Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1846-01-10

ctdtcS, uut-WdtcT Tic HdVlgd-
ton Of the lakes, will be surprisingly great.
The export Of wheat in ls43 from Cleveland,
Detroit, Sandusky, and Chicago was l,s94,942
bushels, that Of flour sl2,9O3 barrels; together
equal to 5,959,457 bushels of wheat, and worth
"a, 100000.
In 1886 the export trade of the Lakes
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. ~, 1924, 248
The export trade .-.--..... IA, l37,026
In ls4l the export trade was. $50, 432, 5sl
the import trade. 3,4s3, AL
The aggregate trade of lS43 was estimated at
800, 100000, and the annual increase of the last
two years is calculated to be at least ten per cent
per annum.
1t may be mentioned here, as circumstance
closely connected with the Lake commerce, that
vessel of $50 tons burden can pass through the Wei
land canal, and take in load of flour at the wharf
at Chicago, which need not be handled again until
it arrives at Liverpool.
In 1919 there was only one steamboat on the
Lakes.
In 1927 the first steamboat navigated Lake Mi
chigan.
earning during the year 1923, of which more
than $500, 900 was raised west Of Detroit.
In 1S4l there were $50 sailing vessels on the
Lakes varying from so TO- $50 tons, their cost
81 ,250,000, their earnings $750,O00; the steam
boat earnings were $767, 1872 81 making the total
profits of navigation $l,5l7,l32 81.
The Upper Lake boats contributed 1901 1903 SO
of the total amount of steamboat earnings in 184l.
The entire number Of vessels Of every descrip-
ton navigating the Lakes above Niagara was, in
1843, estimated at 400.
The total amount Of merchandise, the produce of
Western States or Canada, coming in at Buffalo,
Al
by the Erie canal, was, In 1874, 30S,02 tons. I
We have now before us materials for making at
least proximate calculation Of the cost of war; y
which would endanger or disturb this branch of our
commerce, or impede this channel of communca-
tion through which is now flowing so much of the
wealth and the produce of our Northwestern States,
in which category we include Ohio, Indiana, Illi-
nos, Michigan, and Iowa.
In the first place, war with Great Britain would
so far impede the navigation of the Lakes as
to render the vast outlay which has been made in
these States in railroads and canals, say fortyegM
millions of dollars, almost entirely useless and
,naprodctiue so far concerns the transportation
of agricultural products
1t would, in great measure destroy the facility
by which from $l0,000,000 to $l5,0O0,000 of
wheat and -four, the surplus of the West, finds a
market in the East, and by which commerce of
from S12000O,0OO to $l50,OO0,0OO in annual
amount is now successfully prosecuted.
1t would break up the employment of from six
to seven hundred steamboats, and saing-vessels, by
which an annual profit of from $3,OOO,O00 to
So 500 900 is now earned to their owners, and en-
ployment given to numerous body of hardy and
industrious navigators.
1t would most mjuriously check the growth and
prosperity of those inland depots of commerce,
those queen cities Of the lakes-Chicago, Detroit,
Cleveland, and Buffalo-whose astonishing rise
and rapid advancement is without parallel in the
history Of the world. The difference that war,
which impeded the commerce of the lakes, would
make in these now active and fourishing commu-
mites will be better felt by few moments refec-
ton than it could be described in many words.
What but this lake commerce has caused Chica-
90 to increase her population nearly three-fold in
five years What but this has led to an addition
of ty-eight per cent. to the population of Cleve-
land, of forty-eight per cent. to that of Oswego,
and of ffty-fve per cent to that of Buffalo in FIVE
years !
Let us not be misunderstood: we do not suppose
that all the loss is to be on side and that our
opponent is to escape scahess. For every dollar of
mischief which he does to us we may do ten dol
lars of injury to him. But would this " glorious
result" as it might be termed by our beIcose po-
ltcians, be satisfactory balancing Of the war ac-
count with our farmers, our merchants, our ship
owners and our propertyholders for the ruin and the
desolation with which war had surrounded them
1t is true that war may end in victory but what
wretchedness and suffering must mark our track
even to such contamination! National prosperity
consists of many other elements besides that which
is cleaned in the field Of battle, and the happ-
ness Of people derived from far different sources
than military glory. Success will no more prove
that our cause was just one, than defeat would
Justify opposite conclusion. Individuals, if pru-
dent endeavor to avoid resort to the courts of
law by reference to arbitration, by compromise,
by explanation, by concession by every thing short
of dishonor or an abandonment Of right and ma
TONS if wise, will endeavor to settle their misun-
derstandings and their conflicting interests by SINH
lar and all other proper MEANS before resortng to
the uncertain issue of the battlefield
Let the event of the presentdoubt and uncertainty
in public affairs be as it may, it is right that we
should be acquainted with the possible, the probable
consequences of war. To discuss these in the ag-
gregate would be work Of supererogation-- they
have employed the pens of the divine, the sage,
and the poet, and the tongue Of the orator, since
the day when man first unsheathed the sword
against his brother man. There are, however, pc
culiar circumstances and issues in every strife be-
tween nations and our object in these observations
has been to show the probable effect Of war with
Great Britain upon one portion Of our national in
terest and to show to those who most interested