Public Gardens and Promenades. 64-5 



for the general peace of Europe ; or, at all events, as a proof 

 that nations contemplate, in case of any future quarrel, a more 

 speedy mode of bringing it to a conclusion than the ancient 

 tedious ones of besieging and defending fortified towns. 



Public gardens are just beginning to be thought of in Eng- 

 land ; and, like most other great domestic improvements in our 

 country, they have originated in the spirit of the people, rather 

 than in that of the government. On the Continent, the contrary 

 has generally been the case ; and the public gardens have either 

 been formed by kings or emperors, such as those of Munich or 

 Vienna ; or by the governors of cities, or the corporations of 

 towns, as in the case of those of Warsaw, Strasburg, and 

 Frankfort. This difference arises from the difference between 

 the kind of government which prevails on the Continent, and 

 that which prevails in Britain. 



On the Continent the power originates in the governors, and 

 is steady, because property and knowledge are there compara- 

 tively stationary ; in England it originates in the governed, 

 whose property and knowledge are continually accumulating 

 and varying. Hence, many objects which are thought to be 

 exclusively the business of government on the Continent, such 

 as the supplying of towns with water, the formation of public 

 roads, &c., are, in England, effected by private companies, re- 

 quiring from the legislature only its consent. The unity of 

 power and of system, in the one case, has greatly the advantage 

 over our system of private companies, when the monarch or the 

 government happens to be liberal and enlightened; and when the 

 execution of the works does not fall into the hands of jobbers, 

 which, it must be confessed, is comparatively much seldomer the 

 case in France and Germany than it is in England. Hence, in 

 all the great public improvements on the Continent there is a 

 unity and consistency of plan and execution, which is not to be 

 found generally in those of England. Take, for example, our 

 public roads : with the exception of some roads that have been 

 lately altered under the direction of government, or of some turn- 

 pike company, they appear to be entirely the work of chance, the 

 mere enlargement of horse-tracks or footpaths. How superior, 

 in point of direction, are the roads in France and Germany ! 

 But, not to enlarge farther on the different modes of effecting 

 public improvements in Britain and on the Continent, we shall 

 merely state the conclusion which we have arrived at, after 

 maturely considering both modes, as far as respects public gar- 

 dens; which is, that, as the whole population of towns is in- 

 tended to benefit by such gardens, they ought to be effected by 

 the government or corporations of such towns, and at their ex- 

 pense; rather than that the public should be at the mercy o£ 



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