In closing this period, the position of England, with respect to
facilities for commerce, deserves particular attention. In the first
place the country has many excellent harbors; next, it is situated in
the ocean which is the great highway between the two continents having
the highest civilization and the most constant intercourse. Finally,
a glance at the maps on pages 185 and 420 will show that
geographically England is located at about the center of the land
masses of the globe.
It is evident that a large island so placed stands in the favorable
position for easy and rapid trade communications with every quarter of
the world. For this reason England has been able to attain, and thus
far to maintain, the highest rank among maritime and commercial
powers. It is true that since the opening of the Suez Canal (1869)
the trade with the Indies, China, and Japan has considerably changed.
Many cargoes of teas, silks, spices, and other Eastern products, which
formerly went to London, Liverpool, or Southampton, to be reshipped to
different countries of Europe, now pass by other routes direct to the
consumer. Furthermore, it is a question what effect the completion of
the Panama Canal will have on English trade in parts of the Pacific.
But for the present England retains her supremacy as the great carrier
and distributor of the productions of the earth,--a fact which has had
a very decided influence on her history, and on her relations with
other nations, both in peace and war.
[Industrial Map of England (S9)]