The want of cross or parish roads is not peculiar to France; for there seems every where on the continent an almost total oversight with regard to their imporance to the best interests of a country. They do not seem yet to have caught the English sentiment, so happily expressed by the late Dr. Anderson in his Rural Ro creations. " Around every market place you may suppose a number of concentric circles drawn, within each of which certain articles became marketable, which were not so before, and thus become the sources of wealth and prosperity to many individuals. Diminish the expense of carriage but one farthing, and you widen the circle; you form as it were, a new creation, not only of stones and earth, and trees, and plants, but men also; and what is more, of industry and happi ness." Is France, notwithstanding the excellency of many of the principal roads, and the science displayed in their construction the utmost difficulty is experienc ed in crossing that fine country. In attempting this, you at once get into a range of narrow lanes, beset with luxuriant furze and wild shades, forming no doubt an agreeable shade, but proving, upon the whole, a great annoyance to the traveller as 1% ell as to the husband man. The present state of the continental parish roads forms a complete bar to the numerous advantages which would liallow the establishment of some syste matic mode of appointing trustees or commissioners from among the country gentlemen, who would then feel a more immediate interest in the internal improve ment of their respective neighbourhoods. Such a system would excite a spirit or enterprise, carrying in its train numerous enclosures, drainage, and many local advan tages, which, in the present close and impracticable state of the country, can neither be forseen nor under taken.
We cannot withhold our admiration, however, of the facilities of the traveller on the roads of France. Take away the apparently useless and harassing system of passports, (at least during periods of profound peace,) and upon the French roads you proceed from the one end of the kingdom to the other without annoyance, or the occurrence of a single toll•bar. The saute thing takes place with the mariner, who, having cleared at one port, may put into any harbour, and enjoy the benefits of all the lights upon the_ coast without far ther trouble; the whole community being considered as one great family ; and the establishment for the erection and maintenance of roads, bridges, harbours, and light-honses being under one special board of engineers. This proves also an excellent system for training young gentlemen of talent, who having been placed at the polytechnic school in Paris, are according to their several propensities and tastes, brought forward as civil and military engineers in all the departments of the French service. The school for civil engineers at Paris is somewhat analogous to our military college at Woolwich ; by this means the country is supplied with an organized body of engineers, whose science and conjoined practice insure the systematic performance of all their public works. We cannot help expressing a wish that Britain and France, with regard to this department, were in some measure blended together; that in the road department for example, the French had, in connexion with their professional system, the aid, patrimonial interest, and local knowledge of the country gentlemen.
The roads of Spain and Portugal are generally allowed by travellers to be in a very indifferent state, and devoid of all the more recent improvements. Their direction proceeds with very little regard to the line of draught. Their surface is rough, and their repair but little attended to. The political situation of these countries for the last twenty years has been high ly inimical to improvements of this description. They are every where nearer to the seacoast than France, and have, upon the whole, less dependence upon the state of their roads for the transportation of troops. It has indeed fallen to of few countries (luring pe riods of war, to proceed in the advancement of interior communication.
The chaussee, or paved road, similar to that of France, is common in the most populous districts or the German and Prussian dominions ; but over a great part of these countries, the roads are little more than formed, being almost without any prepared surface. Hence they are all run into deep tracks, which are ex tremely inconvenient to travellers; and therefore it becomes necessary in the different circles or cantons to have different lengths of axles, so that a carriage pro perly fitted for a journey in Germany, requires that the wheels should be made to shift out and in at pleasure, to suit the tracks of different districts. The improve ment of the roads has been undertaken in various parts of these countries ; but it must be a work of much time before this can take place very generally.
In Holland the traveller generally betakes himself to the numerous water-ways or canals of the country ; but here time and patience arc both necessary ; for though the canals are spacious, the passage boats move slowly, and to suit a few trifling bridges by the way, (fur they never pass through the towns,) are made so narrow that there is no more than sitting room in their cabins : the traveller's walk through the town, how ever, accompanying his luggage in a good day, under these circumstances, becomes rather a relaxation. The roads in Holland are generally carried in undeviating straight lines along that low flat country, between a double row of trees, with a great ditch on each side. Upon the tops of the national dykes, which defend the land from the inroads of the sea, the traveller is often upon pretty elevated ground, where his track takes many tortuous directions. The Dutch are at great pains in preparing as firm a foundation for their roads as the nature of the country will admit. They are then built with thin bricks called clinkers, which are laid in lime, their longest direction being across the road ; so that a carriage passes along in the same easy manner as if it were upon a railway. The people of Holland arc generally reputed to be very slow in their motions ; but their land journies are certainly exceptions to this ; for in going to market, and even in farming operations, their carts are generally at speed. In the lower parts of the Netherlands, the roads partake a good deal of the Dutch construction, and in the higher parts, the chaussee oc curs, which in some districts is laid with the greatest precision, and makes most excellent roads.