1865.J Pengelly on the Causes of Britain s Greatness. 27 



ON THE CAUSES OF BEITAIN'S GEEATNESS. 



A Review of the Relations of her Geology and Geography to her History. 



By W. Pengelly, F.K.S., F.G.S. 



A foemal attempt to prove that Britain is pre-eminent amongst the 

 nations, whether ancient or modern, for manufactures and commerce, 

 would be a work of supererogation. The proposition is firmly believed 

 by ourselves, and admitted by our neighbours. 



It may not be uninteresting, however, to throw into a readable form 

 a few of the huge numbers employed by the statistician to show the 

 greatness of our commercial transactions. A glance at our import and 

 export tables reveals not only the magnitude of our undertakings, but 

 also our national character and position. Our imports are mainly 

 food and raw materials ; our exports chiefly manufactured goods. We 

 see a teeming, industrious artisan population occupying a country 

 which does not grow food sufficient for them. 



In 1860 we exported cotton goods to the value of over fifty-two 

 millions sterling ; the cotton cloth alone amounted to more than two 

 thousand seven hundred and seventy -five millions of yards, that is to 

 say, to more than one million and a half of miles, or more than suf- 

 ficient to reach from the earth to the moon six times and a half. Had 

 the price of this cloth been increased by one farthing per yard only, 

 the sum thereby produced would be upwards of two millions eight 

 hundred and ninety thousand pounds sterling, or one hundred poimds 

 per annum for nearly thirty thousand families. Invested at three per 

 cent., it would produce an annual dividend of nearly eighty-seven 

 thousand pounds, or sufficient to give constant employment to two 

 thousand two hundred and thirty labourers at half-a-crown per day 

 each. The fact that, in consequence of the unhappy American war, 

 our exports of cotton cloth sank in 1862 by upwards of one thousand 

 million yards, shows how dependent we are on foreign countries ; and 

 our continued national prosperity, notwithstanding the cotton famine, 

 shows also the greatness of our other manufacturing industries. 



Omitting upwards of three hundred and sixty thousand tons of 

 flour and meal, we imported in 1862 sixteen millions of quarters of 

 corn, or sufficient to build a wall thirteen inches thick, twenty feet 

 high, and one thousand four hundred and sixty miles long, that is, the 

 perimeter of the triangle of which the Land's End, the North Fore- 

 land, and Dunnet Head are the angular points ; in other words, to 

 build a wall entirely around Great Britain. In the same year we re- 

 ceived from foreign lands upwards of four hundred and fifteen thou- 

 sand live animals, or one thousand one hundred and thirty-eight every 

 day throughout the year ; besides more than two hundred thousand 

 tons of animal food, as bacon, &c. 



The machinery used in our carrying trade is, of course, on a scale 

 commensurate with the trade itself. In 1862 we employed in our 

 foreign and coasting trade four hundred and twenty-four thousand 

 ships, having an aggregate tonnage of sixty-one millions six hundred 



