"From Detroit, at the head of Lake Erie, via Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) and Fort Cumberland, to the head of the Potomac, is 607 Miles.
"To Richmond 840
"To Philadelphia 741
"To Albany 943
"To Montreal 955
"Thus it appeared that Alexandria is 348 miles nearer Detroit than Montreal, with only two carrying places of about forty miles."
"Since my travels in 1779 I had been deeply and constantly impressed with the importance of constructing canals to connect the various waters of America. This conviction was confirmed under the examination of numerous canals of Europe, and traveling extensively on several of them. Hearing little else for two days from the persuasive tongue of this great man I was, I confess, completely under the influence of the canal mania, and it en kindled all my enthusiasm."
Among the objects which claimed the attention of Washington in his retirement was a change in the constitution of the Cincinnati. This society had been formed in May, 1783, when the army was encamped at Newburg. The prospect of speedily separating from each other had suggested the plan of forming an association among the officers to serve as a tie of brotherhood for the future.
This idea was suggested by General Knox and was matured in a meeting composed of the generals, and of deputies from the regiments, at which Major-General Steuben presided. An agreement was then entered into by which the officers were to constitute themselves into one society of friends, to endure as long as they should endure, or any of their eldest male posterity, and, in failure thereof, any collateral branches who might be judged worthy of becoming its supporters and members, were to be admitted into it. To mark their veneration for that celebrated Roman between whose situation and their own they found some similitude, they were to be denominated "The Society of the Cincinnati." Individuals of the respective States, distinguished for their patriotism and abilities, might be admitted as honorary members for life, provided their numbers should at no time exceed a ratio of one to four.
The society was to be designated by a medal of gold representing the American eagle bearing on its breast the devices of the order, which was to be suspended by a ribbon of deep blue edged with white, descriptive of the union of America and France. To the ministers who had represented the King of France at Philadelphia, to the admirals who had commanded in the American seas, to the Count de Rochambeau and the generals and colonels of the French troops who had served in the United States, the insignia of the order were to be presented and they were to be invited to consider themselves as members of the society, at the head of which the Commander-in-Chief was respectfully solicited to place his name. An incessant attention, on the part of the members, to the preservation of the exalted rights and liberties of human nature for which they had fought and bled, and an unalterable determination to promote and cherish between the respective States union and national honor, were declared to be the immutable principles of the society. Its objects were to perpetuate the remembrance of the American revolution, as well as cordial affection and the spirit of brotherly kindness among the officers, and to extend acts of beneficence to those officers and their families whose situation might require assistance. To give effect to the charitable object of the institution a common fund was to be created by the deposit of one month's pay on the part of every officer becoming a member, the product of which fund, after defraying certain necessary charges, was to be sacredly appropriated to this humane purpose.