The magnetic needle has become so essential in the economy of the world, that we can hardly imagine the consequences which would ensue, were it suddenly to lose its power. It is not, however, difficult to picture the sudden and gigantic growth of any one commercial state, which, in such a contingency, should discover the means of restoring its efficacy, and preserve the secret. To what pitch of greatness must not any state have ascended, which, from the beginning, had been favoured and distinguished by such a possession? It would take tithes from the harvests of every land; the produce of every zone would furnish its marts, the toil of every race fill its coffers; and if by weakness, wisdom, or integrity it did abstain from plotting and scheming, and contented itself with driving its trade, and meriting by using its fortune, the other states of the world, instead of hating it, and combining to destroy it, would favour and cherish it as a common benefactor. There is an ancient people whose history I have in the above supposition described, whose growth and duration are in no ways to be accounted for, as in the case of any other state; who had neither number nor territory, yet who ascended to the loftiest pinnacle of dominion, competed with Egypt in antiquity, and endured, more than twice told, the career of Rome. We are constrained to give credence to the facts; but the cause escapes us. To admit is one thing--to comprehend another. To comprehend the growth of Phœnicia, we must embody at least every known element of prosperity, and, amongst these, at least _so much_ of the aids of navigation as the polarity of the needle affords. The proposition naturally arouses a host of contradictory suggestions. “If the ancients had it,” it will be said, “we could not have failed to have known it; we are acquainted with everything connected with their seamanship, their voyages,[126] &c. It never could have been lost. If any one people had it, it must have become known to the rest. Our pre-eminence in navigation, discoveries, and commerce is essentially associated with the compass. Why did they not reach America?[127] How did it remain for us to make the discovery?” These are all the objections I have been able to discover: they are all preliminary, and are adjusted to a mark which I do not present, viz., the word “ancients.” Substitute the word “Phœnicians,” and they fall to the ground.