DETROIT. 
171 
formerly resided at Detroit. This little town 
lias as yet received no particular name, neither 
has the new post; but they merely go under 
the name of. The new British post and town 
near the island of Bois-Blanc, and island in the 
, • f . • : • ' . - ■ ■ ' . ■ - . ' i ... 
river near two miles in length, and half a mile 
in breadth, that lies opposite to Malden. 
When the evacuation of Detroit was first 
talked of, the island was looked to as an eli¬ 
gible situation for the new post, and orders 
were sent to purchase it from the Indians, and 
to take possession of it in the name of his 
Britannic Majesty. Accordingly, a party of 
troops went down for that purpose from De¬ 
troit; they erected a small blockhouse on the 
northern extremity of it, and left a serjeant’s 
guard there for its defence. Preparations 
were afterwards making for building* a fort on 
it; but in the mean time a warm remon- 
strance against such proceedings came from 
the government of the United States*, who 
■ . iKj- ; . •. ■ " ; t a* „• i v - kjxoyx; 
* Notwithstanding that the government of the United 
States has thought it incumbent upon itself to remonstrate 
against our taking possession of this island, and thus to dis¬ 
pute every inch of ground respecting the right to which there 
could be the smallest doubt; yet the generality of the people 
of the States affect to talk of every such step as idle and un¬ 
necessary, inasmuch as they are fully persuaded, in their own 
minds, that all the British dominions in North America must, 
sooner or later, become a part of their empire. Thus, Mr. 
Imlay, in his account of the north-western territory: ■“ It is 
ee certain, that as the country has been more opened in Ame« 
