n not be doubted that, in pursuance of the
policy of forcing her manufactures into foreign markets, she will, if
deprived of a large portion of our custom, direct all her efforts to
South America. That country abounds in a soil admirably adapted to the
production of cotton, and will, for a century to come, import her
manufactures from foreign countries."

Mr. Hamilton, of South Carolina, said: "That the planters in his section
shared in that depression which is common in every department of the
industry of the Union, _excepting those from which we have heard the
most clamor for relief_. This would be understood when it was known that
sea-island cotton had fallen from 50 or 60 cents, to 25 cents--a fall
even greater than that which has attended wheat, of which we had heard
so much--as if the grain-growing section was the only agricultural
interest which had suffered. . . . . While the planters of this region do
not dread competition in the foreign markets on equal terms, from the
superiority of their cotton, they entertain a well-founded apprehension,
that the restrictions contemplated will lead to retaliatory duties on
the part of Great Britain, which must end in ruin. . . . . In relation to
our upland cottons, Great Britain may, without difficulty, in the course
of a very short period, supply her wants from Brazil. . . . . How long the
exclusive production, even of the sea-island cotton, will remain to our
country, is yet a doubtful and interesting problem. The experiments that
are making on the Delta of the Nile, if pushed to the Ocean, may result
in the production of this beautiful staple, in an abundance which, in
reference to other productions, has long blest and consecrated Egyptian
fertility. . . . . We are told by the honorable Speaker (Mr. Clay,) that
our manufacturing establishments will, in a very short period, supply
the place of the foreign demand. The futility, I will not say mockery of
this hope, may be measured by one or two facts. First, the present
consumption of cotton, by our manufactories, is about equal to one-sixth
of our whole production. . . . . How long it will take to increase these
manufactories to a scale equal to the consumption of this production, he
could not venture to determine; but that it will be some years after the
epitaph will have been written on the fortunes of the South, there can
be but little doubt." . . . . [After speaking of the tendency of
increased manufactures in the East,