ABSTRACT
“It is impossible to estimate with precision the progress of national riches, as they arise from the aggregate savings of all the individuals in the State; but it is not difficult by many obvious circumstances to discern in which of any two periods of time it has been most rapid. If there have been extraordinary sums expended upon works of public utility; if harbours, bridges, high roads, and inland navigation have been improved and multiplied; if numerous buildings have suddenly arisen; if cultivation has extended over wastes; if shipping has increased in a manner more remarkable at one period than the other—no one can hesitate in deciding in which the national capital, and consequently the public power and prosperity, has most rapidly augmented. It will hardly be denied that all these signs of eminent felicity exist in the nation beyond all former example.” 394
