PAPERS
RELATIVE TO THE MISSION
OF
HON. T. BUTLER KING,
TO EUROPE.
BOUGHTON, NISBET & BARNES, State Printers
MILLEDGEVILLE, GA.
1862.
KEPORT OF THE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE.
The Special Committee to whom was referred the com¬
munication of His Excellency the Governor, on the subject
of the mission of the Hon. Thomas Butler King to Europe
to secure the establishment of a line or lines of steamers
from European ports to the ports of Georgia, under the act
of the General Assembly passed December, 1860, with ac¬
companying documents, beg leave to report that they have
given the same a careful consideration, and that they have
been exceedingly gratified at the manner in which Mr.
King has discharged the duties of his mission.
He was charged with power to offer a subsidy to parties
in Europe who would establish and run a line of steamers
'between European ports and the city of Savannah, or other
-ports in this State, which he succeeded in accomplishing
..according to instructions, under many difficulties. The
merchants and people of England, France and Belgium
were found to be quite ignorant of the commercial re¬
sources and power of the Southern States, having hereto¬
fore almost entirely received the productions of the South
and shipped her supplies through Northern ports. It be¬
came, therefore, necessary for Mr. King to collect and pub¬
lish such facts and statistics as would enlighten the com¬
mercial mind on the subject; and for this purpose he wrote
and published, and distributed over most of the European
countries over five thousand copies of his letter addressed
to Lord John Russell, published in English, and memoirs
to the French Minister of Commerce and the French Min¬
ister of Foreign Affairs, in French, on the character of the
blockade, beside an elaborate and well digested argument
on the American blockade, also published in French, be¬
side many other articles written for the French papers on
the state of our political affairs. In addition to tnis, he
also concluded a contract with Messrs. Sabel & Co., of Liv¬
erpool, for the establishment of a line of steamers from
Liverpool to Savannah, with the subsidy of one hundred
4
thousand dollars per annum, as provided by the act under
which he was commissioned, which is herewith submitted.
The result of Mr. King's labors in this behalf is seen and
felt in having secured the change of a law unanimously by
the Senate, Corps Legislatif and Imperial Council of France,
granting a large subsidy to a company in Paris for the es¬
tablishment of two lines of first class steamers, one from
Havre to New York, and the' other to the West Indies,
whereby those were changed, the one from New York to
the city of Savannah, and the other from the West Indies
to the city of New Orleans. This was a triumph of the
intelligence and labor of our representative.
To enable Mr. King to accomplish this task, it became
necessary to incur much expense in employing a secretary
and translator, and in securing such quarters and living as
became the representative of the State of Georgia.
It will be remembered that Mr. King left the State of
Georgia about the first of March, 18GJ, before hostilities
commenced, and was in Europe when the blockade was
established. It was not contemplated by the Governor or
the Legislature that it would require more than two or
three months to accomplish the purposes of his mission
but soon after his arrival the blockade was established, and
it was impossible for him to leave Europe until November,
and he was detained two months in Havana, and did not
reach his home until eleven months and seventeen days
from the time of his departure, after enduring the perils of
shipwreck. In consequence of this delay, the expenses
were largely augmented, and in addition to the $3,000 ap¬
propriated for the expense of the mission, Mr. King was
driven to draw upon the Governor for $2,500, which the
Governor met upon presentation.
Your Committee have great pleasure and pride in saying
that Mr. King has not only ably and faithfully accomplished
the purposes of his mission, but has done more, much more,
in securing the two French lines referred to, to Savannah
and New Orleans, to be put in operation as soon as the
blockade is raised. And more, the Committee is of opinion
that the able documents referred to have done more to place
the real political condition and commercial resources of this,
country before the European people than any acts or pa¬
pers which have fallen under their observation during our
troubles; and that the people of this whole country are
much indebted to him for their production.
It is shown by the bill rendered by Mr. King that his
actual expense of living, traveling, and preparing and pub¬
lishing the papers referred to, has°been $5,900, being four
hundred dollars more than has been paid to him ; and the
Committee recommend that Mr. King be relieved from all
liability which he may have incurred by drawing the draft
5
referred to, that he be paid the balance which he has ex¬
pended, and that he be allowed the sum of twenty-five hun¬
dred dollars in compensation for his very valuable services
to the State and the country while in Europe, and that his
able report to the Governor, and his memoirs on steam
navigation and the American blockade, with this report,
be printed ; and we forbear asking the publication of his
letter to Lord John Russell only because it has already
been published in most of the newspapers of the country,
and the people have had an opportunity to see it.
In consideration of the change of the circumstances of
the country since the contract was made, and the establish¬
ment of the French lines, which will subserve all the pur¬
poses of the Legislature, we agree with the Governor that
it would not be wise and prudent at present, to ratify the
contract negotiated with Messr^s. Sabel & Co., of Liverpool,
as provided in said contract.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
■To the House of Rejrreventati'ves :
In response to your resolutions of enquiry relative to the
mission of Hon. T. Butler King to Europe, I have the
honor to transmit herewith his original report with the
accompanying documents, which will afford all the infor¬
mation in my possession.
I do not recommend the ratification of the contract made
with Mr. Frederick Sabel, of Liverpool, by Mr. King, for
the establishment of aline of steamers. It will be seen,
by reference to Mr. King's report, that he doubts the pro¬
priety of its ratification, and hopes that a line of French
steamers will be established without the payment of the
subsidy.
During the protracted stay of Mr. King in Europe, it
' became necessary for him to draw upon me for twenty-five
hundred dollars in addition to the three thousand appropri¬
ated to defray the expense of the mission. This grew out
of the necessity which compelled him to remain much
longer than was contemplated, and the expense incurred in
the publication of part of the accompanying documents in
Europe, which it is believed were productive of much good
A. E. COCHRAN,
Chairman Special Committee.
GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE.
Executive Department,
(5
i% our cause. I honored Mr. King's draft and paid the
amount with exchange out of the contingent fund. I deem
it but just to him. that he be relieved of all responsibility
to the State on account of the draft, and that reasonable
compensation be allowed him on account of his services, if
it shall be seen by a bill of his expenses rendered to the
House, that he has not been able to retain a sufficient sum
over his expenses out of the money received by him to af¬
ford him such compensation.
JOSEPH E. BROWN.
REPORT OF MR. KING TO THE GOVERNOR.
To His Excellency Joseph E. Brown,
Governor oj Georgia:
Sir:—Under tjie commission and instructions received
from your Excellency, I proceeded to Belgium for the pur¬
pose of ofleiing to the "Belgian American Company" the
subsidy proposed under the law of the ISth December,.
1860, for the establishment of a line of Steamships from
some European port to Savannah or some other port in
Georgia. That company was organized for the purpose of
engaging in direct trade or commercial intercourse with
the people of this and other Southern States, and fully ap¬
preciates the great advantages conferred on them by the
charter granted by Georgia. But the Belgians are a man¬
ufacturing, not a commercial people, and while the Com¬
pany arc most anxious to send to us their merchandise and
to receive our cotton and other products, they Lave but
little practical knowledge of, or experience in ocean navi¬
gation, and especially the management of steamships. They
therefore declined to enter into a contract as proposed in
the law offering the subsidy.
I was received and treated with much courtesy and dis¬
tinction, and much gratified to find a most friendly senti¬
ment towards our country, which I believe to be general
in Belgium, and an ardent desire*for the speedy establish¬
ment of the independence of the Southern Confederacy.
After remaining in Belgium some two weeks, I proceed¬
ed to Paris for the purpose of opening negotiations with a
French Company which had taken a contract under the
Government, for a very large subsidy, to establish two lifces
of first class ocean steamers—one from Havre to New York,
and one from Bordeaux to the West Indies. My object
was to induce the company to bring the Northern line to
Savannah, and to extend the Southern line to New Orleans.
I also commenced correspondence with English Houses
connected with steam navigation. I found among all par-
7
ties the most discouraging ignorance of the great advan¬
tages presented by the Southern States for direct commer¬
cial intercourse with them, and a prevailing belief that New
York was the only port which offered suitable encourage¬
ment to steam communication with the North American
continent. I therefore found it necessary to act under
your instructions to explain the commercial relations hith¬
erto existing between the Southern and Northern States of
the late Union, and that I must seek to change the opinions
of individuals by communications addressed to their Gov¬
ernments. This I found to be no easy task. The data
which I required was not readily obtained. On examining
several libraries in London I found the United States cen¬
sus of 1850, several State returns of a later date, and the
British trade reports. From these I framed my letter to
the French Minister of Commerce, which you will find in
the Appendix marked A. This letter I had printed in
pamphlet form, as you will see. I caused two copies, one
in French and one in English, to be placed in the hands of
the Emperor, and I distributed three thousand copies of
the pamphlet. I sent copies to the members of the Impe¬
rial Council, the Senate and Corps Legislatif, to the news¬
paper press, the Chambers of Commerce, Insurance offices,
and to the principal manufacturers throughout France.
I also sent copies to the German Commercial Union, and to
the Ministers of State of the principal Governments of
Europe, and to the Foreign Embassies in Paris. A very
remarkable change was soon seen in the tone of most of the
newspapers of Paris, and several of them took strong
grounds in favor of the Southern cause, and it became
known that the Emperor had changed his views and be¬
come favorable to the movement of the Confederate States,
to which he had theretofore been opposed. In fact, a gen¬
eral change of public sentiment in our favor was produced
and manifested. In my communication to the Minister of
Commerce on steam communication between the ports of
France and those of the Confederate States, which your
Excellency will find in the Appendix marked B, I request¬
ed that the law granting„a subsidy for a line of steamers
from Havre to New York, and a line from Bordeaux to the
West Indies, might be so changed as to authorize the North¬
ern line to be sent to Savannah, and to extend the Southern
line to New Orleans. This communication was also print¬
ed in the pamphlet and placed in the hands of every mem¬
ber of the Senate and Corps Legislatif, and I had the satis¬
faction of seeing the law changed, as I desired, by a unan¬
imous vote of both Houses. This was not accomplished,
however, without much delay, labor and personal inter¬
course with the members. There seemed to be no end to>
the( verbal explanations that were required. Thus has beer*
8
secured a line of steamers of the first class from the prin¬
cipal port of France to Georgia, within a reasonable time
after the close of the war or the removal of the blockade,
without the payment of a subsidy by the State or subscrip¬
tion to stock by her citizens.
While these measures were in progress in Paris, I pub¬
lished my letter to Lord John Russell in London, which
you will find in the Appendix marked C, and distributed
two thousand copies. I also employed myself in preparing
articles for the newspapers in reply to the infamous false¬
hoods and slanders published by the Northern press, or the
infamous scribblers employed by the Lincoln Government
in Europe. I also addressed a letter to the Minister of
Foreign Affairs on the subject of. the blockade. See Ap¬
pendix marked I).
I opened and kept up a correspondence with various
parties in England, offering the subsidy as proposed under
the law and the instructions of your Excellency, for the
establishment of a line of steamers from Liverpool, or some
other port, to Georgia. But it was not until a short time
before I left London that I was successful in accomplishing
that object On the first day of November I closed and
signed a contract w7ith Mr. Frederick Sabel, of Liverpool,
which please find in Appendix marked E. This contract
is, of course, subject to the approval of your Excellency,
and also of the Legislature. New Orleans and Charleston
are su much better known in Europe as important commer¬
cial ports, than Savannah, I found it, for a long time, quite
impossible to obtain any consideration of the proposals I
was authorized to make, while various attempts were made
to organize companies for the purpose of establishing lines
of steamers to the former ports. In fact, had I not been
aided by the calculations and arguments contained in my
Report to the Legislature on the message of your Excel¬
lency in I860, and the statements in my letter to Earl
Ruf-sell showing the vast advantages which wrill result from
direct commercial intercourse between Europe and the
Cotton States, I should have found it impossible to induce
parties to think of bringing a line of steamers to Savannah.
The whole subject is now so well understood, however, I
am of opinion that it will not be a long time after the re¬
moval of the blockade before steam communication will be
opened with most, if not all, our principal ports, and it is
therefore for the wisdom of your Excellency and the Legis¬
lature to decide whether or not it is desirable to secure to
Georgia the lead in a matter of so much importance, by
confirming the contract herewith submitted, with or with¬
out modifications. We may look, with confidence, to the
establishment of the French line as soon as the ships can
be built, which, as they are to be of the largest class, will
9
probably require from one to two years. As you will see,
the British line is to commence running within six months
after the removal of the blockade, if the contract shall be
confirmed.
I have the honor to be, with great respect,
Your Excellency's most obedient servant,
T. BUTLER KING.
SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT.
To His Excellency Joseph K. Brown,
Governor of Georgia :
Snt:—It is proper to present to your Excellency, in con¬
nection with the report of my official proceedings in Eu¬
rope, a brief statement of the causes which prolonged my
stay abroad beyond the period which I supposed would be
necessary for the accomplishment of the objects of th&
mission with which I was honored by your Excellency. If
the Belgian American Company had been prepared to take
the contract proposed by the law of Georgia, the business
would have been soon completed, and the sum appropriated
for the commission would have been amply sufficient to
defray all expenses. But as that company declined to take
the contract, it became necessary to seek other parties.
The war which commenced with the bombardment of Fort
Sumter, and its subsequent progress, produced such alarm
among merchants and capitalists, that much delay and labor
were necessary. In fact, it seemed almost a hopeless task,
but the result is before your Excellency. My prolonged
stay, the great expense necessarily attending my position*
and the publications which I found it necessary to make,
compelled me to draw on your Excellency for the sum
stated in my draft in favor of Messrs. Markward & Co., of
Paris. Permit me further to remark, that although I re¬
turned as soon as the performance of my duties and circum¬
stances would permit, I was absent eleven months, and
compelled to incur great expense in my return by way of
the West Indies. It is, perhaps, not improper for me to
allude to the fact that the Commissioners of the Confeder¬
ate States Government were allowed $1,000 per month,
and that they did not incur the expense of pamphlet and
newspaper publication which fell so heavily upon myself.
They were also provided with a Secretary and translator,
while I wqp compelled to pay for those services out of my
own purse.
In conclusion, I must express to your Excellency my
very great regret that in running the blockade at the mouth
10
of the Mississippi, I lost, with my baggage, all my corre¬
spondence, and all the vouchers for my expenses.
I have the honor to be, with great respect,
Your Excellency's most obedient servant,
T. BUTLEK KING.
A LETTER
TO THE
RIGHT HON. LORD JOHN RUSSELL,
BY
THE HON. T. BUTLER KING,
COMMISSIONER FROM THE STATE OF GEORGIA.
My Lord:—The undersigned, Commissioner from the
State of Georgia, begs leave to present to your Lordship the
commission which he bears from the Governor of that State,
and to accompany it with the following memoir in explana¬
tion of the objects of his mission.
It was foreseen by the Government of Georgia that the
great political movement which was being inaugurated by
the Southern States, must necessarily produce very impor¬
tant changes in their commercial intercourse, and that, with¬
out suitable and timely explanations, it was not reasonable
to suppose the great manufacturing and commercial powers
of Europe would comprehend the very great advantages
presented for their consideration by the seceding States. It
was, therefore, deemed proper to appoint a special commis¬
sioner for that purpose. But before proceeding to consider
commercial questions, the undersigned desires, very briefly,
to correct the mistakes wThich appear so generally to per¬
vade the European mind respecting the framework of the
Government of the United States, the foundation on which
it rests, the mode and manner of its formation, and to show
that the Southern States had a perfect right to secede from
the Union.
The ideas which seem to prevail in Europe are that the
States composing the American Union are mere departments
or provinces of the Federal Government, and that every
attempt on their part to leave the Union into which they
voluntarily entered, each acting by and foritself as a sover-
11
eign State, is rebellion or revolution. The States created
the Federal Government. It was not instituted to be their
master, but merely their representative, clothed with cer¬
tain specified powers, and charged with the performance of
certain clearly defined duties.
When the thirteen American colonies of the British
Crown achieved their independence, they were acknow¬
ledged by George III to be " free, sovereign and indepen¬
dent States." They had agreed to certain articles of con¬
federation under which they acted during the war of inde¬
pendence. From the peace of 17S3 to 1787 no change was
made. In the lattar year each State elected delegates to a
convention, for the purpose of framing a constitution to
form a " more perfect Union." In that convention each
State had one vote. The constitution framed by it contains
only certain limited powers, and it provided that all power
not granted was reserved to the States respectively. This
constitution did not go into effect by authority of the con¬
vention or the force of its own provisions, but it was sub¬
mitted to the people of each State for their acceptance or
rejection. It provided that when it should be adopted by
nine States, it should go into operation in those States. If
the other four States had not adopted it, they would not
have been included in the form of government which it pro¬
posed. Some of the States delayed three years before they
consented to join the Union. Georgia delayed action sev¬
eral months. Her Legislature passed an act calling a con¬
vention of delegates, to be elected by the people, to take
into consideration the proposed constitution. That conven¬
tion, on the 2d day of January, 1788, passed an ordinance
accepting the constitution of the United States. It was
simply an act of the people of the State, which at that time
they held, and have so held ever since, that they had the
right, by the same process, at any time to repeal or rescind.
The States of the North, feeling a strong desire for the
protection of Government for their manufacturing and com¬
mercial interests, and knowing that such a policy was an¬
tagonistic to the interests of Southern States, have not
ceased their efforts to give a latitudiuarian construction to
the constitution, and to bring into the practice of the Gov¬
ernment the exercise of unlimited powers. This struggle
has been in progress more than thirty years, during which
time other questions of still greater moment have sprung up,
and been artfully connected with this clamor for protection.
During that whole period the Northern States have not ouly
failed to perform some of their most sacred duties under the
constitution, but have openly violated its- clearest provis¬
ions, thereby relieving the Southern States from all legal or
moral obligation to remain longer in political connection
with them. There never was any legal power to bind them
12
in the Union if they should see cause to leave it. For the
purpose of presenting this matter in a perfectly clear light,
I annex a copy of the ordinance of the convention of Geor¬
gia in 1788, accepting the constitution of the United States,
and also a copy of the ordinance adopted by a convention
of the people of Georgia in January last, repealing the ordi¬
nance of 1788. The action of the other States was the
same as that of Georgia. The argument has been made in
some quarters', that if the original States had the right to
secede, the new States had not. This is erroneous. The
power given by the constitution to Congress to admit new
States into the Union, provides that they shall be admitte d
on the same fo-oting, or terms, as the original States.
I now come to the consideration of the commercial and
financial questions.
The people of England have been so long accustomed to
regard New York as the great commercial emporium of the
United States, and to form their ideas of American wealth
and progress as being dependent entirely on the commer¬
cial prosperity of the Northern States, that it has, under
the existing state of political events, become a duty, not
only to the Southern States, but of the greatest possi¬
ble interest to the great manufacturing and commercial
countries of Europe, that the causes which have produced
this extraordinary accumulation of wealth and truly won¬
derful prosperity in the Northern States should be clearly
stated, and the sources whence they have been derived dis¬
tinctly traced, to the end that the Governments of those
countries may not hesitate to perceive how easily and rea¬
dily they may place themselves in the same relation, com¬
mercially and financially, to the planting States of the South,
that has heretofore existed between the Southern and North¬
ern sections of the American Union.
The natural want of fertility in the soil of the North¬
eastern States, and a climate so unfriendty to agriculture as
to limit production to a scanty supply for home consump¬
tion, drove the people, at an early day, to seek profits in
maritime, manufacturing and commercial pursuits. They,
therefore, sought the early protection of the Government.
Duties were laid on foreign tonnage coming into the ports
of the United States, and foreign vessels were excluded from
all participation in the coasting trade; and, as seamen were
necessary to supply the increasing tonnage of the Northern
States, large bounties were offered t© those who engaged in
the cod and mackerel fisheries, on the plea that it was ne¬
cessary to establish a nursery or school for seamen for na¬
tional maritime defence. During the war with Great Brit¬
ain, which commenced in 1812, small manufacturing estab¬
lishments sprung up all over New England, and at the close
of that contest, the proprietors of those works applied to
13
Congress for the enactment of a protective tariff. Under
the pretext and plea that it would be wise policy to secure
a home supply in the event of another war, and that without
protection they could not compete with the skilled indus¬
try of' England and France. The South yielded, and the
tariff was passed. The merchants of Boston and other
Northern cities seeing thisfavorable opening for investment,
immediately xhrew into it the capital which they had accu¬
mulated in the carrying trade previous to the war, thus
bringing their wealth and numbers to the support and ranks
of the protectionists, who, thus strengthened, were trium¬
phant and, as new branches of manufacturing industry
sprung up, more protection was demanded, and one tariff
act succeeded another, each more protective than the other,
until 1828. The Act of that year was so violative of jus¬
tice to the Southern States, and of the true principles of
taxation under the constitution, that the whole South was
aroused to a spirit of resistance which threatened the very
existence of the Government. The compromise tariff or
1833 calmed the public mind at the South, but it caused a
feeling of resentment in the North, that has never ceased to
seek revenge, and a restoration of the high protective sys¬
tem ; and it is this financial question which underlies, and
has not ceased to affiliate itself with every other cause of
agitation, until it has finally produced the disruption of the
Government, and which came near producing the same re¬
sult nearly thirty years ago. The discussions connected
with this subject called forth the bitterest invectives against
the South from stump orators, the subsidized press, and the
pulpit, until the whole Northern mind has become frantic
with denunciations against what are called the aggressions
of the South ; while, in fact, the South has not been guilty
of a single act of aggression against the North, but, on the
contrary, has performed every constitutional duty, and has
suffered immensely by these grasping exactions of the North.
If evidence were wanting to prove that the financial ques¬
tion underlies the agitation at the North against the South,
the passage of the Morrill Tariff immediately after the se¬
cession of the Cotton States, leaving the Protectionists with
a clear majority, would be sufficient. The compromise
tariff of 1833 provided for a gradual reduction of customs'
duties, annually, until 1840, when no more than 20 per
cent., ad volorem, was to be collected. In 1842 the protec¬
tive system was revived. The protective principle was
again overthrown by the ad volorem tariff of 30 per cent, in
1846, which was reduced to 24 per cent, in 1857. Since
that time the Protectionists have allied themselves to every
lanatical faction in the country. They have offered free
farms in the western territories to the German and Irish
emigrants, and to give " everything to everybody," to obtain
14
control of the Government. The South has presented the
great barrier to the accomplishment of their purposes. The
South seeing, in the election of Mr. Lincoln, thatt.he whole
North had become united in a war of aggressive opinion, to
be followed by aggressive legislation, which, if necessary,
was to be supported and enforced by arms, and finding it
useless to prolong the contest, has withdrawn from the
Union.
The pecuniary profits and advantages which the North¬
ern States have derived from the fiscal operations of the
Federal Government cannot be correctly-ascertained or es¬
timated. We can only glean from the census and other
authentic sources some prominent facts and results. We
find that, in consequence of the protective policy of the
Government, the cotton manufacture in the Northern States,
which in 1820 amounted to only $4,048,549 in value, had
increased to $52,501,853 in 1850, an increase of thirteen
hundred per cent. It is estimated that it now amounts to
over $75,000,000 annually. The total value of manufac¬
tures in the Northern States in 1S40 was $347,948,162. In
1850 they amounted to $854,626,679, showing an increase
of about two hundred and fifty per cent, in ten years.
The returns under the census of I860 have not yet been
published, and, therefore, we have no official data to show
the general state of industry in the country. The States of
New York and Massachusetts gave State returns for 1855,
and those returns, as compared with 1S50, show wonderful
progress.
The value of all manufactures in Massachusetts in 1850
was $151,137,145, and in 1855 they amounted to $295,820,-
000, an increase of almost two hundred per cent, in five
years. The manufactures of New York amounted in 1850
to $99,904,403, and in 1855 to $317,428,331—showing the
prodigious increase of much more than three hundred per
cent, in five years. The census of 1850 shows that those
two States produced more than one half of the whole
Amount of Northern manufactures. If they hold the same
proportion now, the Northern manufactures will reach $1,-
230,000,000, and of these the sales South will amount to
about $300,000,000. This truly astonishing development
of manufacturing industry has grown up in the Northern
States since the peace of 1815, under the influence of the
protective system, which, by imposing high duties on for¬
eign goods, operated as a bounty on all domestic fabrics, and
gave to Northern manufacturers control of the Southern
market at an average profit of twenty-five per cent, on the
sale of their manufactured goods.
It has been estimated on data believed to be correct, that
the average consumption of manufactures of all kinds in
the Northern States is $60, and in the Southern States $5(X
15
per head of the population. The difference is caused by the
climate.
The census of 1860 shows the population
of the Southern States to be 12,315,123.
^ Their consumption would therefore be... $615,756,150
The census of 1850 states the
value of domestic manufac¬
tures in the Southern States
to'have been $164,579,937
Estimated increase 40,000,000
Amount or value of Northern
manufactures sent South in
1859 300,000,000
504,579,937
Amount or value of European goods, impor¬
ted mostly through New York, and sold
South at a profit of at least twenty per
cent 111,176,213
Total $615,756,150
The census of 1850 states the value of agri¬
cultural products of the Southern States to
have been 528,571,103
The cotton crop was.. $101,834,616
The cotton crop of 1859 was
sold for 233,500,000
Increase over 1850 131,665,384
The sugar crop of 1859, inclu¬
ding molasses, sold for.... 31,399,241
The value, as stated in the cen¬
sus of 1850, was then only, 16,599,310
Increase in ten years 14,799,931
Increase in the value of the crop of tobacco, 12,350,000
Increase in the quantity and value of grain
and other agricultural products since 1850, 125,000,000
Total value of agricultural products in 1859, $812,386,418
The census of 1850 shows that of those grains which are
common to all sections, the Southern States produced in
value equal to $30, and that the Northern States produced
in value equal to only $25 per head of the whole popula¬
tion.
The New England States, which are so largely manufac¬
turing, do not, with the exception of a small quantity of
wool, produce any of the raw materials which they require,
nor do they produce coal, or iron, or wheat. The census
of 1850 shows that the value of their agricultural products
is only $15 per head of the population, a quantity unequal
to the support of life. An able writer in Boston states that
16
in 185S one-third of all the flour and five-sevenths of all
the corn sold in Boston was received from the commercial
ports of the Southern States. In addition to the great sta¬
ple articles, cotton, tobacco, and s ugar, the Southern States
send North vast quantities of Indian corn, rice, sweet pota¬
toes, hemp, naval stores, timber, wool, flour, wheat, live
stock, and various other products.
The census of 1S50 gives the number of live
stock in the Southern States at that time. . . . 40,8^3,727
In the Northern States 36,409,134
Difference in favor of the South 4,414,593
The concentration of commerce and trade in the city of
New York, and the extraordinary development of manufac¬
turing industry in the Northern States, produced by the
protective system, has caused the annual migration from the
South to the North, in summer, of men of business of all
classes, from the shipping merchant to the country shop¬
keeper. The summer and autumn months are also devoted
to traveling and amusement by the planters, with their fam¬
ilies. The estimate has been made, on well authenticated
data, that more than one hundred thousand people visit the
Northern from the Southern States annually during the
summer months, at an average expense of $500 each.
The account between the North and the South for 1859
may be thus stated :
The South sent North
Bills and raw
materials.... $262,562,394
Other produce, 150,000,000
Money expend¬
ed by travel¬
ers 50,000,000
The North sent South
Domestic go'ds, $293,360,394
Imported do 116,000,000
Interest, bro¬
kerage, com¬
mission, &c., 53,200,000
462,562,394
$462,562,394
This statement approximates the vast amount of trade
and intercourse between the Northern and Southern States.
An examination of the census shows that Northern com¬
merce and navigation, like Northern manufactures, have
been founded upon, and grown up with, Southern agricul¬
ture.
In the year 1790 the exports of the United States
amounted to only $19,666,101
The cotton culture had just com¬
menced, and the export of that
amounted to only $42,285
Tobacco 4,349,567
Rice 1,753,796
6,145,648
17
The three great Southern products forming but about one-
third of the entire exports. The tonnage of the country
had not begun to be influenced by the cotton crop.
The total exports in 1821 amounted to $4-3,671,894
Cotton $20,157,484
Tobacco 12,809,000
Rice 1,494,387
34,400,871
More than three-fourths of the entire exports.
The tonnage in 1820 was 1,119,736 tons.
In 1836 the exports were $100,916,680
Cotton $71,284,925
Tobacco 10,068,640
Rice 2,548,750
83,902,315 tons.
Tonnage 1,626,719
In 1859 the total exports were $278,392,080
Cotton $232,434,923
Tobacco 21,074,038
Rice 2,207,148
255,716,109
The tonnage had increased to 3,977,970 tons.
For the purpose of making this paper as short as possi¬
ble, the three leading articles of export only have been ta¬
ken. A very large amount of timber, naval stores, flour,
and grain have also been exported from the South.
The above figures will show in a strong light that the
shipping interest of the Northern States has been built up
on the agricultural products of the Southern States, protec¬
ted as it has been by the tonnage duties on foreign shipping,
and having the entire monopoly of the coasting trade.
The estimated amount of freight earnings on the move¬
ment of this vast quantity of produce in 1859, and the re¬
turn cargoes, is $42,000,000. The number of Northern
vessels employed in Southern ports for the year ending the
30th June, 1858, was 2,526, measuring 1,260,798 tons, and
manned by 37,421 seamen.
A most remarkable evidence that the increase of North¬
ern tonnage has depended on the increase of the cottoncrop
is shown in the two periods of 1830 and 1859 :
In 1830 the tonnage of the Northern States
872,578 tons.
The cotton crop of 1830 was 870,415 bales.
In 1859 the tonnage was 4,481,436 tons.
The cotton crop of 1859 was 4,500,000 bales.
2
18
Other intermediate periods might be given to show that
the increase of tonnage has kept pace with the increase of
the cotton crop.
There cannot be a stronger evidence presented of the
solvency and good faith of the people of the Southern States
than the extent and cost of their railways, and the solvent
condition of the companies which have constructed them,
as compared with the Northern companies. The South has
constructed 9,053 miles of railway at a cost of $24,100 per
mile, or total $221,S57,503, and there are but three com¬
panies that have been delinquent in the payment of inter¬
est, and that only on $2,025,000 of their bonds. The rail¬
ways in the Northern States have cost an average of $£0,-
000 per mile, and there are thirty companies that have failed
to pay interest on their bonds, amounting to $107,120,0 00.
The annual profits which the Northern States derive from
their commerce and intercourse with the Southern States
may be thus stated :—
Profits on domestic manufactures of all sorts
sent South, $75,000,000
Profits on foreign importations sent South,.. 25,000,000
Expenditures of 100,000 Southern travellers
annually, in the Northern States, at an
average of $500 each 50,000,000
Interest, brokerage, and commissions on the
vast amount of commercial transactions
between the two sections of the country, 63,000,000
$213,000,000
^ When we consider that in 1816, at the commencement
of the protective system, the Northern States were almost
destitute of agricultural products for exportation, that their
coal and iron mines were almost unknown, and that they
had, comparatively, little commerce except the fisheries
and the carrying trade, and from that period their manu¬
facturing and commercial industry have increased and kept
|>ace precisely with the growth of Southern agriculture, we
-caa readily perceive the causes which have produced the
great accumulation of wealth in the Northern section of
the Union. It has been shown that through the instru¬
mentality of that system the Northern States have secured
to themselves great profits on all branches of their indus¬
try, and the entire monopoly of Southern commerce, both
foreign and domestic.
The secession of the Southern States has severed at a
single blow their financial and commercial, as it has their
political connexion with the Northern States. Northern
manufactured goods, which have hitherto been protected
by high tariff's, must hereafter, if admitted to Southern
19
markets, pay the same duties as European merchandise
Northern shipping will no loiager have the exclusive monop
oly of the coasting trade of the Southern States, or be pro
tect.ed by high tonnage duties in Southern ports agains
foreign competition. Southern commerce with Europe
which lias hitherto been forced through the port and cit1
of New York must hereafter pass directly between th
Southern ports and those of Europe, augmented by thi
vast amount of exchangeable commodities which havi
hitherto been monopolised by the Northern States unde
the operations and effects of the protective system.
A very large augmentation of the wealth of the North
€rn States has been caused by the fiscal operations of th<
Government. The revenue has been derived from Custon
duties on imports, and consequently paid in Northern citie
—mostly in New York—and the disbursements of the Gov
ernment, amounting to about eighty millions of dollars pe
annum, have been made in the Northern States. It is tin
•clear perception on the part of the Northern people tha
the secession movement will deprive them of the advan
tages they have hitherto enjoyed under the effects and in
fluences of the protective system that has caused the won
derful excitement and enthusiasm which have been exhib
ited in response to the war measures of President Lincolr
The very great facility with which cotton can be wrough
into various fabrics, from the finest and most fashionabl
textures to the coarsest and most durable articles, to sui
the taste, comfort and convenience of all classes of all na
tions, has caused its production and manufacture to becom
one of the necessities and wonders of the age in which w
live. It is not surprising, therefore, that great anxiet;
should be felt in the principal manufacturing countries c
Europe, where so much capital is invested in manufactui
ing establishments, and so many people are employed ii
them, respecting a constant supply, sufficient to meet th
increasing demand, and the fear seems to be entertained
especially in England, that the cotton-growing region c
the Southern States of America will ultimately fail to mee
the increasing wants of the commercial world. A ver
■brief statement of facts, derived from official sources, wii
be sufficient, it is believed, to satisfy the most sceptica
that such fears are without the slightest foundation. Ther
are ten States in which cotton is successfully cultivated-
viz., North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florid*
Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana an
Texas. The area of those States is 706,288 square miles
or 452,024,320 acres. The average product of cotton pe
acre is estimated at half a bale of 500 lbs. The crop c
1859, the largest yet made, was 4,500,000 bales, which a
ithe average product required only 9,000,000 acres. It ba
20
been estimated that one-half the area of the States named,
is suited to the cultivation of cotton ; but for the purpose
of avoiding all possible criticism, I will say one-third, or
150,674,773 acres, which at half a bale to the acre, will
produce 75,337,33S bales of 500 lbs. each, and the entire
weight of which would be 37,668,673,000 lbs. Ii we as¬
sume that the entire population of the earth amounts to
1,200,000,000, that quantity of cotton would give 30 lbs.
to every man, woman and child on the face of the globe.
This would be more than three times as much as is con¬
sumed in England, and nearly eight times the quantity con¬
sumed in France per head of the population. The con¬
sumption of Great Britain is stated to be 9 lbs., and that of
France to be 4 lbs. per head of the entire population. If
the consumption of the whole people of the world were to
be brought up to the present consumption of France, they
would require but 9,600,000 bales, or less than one-eighth
part of the crop which the cotton States could produce. If
the consumption were to reach that of Great Britain, it
would require 21,600,000 bales, or a little more than one-
fourth of the capacity of the production of the Cotton
States.
I will now consider the question of labor to be employed
in the cultivation of cotton to meet this constantly increas¬
ing demand. The census of 1860 gives the slave popula¬
tion of the ten cotton-producing States above named, to be
2,941,609. The average number of laborers, or those fit
for service, is two-thirds of the whole; there are, therefore,
in those States 1,961,072, suitable to be employed in some,
kind of service, and leaving out one-third as the number of
young, old and infirm. The average number of bales of
cotton to the hand, is stated to be eight; it therefore re¬
quired but 562,500 laborers to produce the 4,500,000 bales
sent to market in 1859. These figures show that there
were 1,398,572 laborers in those States not employed in
the cultivation of cotton. If we deduct 150,000 employed
in the production of sugar and molasses, we still have
1,248,572 not employed in the cultivation of cotton or cane.
These are occupied in all the other various departments of
service. The increase of the slave population is four per
cent, per annum, or one hundred per cent, every twenty-
five years. The increase will, therefore, be forty per cent,
in the next ten years, or 1,166,643 of the whole number,
which will give an increase of 774,328 laborers, and 211,-
828 more than were employed to produce the crop of
4,500,000 bales in 1859. The crop of cotton was increased
one hundred per cent, from 1850 to I860, and, should the
demand continue, the product may be augmented by the
natural increase of the present population of the cotton-
growing States, so as to reach 9,000,000 bales in 1870, or
21
one hundred per cent, above the crop of 1850, and this in¬
crease of production may be continued to meet the demand
to an indefinite period.
Ihe cotton-growers of the Southern States do not regard
with the slightest anxiety or jealousy the efforts that are
being made to produce cotton in Asia, Africa, Australia
and South America. If success attends the movements of
the Cotton Supply Association of Manchester, the result
faill be simply to enable the people of those countries to
consume a quantity of manufactured goods in proportion
to the quality of cotton produced and exported. It is a
perfectly well-ascertained fact that the Cotton States of the
Southern Confederacy contain the only cotton-growing re¬
gion in the world where more cotton is produced than is
consumed in manufactured goods; therefore, all countries
that do not produce cotton must depend on those States
for that material to supply their home consumption. The
hand labor of India and China cannot compete with the
skilled industry of the manufacturing countries of Europe.
India now receives from England almost twice the number
of pounds of manufactured goods that she sends of raw cot¬
ton to England. In 185S England received from India
1-32,722,575 lbs. of raw cotton, and sent to India 223,000,-
000 lbs. of yarns and manufactured cotton goods. As the
trade of China is now thrown open, the fabrics of her hand-
looms must give place to the machine goods of western
Europe. If her consumption of cotton shall equal that of
France, it will be 1,440,000,000 lbs., equal to 2,SS0,000
bales, of 500 lbs. each, per annum.
Those who imagine that the half-civilized people of India,
or the savage tribes of Africa, can'compete with the South¬
ern States of America in the cultivation of cotton, might
as well suppose that the system of agriculture of Eng¬
land or France could be introduced into either of those
countries. As much science is required and employed in
the cotton culture as in any branch of agriculture in the
world. But it is said cotton grows on trees in the tropics!
So do grapes; but does it follow that the people of India
and Africa can rival those of France in the cultivation of
the vine. With improved implements and machinery, and
the employment of horses, mules and oxen, the quantity of
cotton produced, to the hand or laborer, has been more
than doubled within the last twenty-five years. The qual¬
ity has been improved by the selection of seed, and the
improvement of the soil by fertilizers and 8cieat*ific culture.
Some idea may be formed of the energy with which South¬
ern agriculture is prosecuted from the number of animals
-employed. The census of 1850 gives the number of horses,
mules and oxen in the Southern States, at that time, to
Jbave been 5,396,954, while in all the Northern States there
22
were but 3,172,593. The quantity of food provided by
Southern planters, as compared to the supply for Northern
laborers, is shown in the same census. Swine are the
greatest article of animal food in both sections. There
were 20,008,964 in the Southern States, and but 10,344,26-5
in the Northern States. Such has been the improvement
in the cotton culture since 1852, the date of the compila¬
tion of the returns under the census of 1850, the number
of acres which each laborer can cultivate, and the produce
per acre, has been largely increased, and the quality of the
staple or fibre very much improved. The cotton which was
produced thirty years ago would not now be marketable.
Under the improved system, a laborer will now cultivate
twenty acres of cotton with as much ease as he formerly
cultivated ten. Immense tracts of country that, ten years
ago, were not considered suitably fertile for the profitable
production of cotton, are being cultivated with perfect suc¬
cess. The area of land now regarded as valuable for cot¬
ton is more than five times larger than that stated in the
census returns of 1850.
Cotton cannot be successfully produced further South
than where there is sufficient frost to destroy the insects,
which are so destructive to the plant in the tropics, and
which, many years ago, caused its cultivation in the West
Indies to be almost discontinued. The Northern limit to
which the culture may be carried is near the thirty-fourth
degree of north latitude. That, however, depends on the
elevation of the surface above the level of the sea—the
mountain range being too cold. The Southern limit of safe
and profitable culture is from the twenty-ninth to the thir¬
tieth degree of northrlatitude. These limits give a belt of
about five degrees of latitude in width, extending from the
Atlantic coast to the commencement of the elevated plains
east of the Rocky Mountains. Cotton cannot be success¬
fully cultivated in any region where there is a wet and dry
season. The extremes of rain and drought are equally
fatal to the production of the staple or fibre. Tropical
rains cause the plant to grow too large, and either extreme
wet or dry weather will cause the blossoms and young bolls
to drop off. Therefore, climate is one of the first consider¬
ations in the selection of a region suitable for the cultiva¬
tion of the cotton plant. That of the Cotton States is
peculiarly suitable for that purpose. The prevailing winds
in spring and summer, charged with moisture, flow inland
from the Atlantic, and are met by cold currents of air from
the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains, which are attracted
by the radiation of heat on the plains. The contact causes
frequent showers of rain to fall throughout the spring,
summer and autumn, in sufficient quantity to preserve a
healthy growth ami early maturity of the plant, without
23
endangering its product of cotton. There is sufficient frost
in winter to destroy the insects, which are so fatal in the
tropics. There is no part of the earth's surface so favora¬
bly formed and situated for the production of cotton.
The States forming the Southern Confederacy are the
greatest cotton and tobacco producing regions in the world.
They also produce rice, timber, naval stores, the cereal
grains, and edible roots, in great variety and inexhaustible
quantity. Their exports may be augmented to any amount
to meet the wants of the manufacturing and commercial
world. Their consumption of manufactured merchandise
is probably three times as great as any other agricultural
people, of equal number, and will be augmented as their
exports increase.
This vast commerce, which has hitherto been controlled
by the.Northern States through the instrumentality of the
protective system, and the fiscal operations of the Fed¬
eral Government, is now offered to the manufacturing
and commercial nations of Europe. Will they accept it,
or will they permit Mr. Lincoln's blockading squadrons to
forbid the intercourse?
The Wasnington Government declares its intention to be
only the enforcement of the revenue laws; that is, the col¬
lection of customs duties. This declaration carries on its
face the stamp of falsehood. Mr. Lincoln and his advisers
cannot be so ignorant as not to know that it is impossible
to collect the revenue at sea, simply because there will not
be any one who will come there to pay it.
Every vessel that is stopped and detained at sea by a
blockading squadron forfeits her policy of insurance. Her
voyage is broken up, and she is captured under the pretext
that her captain or supercargo must pay duties under the
Northern tariff when they have no money or authority to
do so; nor would ifc be possible to ascertain the description
and quantity of the goods comprising the cargo without
opening every package, nor even then without the invoices.
The limited space of a ship's deck is too' small for any such
process, and, besides, the blockade is established under the
pretext of enforcing the law. That is absurd, because the
law requires that every cargo shall be landed within a cer¬
tain number of days after the arrival of the ship. There¬
fore, the blockade is not only a violation of the laws of
nations and the rights of neutrals, but every ship that is
stopped and overhauled for the purpose of collecting duties
on the cargo is just as much a capture as she would be
were she stopped in the middle of the Atlantic by a pirate4
and required to pay a ransom.
It has been shown that the political difficulties between
the Northern and Southern States originated in the claim
24
for protection in the North and resistance to it in the
South ; and although its advocates have enlisted in their
cause every faction, and allied themselves to abolition fa¬
naticism, and trampled the constitution under foot to meet
the demands of their allies, their aim has constantly been,
at any and every hazard, to establish their policy, for all
time, on the legislation of the country. In this they have
failed as far as the South is concerned, but they have seized
the first moment of their power to fix it on the North.
The Confederate States have been equally prompt in adopt¬
ing the principles so long advocated by them, and have
provided in their constitution that protection shall not be
given or extended to any particular class of industry. This
important provision will secure uniformity and stability in
all legislation regulating their commercial intercourse with
foreign nations.
The movement of Northern and European merchandise
south from New York and other northern cities having
been cut off, the Confederate States must hereafter look to
Europe for supplies ; and if the growing crops of cotton,
tobacco, and other products, are to be exchanged for Euro¬
pean goods, it is of the utmost importance that an un¬
checked and unrestrained intercourse should be immediate¬
ly established between southern ports and those of Europe.
The summer, autumn and winter supplies are wanted be¬
fore the crops come in, and if they can be sent forward in
time to meet the wants of the country, the export of specie
to pay for them next winter may be avoided. It will read¬
ily be perceived that the consumption of the country must
go on gradually, and that time is required to distribute
supplies to a whole people inhabiting a country of such
vast extent.
The attempt is being made by Mr. Lincoln's administra¬
tion to show that the Confederate States are not strong
enough to resist the power of the Northern States. The
commercial resources of the former have been stated in
this communication. The census of 1860 shows that the
Confederate States, including Kentucky and leaving out
Missouri, Maryland and Delaware, contain 1,254,000 men
able to bear arms, under forty-five and over eighteen years
of age. This force is sufficient to assure European powers
that the Confederate States are strong enough to maintain
their independence against any number of troops the North
may bring into the field against them.
In conclusion, it is not necessary for me to say that a
subject of such magnitude could be better treated in a vol¬
ume of hundreds of pages ; but in addressing a Minister of
your knowledge and intelligence, I deemed it more in ac-
25
cordance with your position and ray own duties to limit
this communication to as simple a statement of facts as
possible.
I have the honor to be, with great respect,
Your Lordship's obedient servant,
T. BUTLER KING,
Commissioner from Georgia.
London, May, 1862.
COPY OF LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY COMTE
DE MORNY FROM T. BUTLER KING.
Paris, 7th May, 1862.
To His Excellency the Minister of Commerce,
Sir.—Permit me to lay before your Excellency some
considerations in favor of the immediate establishment of
lines of Steamships from the ports of France to those of the
Confederate States of America.
In a communication which I have had the honor to ad¬
dress to the Minister of Commerce, a copy of which I beg
leave to hand herewith to your Excellency, I have stated
the causes which have led to the concentration of the com¬
merce of the late United States, in the city and port of New
York. The Secession of the Southern States has deprived
that city of the control of Southern commence and trade,
and throw them open to European enterprize.
The vast amount of Southern exports and imports, the
great number of Southern travellers who have hitherto
spent the warm months in the North for health, pleasure,
or business, but who will now be attracted to Europe ; and
the correspondence which must necessarily grow out of
such extensive commercial and personal intercourse, will
supply a sufficient amount of traffic to insure profitable em¬
ployment of several lines of Steamers from European ports,
and especially those of France, to the Confederate States.
In addition to those inducements, a low tariff, on the prin¬
ciples of free trade, has been adopted, all tonnage duties
have been repealed, and the coasting trade thrown open to
foreign vessels.
These advantages contrast very strongly in favor of
Southern ports, when compared with the high protective
tariff of the Northern States, intended to exclude the im¬
portation of foreign merchandize, the tonnage duties which
impose a heavy tax on foreign shipping in Northern ports,
and the laws excluding foreign vessels from the coasting
trade.
26
The Cunard lines of Steamships from Liverpool to Ne
York and Boston, and the lines from New York to Hav
and other European ports supplied as much tonnage
that description as could be profitably employed in tl
commerce of New York when in the full tide of its pro
penty. But since the Southern States have seceded, ar
cut off all intercurse with the Northern States, and thereb
depriving that city of the vast amount of Southern con
merce which she has hitherto controlled, it is quite certai
that all those steamers cannot be profitably employed, an
that any new line from a French port to New York woul
not be profitable, and probably result in failure, while it
very clear that commercial intercourse with the Confedei
ate States presents an unoccupied field of almost unlimite
extent for the employment of both Steam and . Sailing ves
sels.
The exports of the Confederate States will amount t
near three hundred millions of dollars per annum, and thei
imports must approach a similar sum. There can be n
doubt, therefore, of an ample supply of freight for all ves
sels employed in the direct trade between the ports o
France and those of the Confederacy.
The accelerated movements in commerce caused by thi
construction of railways and the employment of oceai
steamers must give to France a decided control over thi
import and export trade of the countries situated to th<
east and north of her, and also over all mail matter con
nected with it.
During the winter months when commerce is most active
and the supplies of cotton and tobacco are arriving fron
the Southern States, the ports of the Baltic are closed bj
ice while those of France are open; The lines of coasi
steamers from the ports of Holland and Belgium to those 01
France will become valuable feeders to her lines of oceai
steamers.
Previous to the construction of telegraph lines, all letters
passing between the continent of Europe and America wen
carried.in the Liverpool and New York steamers, and con¬
tributed largely to their support.
But now the telegram announces the principal items oi
news long before the steamers arrive at their port of desti¬
nation, and renders the rapid transmission of letters much
less important. The establishment of direct steam com¬
munication from the ports of France to those of the Con¬
federate States will therefore, afford a means of transit suf¬
ficiently rapid for the transmission of the mails.
There will also be a considerable saving of postage in the
direct line as compared to the circuitous route by way ol
New York and Liverpool.
There is a very strong feeling of sympathy throughout
27
the Southern States for France. The State of Louisiana,
as you are well aware, was for many years a French Colony,
and more than half the people are the descendents of French
immigrants. In many parts of the State, the French lan¬
guage only is spoken. In South Carolina the French ele¬
ment is strong. The Southern climate is better suited to
the consumption of French wines and fabrics than that of
the Northern States. In fact most of the French wines
that are imported into New York are sent South.
Steamships have become a necessity in the commercial
transactions between great exporting and importing coun¬
tries, and especially in the cotton trade, all bills of lading,
policies of insurance, bills of exchange and samples of cotton,
are sent by them.
The early establishment of the Liverpool and New York
lines of steamers has largely contributed to the increase of
British commerce with America.
Liverpool on one side of the Atlantic and New York on
the other, became the great points of attraction. British
merchants will not be slow to perceive that the secession
movement in the South has deprived New York of its con¬
trol over Southern exports and imports, and they will soon
turn their attention South.
Cannot France be persuaded to take the lead and reap
the advantage ? To accomplish that object, I beg leave,
most respectfully, to propose that the law authorizing a
line from Havre to New York shall be so changed or amen¬
ded as to require the steamers to proceed from Havre direct
to Savannah, Georgia, and that the line authorized from
Bordeaux to the West Indies, shall be extended to New
Orleans.
Savannah is situated near the thirty-second degree of
'North latitude, and is now, except»New Orleans, the largest
exporting city in the Southern States. The railway system
extending westwardly from the city, has been completed to
Montgomery, Alabama, and is nearly finished to Vicksburg
on the Mississippi river, a distance of more than seven hun¬
dred miles. Northwestwardly the railways extend to Mem¬
phis in Tennessee, on the Mississippi, a distance of near
nine hundred miles ; and Soutliwestwardly, a railway is al¬
ready finished to the Southern border of the State, more
than tvv° hundred miles, where it will unite with the sys¬
tem of Railways in Florida, and will soon be completed to
Mobile in Alabama. From the main trunk leading West
through the very heart of the cotton region, there are va¬
rious branch railways extending Northwest and South-
west.
These lines are all either completed orin rapid course ol
construction, and will, with their connections, give to Sa¬
vannah an extent of railway communication equal to that
2S
of any city on the continent, and bring to her port at least
two millions bales of cotton, large quantities of flour, to¬
bacco, timber, naval stores, and a great quantity and varie¬
ty of other exportable products, and distribute to the inte¬
rior the imported merchandize received in exchange. The
distance from Havre to Savannah is about three hundred
miles further than it is from Havre to New York, or one
day's run of a steamer. But as the sailing distance from
Savannah to New York is seven hundred miles, there will
be a saving of four hundred miles in the direct voyage as
compared with the circuitous route by way of New York.
Savannah is situated on the right or Southern bank of
the river fourteen miles from the Ocean. A vessel drawing
twenty-three feet can enter the channel and approach with¬
in a few miles of the city.
Seventeen feet can be carried to wharves, where large
ships are usually loaded to that depth, and the cargoes com¬
pleted by lighters in the deep water below.
The extension of the West India line to New Orleans,
will afford the people of that city and all the Southwestern
States of the Confederacy, the means of direct personal and
commercial communication and intercourse with France.
The British and West India mail contract was originally
made to extend to New Orleans, but the contract authori¬
zed by Congress for a line from New York to New Orleans
cut off the British line and limited its movements to the
West Indies and the ports of Mexico. The lines of steam¬
ers from New Orleans to all the Gulf ports of Mexico and
Texas already established, will serve as feeders to the Bor¬
deaux and New Orleans line. Vessels drawing sixteen to
seventeen feet can cross the bar at the mouth of the Missis¬
sippi and proceed to New Orleans.
On the opening of such an immense export and import
trade as must immediately commence between Europe and
the Confederate States, no reasonable doubt need be enter¬
tained respecting the profitable employment of steamships,
but it may be useful to state some of the items of traffic
which they must control. All the correspondence connec¬
ted with near three fourths of the export and import trade
of the late United States must hereafter be carried in
steamers between Europe and Southern ports. That cor¬
respondence has hitherto contributed largely to the support
of all the lines employed between Europe, New York and
Boston.
In my communication to the Minister of Commerce, I
have stated the estimated number of Southern travelers,
who have hitherto visited the Northern States, to be. one
hundred thousand annually. Now if we suppose that one
fifth part of thatenumber, or twenty thousand will come to
Europe and return at a cost for passage of one hundred and
29
thirty dollars each way, we have the sum of $5,200,000 for
passage traffic alone. When to this is added the postages
for mail matter, and full freights both ways, there would
seem to be no possible doubt that those who establish the
first lines of steamers, and thus get possession of the trade
by proper arrangements with railway companies for a con¬
stant supply of freights, which can easily be made, must
reap a rich reward.
Respecting a supply of the best coal I will mention that
the Company in Baltimore which supplies the Cunard stea¬
mers at New York, has offered to deliver the same kind of
coal in Savannah at the same price, namely $4.50 per ton.
COPY OF LETTER TO THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN
AFFAIRS FROM T. BUTLER KING.
Paris, 11th July, ]861.
To His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Monsieur.—The undersigned has been commissioned by
His Excellency the Governor of Georgia to lay before His
majesty the Emperor a statement explaining the commer¬
cial relations hitherto existing between the Southern and
Northern States of the late American Union. That he has
done in a letter which he has had the honor to present to
His Excellency the Minister of Commerce, but he feels con¬
strained to believe that he will fall short of the performance
of his whole duty, if he fails to call the attention of your
Excellency, who is charged with the important duty of su¬
perintending the foreign relations of His Imperial Majesty,
to some facts and considerations connected with the pres¬
ent condition of Affairs in America.
As your Excellency is undoubtedly well acquainted with
the frame work of the Government of the late United States,.
it is not necessary to recite facts and arguments to prove
that the Federal Government was formed and adopted by
the States, each acting for itself in its sovereign capacity,
and that the right to secede from the government thus form¬
ed has ever been held by the States, as a remedy against
oppression. Therefore the Southern States in withdrawing
from the Union, have simply exercised that reserved right;
and the war which the government at Washington is now
waging against them is intended to be a war of conquest
and subjugation under the absurd pretext of preserving the
Union. The Government of the United States was foun¬
ded on the great fundamental principle that it should rest,
and could only exist on the consent of the governed, or of
30
the States which created it. Therefore the seceding States
are not justly chargeable with rebellion.
Mr. President Lincoln, commenced the wrar by declaring
his purpose to be only the collection of Custom duties on
imported merchandize, and the reoccupation of the captur¬
ed forts. Instead of confining his military movements to
the accomplishment of those objects, he has blockaded the
whole Southern coast, thereby excluding all commerce,
without attempting to recapture the forts, and invaded
Virginia with an army of an hundred thousand men. Mod¬
ern wars have been made for maintainance of some violated
principle or clearly defined right. In the progress of his
measures Mr. Lincoln has violated every principle of the
Constitution under which his Government exists, and must
be regarded as engaged in a devastating war of conquest in
defiance of all right and justice, and in violation of his own
declarations and pledges. He has therefore forfeited all
claim to the forbearance or sympathy of the great Euro¬
pean powers whose policy has been the protection of right,
the promotion of civilization, and the extension of com¬
mercial intercourse.
It Mr. Lincoln has no right or just cause to prosecute this
war, have not France and England, whose interests will be
very much disturbed and injured by it, a right to require
that it shall not disturb their relations with the Confederate
States ?
Can the governments of France and England permit this
war to continue until it shall have destroyed the annual pro¬
duct of three hundred millions of dollars in value of com¬
mercial exchange'? Does not the industrial pursuits of
their own people press upon them the early and grave con¬
sideration of this important question ? Is not the time
rapidly approaching when France and England will find it
due to their position as great commercial powers, interested
in keeping open the channels of trade, to interfere and dis¬
perse the blockading squadrons of Mr. Lincoln?
It would seem to be clearly the policy of France and
'England to look with no disfavor on the separation of the
Southern from the Northern States of America. If that is so,
it would seem to be equally clear that the separation should
be accomplished wTith as little delay, and damage to the in¬
terests of the former as possible, and that they should come
out of the contest with their capacity for production unim-
pared. But the Government at Washington has had the
audacity to say to France and England "hands off," this is
our quarrel, and do you not dare to interfere even with the
expression of an opinion ! A man in the middt of a city
might as well claim the right to set fire to his house and
say to his neighbors it is no affair of yours, have I not a
right to deal as I please with my own ? This assertion of
31
right would not secure the lives of persons in adjoining
apartments ; nor will this absurd claim of right on the part
of Mr. Lincoln satisfy the demands of the manufacturing
and commercial industry of France and England. These
observations are not prompted by the slightest apprehen¬
sion that the Confederate States will not be able to resist,
successfully, the incursions of the Northern hordes, but they
are made for the purpose of presenting the conduct of the
Government at Washington in its true light, and of show¬
ing that if this war progresses for a long time, it must be
very injurious to the interests of the commercial world.
The cotton crop will soon be coming to the places of ex¬
portation, and it is as necessary to the working of the spin¬
dles and looms of France and England, as bread is to feed
those who operate them. Has Mr. Lincoln a right to for¬
bid the supply of either"? and if he does, would it not be
just cause for the stringent measures of protection on the
part of those wrhose interests will be so largely compro¬
mised ? As I have shown in a letter which I had the honor
to address to His Excellency the Minister of Commerce,
this contest in America originated in the Tariff policy of
the Northern States, and that this war has been inaugura¬
ted, and is being prosecuted for the purpose of compelling
the Southern States to submit to the dictates of that policy.
It is, therefore, a question which addresses itself immediate¬
ly to the material interests of France and England, and
must ere long be felt in all their industrial pursuits. The
Northern States have been seeking for many years, through
the instrumentality of that policy to control the commerce
and manufactures of the world. This they cannot hope to
accomplish unless they can subjugate by fraud or force the
great staple producing States of the South.
This war is, consequently, a war on the industry of France
and England under false pretenses.
I have the honor to be your
Excellency's most Ob't Serv't.,
T. BUTLER KING.