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Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, by diminishing the

expense of carriage, put the remote parts of the country more

nearly upon a level with those in the neighbourhood of the town.

They are upon that account the greatest of all improvements. They

encourage the cultivation of the remote, which must always be the

most extensive circle of the country. They are advantageous to

the town by breaking down the monopoly of the country in its

neighbourhood. They are advantageous even to that part of the

country. Though they introduce some rival commodities into the

old market, they open many new markets to its produce. Monopoly,

besides, is a great enemy to good management, which can never be

universally established, but in consequence of that free and

universal competition which forces every body to have recourse to

it for the sake of self defence.