PROCEEDINGS FOR 1900 IX 
written the following letter to the Honorary Secretary with respect to a 
subject of interest to all Canadians: 
“ Dear Sir John Bourinot, 
“Of the importance of the preservation of the ancient fortress of 
Louisbourg, there is no need to write to a historian born in Cape Breton 
like yourself. It is the most interesting historical ruin in the eastern part 
of North America. As such it ought to be held by the Government of 
Canada as a publie park for all time to come. Attorney-General 
Longley tells me that whatever land at the old fortress has not been 
ceded to individuals or occupied by squatters, belongs now to the Cana- 
dian Government by virtue of the fact that all military sites or property 
—the site of old Annapolis Fort, for instance—have been handed over 
in trust since Confederation by the Imperial authorities to the Dominion. 
Any action for the exclusive possession and control of such property 
should come accordingly from the Ottawa Government. I hope that 
you will interest yourself in this matter, and enlist the sympathy and 
co-operation of all those Canadians anxious to preserve those historic 
battlefields and ruins so intimately connected with the glorious past 
of Canada.” 
The Council direct the attention of the Royal Society to this 
subject, and express the earnest hope that steps will be immediately 
taken by the Dominion Government to preserve the old site of Louis- 
bourg for the use of the people of Canada, and not allow it to pass into 
the hands of commercial speculators or private individuals for seltish 
personal purposes. 
8. ARCHIVES OF CANADA. 
The preliminary report of the Archivist, Dr. Brymner, gives 
details of the new division of counties in Lower Canada in 1829, show- 
ing the population of each at that date. Attention is called to the 
growing impatience of control shown by a portion of the legislatures of 
Upper and Lower Canada, represented in the former by Mr. MacKenzie, 
and in the other by Mr. Papineau. The report by Sir John Colborne is 
noted, which states that questions were not treated on their merits in 
Upper Canada, but were regarded from a political point of view, as was 
the case of Francis Collins, a printer and publisher, who was prosecuted 
for libel; in the course of the trial the judge was alleged to have exceeded 
his duty, and to have endeavoured to prejudice the minds of the jury 
against Collins. In Lower Canada Christie, who represented Gaspé, 
was expelled from the Assembly more than once and re-elected as ire- 
