402 CANAL BETWEEN THE 



fented, for giving fecurity and expedition to the Bri- 

 tifh navigation in the northern 1 



The bufinefs thus abandoned a fecond time by the 

 ftate, was now taken up by individuals, fome of whom 

 were fufpected of private vk-ws inimicablc to the ge- 

 neral welfare of the community ; and, from this time 

 forward, we are to confidcr this great work facrificed 

 to the hopes of gain, of influence, and to jobbing: 

 firft, in refpeft to the direction of the canal, and fe- 

 condly, to its dimenfions. Nature had pointed out 



* Borrowftounmfs on the Forth, and Dalmure Burn- 

 Foot, fix miles below Glafgow on the Clyde, as 

 the two extremities of this inland navigation ; but 

 fuch was the force of influence, that, inflead of open- 

 ing the eaft end of the canal at Borrowftounnefs, 

 where there is water, at neap tides, for fhips of 200 

 or 300 tons burden, and fafe lying, it was begun 

 upon the river Carron, at the diftance of a mile from 

 its junction with the Forth, and four miles above Bor- 

 rowftounnefs, where vefiels of burden could not float 

 at neap tides ; befides the delay and inconvenicncies 

 in navigating the Forth, and the mouth of the Car- 

 ron, from floods and contrary winds j alfo a circui- 

 tous navigation of at leaft two miles. 



The depth of water, and dimenfions of the canal, 

 came next under confideration, and gave rife to much 

 controverfy, between the inhabitants of the eaft coun- 

 try on the one part, and a confiderable number of the 

 citizens of Glafgow on the other. When we confi- 

 der that the fpace to be cut did not, with all its wind- 

 ings, exceed 30 or 3 2 miles, and that this fhort naviga- 

 tion would at once open a communication between 

 the two feas and all the countries lying upon thofe 

 feas, common reafon pointed out the propriety of 

 the greateft depth of water that the nature of the 



* Borrmvftounnefs is, next to Leith, the principal trading town 

 on the Forth ; Dalmure is a fmall village on the Clyde, waftied by 

 a rivulet called Dalmure Burn ; at the junction of which with the 

 c the canal is to be carried. 



' country 



