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Show 344 TRAVELS 1'HROUGH UPPER CANADA ~ us a mofl: cordi. 1 invitation to ftay at his houfc whilil: we {hould rema. in in this part of the country ; we gladly acccptc'i of it, and accord. 1ngly went with him on fhore. LETT ER XXXIII. Defcription qf the DijlriCl qJ Ma!dm.- E.flab!ijlmzent of a m·w Briti.Jh I'o)l tbcre.-ljland qf B?is Bfanc.-Dif}i·rence between tbe Britijh and Amer-icans reJPeC!ing the Rig/it qf Pq()ijjiou.-Bfock 1-I.olifes, l•or;.v con· jlruClcd.-Captain E-'s Farm.-lndicms.-Difcnption of Detroit River, and tbe Country bordering upon it.-Town o/ Detroit.-Head ~tartcrs qf the American ./Jrmy.-Ojjicers o/ tbe Wejlern Army.U, ifuccifsfu! Attempt of the Americans to imprefs upon the Minds of the Indians ·an Idea qf their Confiqucnce.-Of the Country round Detroit.-Doubts concerning our Route back to Philaddphia.-Dcter.:. mim "to go by Prtfqu' ljle.-Departure from Detroit. Malden, OClobcr. MALDEN is adifl:rict ofcontderable e~tent, fituatcd on the cafl:crn fide of Detroit River, about eighteen rndes below the town of Detroit. At the .lower end of the diftriet there are but few houfcs, and thefe fi:and very widely afunder ; but at the upper end, bordering upon the ri-ver, and adjoining to the new BritiG1 pofi: that has been clhblifhed fince the evacuation of Detroit, a little town has been laid out, which "already contains more than twenty houfes, and is rapidly increafmg. Hither fever:1l of the tt•aders have removed who formerly refided at Detroit. This little town has as yet received no particular name, neither has the new poll, but they merely go under the name of the new RritiG1 pofi: and .town near the ifland of Bois-Blanc, an ifland in the river near two miles in length, and l1alf a mile in breadth, that lies op .. J'lf>.fite to Malden. When B 0 I S B L A N C. I 315 When the evacuation of Detroit 'Hras fir talked of, the ifland , 'a• 1ookcd to as an digible fituation for the new pofi, anrl ordc ·s \Ven: fcnt to P~1 rch~L it fi-orn the Indians, and to take poffefiion of it in the name of Ius Bnta~1n i c Maj ·fty. J\ccordir g1y a p1rty of troops vent down for that purpolt.: fi·om Detroi t; they erected a fmall bloc!· hou(e 011 the northern extremity of it, and left a fcrjt:. nt's guard there for its dtfcnce. Preparation~ were afterwards making for building a for t on it; but in the mean t1rnc a warm remonf ranee again11 fuch proceedings came fi·om the governmen t of the Unitcd States*, who in fifted upon it th<tt • Notwithfianding th at the government o( the United Stares has thought it incumbent upon itfclf to rcmonllrate ag:~inll our taking poficffion of this ilhnc1, and thus to dif[Hltc every inch of gronnd rcfpcCling the right to which there could nor be the lin~llcH doubt, yl:t the generality of the people of the States afr Cl to talk of every fuch tlep as idle and unneccl!:try, inalinuch as they :tre fully pcrfuaded, in their own minds, that all the Britilh dominions in North America mull, fooncr or later, become :t pa1 t of their empirr. Thus Mr. Imlay, in hi5 account of the no1 th weflcrn territory : " It is cert:tin, that as " the country has been more opened in America, '' ancl thereby the rays of the fun hnve aCled " mor powerfully upon the rarth, thefc benefits "have tended g1catly t (often the winter fca" fon; (o th;,t peorling Canad:~, f0r which 1~e " arc mnc.h hliged to you, is a Jouhlc :~dvan" ta~c to us. Firll, it is fettling an,! popul.1ting " 1 country that mull, foonPr or l.ucr, from the " natu•.LI order of thin;>s, beco.ne a p:1rt of our " <'I'lpirc; and kcondty, it i~ immediately nH:- •• !ior.Hing the climate of the no1th rn Hates," • c. The c, rc ;l! em 1ircs th~t hw<! ever :tppc3rcu on the: !:tee cf the globe havl.! diO",Jvcd in the cour(c of tim , an I no one acquaintc I with hiftory will, T take it for gra•Jtt'd, prdume to fay th ;n t ~c ex ten h:d empire of Dritain, all p-lwcrfn! as it is at prcfcnt, is fo much more clofely knit together tlnn any other empire eve r was b··fore it, that ir can never f.11l a(nnJer; C,tnaJa, 1 therefore fu: >por·, may, with revolving years, be disjointed from the mothn country, as the well as her other colonies; but whenever 1 1at period I!Ja!l arrive, which I tru(l is fJr dillant, I am humbly of opinion that it will not form a11 nd ditional knot in that extcnfive un ion of nates which at pref~nt fubfills on the continent of North Amc1 ic"l; hdccd, were the 1htitJ, dominions in North America to be diflcvercd fi·om the other nu.:mbcrs of th~ empire the cni"uint• year, 1 run /lit! tcm 1Hcd to imagine tb:It the; would not become linkctlwith the prcfcnt IL !era! .1\m :.:rican lbt~.:s, and fur the lullowiu .. · r •a- o fons : Fidl:, b cauf~.: the conllitution of the fcJ~r;tl fl atcs, whi h is the bond that l10lds them Iog..:ther, is not calculated lor ruch a large territory as chat which the prcfcnt tlatcs, together with fuch an addition, would con llitut~.: . The conllitution c f thr Hates is th.1l of the people, who, t'uou~h th ir rdpecl n: tl"pref<.!ntttivcs :tff.: nblcd to;;-~ther at fun.: one place, mufl deciJe upon c~·c1 y mc:tfurc that i; to be ta!.;.cn for the public \n'.d, 'l'hio place·, it i · vicltnt, ought in jullicc to I.e .ts ruttral as p >flibk to el'cry finte; the nrctfiity, indcl'd, of lt:lving the pbcc (o lituatcJ h1s Lccn 111anifdcd in the buil.!ing of I he nnv f"·l <raJ city. \Vcrc it not for thi fltp, many rf til· note Ili<:ht,·n~ cl char.1Cl~..r~ in th..: ll tes h.tl'(' gi•·en it ·ts their opinion, that the union co Ild not kiVe Icm:tincd many years cntin•, fllr the flttl.!s fo ftr n·movc<l from the lcat of the krriflaturc, hL·ton; the uc1v city w1s founde-d, had o {'laincJ J:lic~·otdly of the diflanc.:: which rh•·ir delegate; had to tJ.tvd to nH'ct cong rc(,, and h~ l <gun to talk of th n cd!ity of a ftparation ot the ll:ttcs : aud now, Yy |