ON THE EXHAUSTION OE OUR COAL. 291 
and fairly — according to the amount of liis knowledge — with 
the question of the “ Limited quantity of coal in Britain ” 
“ I have no doubt that the generality of the inhabitants of 
Great Britain believe that our coal-mines are inexhaustible ; 
and the general conduct of the nation, so far as relates to this 
subject, seems to imply that this is held as an established fact. 
If it was not a generally received opinion, would the rage for 
exporting coals be allowed to go on without limitation or 
remorse?* But it is full time that the public were unde- 
ceived in a matter which so nearly concerns the welfare of this 
flourishing island 33 (p. 184). Again: “ When our coal-mines 
are exhausted, the prosperity and glory of this flourishing and 
fortunate island are at an end. Our cities and great towns 
must then become ruinous heaps for want of fuel, and our 
mines and manufactories must fail from the same cause, and 
then, consequently, our commerce must vanish. In short, the 
commerce, wealth, importance, glory, and happiness of Great 
Britain will decay and gradually dwindle away to nothing, in 
proportion as our coal and other mines fail ; and the future 
inhabitants of this island must live, like its first inhabitants, 
by fishing and hunting ” (p. 195). 
These words, written eighty years since, are curious and 
instructive, especially when placed in juxtaposition with 
remarks which are the birth of yesterday. In 1868 Sir 
William Armstrong addresses the British Association in these 
words : — “ The greatness of England much depends upon the 
superiority of her coal, in cheapness and quality, over that 
of other nations ; but we have already drawn from our choicest 
mines a far larger quantity of coal than has been raised in all 
other parts of the world put together ; and the time is not 
remote when we shall have to encounter the disadvantages of 
increased cost of working and diminished value of produce. 
* * * * The entire quantity of available coal existing in 
these islands has been calculated to amount to 80,000 millions 
of tons, which, at the present (1868f) rate of consumption, 
would be exhausted in 930 years ; but with a continued 
yearly increase of 2J millions of tons would only last 212 
years. - ” 
When Mr. John Williams wrote, the quantity of coal raised 
* In the edition of the “ Mineral Kingdom ” for 1810, the editor, 
Dr. James Millar, of Edinburgh, says — “This ground of complaint of 
the waste of coal is now removed. The French, during the revolutionary 
war, were led to examine their own resources, which were soon found so 
abundant as to be equal to the increasing demand of many new, extensive, 
and flourishing manufactures.” 
f 88,292,515 tons . — Mineral Statistics. 
