248 J. G. BOUEINOT 



bers. lu 1765 the population of the whole island does uot appear to have exceeded one 

 thousand persons, chiefly of French extraction, living at lie Madame, at St. Peter's, on the 

 Bras d'Or L>ke, and on the harbours and bays between Louisbourg and St. Peter's. The 

 English garrison in the old town consisted of three hundred regular troops. At that time 

 the town comprised one hundred and fifty buildings, of which sixteen were of stone and 

 ouly twenty-five inhabited ; but nearly all of them were in a ruinous state. The popu- 

 lation of Cape Breton appears to have made no progress during the closing years of the 

 last century, for in 1774 there were only ten hundred and eleven persons on the island, 

 exclusive of the Micmacs about two hundred and thirty in all.' The Euglish government 

 commenced at an early date to make svirveys of the lands, but as they did not, for many 

 years, give grants, there was no encouragement whatever for settlement on the island, 

 although its valuable resources were becoming gradually known through the reports of 

 the soldiers and officers who were stationed there from time to time. A number of Freiich 

 Acadians returned from St. Pierre and Miquelon where they had gone in 1761, and a few 

 loyalists came to Cape Breton during the war of independence and settled at Louisbourg, 

 Cow Bay, Bedeque and on the Marguerite Eiver. In J 783, when Lord Sydney— the 

 Honourable Thomas Townsend — administered the alFairs for the colonies. New Brunswick, 

 St. John's and Cape Breton were formally separated from the government of Nova Scotia, 

 and made distinct provinces A lieutenant-governor was appointed for Cape Breton and 

 inasmuch as its "situation and circumstances" did uot "admit the calling of an assembly," 

 he could " until it appears proper to call such assembly in the meantime make such 

 rules and regulations, by the advice of our council, for the said island as shall appear to 

 be necessary for the peace, order and good government thereof" ; but nothing could be 

 passed or done " to affect the life, limb or the property of the subject, or to the imposing 

 of any duties or taxes," and all rules and ordinances had to be transmitted at the first 

 opportunity for the approval or disapproval of the king in council. The lieutenant- 

 governor of Nova Scotia remained governor in chief over the new colonial governments, 

 and had the right to hear appeals from any courts that might be established within his 

 jurisdiction.- The first result of this new system was the foundation of the present 

 capital of the island on the beautiful and spacious estuary, previously known as Spanish 

 River or Harbour, and which was given the name of Sydney in honour of the statesman 

 under whose auspices Cape Breton was separated from Nova Scotia. From that time 

 until this Louisbourg has remained a hamlet of fishermen, — the safe refuge of cruisers 

 in storms, and an object of curiosity to the few tourists who have found their way to that 

 remote coast, once so famous in historic annals. 



The political history of Cape Breton, as a distinct government, is not in any sense in- 

 teresting or instructive. The first governor was Major Frederick Wallis DesBarres, an 

 English officer who had served with distinction at the second siege of Louisbourg and 

 was in attendance on Wolfe during the memorable engagement on the field of Abraham.^ 



' Murdoch, " Hist, of Nova Scotia," ii. -529. 



■^ See App. XVI (D.) at the end of tliis work for suUstance of royal instructions respecting Cape Breton as a 

 separate government. 



■' Some American accounts of DesBarre.s' life state that he was aide-de-camp to General Wolfe at the siege of 

 Quebec, and " that officer received his mortal wound while DesBarres was making a report to him and fell, dying, 

 in the arms of his aide." (See " Appletons' Cyrlopœdia," also their "Dictionary of American Biography.") 

 Captain Knox, a most trustworthy narrator, says in his " Historical Journal of the Campaign," (Loudon, 1769.) 



