the value of French money in the end
of the last century) amounted to upwards of
nine hundred thousand pounds sterling.
When that great work was finished, the most
likely method, it was found, of keeping it in
constant repair, was to make a present of the
tolls to Riquet, the engineer who planned
and conducted the work. Those tolls constitute,
at present, a very large estate to the
different branches of the family of that gentleman,
who have, therefore, a great interest
to keep the work in constant repair. But had
those tolls been put under the management
of commissioners, who had no such interest,
they might perhaps, have been dissipated in
ornamental and unnecessary expenses, while
the most essential parts of the works were allowed
to go to ruin.
The tolls for the maintenance of a high-road
cannot, with any safety, be made the
property of private persons. A high-road,
though entirely neglected, does not become
altogether impassable, though a canal does.
The proprietors of the tolls upon a high-road,
therefore, might neglect altogether the repair
of the road, and yet continue to levy very
nearly the same tolls. It is proper, therefore,
that the tolls for the maintenance of such a
work should be put under the management
of commissioners or trustees.
In Great Britain, the abuses which the very
trustees have committed in the management
of those tolls, have, in many cases, been very
justly complained of. At many turnpikes,
it has been said, the money levied is more
than double of what is necessary for executing,
in the completest manner, the work,
which is often executed in a very slovenly
manner, and sometimes not executed at all.
The system of repairing the high-roads by
tolls of this kind, it must be observed, is not
of very long standing. We should not wonder,
therefore, if it has not yet been brought
that degree of perfection of which it seems
capable. If mean and improper persons are
frequently appointed trustees; and if proper
courts of inspection and account have not yet
been established for controlling their conduct,
and for reducing the tolls to what is barely
sufficient for executing the work to be done
by them; the recency of the institution both
accounts and apologizes for those defects, of
which, by the wisdom of parliament, the
greater part may, in due time, be gradually
remedied.
The money levied at the different turnpikes
in Great Britain, is supposed to exceed so
much what is necessary for repairing the
roads, that the savings which, with proper
economy, might be made from it, have been
considered, even by some ministers, as a very
great resource, which might, at some time or
another, be applied to the exigencies of the
state. Government, it has been said, by taking
the management of the turnpikes into its
own hands, and by employing the soldiers,
who would work for a very small addition to
their pay, could keep the roads in good order,
at a much less expense than it can be done by
trustees, who have no other workmen to employ,
but such as derive their whole subsistence
from their wages. A great revenue,
half a million, perhaps[48], it has been pretended,
might in this manner be gained, without
laying any new burden upon the people; and
the turnpike roads might be made to contribute
to the general expense of the state, in
the same manner as the post-office does at
present.
That a considerable revenue might be gained
in this manner, I have no doubt, though
probably not near so much as the projectors
of this plan have supposed. The plan itself,
however, seems liable to several very important
objections.
First, If the tolls which are levied at the
turnpikes should ever be considered as one of
the resources for supplying the exigencies of
the state, they would certainly be augmented
as those exigencies were supposed to require.
According to the policy of Great Britain,
therefore, they would probably be augmented
very fast. The facility with which a great
revenue could be drawn from them, would
probably encourage administration to recur
very frequently to this resource. Though it
may, perhaps, be more than doubtful, whether
half a million could by any economy be
saved out of the present tolls, it can scarcely
be doubted, but that a million might be saved
out of them, if they were doubled; and perhaps
two millions, if they were tripled[49]. This
great revenue, too, might be levied without
the appointment of a single new officer to collect
and receive it. But the turnpike tolls,
being continually augmented in this manner,
instead of facilitating the inland commerce of
the country, as at present, would soon become
a very great incumbrance upon it. The
expense of transporting all heavy goods from
one part of the country to another, would
soon be so much increased, the market for
all such goods, consequently, would soon be
so much narrowed, that their production
would be in a great measure discouraged,
and the most important branches of the domestic
industry of the country annihilated altogether.
Secondly, A tax upon carriages, in proportion
to their weight, though a very equal
tax when applied to the sole purpose of repairing
the roads, is a very unequal one when