OCR Text |
Show ~04 TRAVEL TI-ll OUGH UPPER CANADA: c'onvem·c nccs were f:p at·e·d , wl it h could contribute to the comforts of the federal troops. . . . The >cncr~ lity of the people of the States were btg \~Ith the ulca, t_hat the poffdTion of thcfe p!Jccs would b . attend _d w1th the . m~fl: Iffiportallt and immediate advantage; anJ m partic ular they wete fully per {-ua dC, (1, th,a t they would thereby at once become mafters of1 ·t he trla de to the lak-: s, and of thrcc-fomths at kafl: of the fur trade, w uch, t 1ey faid, had hitherto b en fo unju!lly monopoliz d by the J~rjti{h merchams, tot1 1 e1· r great pte. J·U C1.t· c c. They 11"•1 ve now o(r ot 11offcilwn of them, and perceive the futility of all thcfe_ noti~ns. . ' The pofl:s furrcndercd arc four 111 nLlml cr; na.mcly, Port Ofwc~o, nt t11 c mou tll Of Oi.wego River , which f..1.1ls mto Lake Ontano, on the fouth fide; Fort Niagara, at the mouth of Niagara~ Rivet:; Fort Detroit, 011 the \\icftcrn bank of Detroit River; and 1· ort M1- c 11 1· 11·n nac 11 1· m1 c]c , 'a t tl1c fi.raits of the fame name, between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. From O~vego, _the firft of thefe, _we derive 1 no benefit whatever. The n 1ghbonnng country, for m1le round, wa a mere forefl:; it was inhabited by but few Indians, and th fc few carried their furs to Cadaragui or Kingfi.on, where they got a better price for thetn tho.n at Ofwcgo, as there were many traders there, and of courfe fome competition :Jmongfl: them; at the .Gtme time, the river, at the mouth of which this fort {lands, was always open to the p..:ople of the tates, ann along it a flnall trade wa.s carrie~ on by them between New York and Lake Ontario, which was 111 no wtfc ver intcrruptetl by the troops at the fort. By the furrender of this place, therefor , they have gained nothing but what they enjoyed before,. and the Britifh government is 1~wcd the expcncc of keeping up a u1elc(s garrifon of ftfty men. The qnantity of fms colleCted at Niagara is confiderable, and thtt neighbourhood being populou , it is a place oF no (inall trade ; hut _the town, in whicit this tmde i. carrit: ion, being on the Briti{h fide of the I me, the few merchants rhat lived within the limits of the fort immediately crofled over to the other fide, as ioon as it was rumoured that the fort was to be givt.:n up. By the pofiet1ion of a iolit:uy fort, therefore, the people of the Statls have not gained the fmalkft portion of this part of the bkc D E T R 0 1 T. hkc trade; nor is it prob1blc that any of them will find it th ·ir intere£1: to fettle a mcrcl ants ncar the fort; lor the BritiG1 mc:rchants, on the oppofitc tide, as has already hctn fhewn, can afford to fell their goods, brought up the vt. Lawrence, on much lower terms than what goods brought fi-om New York can be fold at; and as fiJr the colleC"l:ing of furs, it is not to be in ;1gincd that the Indians, who bear fuch a rooted hatrc:·d to the people; of the States, w!to arc attached to the BritiG1, and who are not a people ready to forftke their oiJ f1iends, will carry their furs over to their encmie , and giv.:: up their conn lions with the men with whom they have been in the h:.tbit of dealing, and who can afford to pay thc.m fo much better t 1an the traders on the oppoflte fide of rht: water. Detroit, of all the places which have been given up, is the mofl: im~ portant; for it is a town, containing at 1e:tf1: twelve hundred inhabitants. Since it furr nder, however, a new town has been !.tid out on the oppofitc bank of the river, eighteen miles lower down, and hither many of the traders have removed. The maj H·ity of them flay at Detroit; but few or none have become citiz n of the tate in confequence, nor is jr likely that they will, at 1ea!l f:>r fome time. In the late treaty, a particular provifion for them was made; th y were to be allowed to remain there for one year, without being called on to declare their fentiments, an l if at the end of tlut perioJ they chafe to remain BritiG1 fuhje , they were not to be moleil:ed ~' in any manner, but JitfTered to c.:trry on their trade as former ly in the fulle e -tent; the portion of the fur trade, which we fhall loli by the furrendc.:r of thi 1 bee, \v!ll therefore be very inconfi lcraole. , • This rnrt of the late treaty has by no mean inhabitant h1cl been c11le I o to fen·c in the hr n flriclly obfcrvcJ on the part of the States. militia, anJ to perfor111 duti s, from which, as The oflicer:l of the federal army, 11 ithout alk.ing JJrit ifh (ul>j t·<'li, tlwy were exempted by the arti-rt• rmiffion, and contrary to the J cflrc of fcvcml c!cs in tire t rCol tl' in th l' il fti'Olll'. When IVC of the remaining Britifh inhabitants, appro· were at Dettoi t, the Britifh inhauitants mrt to-priatcd to their own ufc fcvcral of the houfcs gethcr, and drcl\ up a memo rial on the fuhjcc~. and Jlo rc~ of thofc who had removed to th • new reciting their gricvanc,·s, which wa~ committed town, and dccl:ncd their dctcrmina ion of not to our Clre, and accorJin r ly prcfcntl'cl to the l>~:coming citizens of the States; and many of the BritiOt u iniflcr a< l'lril.tddpbi:t. Rr The |