460 JAMES WATT. 



ties of political opinions, from the most violent radicals 

 to the most obstinate conservatives. The answer was 

 always the same ; every one placed the services of our 

 academician above all comparison ; each man quoted, 

 besides, the discourses pronounced at the meeting in 

 which the Westminster statue was voted, as the faithful 

 and unanimous expression of the sentiments of the Eng- 

 lish nation. What did these discourses say ? 



Lord Liverpool, Prime Minister of the Crown, calls 

 Watt, " one of the most extraordinary men that England 

 ever produced, one of the greatest benefactors to the 

 human race." He declared that " his inventions have 

 augmented the resources of his country and of the whole 

 world, to an incalculable degree." Then, considering 

 the question in a political point of view, he added, " I 

 have lived at a time, when the success of a war depended 

 on the possibility of pushing our fleets out of port with- 

 out loss of time ; contrary winds prevailed during whole 

 months, and would have entirely upset the intentions of 

 government. Thanks to the steam-engine, such difficul- 

 ties have disappeared for ever." * 



" Direct your attention," Sir Humphry Davy ex- 

 claimed, " to the metropolis of this powerful empire, to 

 our towns, to our villages, to our arsenals, to our manu- 

 factories ; examine our subterranean cavities, and the 

 works accomplished on the surface of the globe ; con- 

 template our rivers, our canals, the seas which bathe our 

 shores ; you will everywhere find proofs of the eternal 

 benefits conferred by that great man." 



The illustrious President of the Royal Society also 



* It should be observed that during the wars of which Lord Liver- 

 pool had any cognizance, steam had riot been applied to this purpose. 

 Translator. 



