Regarding  mankind  as  one  great  family,  alike  interested  in  the
moral  government  and  providence  of  God,  and  in  that  social  pro-
gress which  constitutes  the  glory  of  humanity,  is  there  nothing  in
the  fact  that  the  southerH  States  of  the  Union  supply  England,  the
greatest  manufacturing  nation  in  the  world,  annually  with  sixty  mil-*
lion  dollars  worth  of  their  staple  production?  Is  there  in  this  no
guarantee  for  peace  and  for  the  consequent  social  progress  of  the
two  most  intelligent  nations -on  the  face  of  the  earth?  Great
Britain  excepted,  the  external  commerce  and  navigation  of  the
United  States,  exceed  that  of  any  other  nation.  It  is  not  that
ther^  is  any  thing  so  wonderful  in  this  if  it  were  not  that  it  has
been  the  growth  of  less  than  a  century.
Among  the  most  interesting  features  of  the  present  age,  steam
navigation  must  not  be  overlooked.  Several  lines  of  steam  com-
munication between  Europe  and  America  are  now  in  existence.
Magnificent  vessels  have  been  constructed,  chiefly  by  American
shipbuilders,  which  connect  the  two  continents  twice  every  week
by  a  voyage  occupying  only  nine  days.
It  is  neither  unfair  nor  unkind  to  say  that  the  mercantile  marine
of  America,  amounting  to  one-ninth  of  all  the  sea-going  ships  of
the  world,  excels  them  all  in  most  of  the  requisites  which  can
confer  distinction,  and  holds  out  models  which  cannot  but  be  gene-
rally adopted.
Honor  to  the  memory  of  George  Steers.  Conceived  when  he  was
a  mere  boy,  his  system  of  ship-building,  (now  well  illustrated  in
the  Niagara  and  Adriatic,  those  magnificent  ships  whose  splendid
proportions  have  excited  so  much  admiration,)  is  based  on  the
assumption,  that,  for  a  vessel  to  sail  easily,  steadily  and  rapidly,
the  displacement  of  water  must  be  nearly  uniform  along  her  line.
