life, is confiderable,) but by the extraordinary difpatch and abfolute fafety with which journeys are performed. Thefe favourable circumstances are owing both to the constitution and police of the country. The fpirit of freedom which pervades all the focial establishments of Great Britain, exempts travellers from the delay and inconvenience occafioned by paffports, identification of perfon at walled or garrifon towns, the frequent infpection of goods, and the many other vexations and charges to which in other countries the people are subjected. And as the law affures to every man means of redress in cafe of robbery or maltreatment, he who travels relies with confidence on that protection, and without waiting for, or incurring the expenfe of a military efcort, procced with the aid only of a guard, hired by the proprietors of the vehicle which conveys him, or depending in a private carriage on fuch means as he himfelf happens to have provided. Feeble as thefe refources may feem, it is an indifputable fact, that in England, in proportion to the frequency of travelling and the value of property tranfported from place to place, lefs is loft by robbery, than in al mok any other country. On the other hand, fuch is the fwiftnefs with which journies are performed, that without taking into calculation the value of time, the benefit of frequent and easy intercourfe, or the value of money, it may fafely be faid, that long journies may now be made at an expenfe actually smaller than they could one hundred years ago. In treating of the conveyance from one part of the kingdom to another, feveral par

ticulars demand notice.

POST-HORSES AND STAGE-COACHES. Befides the mail coaches for conveyance of letters and paflengers, ftage-coaches are eftablifhed, which travel from and to all parts of the kingdom, carrying perfons and goods, at a certain fixed rate. Thefe vchicles perform their journies with undeviating conftancy, are furnifhed, at ftated places, with relays of horfes, and meals are provided for the pallengers, at a limited price, at the inns where they stop in the courfe of the day. Poft-chaifes do not perform ftated journies, but are required according to the occafion of the traveller, and make their journies with greater or leis difpatch in proportion to the number of horfes by which they are drawn.

All these conveyances produce a confiderable revenue to government. Thofe who let poft horfes take out an annual li cence on a five filling ftamp, and on every horse let out by them is charged a duty of 1d. per mile, or if the diftance is not afcertained . 9d in the whole. For prevention of the evafion of thefe datics, many judicious regulations are framed, and both the duty on poit liorfes, and thofe on flage coaches are let to

6

farm,

farm, in feparate districts, and by public bidding. The keepers of ftage-coaches are, in like manner, obliged to take out an annual five fhilling licence, declaring from what place, and to what place fuch carriage is intended to be used, diftinguishing the number of miles between the two extreme towns or places, and the number of journies intended to be made either in the day or week; and they give bond to his majefty in 20. or treble the fum the duty for the journies inferted in fuch licence for one month would amount to, at the option of the commiffioners, for accounting for and paying fuch fums as may be due for fuch journies. For preventing the great mifchiefs which have frequently arifen from an improper number of persons being allowed to go as paffengers on the roofs or boxes of coaches, chaifes, and other carriages, if the driver of any fuch carriage hall fuffer more than fix perfons at the fame time to ride or go upon the roof, or more than two perfons befides the driver on the box, fuch driver fo offending, and being convicted on confeffion, the view of a justice, or by the oath of one witnefs, before any juftice of the peace, where fuch offence fhall be committed, fhall, for every perfon fo riding or going as au outfide paffenger above the number aforefaid, forfeit 40s. and in cafe the owner fhall be the driver of fuch carriage, then 41.; and in default of payment, be committed to the gaol or house of correction for one month, unless the penalty be fooner paid. And it is further enacted, that if the driver of any coach, chaife, or other carriage of the like fort, drawn by three or more horfes, and travelling for hire, fhall fuffer more than one perfon to go on the coach box befides himfelf, and four on the roof; or if fuch carriage be drawn by lefs than three horfes, more than one perfon on the box (except the driver of fuch carriage drawn by lefs than three horfes, which shall not go more than twenty-five miles from the poft-office in London, and which shall not carry more than one perfon on the box, and four on the roof, at the fame time); he fhall pay to the toll-taker at every turnpike gate through which fuch carriage fhail pafs 5s. for every perfon above fuch number as afort faid: and if any fuch paffenger beyond the number fo limited, fhall be fet down, or taken up, whereby the faid payment of five fhillings may be evaded; the driver fo offending, and being convicted, either by confession, view of a juftice, or oath of one witnefs before any justice of the county or place where fuch offence is committed, hall be committed to the common gaol or houfe of correction, not exceeding one calendar month, nor lefs than fourteen days, at the difcretion of fuch juftice; which faid fum of five fhillings a paffenger, fhall be collected and recovered, in like manner as the turnpike tolls at fuch gate are by the act for repairing fuch 10 ad authorized to be collected and recovered. And there fhall

be

be painted on the outfide of each of the doors of every fuch carriage (mail coaches excepted) in large and legible characters, the christian and furname of the proprietor; and if more than one proprietor, and any one of them refide within the bills of mortality, fuch perfon's name fhall be the name to be put upon fuch carriage. To thefe provifions others were added, obliging the proprietors to take licences progreflively, advancing in proportion to the number to be carried, and to paint on their carriages the number they are licenfed to carry.

CARRIERS. All perfons carrying goods for hire, as masters and owners of ships, lightermen, ftage-coachmen, &c. come under the denomination of common carriers, and are chargeable, by the general custom of the realm, for their faults and mifcarriages. Also if a perfon, who is a common carrier, takes upon himself to carry goods, though no reward is promised, yet if goods are lost or damaged, by his default, an action will lie against him. The poftmafter general does not come under the denomination of a carrier: he has no hire; and enters into no contract. The poft-office is a branch of revenue, and a branch of police, created by act of parliament. The falary annexed to the office of poft-mafter, is for no other confideration, than the trouble of executing it. He is, therefore, not liable for any conftructive negligence.

HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES. The advantage derived to travellers and the trading intereft in general from the ftate of the highways and bridges throughout the kingdom is evident, and of the highest importance. The laws for preferving and repairing highways and bridges, and for preventing nuifances and injuries which might affect them, have been noticed in the fecond

volume of this work.

CANALS AND RAILWAYS. Another great improvement in the tranfport of produce from one part of the country to another remains to be noticed; it is the conftruction of Canals and Railways, now fo extenfively, and fo beneficially pursued in most parts of the kingdom. The following obfervations on, and account of thofe in the United Kingdom are abridged from an article very ably compiled in Dr. Rees's new Cyclopædia.

The importance and utility of canals have been fo long and fo generally acknowledged, that it is hardly neceffary to introduce the fubject with any obfervations to this purpose. Dr. Smith obferves, in his Wealth of Nations, that good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing the expenfe of carriage, put the remote parts of the country more nearly upon a level with thofe in the neighbourhood of large towns; and on that account they are the greatest of all improvements. They encourage the cultivation of the remote parts, which must always be the most extenfive circle of the country. They are advantageous

tageous to towns, by breaking down the monopoly of the country in its neighbourhood; and they are advantageous to all parts of the country; for though they introduce fome rival commodities into the old markets, they open many new markets to its produce." It is not more than 50 years ago," fays he in 1776, when the first edition of his work was printed, " that fome of the countries in the neighbourhood of London, petitioned the parliament against the extension of the turnpike roads into the remoter counties. Thofe remoter counties, they pretended, from the cheapnefs of labour, would be able to fell their grafs and corn cheaper in the London market than themfelves, and would thereby reduce their rents, and ruin their cultivation. Their rents, however, have rifen, and their cultivation has been improved fince that time." All canals, fays Mr. Phillips, in the Introduction to his General History of Inland Navigation, may be confidered as fo many roads of a certain kind, on which one horfe will draw as much as 30 horses on ordinary turnpike roads, or on which one man alone will tranfport as many goods as three men and 18 horfes ufually do on common roads. The public would be great gainers were they to lay out upon the making of every mile of a canal twenty times as much as they expend upon a mile of turnpike road; but a mile of canal is often made at a lefs expense than the mile of turnpike: confequently there is a great inducement to multiply the number of canals."

The advantages refulting from canals, as they open an easy and cheap communication between diftant parts of a country, will be ultimately experienced by perfons of various defcriptions and more especially by the manufacturer, the occupier or owner of land, and the merchant. The manufacturer will thus be enabled to collect his materials, his fuel, and the means of fubfiftence, from remote districts, with lefs labour and expenfe; and to convey his goods to a profitable market. As canals multiply, old manufactures revive and flourish, new ones are eftablished, and the adjoining country is rendered populous and productive. To the occupier of land, canals are useful in a variety of ways. In fome cafes, they ferve the purposes of draining and irrigation; in others, they furnish manure at a cheap rate; and they facilitate the conveyance of the produce to places where it may be difpofed of to the greatest advantage. The land owner muft of course be benefited, by the increafing value and advanced rent of his eftate, in confequence of the improvement it receives from the industry of the occupier, excited and encouraged by an immediate recompence. The wholefale trader and merchant are likewife enabled to extend their commerce by means of canals; as they can thus export greater

quantities

quantities and varieties of goods from places remote from the fea, and easily fupply a wider extent of inland country with the commodities that are imported from foreign nations. Nor are they merely the means of extending and increafing foreign commerce, but they ferve alfo to create and augment an internal trade, which, with all the advantages attendant on foreign commerce, may probably far exceed it in extent, value, and importance. We might add, that an inland communication between parts of a country, at a great distance from one another, contribute to the fecurity, as well as to the extenfion of commerce, in the boisterous months of winter, and in times of war, when the navigation of the feas would be attended with danger. "Were we to make the fuppofition of two ftates," fays Mr. Phillips, "the one having all its cities, towns, and villages upon navigable rivers and canals that have an eafy communication with each other; the other poffeffing the common conveyance of land-carriage; and fuppofing, at the fame time, both ftates to be equal as to foil, climate, and induftry; commodities and manufactures, in the former state, might be exported 30 per cent. cheaper than in the latter; or, in other words, the firft ftate would be a third richer and more affluent than the fecond." Should it be objected, that navigable canals waste or occupy too great a portion of land in the countries through which they pafs, the objection may be obviated by the confideration, that one mile of a canal, 14 yards wide, takes up little more than five acres of land.

The navigation of our rivers, by fhips or finaller veffels, was, from a very early period, an object of confiderable importance, but the very inedaquate provifion made by general laws for protecting internal navigation from the encroachments of individuals, and the effects of neglect, probably fuggefted the propriety of thofe particular grants or ftatutes which enabled corporations, and in fome inftances individuals, to take particular rivers under their charge, and to receive tolls or dues from the veffels navigating within their particular diftrict. In procefs of time, as population increafed, and the advantages of water carriage became more apparent, further grants and acts of parliament were made, authoriling companies or individuals to extend the navigation on certain rivers further into the country, generally to reach fome city or great town; these acts, fome of which we fhall particularize hereafter, generally enabled the parties to deepen, and in fome inftances to firaiten the courfe of their rivers, to embank them where too wide, to erect jetties and fluices, to make flafhes for furmounting the fhallows or rapids, and in later times to erect pound-locks for gaining the afcent to the different mill-dams upon the river. But the conftant tendency