2. In the Federal Constitution there is no prohibition of the African slave trade; but after 1808 Congress had the power to abolish it, if it saw proper. In the Confederate Constitution there is an absolute prohibition of that trade; and a further provision, giving Congress a discretionary power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from the United States.

3. In each Constitution are provisions to render up fugitive slaves to masters, and to use the military power to suppress all attempts at rebellion by the slaves.

The simple truth is that both Constitutions embrace the same fundamental principle, namely, the supremacy of the white over the black race. Mr. Seward's representations to the contrary are nothing less than hypocrisy and an attempt to deceive the European public in regard to this matter. Here are his own words, delivered in the Senate Chamber on March 11, 1850, in contravention of his present statements:

'The population of the United States consists of natives of 'Caucasian origin, and exotics of the same derivation. The 'native mass readily assimilates to itself and absorbs the exotic, ' and these constitute one homogeneous people. The African race, bond and free, and the aborigines, savage and civilised, being incapable of such assimilation and absorption, remain 'distinct, and, owing to their peculiar condition, constitute 'inferior masses, and may be regarded as accidental if not disturbing political forces.'

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This is a clear confession that the maxim set forth in the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal,' referred only to the white race, who alone framed and adopted the constitutions of all the States, as well as that of the United States. And it is also an admission that the negro, although ' a man,' is not a brother.' absurd blunder when in his ethnological display he seeks to place the Indian upon the same level with the negro. The

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But Mr. Seward is guilty of an

' aborigines' of America, unlike the natives of Africa, are

capable of high mental culture, and are not debarred from political privileges in either section of the late Union.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE AMERICAN COTTON CROPS-SOUTHERN WEALTH AND NORTHERN PROFITS.'

THE extension of the trade in cotton has been the most wonderful circumstance in the history of commerce, and it is very clear that it has been mainly owing to the cultivation on the Western continent. While the moist climate of the British Isles is so well suited for its manufacture by machinery, the peculiar soil and atmosphere of the Southern States is the best adapted for its culture. The subjoined table gives a statement of the number of pounds of cotton yielded by those States from the earliest period, the average annual price, the value, and the quantity exported each year :

The total value of the cotton crops of the Southern States of America, from the earliest period to the dissolution of the Federal Union, allowing for 5,000,000 pounds, the estimated weight of that grown anterior to 1789, amounted to thirtyseven hundred and sixteen millions, two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars ($3,716,215,000), of which twenty-eight hundred and ten millions, four hundred and twenty-two thousand, six hundred dollars ($2,810,422,600) in value, or about threefourths the whole, was exported to foreign ports, and two-thirds of the remaining one-fourth were sent to the Northern States. These crops formed the basis of a commerce, the aggregate amount of which it is difficult to appraise. Cotton, from the time it leaves the pod until it is converted into paper, goes through a greater number of hands than any other production of the vegetable or animal kingdom. It will be observed that prices of cotton have gradually cheapened, incidental to the usual mercantile fluctuations. The trade has been subjected to several interruptions-the embargo in 1808, followed by the Non-intercourse Act, the war of 1812-14, and the present partial blockade of the Southern ports. On these occasions prices have, of course, been very high at the consuming points. The foregoing tables and remarks bring the history of the American cotton trade down to the period of the secession of the Southern States from the Federal Union, which, beginning with the State of South Carolina on December 20, 1860, was followed by the other cotton States in January and February 1861. The shipments of cotton, however, were continued to the close of the season-July; the trade therefore does not show much falling off for that year. The business since then has been confined to the produce reshipped from the North and that which has eluded the blockade.

The rapidity with which the cultivation of cotton increased in the Southern States is truly astonishing. In the beginning of the present century the annual exportation was about 5,000 bales; in 1849 the quantity grown had reached 2,445,793 bales of ginned cotton of 400 lbs. each; in 1859 it had further advanced to 5,196,793 bales, or more than 100 per cent. in ten years. The whole crop is the product of twelve States, but is chiefly obtained from eight of them. Prior to the production

of cotton in the more Southern States, it was moderately cultivated for domestic purposes in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and even Southern Illinois. The ocean freights for many years, earned by Northern ships in transporting cotton, have averaged over twenty millions of dollars per annum. When the crops were smaller, the cost of transportation was higher, the vessels being of more limited capacity.

Among the branches of manufacture in the Northern States, that of cotton goods holds the first rank, both as to the capital employed and the value of the product. The Yankees have had a great advantage in having the raw material so close at hand. They have not been content with this, but have also demanded protection under what is called the American system,' a term borrowed by Henry Clay from Napoleon's expression, the 'continental system.'

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The total value of cotton goods manufactured in the New England States in 1859 was $80,301,535, and in the middle States $26,272,111--an increase of 83-4 per cent. in the former and 77.7 in the latter since the last decade. The other States reached a value of $8,564,280, making the whole production $115,137,926, against $65,501,687 in 1850 an augmentation of 76 per cent. The extension in cotton manufacture was as follows:-Maine and New Jersey, 152 per cent.; Pennsylvania, 102 per cent.; New Hampshire and Connecticut, 87 per cent.; Massachusetts, 69 per cent.; and Rhode Island, 88 per cent. The value was at the rate of $3,69% for each individual in all the States, equivalent to 46 yards of cloth for every person, at 8 cts. per yard. The average production in 1850 was but 34 yards per head. The increase, therefore, was about 12 yards per individual, or equal to the entire consumption in 1830. The number of hands employed in the manufactories in 1859 was 45,315 males and 73,605 females-an increase of 10,020 and 10,944 respectively over 1850. The average product of an operative was $969, or about 2001. sterling. The spindles were returned at 5,035,798, against 3,633,693 in 1850-an advance of 1,402,105, or 38.5 per cent. The cotton manufacturing business of the New England States was 78.6 per cent. of the whole, Massachusetts alone being 29.3 per cent. The product per spindle was-In Maine, $221;

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