The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1842-04-20
British Power.-st.am Power.

British Power--St.am Power.
The towering height to which The British empire
has attained among the nations oil the ear'h' anu
her present remarkable position throughout the
world, has made il a matter OF speculatlon, and pro-
found deliberatioD, among statesmen ana others,
whether she has or hai not reached her maximum
Observation-Disclosures she has attained the turning
point in her career, and will now rapidly decline
whether she will 90 on conquering and to conquer
or what will be the ultimate result Of her present
extensive and complicated war movements in nearly
every part OF the habitable globe.
II we were to apply the same principles to this
great nation in estimating her true position and her
future career, that we have been in the habit of ap.
plying TO the history of the great nations of a%ntiqul-
ty, we should undoubtedly say that she had reached
her topmost height, and would hencetorih decline,
But, instead OF doing this, we must remember that a
new and a most powerful elemen,-steam potcer-
has but as yesterday come into play, and is perform
ing a most important part in the drama of that ma
tons history. This element has already produced
a change in the history Of the great events of Europe,
Asia, and this country, aud even Africa, The end o.
which no man see,h. 1t has produced a species o
revolution in the civilization of the world, and in
VOWED results greater in their magnitude than any
other thing since the creation Of the globe.
Esgland, with her inexh lustible mines OF iron and
of coal, is a great laboratory, from whence issue the
materials that bind all her energies, dependencies,
population, posse ssions, and interests of every kind
together, in all parts OF the world where her
subjects can be found, and on whom the sun ne.
yer sets. Look at her already immense number of
powerful steamships that swarm in the waters of the
Mediterranean, and enter every port upon its beauli-
full shores; that are found careeiing in every sea of
Eur0ne from The Eroyen Ocean IN the Raw rs Re-.
cay and the Black Sea that have long since driven
every other mode Of transit out OF the Euphrates
and the Red Sea; that penetrate the Indus almost
20 lis source that ascend the Canton river, in spite
OF every obstacle besides myriads of war junks. and
batter down the walls Of that ancient celestial city (;
that are already |entering the Yellow Sea, and an.
preaching Pekin that are surrounding every island
and entering every harbor in the West Indies that
warm along the shores of North America, from
he Gulf OF 81. Lawrence to the Isthmus of Darien;
and that regularly transmit the rich produce of the
mines of South America from all its principal ports,
on the east and west side, to the great commercial
metropolis of tn world, crowded, busy London
Look at all this, md see what an element she has
70 sustain her in hero RI mach for empire.
ltis true that the e- ...t of a part of the
West India lines OF steamers, so far as they are
limited to a commercial enterprise, have been found
10 be a losing concern, and will have to be abandon
ed. The anne may be said also of the merely COM
mercial line of steamships between Boston and Ii.
verpool that has also turned out to be a losing con-
Germ, and must also be shortly given up. For it is
an indisputable fact in the history and policy of
commercial navigation, that ne enterprise OF the
kind can be ultimately and permanently successful,
unless il starts from some great central point in the
old world, and terminates in some equally great CEN
tral point in this country. Those two points are Lii
yerpool and New York and they are made SO by
their natural, commercial and financial positions ;
and TO be successful in a commercial point of view,
this Is the route which every successive enterprise
must take. Asa proof in point. we need only men.
ton the Great Western, which is the only steamship
that has ever made a profit, trading between the
two nations /; and her owners fiud that she must run
between Liverpool and New York to be permanent
ly prosperous.
In these respects, and in all o her respects, then, il
is very clear, that the application OF steam power to
the navigation of the ocean, and TO the great rivers
of the earth, is yet but in It's infancy. And the con-
sequences resulting from the introduction of this
power by the British nation in all their commercial
and military movements. are no more developed at
present than was the strength of Hercules de-
veloped, when with his infant limbs he strangled The
w - ~ aAS iooAN - 10 - bias wv i1Stht W.
feat of the British.troops in Affghanistan is.somewhat
menacing to the power of that nation but if they
have retired, they have done so like broken waves,
more awful to return. Nothing can prevent the
British from haviny possession of all the large navi-
gable rivers of India and the East from the Indus
10 the Ganges and ~Burrampooter. So in China as
they have entered the. Canton, so.will they enter and
take possession Of ell the large Davigable rivers in
that country. In short, the application of steam
power 10 the consolidation Of her immense empire
and energies every where beneath the sun, is only
commenced aud the results cannot even be calcu
lated upon with any reasonable data before the ter.
minstlon Of the present century.
We see the results of the employment of this ele.
ment as a means oil consolidation in our own coun-
try composed as it is of SO large an extent of terri.
tory, filled with isuch a mass of discordant mate.
rails, and so many conflicting interests. Steam
power binds The whole together in a compact mass ;
ana out for the application of this power, the union
of The tweniy.six states would not last twenty years
And so it is with the consolidation Of the energies of
the British Empire. The political union depends
upon the social union the lntermlngling frequently
aad al the most remote points oiithe social, political,
and comm ercial elements of the whole nation. Aud
nothing which can be brought to bear upon the
energies Of a nation, binds them so thoroughly 10.
gether as the application Of steam power, and its
elements, to every raHIication of the social and po.
litical system.
IMPORTANT ELECTION IN JUNE "A very impor-
tan' election takes place in.this city, uader the new
school law, Tor School Commissioners and Trus.
tees, on the hrs' Monday in June. We understand
that preparauonsar are making to give this contest a re.
lGious character entlrely-and that the great line of
division will be Protestant and Catholic. MANY of
the churches and clergymen are entering warmlv
into thus project. Through the beautiful female mem.
oeis OF the churches, they are teaching the Young
ideas how 70 shoot into a political direction.
II this election should be conducted ON rsEoion.