INLAND NAVIGATION.'

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kept in good order, and silled with vessels laden with merchandise fromevery part of the known world, are now entirely neglected and out of'repair. Holland on one side, and France on the other, have not onlyencroached on their territories, but diminished their trade. The city ofAmsterdam rose to opulence on their decline.

So early as the twelfth century the spacious forests of Flanders werecut down, and the foil was laid open to the rays of the fun; large canalswere cut for inland navigation, which, while they drained the land,opened a communication for the inland commerce of the country.The river Scheld was compelled to yield up fruitful fields which hadlong been hidden beneath its waters, and was restrained within itschannel by two prodigious dykes.

A spacious canal, a work of the sixteenth century, extends fromBrussels (once the residence of the dukes of Brabant and Burgundy)to the Scheld; which, though not open to vessels of these provinceswhere it enters the sea, yet affords a communication with Holland, and,by the canals of Flanders, with the ocean. By this canal the city stillcarries on some traffic; and we find, at a distance from the ocean,and where there is no navigable river, a port filled with vessels of everykind, adapted to all the purposes of trade and pleasure.

The French, when masters of Brussels, respected the lofty trees of theCours or Allee-Verte , which borders this extensive canal. The outletsof the city lead, on every side, to a pleasant and fruitful country.

On the northern banks of the Scheld, in the county of Wafs, belowGhent, the prince of Parma, during the memorable siege of Antwerp,cut a canal which still remains.

The Flemish cities, situated in fertile plains, by the side of riversand navigable canals, were advantageously placed for maintaining

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