516 Permanent and Substantial Improvements* 



SECT. VIII. To encourage Permanent and Substantial 

 Improvements. ^ 



THE wealth, and agricultural prosperity of a country, ma- 

 terially depend, on the promotion of such great and sub- 

 stantial improvements as, 1. Roads and bridges ; 2. Canals ; 

 3. Railways ; 4. Harbours ; and, 5. Embankments. 

 Where the aid of government cannot be given to such un- 

 dertakings, the establishment of corporations, under the 

 sanction of public authority, might be found an advantageous 

 mode of carrying such improvements into effect. 



1. Roads and Bridges. As the first means of introdu- 

 cing improvements into a country, roads and bridges are 

 essential ; and where the population is thin, and the country 

 is poor, there is no possibility of having such communi- 

 cations made, without public assistance. Two plans for 

 that purpose have been adopted in making roads. By the 

 one, the military have been employed in such public works ; 

 by the other, under the authority of commissioners ap- 

 pointed for that special purpose, the public has agreed, in 

 the more remote parts of the country, to advance one-half 

 of the expense of making roads and bridges, where the pro- 

 prietors come forward with the other. The communications 

 which have been opened, in consequence of this encourage- 

 ment, are numerous, and the public will soon be amply in- 

 demnified, for any sum thus expended, by the increased re- 

 venue which will be derived from districts, that have hither- 

 to been unproductive ( a6 ). 



In times of peace also, the military cannot be better em- 

 ployed, than in carrying on public works of so useful a de- 

 scription, as roads, canals, &c. Unless when engaged in 

 war, soldiers are benefited by this active employment, 

 which strengthens their bodies, and occupies their minds. 

 The remains of those roads, which were constructed by the 

 Roman armies, fully prove, what that intelligent nation 

 considered to be the best means of preparing soldiers, in 

 time of peace, for the hardships, and achievements of war. 



2. Canals. The advantages of canals to agriculture, need 

 not be dwelt upon. They facilitate the means of convey- 

 ing the bulky productions of the soil to market, and also of 

 bringing, at a moderate expense, not only coal, but lime, 

 and other manures, to the farmer. Under a proper system 

 also, the surplus water might be usefully employed, for the 

 purposes of irrigation. On all these accounts, canals ought 



