such harsh measures as those which were employed by the Spanish authorities, in the instance before us; for we are convinced that the inconvenience, distress, and terror, which these regulations produced, caused so much injury as greatly to counterbalance any effect which they had in checking the extension of the disease.

In the preceding pages, we have embodied not only the information contained in the Report, but also that which we have derived from the official documents given in an appendix. -The whole publication certainly possesses considerable interest and value: but the Report itself is deficient in perspicuity and arrangement, and does not exhibit so ample and → detailed an account of the history and progress of the disease as we could have wished to receive.

ART. X. Des Canaux Navigables, &c. ; i. e. on Navigable Canals, considered in a general Manner; and comparative Researches on the Interior Navigation of France and England: with an Atlas of Maps, &c. By M. HUERNE DE POMMEUSE, Member of the Chamber of Deputies. 4to. Paris. 1822. Imported by Treuttel and Co. Price 17. 16s. sewed.

THE introductory volume of M. Dupin's " Mémoire sur la

Marine de la Grande Bretagne," &c. published in 1818, and noticed in M. R. vol. lxxxvi. p. 502. (Appendix), seems to have excited great attention among the more enlightened classes of the French capital; and to have created a desire in many of its scientific men to examine in person the objects which they found so highly extolled, but so inadequately described, in the work of that ingenious and indefatigable observer. That volume was indeed meant only to form a sort of preface or introduction to the more extended and important production which the writer was contemplating, and of which the first two parts in four quarto volumes have been already published. (See M. R. vol. xcii. p. 449. Appendix; and vol. xcv. p. 490. Appendix.) Four additional volumes are in progress, two of which will soon appear, and will (we suppose) embrace among other matter most of the topics discussed in the work before us. The great variety of subjects, however, which M. Dupin proposes to comprize in his third part, will render it impossible for him to enter on that of Canals at so great a length as M. HUERNE has allowed himself in the book at present under review; in which he illustrates with considerable detail every thing connected with the execution of navigable canals; their first expences, the rates of remuneration, the precautions necessary to be observed,

the

the formation of reservoirs, the construction of locks, inclined planes, rail-ways, &c. &c.; and embracing in one general view the canals both of France and England.

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The protracted war between these two countries rendered the people of both of them strangers to the progress of the works of art in each respectively; and we have no doubt,indeed, the publications every day issuing from the Paris press demonstrate, that much astonishment has been manifested in France since the peace, on finding that, during the most arduous contest perhaps in which this or any other nation was ever engaged, our progress in the mechanical arts far surpasses all former example: proving that, while we were for some time opposed almost single-handed to the united powers of Europe, we found leisure and ability to be also contending with, and conquering, those obstacles which nature had opposed to the increasing activity of our commerce and commercial speculations. To effect such achievements, canals were carried from coast to coast, at one time over ridges of hills some hundred feet above the level of the seas, or rivers, with which they communicated; at others, by penetrating within them, navigable waters were conducted through the interior of the largest mountains; and at others, again, they were led over valleys which must appear insuperable obstacles to a continued stream across them, thus presenting the novel and interesting spectacle of vessels floating above vessels, and transporting with ease and expedition the productions of one district of England to another, in which they might be employed to the greatest advantage either for the purposes of agriculture or commerce, or for the formation of roads, causeways, bridges, &c. In the mean time, ports were formed where before only the smallest boats could find an entrance; -docks were constructed, capable of containing the united navies of the world; -rail-ways were made to connect one canal with another; and machinery was constructed to supply the place of manual labor, and to operate where the latter would have been ineffectual. By these plans, mines of immense value were brought into activity, which must otherwise have remained unproductive; and the materials which they yielded were transported to places which they could not, by any other means, have ever reached. Roads before nearly impassable were also rendered of the best quality, and thus the most prompt communication was established between every part of the United Kingdoms. To all these inestimable improvements, recent years have added another not less important; viz. that of steamboats and packets; by which communications between port and port are carried on with nearly the same degree of certainty

as by land, though they before partook of all the inconstancy of the element which separates those ports from each other.

These several topics, to which we have thus briefly alluded, M. HUERNE has examined and illustrated at great length, particularly all such as are connected with the formation of canals; in doing which he has very judiciously avoided political questions, and carefully abstained from making comparisons calculated to excite those national prejudices and animosities which are now so happily subsiding: but which, while they existed, prevented many of the best informed men in France from perceiving the immense internal strength which this country was acquiring by the processes in question. We may thus easily see how it happened that, when the full extent of these sources of national riches and power was first deve loped in the prefatory work of M. Dupin, that gentleman was regarded as a bad citizen, and incurred much unmerited obloquy from the general classes of society in Paris, and even in the Institute itself: where, we have heard, he was accused of espousing the cause of England, and invidiously magnifying her resources. Other scientific Frenchmen, however, having made the tour of England, it was found and acknowleged that M. Dupin had only fairly represented the extraordinary works which he had seen and inspected; and it was now no longer considered as a mark of bad citizenship to speak of this country as the seat of commerce, navigation, and the mechanical arts; or to urge the French nation and government to emulate, in the peaceful progress of those pursuits, that enemy with whom she had so long contended in the field and on the ocean. Long may this spirit of emulation exist between the two nations! which ought to know no other rivalship, than that of exceeding each other in furnishing the means of promoting the peace and happiness not only of their respective citizens but of the world.

A

With regard to the subject of Inland-Navigation, whether we consider it as exhibiting one of the proudest triumphs of art over nature, or as one of the most unquestionable means of improving the wealth and comfort of nations, it is highly interesting both to the man of science and to the political economist. We have no doubt, therefore, that the work before us will be read with great interest, not only in France but in this country: for, though we have several excellent treatises on the same subject, many of them are of a local and particular description, and do not present under one general point of view the entire system of English canals; and in none of them is the comparative view between those of France and England so amply given. Our more general sketches are found in the

best

best of our Encyclopædias: but these are unfortunately much limited in the size and scale of their maps: a part of the present performance to which we shall more particularly refer, when we have given the reader a general sketch of the contents of the volume, and of the proposed series of which it forms only a part.

The work, when completed, is to consist of three volumes; the first of which will contain an historical account of all the more celebrated canals of antiquity, beginning with those of Egypt, and proceeding thence, according to the order of their dates, to the time when the canal of Briare in France was formed: this being the first which, by means of locks, &c., proceeded from an elevated point of departure, descending both ways to the seas or rivers that were thus brought into communication with each other. In this volume, also, will be described other canals, of a more recent date, not English or French; such as those of Holland, Russia, Denmark, the United States, &c. &c.; and it seems that the author has delayed the appearance of this part, till he receives from America some particulars requisite for its completion. The second volume, which, having been first published, is at present under review, we have already stated to be wholly appropriated to a detailed description of the canals of France and England; and, with its volume of plates, it may either be considered as a distinct work or as a part of the general series. The third volume will be in a great measure devoted to local inquiries, connected with projected works of this kind in France; to the general advantages of such a system of canals, as applicable to the distinct and combined purposes of agriculture, commerce, the formation of new roads, and the maintenance of those already constructed; to the laws which should be passed by way of encouragement; and to the inducement which should be held out to individuals to embark their capitals in such undertakings. It will therefore be of less general interest than the two former, but by no means less important to those who are more immediately concerned. We do not learn, however, that this part is yet in a very forward state; and probably its fate will ultimately depend on the success attending its precursors.

M. HUERNE's great object, in the present volume, is to call the attention of the French people, and the French government, to the important advantages that the nation would derive from such a system of canals as those in England; a subject which he has had in view since 1816, when he brought forwards a motion on it in the Chamber of Deputies, of which he is a member. Among other arguments, he quotes the

high importance that Sully and Vauban respectively attributed to canal-navigation. The former was in fact the great promoter of the first French canal, that of Briare; and the observation of the latter to Louis XIV., after having examined the state of the canal of Languedoc, was, "that he would give all that he had ever done, or that still remained for him to do, to be the projector of a work so useful to France as the construction of that canal." Yet, says the author, Vauban had improved three hundred old and constructed thirty new fortifications, had been engaged in more than one hundred battles, and had conducted fifty-five sieges.

We cannot attempt to follow M. HUERNE in his description and illustration of the English canals, their modes of construction, the peculiar difficulties which they presented, and their ultimate advantages: but we shall briefly state that this part of his work is divided into four books: the first treating principally of the canals forming the communication between London and Liverpool; the second, of the grand navigable line of Scotland; the third, of particular canals not comprized in the grand navigable lines, selected for the purpose of pointing out certain peculiarities and advantages; and the fourth containing a synoptic table of the principal navigable canals of the United Kingdom, with their respective lengths in English miles, their greatest elevation, degree of inclination, ascending and descending, &c.; as also remarks on each, stating the expence of formation, the date when completed, their breadth and depth, the nature and dimensions of the vessels, value of the shares, points of commencement and termination, &c. &c.

It appears from the particulars stated in this table, that the number of navigable canals in the United Kingdoms is one hundred and three, of which ninety-seven are formed in England alone, not including those of which the length does not exceed five miles; five in Scotland; and one only in Ireland. The total extent of these canals for the three kingdoms is 2682 miles: i. e. 2471 miles of English canals, 1492 miles in Scotland, and 614 miles in the Dublin and Shannon canal. The sum expended in these constructions is estimated at more than 30,000,000l. sterling; and, in some cases, the original shares have risen in a few years to fifteen and even twenty times their original value. In the lines of these canals, fortyeight subterraneous passages occur, the entire length of which is not accurately known: but forty of them, whose lengths are stated, give a total developement of 57,051 yards, or more than thirty-two miles. It is deserving of remark that, of the total length of the English canals, which we have seen is APP. REV. VOL. XCVIII.

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