McADAM AND TELFORD 287 



and to report. It was gradually realised that the construction of a 

 good road required an unusual combination of practical and scientific 

 knowledge, and that the task was not only above the abilities of 

 inexperienced surveyors, but beyond the means of the inhabitants 

 of an ordinary parish. Public money was voted for the improvement 

 of national highways, and the services of the most celebrated engineer 

 of the day were enlisted in the work. Telford in 1814 was employed 

 to make good the road from Glasgow to Carlisle and in the following 

 year to reconstruct the road from Shrewsbury to Holyhead. In his 

 opinion and practice, it was necessary to make a regular bottoming 

 of rough close-set pavement, on which a hard, smooth, inelastic 

 surface could be laid, so as to minimise the labour of traction by 

 offering the least resistance. The rival system was advocated by 

 Me Adam. To him the " Telford pavement " seemed unnecessary 

 for the preparation of a suitable surface. In his view an elastic 

 subsoil was even superior to a solid foundation ; he preferred a bog 

 to a rock, provided that the bog was sufficiently solid to bear a man's 

 weight. As Surveyor-General of the Bristol roads (1815), he was 

 already putting his theories into practice on an extensive scale. 

 His practical success, his evidence before Parliamentary Committees, 

 and his skill with the pen 1 persuaded the English public of the sound- 

 ness of his theory. But the battle was hotly contested, and the 

 very heat of the controversy served a useful purpose. It kept the 

 improvement of English roads prominently before the public. 

 Scientific opinion, here and abroad, was on the side of Telford ; 

 but Me Adam was the popular favourite. In 1827 he was appointed 

 Surveyor-General of roads in Great Britain. His influence was 

 paramount, and men, in their gratitude for the unwonted luxury of 

 safe and smooth travelling in fast coaches, were not disposed to 

 criticise too closely the scientific principles of the road magician. 

 Turnpike tolls provided some of the cost of road maintenance, 

 and served as auxiliaries to statute labour. For a time they satisfied 

 the urgency of the need. But the heavy interest on the loans raised 

 by the turnpike trustees, the excessive cost of management, the 

 profits exacted by those who farmed the tolls, left, at the best, 

 small margins for road expenditure. To increase the income, toll-bars 

 were multiplied or scales of payment raised. The inequality of the 

 burden was strongly felt. In one district, five tolls might be paid 



1 A Practical Essay of the Scientific Repair and Preservation of Public Roads 

 (1819) ; Remarks on the Present System of Road-making (1820, 5th edition 1822). 



