New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-06-13

Sixteen hundred steamboats, are IN ordinary times
ahoat upon the mississippi RIVER costing $50 Co.,
100. Many OF our readers have seen miles Of these
boats abreast o st. Louis mOored at the leyec at
New. Orleans, receiving and discharging cargoes
which gave employment to thousands OF men, and
life and animation TO entire cities Figures cannot
convey an idea of the volume of commerce which
derived its momentum from this huge hotilla; how
many thousands OF families it supported; how many
cities it made rich how wdely it diliused on either
aide Of its watery highway, from Minnesota TO New
Orleans the lights OF literature he luxury Of inter-
course, the blessings Of . commerce from which al
who shared in it derived some important advantage.
No other river on the earth has ever possessed
feet SO capaci0us, nor traffic that could sustain
it. The peculiarities Of this traffic like the river
itself, ore exclusively American. Yet the former
sprung up within less than half century, and was
expanding with rapidly that added one more to
the catalogue OF its pecuarties, tOreshadowing u
future of indefinite magnitude, when the blight of
rebellion smote IT with destructive palsy Blocsaaed
at its outlet, and at Cairo, the Lower Mississippi
must now be a solitary river, her levees crowded
with idle boats and bOatmen, aud the profitable
activity of the past year exchanged tor demorahz
ing as well us ruinous idleness. The few boats
which descend the river come crowded with fug-
tives from COMMON ruin, while none descend il
but such as are missionaries Ut rebellion. These
iugtyes confirm each other in the story Of desOia
ton. At Pttsburg and Cincinnati boats are
moored in idleness, which would Otherwise be gain
ing fortunes for their owners.
But general views are best enforced by going
into details. Take Cincinnati as al Illustration ol
what must be, elsewhere, the consequences OF
such a blockade. All her river commerce be.
yOnd Cairo Is dead though last yeur tho number
If steamboat arrivals Was 5000, with as many
departures. She built % steamers in 1860, man
uiactured ;sl6,000,00 worth OF clothing, and
nearly 81, 600, 900 worth OF furniture all for the
West and South West while to Southern cities
she exported near 5000 bales of hay. OF tho
Louisiana sugar crop she received and distributed
$4,000 hogsheads; $1,000 packages Of tobacco;
and exported $50, 900 barrels of whi,ky, of which
New Orleans alone took l36, 0O0 and other down.
river towns l22, 600 more, the two consuming
tw0.thrds Of the whole. The value of her i'm
500 2l3,274 Of her exports SIC7,00O,0O0 Her
exports to New-Orleans were elormous, both in
bulk and value There were 1900 packages Of
furniture, while $1,000 packages were sent so
other d,wn-river towns. OF food such as -four,
beet. beans, butter. lard, eggs, bacon, pork, pc
tatoes with every product Of the earth, the
amount shipped exclusively South was amazingly
large and valuable. At q basty Rlnbce over the
figures giving the amount asd destination of her
exports, We should ssy that the Mississippi
towns, from which she is now cut off, must con-
sunlo full two.thirds of them. These figures
show clearly how tho South lives, not by what is
raised at home, but by what others raise abroad.
OF the staple articles Of food Cincinnati supplies
the South with several huldred thousand barrels
Annually, while the export Of even fruit and veg
etables is very large. The greatest staple, how
ever, appears TO be whisky.
Other cities on the Ohio and above Cairo have
been pouring into all the downriver towns the
vast amount of produce which helps TO give en-
ployment to 600 steamboats,. From her share
Of this down-river trade Cincinnati is now sud
denly cut of. Every thing must be measurably
s.agnans. Az no one buys steamboats, now, so
none need build them. As the South can get
no more furniture 50 1000 citizens employed
in manufacturing it must shoulder arms or look
for employ ment elsewhere. Her multitude OF
talors must DO in equal straits. All these ca
fanatics have been wsntonly precipltated on
thousand loyal communities by this unparalleled
rebellion. The very calamltes should rouse
them all to action for crushing it out, making tho
calamity short by expediting the vengeance.
But II tho inability to soil food be 70 disastrous,