1756
Page 18 of 23.
C: The Scheme page 6.
6 A SCHEME to make the
ent to keep the Works in Repair, the Advantages will increase, and this Undertaking may be the Means of fixing a lasting Benefit on Posterity.
What now remains is to consider the Objections that have been made against rendering this River Navigable.
Some have been of Opinion that it would be no real Advantage to the Country, and that it would not answer the Expence; but I hope I need not add any Consideration to those already offered to answer these Objections. Others have thought the Execution of it almost impossible, or at least very difficult, and too expensive to be attempted; but surely the Authority of so many Surveyors, able Workmen, and other judicious Persons, who have been employed and consulted about this Scheme, should have some Weight towards silencing this Objection also.
The Damage that may be done by taking down Mills, Dwelling-houses, Work-houses, and other Buildings, has been made another Objection. In Reply to which I affirm that, by the Execution of this Scheme, not one of them is proposed to be touched, or by any Means injured. This will appear by the map annexed, which shews the Course of the River proposed to be made Navigable, which I have caused to be planned, engraved, and published, for the better Satisfaction of those who may be nearly concerned in it.
The Prejudice, which the Mills may receive from the Loss of Water, has been considered; and, I hope, the Objection removed by the Construction of a Reservoir, which I have before described at large.
But one of the most important Objections of this Kind is that of raising Pens, and thereby injuring the Mills, and obstructing the Wheels above.
By this Scheme the Banks of no one Mill-pond ar to be raised a Quarter of an Inch, and the Stanks are proposed to be fixed in such Places as not to be the least Detriment to any one Mill on the River. And indeed as it will be necessary to deepen, cleanse, and straighten, and in some Places to cut off Nooks, remove Nuisances, and widen the River, the Mills will hereby receive great Advantages.
I will next consider the Objections made by the Proprietors of the adjoining Lands. And here it is necessary to observe that all the Land to be purchased doth not exceed 11 Acres, and for this they will receive a full Price. And as to cutting it into Strips, and, by raising the Waters, flooding and otherwise damaging the neighbouring Lands, which has been strongly urged as another Objection, I believe the pre-
