x801.] 
® great proportion of which is carried on 
through the metropolis by means of the 
fine river upon which it is fituated, and the 
important centre it forms for the commerce 
of great part of the worid ; although this 
river forms a noble channel to admit 
the intercourfe of fhips of the largeft bur- 
then within a few miles of the city, yet, 
from the increafe of the number and {ize of 
the veflels frequenting the port of Lendon, 
great inconvenience and lofles have been 
experienced in tranfacting the bufinefs 
conne&ted with the fhippisg. The dif- 
tance at which the large fhips are obliged 
to lye, the confufion of fhipping in the 
river, the lofs of time in loading and dif- 
charging goods, the expence of lighterage, 
the frequency of thefts, the delays and 
vexation experienced by the merchant and 
manufacturer, have, at laft, given rife to 
propofitions and plans to remedy thofe 
evils.—On this great national fubjeé, 
which embraces fuch a variety of objects, 
opinions have, of courfe, been various, and 
fome of them contradiftory ; this produced 
much difcuffion while the bufinefs remain- 
ed with an open Committee of the Houfe 
of Commons; and, although much ufeful 
information was obiained, yet no project 
appeared to be finally agreed on and 
brought to maturity. 
This led to the judicious meafure of ap- 
pointing a fele&t committee, confiftine of 
members who were not concerned in any 
of the projects brought forward. This 
committee has made three molt valuable 
reports to the Houfe of Commons, wherein 
every thing relative tothe port of London, 
and the general commerce of the kingdom, 
as far as it is connected with this port, 
has been arranged with an accuracy and 
precifion which will enable the legiflature 
and the public to comprehend, at one view, 
a fubjeét which requires information be- 
yond the power of any individual to bring 
together, ' hee 
In this great plan, they have judicioufly 
divided the port of London into three 
parts ;—the firft is the Docks in the Ifle 
of Dogs, which are. calculated to accom- 
modate the Welt India trace, which, ufu- 
ally arriving in large fleets, contributed, in 
a peculiar degree, to the crowded and em- 
barrafled ftate of the river, and which, 
from the valuable nature of their cargoes, 
were very much expofed to depredation ; 
there-is alfo in this part a canal, by means 
of which, thofe fhips that with to come up 
the river may avoid the circuitous rout 
_ by Greenwich and Deptford. . 
The fecond part is the Docks in Wap- 
ping, which are intended. for the accom- 
improvements in the Port of London. 
479. 
modation of feveral great’ branches of our 
trade, which are fubjeét to heavy dutiesss 
and the third is the improvement of tke 
river, from the Tower upwards to Black- 
fryar’s Bridge, and this part includes the 
re-building of London Bridge. By this 
means, colliers and coalting-veflels, and all 
veflels of light burthen, are to be admitted 
to pafs the new London Bridge, and fhip 
and difcharge goods immediately at wharfs 
and warehoules to be conftructed along the 
banks of the river, and oppofite to the 
centre of the city. 
The two firk parts of the plan have been 
fanctioned by Parliament, ‘and have been 
undertaken by incorporated companies, 
excepting the canal, which is now éxecut- 
ing under the direction of the City of 
London. 
- The Committee have, in their third re- 
port, alfo recommended a general plan for 
improving the third or upper part of the 
port of London; that is, by removing the 
prefent London Bridge, replacing it by 
one of cait-iron fixty-five feet high in the 
clear above high water, with inclined 
planes, connecting it with the’ prefent 
fireets, and fuch other improvements as 
may grow outof this alteration, alfodeep- 
ening the bed of the river to admit of fhips 
of two hundred tons lying afloat at low ~ 
water, and contracting the width of the 
river, in order to preferve its prefent velo- 
city, and tc acquire {pace for wharfs and 
warehoufes, and. for the inclined planes, - 
without incroaching upon the property 
which is now conneéted with the fhores. 
The portion of this plan, which has 
been more immediately under the confide- 
ration of the Committee, during the prefent 
Seffions of Parliament, has been a defign of 
Meffrs. Telford and Douglafs, in which it 
is propofed to conftruét the bridge of a 
fingle arch, compofed wholly of caft-iron ; 
the fpan of the arch is fix hundred feet, 
being the width to which, by Mr. Jeflop’s 
report, the river ought to be contraéed, if 
it is excavated to have thirteen feet at low 
water; the height, in the clear, above high 
water, is fixty-five feet, being the: eleva- 
tion determined by the refolutions of the 
Committee laft fefions. 
The boldnefs and fimplicity of this de- 
ficn render it an objeét of attention, not — 
only to the Committee who ave engaged in 
confidering the further improvement of the 
. port of London, but to men of {cience and 
practical engineers, and to all who feel an 
intereft in the improvement and credit of 
their country. 
*It is now generally admitted, that the 
prefent London Bridge ought to be re- 
302 moved, 
} 
