Permanent and Substantial Improvements. 517 



to be encouraged by the government of the country. It is 

 not desirable, except in very particular cases, that they 

 should be executed at the public expense ; but it would 

 greatly promote such useful undertakings, if government 

 were to lend a certain sum to the proprietors of such canals, 

 at a moderate interest, to enable them to complete any un- 

 dertaking of that sort. This was done for the Forth and 

 Clyde navigation ; and the company has since repaid the 

 loan. The same plan might be successfully adopted in 

 other instances ; and the principle is at last sanctioned by 

 Parliament, in a recent act, the effects of which, under judi- 

 cious management, can hardly fail to prove highly benefi- 

 cial (7). 



3. Railways. This new mode of conveyance, is capable 

 of being rendered as extensively useful as canals, and is well 

 entitled to the encouragement of government, by loans of 

 money, at a moderate interest, to carry them on. The go- 

 vernment of this country, can always borrow money at a 

 cheaper rate than private individuals, from the speculation 

 that attends public loans ; and the facility with which the 

 monied interest can re-invest their savings in the funds, for 

 the purposes of accumulation, in preference to any other se- 

 curity. Railways would be particularly convenient, where 

 canals are impracticable ; and where either may be under- 

 taken, the former, affording communications at all seasons, 

 will often be preferred. They ought to be promoted, be- 

 cause the more that communications can be opened between 

 one part of the kingdom and another, the more does a coun- 

 try prosper, and the more are the people in it combined into 

 one great community. The wonderful success of the railway 

 from Liverpool to Manchester, must soon be the means of 

 extending that beneficial system over the whole kingdom. 



The extension of railways and canals, is to be considered 

 of peculiar importance, in another point of view, namely, as 

 tending to diminish the number of horses, the maintenance 

 of which, is the great cause why our agricultural produc- 

 tions, are not adequate to the subsistence of our inhabitants. 

 Let the unemployed poor therefore, be employed in the con- 

 struction of these useful public works, and we should soon 

 be able, to feed ourselves, by the advantages resulting, 

 through the medium of their labour; for land, now devoted 

 to the production of food for horses, might then be appro- 

 priated to the raising of food for man. 



4.. Harbours. Though harbours are more essential in a 

 commercial, than in an agricultural point of view, yet they 



