ABSTRACT
For, while gold was pouring into England at the average rate for r. series of years of upwards of £25,000,000 a-year, and the total supply of gold in the world was increased by fully one-third in the course o£ nine year~, the Jemand for capital was also growing in every direction. I mproved methods of production, the pro·1 is ion of larger and more rapid steam-vessels for the transport of the mflSSes of raw material and commodities to and fro, the continuous construction of railways, not only in England and the United States, but all over the continent of Europe, gave English capitalists most profitable outlets for their accumulations; while every new district opened up, and every ft·esh market conque1·ed, tended to swell the volume of external trade. Home trade also re-
ceived a progressive impulse from the compietion and extension of the main lines of rail way, which was another feature of this time of amazing development. It is stated that in the five years from 1846 to 1850, not less than £150,000,000 were spent on English railways, and in an astonishingly short space of time the island wa.s covered with the new roads.
