188 J. G. BOUEINOT 



acquainted.' But whenever he takes up svibjects of which he has no personal knowledge, 

 his statements are very perplexing on account of their vagueness. We can see through- 

 out the book, however, that he had much confidence in the capabilities of the island, and 

 deeply regretted that his misfortunes had prevented him from carrying on the enterprises 

 which he had in view for its settlement and development. During his residence in Cape 

 Breton, he tilled not only the land around his post at St. Pierre, but had a fine settlement 

 at St. Anne's, where he cultivated even fruit successfully. Consequently he was able to write 

 with some knowledge of the resources of Cape Breton. His departure was a serious blow 

 to the island, which remained for years neglected by his countrymen. Not a single Euro- 

 pean settlement was made within its limits until the first years of the eighteenth century, 

 while the total population of Acadie itself did not reach a thousand souls, including the 

 little garrison at Port Royal. Denys appears to have been in Quebec in 1G79, for there is 

 documentary evidence- to show that he was blindât that lime and was pressing his claims 

 for consideration on the government and asking an appointment of master of forests for 

 his son, very likely the father of that M. de la Ronde Denys, whose name sometimes occurs 

 in the later records of the island when Louisbourg was founded and Isle Royale became 

 at last a valued possession of France.^ 



II. Cape Breton as Ile Royale, and the foundation of Loxjlsbourg. 



During the seventeenth century it was a question whether Acadie was destined to 

 be an English or a French colony. At times the red cross of England, and at others the 

 Bourbon lilies were raised over the little fort at Port Royal, and it was not until the 

 victories of Marlborough had humbled the pride of the great monarch, and crushed the 

 armies of France at Blenheim, Ramilles and Oudenarde, that the country now known as 

 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, passed forever into the possession of England. The 

 treaty of Utrecht^ was the first check given to France in her designs to colonize America 



' See App. IX (first paragraph) to this work, for a bibliographical notice of this very rare book. I give also, in 

 Ajip. VIII, a translation of the chapter referring to the island specially, as it has never before been printed in 

 English. It shows that Denys had only a superficial acquaintance with the geographical and natnral features of the 

 island generally. His knowledge was confined to St. Peter's, the Labrador and the coast between Inganicheand 

 Cape North. 



- (iuobec Dociimenfs, i. 273. 



■' M. de la Ronde Denys, grand.son of the old governor, a captain of infiintry, wlio took part in the settlement 

 of Cajje Breton in 1713, sent a description in that ysar to the French minister having charge of the colonies, in 

 which he calls St. Anne's the finest harbour in the world, and presses ils advantages over any that Louisbourg 

 could offer as the chief port and fortified place. "My devoted grandfather," lie wrote, "had a fort there, the 

 remains of wliieh are yet to be seen, and the Indians tell us that he raised the finest grain there ami we Iiavo 

 likewise seen the fields which he used to till ; and there are to be seen in the place very fine apple trees, from which 



we have eaten very good fruit for the season We see by experience, my lord, that New England, which is 



not worlh a tenth part of Cape Breton, how that colony flourishes ; for I know of certain knowledge that there are 

 built in the couniy of Boston, every year, more than 1500 vessels, from 15 tons uj) to SOD tons burthen. One sees that 

 there is nothing to hinder us doing the same thing. We are deficient in notbing required." It is quite true tbat 

 when we look at Uape Breton, with its unrivalled situation for the successful prosecution of the fisheries, its 

 remarkable mines of bituminous coal, and its relation to the rest of the continent, we can well believe that its 

 natural advantages are far sujierior to those of the New England States ; but its want of wealth, cajjital and enter- 

 prise and of connection for many years with a great and prosperous country like that to the back of New England, 

 have kept the island always in a very inferior position until the present, when its prospects at last seem brighter. 



' For text of this treaty so far as it relates to Cape Breton, see App. XVI to this work. 



