430 WILLIAM P. GEST 



insularity of England; a political source in the freedom and 

 moderation of her institutions; a moral source in the social 

 virtues inculcated by the Methodist revival which preceded 

 the industrial. But, however unsafe it may be to dogmatize 

 on the subject, it is evident that a most direct economic reason 

 was that then and not till then was there sufficient free capital 

 distributed in private hands to make it practicable to bring 

 the scattered forces of nature into contact. The period im- 

 mediately preceding the industrial revolution was preparatory 

 to it; and the first half of the eighteenth century is marked by 

 the ascendancy of Whig principles, a vast increase of trade, a 

 wide extension of banking and the growth of the monied 

 class. 



Iron can be made in a forge with charcoal at a trifling and 

 ruinous rate, but it cannot be made in quantities without the 

 cheap transportation of coal. It will be remembered that in 

 England the making of iron with charcoal at one time threat- 

 ened the existence of the forests, and various acts were passed 

 in the sixteenth century to restrict it. It is evident that the 

 improvement of the manufacture of iron was not dependent 

 on the advance of knowledge, because the smelting of iron ore 

 by mineral coal was invented as far back as the reign of James 

 I, but various causes conspired to retard it until the art was 

 buried in the oblivion of the civil wars. The industrial revival 

 depended most directly upon the introduction of transporta- 

 tion systems. The first was the Duke of Bridgewater's canal, 

 to which he devoted his private fortune, and which first brought 

 coal to Manchester in 1760. This is the year from which we 

 may date the modern movement. From this time it has swept 

 on with increasing power and an ever accelerating rapidity, 

 bearing the world on its crest we know not whither. 



On the other hand, it is evident from the example of 

 France that means of transportation will not alone explain the 

 phenomenon, for the early canals of France preceded those of 

 England by a century, and far surpassed them in magnitude; 

 while her industrial development long waited for the lead of 

 England. 



It was not, therefore, any lack of technical knowledge 

 which delayed the canal system of England. The marks of 



