object of the planter in South-Carolina and Georgia; and in the year 1807, more than fifty-five millions of pounds of upland cotton was exported, and which was valued at more than eleven and a half millions of dollars. It has rarely occurred, that the invention of a single machine has, at once, changed the employment of so many thousand people, and has added so much to the wealth and resources of a nation. In the year 1792, the value of the exports of the United States, was only $20,753,098, (upland cotton, the growth of the United States, constituted very little, if any part of these exports,) and in the short period of fifteen years, a new article of export is produced, amounting in value to more than one half of that sum.* The rapid increase of the culture of cotton in the United States will appear, from the following account of the quantity exported from 1791 to 1814, and the value of that of domestic growth since 1802 : * Mr. Whitney obtained a patent for this invention, at an early period, under the laws of the United States; and has been liberally rewarded for the right of using it, by all the cotton planting states, except the state of Georgia. South-Carolina gave him, and Mr. Miller, who was concerned with him, the sum of $50,000, for the right of using the machine in that state. In the state of Georgia, his right to the invention was disputed, and his machine was used, with the exception of a few individuals, without 'making him any compensation. He was compelled therefore, in that state, to have recourse to the judicial tribunals for redress. Owing, however, to a defect in the first patent law, and to the powerful interest opposed to him, he was unable to obtain a decision in his favor, until thirteen years of his patent had expired. This decision was had, before the Circuit Court of the United States, in which Judge Johnson, of South-Carolina, presided. In his charge to the jury, on the trial of the case, the Judge did ample justice to Mr. Whitney, as the original inventor, as well as to the importance and utility of the invention itself. Tables No. VII. and VIII. shew the countries to which cotton has been exported, from 1800 to 1811. Great-Britain has been the principal market for this article. In 1807, before the commencement of our commercial restrictions, more than fifty-three millions of pounds were shipped directly to that country, leaving about thirteen millions for all other parts of the world. During the continuance of those restrictions, the greatest part reached Great-Britain, by the way of the Floridas, the Azores, Madeira, Spain, Portugal, and Sweden. The value of cotton shipped to Great-Britain, in 1807, according to the American custom-house books, was $11,953,378. According to the English custom-house books, and a valuation made by the inspector-general of imports and exports, the real value of cotton, imported from the United States into Great-Britain, (exclusive of Scotland) in the year ending the 10th of October, 1807, was £3,036,392 sterling, or $13,481,580. If we add to this, the quantity imported into Scotland, the value cannot be less than about fifteen millions of dollars. The increase in the culture and manufacture of cotton, of late years, has been astonishingly great, and to trace its rapid progress is not a matter of idle or useless curiosity. From 1768 to 1779, the average quantity of cotton annually imported into England, from all parts of the world, did not exceed about five millions of pounds. From 1784 to 1787, the quantity imported into GreatBritain was as follows, viz. The cotton imported in 1787, is supposed to have come from the In the year 1807, the following quantity was imported into the ports of London, Liverpool, and Glasgow, from different parts of the world:t 282,667 * Macpherson's Annals of Commerce. † Sir Alexander Baring's inquiry relative to the British orders in coun cil, &c.-1808. The number of bales imported into Great-Britain, and the countries from where imported in 1810 and 1811, were as follows, viz.→ In the year 1810, the number of bales from the United States, was two hundred forty thousand five hundred and sixteen. As these bales would average three hundred pounds each, they contained seventy-two million one hundred fifty-four thousand and eight hundred pounds of cotton. The bales from Portugal are said not to average more than one hundred pounds, making fourteen million two hundred ninety-four thousand and six hundred. During this year, therefore, from one half to two thirds of all the cotton imported into GreatBritain, was from the United States, notwithstanding seventy-nine thousand three hundred and eighty-two bales were, during that year, imported from the East-Indies. The foregoing was taken from British accounts. The following is the quantity of cotton exported from the United States to Great-Britain, as appears by the American custom-house books, from 1800 to 1811 :*- 1800 Number of pounds. 16,179,513 18,953,065 * See Tables No. VII. and VIII. annexed to this chapter. |