lives to which they are habituated; so long will order reign.

But suppose the coming and going of all the steamers were suddenly
stopped by a blockade. While it may be true that, in a country like
the United States, no foreign trade is really necessary; while it
may be true that the people of the United States would be just as
happy, though not so rich, if they had no foreign trade--yet the
sudden stoppage of foreign trade would not bring about a condition
such as would have existed if we had never had any foreign trade,
but would bring about a chaotic condition which cannot fitly be
described by a feebler word than "horrible." The whole machinery of
every-day life would be disabled. Hundreds of thousands of people
would be thrown out of employment, and the whole momentum of the
rapidly moving enormous mass of American daily life would receive
a violent shock which would strain to its elastic limit every part
of the entire machine.

It would take a large book to describe what would ensue from the
sudden stoppage of the trade of the United States with countries
over the sea. Such a book would besides be largely imaginative;
because in our history such a condition has never yet arisen. Although
wars have happened in the past in which there has been a blockade
of our coast more or less complete, peace has been declared before
the suffering produced had become very acute; and furthermore the
conditions of furious trade which now exist have never existed
before. Disasters would ensue, apart from the actual loss of money,
owing simply to the sudden change. In a railroad-train standing
still or moving at a uniform speed, the passengers are comfortable;
but if that same train is suddenly brought to rest when going at a
high speed, say by collision, the consequences are horrible in the