ON CAPE BRETON. 219 



he must iu this case have expended, seven hundred and fifty tons of powder in forty- 

 eight days, or fifteen tons per day." When we carefully read the governor's report, 

 written on the 2nd of September, it is qnite evident that he endeavours to exaggerate any 

 fact that may create the impression that he made every possible effort to prevent the town 

 falling into the hands of the English. Whatever mistakes he made previous to the siege, 

 it must be admitted that he fought bravely for the town afterwards, despite the difficulties 

 that surrounded him. He was unable to obtain any assistance from other parts of the 

 island. The settlements of Port Toulouse, Port Dauphin and Inganiche had been cap- 

 tured by the English, one before and the others during the j)rogress of the siege by vessels 

 detailed for that purpose by Commodore Warren. The governor's attempt to recall a 

 considerable number of Canadians and Indians who had been sent under a Canadian offi- 

 cer, Sieur Marin, to attack Port Royal was iin successful. Some small bodies of French 

 and Indians attempted to harass the colonial troops, as the siege went on, but they were 

 easily repulsed and scattered. The soldiers and militia fought courageously, but it is said 

 the officers had no confidence iu their men since the mutiny and prevented the com- 

 mandant from ordering more than one sortie, and that was practically a failure. The 

 governor, however, does not hesitate to " render justice to all the officers of the garrison 

 and to the soldiers and to the inhabitants who defended the place, all of whom have gen- 

 erally supported the labours of the siege with a courage without parallel during the one 

 hundred and sixteen days it lasted," — the figures here given being another evidence of 

 his inaccuracy in ail matters of statistics. The brave conduct of the garrison cannot, with 

 all the evidence before us, be denied, and had Duchambon shown any foresight before the 

 expiîditiou arrived, the colonial troops would probably have found the task before them 

 much more difiicult of accomplishment. 



The siege had lasted in all forty-seven days and must always be remembered as 

 among the most glorious exploits ever achieved by a body of volunteers. When the 

 news reached England and the colonies there were general rejoicings at so great a 

 victory. Boston, New York and Philadelphia were illuminated, and public thanksgivings 

 were offered iu all the churches of New England for this memorable triumph of colonial 

 troops. In the parent state it created much enthusiasm at a time when the public mind 

 was dismayed by the news of disaster on the continent, and there was a spirit of iinrest 

 abroad throughout the British islands. Cannon thundered from the Tower and the Park, 

 while the city was ablaze with bonfires and resounded with the huzzas of joyous proces- 

 sions of citizens surprised and delighted at the success of their fellow countrymen in the 

 new world. It did not take long, however, for this victory to be forgotten ; for when, 

 a few years later, the American colonies had asserted their independence of England, and 

 the question of the capture of Loiiisbourg came up incidentally iu a discussion in the 

 British Parliament, it was attempted to give all the credit to Commodore Warren and 

 ignore the all important part performed by the colonial expedition. Some English his- 

 torians in later times have not thought it worth while to mention this victory, which 

 Smollett considered 'the most important achievement of the war of 1745." Even Green, 

 in his "History of the English People" — a work remarkable for its scholarly and lucid style 

 — speaks of the capture of Louisberg (sir) by Amherst and Wolfe as "a brilliant success," 

 but he forgot in the previous part of his work, when writing of the year of Fontenoy, of 

 its successes and failures, to mention the triumph of the colonial troops on the western 



