undred locks
and fifty aqueducts. A large number of canals have since been
constructed, and France has at present over 4,000 miles of artificial
waterways, or more than any other country of Europe.

Nowhere else was the same completeness of organization possible. The
regular mail service of Germany dates back to the year of 1516, when
Emperor Maximilian established a postal route between Brussels and
Vienna and made Francis Count of Taxis Imperial Postmaster-General. The
postal service of the empire greatly improved up to the time of the
Thirty Years' War, which completely demoralized it. After the war the
individual states and free cities, usurping imperial prerogatives,
established postal routes of their own and thereby crippled the national
service. The same war also did great damage to the public thoroughfares,
and the commercial and manufacturing interests of the German empire were
until the end of the eighteenth century in a deplorable condition.
Frederick the Great, recognizing the fact that the industrial paralysis
of Germany was owing chiefly to its defective means of communication,
commenced to construct turnpikes and canals in Prussia, and the minor
German princes one by one imitated his example, until the Napoleonic
wars again put an end to internal improvements. The good work was
resumed, however, after the downfall of Napoleon, and in 1830 Germany
was intercrossed by from three to four thousand miles of turnpike.

In the Netherlands canals were constructed as early as the twelfth
century. Being particularly well adapted to the flat country of Holland,
they were rapidly extended until they connected all the cities, towns
and villages of the country, and to a large extent took the place of
roads. The largest canal of Holland is the one which connects the city
of Amsterdam with the North Sea. It was constructed between the years
of 1819 and 1825 at an expense of more than four million dollars. The
city of Amsterdam owes to this canal its present commercial prosperity.

Public roads and the state postal service are of comparatively recent
origin in Great Britain. The first public postal route was established
in 1635, during the reign of Charles I. In 1678 a public stage-coach
route was established between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The distance is
only forty-four miles, but the roads were so bad that, though the coach
was drawn by six able horses, the journey took three days. It was
considered a great improvemen