The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-05-29
THE THAMES EMsANkMENT.
A Wonderful Work of Engineering, the
History of Which Is Forgotten.


Wonderful Work of Engineering, the
History of Which Is Forgotten.
AS the seat of an extensive commerce
and internal trade, Rome London was
as eminent in antiquity as it is to-day.
Its monuments, the memorials of its
greatness, prove it's prominence. One
of these, if it is Roman work, which is
uncertain, is the embankment of the
river Thames. This immense work is
quite unequalled by any of the labors of
the modern English engineers. For
thirty-seven miles along the course of
the stream lofty mounds confine the
river within fixed bounds, and offer a
secure path to the navigator. On each
side the country spreads out far below
the enhancement, and more than once
the waters have broken through. over
spread the lowlands, and left desola-
ton around them The English had
neglected to repair and strengthen the
banks of the river, and were indebted to
the skill of a Dutch engineer for the
restoration of the Roman work THE
Thames from Richmond" says Mr..
Smiles, lis an artificial river" How
many years of ceaseless toll, of acute
engineering skill, and vast expense were
employed on this unequalled work no
history relates, no record even suggests
Some authorities attribute the embank-
ment to the Belgic traders, before the
Roman invasion: others. even to the
monks of the Middle Ages. But there
is good reason to suppose that the trHs'
authors of the chief improvements ON
the Thames were the Romans. Similar
works on almost an equal scale exist in
other parts of England, and we have the
complaint of the subject Britons that
they were worn out and consumed in
clearing the woods and embanking the
fens Not that the hapless natives were
ever treated by their Roman taskmasters
as harshly as We're the savages of Hayti
and Cuba by the Spanish discoverers.
But they have outlived their conquerer.
Before these entertainments were
made, the country below London was
an immense fen, or marsh, over which
the tide flowed necessarily. The town
could have been only collection of rude
houses seated on the rising ground above
the river. 1t was already seat of con-
siderable trade even before the Roman
conquest. But the genius and skill of
the Roman engineers, if the Romans
built the embankment, gave it those
unequalled facilities for traffic that
have secured it's commercial supremacy
in every age. By the embankment the
Thames was confined within bounds;
many acres of land were added to the
agricultural domain, while along the
fine highway of the river ceaseless
procession of vessels of every size and
form moved up and down. They came,
as Strabo tells us, from the mouths of
the Loire and the Garonne, the Seine
and the Rhine. Some were war ships,
moved usually by oars and distinguished
by their sharp beakS of iron, and their
crews armed with spears and shields;
some were huge merchant vessels, pro-
PEELED by oars and sail laden with rich
cargoes of Eastern manufactures, with
the wines of Ialy, and the artistic wares
of Greece; some, sailing down the river
from the docks of London, would carry
the tin, lead, furs, and the corn and
cattle of the west to the ports of Gaul
and Spain. Julian found in Britain the
necessary supplies for his perishing sol
diers in Germany, and the immense
stores he drew from it when famine pre-
vailed on the continent show the gen.
eral cultivation and prosperity of the
island. His six hundred corn ships
were hastily built in the forest of Ar
dennes, and possibly landed only on the
southern shore; if we allow them bur
den of one hundred tons each, they
would equal the capacity of at least six
Umbrias or Etrurias, and the very names
of our modern argosies recall the Italian
teachers of our ancestors. Eugene Law
renee, in Harpers Magazine.