerce. Various imprac¬ ticable schemes vvere set on fooi and Vast sums of money expended in order lo slinmlate and extend ihe production ol ihe raw cotton by free labor, while the Briiish press, in aid ofthe eflbrl, de¬ nounced the institution of slavery in the United Stales in unmeasured lerms.
This was a gloomy period for the American coiton planter, but every one possessed of any commerciar||agacity was aware that this state of ihirfgs could not continue fbr any very protracted pe¬ riod of time, and the result was whal a political economist would have anticipa¬ ted. The supply of raw collon had beeii  greater than the demand, and cot¬
ton planting ceased to be remunerative. Capilal was diverted to other and moie profitable means of investment, unlil the equilibrium shou'd be restored by the gradually increasing consumption oflhe raw material. From 1845 lo 1855 the condition and prospects of the cotton- growing Stales oflhe Confederacy have been slowly but sieadily improving. TJie point ofextieme depression in the cotton tmde has been reached and pass ed, and it is now admiiied b\- manufuc- tureis and consumers that the supply of cotton, stimulated as it is by full and re- muneraiing prices, is unequal lo the nec¬ essarv and imperative demand. Public meetings have recenlly been held in London, Liverpool, Manchester, and oilier commercial emporiums, for the purpose of adopting measures lo increase the giowlh of cotion within the Brili.sh colonial possessions, not in spirit of ag¬ gression upon u.s but in prospect of a fuUiie inadequate supply from ihe Uni¬ ted Slates; and an anxi.tis and restless feeling prevails in commercial circles, both in this country and in Europe, in relaiion loihis all absorbing subject.
The popular impression has hereto¬ fore prevailed, almost universally, that the Uniied Slates could supp'y coiton to an unlimited exient, and this opinion would hi well-founded if the result de¬ pended solely upou the exlenl and fer¬ tiliiy of the soil embraced vviihin the colton-grovving States. But there is anotlier element which enicrs imo and over-iides the vvhole subjeci, and that is the [iresent and future demand and sup¬ ply of slave labor. In order fully fo uii- derslaiid this posiiion, il will be necessa ry lo inquire at whal ratio slaves had heietofore increased within the coiton- growing Slates, and vvlial augmentation may reasonably be expected for the fu¬ ture.
Collon is not produced lo any consid¬ erable extent, ifat all, in bul nine oflhe lllleen   slave   Slates, and   in   some  of these  Stales   rice,   sugar, and tobacco form  no  inconsiderable   item  of staple produciion.    Tiie  slave increase in the Uniied States, from excess of birihs over deaths, lias been about twenty-eight per cent, for each  decade since 1890, while the increase within the cotton-growing Svales, from  this   source   and from ac¬ cessions from   other   States,   has been 103,80 por cent, from 1830 to 1840, and 51,41 per cenl. from 1840 lo 1850. This large augmentalioti ofslaves wiihin these nine States   has been  caused mostly by the migration of slave owners, and part¬ ly by llie purchase ofslaves from Mary¬ land, Virginia,  N.  Carolina and Ken¬ tucky.
The following tabular statement, com¬ piled from tlie Compendium of the Uni¬ ted States Census for 1850, will illus¬ trate this branch of ihe subject:
the latter class at least as many slaves will be employed as domesiics as there are slave proprietors." He very proper¬ ly remarks that "slaves under len and over sixly are seldom employed indus¬ trially." The number of slave proprie¬ tors in iha above named States in 1850 as ascertained by the census, was 288,- 000, or 14.01 percent.; and the number ofslaves under ten and over sixty was 715<220,or about 35 per cent, of the to¬ tal slave population.
The ibllowing table vvill exhibit the result ofmy distribution of slave labor in 1850:
Total number of slaves in the nine col- longrowing States 2.048.293
Deduct those under ten and over sixly years of age 715.220
Leaving total number ol field hands
01 whom there arc—
Urban slave
Domestic servants
Rice crop
Sngar
Tobacco
Cotion
12,48
14,01
5,00
6,00
\,m
60,72
1,333,073
lCf.,367
188,000
66,653
79,984
22,662
800,417
100
1,333;073
I now propose to shovv in a tabular form approximately the increase of slaves in the collon growing States from 1850 to 1860, al the rate of 51.41 per cent, and the increase of cotton pro¬ ductions for the same period al the rate of 3.06 bales to the hand. The result will be as follows:
Field  bands, 1850,    812,769    Crop, at 3.06 per
head 2,488,987 Add 1-2 of 51.41 For 6 ycai-s, to 18b5. 208,681
Field hands, 1855. 1,021,650
Add 5.14 52,512
Field hands, 1856.1,073,162
Add 5.14 55,160
Field  hands, 1857.1,128,322 Add 5.14 27,995
Field hands,   1858.1,186,317 Add 5.15 60,976
Field   hands,   1859.1,247,293 Add 5.14 64,110
3,126,249
3,283,876
3,452,665
3,630,130
3,816,71.'5
Bice crop, 1850    Ibs    209,839,087 Sugar crop, 1850 237,053,000
Tobacco crop, 1850 22,173,417 I cannot, of course, preiend to abso¬ lute certainty in fixing the occupation of our slave population; but, after a care¬ ful examination of the best sources of correct information at hand, I believe that the above distribution of slave la¬ bor cannot be far from correct.
The Hon. Levi Woodbury, lale Sec¬ retary of the Treasury, in his rejKM-t lo Congress in 183G, accompanied by his elaborate and carelully conipiled " tables and holes on thc cultivation, manulac- luie and foreign trade of collon," esti¬ mated the number of field hands em¬ ployed upon the coiton crop of 1835 at 310,000, and yielding about 3.5 bales to ths hand.
Mr. Woodbury was cerlainly posses¬ sed of ihe besl means of informaiion upon this as upon any imporlant subject gravely communicated lo Congress; and if we assume that lie accurately slates the number of field hands employed up¬ on the cotton crop of 1835, and that they increased upon the census ratio of 103.80 per cent, from 1835 to 1840, and of 51.41 per cent, from 1840 lo 1850, the number employed in 1850 will be found as follows :
Mr. Woodbury's estimate of field hands, '35 340,000 Add one-half of 103.80 per cent, to 1849,      176,460
STATE
Alabama,
Arlcansas,
Florida,
Georgia,
Louisiana,
Mississippi
So, Car'la.
Tennessee,
Tc-xa.s—est
Average
Per centum of
slave   increas
1830   to 1840.
115.68
365 64
65.90
29.15
53.70
197.31
3.68
29.27
103.80
Per cent, of
slave incr'se
140 to 1850.
35.22
136.26
52.85
S5.85
45.32
58.74
17.71
30.80
50.00
51.41
Number of
slaves 1850
342.844
47.100
39.310
381.68-3
244.809
309.878
384.984
239.459
58.227
1
From the above table it will be ssen that the total number of slaves within the nine cotton-growing States in 1850 was 2.048.393; and I now propose to show what number of these slaves were actually occupied as field hands in the culture of cotion.
Mr. DeBow, the superintendent oflhe United Slates ('ensus of 1850, remarks at page 94 of the compendium : "In no census iiave ihe occupations of slaves been recorded. How many are employ¬ ed as mechanics, how many as laborers, how many as house servants cannot be knovvn; nor more than proximately hovv many on the diflerent agricullural crops of the South." He thinks it might be safe to say "ihat about 400,000, or 12,- 4S per cent, of ihe total slave population arc urbau and the balance rural, and uf
Total field hands, 1840, Add one half 51.41 per cent to 1845,
Total field hands, 1845, Add one half 51.41 percent, to 1850,
616.460 132,730
649,190 168,841
810,031
Total field hands, 1850,
The diflference beiween the result thus produced and my own estimate is quite immaterial, but for greater accu¬ racy I will assume the average ol Ihe two lo be the correct number, say 812, 769.
Before I proceed to the conclusions resulting from the aaoption of 812,769 as the number of field hands employed in tho coiton crop of 1850, I vvill slate very frankly ihal much depends upon accuracy in this particular. But my estimate cannol be very far from the true number, and if I have erred it is in company vvilh the lale Secretary of the Treasury, who was noted for general accuracy. 1 vvill also here remark thai there is no accurate information upon the raiio of slave increase in the cotton growing States since 1850. It cannol be greater, and is probably less than thai of the previous decade ; bul for subse¬ quent purposes 1 vvill consider it to be the same, say 51.41 per cent, for ten years, or 5.14 per cent, per annum.
Assuming the data above established to be correc, vve find that the cotton crop of 1850, equal, by the average of the three crops of 1849, 1850 and 1851, to be 2,486,987 bales, was produced by ihe labor of 812,769 field hands, and yielded an average of 3.06 bales to the ,hand.
Field hands,   1860.1,311,403 4,912,893
The cotton crop o( 1855, as reporied, vvas 3,527,800 bales; bul it must be borne in mind ihal ' ihis crop was in¬ creased by at least 300,000 bales, kept back from the produce of the previous year by low vvater in the rivers in Ala¬ bama, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas. The average of the three crops of 1854, 1855, and 1856, was only 3,108,266 bales, a fraction less than the result pro¬ duced by my calculation. Tiie collon crop of the Uniied Stales has never reached 3,500,000 bales, nor wijl il for some years, unless slave labor can be in creased in the coiton growling Slates at a greater ratio than at present.
In order to produce the crop of 1860, estimated at 4,012,893 bales, there must be an increase of field hands, as vve have seen, of 289,753 over the number em¬ ployed in the crop of 1855. The nat¬ ural increase from excess of births and dealhs for the period meniioned vvill, at the census ratio of 2.8 per annum, sup¬ ply 143,031 of this number, leaving 146,723 field hands to be received by migration or purchase-from the other slave Slates.
But vvill even this large accession of slave labor and the successful produc¬ tion of a crop of 4,012,893 bales in I8¬ 60 meel the legitimate demand ? I think not. The consumption of raw cotton, at leasl since 1850, has been al the rate of 6.2 per cent, per annum, while the rate of supply, on which I have based my calculation, has been at the rate of 5.141 per cent, per annum. The croji of 1855, at my esiimate, vvas 3,126,249 bales, which increased at the rate of 6.2 per cent, per annum for five years to 1860 vvould produce ihe following re¬ sult:
bales, 3,126,249 " 3,321,076 " 3,526,982 " 3,745,653 "' 3,977,883 "    4.224,511
The inquiry naturally suggests itsell', where is this vast accession of slave la¬ bor to come from ? Can ihe slave States of Maryland, Virginin, North Carolina, and Kentucky be depleted to that extent ? Or is such a result at all probable ? The difficulty of procuring slaves at reasonable rales has already been severely felt by the cotton plmlers, and this difficulty is conslanlly increas¬ ing. The production of rice, tobacco, wheat, Indian corn, «fec, with slock raising, in those States, affords nearly if nol quite, as profitable employment for slave labor as cotton planting in ihe other States. They have not, as is generally supposed, a redundancy of slave labor, nur are they likely to have so long as their present prospeiity con¬ tinues.
The recent full development of the rich agricultural and mineral resources of those Slates, aided by an immense demand lor their staple productions, has not only given full and profitable em¬ ployment to slave labor, but has improv¬ ed ihe pecuniary condition of the slave owner, and jilaced him above the neces¬ sity of parting with liis properly, or of migrating vvith it into the collon grow¬ ing Stales.
But it is useless lo pursue this chain of argument and figures any further.— It is simply absurd to suppose that the coiton crop of the United States can be increased over the present produc¬ tion more than Iwelve hundred ihousand bales in the short period of five years, even if the requisite amount of capital ior investment in slaves could be found. The disproportion between supply and consumplion is already too great to ex¬ pect to restore the equilibrium vviihin this limited space of time, excepi by a check upon consumplion. The surplus stock of cotion in Liverpool and in ihis couniry, which in 1845 amounted to nearly a year's consumption, has been gradually worked up, and the manufac¬ turers and consumers are now depen.. dei-t upon the actual yearly production from the United Stales. All exiieviments wilh the objecl of extending the culture of coiton in other countries haveended in utter failure, and ihe}' will be equally ineflectua! in the future.
The people of England may then, vvilh reason, feel a deep solicitude in the success of cotton planting in ihe Uni¬ ted Slates. They are perfectly advised thai any disaster or considerable failure in our coiton crop would inflict a blow upon commerce that would be felt throughout the civilized vvorld; they are also al last convinced that the sup" ply of collon cinnot be certain and uni¬ form unless produced by slave labor,   li
' A   newspaper paragraph  somewhere says :   "Lel the slandered take comfort —it  is only  at fruit  trees that thieves ihrow stones."    Embark, ifyou will, in any enierprise looking tothe aid of hu¬ man socieiy—employ means most ir.no- ceiit—be as gentle  as you may—and your  moiive  will be,  by man}', raisun- derslood and your actions misconstrued. You cannot   please -the  vvorld,   that is eeriain.    li resolves not to bc pleased. It presenls ihe quills ofthe porcupine^lo every  such  attempt,   and cloihes itself with belligerance as with a garment,   i't loves  to whisper  you down   it you at¬ lenipt lo rise, but if, in spile ofthe whis¬ perings   of detraction, you   do   rise, it will hurl you fiom your eminence, if it can, with a slorm of env}'.    G. Willi- kins  and  By Golly,  are chained to the mud sills  of mediocrit}', and ihey know lliey   will stay    there   in   spite ofany habeas corpus on  earth.    They lift up their glances to those above them, and mock at  them  and scofT al  them and slander them, because forsooth they can never   mount   up lo  them.    Unable to rise  themselves,  ihey  would  drag the balance of the world down to their own level.    The whiter the paper the niore distinct  will be the discoloration mado by  the  ink.    And so with- the humad character.    Oh, who does not remember; in his own life experiences, some gentle, loving heart that has vyilhered under the touch of slander, or wilted and drooped along the flowerless paths of a wretched life, undone forever in this world ? Envy did that—envy, that most degraded and blackest minister   in  the cabinet of hd-" man passions.
Ilis noihing that you dig-wilh your own hands in the solid rock the steps by which you ascend—nothing, nothing.— It is nothing that, after all your toils, the crown of success   is   suspended   ovei* your   head—nothing,    noihing.    It    is nothing that  by  dint of noble exertion you   attain a high and merited posilioii in society—there bc those beneath yoii vvho would hurl you back to the base of the eminence you have gained, and en¬ shroud you with the murkey damps that roll   gloomily around   their' ovvn head?. Everybody  knovvs such people, at least, vve knovv thern.    They are so mean that the very  dogs ought  lo be ashamed to bark at lliem.    It is a very bad breed of dogs that vvill do it.    Their sagacity, or rather thcir  villainy,   shines oiit in icoh- struclions.    Everything you do is con¬ strued.    Ifyou gape, they wonder whai motive you have in that.    If you appear ihoughful,   they   wonder what   scheme you are  revolving.    If you smile, Ihey take il   that you are   gloating over the accompiislimeiit  of something or other.
Crop in 1855, Crop in 1856, Crop in 1857, Crop in 1858, Crop in 1859, Crop in 1860, The crop of 1860 required by ihe consumption rale of increase, being more than 200,000 bales over my esti- qiale of produciion, and that much at least more than the utmost that can be reasonably expecied from the cottor: crop of the United States. Bul if it is contended that a crop of 4,224,511 bales can be produced in 1860, there must be a corresponding increase of slave labor, which will involve the necessity of em¬ ploying 69,156 additional field hands, making in all 215,878 field hands over the natural increase of slaves in the col ton-growing  States.
To produce a crop even of 4,022,893 bales in 1860 will require an increase, as vve have seen, of 146,722 field hands, which, if procured by purchase,Will re¬ quire the investment of al least $146,- 000,000, at the present v.-ilue of ihis class of slave properly; and if the crop is lo bc increased to meet ihe expected demand, in 1860 the investment in slaves vvill be proportionately increased to about 82,'J0,00n.000,   or  $50,000,000
is in this view   of the subject   ihatthe   and rigWaway put their ho'low hearts'
and heads to conjecturing whal il is. The newspajier paragraph is right ini its observalion, but the misfortune is tha the ihieves manage, not only to' pluck away all the fruil, but lo break the branches and frequently to kill ihe tree.
Briiish governmeni, the British press, and the British people have ceased their denunciations of slavery and slave- grown cotion. They are beginning ' to ihink that slavery, after all, is not so bad an institution. The London Times has even gone so far as to denounce ihe policy "b^the British Government for "Pi."—The Flint Democrat has a her exps^nditur^of life and  treasure   in   Idrig arlicie on "Pi," from which, as ii
per annum, from five ycar^ iio.ti 1855.   J tect upou liiitiili cunimcicc.
the suppression of the slave trade; bold¬ ly taking the ground that the Briiish squadron on the coasl of Africa should be withdrawn and the object abandoned. An immense change has been effected in the opinions of the leadinir and influ¬ ential classes of England within the last few years by the gigantic power of "King Cotton,"
They now fully comprehend ihe idea and freely admit ihe facl that if an ade¬ quate supply of collon is to be had at all it must come from liie Uniied Slaies, and that ihe ratio of increased supply is dependent upon and exactly limited hy the future accession of slave labor to the colton-growing Slate."!, The piesciil state of the collon trade has convinced thetn that any fanaiical iniermeddling with domestic slavery would be nol on¬ ly unwise and impolitic, bul lliat ti suc¬ cessful invasion of ilie righis of slave owners in Ihe Southern Stales of ihc Confederacy would react vvilli fatal   cf
is good, wc give all extract:
"Pi,"—Well, do you know what il ia, reader ?    We   will   tell   you.    Having succeeded in gettidg up fifteen columns of   reading   mailer   for our   paper this week, vve lell proud, bul priiie  will have ils fall, and so will   type, sometimes, loo. We gol our "form" upon the press, and was lowering it to I'ls place, when, crash wenl our lioiies and our lype logelher, in ones confiised   ma.ss  of   "pi"—printer's "pi."    Dill   you ever arrive just in sea¬ son to miss the cais ?    Did you ever go a   thousand   miles   to sefc   a parlicular friend,   and arrive jusl after lie had left t.)  go  a ihoiisand mile journey?    Did you evferaim i furious blow wiih a ham¬ mer at the liesld of a nail, and calch the whole of ihe blovv upon yoUr ihuni ?   In short, did   you ever feel defcidedly "flat" —not knowing whether lo laugh or cry, bill   feeling a   strong   incliiiaiioh to do tiulh?    TIr-11   you   can iniHgine llie hU- iiioi ill which our "pi" Icdvci Us»