lization, and commerce required the transportation of bulky articles, this mode of conveyance would be inconvenient and inapplicable to the purpose. It is probable the next change of interior communication would be the introduction of sledges, where the articles to be conveyed was placed upon a square frame of wood, which was dragged along by the horse, and when the goods were very bulky the united effort of several horses could be then employed, which could not be done when it was laid upon their backs.

It is very uncertain at what period wheelcarriages were first introduced into Great Britain; the war-chariots of the ancient Britons formed a species of wheel-carriages, but it does not appear that at that period they were used for the purposes of conveying goods.

The Romans would, no doubt, introduce many of the Eastern articles of trade and of the arts; but such is the force of habit, that it appears, long after the invasion of the island by that people, the ancient inhabitants retained their native habits and customs.

By degrees, however, when civilization reached a higher degree of perfection, and commerce became more extended, the occurrence of articles of trade or comfort in the interior

districts of the country, would enforce the adoption of some mode of communication suitable to the advanced state of the arts and manufactures, and the use of wheel-carriages, where the weight that could be conveyed by a horse would be considerably greater than either what he could drag upon a sledge, or carry on his back, would proportionably extend the facility of internal traffic.

The next alteration, in interior communication, appears to have been the substitution of wooden Rail-ways, in place of the common or military roads, and these appear to have been first adopted in insulated districts, where the quantity of goods to be transported were considerable, and always over the same ground; but, as I intend tracing the history of this species of road, when I come to treat more particularly on that part of the work, I shall, in this place, not extend my remarks further than merely to notice it.

Canals, another kind of conveyance, and which is perhaps more extensively used in the conveyance of heavy goods, in most of the manufacturing countries, than any of the other species of internal communication, seems to have been the last introduced into Great Britain,

It appears, canals were used in Egypt long before the invasion of Great Britain by the Gauls-in China their introduction is said to have taken place at a very early date. Into Great Britain their introduction is comparatively recent. The attempt to form the Sanky Brook into a navigable canal, from the river Mersey to St. Helens in Lancashire, in 1755, appears to have been the first of the kind in England; and, since that period, they have been extended into almost every quarter of the island.

The benefits resulting to commerce from a cheap and expeditious communication between one place and another, for the conveyance of goods, being so very evident, needs no comment. The discussion has been carried on, and admitted by every political economist. In a manufacturing and commercial nation, the facility of transporting goods from the place where the raw material is produced, either to the consumer directly, or to the manufacturer, and from thence to the consumer, is not only a subject of essential importance, but next to the value of being able to manufacture cheap, and in a superior manner, enables us not only to carry on a successful competition with foreigners, but also to support a pre

eminence in the market, and constitutes almost the whole support of commerce.

If the importance of facilitating commerce required illustration, every political economist, who has written on the subject, may be quoted in support of it. This does not, however, come within the limits which I have prescribed to myself in the present work. It has already been recently discussed in every shape in the different periodical publications, and also in some works written expressly for the purpose. The only question which I have undertaken is, to ascertain what species of internal communication presents those conditions in the greatest perfection.

Without anticipating, at this early stage of the work, conclusions which can only be obtained by the result of ulterior deductions, derived from detailed observations and experiments, it may be necessary briefly to state, that the competition seems almost wholly to rest between Rail-roads and Canals. It may be a question, in many cases, if Rail-roads can compete with existing common roads, in the economy and facility of the conveyance of goods and passengers; but whether Rail-roads are proposed to supersede canals or common roads, it is alike a subject of the deepest im

portance to be fully acquainted with their nature, construction, and the extent of their utility, as a mode of internal communication.

The sudden change in the public opinion, respecting the preference of Rail-road to Canal conveyance, may excite surprise in the minds of many; on more attentive consideration, however, it will be seen to result from the natural course of events; and what, from the nature of the two modes, might have been anticipated; no doubt, the excess of capital in the country may have operated to accelerate the enquiry, but the real cause proceeds from the peculiar situation and condition of the two modes.

At the time of the introduction of canals into Great Britain, Rail-roads were in a state of relative insignificance, compared with the character which they at present assume; like other arts, they have been gradually and progressively improving; and, since the application of steam-power to drag the carriages upon them, they have attained such a feature of value, as to entitle them to the most serious attention of the public.

Canals, ever since their adoption, have undergone little or no change; some trivial improvements may have been effected in the manner of passing boats from one level to another, but,