628 



MACHINERY. 



opinion is formed. This opinion has strength in I 

 its own nature. It is spiritual, wide-reaching, and 

 mighty. It dethrones kings, it abrogates laws, it 

 changes customs. It is stronger than armies. Bar- 

 riers and cordons cannot shut it out. Fortresses 

 and citadels are no defence against it. It spreads 

 every where, and conquers wherever it spreads. 

 God grant, that it may continue to spread and to 

 conquer, till every throne of tyranny shall be over- 

 turned, and every altar of superstition broken 

 down! 



But the most wonderful consequence resulting 

 from the introduction of machinery is, that it has, 

 to all intents and purposes, greatly prolonged the 

 term of human existence. This is not fancy, but 

 fact ; not imagination, but reality. Human life 

 should be measured by deeds, rather than by years. 

 He lives long, who accomplishes much ; and he 

 lives longer than other men, who accomplishes more 

 than they. And how much more can he accom- 

 plish, whose active existence is but beginning now, 

 than was performed, or could have been performed 

 by one, who lived fifty years ago 1 The multiplied 

 facilities of intercourse, and the cunningly abbre- 

 viated methods of doing every thing at the present 

 day, have introduced extraordinary despatch into 

 all the operations of life, and increased a hundred 

 fold the active power of each individual. Whole 

 communities feel the power of these strong excit- 

 ing influences. Not only are more important and 

 numerous private acts performed by individuals, 

 than have ever before been done in the compass of 

 one life, but public events, more astonishing and of 

 greater consequence, than were wont to happen in 

 former times in the course of centuries, are now 

 crowded into the history of a single generation. 

 And when we look around us, and behold these 

 strong agents of improvement, acting, at the pre- 

 sent moment, with greater energy than ever, and 

 producing every day still more wonderful results, 

 we confess, we are filled with astonishment and 

 admiration. We do not claim, as we have already 

 said, for machinery, the sole agency in producing 

 these magnificent effects. We know that they are 

 principally owing to the operation of moral causes. 

 But we say, that it is machinery, which has re- 

 moved obstructions out of the way of their action, 

 and brought them into contact with the objects on 

 which they are to act; and that, without the aid 

 of machinery, these causes, whatever inherent 

 energy they might possess, could have produced 

 little or no effect on the condition of society. 



We have mentioned some of the general results, 

 which machinery has contributed to produce. 

 There is one particular consequence, that should 

 never be forgotten when machinery is spoken of. 

 It was the inventions of two mechanics, that car- 

 ried England triumphantly through the contest 

 with Napoleon. Arkwright invented a machine 

 for spinning cotton, and Watt perfected the appli- 

 cation of steam power to manufacturing purposes. 

 These inventions conquered Bonaparte. They 

 enabled Great Britain to manufacture for the world. 

 Wealth flowed into her treasury in copious streams, 

 from every quarter. With this wealth she main- 

 tained her own armies, and subsidized those of 

 almost all the nations on the continent. She took 

 the lead in the struggle that ensued, and maintained 

 it, until the battle of Waterloo finally decided the 

 fate of Napoleon and of Europe. These inventions 

 made no great show. They attracted little of 

 popular admiration. No laurels bound the brows 



of the inventors, though, in our esteem, they were 

 far worthier of the laurel wreath, than the proudest 

 conqueror that ever desolated the earth. Their 

 names have not been blazoned in song. The his- 

 torian honours them but with a cursory notice. 

 Yet did these men, by their astonishing genius, con- 

 fer on England power to control the issue of the 

 most momentous and fearful struggle that ever 

 put in peril the best interests of man. 



How does machinery produce these almost mir- 

 aculous results ? How long have these strong in- 

 fluences been acting on society? A few words by 

 way of answer to these questions, shall conclude 

 this article. We have already remarked, that the 

 invention of some machines of a simple construc- 

 tion, is dated far back in remote antiquity ; but 

 these were all helps to individual labour, and are 

 never thought of now, when machinery is named. 

 Then, almost every thing was done by hand. 

 Navigation clung timidly to the shore. Labour 

 performed its task tediously and imperfectly. 

 Knowledge was diffused in scanty measures and by 

 tedious processes. Human improvement advanced, 

 if indeed it did advance, imperceptibly. It is but 

 recently, that any great change has taken place. 

 The era of machinery may be said to have com- 

 menced within the last fifty years. Man has called 

 upon the unwearied powers of nature to bear his 

 burdens, and they have obeyed the call. Whatever 

 agency expands, contracts, impels, retards, uplifts, 

 or depresses, is set at work. We confine elasticity 

 in our watches, and bid it measure our time. With 

 pulleys and levers, we compel gravitation to undo 

 its own work. We arrest the water as it flows 

 onward to the ocean. It must do so much spin- 

 ning, so much weaving, or so much grinding, before 

 it can be allowed to pass on. With the help of 

 pumps and other machinery, we force the very at- 

 mosphere we live in, to raise our water from the 

 wells and from the rivers, and to aid in an uncounted 

 and countless variety of other operations. Last, 

 and most wonderful of all, by the application of 

 fire we transform water into that most potent of all 

 agents, steam. Man, as it were, yokes the hostile 

 elements of fire and water, and subjects them to 

 his bidding. It is hardly a metaphor, to call steam 

 the vital principle, the living soul of modern ma- 

 chinery. There is hardly any sort of work, in 

 which this mighty agent may not be employed. It 

 is equal to the vastest operations, and it will per- 

 form the most minute. It delves in the mines, it 

 lifts the ore to the surface, and converts it into a 

 thousand forms. It helps to make the engine, 

 which it afterwards inhabits. It brings the cotton 

 to the manufactory, picks it, cards it, spins it, weaves 

 it, stamps it, and then distributes the fabrics for 

 sale. It works on the land and on the water, on 

 the rivers and on the seas. It is found on the 

 Rhine and on the Danube, driving huge fabrics im- 

 petuously along through the echoing forests, and 

 by the old castles of chivalrous ages, accustomed 

 to behold far different scenes ; and it performs on 

 land the work of many thousand hands. Inven- 

 tion seems to rest from the effort to discover new 

 forces, and to bend all her energies to multiply the 

 applications of this. Friction and gravity alone 

 continue to oppose the dominion of steam over 

 space. Numberless subtle contrivances have been 

 resorted to, to evade the power of these stubborn 

 antagonists of motion. Railways are constructed, 

 stretching over mountains and plains, linking to- 

 gether and making near neighbours of distant ter- 



