RAILWAYS, HIGHWAYS, AND CANALS.* 



THIS is an extraordinary book, and one which at least should be 

 read with deep and general attention, not on account of its literary 

 merits, for these are very moderate, and it is possible that the book 

 is all the better on this account. There are some subjects so eloquent 

 in their substantial importance, that any attempt at dressing them 

 out in studied phrases only destroys their effect. This is the case 

 with the subject of Mr. Grahame's little work, and therefore we are 

 thankful that he has served it up to the public without the garnish of 

 a professional author. It consists of a dedication, an introduction, 

 and one chapter ; and two more chapters or parts are promised, in 

 order to complete the author's view of the grand subject of internal 

 communication. We are not sure but that even this division of the 

 book is an advantage; the subject is one which branches into so 

 many departments, and is so covered with ignorance, and beset with 

 misrepresentation and prejudice, that it is doubtful whether an entire 

 view of it could be brought forward, advantageously and instructively 

 to the public, in one publication. Besides the vital interest of the 

 question itself, the most valuable features in Mr. Grahame's book 

 are the straight -for ward manner in which he states principles, let 

 them bear against the interests or the prejudices of whomsoever they 

 may, and his habitual appeal to facts in illustration and establishment 

 of those principles. 



Such being the general character of the work, it will be of more 

 advantage to give an outline of the great principles which it involves, 

 than to treat it in the ordinary way of literary criticism ; and this we 

 shall endeavour to do as briefly as possible. 



The principal object of the entire treatise is to shew the compara- 

 tive advantages of common roads, canals, and railways, as means of 

 internal communication ; the prospects of improvement which each 

 of them may be considered fairly to hold out ; the comparative ad- 

 vantages of using mechanical or animal power; and the kind of 

 accommodation which each mode of conveyance is more especially 

 fitted for affording. The two parts on <( Turnpike-roads," and on 

 "Canals," are not yet before the public ; and therefore it is impossible, 

 as would have been desirable, to begin with the statement of Mr. 

 Grahame's general conclusions, and analyze these down to the parti- 

 culars ; so that we must content ourselves with an outline of the part 

 which is published, taken in the order in which it is placed by the 

 author. Before we proceed to this, however, we may mention that 

 Mr. Grahame appears to have far more clear and liberal notions of 

 the relations in which public government and public accommodation 

 stand to each other than have hitherto been stated by writers, acted 



* A. Treatise onfinternal Intercourse and Communication in civilized States, 

 and particularly in Great Britain. By Thomas Grahame. 8vo. pp. 160. 

 Longman and Co. 1834. 



M.M. No. 2. Y 



