During the recess of congress, the president made a tour through the New England states, omitting, however, Rhode Island, which had not yet given in its adhesion to the Constitution. Everywhere he was received with demonstrations of love and respect. “Men, women and children,” says Jared Sparkes, “people of all ranks, ages, and occupations, assembling from far and near, at the crossings of the roads and other public places where it was known he would pass. Military escorts attended him on the way, and at the principal towns, he was received and entertained by the civil authorities. “This journey,” continues the same writer, “not only furnished proofs of the attachment of the people, but convinced him of the growing prosperity of the country, and of the favour which the Constitution and the administration of government were gaining in the public mind. He saw with pleasure that the effects of the war had almost disappeared; that agriculture was pursued with activity; that the harvests were abundant, manufactures increasing, the towns flourishing, and commerce becoming daily more extended and profitable. The condition of society, the progress of improvements, the success of industrial enterprise, all gave tokens of order, peace and contentment, and a most cheering promise for the future.” Journeys of this kind, the great object of which was the becoming better acquainted with the capabilities, as well as the condition of the country, were not uncommon with Washington. Already, in 1784, at the close of the war, he had made a journey of 600 miles, to visit his lands on the Ohio, when the practicability of a great scheme suggested itself to him, viz. that of uniting the East and West, by means of intercommunication between the head waters of the Atlantic streams and the western rivers. He pressed the subject upon the notice of the government of Virginia, the result of which was the formation of two companies, “the Potomac Company,” and “the Kenhawa and James River Company.” Washington thus became the first mover in the great series of internal improvements which took place.