28 LABRADOR 



Admiral Bichery, one of the ablest of the admirals of the 

 French republic, made a flying visit from Cadiz to the 

 Banks of Newfoundland. After having wrought cruel 

 havoc among the fishermen on the Banks, he despatched 

 three of his ships, the Duquesne, the Censeur, and the 

 Friponne, under Commodore Allemand, to visit the coast 

 of Labrador. Allemand was delayed by wind and fog, 

 and when he arrived at Chateau Bay, most of the fishing 

 vessels had left for Europe. Several ships, however, still 

 remained, among them part of the rich convoy of peltries 

 returning from Hudson's Bay. These Allemand captured. 

 He then sent a summons to the commandant of Fort York, 

 the blockhouse which Governor Palliser had built at 

 Chateau Bay, demanding his surrender. When the com- 

 mandant refused to surrender, Allemand opened fire on 

 the fort, and soon silenced its fourteen guns. The English 

 thereupon took to the woods, but not before they had set 

 fire to all the buildings and stores at the post. The French 

 landed, but found " no thing but ashes"; after a vain 

 attempt to pursue the English garrison in the woods, they 

 put to sea again, taking with them those prizes which they 

 had not sunk or burned. They had done as much damage 

 as it was possible for them to do. The people of Labrador 

 have small reason to love the warships of revolutionary 

 states. 



/ In 1809 Labrador was given back to Newfoundland. 

 The arrangement was once more, however, found to be 

 unsatisfactory. The Cdte du Nord was really a part of 

 Lower Canada, and it did not fit in ; either legally or socially, 

 with the system of government in Newfoundland. The 



