1801] 
it happens, that when, in extraordinary 
emergency, fome Swedifh commodity 
would come to a good foreign market dur- 
ing the winter, the difficulty of exportation 
prefents an infuperable obftacle, efpecially 
when the winter, anticipating its ordinary 
commencement, may be faid to furprife 
autumn. We know that an attempt was 
long ago made to remedy thefe great incon- 
veniences, by the formation of feveral pro- 
per cftablifhments; but, if the fuccefs was 
not anfwerabletothe viewswhich directed 
the undertaking, it was becaufe, indepen- 
dently of feveral other accidental circum- 
ftances, the calls for intercourfe were not 
-then fo numerous and urgent, as they have 
fince been rendered by the increafe of com- 
merce and luxury, and by the affluence of 
travellers. Doubtlefs alfo the departure of 
the carriages (voitures) was too frequent; 
for, to reconcile economy with utility, their 
departure once a fortnight, or even once 
a month, would have been fufficient.* 



* We fhall givea new proof of our 
impartiality, by inferting here a note 
furnifhed by an intelligent and eftima-- 
ble Swede. We publifh it, however, 
without renouncing the opinion we 
have formed. 
‘s It is neceffary to obferve that this 
cenfure ought not to attach to the coun- 
try. There is no country in which 
commodities are tranfported in winter 
with more facility than in Sweden. The 
heavieft goods, which it would be im- 
poflible to convey by wheel-carriages, 
are eafily tranfported in fledges. As 
to foreign articles, the obflacles which 
impede their importation arife from 
the frequent interruption of navigation 
by the Belts, and from the bad ftate of 
the roads in Denmark, the paflage of 
which, during tne bad (eafon, ig €X- 
tremely expenfive. In fact, when thefe 
obftacles are furmounted, by the arrival 
of the goods at Helfingborg, the firit 
Swedifh town on that coaft, nothing 1s 
more eafy than to make the peafants 
convey all forts of goods into any pro- 
vinceinthekingdom, and that with more 
eafe, certainty, and cheapnefs than in 
Denmark. The fummer is not with- 
git its inconveniencies in the Swedifh 
provinces which are deftitute of naviga- 
ble rivers; but the exceflive extent of 
the coafls affords them the means of 
{upply. The Swedes reckon a winter, 
which admits not the ufe of fledges 
(and fuch there have been), a muisfor- 
tune almoft as great as a bad harvett; 
becaufe in thofe vehicles they tranfport 
heavy goods, fuch as iron, timber, 
grain, &c. ard though the couniry is 
not every where interfeéted with great 
roads, they make good their way on the 
Montuty Mac. No. 67. 
A Defcription of Medern Saveden. 
513 
This exterior commerce of Sweden is 
partly carried on in national fhips, which 
avigate every fea on the globe, even as 
far as the ifland of St. Bartholomew in the 

{now acrof{s forefts, marfhes, lakes, ris 
vers, &c. without either delay orobitacle. 
The principal fairs in Sweden take place 
in winter, becaufe of the facility which 
that feafon affords for the conveyance of 
goods. [t is no uncommon thing for 
peafants to undertake journies of lixty 
or feventy Swedifh miles (about 160 
leagues) foley on that errand. In fup- 
port of this affertiuu, it is only necef- 
{ary to ftate the well known inftance of 
the peafants, who, in the month of Fe= 
bruary, go to Stockholm, in order to 
carry goods thence to Chriftinehamn in 
Wermeland, and who i ten or twelve 
days travel thirty S wedifo miles and a quar= 
ter”? (or 121 Englifh). a) 
We have frequently fpoken (refumes 
the author) ofthe Diligences, which tra- 
verfe Denmark in all feafons as regular 
ly as poffible. It wonld be thought a thing 
extraordinary, and perbaps unheard of, if 
one of thofe vehicles did not arrive at Copen- 
hagen from Hamburg in the [pace of a month. 
We confine ourfelves to this remark, 
which may fuffice to direét the judgment 
of our readers on fo effential an object. 
The two paflages above, which the 
tranflator has put in Italics, fhew what 
ideas the author and his annotator enter- 
tain of expeditious travelling! Would 
they believe what we could tell them of 
our mail, and other light coaches, or 
even of the rate of which carriers travel 
in conveying goods in one horfe carts, 
between fome of our principal manus 
facturing towns, e/pecially inthe northy ~ 
for example, between Glaigow and 
Manchefter ? What fhould we fay, if 
but one or two coaches were to pafs 
between London and Edinburgh in a 
mouth! The tranflator hastravelled be- 
tween thofe cities, diftant 400 Englifh, 
or 100 Swedifh, miles, in the depth of 
winter, in feventy hours, including three 
hours fleep at Newealtle, and this not 
in a mail-coach, which ges it in fixty~ 
two or fixty-three hours, but ina light 
coach, called the Royal Charlotte. Tis 
extreme expedition, however, is but mo- 
dern. Seea paperinfertedinthe Statifticak 
Account of Scotland, article Edinburgh, 
by theingenious Mr. Creech, bookfeller 
in that city. The annotator mentions the 
bad roads in Denmark as an interrup- 
tion to the Swedifh trade. But it ap- 
pears that fome moftexcellent roads are 
now making in that couniry, See the 
learned Profeffor Bygge’s interefting 
Fourney from Copenhagen toParis, an Eng- 
lish iranflation-of which is now in the prefs 
3 U Wet, 
