from the states by the persecution of the republican party; and though
the thirteen years which have passed over have nearly extinguished
every spark of resentment against the Americans in the breasts of the
people of England, yet this is by no means the case in Upper Canada;
it is there common to hear, even from the children of the refugees,
the most gross invectives poured out against the people of the states;
and the people of the frontier states, in their turn, are as violent
against the refugees and their posterity; and, indeed, whilst Canada
forms a part of the British empire, I am inclined, from what I have
seen and heard in travelling through the country, to think that this
spirit will not die away. In Lower Canada the same acrimonious temper
of mind is not observable amongst the people, excepting indeed in
those few parts of the country where inhabited parts of the states
approach closely to these of the province; but here appears to be a
general disinclination amongst the inhabitants to have any political
connection with the people of the states, and the French Canadians
affect to hold them in the greatest contempt. Added to this, the
prevalent language of the lower province, which has remained the same
for almost forty years, notwithstanding the great pains that have been
taken to change it, and which is therefore likely to remain so still,
is another obstacle in the way of any close connection between the
people of the lower province and those of the states. Even in
conducting the affairs of the provincial legislative assembly,
notwithstanding that most of the English inhabitants are well
acquainted with the French language, yet a considerable degree of
difficulty is experienced from the generality of the French delegates
being totally ignorant of the English language, which, as I have
already mentioned, they have an unconquerable aversion against
learning.
Thirdly, I think the British dominions in North America will never be
annexed to those of the states, because they are by nature formed for
constituting a separate independent territory.
At present the boundary line between the British dominions and the
States runs along the river St. Croix, thence along the high lands
bordering upon New England till it meets the forty-fifth parallel of
north latitude, and afterwards along the said parallel until it
strikes the River St. Lawrence, or Cataragui, or Iroquois. Now the
dominions south of the St. Lawrence are evidently not separated from
the United States by any bold determinate boundary line; I therefore
suppose that they may, in some manner, be connected with them; but the
country to the northward, bounded on the north by Hudson’s Bay, on the
east by the ocean, on the south and west by the St. Lawrence, and that
vast chain of lakes which extends to the westward, is separated from
the United States by one of the most remarkable boundary lines that is
to be found on the face of the globe between any two countries on the
same continent; and from being bounded in such a remarkable manner,
and thus detached as it were by nature from the other parts of the
continent, it appears to me that it is calculated for forming a
distinct separate state, or distinct union of states, from the present
American federal states; that is, supposing, with the revolutions of
time, that this arm of the British empire should be some time or other
lopped off. I confess it appears strange to me, that any person should
suppose, after looking attentively over a map of North America, that
the British dominions, so extensive and so unconnected with them,
could ever become joined in a political union with the present federal
states on the continent. There is more reason to imagine that the
Floridas, and the Spanish possessions to the east of the Mississippi,
will be united therewith; for as the rivers which flow through the
Spanish dominions are the only channels whereby the people of some of
the western states can convey the produce of their own country to the
ocean with convenience, it is natural to suppose that the people of
these states will be anxious to gain possession of these rivers, for
which purpose they must possess themselves of the country through
which they pass. But there are certain bounds, beyond which a
representative government cannot extend, and the ocean on the east and
south, the St. Lawrence and the lakes on the north, and the
Mississippi on the west, certainly appear to set bounds to the
jurisdiction of the government of the United States, if indeed it can
extend even so far.
In this particular instance the dispute arises respecting the true
meaning of certain words of the treaty. “The boundary line,” it says,
“is to run through the middle of Lake Erie until it arrive at the water
communication between that lake and Lake Huron; thence along the middle
of the said water communication.” The people of the States construe the
middle of the water communication to be the middle of the most approved
and most frequented channel of the river; we, on the contrary, construe
it to be the middle of the river, provided there is a tolerable channel
on each side. Now the island of Bois Blanc clearly lies between the
middle of the river and the British main; but then the deepest and most
approved channel for ships of burthen is between the island and the
British shore. In our acceptation of the word, therefore, the island
unquestionably belongs to us; in that of the people of the States, to
them. It appears to me, that our claim in this instance is certainly the
most just; for although the best and most commodious channel be on our
side, yet the channel on the opposite side of the island is sufficiently
deep to admit through it, with perfect safety, the largest of the
vessels at present on the lakes, and indeed as large vessels as are
deemed suitable for this navigation.
Plans for a fort on the main land, and for one on the island of Bois
Blanc, have been drawn; but as only the one fort will be erected, the
building of it is postponed until it is determined to whom the island
belongs: if within the British dominions, the fort will be erected on
the island, as there is a still more advantageous position for one there
than on the main land; in the mean time a large block house, capable of
accommodating, in every respect comfortably, one hundred men and
officers, has been erected on the main land, around which about four
acres or more of ground have been reserved for his Majesty’s use, in
case the fort should not be built on the island.
[Sidenote: BLOCK HOUSE.]
A block house, which I have so frequently mentioned, is a building,
whose walls are formed of thick square pieces of timber. It is usually
built two stories high, in which case the upper story is made to project
about two or three feet beyond the walls of the lower one, and loop
holes are left in the floor round the edge of it, so that if an attempt
were made to storm the house, the garrison could fire directly down upon
the heads of the assailants. Loop holes are left also in various parts
of the walls, some of which are formed, as is the case at this new block
house at Malden, of a size sufficient to admit a small cannon to be
fired through them. The loop holes are furnished with large wooden
stoppers or wedges, which in the winter season, when there is no danger
of an attack, are put in, and the interstices closely caulked, to guard
against the cold; and indeed, to render the house warm, they are obliged
to take no small pains in caulking the seams between the timber in every
part. A block house, built on the most approved plan, is so constructed,
that if one half of it were shot away, the other half would stand firm.
Each piece of timber in the roof and walls is jointed in such a manner
as to be rendered independent of the next piece to it; one wall is
independent of the next wall, and the roof is in a great measure
independent of all of them, so that if a piece of artillery were played
upon the house, that bit of timber alone against which the ball struck
would be displaced, and every other one would remain uninjured. A block
house is proof against the heaviest fire of musquetry. As these houses
may be erected in a very short time, and as there is such an abundance
of timber in every part of the country, wherewith to build them, they
are met with in North America at almost every military out-post, and
indeed in almost every fortress throughout the country. There are
several in the upper town of Quebec.
[Sidenote: FARMS.]
Amongst the scattered houses at the lower end of the district of Malden,
there are several of a respectable appearance, and the farms adjoining
to them are very considerable. The farm belonging to our friend, Captain
E——, under whose roof we tarry, contains no less than two thousand
acres. A very large part of it is cleared, and it is cultivated in a
style which would not be thought meanly of even in England. His house,
which is the best in the whole district, is agreeably situated, at the
distance of about two hundred yards from the river; there is a full view
of the river, and of the island of Bois Blanc, from the parlour windows,
and the scene is continually enlivened by the number of Indian canoes
that pass and repass before it. In front of the house there is a neat
little lawn, paled in, and ornamented with clumps of trees, at the
bottom of which, not far from the water, stands a large Indian wigwam,
called the council house, in which the Indians are assembled whenever
there are any affairs of importance to be transacted between them and
the officers in the Indian department. Great numbers of these people
come from the island of Bois Blanc, where no less than five hundred
families of them are encamped, to visit us daily; and we in our turn go
frequently to the island, to have an opportunity of observing their
native manners and customs.
Our friend has told them, that we have crossed the big lake, the
Atlantic, on purpose to come and see them. This circumstance has given
them a very favourable opinion of us; they approve highly of the
undertaking, and say that we have employed our time to a good purpose.
No people on earth have a higher opinion of their own consequence;
indeed, they esteem themselves superior to every other race of men.
We remained for a short time in Malden, and then set off for Detroit in
a neat little pleasure boat, which one of the traders obligingly lent to
us. The river between the two places varies in breadth from two miles to
half a mile. The banks are mostly very low, and in some places large
marshes extend along the shores, and far up into the country. The shores
are adorned with rich timber of various kinds, and bordering upon the
marshes, where the trees have full scope to extend their branches, the
woodland scenery is very fine. Amidst the marshes, the river takes some
very considerable bends, and it is diversified at the same time with
several large islands, which occasion a great diversity of prospect.
[Sidenote: FRUITS.]
Beyond Malden no houses are to be seen on either side of the river,
except indeed the few miserable little huts in the Indian villages,
until you come within four miles or thereabouts of Detroit. Here the
settlements are very numerous on both sides, but particularly on that
belonging to the British. The country abounds with peach, apple, and
cherry orchards, the richest I ever beheld; in many of them the trees,
loaded with large apples of various dyes, appeared bent down into the
very water. They have many different sorts of excellent apples in this
part of the country, but there is one far superior to all the rest, and
which is held in great estimation, called the pomme caille. I do not
recollect to have seen it in any other part of the world, though
doubtless it is not peculiar to this neighbourhood. It is of an
extraordinary large size, and deep red colour; not confined merely to
the skin, but extending to the very core of the apple: if the skin be
taken off delicately, the fruit appears nearly as red as when entire. We
could not resist the temptation of stopping at the first of these
orchards we came to, and for a few pence we were allowed to lade our
boat with as much fruit as we could well carry away. The peaches were
nearly out of season now, but from the few I tasted, I should suppose
that they were of a good kind, far superior in flavour, size, and
juiciness to those commonly met with in the orchards of the middle
states.
The houses in this part of the country are all built in a similar style
to those in Lower Canada; the lands are laid out and cultivated also
similarly to those in the lower province; the manners and persons of the
inhabitants are the same; French is the predominant language, and the
traveller may fancy for a moment, if he pleases, that he has been wafted
by enchantment back again into the neighbourhood of Montreal or Three
Rivers. All the principal posts throughout the western country, along
the lakes, the Ohio, the Illinois, &c. were established by the French;
but, except at Detroit and in the neighbourhood, and in the Illinois
country, the French settlers have become so blended with the greater
number who spoke English, that their language has every where died away.
[Sidenote: DETROIT.]
Detroit contains about three hundred houses, and is the largest town in
the western country. It stands contiguous to the river, on the top of
the banks, which are here about twenty feet high. At the bottom of them
there are very extensive wharfs for the accommodation of the shipping,
built of wood, similar to those in the Atlantic sea-ports. The town
consists of several streets that run parallel to the river, which are
intersected by others at right angles. They are all very narrow, and not
being paved, dirty in the extreme whenever it happens to rain: for the
accommodation of passengers, however, there are footways in most of
them, formed of square logs, laid transversely close to each other. The
town is surrounded by a strong stockade, through which there are four
gates; two of them open to the wharfs, and the two others to the north
and south side of the town respectively. The gates are defended by
strong block houses, and on the west side of the town is a small fort in
form of a square, with bastions at the angles. At each of the corners of
this fort is planted a small field-piece; and these constitute the whole
of the ordnance at present in the place. The British kept a considerable
train of artillery here, but the place was never capable of holding out
for any length of time against a regular force: the fortifications,
indeed, were constructed chiefly as a defence against the Indians.
Detroit is at present the head-quarters of the western army of the
States; the garrison consists of three hundred men, who are quartered in
barracks. Very little attention is paid by the officers to the minutiæ
of discipline, so that however well the men may have acquitted
themselves in the field, they make but a poor appearance on parade. The
belles of the town are quite au desespoir at the late departure of the
British troops; though the American officers tell them they have no
reason to be so, as they will find them much more sensible agreeable men
than the British officers when they know them; a style of conversation,
which, strange as it may appear to us, is yet not at all uncommon
amongst them. Three months, however, have not altered the first opinion
of the ladies. I cannot better give you an idea of the unpolished,
coarse, discordant manners of the generality of the officers of the
western army of the States, than by telling you, that they cannot agree
sufficiently amongst themselves to form a regimental mess; repeated
attempts have been made since their arrival at Detroit to establish one,
but their frequent quarrels would never suffer it to remain permanent. A
duellist and an officer of the western army were nearly synonimous
terms, at one period, in the United States, owing to the very great
number of duels that took place amongst them when cantoned at Grenville.
[Sidenote: DETROIT.]
About two thirds of the inhabitants of Detroit are of French extraction,
and the greater part of the inhabitants of the settlements on the river,
both above and below the town, are of the same description. The former
are mostly engaged in trade, and they all appear to be much on an
equality. Detroit is a place of very considerable trade; there are no
less than twelve trading vessels belonging to it, brigs, sloops, and
schooners, of from fifty to one hundred tons burthen each. The inland
navigation in this quarter is indeed very extensive, Lake Erie, three
hundred miles in length, being open to vessels belonging to the port, on
the one side; and lakes Michigan and Huron, the first upwards of two
hundred miles in length, and sixty in breadth, and the second, no less
than one thousand miles in circumference, on the opposite side; not to
speak of Lake St. Clair and Detroit River, which connect these former
lakes together, or of the many large rivers which fall into them. The
stores and shops in the town are well furnished, and you may buy fine
cloth, linen, &c. and every article of wearing apparel, as good in their
kind, and nearly on as reasonable terms, as you can purchase them at New
York or Philadelphia.
The inhabitants are well supplied with provisions of every description;
the fish in particular, caught in the river and neighbouring lakes, are
of a very superior quality. The fish held in most estimation is a sort
of large trout, called the Michillimakinac white fish, from its being
caught mostly in the straits of that name. The inhabitants of Detroit
and the neighbouring country, however, though they have provisions in
plenty, are frequently much distressed for one very necessary
concomitant, namely, salt. Until within a short time past they had no
salt but what was brought from Europe; but salt springs have been
discovered in various parts of the country, from which they are now
beginning to manufacture that article for themselves. The best and most
profitable of the springs are retained in the hands of government, and
the profits arising from the sale of the salt are to be paid into the
treasury of the province. Throughout the western country they procure
their salt from springs, some of which throw up sufficient water to
yield several hundred bushels in the course of one week.
[Sidenote: DETROIT.]
There is a large Roman catholic church in the town of Detroit, and
another on the opposite side, called the Huron church, from its having
been devoted to the use of the Huron Indians. The streets of Detroit are
generally crowded with Indians of one tribe or other, and amongst them
you see numberless old squaws leading about their daughters, ever ready
to dispose of them, pro tempore, to the highest bidder. At night all the
Indians, except such as get admittance into private houses, and remain
there quietly, are turned out of the town, and the gates shut upon them.
The American officers here have endeavoured to their utmost to impress
upon the minds of the Indians an idea of their own superiority over the
British; but as they are very tardy in giving these people any presents,
they do not pay much attention to their words. General Wayne, from
continually promising them presents, but at the same time always
postponing the delivery when they come to ask for them, has
significantly been nicknamed by them, General Wabang, that is General
To-morrow.
The country around Detroit is very much cleared, and so likewise is that
on the British side of the river for a considerable way above the town.
The settlements extend nearly as far as Lake Huron; but beyond the River
La Trenche, which falls into Lake St. Clair, they are scattered very
thinly along the shores. The banks of the River La Trenche, or Thames,
as it is now called, are increasing very fast in population, as I before
mentioned, owing to the great emigration thither of people from the
neighbourhood of Niagara, and of Detroit also since it has been
evacuated by the British. We made an excursion, one morning, in our
little boat as far as Lake St. Clair, but met with nothing, either
amongst the inhabitants, or in the face of the country, particularly
deserving of mention. The country round Detroit is uncommonly flat, and
in none of the rivers is there a fall sufficient to turn even a grist
mill. The current of Detroit River itself is stronger than that of any
others, and a floating mill was once invented by a Frenchman, which was
chained in the middle of that river, where it was thought the stream
would be sufficiently swift to turn the water wheel: the building of it
was attended with considerable expence to the inhabitants, but after it
was finished it by no means answered their expectations. They grind
their corn at present by wind mills, which I do not remember to have
seen in any other part of North America.
The soil of the country bordering upon Detroit River is rich though
light, and it produces good crops both of Indian corn and wheat. The
climate is much more healthy than that of the country in the
neighbourhood of Niagara River; intermittent fevers however are by no
means uncommon disorders. The summers are intensely hot, Fahrenheit’s
thermometer often rising above 100; yet a winter seldom passes over but
what snow remains on the ground for two or three months.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
Whilst we remained at Detroit, we had to determine upon a point of some
moment to us travellers, namely, upon the route by which to return back
towards the Atlantic. None of us felt much inclined to cross the lake
again to Fort Erie, we at once therefore laid aside all thoughts of
returning that way. Two other routes then presented themselves for our
consideration; the one was to proceed by land from Detroit, through the
north-western territory of the United States, as far as the head waters
of some one of the rivers which fall into the Ohio, having reached
which, we might afterwards have proceeded upwards or downwards, as we
found most expedient: the other was to cross by water to Presqu’ Isle,
on the south side of Lake Erie, and thence go down French Creek and the
Alleghany River, as far as Pittsburgh on the Ohio, where being arrived
we should likewise have had the choice of descending the Ohio and
Mississippi, or of going on to Philadelphia, through Pennsylvania,
according as we should find circumstances most convenient. The first of
these routes was most suited to our inclination, but we soon found that
we must give over all thoughts of proceeding by it. The way to have
proceeded would have been to set out on horseback, taking with us
sufficient provisions to last for a journey through a forest of upwards
of two hundred miles in length, and trusting our horses to the food
which they could pick up for themselves amongst the bushes. There was no
possibility of procuring horses, however, for hire at Detroit or in the
neighbourhood, and had we purchased them, which could not have been done
but at a most exorbitant price, we should have found it a difficult
matter perhaps to have got rid of them when we had ended our land
journey, unless indeed we chose to turn them adrift in the woods, which
would not have been perfectly suitable to our finances. But independent
of this consideration there was another obstacle in our way, and that
was the difficulty of procuring guides. The Indians were all preparing
to set out on their hunting excursions, and had we even been able to
have procured a party of them for an escort, there would have been some
risk, we were told, of their deserting us before we reached our
journey’s end. If they fell in on their journey with a hunting party
that had been very successful; if they came to a place where there was
great abundance of game; or, in short, if we did not proceed just
according to their fancy, impatient of every restraint, and without
caring in the least for the hire we had promised them, they would,
perhaps, leave us in the whim of moment to shift for ourselves in the
woods, a situation we had no desire to see ourselves reduced to: we
determined therefore to proceed by Presqu’ Isle. But now another
difficulty arose, namely, how we were to get there: a small vessel, a
very unusual circumstance indeed, was just about to sail, but it was so
crowded with passengers, that there was not a single birth vacant, and
moreover, if there had been, we did not wish to depart so abruptly from
this part of the country. One of the principal traders, however, at
Detroit, to whom we had carried letters, soon accommodated matters to
our satisfaction, by promising to give orders to the master of one of
the lake vessels, of which he was in part owner, to land us at that
place. The vessel was to sail in a fortnight; we immediately therefore
secured a passage in her, and having settled with the master that he
should call for us at Malden, we set off once more for that place in our
little boat, and in a few hours, from the time we quitted Detroit,
arrived there.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_LETTER _ XXXIV.
_Presents delivered to the Indians on the Part of the British
Government.—Mode of distributing them.—Reasons why given.—What is the
best Method of conciliating the good Will of the Indians.—Little pains
taken by the Americans to keep up a good Understanding with the
Indians.—Consequences thereof.—War between the Americans and
Indians.—A brief Account of it.—Peace concluded by General Wayne.—Not
likely to remain permanent.—Why.—Indian Manner of making Peace
described._
Malden, October.
[Sidenote: PRESENTS.]