CHAP. XXIV. AND OF MATERIAL WEALTH.

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extend the power of human labour, had receivedgreat improvement. A new natural power, whichhad not before been used, was practically adaptedto perform that work which required the severelabour both of man and of animals. The applica-tion of steam to abridge labour, which had begunabout the middle of the period, forms of itself anera in the history of the wealth of this country.It is not necessary to notice the vast increase ofour shipping within the period, though it is bothan aid to wealth and a proof of its growth, for itmay be comprehended, with wheel carriages, underthe class of the facilities of distribution.

A variety of causes may have contributed tothis increase of material wealth in England, someof them peculiar. It may be in part owing to thewars in which we have engaged, not having beencarried on upon our own territory; to our freedomfrom internal commotions; to the security withwhich property of all kinds is protected; to thesure if not the speedy operation of the laws; tothe lightness of our taxation, which being drawnfrom property expended in consumption, is less onthe mass of wealth from which it is extracted,though it is greater when calculated by the num-ber of individuals that pay it, than is levied in anyof the other countries of the civilized world.

As far as regards England, it is not necessaryto prove the vast accession of material wealthwithin the period under consideration. In the