for empowering certain persons to dig this canal, according to a specific plan. It was begun on the 1st. of May in that year, on Uxbridge Moor, and after twelve years labour, was completed, and opened in 1805. It commences in the river Thames at Brentford, and is continued as far as Braunstone in Northamptonshire, opening a communication between the metropolis and the various canals of the midland, north-western, and northern counties; thereby affording a cheap and easy mode of conveyance for the produce and manufactures of all those counties and towns, through which the canals pass, comprehending Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Leicester, the salt mines of Cheshire, the coal, glass, and iron works of Staffordshire, the potteries, &c. and, in short, embracing most of the principal manufacturing and trading towns of the interior.

The Grand Junction Canal since its completion has contributed greatly to the prosperity of this town and neighbourhood*, and

* "Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing the expence of carriage, put the remote parts of the country more nearly upon a level with those in the neighbourhood of the town. They are upon that account the greatest of all improvements. They encourage the cultivation of the remote, which must always be the most extensive circle of the country. They are advantageous to the town, by breaking down the monopoly of the

will probably in the course of time, yet prove of considerable benefit. But the great checks which trade has received in almost every place, have materially lessened the utility, and consequently the value of the canals, and of course this canal as well as others has felt the diminution of trade.

What is properly called the Grand Junction extends about one hundred and forty miles. Its general breadth is about thirty feet, but at the bridges it is contracted to fifteen. The original shares were of the value of one hundred pounds each, though they have been sold in this town as high as £320. and as low as £65.

"Two kinds of vessels are in use upon this canal, barges with square heads and sterns,

country in its neighbourhood. They are advantageous even to that part of the country. Though they introduce some rival commodities into the old market, they open many new markets to its produce. Monopoly, besides, is a great enemy to good management, which can never be universally established but in consequence of that free and universal competition which forces every body to have recourse to it for the sake of self-defence. It is not more than fifty years ago, that some of the counties in the neighbourhood of London petitioned the parliament against the extension of the turnpike roads into the remoter counties. Those remoter counties, they pretended, from the cheapness of labour, would be able to sell their grass and corn cheaper in the London market than themselves, and would thereby reduce their rents, and ruin their cultivation. Their rents, however, have risen, and their cultivation has been improved since that time."-Smith's Wealth of Nations, vol. i. p. 202, 8vo.

and flat bottoms, that carry from forty to fifty tons, and boats with sharp ends, or nearly so, of half the width, that carry twenty-five tons;" but no boat can navigate throughout this canal with more than twenty tons, on account of the want of water. The former, which are designed to navigate the Thames also, are usually drawn by two or more horses, and the latter, which are chiefly in use on the canal, though sometimes they navigate the Thames. They are drawn by one horse, and go in pairs, principally with a view to prevent the waste of water, one lock being capable of containing the two boats at a time.

Packet-boats were first established in June, 1801. They continued to pass regularly between Uxbridge and London, at stated hours every day during most of the year, for the conveyance of passengers and parcels, but the passage being twenty-three miles, was found too long, and when the novelty ceased, the boats were discontinued. Several subsequent attempts have been made to revive them, but without success.

The company of proprietors of this canal were first assessed for their tolls and profits towards the maintenance of the poor of this place in the year 1814. The first rate was

made on the 6th of May in that year, when they were assessed at the sum of £170. Previous to the rate, made Jan. 31, 1817, the company objected, and by their own consent were assessed on a rental of £140. It was, however, determined by the court of King's Bench, in Hilary Term 1818, that the company were liable to be rated for their lands, &c. only at the same value as other adjacent lands, and not according to the improved value derived from the land being used for the purposes of the canal.

In consequence of this determination the company were assessed by the rate made on the 17th of April, 1818, at the sum of £24. being at the rate of three pounds per acre for the land, and the portion of the canal within the township.

Warehouses have been built, and several wharfs established adjoining the canal, for the convenience of trade. Large quantities of flour are regularly conveyed to London, while the town and neighbourhood are amply supplied by it, with Newcastle coal and other articles from the metropolis.

A

SECTION 6.

THE SUPPORT OF THE POOR, AND LAND FORMERLY APPROPRIATED TO THIS PURPOSE,-EXTRACTS FROM OVERSEERS ACCOUNTS, WORKHOUSE, RECENT ALLOTMENT OF LAND,

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The Support of the Poor.

Though Uxbridge constitutes a part of the parish of Hillingdon, it provides for the support of its own poor; which, considering the size of the town, are always very numerous. A part of the town, called Hillingdon-end, pays to the support of the Hillingdon poor, and not to those of Uxbridge. From this highly unjust arrangement, one part of the town pays annually about nine shillings in the pound, while the other part seldom pays more than half that sum. Whether the arrangement was made at the origin of the poor laws, or at some subsequent period, we have not been able to ascertain. But it is one among innumerable instances of inequality in the operation of the present system of poor laws; and which, apart from all consideration of the natural tendency of these laws to produce more pauperism than they alleviate, must convince every candid mind of the necessity of an alteration.