756 
do its manufactures impose a tribute 
on the luxury of Europe, But the 
principle of their success is to be 
found in the luxury of France it- 
self; it is'in the ‘changefulness of 
our taste, and the mutability of our 
fashions, that foreign luxury must 
look for its aliment; it is it that gives 
motion and life to an immense po- 
pulation, who, without that encou- 
ragement, must lose itself in cor- 
ruption.and misery. 
There will soon be at Compiegne, 
there will soon arise on the confines 
of La Vendee, a number of pryta- 
nees, where our youth will be 
brought up in habits of industry, 
and instructed in the mechanical 
arts. From that source our dock- 
yards and our manufactures will, 
one day, draw inspectors to direét 
their labours. 
Fourteen millions arising out of 
the barrier tax, and ten millions 
out of the extraordinarics, have 
been employed during the year 10, 
in improving the public roads, in 
keeping up the old communications. 
New communications have also been 
opened. The Simplon, Mount- 
Cenis, and Mount-Genevre, will 
soon open a triple and easy access 
to Italy—a high road will lead from 
Genoa to, Marseilles—a road is 
chalked out from Saint Esprit to 
Gap—another from Rennes to Brest, 
through Pontivy. At Pontivy es- 
tablishments are to be raised which 
will have a powerful influence over 
the public mind of the departments 
ef which ci-devant Britanny was 
csomposed—a canal will introduce 
into it new sources of commerce and 
prosperity. 
On the banks of the Rhine from 
Bingen to Coblentz, a necessary road 
is cut through inaccessible rocks. 
‘The neighbouring communes asse- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1803. 
ciate their labours to the sdcrifiees 
of the public treasury, and the peo- 
ple of the other bank, who ridiculed 
the folly of the enterprize, are as- 
tonished and confounded atthe rapi- 
dity of the execution. 
A great number of workmen are 
employed on the canal of Saint 
Quintin. 
The canal of Ourcg is opened, 
and soon will Paris people enjoy the 
benefit of its waters, and the salu- 
brity and the embellishments which 
they promise. 
he canal, intended to unite the 
navigation of the Seine and the 
Saone, of the Danube and the Rhine, 
is almost entirely finished as far as. 
Dole, and the public treasury, ale 
ready receives, in the increased price 
of wood, to which that canal opens 
the approach, a sum equal to that 
which it has furnished for the con- 
tinuance of the work. 
The canals of Argues, Mortes, 
and the Rhone, the draining of the 
marshes of the Lower Charente, are 
begun, and will open new chan- 
nels to commerce, and afford new 
lands for cultivation. Works are 
goiug forward for the reparation of | 
the dykes of the Isle of Cadsand, of 
Ostend, of the Cotes du Nord, and 
the re- establishment of the naviga- 
tion of our rivers. ‘This navigation 
is no longer given up solely to the 
labours and the cares of government, 
The owners of boats plying on these 
rivers, have already felt that it was 
their patrimony, and they fix on 
themselves the taxes by which the 
works are to be kept in proper re- 
pair. On the ocean forts are ereét- 
ing, to cover the roads of the Isle 
-of Aix, and to proteét the vessels of 
the republic. Every where funds ~ 
are raised for the reparation and im- 
provement of our perts, A new 
; bason 
