ON THE TRANSIT OF GREAT BRITAIN AND THE METROPOLIS.
As the entire transit system of Great Britain, with all its railroads, turnpike-roads, canals, and navigable rivers, converges on London, I propose to make it the subject of the present section, by way of introduction to my inquiry into the condition of the metropolitan labourers connected therewith.
“There is a very great amount of labour employed,” says Mr. Stewart Mill, “not only in bringing a product into existence, but in rendering it, when in existence, accessible to those for whose use it is intended. Many important classes of labourers find their sole employment in some functions of this kind. There is the whole class of carriers by land and water—waggoners, bargemen, sailors, wharfmen, porters, railway officials, and the like. Good roads,” continues the same eminent authority, “are equivalent to good tools, and railways and canals are virtually a diminution of the cost of production of all things sent to market by them.”
In order to give the public as comprehensive an idea of this subject as possible, and to show its vastness and importance to the community, I shall, before entering upon the details of that part of it which more immediately concerns me; viz. the transit from and to the different parts of the metropolis, and the condition and earnings of the people connected therewith—I shall, I say, furnish an account of the extent of the external and internal transit of this country generally. Of the provisions for the internal transit I shall speak in due course—first speaking of the grand medium for carrying on the traffic of Great Britain with the world, and showing how, within the capital of an island which is a mere speck on the map of the earth, is centered and originated, planned and executed, so vast a portion of the trade of all nations. I shall confine my observations to the latest returns and the latest results.
The Mercantile Marine.
The number of vessels belonging to the United Kingdom was, in 1848, nearly 25,000, having an aggregate burden of upwards of 3000 tons, and being manned by 180,000 hands. To give the reader, however, a more vivid idea of the magnitude of the “mercantile marine” of this kingdom, it may be safely asserted, that in order to accommodate the whole of our merchant vessels, a dock of 15,000 square acres would be necessary; or, in other words, there would be required to float them an extent of water sufficient to cover four times the area of the city of London, while the whole population of Birmingham would be needed to man them. But, besides the 20,000 and odd British, with their 180,000 men, that are thus engaged in conveying the treasures of other lands to our own, there are upwards of 13,000 foreign vessels, manned by 100,000 hands, that annually visit the shores of this country.
Of the steam-vessels belonging to the United Kingdom in 1848, there were 1100. Their aggregate length was 125,283 feet; their aggregate breadth, 19,748 feet; their aggregate tonnage, 255,371; and their aggregate of horse-power, 92,862. It may be added, that they are collectively of such dimensions, that by placing them stem to stern, one after the other, they would reach to a distance of 23½ miles, or form one continuous line from Dover to Calais; while, by placing them abreast, or alongside each other, they would occupy a space of 3½ miles wide.
According to the calculations of Mr. G. F. Young, the eminent shipbuilder, the entire value of the vessels belonging to the mercantile marine of the British empire is upward of 38,000,000l. sterling. The annual cost of the provisions and wages of the seamen employed in navigating them, 9,500,000l. The sum annually expended in the building and outfitting of new ships, as well as the repairing of the old ones, is 10,500,000l., while the amount annually received for freight is 28,500l.
The value of the merchandise thus imported or exported has still to be set forth. By this we learn not only the vast extent of the international trade of Great Britain, but the immense amount of property entrusted annually to the merchant-seaman. It would, perhaps, hardly be credited, that the value of the articles which our mercantile marine is engaged in transporting to and from the shores of this kingdom, amounts to upwards of one hundred million pounds sterling.
Such, then, is the extent of the external transit of this country. There is scarcely a corner of the earth that is not visited by our vessels, and the special gifts and benefits conferred upon the most distant countries thus diffused and shared among even the humblest members of our own. To show the connexion of the metropolis with this vast amount of trade, involving so many industrial interests, I shall conclude with stating, that the returns prove that one-fourth of the entire maritime commerce of this country is carried on at the port of London.