Since those distant days when man's migratory instinct first prompted
him to find fresh hunting fields and seek new caves in other lands,
human energy has been constantly employed in moving from place to place.
The fear of starvation and other elementary causes prompted the earliest
migrations. Conquest followed, and with increasing civilization came the
establishment of constant intercourse between distant places for reasons
that found existence in military necessity and commercial activity.
For centuries the sea offered the easiest highway, and the fleets
of Greece and Rome carried the culture and commerce of the day to
relatively great distances. Then followed the natural development
of land communication, and at once arose the necessity not only for
vehicles of transportation but for suitable roads over which they might
pass with comfort, speed, and safety. Over the Roman roads the commerce
of a great empire flowed in a tumultuous stream. Wheeled vehicles
rumbled along the highways--heavy springless carts to carry the
merchandise, lightly rolling carriages for the comfort of wealthy
travelers.
The elementary principle still remains. The wheel and the paved way of
Roman days correspond to the four-tracked route of level rails and the
ponderous steel wheels of the mighty Mogul of today. In speed, scope,
capacity, and comfort has the change been wrought.
The English stagecoach marked a sharp advance in the progress of
passenger transportation. With frequent relays of fast horses a fair
rate of speed was maintained, and comfort was to a degree effected by
suspension springs of leather and by interior upholstery.
An interesting example of the height of luxury achieved by coach
builders was the field carriage of the great Napoleon, which he used
in the campaign of 1815. This carriage was captured by the English at
Waterloo, and suffered the ignominious fate of being later exhibited
in Madame Tussaud's wax-work show in London. The coach was a model of
compactness, and contained a bedstead of solid steel so arranged that
the occupant's feet rested in a box projecting beyond the front of the
vehicle. Over the front windows was a roller blind, which, when pulled
down admitted the air but excluded rain. The _secrétaire_ was fitted up
for Napoleon by Marie Louise, with nearly a hundred articles, including
a magnificent breakfast service of gold, a writing desk, perfumes,
and spirit lamp. In a recess at the bottom of the toilet box were two
thousand gold napoleons, and on the top of the box were places for the
imperial wardrobe, maps, telescopes, arms, liquor case, and a large
silver chronometer by which the watches of the army were regulated. In
such quarters did the great emperor jolt along over the execrable roads
of Eastern Europe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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