310 J. G. BOURINOT 



" Lettres et Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire du Cape Breton " (à la Haye, 1760), is the only early work, after that 

 of Denys, that gives a detailed description of the bays, harbours, resources, commerce, government and general 

 condition of the island as it appeared to the author from 1751 to 1753, when Count de Raymond was governor. It 

 also includes a description of the Island of St. John (Prince Edward Island) and of the habits of the Indians. A 

 jarge portion of the work, which is in the form of a series of letters, contains reflections on the cause and origin of 

 the Seven Years' AVar, a statement of the French grievances against the English, a relation of the taking of the 

 Alcide and the Lys and of the surrender of Fort Beauséjour, and an account of the siege of 175S. It concludes 

 with "a conversation between an Englishman of merit and the autlior on the importance of Cape Breton to both 

 powers." A translation of the work, now before me, was published in London, 1760, for J. Nourse, in the Strand, 

 under the title, " Memoirs relating to the Natural, Civil and Commercial History of the Islands of Cape Breton and 

 Saint John, from the first settlement there to the taking of Louisbourg by the English in 1758. By an Impartial 

 Frenchman. Qnis nescit primam esse histori;e legem ne quid falsi dicere audeat? Deinde ne quid veri non 

 audeat. Translated from the Author's original manuscript." He has an " epistle dedicatory " {épître dedicatoire) 

 " oifered to the four illustrious personages who shared the honour of this glorious and important conquest." These 

 are "the able minister who formed the plan," William Pitt; '• the respectable director of the board of trade and 

 plantations," Lord Halifax (see Bancroft's "United States," ii. 471); " the admiral and general who displayed such 

 conduct and bravery in the execution," Boscawen and Amherst. The author was Thomas Pichon, alias Thomas 

 Signis Tyrrell— his mother's name — a native of old France, who was brought up at Marseilles, and studied medi- 

 cine in his early youth. From an interesting note by Dr. Akins in his " Selections from the Public Documents of 

 Nova Scotia" (p. 229). we learn that Pichon "possessed considerable classical attainments, and liaving been 

 employed as tutor in the family of a nobleman, obtained through his interest an appointment of inspector of hos- 

 pitals in Bohemia in 1743. While in that country he became acquainted with Count Raymond. When the 

 count was made governor at Louisbourg, in the He Royale (now Cape Breton), Pichon went with him as his secre- 

 tary, and held that situation from 1751 to 1753. He was then transferred to Fort Beauséjour (Chignecto) as a 

 commissary of stores. Having become known to Captain Scott, the commandant of the English fort on the 

 isthmus, he entered into a secret correspondence with Scott, Hussey, etc., the British officers in charge of the 

 English forts, and furniâhed them with all possible information as to the movements of Le Loutre, the state of tho 

 garrison of Beauséjour, etc., until the capture of the forts in 1755. Pichon was made (ostensibly) a prisoner with 

 the rest of the garrison. He was brought first to Pisiquid (Windsor), and then to Halifax. There ho was appar- 

 ently a prisoner on parole, and under the surveillance of Mr. Archibald HinsheUvood, one of the officers of govern- 

 ment. Pichon, while in Halifax, made intimacy with French prisoners of rank detained there, and reported their 

 plans and conversations to the Halifax government. He received money and articles of dress, etc., which he 

 requested from the English commandants in exchange for his information. In 1758 he went to London, where 

 he res i led until his death in 1781. He wrote a book on Cape Breton and St John Island (P. E. Island), containing 

 accurate descriptions of the Indians and other valuable information. This work was published anonymously in 

 English and in French, in London, 1760, and in Paris in 1761. He claimed the name of Tyrrell, as that of his 

 mother's family." MS. vol. entitled " Tyrrell Papers," N. S. Archives ; Murdoch's " History of Nova Scotia," vol. 

 ii, pp. 261, 272, etc. 



The "Biographie Universelle" gives us more information respecting M. Pichon, which does not appear in the 

 foregoing account. He married Madame le Prince de Beaumont in 1756, but did not live happily with her. He 

 died in London, where he engaged in literary pursuits, though the only work of his which appears to have been 

 printed, was the one on Cape Breton. It appears that he was "of a suspicious character, which rendered him 

 fanciful and capricious." He left a fine library to his native town of Vire. 



" Histoire et Description générale de la Nouvelle France avec le Journal Historienne d'un voyage fait par ordre 

 du Roi dans l'Amérique Septentrionale. Par le P. de Charlevoix, de la Compagnie de Jésus." The edition used 

 in the text of this work was published in six volumes at Paris in 1744. The 4th volume contains Bellin's map and 

 plans of Louisbouig and Port J)auphin, (St. Anne) and his map of Cape Breton, besides an excellent, though brief 

 description of the island (pp.124-142). It is not necessary to say that the famous old Pére's account of Cape Breton 

 is characterised by his usual clearness of style and accuracy of statement. 



" Collection de Manuscripts contenant lettres, mémoires, et autres documents historiques relatifs à la Nouvelle 

 France recueillis aux Archives de la Province de Quebec ou copiés a l'étranger" (1883-1885, Quebec, 4 vols.). In 

 this valuable collection of documents, arranged and published under the authority of the legislature of Quebec, 

 there are a number of commissions, memorandums and letters relating to Cape Breton. The most important are 

 the following : — 



1. Commission of Nicholas Denys, governor of Acadia, as far as Virginia, i. 141-144. 



2. Several letters respecting the evacuation of Plaisance, and the establishment of the new colony in "He 

 Royale," commonly called Cape Breton, ii. 559, 560, 505, 566. 



