This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1878. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXXI. "The Navigation Laws were useless and injurious" To appreciate the real magnitude of the Andes or the Cordilleras, you must view them from a distance. Near their base the eye is obstructed by meaner elevations, but seen from a distance of fifty miles, Chimborazo pierces the sky. So, as we fall down the stream of time, and recede from the Administration of Oliver Cromwell, its real grandeur gradually breaks upon the mental vision. Cromwell and the Long Parliament devised the Navigation Laws, and founded the British Empire. From that hour the maritime greatness of England dates. From that hour it steadily and uninterruptedly advanced for more than a hundred and fifty years, till at the close of the last war England"s meteor flag floated in every clime, and rode on...