2S EXPEDITrON TO TIIK 



England, we had hoped that the suggestions of this able 

 engineer on this subject, would have been more closely ad- 

 hered to. Whatever may have been the defects or the 

 mistakes which attended the location or execution, no 

 doubt can exist as to the importance of the work itself, or 

 as to the soundness of the policy which led to it. By the 

 opening of it, the nation has gained a great deal ; it has as- 

 certained the practicability and the expediency of entering 

 largely upon a system of internal improvements, the ne- 

 cessary consequence of which must be, to unite by closer 

 bonds, the distant parts of our vast country ; and of all im- 

 provements, none can be more important, than such as tend 

 to connect the waters of the Gulf of Mexico with those of 

 the Atlantic. Immediately allied to this subject, is the pos- 

 sibility of making a water communication between the 

 Ohio and Potomac. At a time when, by a broad and liberal 

 policy, the executive of the United States has been autho- 

 rized to apply to the consideration of this important object, 

 the united talents of the civil and military engineers of 

 our country, and when a full and able report upon the 

 practicability of this connexion may be expected from those 

 most competent to decide upon it, we shall be excused from 

 embodying here, the imperfect information which a tran- 

 sient visit through the country has allowed us to collect. 



We found some interest in that part of the route which 

 lies near Smithfield, as being the scene of some of General 

 Washington's earliest military operations. The ruins of 

 Fort Necessity, constructed at that distressing season, when 

 the French troops with their savage allies extended along 

 the banks of the Ohio, and oppressed our frontier settle- 

 ments, are still to be seen in what are called the Big Mea- 

 dows, about fifty miles west of Cumberland. This fort was 

 erected in the year 1754, and after having been defended , 



