| 116 MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE
bers of the company, which was chiefly composed of Baltimor-
eans,llB had already subscribed k18,500, and were, by the terms
of the incorporation, to raise £1,500 more. With this amount
they were to make a canal, thirty feet wide and three feet deep,
from Love Island, near the Pennsylvania border, to the mouth
of the Susquehanna River. The company was to have per-
petual succession; the right of eminent domain, and the right
to impose tolls, not exceeding one shilling per ton. Since the
General Assembly wished to give the " undertaking every en-
couragement and support," it also allowed the corporation, as
an indemnification for its great risk and expense, the exclu-
sive right to erect grist mills and other water works on the
canal. If the canal were not begun by October 1784, and fin-
ished in seven years, the act was to be void.""
Work had been begun by the next year, when the company
applied to the legislature for several changes in its charter: the
most important of which was the changing of the basis of the
toll rates from tonnage to rates that differed according to the
type of product carried. Several privileges which had been
overlooked in the original charter were granted to the com-
pany. The canal and works were vested in the shareholders as
tenants in common and were to be considered real estate: thus,
legally, the company was not a true corporation. The canal
and works were also ". . . forever exempt from any tax, im-
position, duty, or assessment whatsoever . . .," and the com-
pany's shares were made transferable. The Assembly again as-
serted that it was willing to do every thing in its power to aid
the project because its accomplishment " would extend the
commerce of the state." 118 By April 27, 1785 Madison was
able to write to Jefferson that " the undertaking on the Sus-
quehannah by Maryland goes on with great spirit and expec-
tations." And a little more than a year later he reported to
Jefferson that the project was " in such forwardness as to leave
no doubt of its success." 119
Time and again it was necessary for the legislature to come
to the aid of the company by extending the time for comple-
11° Griffith, p. 101.
1lq Md. Sess., 1783 c. 23. There were twenty shares at k1,000 apiece.
118 7bid, 1784, c. 66.
11' Davis, 11, 119.
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