1800.] DoDnD’s Plan of the Grand Surry Canal. 83

number of trekſchuyts, or paſſage-boats, that will be always paſſing and repaſſing on the line near the metropolis, it will rival, in appearance, the ſcenes of China or Holland; and, with reſpe&t to water-carriage and population, no other canal in this kingdom can enter into competition, or aſſure the tranſit of an equal number of barges, from the univerſal demand for that neceflary article coal, for the uſe of the numerous inhabitants on thé line and the adjacent country, for manure, Britiſh manufactured and foreign goods, from the metropolis, the returns of timber, grain» and minerals, of native produce z but, as the whole of this ton= nage will be properly inveſtigated by Mr. DoDD, during his aQual ſurvey, its further conſideration muſt be deferred till that period. But it may be neceſlary further to remark, that, upon this canal, when completed to Southampton, mercantile ooods of every deſcription may be conveyed from the Britiſh Channel to the Metropolis, as well as warlike ſores from our arſenals in the Thames to Portſmouth, free from the preſent circuitous route, and of ſea hazard or detention from the abſolute neceſſity of two winds to-convey them round the North Forelznd, thereby avoiding a dangerous navigation of about two hundred ard twenty miles.

This ſtatement being only as a preliminary ſpecies of infor- mation to the Gentlemen intereſted, it may be neceflary to obſerve, that, in as early a ſtage as convenient, Mr. Donn wili «omplete the actual ſurvey, draw up his Report, furniſh the plans and ſe@ions, whereof the former will be printed, aná the latter engraved, for the uſe of the ſubſcribers; whilſt not only a generali ſurvey of the country contiguous to the canal, ſor the extending collateral cuts or railways, 1s intended, but likewiſe a ſearch for its mineral produdtions, as far as they may be wrought, or give occaſion to increaſed tonnage on the canal. The length of this canal, calculated from Rotherhithe, to its jun&ion with the river Wey, will not exceed twenty-eight miles, and eſtimating the expenſe at 2 very liberal ſum of three thouſand five hundred pounds per mile, will amount to no more than ninety-eight thouſand pounds; a ſum ſo inconſiderable, as, when put in com- pariſon with its revenue to be.derived from the tolls, to make it ïaatter of ſurpriſe the proje& had not been formed ſeveral Years 2go';/ fór, whether we confider the canal in the extended view oï national improvement, the new communication it will OPen between Portſmouth and the metropolis, the facility it will give to the trade of London, the local improvements it will commu- micate to the counties of Surrey and Hants, conſidered egually in an agricultural and commercial point of view, every intelligent mind mut be impreſſed with con1viZion of its great uity.. Lt is preſumed, from the amazing quantities of tonnage which will centrate on this canal, and which will be demonf{trated in-the Reports ſoon after the 2Qual ſurvey; that the profs of the