30 



0l9. In 1700 Liverpool had a population of 5,145; 

 in 1831 it was 165,175. In 1780 the citv of Glasgow 

 contained a population of 42,832; in 1831 it amount- 

 ed to 203,000. In England tlie cotton manufacture 

 furnishes subsistence to 1,400,000 persons. In the Uni- 

 ted States, directly and indirectly, to 800,000 persons. 

 As a most prominent instance of the improvement of 

 the age, resulting from the influence of steam, let me 

 refer you to one other instance. 



The town of Birkenhead (England) lies on the shore 

 opposite to Liverpool, occupying the site of the an- 

 cient village of the same name, Woodside, Tramere 

 and Monk's Ferry. A century ago Birkenhead did not 

 contain three houses ; in 1801 the number was sixteen; 

 the next ten years added one more, and the ten that 

 followed three, making the whole number of houses in 

 1821, twenty. Now there are 2300 houses. The 

 works now in progress include a series of docks, tidal 

 harbor, harbor of refuge, with beaching ground for 

 small craft, a vast floating pool of 130 acres opening 

 out of the tidal harbor, presenting a fine and water 

 level of 800 yards applicable to the purposes of wharfs, 

 yards, landing places, graving docks, warehouses and 

 other incidents of a great mercantile harbor — a noble 

 market and town hall, a railway tunnel, &c. Eight 

 railways are to have their centre in Birkenhead, uni- 

 ting with all parts of the kingdom; and the dock ac- 

 commodation, as laid dftwn in the plans now in pro- 

 gress of execution, exceeds in extent that of the first 

 commercial port of the world. "Enormous streets," it 

 is said, "have been projected, and duly sewered, pre- 

 pared for water, and all the ^xuries that modern re- 

 finement could conceive, More a single house was 



