"Before the curing of a strong disease,   "Even in the instant of repair and health,   "The fit is strongest; evils that take leave,   "On their departure most of all show evil."                       —King John, Act III. In the present advanced and happy times it is instructive to take a retrospective glance at the days of our forefathers of the nineteenth century, and to meditate upon the political struggles and events of the past hundred years, that by so doing we may gain a clear insight i

  "For miracles are ceased;   "And therefore we must needs admit the means   "How things are perfected."                       —Henry V, Act I. It was well understood by the Romans in their palmy days that a great empire could not be held together without means of easy communication between distant provinces, and their fine hard roads ramifying from Rome to the remote corners of Gaul or Dacia, testify to their wisdom and enterprise in this respect. When Great Britain in the eighteenth century, f

  "But Heaven hath a hand in these events."                       —Richard II, Act V. The state of society in the nineteenth century would have but few attractions for us of the twentieth, were we able to return along the vista of a hundred years. Our manners and customs are so vastly different from those of our great-grandfathers that we should feel out of place indeed had we to go back, even for a short time, to their uncouth and imperfect ways. Their extraordinarily complex method of governin