[393] 6. That it is by the cultivation of cotton alone, and the purchase of that article by British manufacturers, that American slavery puts at defiance the opinions of the civilized world, baffles the efforts of the abolitionists of England and America for its speedy overthrow, and raises an impenetrable wall of defence against the attacks of its enemies. 7. That if England would supply herself with free cotton from some other part of the world, to the exclusion of all slave-grown cotton, it is quite certain that, within seven years, American slavery would be peaceably abolished, from absolute necessity, as well as from the moral change which will by that time have been wrought in the free States of America, in opposition to that hideous system of plunder and outrage. 8. That it now seems to be placed beyond all doubt that cotton can be grown by free labor, at a much less expense, and in far greater abundance, in British India, than it is now done by slave labor in the United States: hence, that England, as a matter of self-interest, as well as on the score of humanity, should without delay redress the wrongs of India, give protection and encouragement to its oppressed and suffering population, and thus obtain a cheap, permanent and abundant supply of free cotton from her own vast and fertile possessions in the East. I am sure that your British India movement will fill the hearts of American slaveholders with dismay.1 May speedy and complete success attend it!—I see no reason why it should not receive the zealous and hearty support of the friends of humanity in Great Britain, especially of all genuine abolitionists on both sides of the Atlantic. For all that you are doing to promote it, (and no man can be doing more), and for all your
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1 Mr. Garrison was able to verify this prediction upon his return. He writes to Joseph Pease, at Darlington, on Sept. 1, 1840 (Ms.): ‘Already, there is much consternation on this side of the Atlantic, among the planters and their Northern adherents, in relation to that [British-India] movement. My eye at this moment rests upon a copy of the New York Herald (a violent pro-slavery journal), in which a tocsin of alarm is sounded in the ears of the slaveholding States. The editor cries out lustily against “ the villanous designs of the abolitionists to destroy the interests of the Southern planter,” and adds— “ Much as we detest the conduct and principles of the insurgent and scandalous abolitionists, we feel bound to give them, [i. e., the facts in relation to your India movement], in order to put our Southern friends on their guard against the infamous designs of these crazy scoundrels.” This is a high panegyric upon your proceedings, and should mightily encourage you to go forward in your great work of human redemption.’
The Century Company. , 1885-1889.
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