defects has been considered too invidious a one to be discharged willingly. In consequence of this the managers of that company may remain entirely ignorant of minor, but not unimportant, complaints made by passengers in their steam-boats. One of these is not applicable to the Cunarders alone, yet that is no excuse for the arrangements of these steamers being open to the strictures which I am about to make. When the passage-money is paid, the steward's fee is professedly included in the amount. This plan commends itself to most persons, as it saves trouble and obviates annoyance should the contract be rigidly carried out on both sides. In reality, however, the payment is a sham, or an imposition. If no steward's fee were included in the passage-money, a saving would be effected to the extent of at least one sovereign. The cabin steward, the saloon steward, and a personage calling himself boots, all make it clear that they expect fees. Payments made under these circumstances are simply black mail levied in modern guise. It is reasonable that if extra trouble be given, an extra payment should be made; but in no case should money be handed directly to the servants. The purser is the proper person through whose hands permissible gratuities should pass, or a box might be provided to contain the sums which

might be contributed voluntarily, the total being divided pro rata among all those entitled to share in the distribution. There are other matters which the company would do well to consider with a view to rendering their steamers as comfortable as they are safe. What these are I shall not specify; if the company desire to learn further particulars, let them send an agent during one voyage, and report what the passengers say openly and without reticence. It would be wise not to treat these things with contempt, for competitors are pressing close on the heels of the Cunard Company. In many points of detail the steamers of the German lines are arranged with far more consideration for the convenience and comfort of passengers, than are the finest among the Cunarders.

On arriving at Euston-square after a journey which, if not unbroken, was yet very rapidly made from San Francisco to London, the mind naturally dwells on the railway which has rendered such a journey possible. Regarded as a whole the Pacific Railway is a great triumph of engineering skill and patriotic enterprise. It will contribute as much to consolidate and perpetuate the Union as the most splendid and thorough of Grant's victories, either as soldier or statesman.

Even more satisfactory than the fact that the

Pacific Railway has virtually opened out a new country, as well as provided a new route to the East, is the stimulus it has given to continue and extend the work of which its originators were the daring and devoted pioneers. A second line through Kansas will soon be completed, thus opening up the country to the south of the present one. A third line is in contemplation which will open up the country to the north of it, bringing traffic from Lake Superior to the mouth of the Columbia River. In this rivalry the Canadians are about to take part. A line has been projected which will bring

Halifax as near to Victoria as New York is to San Francisco. This line will traverse the Dominion of Canada from ocean to ocean and render millions of acres of the richest land in the known world accessible to the emigrant and adapted for the settler. As a route to the East, the Canadian Pacific Railway will shorten the distance between Liverpool and Hong Kong by 700 miles, compared with any other railway traversing the Continent of America. Thus, the three greatest enterprises of recent years -the Atlantic Cable, the Pacific Railway, the Suez Canal-are of inestimable value as examples as well as achievements. The success in each case has led to the prosecution of undertakings which would otherwise have long continued to be mere

projects, exciting the derision of the foolish and the doubts of the prudent. It is a good omen for the future of humanity that England, France, and America, should have become vigorous rivals in works far more worthy to be praised than the competition which aims at covering the sea with ironclad men-of-war, and the land with soldiers armed to the teeth, works of which the good is never interred with the bones of those who have aided in their achievement, but survives and operates to make the race of man happier by rendering the globe more habitable.

BB

XXVI.

IMPRESSIONS AND OPINIONS OF AMERICA.

How did

WHAT do you think of America? you like the Americans?' These two questions were frequently put to me, after returning home from the United States. Possibly, the readers of the foregoing pages may not object if the substance of the replies which I made, is appended to this volume by way of conclusion. The answers which I shall furnish must necessarily be short and superficial. All that I profess to do is to note one or two salient points and comment on some unmistakeable peculiarities. To do more would fill a volume. Adequately to do as much, within the narrow compass of a few pages, is a task of no small difficulty.

Great interest has always been felt throughout the United Kingdom about the condition and destiny of the vigorous off-shoot which has rapidly waxed great on the American continent. In order to gratify this natural and praiseworthy curiosity many English travellers have paid visits to the United States and placed on record their experiences and their prognostications. Unfortunately the