THE APOTHEOSIS OF STEAM. 433 



umes annually, as they did in the last century. The United States 

 turns out 2,000 and Great Britain 4,000 new books every year, and the 

 other Euraryan nations probably bring the total figure up to 15,000; 

 whereas, before the middle of the last century, the number was prob- 

 ably not more than 1,500. Besides the books, we have now 7,000 news- 

 papers which are new, and in the aggregate furnish as much material 

 for reading, and contribute nearly as much to education, as the books. 



The commerce of the world has been revolutionized in the age of 

 steam. Many obstacles which stood in the way of its development in 

 1770 have now been removed. National animosities, sectarian pas- 

 sions, popular ignorance, despotic governments, the division of one 

 nationality into numerous independent states, and the established 

 policies of conquest, balance of power, sectarian intolerance, and trade- 

 restriction bred frequent wars, and destroyed confidence in the dura- 

 tion of any peace. Hostilities were waged with little regard for the 

 property or persons of non-combatants; and plunder and devastation 

 were among the common accompaniments of invasion, and were recog- 

 nized as customary rights of the invaders. The uncertainty of enjoy- 

 ing accumulated wealth deprived the people of zeal for labor or 

 economy. But now there has been a vast change for the better, and 

 commerce and finance have made wonderful advances. International 

 and national trafiio have risen to proportions which far surpass the 

 wildest visions of past ages. 



In the middle of the last century a turnpike, covered with gravel 

 or broken stone, was a rarity even in the neighborhood of the great 

 capitals ; and for every mile of such road, and for every stage running 

 regularly to carry passengers then, there are now a thousand. Trav- 

 elers were few, and usually went on horseback. Not a hundred years 

 have elapsed since the owners of riding-horses petitioned the English 

 Parliament to forbid the establishment of a stage-line which had lately 

 been started, and was ruining their business. In 1763 one stage 

 left London for Edinburgh each month, taking nearly two weeks to 

 make the trip each way; and in 1810 only two hundred and twenty 

 travelers entered Paris by stage in an average day. The increase 

 has exceeded a thousand-fold. England did not commence building 

 canals till 1760, and in the mean time not less than 6,000 miles have 

 been built by the Euraryans, at a cost of not less than $500,000,000. 

 The shipping of Christendom has risen from 1,500,000 to 15,000,000 

 tons, and a third of the increase is in steamers, which make three trips 

 for one by a sailing-vessel. They not only carry three times as much 

 freight per ton as the sailers, but they take many perishable articles 

 which could not go by the slower navigation, and were therefore not 

 produced, or were wasted. There has been a vast increase in the con- 

 struction and in the number of freight-wagons for common roads; 

 and the railroads, with an aggregate length of 140,000 miles, and a 

 cost of $2,000,000,000, arc new. The freight which cost thirty cents a 

 vol. ix. 28 



