ADDRESS. lix 



future, it is difficult to estimate sufficiently the benefits that have been con- 

 ferred by this application of mechanical science to the purposes of navigation. 

 Power, speed, and certainty of action have been attained on the most 

 gigantic scale. The celerity with which a modern steamer, with a thousand 

 tons of merchandise and some hundreds of human beings on board, cleaves 

 the water and pursues her course, far surpasses the most sanguine expecta- 

 tions of a quarter of a century ago, and indeed almost rivals the speed of the 

 locomotive itself. Previous to 1812 our intercourse with foreign countries 

 and with our colonial possessions depended entirely upon the state of the 

 weather. It was only in favourable seasons that a passage was open, and 

 we had often to wait days, or even a week, before Dublin could be reached 

 from Holyhead. Now this distance of sixty-three miles is accomplished in 

 all weathers in little more than three hours. The passage to America used 

 to occupy six weeks or two months ; now it is accomplished in eight or nine 

 days. The passage round the Cape to India is reduced from nearly half a 

 year to less than a third of that time, whilst that country may be reached by 

 the overland route in less than a month. These are a few of the benefits 

 derived from steam-navigation ; and as it is yet far from perfect, we may 

 reasonably calculate on still greater advantages in our intercourse with distant 

 nations. 



I will not here enter upon the subject of the numerous improvements 

 which have so rapidly advanced the progress of this important service. 

 Suffice it to observe that the paddle-wheel system of propulsion has main- 

 tained its superiority over every other method yet adopted for the attainment 

 of speed, as by it the best results are obtained with the least expenditure of 

 power. In ships of war the screw is indispensable, on account of the security 

 it affords to the engines and machinery, from their position in the hold below 

 the water-line, and because of the facility it offers in the use of sails, when 

 the screw is raised from its position in the well to a recess in the stern pre- 

 pared for that purpose. It is also preferable in ships which require auxiliary 

 power in calms and adverse winds, so as to expedite the voyage and effect a 

 considerable saving upon the freight. 



The public mind had scarcely recovered itself from the changes which 

 steam-navigation had caused, and the impulse it had given to commerce, 

 when a new and even more gigantic power of locomotion was inaugurated. 

 Less than a quarter of a century had elapsed since the first steam-boats 

 floated on the waters of the Hudson and the Clyde, when the achievements 

 thence resulting were followed by the application of the same agency to the 

 almost superhuman flight of the locomotive and its attendant train. I well 

 remember the competition at Ilairihill in 1830, and the incredulity every- 

 where evinced at the proposal to run locomotives at twenty miles an hour. 

 Neither George Stephenson himself, nor any one else, had at that time the 

 most distant idea of the capabilities of the railway system. On the contrary, 

 it was generally considered impossible to exceed ten or twelve miles an hour; 

 and our present high velocities, due to high-pressure steam and the tubular 

 system of boilers, have surpassed the most sanguine expectations of 

 engineers. The sagacity of George Stephenson at once seized upon the 

 suggestion of Henry Booth, to employ tubular boilers; and that, united to 

 the blast-pipe, previously known, has been the means of effecting all the 

 wonders we now witness in a system that has done more for the develop- 

 ment of practical science and the civilization of man than any discovery 

 since the days of Adam. 



From a consideration of the changes which have been effected in the 

 means for the interchange of commodities, I pass on to examine the progress 



