§ 4.-Canals.

Having thus given a brief history, of the introduction of railroads, as a species of internal communication; we shall now proceed to give, a short sketch of the introduction of canals, as another mode of artificial inter

course, for the purposes of commerce, and general traffic.

Canals, it appears, 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. Their utility and extension, as a means of interior communication, would, however, be restricted to particular places, until the invention of locks, by which they could be extended into the interior of countries, of considerable elevation above the sea, It is somewhat doubtful, when this contrivance was first adopted, but it is certain, that locks were constructed upon the Milan canal, about the end of the fifteenth century; and that they were introduced into France, upon the canal of Briare, in the reign of Henry IV., and very extensively used in the canal of Languedoc, in the reign of Louis XIV.

The attempt, to form the Sanky Brook into a navigable canal, from the river Mersey to St. Helans, 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. Such was the rapidity of their extension in England, that, between the years 1760 and 1803, no less than 2295 miles of canal were opened.

Until very recently, canals have been used exclusively for the transport of heavy goods, merchandise, and passage boats, at a moderate rate of speed. Within a few years, attempts have been made to convey passengers at a quicker rate of speed, and, in some cases, apparently with success.

It is not necessary, here, to pursue the history of internal communication further, as we shall have to illustrate this more particularly hereafter. 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, need no comment; the importance has been discussed 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 cheaply, and in a superior manner, enables that country, where such facilities are afforded, not only to carry on a successful competition with other countries less favoured, but also to support a pre-eminence in the market, which is the great desideratum, in all commercial speculations.

If the importance of facilitating commerce, by a cheap and expeditious mode of conveyance required illustration, every political economist, who has written on the subject may, therefore, be quoted in support of it. This does not, however, come within the limits which we have prescribed to ourselves, in the present Work. It has already been discussed, in every shape, in the different periodical publications, and also in some works written expressly for the purpose. The only question which we 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 observ

ations, and experiments; it may be necessary, brie fly

to state, that the competition seems almost wholly to rest between railroads, and canals. It may be a question, in many cases, where the traffic and intercourse is inconsiderable, if railroads can compete with existing common roads, in the economy of conveyance of goods and passengers; but whether railroads be proposed to supersede canals, or common roads, it is alike a subject of the deepest importance, to be fully acquainted with their nature, construction, and the extent of their capabilities, as a mode of internal communication.

The sudden change in the public opinion, respecting the superiority of railroad 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 to be what, from the nature of the two modes, might have been anticipated. No doubt, the capital and enterprize of the country, may have operated to accelerate the result; but the real cause proceeds, from the peculiar character and condition of the two modes.

At the time of the introduction of canals into Great Britain, railroads 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, and more particularly, since the discovery of producing such immense volumes of steam, so rapidly, with boilers so very small and portable, they have attained a feature of value, which entitles 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, and light boats have been applied

for the conveyance of passengers; but in their general economy, they may be said to have remained stationary. Their nature almost prohibits the application of mechanical power to advantage, in the conveyance of goods and passengers upon them; and they have not, therefore, partaken of the benefits which other arts have derived from mechanical science.

The reverse of this is the case with railroads; their nature admits of the almost unrestricted application of mechanical power upon them, and their utility has been correspondingly increased.

No wonder, then, that canals, which at one time were unquestionably superior to railroads, in general economy, by remaining in a state of quiescence, should at some period or other be surpassed by the latter, which have been daily and progressively improving, and that time has arrived. The human mind is generally averse and slow, in adapting itself to the changes of circumstances; and from this cause, the competition might not have been so speedily brought into action, had not the prosperity of the country, and the enterprise of its merchants, induced capitalists to seek out every source of speculation, affording the least prospect of success. The natural course of events would, however, soon have developed the real situation of the two modes in their respective relations to each other; and though the time might have been prolonged when railroads were to be brought into active competition with canals, yet its arrival would not be the less certain. One might be led to suppose, that the question could readily be solved by an appeal to facts, or by the comparison of particular canals with similar railways; but it is here, we presume, where the difficulty lies. We cannot, perhaps, find canals and railways whose external features

are precisely the same; we are obliged, therefore, to have recourse to a comparison of general facts, or principles peculiar to each mode, which, again, cannot be accomplished unless we are fully and intimately acquainted, with all the various properties and characteristics of each system. The want of proper data was felt; and it was with a view of furnishing these that the present Work was undertaken; which, by a concise, and at the same time sufficiently explicit, description of the construction, uses, and advantages of railroads, together with an elucidation of the various principles of their action, might enable the reader to make a comparison with other modes of internal communication, and thus form a judgment of their relative value.

The present state of commerce requires, that goods should be conveyed from place to place with the utmost rapidity, and perhaps we owe no small portion of our mercantile prosperity, to our facility of despatch. The slow, tardy, and interrupted transit of canal navigation, must therefore, of necessity yield to other modes, affording a more rapid and certain means of conveyance, (especially when their relative economy is the same), unless they can be made to partake of the general activity, and additional celerity be given to the boats conveyed upon them.

At the time of the publication of the first and second editions of this Work, scarcely any experiments had been made on a large scale, to elucidate the capabilities of canal navigation,-none, certainly, satisfactory; since then, the competition of railways has aroused the dormant spirit of the canal proprietors, and various experiments have been made, to ascertain the amount of resistance of boats dragged at different velocities; attempts have been likewise made, to adapt the power of steam to