are principally French; but the American population is rapidly increasing. The soil here is of an excellent quality, and in high repute. The river, at the settlement, is about sixty rods wide, and it is navigable to Lake Erie, a distance of about twelve miles. The river has been explored for about seventy miles above Frenchtown; and beyond this distance the country is but little known. The land above the settlement is said to be even better than in its immediate vicinity. The name of the river comports well with the nature of the soil; it may be rendered, in English, river of grapes.
I approached this river with a light step and a heavy heart. Hundreds of my gallant countrymen had there fallen victims to British barbarity. Who has heard without horror, of the massacre at the River Raisin![63] When I arrived at this bloody field, the snow had left the hillocks, and the grass began to vegetate upon the soldier's grave. The sun was setting in sadness, and seemed not yet to have left off his weeds. The wind from the north, crossing {110} the icy vales, rebuked the unconscious spring; and the floating ice, striking against the banks of the river, spake of the warrior souls, pressing for waftage across the gulph of death.
In speaking of our too general employment of militia, I suggested, that in another place I should offer some reflections upon the subject of war.
Nothing but the influence of example, and the ability of
