the Georgian belongs, this latter being, with the exception of course of the Sea Island, the only cotton of North American growth possessed of this highly-prized characteristic. But the great rivalry set up by the agitators on behalf of the diffusion of cotton planting is between the West and East Indies, in favour of which both claims seem so indisputable that nothing remains but to listen to each. With regard to the West Indies, a number of circumstances conduce to promote its abundant and profitable production, although on the other hand it must be confessed there are difficulties to be met, of which we have not yet received any satisfactory solution. Porto Rico has afforded cotton scarcely inferior to the Sea Island. When American cotton was first imported into England, it was so ill cleaned that but small value was set upon it; and before this period it was the West Indies which supplied us very principally with wools of the best description. In 1787, 6,800,000 lbs. came from these islands as against 6,000,000 lbs. from the French and Spanish colonies, and 5,700,000 lbs. from Smyrna and Turkey. If the spirit of Mr. Bazley, the enlightened member for Manchester, had some three years ago animated the breasts of his fellow-townsmen, Jamaica would probably at this moment be sending us a million of bales a-year. Its growth in that island is as simple as the most propitious conditions of soil and climate could render it. It has been produced experimentally upon the hills within the last few years with trifling labour: and upon the plains, with the average good fortune of fair weather, its cultivation is still more easy and remunerative. And as to fineness, there appears to be from the testimony of those best entitled to pronounce, no question of its excellence compared even with the most renowned which comes into the market. Both in this island and in Demerara it is not an exaggeration to say that hundreds of thousands of acres exist perfectly suited to the cultivation of this plant; and in Trinidad, where the climate is equally favourable, large tracts of land, whose soil is in no respect inferior to that of these other islands, might be with similar expectations applied to this valuable purpose. The difficulties to which I have adverted have, notwithstanding, created hitherto many formidable obstacles. The abundance of labour supplied by Jamaica in particular would seem at first to be a very important element of encouragement in the venture. But it must not be forgotten, that unfortunately the coloured population of these islands, and indeed of all places where slavery does not exist, are in relation to the amount of work they perform almost worthless as compared with other races, or with their own under compulsory treatment. Their demoralisation and constitutional sloth are evils which must be corrected before we can look for that conscientious assiduity which, in these days of keen and active competition, lends so much effect to the struggle with fortune. When men will work but for four hours a-day, and that during only four days in the week, and want so little more than what bare nature gratuitously bestows as to be indifferent to those inducements which stimulate others to acts of exertion, they are altogether incapable of the results constituting the essential conditions of prosperity in the industrial contests of the present day. Those whose natural constitution is such as to enable them to support the fatigues of toil under the exhausting influences of a tropical climate, are by the same cause disqualified to become competitors in the cheap production of the demands of trade or manufactures with either Europeans, with those of European temperament, or with coerced slaves of their own can-but-wont-work race; and hence, as labourers, that numerous class of the population of the West Indies which is poor and unemployed is, it is to be feared, almost wholly unavailable for the exigencies of the case treated on the principle of commercial remuneration. The characteristics both of the native and coolie are discouraging and untractable. To a very injurious and fatal extent the same objections have operated on the profitable culture of the article throughout our Oriental Empire. Meanwhile the great Western Continent springs up, and with its many local advantages and its forced labour, triumphantly disputes the old-established claims of the East.
There are two species of cotton cultivated in India, whose nature is indigenous, besides the one transplanted from America; but the various experiments in relation to both, which have been made with a view to increase the yield, and improve the texture of the wool, seem to establish the conclusion that for the interests of the grower the exotic is in both these respects quite 25 per cent. more valuable than the indigenous plant. Almost the whole of the cotton which comes from this country belongs to the short-stapled class, and from imperfections in cleaning and rough handling in transmitting, suffers a depreciation in the Liverpool market, which could certainly without much difficulty be rectified. Some of the finest Indian cotton wool possesses a natural fibre so extremely delicate, that until our improved machinery for carding enabled us to work it into a state fit for spinning, it was utterly useless to our manufacturers. Among these may be mentioned the Bourbon, which formerly ranked high, and was much cultivated; but of late years, in deference to the superior claims of the Sea Island, its production has considerably slackened, and its importation into England is now in quantities of relative insignificance. Very recently, however, this source of supply appears to have undergone some stimulation, even greater than can be accounted for by the unusually prolific character of the last season; for, comparing the first three months of the present year with those of 1860, Bourbon has shipped off 250,000 bales in excess. However, so short and dirty are the fibres of most of the wools coming from India, that the delicate fingers of the Hindoo female can alone manipulate with advantage upon them. Of this nature is the Surat—pre-eminently. It is classed among the worst imported. The Madras and Bengal are scarcely better; so that, upon the whole, the Levant cottons, which take so low a position, are for the finer purposes of the manufacturer, superior to what at present our great Eastern Empire despatches for the necessities of the mother country; that great Eastern Empire, with its immense extent of districts—Coimbatore, Madura, and Tinnevelley, over whichPage:Once a Week Volume V.djvu/249
242
ONCE A WEEK.
[Aug. 24, 1861.
