The Texas Republican

J. DE CORDOVA IN ENGLAND

It appears that Mr. J. de Cordova, a land speculator in Austin, has taken a trip to England, for the purpose, as a Frenchman would say, of "one grand movement." Texas, although filling up at the rate of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand a year, and its lands an object of speculation by individuals residing in at least twenty States of the Union, does not fill the eye of this financier. It seems that his object in visiting England was to convince the English people that cotton could be grown by white labor, and that looking to the present high prices of the great staple, and the prospective demand, there ought to be a foreign emigration to this country to engage in its culture. On the 28th of September, Mr. de Cordova addressed a public meeting at Manchester, England, under the auspices of the Cotton Supply Association. He opened his address by saying

I feel highly in the character of a missionary enlarging upon a subject which is of the deepest interest to you, to me, to all England and America. But large as the future supply of American cotton may be, it is evidently very short in quantity as to meet the wants of the present year at least. As it is extended by every writer that the stock on hand at the close of the present year cannot be large, it is an admitted fact. Under these circumstances what is the course which prudence dictates?

Take warning by the present state of affairs and provide to-day for the wants of to-morrow, remembering the old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Turn your attention to the broad fields and healthy climate of Texas and you will find a population admirably adapted to that soil and climate. Labor expended there will return you a large accordance to your supply of cotton to this State.

He further remarked that Texas was peculiarly adapted to the staple (that is the growing of the staple) more than the well known fact that out of the one certain is that many in the army are engaged in raising cotton. The value of cotton has been carried to such a height that the ship of Texas is safely planted by half a agent and aerial farm that to any and spread by the rail.

Of course this statement about the two populations is a sheer fabrication. There are not one half the number, as the official records will show. And as to their raising one fifth of the cotton produced in Texas, that is another statement equally without foundation.

This lecture has created quite a sensation. The London Cotton Plant was the first to sound the alarm. Its issue of the 24th contains a leading article on the subject of this meeting which it denounces as a filibustering movement, the design of which is to fill up Texas with a population which will vote anti-slavery.

Several of our Texas papers have charged upon the de Cordova plot and plan to do it. The Civilian pooh-poohs the whole thing as nothing better than an advertisement. The editor, on the other hand, denies that it is contemplated for such purpose, or that he is agent to any such suspicions. The Civilian indulges in some strictures from the each and with the explanation simply of the absurdity of talking to such a body of men and industriously filling their minds with delusions which have no foundation in fact. There is nothing improbable in his remarks. It cannot be error as to fact if it can with advantage it is all he desires. The fuss that is made about him and his Texas is tempest in a teapot.

It is a thin affair to produce to any considerable extent any white labor, even in the Northern portion of the state. We have often heard the same statement from speakers who, like the Civilian, say the climate is entirely too hot for any such purpose. If persons who entertain these views were to properly inform themselves they would find that a great many white persons are engaged in raising cotton, throughout Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and other cotton growing States. That as an old lady would say cotton and "niggers generally go together." We have never known a man yet who cultivated the staple that was not a slave owner as far as he could bind the Judiciary ability.

We like the idea of foreign emigration particularly if they set out to raise cotton on white labor. We would be willing to warrant any number of Englishmen which Mr. de Cordova can induce to emigrate to Texas, raising good pro-slavery men. As to the lies he may tell them to get them to come here, that is another question and one that he must settle with his own conscience.