76 [Assembly 



where no frost would interfere with their base gave the Roman 

 roads an excellent and permanent foundation ; the vehicles which 

 passed over the surface of those roads were chiefly chariots with 

 tires to the wheels of nearly a foot in width ; but admitting that 

 the frost of this climate would not interfere with the stability of 

 the blocks, they would present too large a surface without joint 

 for horses to travel upon with safety, and if they did, the narrow 

 tires of modern wheels in such a street as Broadway (the number 

 of vehicles passing through that street in one day being greater 

 than those contained in the whole Roman empire,) would make 

 sad havoc in two years upon the soft face of a Roman pavement. 



The Roman roads, with the exception of a monumental frag- 

 ment, have long since been trodden down by time, but the civi- 

 lized example presented by the Romans for all after ages has yet 

 to be followed by many cities claiming the foremost rank in civi- 

 lization. Most of the streets in modern cities are covered with 

 paving of cobble stone — the most expensive kind of paving ever 

 introduced, for repairs are required as soon as construction is 

 completed, and continued as long as it is used. — What must be 

 the cost of a carriage way in a crowded city which was paved 

 with cobble stone twenty years ago, and continued to the present 

 time'? If it has been kept in passable condition, the whole cost, 

 if known, would indeed alarm the economist, and if not kept in 

 order, then the loss to the citizens by the inconvenience and diffi- 

 culty of their travelling over it, the unhealthy consequence of 

 accumulating decomposing matter in the holes ; the depth of mud 

 in wet weather, and the choking dust in dry weather, would re- 

 cord a loss much heavier and truly alarming. A cobble-stone 

 pavement cannot be kept clean, for if you remove the dirt you 

 take away that which keeps the cobble stones in their places. 



It is asserted that we have lost many of the fine arts known to 

 the ancients — it is a fact deeply to be deplored; and there was a 

 secret power of much more consequence that marked the charac- 

 ter of the ancient Romans, but unfortunately has not been 

 wholly preserved. It was their gigantic energy which, without 

 the facilities that abound in the modern world, overcame the most 



