Julia Griffiths to Frederick Douglass, November 17, 1858

LETTERS FROM THE OLD WORLD.

NUMBER LXII.

THICK HOLLINS, near HUDDERSFIELD, November 17th, 1858.

MY DEAR FRIEND:—I greatly enjoyed a visit to this interesting place early last spring and had fully purposed to give you some account of it, but as my long illness came on soon after I quitted Yorkshire, and compelled me to abstain for many weeks from writing, I never carried out my intention of telling you something of Meltham Cotton Mills, and what I saw and heard there; but now, that I find myself once again a guest at beautiful Thick Hollins, looking out, not only on the adjacent wooded uplands, and rich valleys, out on the lengthy range of buildings which spread themselves along the hollow, to the left, I am resolved, without delay, to jot down a few things about Brook`s Cotton Mills that may prove interesting to you, and to some of your readers, in a day when Cotton is peculiarly talked of and thought of, not only by manufacturers and philanthropists, but by missionaries and travelers in many lands. I have had my share of thought about Cotton, (and I may add, my share of lectures, too, on Cotton.) I believe that some of my friends have made the great mistake of supposing that, because I could not see my way to bring the subject of Cotton, and the duty of Abolitionists using only Free Labor Cotton, before every anti-slavery committee I have had the pleasure of forming, or meeting, my Abolitionism was of a very neutral tint indeed! Be that as it may, I am satisfied that, to endeavor strictly to follow the dictates of our own conscience in this and similar matters,

and to permit our friends to do the same, according to them the grace of Sincerity, as we claim it for ourselves, is the true Christian course. While frowned on by a few, on this Free Labor subject, I was, at divers times, smiled at by some manufacturers, to whom I spoke on this difficult question, and who told me strange and sad tales in regard to impostures in Cotton, and more and more, convinced me that to confine our clothing apparel to articles, fabricated out of silk, wool, or linen, was the only plan to ensure its not being "slave grown produce" under the present dispensation. Not seeing a practical way to work in this matter, I have bided my time, doing other anti-slavery work, about which there exists no practical difficulty. Now, I trust, we are beginning to see the glimmering of the dawn of a brighter day for Africa, and her sable sons; and if the belief of that great and enterprizing man, Dr. Livingstone, (expressed in a recent letter to the Bishop of Oxford,) be correct, that he has discovered in Africa a great tract of land, peculiarly suitable for the growth of the far-famed "Sea Island Cotton," it seems to me that one part of a very difficult problem is in a fair way of being solved, and we may hope that the rest will follow in time.

But I am wandering away to the land where "sunny fountains roll down their golden sand," and must at once return and take you with me to Meltham Mills.

These mills (called by some the model mills of Yorkshire) are five miles distant from the cheerful, busy, manufacturing town of Huddersfield; the drive is a fine one, even in winter, up hill all the way. The mills stand in

a valley at the foot of what are called the Backbone mountains of England. The village of Meltham lies half a mile higher up, upon the edge of the wild moorland country, which extends, with but slight interruption, into North Britain. Nearly all the population of Meltham and its environs are employed at the cotton or silk mills of Messrs. Brook; and when we are told that all the region round about has been reclaimed within the last sixty years, we are almost disposed to feel, as we look on the scene of industry and activity before us, that there is nothing which the indomitable mind of man cannot achieve, by enterprize and labor, with the blessing of God on his labors.

But here we are at the comfortable Counting-House of Meltham Mills, at the door of which our carriage draws up, (after a short and pretty drive from Thick Hollins), and we alight. Soon a table is covered with specimens of Cotton, and with their usual kindness, Mr. Charles Brook, and Mr. Carlisle are giving me my second lesson on Cotton, (I had my first in the spring,) and replying to my innumerable questions with inexhaustible patience. Here are three kinds of Egyptian cotton grown by the Pasha, (free grown we all hope!) the finest of these is soft and silky; it is a good length in the fibre, and looks very free from dirt. The other two specimens are not so fine, nor so clean. I learn that the Egyptian cotton varies greatly in quality, the best growing near the sea coast; it averages from 7d, to 1s 1d per lb. Messrs. Brook purchase as much as they can obtain of this cotton, because it answers their purpose for making thread; it is never spun by itself, but mixed with sea island cotton, or New Orleans cotton or any other kind of cotton which will unite to form the best possible thread, which is, of course, the main object of the manufacturer. But here is a finer, softer, whiter, and more silky cotton before me; whence comes it?—

From the seaboard slave States. It is the famous "Sea Island Cotton." Thousands of poor slaves have toiled away under burning suns, to produce this clean, white cotton, and scores have died martyrs to it! The price is high, averaging from 1s 1d, to 2s 6d per lb.—It is adapted for spinning the finest numbers of thread, and at preset no other cotton can be found to supply its place. It grows near the sea, on the Atlantic coast of the Carolinas and Georgia, in marshy land, often inundated with water, and in an atmosphere so unhealthy that white people cannot live more than half the year there! so a Charleston merchant recently told one of my friends.—What is the average life of the slaves there, I did not learn! Now, if what Dr. Livingstone says be true, and he has found a spot in Africa favorable to the growth of this valuable cotton, I trust that some of our princely merchants and manufacturers will unite and form a company that shall supply capital, and employ agents to sow and cutivate Sea Island Cotton amidst the marches of Africa.—But here is another cotton, darker, dirtier, and not so soft. This is from New Orleans; and in thought, (as I hold a little piece of it in my hand,) I am carried to the vast cotton fields of the West, and am wondering what is the sad history of the poor slave man or woman that picked this small tuft of cotton? Is he (or she) living or dead?—still in existence, toiling on, on, ON, beneath the lash, with

no ray of hope to brighten his or her path—or gone to that land "where the servant is freed from his master," "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest," and "where the voice of the oppressor is not heard?" If it be as I am told that for every pound of Sea Island Cotton imported annually into Liverpool there is, at least, one hundred pounds of New Orleans cotton, of how many victimized slaves is the universally used New Orleans cotton the sole remains!—It is fearful to think of it! The average price of this cotton is from 5½d to 9d. Messrs. Brook do not use large quantities of Orleans cotton, it not being sufficiently fine for their use. I hope and believe that you and I may be spared to see the day when cotton will be grown, both in India and in Africa, equal in quality to this cotton, and sufficient in quantity to compete with it, and if need be, supply its place in the Liverpool market. I am rejoiced to learn of the various companies forming to aid in the growth of cotton in Asia and Africa; and greatly do I regret that severe influenza prevents me now from accepting the kind proposal of one of my friends here, to take me with him to Manchester, and introduce me to Mr. Thomas Clegg, of whom I have heard so much, and with whom, if I mistake not, you have had some correspondence. I wish to learn his views from himself. I have been favored with the sight of a correspondence between Dr. Delany & Co., and Mr. Clegg. I have carefully read that able article in the last Edinburgh Journal, (July—October,) "The Slave Trade—1858."