ON CAPE BEBTON. 247 



acquired by treaty or otherwise which the most christian king and the crown of France 

 have had till now over the said countries." From that day to this Cape Breton has 

 remained in the possession of England, and for many years after the remarkable event of 

 1758 the island was a forgotten spot iu that vast colonial empire, which was won by 

 Clive, Wolfe and Amherst in Asia and America. A few months after the capture of Loui- 

 bourg the British government gave orders to raze the fortifications with all the works and 

 defences of the harbour so that none of the materials could be used for the same purpose 

 at any future time. It was also ordered that the houses of the town should not be des- 

 troyed except so far as might be necessary for the full and complete execution of the orders 

 for " totally destroying all and every the fortifications thereof," but " in the demolition of 

 all the works " an eye was to be " particularly given to render as far as possible the port 

 and harbour as incommodious and as near impracticable as may be." These orders were 

 carried out during the summer of l'iGO under the directions of Greneral Whitmore who 

 was then in command of Louisbourg, and with the assistance of a company of engineers 

 who were sent for that purpose to Cape Breton.' In a few weeks the work of many years 

 was destroyed and the fortifications were levelled to the ground. All the artillery, muni- 

 tions of war, and stores of various sorts were taken to Halifax, and considerable quantities 

 of fine tufa and Portland stone which formed the foundations and ornamental parts of the 

 best buildings were carried to the same place where they were used in the new town 

 which was slowly growing up on the slope of the hill overlooking the spacious harbour. 

 The citadel, the stone building partly destroyed during the siege, was temporarily repaired 

 for the accommodation of a few troops still kept at Louisbourg until further orders from 

 the imperial government. With the destruction of this once famous town and the cession 

 of Cape Breton to England, Louisbourg eventually passed away from the memory of the 

 world, and half a century later an English minister of state during the war of 1812 actually 

 ordered " all American prisoners to be removed to Louisbourg as a place of safety." - 



The history of Cape Breton since 1763, when it was formally ceded to England, can 

 be very briefly summed up. By a proclamation dated the 7th of October, 1703, King 

 George the Third annexed this island and St. John's " with the lesser islands adjacent 

 thereto to our government of Nova Scotia." The island was constituted one electoral 

 division with the privilege of sending representatives to the assembly of the province. 

 For years, however, no such representation was given to Cape Breton in consequence of 

 there being no freeholders in the country entitled under the provincial law to elect mem- 



' See Akins, " N. 8. Archive.s," 476-478-486. Dr. Kingsford iu his " History of ^Canada," (iv. 141, )>.) tells us 

 that " it was not uuti! the 1st of .Tune, 1760, that the uninterrupted destruction of the works was commenced under 

 Captain Muckett, of the company of miners, assisted by workina; parties from the infantry, of strength varying 

 according to the work, from 160 to 220 daily. The miners and artificers numbered a little over 100. The whole 

 work was completed on the 10th of November, 1760, there having been only two days' intermission besides Sun- 

 days, one being the king's birthday and the other midsummer's day. The reason for keeping this latter day is 

 thus mentioned in a .AI. S. diary of the mining operations at Louisbourg, now in the Royal Artillery office, w hich 

 belonged to Sir John Seymour. According to tradition among the miners, Midsummer was the first that found 

 out the copper mines in Cornwall, for which occasion they esteem this a holy day, and all the miners come from 

 below ground to carouse and drink to the good old man's memory." See " Hist, of the Royal Regiment of Artil- 

 lery " by Major Francis Duncan. R. A., pp. 203-204. 



'' See Haliburton, " Hist, of Nova Scotia," i. 293. This incident recalls the story told of the Duke of Newcastle, 

 — " Good gracious you don't say so, Cape Breton is an island, I must nm and tell the king." See Wright, " Life 

 of Wolfe," 487. 



