HAVING heard so much in England of the gigantic scale of the establishments for the construction of machinery in Belgium, we paid a visit this morning to the great _Phœnix Iron works_ at Ghent, the largest in the kingdom; (indeed, I may presume, the largest in Europe), except those of Seraing near Liege. The surprising progress which the Belgians have, within the last few years, made in this department, is naturally a subject of the deepest interest in this country. Twenty years ago, the manufacturers of the Netherlands were altogether dependant upon France and England, for everything except the most ordinary pieces of machinery, which were used in the simplest processes--but the refusal of Great Britain, to permit its exportation upon any terms, naturally left them no alternative, but either to abandon their manufactures, or to apply their own ingenuity to the construction of machinery for themselves. To the encouragement of the latter attempt, the King of Holland, for the fifteen years that Belgium was under his protection, applied himself with an energy and zeal, that is positively without parallel; patronage, personal exertions, and pecuniary assistance, were devoted to the promotion of this important object, with an assiduity and perseverance almost incredible; his efforts were crowned with perfect success, and even his enemies, are forced to admit that the singular developement which has taken place in the resources of Belgium, in this important department, are all to be ascribed to the untiring energy and exertions of the King of Holland. His efforts were much facilitated by the relaxation, in the meantime, of the policy of England, so far as to permit the free exportation of certain machinery, and what was of infinitely greater importance, _of the most complex and ingenious tools_ for its construction. The effects of the latter measure, in particular, and the impetus which it has communicated to the manufacture of machinery, not only in Belgium, but in every other country of Europe which aspires to it, is positively beyond calculation. It gave, at once, to our continental rivals the very arcana of our superiority; tools that are themselves the most beautiful and elaborate machines, performing like automatons operations that once required all the intelligence as well as all the dexterity of an artisan; lathes and planes that grapple with a beam of iron as if it were green wood, and shape and polish the most ponderous shafts with as much ease as a turner produces an ivory toy.[16] Placing these unreservedly in the hands of the engineers of the continent, and, at the same time, refusing to let them have the articles which they were almost spontaneously to produce, was neither more nor less than peremptorily withholding the fruit, but making no compliment whatever of sending the tree.