V] RIVER TRANSPORT AND STEAM 109 western standards. There were at that date from 600 to 700

EngUsh

_{miles of}

good

road inthe twoPrussias, but onlyabout 200

m

thegreatprovince of

Posen—

not nearly enoughtoallow foroneroad throughthe province northand southand another east

and

west. Napoleon's"fifthelement," thePolish

mud,

was asyetunconquered.

The

Prussiangovernment,wiselynodoubi,

had

been spending its strength

on

road developments in the centre

and

west,

which

_{formed an}integral part ofits ZoUverein, policy. Prussia and Poland mightwait,

making what

use they"

could of their great navigable rivers and

some

considerable

artificial waterways.

They

waited till about _1845,

when

the'"

great age of Prussian road-building began (seepost, § 86).

As

an indication of the remarkable difference between the roadhistory of Prussia andthatofEngland, with itsprivately- built turnpikes, it

may

be noted that the first road ever

made on

Prussian territory by a private

company

was buih

i^

1843.

§27. River transport

was

not dealt with so successfully

by

^{^} governments,in any country,as transport

by

road and canal.

For

this political causes were in great part responsible, since

most European

streams flowthrough

more

than one state. But even France,

many

of

whose

rivers lie entirelywithin her

own

territory,

was

accused

by

French critics of neglectingthem.

Michel Chevalier complained in 1838 thather excellent canals then

made,

or making, lost

much

of their value because they linked

up

rivers imperfectly navigable.

The

swift

Rhone

pre- sented special obstacles; but he saw no reason

why

the Seine shouldremainjust asit

was when

firstJuliusCaesarsaWit.

He

assertedthatthis

was

so.

Improvements on

the Rhine were not easily made, seeing that the great powers took sixteen years (1816-31) to regulate its international status. Other rivers in

Germany

were only slowly being freed

from

an antiquatedfiscalsystem,asharmful to trade as any rocks or shallows. In 1800 a cargo paid toll

fourteen times

on

theElbe between

Hamburg

and

Magdeburg, and

thirty-threetimes

on

the

Main

between

Bamberg

and Mainz.

The

abolition of

many

petty states in 1803 improved matters;

but only the ZoUverein got rid ofriver tolls

—

_^withinits range. V

no RIVER TRANSPORT AND STEAM

^[cH.

The

Elbe, coming from

Bohemia

and crossing ZoUverein

territory into the north-west

German

states, still cut at least

two tariff frontiers.

The

political position of the Rhine, as settled in 1831, remained so difficult that the

improvement

of its course above

Mannheim

was neglected right through the nineteenth century, evenafter the events of 1871

had

brought bpth banks underthe control of asingle state.

The

one effective stimulus to river navigation before 1850

owed

nothingto the state. Itwas the steamboat,

whose

arrival revolutionised river traffic before it had really

begun

to affect overseas trade.

On

a river any ^little steamer can

make

its

way up

streaminanyweather,taking in fuel asneeded. Bunkering was the great difficulty for the early ocean steamers with their extravagantengines. In consequence,evenⁱⁿtheUnited King-

dom

in 1850, out of atotal overseas tonnage of 3,565,000^tons only 168,000 tons were steam driven.

Long

before that date all largeEuropean rivers had their steamservices.

No

^sooner

had steam been tried

on

the Calais packets (1821) than itwas taken

up

everywhere for short sea and river journeys. Before 1825 therewere servicesacross the Beltand across the Sound;

from Stockholmto Petersburg^;on the Rhine^; and even onthe Swiss lakes. Belgium began to buildand runriver steamersas

soonasshe

came

intopoliticalexistence.

The

Societe anversoise desbateauxavapeur, for instance,

was

foundedin 1835. Fifteen yearslaterBelgiumhad onlythree steamers for overseas trade.

France was at first rather slow.

Her

statisticianslamentedher backwardnessinthe twenties. Butafter 1830 she

moved

faster.

By

1842 she

owned

229 steamersand

by

_1852,364.

They

were small and,evenin 1852,stillmainlyused ontherivers^.

Those

thatwenttoseawerealmostallcoastersandcross-channelboats.

Official attempts to create long distance steam services about this time were unprofitable.

Government endowed

a postal packetservicefromMarseilles for ItalyandtheLevantin 1835.

The

Scamander began the service in 1837. But between that yearand1849 expenseswereconsiderably

more

than,£2,000,000, and receipts considerably less than £1,000,000.

And

when, in

^The sea-going steamers are given by Porter, Progress ofthe Nation, 1851ed. as 119. Thelargestwasof600tonsand 450h.p.

V]

RIVER TRANSPORT AND STEAM

iii 1840, the

government

of

M^hiers>ad made

generous offers of subsidiestothose

who would

starttransatlantic services, the

first claimant did not appear until 1847, and he gave

up

his project afew years later.

About

1850, Prussia, Mecklenburg, the

Hanse

towns and Hanover, that is to say all the important sea-board states of

Germany,

_{had 24} sea-going steamers between them, with an aggregatetonnageofunder _5500.

Norway

and

Denmark

united

had more

steamers thanallthe

German

statestogether,though the average size

was

less. Sweden,

odd

as it

may seem

atfirst sight,

was

at that time the largest steamship owning country

•onthecontinent.

She had

61 vesselswithanaggregatetonnage of 15,200.

The

reason

was

thatherBaltictrade was

more

akin to that river traffic,

which

engaged

by

far the greater

number

of

European

steamboats, than tothe longdistancetraffic ofthe greater seas and oceans.

Even

Sweden's 15,200 tons ^is a tiny figure

when compared

withtheUnited

Kingdom's

168,000^;and

ithas alreadybeen noted

how

^tinya part that

was

of thewhole British mercantile marine.

Inshort, riversteamerswerehelping to

move

goods inbulk>

thoughatfirstthey

had

devoted themselvesmainlytopassengers.

What may

be called cross-channel steamerswere doing a trade of steadily increasing importance, very largely invaluable and perishable goods.

"The

ships employed in the butter an^

cheese trade," said a

somewhat

naive witness before a British

Committee

in 1847^, "are of a peculiar description; they are steamers, or vessels propelled

by

^{steam...capable of}

making

rapid

and

safevoyages,

which

seemstobeessentialtothe carrying

on

of the butter and cheese trade."

However

^successful this

"_peculiardescriptionofvessel"

may

havebeenintheEuropean short voyage trades,

on

the high seas the

movement

even of

men,

^mails,and choice cargoeswas notas yet a general success.

In

French

or

German

hands itwas nosort ofsuccess.

The

rate of growth in the use ofsteam is therefore no test of thegrowthof the sea-borne

commerce

ofthe westernEuro- pean nations. After the long years of ^British blockade, thai

growth was

^{inevitablyrapidatfirst,anditwaswell}maintained.

1 SelectCommittee onthe NavigationLaws, Evidence Q. 2313^sqq.

112

OVERSEAS TRADE

^[cH.

In 1820 the aggregate tonnage entering French ports

was

690,000.

A

short table will best indicate^later developments.

Tonnage enteringFrenchports.

1820 690,000 183s 1,200,000 1825 740,000 1840 2,500,000 1830 1,000,000 184s 2,300,000

At

notimewashalfthistonnageFrench^;andwith thegrowth oftheimporttrade, the proportion,andnotmerelythe absolute amount,of foreign tormagegrewalso. In _1820, 51 per^cent, of the enteringtonnagewas foreign; in 1830,66 per cent., andin 1840,73 per^cent. After1840, theproportion declinedsomewhat, spveraging about 66 per cent., except in 1848

when

political

events scared

away

trade and foreign shipping.

Britain and America were the great ocean carriers of those years,Americagaining

on

Britainafter 1840.

The

situation in that year and in 1850 ^is summarised in the following table.

For earlieryears satisfactorycomparisons carmotbe made.

Mercantile tonnageof^allkindsonnationalregister

V]

ARTICLES OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

113