The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-05 00:00:00

prepared 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 affect a con-
siderable 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 com-
merce, when a new and even more gigantic power of loco-
motion was inaugurated. Less than a quarter of a century
had elapsed since the first steamboats 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 loco-
motive and its attendant train. I well remember the com-
petition at Rainhill in 1830, and the incredulity everywhere
evinced at the proposal to run locomotives at 20 miles an
hour. Neither George Stephenson himself, nor anyone
else, had at that time the most distant idea of the capabili-
ties of the railway system. On the contrary, it was gene-
rally considered impossible to exceed 10 or 12 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 effect-
ing all the wonders we now witness in a system that has
done more for the development of practical science and the
civilisation 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 commodi-
ties, I pass on to examine the progress which has been made
in their production. And as the steam-engine has been the
basis of all our modern manufacturing industry, I shall
glance at the steps by which it has been perfected. Pass-
ing over the somewhat mythical fame of the Marquis of
Worcester and the labours of Savery, Beighton, and New-
comen, we come at once to discuss the state of mechanical
art at the time when James Watt brought his gigantic
powers to the improvement of the steam-engine. At that
time the tools were of the rudest construction, nearly every-
thing being done by hand, and, in consequence, wood was
much more extensively employed than iron. Under these
circumstances Watt invented separate condensation, ren-
dered the engine double acting, and converted its rectili-
near motion into a circular one suitable for the purposes of
manufacture. But the discovery at first made little way,
the public did not understand it, and a series of years
elapsed before the difficulties, commercial and mechanical,
which opposed its application, could be overcome. When
the certainty of success had been demonstrated, Watt was
harassed by infringements of his patent, and lawsuits for
the maintenance of his rights. Inventors, and pretended
inventors, set up claims, and entered into combination with
manufacturers, miners, and others, to destroy the patent
and deprive him of the just fruits of his labour and genius.
Such is the selfish heartlessness of mankind in dealing with
discoveries not their own, but from which they expect to
derive benefit. The steam-engine, since it was introduced
by Watt, has changed our habits in almost every condition
of life. Things which were luxuries have become necessa-
ries, and it has given to the poor man in all countries in
which it exists a degree of comfort and independence and a
participation in intellectual culture unknown before its in-
troduction. It has increased our manufactures tenfold, and
has lessened the barriers which time and space interpose.
It ploughs the land and winnows and grinds the corn. It
spins and weaves our textile fabrics. In mining itpumps,
winds, and crushes the ore. It performs these things with
powers so great and so energetic as to astonish us at their
immensity, while they are at the same time perfectly docile,
and completely under human control. In war it furnishes
the means of aggression, as in peace it affords the
bonds of conciliation, and, in fact, places within reach
a power which, properly applied, produces harmony and
goodwill among men, and leads to the happiest results in
every condition of human existence. We may, therefore,
well be proud of the honour conferred on this country as the
cradle of its origin, and as having fostered its development
from its earliest applications to its present high state of per-
fection. I cannot conclude this notice of the steam engine
without observing the changes it is destined to effect in the
cultivation of the soil. It is but a short time since it was
thought inapplicable to agricultural purposes from its great
weight and expense. But more recent experience has
proved this to be a mistake, and already in most districts we
find that it has been pressed into the service of the farm.
The small locomotive, mounted on a frame with four wheels,
travels from village to village with its attendant, the thrash-
ing machine, performing the operations of thrashing, win-
nowing, and cleaning at less than one-half the cost by the
old and tedious process of hand-labour. Its application to
ploughing and tillage on a las ge scale is, in my opinion,
still in its infancy, and I doubt not 'hat many members of
this association will live to see the steam ; plough in opera-
tion over the whole length and breadth of the land. Much
has to be done before this important:change can be success-
fully accomplished ; but, with the aid of the agriculturist
preparing the land so as to meet the requirements of steam
machinery, we may reasonably look forward to a new era in
the cultivation of the soil. The extraordinary developments
of practical science in our system of textile manufacture
are, however, not entirelydue to the steam engine, although
they are now in a great measure dependent on it. The
machinery of these manufactures had its origin before the
steam engine had been applied, except for mining purposes;
and the inventions of Arkwright, Hargreaves, and
Crompton were not conceived under the impression that
steam would be their moving power. On the contrary,
they depended upon water; and the cotton machinery
of this district had attained considerable perfection
before steam came to the aid of the manufacturer,
and ultimately enabled him to increase the production
to its present enormous extent. I shall not attempt a de-
scription of the machinery of the textile manufactures, be-
cause ocular inspection will be far more acceptable. I can
only refer you to a list of establishments in which you may
examine their operations on a large scale, and which I
earnestly recommend to your attention. I may, however
advert to a few of the improvements which have marked
the progress of the manufacturing system in this country.
When Arkwright patented his water-frames in 1767 the
annual consumption of cotton was about 4,ooo,ooolb.weight.
Now it is 1,200,000,0001 b. weight-300 times as much.
Within half a century the number of spindles at work, spin-
ning cotton alone, has increased tenfold ; while by superior
mechanism each spindle produces 60 per cent. more yarn
than on the old system. Hence the importance to which the
cotton trade has risen, equalling at the present time the
lwi
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per diem. I give these particulars to show the immense
power of production of this country, and to afford some con-
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intro-
duced by Crompton in 1787, with about 20 spindles to each
machine. The powers of the machine were, however,
rapidly increased ; and now it has been so perfected that
2,000 or even 3,000 spindles are directed by a single person.
At first the winding on, or forming the shape of the cop,
was performed by hand ; but this has been superseded by
rendering the machine automatic, so that it now performs
the whole operation of drawing, stretching, and twisting the
thread, and winding it on to the exact form, ready for the
reel or shuttle as may be required. These and other im-
provements in carding, roving, combing, spinning, and
weaving, have established in this country an entirely new
system of industry; it has given employment to greatly
increased numbers, and a more intelligent class of work
people. Similarly important improvements have been ap-
plied to the machinery employed in the manufactm e of silk,
flax, and wool ; and we have only to watch the processes in
these different departments to be convinced that they owe
much to the development of the cotton manufacture. In the
manufacture or worsted, the spinning jenny was not em-
ployed at Bradford until 1790, nor the power loom until
about 1825. The production of fancy or mixed goods from
alpaca and mohair wool, introduced to this country in 1836,
is, perhaps, the most striking example of a new creation in
the art of manufacture, and is chiefly due to Mr. Titus Salt,
in whose immense palace of industry, at Saltaire, it may be
seen in the greatest perfection. In flax machinery, the late
Sir Peter Fairbairn was one of the most successful inven-
tors, and his improvements have contributed to the rapid
extension of this manufacture. I might greatly extend this
description of our manufacturing industry, but I must for
the present be brief, in order to point out the dependence of
all h
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de
among
the
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are highly favoured in the abundance of these minerals, de-
posited with an unsparing hand by the great Author of
Nature, under so slight a covering as to bring them within
reach of the miner's art. To them we owe our present high
state of perfection in the useful arts ; and to their extended
application we may safely attribute our national progress
and wealth. So that, looking to the many blessings which
we daily and hourly receive from these sources alone, we
are impressed with devotional feelings of gratitude to the
Almighty for the manifold bounties He has bestowed on us.
Previous to the inventions of Henry Cort, the manufacture
of wrought iron was of the most crude and primitive descrip-
tion. A hearth and a pair of bellows was all that was em-
ployed. But since the introduction of puddling, the iron-
masters have increased the production to an extraordinary
extent, down to the present time, when processes for the
direct conversion of wrought iron on a large scale are being
attempted. A consecutive series of chemical researches into
the different processes, from the calcining of the ore to the
production of the bar, carried on by Dr. Percy and.others,
has led to a revolution in the manufacture of iron ; and
although it is at the present moment in a state of transi-
tion, it nevertheless requires no very great discernment to
perceive that steel and iron of any required tenacity will be
made in the same furnace with a facility and certainty never
before attained. This has been effected to some extent by
improvements in puddling ; but the process of Mr. Besse-
mer—first made known at the meetings of this association
at Cheltenham—affords the highest promise of certainty
and perfection in the operation of converting the melted pig
direct into steel or iron, and is likely to lead to themost im-
portant developments in this manufacture. These improve-
ments in the production of a material must ie La, n,
stimulate its seplisstion of. 4 larger scale and lead to new
constructions. In iron shipbuilding an immense field is
*Telling before us. Our wooden walls have to all appear-
ances seen their last days; and as one of the early pioneers
in iron construction, as applied to shipbuilding, I am highly
gratified to witness a change of opinion that augurs well for