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T is exceedingly interesting to note that the old plan of Washington's, by which the Middle West and Northwest were to be held in fee by those who controlled the Potomac, was as dominant now in 1823 as it was, within a limited circle, in 1784. In fact this is what the Potomac Company, the Potomac Canal Company, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company and the Baltimore and Ohio Railway Company have all stood for—this commercial control of the trans-Allegheny empire. Our general plan demands a full examination of this phase of our subject at the time at which we now have arrived—1823.

In view of the canal project now on the tapis the Potomac Company adopted a resolution on February 3, 1823, signifying their willingness (!) to surrender their charter