came, he was quick to see had a logical bearing upon the
general question. The Potomac was the boundary line between Virginia and
Maryland; but Lord Baltimore's charter gave to Maryland jurisdiction
over the river to the Virginia bank; and this right Virginia had
recognized, claiming only for herself the free navigation of the Potomac
and the Pocomoke. Of course the laws of neither State were regarded when
it was worth while to evade them; and nothing was easier than to evade
them, since to the average human mind there is no privilege so precious
as a facility for smuggling. Nobody, at any rate, seems to have thought
anything about the matter till it came under Madison's observation after
his return home from Congress. To him it meant something more than mere
evasion of state laws and frauds on the state revenue. The subject fell
into line with his reflections upon the looseness of the bonds that held
the States together, and how unlikely it was that they would ever grow
into a respectable or prosperous nation while their present relations
continued. Virtually there was no maritime law on the Potomac, and
hardly even the pretense of any. What could be more absurd than to
provide ports of entry on one bank of a river, while on the other bank,
from the source to the sea, the whole country was free to all comers? If
the laws of either State were to be regarded on the opposite bank, a
treaty was as necessary between them as between any two contiguous
states in Europe.

Madison wrote to Jefferson, who was now a delegate in Congress, pointing
out this anomalous condition of things on the Potomac, and suggesting
that he should confer with the Maryland delegates upon the subject. The
proposal met with Jefferson's approbation; he sought an interview with
Mr. Stone, a delegate from Maryland, and, as he wrote to Madison,
"finding him of the same opinion, [I] have told him I would, by letters,
bring the subject forward on our part. They will consider it, therefore,
as originated by this conversation." Why "they" should not have been
permitted to "consider it as originated" from Madison's suggestion that
Jefferson should have such a conversation is not quite plain; for it was
Madison, not Jefferson, who had discovered that here was a wrong that
ought to be righted, and who had proposed that each State should appoint
commissioners to look into the matter and apply a remedy. So, also, so
far as subsequent negotiation on this subject ha