Section 143 James Watt and the Steam-Engine. — II
It would be difficult to estimate the value of the benefits which these inventions have conferred upon this country. There is no branch of industry that has not been indebted1 to them; and2, in all the most material, they have not only widened most magnificently the field of its exertions, but3 multiplied a thousand-fold the amount of its productions. It was our improved steam-engine, in short4, that fought the battles of Europe and sustained and exalted, through5 the late tremendous contest, the political greatness of our land. It is the same great power which now enables us to pay the interest of our debt, and to maintain6 the arduous struggle in which we are still engaged (1819) with the skill7 and capital of countries (S. 16, N. 10) less oppressed with (von) taxation.
But these are poor8 and narrow views of its importance. It has increased indefinitely the mass of9 human comforts and enjoyments, and10 rendered cheap and accessible, all over the world, the materials of wealth and prosperity.
Notes
1 I am greatly indebted to you, ich habe Ihnen vieles zu verdanken.
2 Say ‘and in the principal branches’; most magnificently, auf das großartigste.
3 Insert ‘also’ here.
4 Kurz, which place at the head of the period.
5 through = in.
6 fortsetzen, which rendering will make the relative clause ‘in — engaged’ superfluous.
7 ‘skill’, here = industry.
8 poor = superficial; narrow, beschränkt; of = about.
9 of human = of our.
10 und die Stoffe, welche sonst nur dem Reichtum und dem Wohlstand zugänglich waren, für die ganze Welt billig und erreichbar gemacht.