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try that flows through flat land, which, for want of proper em.foankments, does not commit, every season, great devastationsupon its banks, either rendering large tracts unproductive, orsweeping away the harvest they have reared.
In attempting to mark out the causes of this general neglect,it is impossible to join with some writers, who endeavour to traceit to the facility with which this country has, till lately, obtainedsupplies from abroad, or to any general impression of securitywhich may have prevailed in that respect. There is no instancein which individuals were ever found to be guided by such ge-neral and distant considerations of policy in their private con-duct. Every man is sufficiently anxious to secure the harvestof his labour, and to protect his lands from encroachment, aswell as readily disposed to fall into any measure that offers a fairprospect of territorial acquisition; and it is folly to imagine thathis endeavours will, in the smallest degree, be increased by anyimpression of what the country might either suffer from his ne-gligence, or gain by his enterprise.
Perhaps a more immediate cause of the inattention to embank-ments may be found in the general prosperity of our manufacturesand commerce, which, by affording a quicker return of profitthan any other branch of industry, have hitherto attracted thebulk of the national capital. For, when we consider the greatexpense, and in some cases hazard, that attends embankments,there can be no doubt that a want of capital must have operatedmore severely against this, than any other branch of rural im-provement. At the same time, a great deal must be attributedto the inattention of landed individuals to their property, to anarrow jealousy of the prosperity of tenants, and to a want ofcooperation among adjoining proprietors, arising from oppositeviews of interest or different feelings of enterprise.
It is, however, to be hoped, that as agriculture is every daybecoming a more favourite object of pursuit; that as proprietorsare in general bestowing more attention to the improvement oftheir estates, and of course imbibing more just ideas of things,the system of embanking will be as generally adopted as, fromits iprportance, it merit*.