INTRODUCTION.

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doubly valuable, if access to them were practicableand easy! ”

Adam Smith says, “ Good roads, canals, andnavigable rivers, by diminishing the expense ofcarriage, put the remote parts of a country nearlyon a level with those in the neighbourhood of atown ; they are, upon that account, the greatest ofall improvements.”

To establish perfect roads throughout a countryis an object of no small importance as regardspublic economy. In proportion as roads are leveland hard, will there be a saving of horse labour, acheaper description of horse may be employed,less food will be consumed, and fewer servantswanted. The expense of travelling, and the chargesfor the carriage of goods, will be lower. A savingto the public, amounting in the aggregate to a con-siderable sum, will thus annually take place, to beapplied either to the accumulation of nationalcapital, or to some other purpose.

It will be useful, previously to showing what isnecessary to be done in order to secure good roadsin this country, to mention the conduct of othernations in this branch of domestic economy.

A description of this kind may serve to give abetter tone to the ideas of those country gentlemen,who are trustees of the public in the managementof its roads, and may encourage them to form amore enlarged, and more correct conception oftheir duties and their responsibility.

The following quotations are taken from theFrench Encyclopaedia , under the head of Chemin.

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