desire to
pass from Edinborough to London, or from London to Edinborough, or any
place on that road, let them repair to Mr. John Baillie's, at the Coach
and Horses, at the head of Cannongate, Edinborough, every other
Saturday; or to the Black Swan, in Holborn, every other Monday; at both
of which places they may be received in a stage coach, which performs
the whole journey in _thirteen days, without any stoppage_ (_if God
permit_), having eighty able horses to perform the whole stage--each
passenger paying L4 10s. for the whole journey. The coach sets out at
six in the morning.' And it was not until 1825 that a daily line of
stage coaches was established between the two cities, accomplishing the
distance in forty-six hours. And even so late as 1835 there were only
seven coaches which ran daily.

In 1743, Benjamin Franklin, postmaster of Philadelphia, in an
advertisement, dated April 14th, announces 'that the northern post will
set out for New York on Thursdays, at three o'clock in the afternoon,
till Christmas. The southern post sets out next Monday for Annapolis,
and continues going every fortnight during the summer season.' In 1773,
Josiah Quincy, father and grandfather of the mayors of that name, of
Boston, spent thirty-three days upon a journey from Georgetown, South
Carolina, to Philadelphia. In 1775, General Washington was eleven days
going from Philadelphia to Boston; upon his arrival at Watertown the
citizens turned out and congratulated him upon the _speed_ of his
journey! Fifty years ago the regular mail time, between New York and
Albany, was eight days. Even as late as 1824, the United States mail was
thirty-two days in passing from Portland to New Orleans. The news of the
death of Napoleon Bonaparte, at St. Helena, May 5th, 1821, reached New
York on the fifteenth day of August.

Canals were known to the ancients, and have been used, in a small way,
by all nations, particularly the Dutch. But the world did not awake to
their importance until 1817, when the State of New York entered upon the
Erie Canal project, which was completed in 1825. The introduction of
steamboats for river navigation, and of locomotives upon railways, have
superseded canals, and invested them with an air of antiquity. It was
not until 1807 that Robert Fulton put his first vessel in operation on
the Hudson River.

To the American steamship Savannah, built by Croker & Fickett, at
Corlear's Hook, New York, is universally conceded the h