THE CHANGED CONDITIONS 63 



taking sometimes half a year to get from port 

 to port. Is it very wonderful that in such a 

 world, at such a time, Great Britain became 

 enamoured of her foreign trade, that she poured 

 forth goods in such quantities, of all the kinds 

 then wanted in the world, that, after flooding 

 her own markets, she had a profusion available 

 to send abroad, in exchange for her raw 

 materials ? But now all is changed. 



In place of a few seaboard colonies there is 

 now, across the North Atlantic, a mighty nation 

 of ninety millions of people, and there is a 

 great Dominion fast becoming, if not already, a 

 nation. In South America, where there was so 

 lately nothing, there are populous, busy republics, 

 served by thousands of miles of railways, carry- 

 ing the enormous produce of an almost unlimited 

 area. Australia and New Zealand have now 

 large populations of busy workers ; Japan has 

 become a great trading country ; Europe itself 

 is now a prodigious swarm of producers, from 

 north to south, from east to west. The sea is 

 common property. A voyage that once required 

 six months is accomplished now in a month ; the 

 passage across the wild Atlantic, that was once 

 a question of fearful weeks, is now a simple 

 matter of days. Where once only one flag 

 ventured are now the flags of all nations ; you 

 may coast along many a foreign shore, and 

 perhaps the only British flag you may see, 

 where there are many flags, is the flag at the 

 stern of your ship. 



Let us glance at the tables giving the tonnage 



