1864. | Samuntson on Steam Navigation. 249 
our readers will live to see steamers of much larger proportions; and 
most confidently do we predict a brighter future for the noble vessel 
now lying idle in the river Mersey. 
It has been impossible, in the limited space at our disposal, to give 
even a tolerably perfect sketch of the progress of steam navigation ; 
but in order to afford our readers some idea of the vast mercantile steam 
navy that has been called into existence through the insatiable demands 
of commerce, we may mention that there are at present employed upon 
one great Ocean route alone, namely, from Liverpool and Glasgow to 
the continent of North America, 100,000 tons of steam shipping, all 
created, in addition to vessels that have been lost, since the ‘ Great 
Western’ was launched ; and that there is furthermore a large fleet of 
additional steamers now in course of construction. 
But we have thus far spoken only of our mercantile steam navy, 
and have said nothing concerning the armaments of our country. 
It is indeed unnecessary that we should do so. That governments 
are slow to move, and that ours did not follow in the wake of the 
merchant service with any great alacrity, is well known to our readers. 
They are aware also that having once commenced, the Admiralty added 
year by year to our steam fleet; and we may say without boasting that 
in both services we have outstripped our neighbours as completely as 
when wooden walls protected old England. 
But we pass over this portion of the subject without regret or 
apology, quite content to leave its treatment to other and abler pens 
than ours. 
We have endeavoured to render as intelligible as it is possible for 
one accustomed rather to building, than to writing about steamers, the 
theme with which we have been called upon to deal ; and have only to 
remark, in conclusion, that our industry was not originated for warlike 
purposes, although it was afterwards thus applied, or we should rather 
say misapplied ; for had the first steam-boat been endowed with life and 
speech, we are sure that her earliest sentences would not have been 
those of anger or defiance, but that she would have proclaimed, as did 
later the Atlantic telegraph, “‘ Glory to God in the highest, on earth 
peace and good-will towards men.” 
Nore—Much additional and interesting information on the subject of Steam 
Navigation will be found in ‘Steinitz’s History of the Ship’ (Longmans), and 
Captain Claxton’s Pamphlet on the ‘Great Britain.’ We have to acknowledge 
our obligations to John Scott Russell, Esq., to the owners of some of the trans- 
atlantic steamers, to Henry A. Bright, Esq. (Messrs. Gibbs, Bright, and Co., 
owners of the ‘Great Britain’), and to many other friends, for valuable information 
supplied to us. 
