STEAM NAVIGATION. 109 



ocean as well as a channel take letters and men, and 

 merchandise to America, India, and Australia, as well as to 

 Ireland and France ? In this question were involved con- 

 siderations of the highest importance to all the world, but 

 particularly to this country, for no other country has such 

 extensive foreign possessions as Great Britain, or carries on 

 such an extensive trade. 



" With the exception of the United States, all the colonies 

 planted by the British remain parts of the empire, while 

 Spain and Portugal have lost nearly all those rich territories, 

 extending over the fairest portion of the American conti- 

 nent, that at one time acknowledged the sway of the 

 houses of Bourbon and Braganza. The foreign possessions 

 of France are insignificant, and, of the other nations of 

 Europe, the Dutch alone possess a territory abroad greater 

 than they have at home. . . . The proud position of Britain 

 among the nations, the necessities of her foreign trade, and 

 the wants of her colonies and dependencies, apart from all 

 other considerations, rendered it fitting and natural that she 

 should lead the way in maritime enterprise, and teach the 

 nations how to navigate the ocean by steam. 



" Nor has she failed in this high task ; for, within thirteen 

 or fourteen years, since the question was first proposed, she 

 has established lines of gigantic steam-vessels that are now 

 traversing with regularity and safety every ocean, steaming 

 altogether more than a million and a quarter miles every 

 year, and distributing letters and newspapers all over the 

 world, at a cost to the country of about 650,000 per 

 annum." 



The rapidity and ease with which thousands of troops 

 were lately conveyed to the Crimea and India, together 

 with all their stores, horses, &c., form one of the most 

 wonderful feats of ocean navigation ever performed, and 

 point out the beauty of those arrangements which enable 

 man to traverse the whole earth, whether by land or by 

 water, so that it may fairly be said that the civilisation of 

 the world depended and still depends upon the waters. 



