There are many of the great lines of road which, to suit the facilities of modern travelling, still require a general improvement. The union with Ireland gave rise to the extension and improvement of the roads leading to the great ferries at Portpatrick, Holyhead, and Milford, which have severally undergone the latest amendments, especial:3:- the Holyhead line of road, pass ing through North Wales, by Shrewsberry and also by Chester, to London. Connected with these lines, a great bridge of suspension is now (1824) in progress at the straits of Menai, consisting of a catenarian arch of chains extending to 560 feet, between stupendous abutments of masonry ; a work which is no less credit able to the British name than to the enterprise of the eminent engineer, Mr. Telford, under whose direction it is executing.
In South Wales a similar policy on the part of the government, will, no doubt, also fall in due time to be acted upon. The ferry between Waterford and Milford haven, having now got steani-packets, may be made equally efficient with those of Portpat•ick and Donag hadee, as it wants only the improvement of the roads through South Wales to complete that communication which is somewhat shorter than the others to London.
In department of the roads is under the same description of management, by numerous trusts and commissions, as in England. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the roads of Ireland were, gene rally speaking, considered in a better condition than those of any other part of the United Kingdom. Here the cross roads are also numerous, and in a tolerable good state of repair. The principal roads are spacious, varying in breadth from thirty to sixty feet, while the ditches and side drains are in many instances kept with in the fences, and as the road-metal, consisting of lime stone, and a kind of lime-stone gravel, is of good quality, the surface of the Irish roads is in general smooth and hard.
The road•system in Scotland differs considerably in the management from those of England and Ireland. The Scots local trusts are divided into districts, each of which seem to have a more independent control without reference to quarter sessions, as is the case in the other parts of the kingdom. In taking any general view of the roads of Scotland, they may be classed under three distinct heads : First, those of the southern counties, which have been wholly made and maintained by the statute labour and the rates collected at the toll-bars : Secondly, the military roads of the Highlands, made by the troops on the peace establishment, wholly at the ex pense of the public ; and, thirdly, the roads made under the direction of the parliamentary commissioners, at the joint expense of the public and the landed interest of the northern counties.
It is to the formation of the two latter classes of these roads that we perhaps owe much of our present taste for road-making throughout the united kingdom. The military roads had their origin in the rebellion of 1715, when it was found that the royal troops could not pe net•ate farther into the Highlands than Blair in Athol from the total want of roads. " The inhabitants of the Highlands," says Colonel Robert Anstruthees Memo rial, included in the Parliamentary reports, ‘, a hardy race, accustomed from their infancy to arms, devoted to their chiefs, strangers to industry, and secluded from all intercourse with the rest of mankind, as well from their natural situation, as by their dress and language, formed a distinct people from the rest of the empire; and for ages, the government, the country, and the Highlanders, suffered greatly from these distinctions."
About the year 1732, General Wade was appointed, with the several regiments under his command in this district, to make certain roads, which should in future be sufficient for the conveyance of troops and military stores. The first line of road which they formed was from Stirling, across the Grampians, to Inverness, and from thence along the chain of forts, including Fort George, Fort Augustus, and Fort William, between the cast and west seas, by which troops and artillery were carried with facility into the central Highlands, and thereby the disturbances of 1745 were speedily sup pressed. By the year 1785, the military roads, includ ing what has been termed the Galloway road, from Portpatrick to the river Sark, on the confines of Cum berland, extended to no fewer than about 788 miles, including 1011 bridges ; and the light-house of Port Patrick. The improvement of the northern districts of Scotland became a still farther object with government about the year 11,03, when a select committee of the House of Commons, among other objects, took under its consideration the farther extension of roads in the Highlands and Islands. Commissioners were appointed by Parliament with power to defray one half of the estimated expense, provided the proprietors of the land advanced the remainder. In this manner, by the year 1814, about 700 miles of road had been made under this commission. At this period, the whole of the military and more recent parliamentary roads of the north, now extending to about 1200 miles, were thrown into one general trust, with power to assess the counties to a certain extent, the government making up the balance of about 10,0001. per annum, as the estimated expense of their maintenance, including ferry piers, landing slips, inspection, and management.
In the history of the road department of Great Bri tain, one of the most important features of its progress was, the appointment of the committee on the roads and inghways of England and Wales in the year 1806.
The reports of this committee upon wheel carriages, and the construction of roads in general, are perhaps of the highest importance to our domestic policy ever made to Parliament. These reports contain a mass of information collected from men of the first considera tion for scientific and practical knowledge ; among whom we notice the names of Jessop, Walker, Cum ming, Edgeworth, Ward, Boswell, Ste. Ece. It is, however, much to be wished, that the important la bours of this committee had not terminated till they had proved, by actual experiment, upon the great scale, many of the scientific and elegant theories submitted to its consideration. By such researches, our improvement in roads and a more perfect con struction of wheel carriages, would have been syste matically continued, till we should have realized the ultimate benefits anticipated by the conclusion of the committee ; namely, that no less than FIVE MIcatoxs sterling might annually be saved to the public by following out the inprovement of our roadsystem, under the direction of parliamentary commissioners specially appointed for the highways of the king dom.