128 



LOUISBURG: CAPE BRETON. 



description abound in the lsl;ind, and at no veiy great distance 

 from tlie harLioar of Louisburg; even had the diit'ei'eut localities 

 where these ^'arioiis niateiiils abound been discovered, the 

 want of proper roads on which to transport them would, in all 

 probabihty, ha\'e prevented tlieir being used. 



In the simple article of sand, which invariably abounds upon 

 the sea shore, experience proved had to be conveyed to Louis- 

 burg. The character of the mortar which is found among the 

 ruins of the fortitications is sufficient evidence of the dilliculty 

 under which the engineere laboured for j^roper sand ;is a building 

 material. The simple fact is, that in every instance in which the 

 sea-shore sand was used the works speadily mouldered away and 

 fell down, especially after they had been submitted to the action 

 of the frost during winter. Mortar used in building is a silicate 

 of lime; and when a large quantity of the chloride of sodium 

 always found in the sea-shore sand is combined with it, the 

 proper combiiiat:on of silica and lime is impeded, and instead of 

 becoming the hard durable material which characterizes proper 

 mortar, it is friable, and easily disintegrated with the least 

 moisture, depending in all probability on the chloride of calcium 

 formed in the mixture. It is certain that after the engineers 

 employed on the works of Louiaburg had discovered their mis- 

 take, there existed a \-ast difficulty in remedying the defect, and 

 of procuring sand free from salt. The whole Island of Cape 

 Breton is surrounded and greatly indented hj the sea; while all 

 its inland parts were then totally inaccessible for want of roads, 

 so that proper sand could not be procured nearer than Canada 

 or the West Indies. 



The greater part of the cut-stone with which the fortifications 

 and other public edifices were built, had evidenth' from its cha- 

 racter be^n impoited from a distance ; but thorough material 

 extensively emploj'ed in the erection of the fortifications was 

 clearly obtained from the neighbouring rocks; and immense 

 quantities of such stone may be seen lying about in every 

 direction, evidently quarried from the surrounding rooks: this 

 had apparently been prepared for the extension or repair of the 

 works. 



The lime-stone and brick were also brought to the place : the 

 lime-stone apparently from the West Indies, as we found numerous 

 pieces containing corralines lying about in several places. The lime- 

 stone was burned in a kiln situated upon the sea beach, and must 

 lia\ e made excellent lime. The bi'icks were apparently brought 

 from France. These articles in themselves w.^uld have rendered a 

 large amount of shipping necessary in the ei^nveyance of such 

 bulky material, and certainly must have constituted a considera- 

 ble branch of commerce. 



The ad\'antageous position of Louisburg, placed in the midst 

 of the most productive fisheries in the world, would naturally 

 have added va.stly to its commerce. That there were at this 

 time very uuraerous establishments for curing offish in the har- 

 bour is evident from the ruins every wdiere scattered about ; and 

 when it is shown thit upwai'ds of 500 vessels, of about 150 tons, 

 were employed in catching fish, requiring a complement of over 

 10,000 men, it is evident that this business must have been very 

 extensively carried on. It is affirmed that 5,800,000 quintals, of 

 1121b. each, of cured cod alone, were annually exported from 

 Louisburg; and when we come to add the herring, mackerel, 

 and salmon, with the seal and whale oil, we shall not be supposed 

 to exaggerate the extent and importance of the commerce carried 

 on at this time. Six hundred square rigged vessels, and many 

 coa-ting craft, wore necessary to do the business which all these 

 did'erent wants and services required; while the imposts and 

 other duties accruing from this commerce, brought in an annual 

 income to tlin French crown of upwards of a million and a half 

 of iin-ps. 



[1853, 



As a striking instance of the vast amount of coirmeree carried 

 on in the city of Louisburg, we find it stated that a M. Maillet 

 de Gran\-ille, who had left France extremely poor, at the ao-e of 

 sixteen, liad, by industry and application to business, advanced 

 himself in the world so as to Le able to purchase the lordship of 

 Mount St. Louis, which cost him 80,000 livres; and that at the 

 taking of Louisburg lie lost property to the value of one hundred 

 an I fifty millions of livres, and was thereby left jjerfectly 

 destitute. 



From the above detail, also, it must be clearly evident that the 

 erection of the extensive defences of the city of Louisbourg must 

 have been built at enormous expense to the F'rench nation, when 

 all the materials, all the artizans, and even all the provisions con- 

 sumed had to be brought from a distance, and that, sometimes, 

 during a period of war. It is certain that upwards of 30,000,000 

 of livres were expended upon these works; and after the capture 

 of Louisburg, King Louis the Fourteenth is said to have ex- 

 claimed, that he should have expected to have found the very 

 stieets of Louisburg paved with silver, from the great and con- 

 tinued drain upon his treasury which the maintenance of this 

 establishment cost him. 



The city of Louisburg has twice fallen before the power of the 

 British arms. In the first instance it was taken by Sir William 

 PepperaU and the brave New England Colonists; and secondly 

 by the forces under General Amhei-st, assisted by the gallant 

 Wolfe; when, chiefly at the instigation of the inhabitants of the 

 city of Halifax, the British government resolved to destroy it; 

 but even this operation is said to have taken upwards of a year, 

 and to have cost £10,000. 



The city of Halifax has always been jealous of the splendid 

 and capacious harbour of Louisburg, and has invariably instigated 

 the government to prevent its redevelopment; but situated 200 

 miles nearer to Europe than Halifax, it is pre-eminently the spot 

 at which all the railroads on the American continent must ter- 

 minate. Suppose, for example, two steam-ships coming from the 

 eastward, off the harbour of Louisburg, ('to which point they 

 must come as a matter of necessity,) the one landing its pas- 

 sengers at this point, and dispatching them by railroad ; while 

 the other goes to Halifax, then forwards her's by similar means 

 to Petticodiae, in New Brunswick, where all the railroads must 

 meet : those sent from Louisbuig- will arrive full a day in advance 

 of those dispatched from Halifax, and not have to go full one 

 hundred miles out of their way to arrive at it. This fact, and 

 the certainty of being able to cross the Gut of Canso — scarcely a 

 mile wide, with a railway train at all seasons of the year — will 

 again restore the city of Louisburg to the importance which its 

 peculiar and favoured position unquestionabl}' assigns to it; for, 

 placed at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and at the 

 north-eastern extremity of this portion of the American continent, 

 steam-va=sels destined either for Canada or the United States may 

 here call for coal — of which there is abundance in the immediatie 

 neighbourhood — or land their passengers, to proceed by rail to 

 any part of the American continent, without going a mile out of 

 their way. 



At a subsequent period, should it be judged worthv of con- 

 sideration, I shall willingly detail the present condition of the 

 harbour of Louisburg, especially the ruins of the ancient city, and 

 point out fi-om its favoured position its applicability, not only to 

 be the chief railway station upon the American continent, but 

 the poir.t of communication for the great Atlantic magnetic 

 telegraph ; for the chief mart of the great fisheries in its neigh- 

 bourhood ; and, pre-eminently, for the best l<5catioii for a great 

 watering place for the valetudinarian, to be found upon this 

 continent. 



