^ fe. A. D. 1779. 641 



that period. And they recommended the appointment of an agent, or 

 agents, to be refidcnt on the coafh in order to fuperintcnd and controul 

 the expenditure of the pubUc I'upphes. 



July — I have already given an account of the commencement and 

 progrcfs of the great canal betv^''een the Forth and the Clyde till the 

 year 1775, when the fubfcribers, having expended all the funds they 

 were enabled by parliament to raife, were obliged to defill *. A mc- 

 * morial from the convention of the Royal burghs of Scotland was now 

 prefentcd, by their agent Mr. George Chalmers merchant in Edinburgh, 

 to the lords of trade, as the guardians of the trade of the empire, 

 wherein, after rtating that the company, who had fubfcribed for carry- 

 ing on the canal between the Forth and the Clyde, had carried it as far 

 as Glafgow, fo that vellels fit to navigate the open feas could now pro- 

 ceed from any part of the eafb fide of Britain to that city, they repre- 

 fented, that in fb doing they had not only exhaufled the whole of their 

 fubfcription funds, but alio incurred a heavy debt ; that for four years 

 paft ' this great national work, the noblell and molt ufcful that ever 

 ' was undertaken in any country, in rcfpccl that other inland naviga- 

 * tions are only for carrying lighters (fo far as the memoriaiiils know f) 

 ' but this is alio for veflels fit to navigate in any open fea,' had been 

 entirely at a Hand ; and that the tolls now taken on the canal were 

 found to be too heavy for bulky goods of fmall value. 



There was given in to the board at the fame time a recommendation 

 by a great number of noblemen and gentlemen of Great Britain and 

 Ireland, wherein they fubmit to the miniflry the propriety of govern- 

 ment taking up this great objetfl, in which they affert that England 

 and Ireland are fully as much (and probably even more) interefted as 

 Scotland ; as, if it were completed from fea to fea, it would fhorten 

 much of the coafling, and part of the foreign, navigation, which in the 

 ^ ^ winter is impracticable, and in time of war extremely hazardous in all 

 '" feafons, whereby much time, and great expenfe and lofs, may be avoid- 

 ed, to the great advantage of the general commerce of the three king- 

 doms. They add that an aid of ^^70,000 from the public would com- 

 plete the work in about two years, and would alio enable the proprie- 

 tors to reduce the tolls on bulky goods ; and that the three kingdoms 

 would be more than compeniated in one year of war for the whole liim 

 now required ;[.. 

 ¥ Augufl — The combined fleets of France and Spain, confifling of 

 "* above fixty Ihips of the line, with a proportionable attendance of fri- 

 gates, being, perhaps, the moll powerful allcmblage of warlike fhips 



« 



Sec iiljovc, J). 477, fo iiitercfting t» the Brin'lli cmpiie (for the bfnc- 



f Tlic Glouci-fltr ctual, wl.lth carries (hips of fits of lliis canal are not local, like tliolc of others) 



30c tuns, was not bcyun till the yc.ir i:i;j. was accomplilhcdby the patriotic atteation of Mr. 



X It was ill the year i 784 that this great objeft, Dundas. 



Vol. III. 4 M 



