h ult.,
requesting me to furnish Government with such
information as I might be able to afford,
'respecting the colored people settled in the
Western District;'[89] and beg to assure you that
the delay has neither arisen from indifference to
the task, nor indisposition to comply with the
wishes of Government upon the subject--being one
upon which I have long and anxiously bent my most
serious reflections,--but owing to bad health, and
want of leisure, coupled with the difficulty I
have experienced, (without entering into an
extended correspondence,) in arriving at any thing
like a correct account of the gradual _increase_
of these people, or even a fair estimate of their
present numbers. I trust, therefore, that should
the particulars furnished by me upon these heads,
be found more meager and defective than might be
expected, it will either be assigned to these
causes, or to others which may be given in the
course of the following remarks: and if these
remarks, themselves, be found to be drawn up with
more of loose unmethodical freedom than official
conciseness, I trust that that feature will rather
be regarded in their favor than otherwise.

"The exact period at which the colored people
began to make their appearance in the Western
District, _as settlers_, I have not been able to
ascertain to my satisfaction; but it is generally
believed to have been about the time of the War
with the Americans, in 1812. Before then, however,
there had been a few scattered about, who,
generally speaking, had, prior to the passing of
the Emancipation Bill, been slaves to different
individuals in the District. From 1813 to 1821,
the increase was very trifling; and they were
generally content to hire themselves out as
domestic or farm servants; but about the latter
period the desire of several gentlemen residing
near Sandwich and Amherstburgh to place settlers
on their lands, induced them, in the absence of
better, to resort to the unfortunate, impolitic
expedient of leasing out or selling small portions
of la