The promoters of this vast object stand forewarned of defeat. Dr. Lardner, who has bestowed a great deal of pains in arguing the bearings of this undertaking, has pronounced it impracticable; and I entirely agree with him in his conclusions. The effort, nevertheless, will be made; the genius of English enterprise will hazard the consequences; and every honest spirit that shall hear of the brave British crew which will embark upon that perilous expedition will feel his heart beating high for the merchant-sailor, whom nothing can deter. He will sail; but, though dangers will encompass him, and destruction appear, there is yet a hope for his ultimate success. Let us cheer ourselves with the expectation that, as the exhausted mariner returns, he will fall in with the western shores of Ireland; that, worn out and hopeless of home and comfort upon earth, the Shannon will win him to her bosom; that, invited by the graceful sinuosities of that noble stream, and the rich and fertile lands around, he will advance to this convenient and improving city; and as he rests within its walls that he will exclaim, ‘This is the place from which I ought to have set out, for here have I returned with ease and safety!’[121] Dr. Lardner’s views are repeated in an article in the ‘Edinburgh Review’ for April 1837 (vol. lxv.); and in the report of the proceedings of the British Association for 1836 (p. 130 of the proceedings of the sections), the reader is referred to this article, apparently as a substitute for an abstract of the lecture. The following _résumé_ is there given of the lecture:-- The conclusions at which he arrived were briefly these: that, in the present state of the steam-engine as applied to nautical purposes, he regarded a permanent and profitable communication between Great Britain and New York by steam-vessels making the voyage _in one trip_ as in a high degree improbable; that since the length of the voyage exceeds the present limits of steam-power, it would be advisable to resolve it into the shortest practicable stages; and that, therefore, the most eligible point of departure would be the most western shores of the British Isles, and the first point of arrival the most eastern available parts of the western continent; and that, under such circumstances, the length of the trip, though it would come fully up to the present limit of this application of steam-power, would, nevertheless, not exceed it, and that we might reasonably look for such a degree of improvement in the efficiency of marine engines as would render such an enterprise permanent and profitable. (P. 119.) Among other objections to long voyages the reviewer enumerates the incrustation of boilers, and the choking of smoke flues; and then, with reference to the quantity of fuel required, he proceeds:--