Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-03-27

from the Scientific American.
az tne present moment the island OF Great
cfltain is the richest in the world peonIs
iLon almost every quarter of the hahitabIe
siooe resort TO London to raise the means
.; n;sTesssry 70 build railroads, construct ships.
nrn, TnH mlnes, and to carry out other engineering
projects where vast OUTLAWS of money arc re.
CURED. This is a strange Spectacle truiv. snd
low can We account for it? The island is in
signlncant In extent; the population is small in
COMPARISON with many other countries. and the
onmate Is well known to be capricious. Its in.
creased riches are not owing to the number of
us lnnaoitants, its extent of territory, the rich
the source of its great wealth lies beneatb its
surface, In the deep and dark coal mine, where
the Author of Creation has stored up the accu-
m9iated vegetation of bygone ages for the de-
VeioPment and use of this age Of steam. iron
and manufactures. The skies of italy and
flence fiaa are sunny and bright, and the purple
mont; while the skies of England are murky.
and the sunlight, even in fowery Deyonshire'
is TOO cold for the grape to yield its fruitaoe
Yet, with all these disadvantages on the mart
OF England, Italy is poorer and France less
wealthy; TOR with the products of her mines
tributaries. ''N1o ne'
From an article in the last numb.r of tho
Edlnburgh Review, on Prof Rogers ESSAYS on
the coal formations of North America and & reot
Britain, we obtain a more exalted view of the
power OF coal than we ever entertained before
we derive from coal our artificial liobt and
neat neat it Is the latent force which gives life to
the steam engine; and it is the concentrated
energy which propels our countless forms of
necnanlsm 1t Is subject of intense wonder
tnat perlShable vegetable formations which
hourlSned long before man appeared on the
Siooe, should have been covered up for centu
ries beneath the rocks and now rendered sub
Servlent TO the latest applications of human
@ nm,' tor increasing the productive powers of
man to an extent which almost battles the
mind to calculate. The mechanical power of
England represented by 10, 900, 900 tons of coal
devoted to steam engines is equal to the labor
OF oo,ooO,o0O of strong men per annum. Is it
any wonder that such a stupendous power
saouid have given England the mastery in
commerce and manufactured The possession
OF coal mines is momentous in its conseouencos.
ana the annual product Of England for all pur
poses Is no less than 6S, ,000, 900 tons
In the middle ages, France and Germanv
supplied England with all kinds of manufsc.
lures; but the tide of commerce is changed.
ana all owing to the natural possession of great
Goa, Q Sno mines, OF which there are no less than
5000 in the island. A commission of French
manufacturers who visited Manchester three
years ago, made report on their return, and
declared that although English operatives were
PAID higher wages, yet, owing to cheap fuel
and machinery, they could produce cotton goods
at about one-half the price Of the French. Such
is the power of coal.
We may take it for settled fact that the
country which possesses the greatest deposits
OF coal contains the greatest resources of me.
chanical and industrial power. Were the coal
fields OF England to cease being productive IN
loIo, the wealth and power of Great Britain,
which developed in her Steamship, and
countless manufactures, would be annihiIated.
and the kingdom would sink to a diminutiye
power In a few years. The coal fields of the
world are distributed as follows: - United
states, $4,000 square miles of area; British
North American provinces, $780, Great Brit.
ain, >, 400; France, 984 Prussia, $50; Belgium.
$40; Bohemia, 400; Spain, 200; Russia. loo
The extent of the Pacific and Asiatic coal fields
is unknown. From these geological coal sta.
tistlcs 1t is not difficult to predict what country
Is destined to be the future mistress of the
world In wealth and power. Owing to the vast
amount of coal raised in England annually,
many of the mines will be worked out in 800
years; and at the present rate they will all be
exhausted in about 900 years.
Long before that date, the "Court of ST.
James may be transferred to Nova Scotia or
New Brunswick, where the coal fields are rich
and extensive; but whether such a result ever
takes place or not, the future superlative great
ness OF the United States is lust as certain as
the sun shines. On the other hand, it is eouaIlv
evident that Russia never can become great
Power she may have the muscle but she never
can have the steam to become an industrial
giant. According to the operations Of natural
laws our wealth must increase with the deyeI-
opment of our coal power Of which we have a
natural treasury thirty -four times more exten.
sive than that of England. It is only a ques
tion of time, for the United States TO become
the great mistress of the world, and her coronal
will be wealth of black diamonds.