George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 5, 13th edition.

[114] him; a man ‘of integrity and humanity,’¹ according

chap. VII.} 1763. May.

to the morals of the wilderness; of a comprehensive mind, fertile in resources, and of an undaunted nature, persevered in the design of recovering the land of the Senecas, and all west of it, by a confederacy of insurgent nations. His name still hovers over the north-west, as the hero who devised and conducted their great but unavailing struggle with destiny for the independence of their race.

Of all the inland settlements, Detroit was the largest and the most esteemed. The deep, majestic river, more than a half mile broad, carrying its vast flood calmly and noiselessly between the strait and well-defined banks of its channel, imparted grandeur to a country whose rising grounds and meadows, plains festooned with prolific wild vines, woodlands, brooks and fountains, were so mingled together that nothing was left to desire.² The climate was mild, and the air salubrious. Good land abounded, yielding maize, wheat, and every vegetable. The forests were a natural park, stocked with buffaloes, deer, quails, partridges and wild turkeys. Water-fowl of delicious flavor hovered along its streams, which yielded to the angler an astonishing variety of fish, especially the white fish, the richest and most luscious of them all. There every luxury of the table might be enjoyed at the sole expense of labor.³ The lovely and cheerful region attracted settlers, alike white men and savages; and the French had so occupied the two banks of the river that their numbers