MISCELLANEOUS. 1187 



for Placentia in the treaty of Utrecht; and during the late peace be- 

 tween the two nations the French, by the advantage of the place, 

 carried on an unbounded fishery, annually employing at least a thousand 

 sail, from two hundred to four hundred tons, ana twenty thousand men. 

 In the year 1730, there was a computation made of twenty-two hundred 

 thousand quintals offish at Marseilles, only for a market; and commu- 

 nibus annis* they cure above Jive millions of quintals. How dangerous 

 a nursery of seamen this island, therefore, has been, and ever will be, 

 while in their possession, is too obvious to a British constitution ; and 

 it is as demonstrable the recovery of a place of this consequence will 

 entirely break up their fishery, and destroy this formidable seminary 

 of seamen; for if they are happily removed from this advantageous 

 shelter, no protection is left for them on the fishing ground nearer than 

 old France." Such are the exaggerated statements and conclusions 

 of one of the most intelligent men of New England of the last century. 

 He, of course, did but embody and repeat to the ministry the opinions 

 expressed in Boston before his departure for England, and his decla- 

 rations are accordingly to be considered as those common at the time. 

 The number of quintals of fish caught and of vessels employed at 

 Cape Breton in 1744, which I have placed in the table of statistics, 

 though much less than Auchmuty's computations, and though author- 

 ized by authentic documents, and particularly by an official report of 

 a special agent of Governor Shirley, I consider too large. 



That, however, the French fishery was extensive at this island, can- 

 not be doubted. But whatever allowance should be made in the esti- 

 mates and figures of exasperated rivals, enough remains certain to 

 show that there has been a great decline in this branch of industry 

 since Cape Breton became a possession of the British crown. 



Louisbourg, the once .famous fortress, is now a heap of ruins. Even 

 the materials of which it was built have been carried away, to a very 

 considerable extent, to be used in the erection of structures hundreds 

 of miles distant. It is almost desolate. Those who visit it with the 

 aid of the imagination hesitate to believe that armies and fleets once 

 fought with desperate valor to retain and to win it; that the deep 

 silence which prevails was ever broken by crowds of busy people ; that 

 ships laden with rich cargoes ever anchored in waters wnich even fish- 

 ermen of our day seldom enter, except for shelter; that around them 

 were lofty and, as was thought, impregnable walls, aad nunneries, 

 palaces, terraces, and ga dens. 



The English history of Cape Breton, as connected with our subject, 

 is brief. 



Separated from Nova Scotia by a narrow strait only, it was an- 

 nexed to that colony, soon after its final cession, at the peace of 1763; 

 but in 1784 was created a province, and allowed corresponding rights 

 until 1820, when it was re-annexed to the government of Nova Scotia. 

 The population in 1839 was about 35,000, and in 1848 nearly 50,000. 



Great as were the expectations of the conquerors, its fisheries have 

 never been of account since the conquest. The statistics indicate no 

 increase, but, on the contrary, a considerable decline. The exports, 

 at the present time, are less than in 1828. In fact, Cape Breton is the 

 poorest part of British America. 



* One year with another. 



