BINNEY'S CASE. 123

mill-sites, as 'shall be essential to the security of the said canal,
and in no other situation whatever,' (m) When this clear and
positive restriction shall have been, or may be attempted to be vio-
lated by any thing, done with that view alone, which is not now
alleged, or pretended, it will then be time enough to apply to a
court of justice for redress, either by way of remuneration or
prevention, (n) Therefore, at present, and in the form in which
this cause of complaint is set forth, it forms no just ground for
granting or continuing an injunction.

It appears, however, from the proceedings, that this claim of the
plaintiff's under the act incorporating The Potomac Company, (o)
is one which he has brooded over, and cherished for years past;
and, although, as it would seem, he had never before, in any way,
submitted it for the judgment of a court of justice; yet, that he had
repeatedly urged it in other forms, and in the most solemn manner.
If well founded, it is a claim, that may soon become a grievous pe-
rennial draft upon a large navigable high-way, common to this state
and its southern neighbor; it is one which has been deduced from the
upper portion of a great and valuable river, belonging altogether
to this state, and forming its southern boundary; and it is one
which has been interwoven with the longest and most important
line of artificial navigation ever sanctioned or participated in by
this republic. The plaintiff asserts his right, under this law, as to
a privilege of a high and almost inestimable value, and the defend-
ants oppose the claim, as a pretension utterly groundless; but
which, if sustained, would become an incumbrance so vast, as to
be destructive of the great work upon whose vitals it proposes to
fasten and to feed. All these circumstances give to this claim an
importance far more than ordinary; and exhibit it as one which,
on every account, requires a most careful examination and deliber-
ate consideration in all its connexions and bearings.

The Potomac river, it has been urged, must be regarded as a
public navigable river far above tide; and as the common property
and highway of the two states between which it is a boundary.
In proof of its navigable character, it has been said, that so long
ago as during the war of 1756, it was ascended, as high as Cumber-
land, by boats carrying a portion of the military stores of Brad-
dock's army; and has frequently since been navigated in the same

(m) 1824, ch. 79, s. 16.—(n) Fishmonger Company v. East India Company, 1
Dick. 164; Ripon. v. Hobart, 8 Cond. Chan. Rep. 331,—(o) 1784, ch. 33, s. 13.