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An History of Birmingham (1783) by William Hutton
page 268 of 347 (77%)
To Bromsgrove, thirteen miles, made extremely commodious for the first
four, under the patronage of John Kettle, Esq; in 1772, at the expence
of near 5000_l_. but afterwards is so confined, that two horses cannot
pass without danger; the sun and the winds are excluded, the rivers lie
open to the stranger, and he travels through dirt 'till Midsummer.

To Alcester, about twenty, formed in 1767, upon a tolerable plan, but is
rather too narrow, through a desolate country, which at present scarcely
defrays the expence; but that country seems to improve with the road.

Those to Stratford and Warwick, about twenty miles each, are much used
and much neglected.

That to Coventry, about the same distance, can only be equalled by the
Dudley road. The genius of the age has forgot, in some of these roads to
accommodate the foot passenger with a causeway.

The surveyor will be inclined to ask, How can a capital be raised to
defray this enormous expence? Suffer me to reply with an expression in
the life of Oliver Cromwell, "He that lays out money when necessary, and
only then, will accomplish matters beyond the reach of imagination."

Government long practised the impolitic mode of transporting vast
numbers of her people to America, under the character of felons; these,
who are generally in the prime of life, might be made extremely useful
to that country which they formerly robbed, and against which, they are
at this moment carrying arms. It would be easy to reduce this ferocious
race under a kind of martial discipline; to badge them with a mark only
removeable by the governors, for hope should ever be left for
repentance, and to employ them in the rougher arts of life, according to
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