To preserve order and discipline in these establishments, it was
proposed to employ active and intelligent non-commissioned
officers as overseers of the highways, and to place these under
the orders of superior officers appointed to preside over more
extensive districts.
It was proposed likewise to plant rows of useful trees by the
road-side from one station to another throughout the whole
country, and it was calculated that after a certain number of
years the produce of those trees would have been nearly
sufficient to defray all the expences of repairing the roads.
Such an arrangement, with the striking appearance of order and
regularity that would accompany it, could not have failed to
interest every person of feeling who saw it; and I am persuaded
that such a scheme might be carried into execution with great
advantage in most countries where standing armies are kept up in
time of peace. The reasons why this plan was not executed in
Bavaria at the time it was proposed are too long, and too foreign
to my present purpose to be here related. Perhaps a time may
come when they will cease to exist.
APPENDIX. No I.
ADDRESS and PETITION to all the Inhabitants and Citizens of
MUNICH, in the Name of the real Poor and Distressed.
(Translated from the German).
Too long have the public honour and safety, morality and religion,
called aloud for the extirpation of an evil, which, though habit
has rendered it familiar to us, always appears in all its horrid
and disgusting shapes; and whose dangerous effects show
themselves every where, and are increasing every day.
Too long already have the virtuous citizens of this metropolis
seen with concern the growing numbers of the Beggars, their
impudence, and their open and shameless debaucheries; yet
idleness and mendicity (those pests of society) have been so
feebly counteracted, that, instead of being checked and
suppressed, they have triumphed over those weak attempts to
restrain them and acquiring fresh vigour and activity from
success, have spread their baleful influence far and wide.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account