what is the meaning of the subject of Communication. It may be briefly
stated to be _a means to an end_--an intercourse or passage of either
the body from one place to another, or of the thoughts of one person to
another. And as I begin with the communication of the body, I cannot do
better than name some of the methods by which communication is carried
on, and shall commence with _Roads, Coaches, Railways, Canals_, and
_Steamers_. Then, for mind, I will take _Books, Printing, Letters,
Exhibitions_, and _Telegraphs_.

Our age has so advanced, that though Methuselah lived nearly one
thousand years, yet he in his age did not live as long as we do now.
See what science and art have done for us. We now do more in one day
than could be done in a month some very few years ago; and, as far as
travelling about the world is concerned, I can say that I have been from
John-o'-Groat's House to Brighton, thence into Hertfordshire, thence
back to London, from there to Edinburgh, thence to John-o'-Groat's, and
here I am before you, without fatigue, or a thought that I should not be
present in time. What has enabled us to do this but the determination of
man to communicate with his fellow-men, and his thirst for the knowledge
of what is doing in places where he, as an individual, could not be
present. When there were no roads, it was no easy matter to move about,
so the people remained at rest. But the Romans, a people who aspired to
conquer the world, were not a people to sleep and let things stand
still. They began the making of roads in Britain, and to them we owe the
first of our greatness. They saw, as every wise man now sees, that the
first thing to the improvement of land and property is easy
communication, and facilities for bringing the things needed for the
improvement of the land, and the means also of export for the produce.
The earliest roads were, as we may say, right on end; and the Roman
roads, as I hear, have borne the traffic of two thousand years. I hope I