The Life of Thomas Telford | Page 5

and bridges His views on railways Failure of health Consulted as
to Dover Harbour Illness and death His character His friends Integrity
Views on money-making Benevolence Patriotism His Will Libraries in
Eskdale supported by his bequests
PREFACE
The present is a revised and in some respects enlarged edition of the
'Life of Telford,' originally published in the 'Lives of the Engineers,' to
which is prefixed an account of the early roads and modes of travelling
in Britain.
From this volume, read in connection with the Lives of George and
Robert Stephenson, in which the origin and extension of Railways is
described, an idea may be formed of the extraordinary progress which
has been made in opening up the internal communications of this
country during the last century.
Among the principal works executed by Telford in the course of his life,

were the great highways constructed by him in North Wales and the
Scotch Highlands, through districts formerly almost inaccessible, but
which are now as easily traversed as any English county.
By means of these roads, and the facilities afforded by railways, the
many are now enabled to visit with ease and comfort magnificent
mountain scenery, which before was only the costly privilege of the
few; at the same time that their construction has exercised a most
beneficial influence on the population of the districts themselves.
The Highland roads, which were constructed with the active assistance
of the Government, and were maintained partly at the public expense
until within the last few years, had the effect of stimulating industry,
improving agriculture, and converting a turbulent because unemployed
population into one of the most loyal and well-conditioned in the
empire;-- the policy thus adopted with reference to the Highlands, and
the beneficial results which have flowed from it, affording the strongest
encouragement to Government in dealing in like manner with the
internal communications of Ireland.
While the construction of the Highland roads was in progress, the late
Robert Southey, poet laureate, visited the Highlands in company with
his friend the engineer, and left on record an interesting account of his
visit, in a, manuscript now in the possession of Robert Rawlinson, C.E.,
to whom we are indebted for the extracts which are made from it in the
present volume.
London, October, 1867.
EARLY ROADS AND MODES OF TRAVELLING.
CHAPTER I.
OLD ROADS.
Roads have in all times been among the most influential agencies of
society; and the makers of them, by enabling men readily to
communicate with each other, have properly been regarded as among

the most effective pioneers of civilization.
Roads are literally the pathways not only of industry, but of social and
national intercourse. Wherever a line of communication between men
is formed, it renders commerce practicable; and, wherever commerce
penetrates, it creates a civilization and leaves a history.
Roads place the city and the town in connection with the village and
the farm, open up markets for field produce, and provide outlets for
manufactures. They enable the natural resources of a country to be
developed, facilitate travelling and intercourse, break down local
jealousies, and in all ways tend to bind together society and bring out
fully that healthy spirit of industry which is the life and soul of every
nation.
The road is so necessary an instrument of social wellbeing, that in
every new colony it is one of the first things thought of. First roads,
then commerce, institutions, schools, churches, and newspapers. The
new country, as well as the old, can only be effectually "opened up," as
the common phrase is, by roads and until these are made, it is virtually
closed.
Freedom itself cannot exist without free communication,--every
limitation of movement on the part of the members of society
amounting to a positive abridgment of their personal liberty. Hence
roads, canals, and railways, by providing the greatest possible facilities
for locomotion and information, are essential for the freedom of all
classes, of the poorest as well as the richest.
By bringing the ends of a kingdom together, they reduce the
inequalities of fortune and station, and, by equalizing the price of
commodities, to that extent they render them accessible to all. Without
their assistance, the concentrated populations of our large towns could
neither be clothed nor fed; but by their instrumentality an immense
range of country is brought as it were to their very doors, and the
sustenance and employment of large masses of people become
comparatively easy.

In the raw materials required for food, for manufactures, and for
domestic purposes, the cost of transport necessarily forms a
considerable item; and it is clear that the more this cost can be reduced
by facilities of communication, the cheaper these articles become, and
the more they are multiplied and enter into the consumption of the
community at large.
Let any one