"The roads of France were divided at this time into four classes, according to their importance, and the breadth that is given to them. The first class comprised the great roads which traverse the whole of France, from Paris to the principal cities and the ports; the second class, the roads between the provinces and principal cities; the third class, the roads between the principal towns in the same province and the neighbouring provinces; and the fourth class, the roads between small towns and villages.

By an order of council of the 6th of February, 1776, the breadth of the first class was fixed at forty-two feet (French) between the fences; of the second at thirty-six feet; of the third at thirty feet; and of the fourth at twenty-four feet.

"The roads have since been divided into three classes, not according to their breadth, but their direction."*

All the principal roads of France are under the management of Government. The department of

In

the Ponts et Chaussées has the care of them. the year 1836, the sum of £896,000 was granted by the chambers for maintaining them.

Notwithstanding, however, the attention which has been paid to the roads in France, their actual state as to number, extent, and condition, shows that the system of management is extremely imperfect.

With the exception of those parts of the main roads leading from Paris which are paved, they are

* Peuchet, p. 458.

weak and rutted. In those districts where they are repaired with gravel, they are almost impassable in winter; the diligences with six horses with difficulty travel four miles an hour. In other districts, where the materials are harder, a road is seldom to be seen with a smooth surface and of sufficient strength. Very extensive tracts of the kingdom are wholly without regularly formed roads; and, therefore, however valuable the efforts of the statesmen of France may have been in bringing the business of road-making to the point at which it has arrived, there is still wanting some new plan of legislation, by which good roads may be made, not only from one town to another, but into and through every commune in France.

In Spain the caminos reales, or king's highways, are not numerous, nor are they kept in good repair. Taking Madrid as a point of departure, there are two good roads to Burgos; one passing through Valladolid, and the other through Aranda de Duero. From Burgos, the road is continued by Vittoria and Irun to France. Both these roads are in tolerable repair. From Valladolid a good road has been made by Valentia and Reynosa to Santander. There are two good roads to Bilboa; one by Miranda, the other by Vittoria.

To the northward, there is a camino reale through Gallicia to Corunna and Ferrol; but in such want of repair, as to be impassable in numerous places for loaded carriages; attempts are, however, now making to improve it. In Catalonia the roads are comparatively numerous and good.

The road from Saragosa to Barcelona has lately been put in repair, and a diligence was established upon it in the beginning of the year 1831.

The other roads which are traced upon maps of Spain may be divided into three classes :

1st, Roads which have originally been made and covered with road metal; 2dly, Roads across the plains and through the valleys, formed by the tracks of the country carts, and which have only, in a few places, been artificially constructed; and, 3dly, the mule roads or paths, worn by the feet of the mules travelling over the mountains during a long series of years.

The revenue applicable to the construction and repair of the roads is derived, 1st, from tollgates; and 2dly, from local taxes. Upon all the practicable roads tolls are established at intervals of ten or twelve English miles.*

The following remark on the roads of Spain is taken from the Edinburgh Review for July, 1832: -" Another check upon agriculture is, that with the exception of some few high roads, which are sufficiently insecure, there exists scarce a waggon or cart track throughout Spain. All means of transport are therefore dear; and in Salamanca, it has been known, after a succession of abundant harvests, that the wheat has actually been left to rot, because it would not repay the cost of carriage. About 90,000l. is the average annual expenditure upon the roads in Spain."+

* See Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. i. p. 82.

+ Vol. lxv. p. 448.

In the most populous districts of the German and Russian dominions, the chaussée, or paved road, similar to that of France, is common; but over a great part of these countries the roads are little more than formed, being almost without any prepared surface. The roads in Holland are generally carried in undeviating straight lines along that low and flat country, between a double row of trees, with a ditch on each side. The Dutch are at great pains in preparing a firm foundation for their roads; which are then built with their bricks, called clinkers, laid in lime; their longest direction being across the road. The Swedes have long had the character of being excellent road engineers. Good rock is very generally met with in Sweden, and they spare no pains in breaking it small; their roads are spacious and smooth.

Where the country has been opened in Russia the roads are formed on scientific principles, but there are few of them. In the United States of

America the roads have

latterly been much im

proved; the principal lines are similar to the generality of those in England. Italy still preserves its

celebrity for interior communication.*

Before the peace of 1814, there was but one great road throughout the kingdom of Prussia, namely, that between Berlin and Magdeburgh, a distance of thirty leagues; the rest were scarcely practicable, and kept in a most detestable state.

*The foregoing description of foreign roads is taken from Mr. Stevenson's article on roads in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia.

There are now a number of great roads communicating between the capital and various parts of the kingdom, kept in the best order; most of them at the expense of the government, and a few defrayed by the local authorities. In the towns and villages through which these roads pass, the pavement is generally in a very bad state; the expense being paid by the municipal authorities, who are very independent, and only repair them when it suits their convenience.*

The little attention that was paid in former times to the roads of England is made evident by a proclamation of Charles the First, issued in 1629, confirming one of his father's, issued in the twentieth year of his reign, for the preservation of the roads of England, which commands "that no carrier or other person whatsoever shall travel with any waine, cart, or carriage with more than two wheels, nor with above the weight of twenty hundred, nor shall draw any waine, cart, or carriage, with more than five horses at once."+

The first attempt to put the roads of England into order occurred when the turnpike system was introduced. The ancient method employed to mend roads, until after the restoration of King Charles II., was by a pound rate on the landholders in the respective counties; and by the supply of carts and horses by parishes, for a limited number of days. But when, after the last named

* Vol. xii. p. 511. of Foreign Quarterly Review on Notes et Réflexions sur la Prusse en 1833, par le Marquis de Chambray. + Anderson's Commerce, vol. xix. p. 130.