THE CHARM OF CAPE BRETON ISLAND 



37 



Since 1914 the utilization of that stra- 

 tegic position that once made her mistress 

 of these northern seas has given Cape 

 Breton a new chapter of war history — a 

 fascinating chapter, with its pageant of 

 transport and convoy and patrol, and 

 back of it the great war effort of her 

 people. 



And now, in the new warfare of com- 

 merce, is coming the fulfillment of that 

 promise which her unique geography has 

 held from the first. 



THE RESORT OE ADVENTURERS IN THE 

 FIFTEENTH CENTURY 



From the close of the fifteenth century 

 until it came into French hands, after the 

 Treaty of Utrecht, the island was the 

 resort of the adventurers of all Europe — 

 French and English, Spanish, Dutch, and 

 Portuguese, attracted by the great wealth 

 of the coast fisheries and by the valuable 

 trade in furs with the native Micmacs. 



Before the close of Elizabeth's reign, 

 more than 200 English vessels were em- 

 ployed in the fisheries off Cape Breton 

 coasts. Cape Breton ports were neutral 

 anchorage for the shipping of the warring 

 European powers, her peaceful bays har- 

 bored privateer and frigate of war alike, 

 and there is a gay note of lace ruff and 

 jeweled sword against the stormy back- 

 ground of the times. 



By the Treaty of Utrecht the island 

 was ceded to France, as the key to her 

 colonies on the St. Lawrence and her rich 

 inland territory south of the Great Lakes. 

 England then held the whole Atlantic 

 seaboard, from Hudson Bay to Florida, 

 and her rival was not slow to see the ad- 

 vantage gained in this one exception. 



Strong fortifications were decided upon 

 for Cape Breton, which was renamed 

 "Isle Royale," and the site on the English 

 harbor, chosen for the "Dunkirk of 

 America," became Louisbourg, in honor 

 of the reigning Louis XIV. 



THE ROMANTIC STORY OE LOUISBURG 



The story of Louisburg, a fortress 25 

 years in the building, at a cost of six 

 millions of dollars — more than four times 

 that sum in the value of our money — its 

 two sieges, and its final demolition, is 

 the best-known chapter of Cape Breton's 

 history. 



Perhaps in the annals of the New 



World there is no story so romantic as 

 that of a city, ramparted and bastioned 

 and bristling with cannon, sheltering the 

 lives of thousands of souls, with its im- 

 posing public buildings, its cathedral, con- 

 vent, and hospital, its theater, and even 

 its brewery, springing up on the shores 

 of this far-off island in the North At- 

 lantic — an island almost unexplored and 

 inhabited by savages not always friendly, 

 and for half a century remaining a chal- 

 lenge and a menace to the neighboring 

 colonies of a rival power. 



The fortress became not only the base 

 of French naval power in America, but, 

 with outlying posts at St. Peters, Ingo- 

 nish, and St. Anns, the resort of priva- 

 teers that infested the New England 

 coast and the haven to which they con- 

 veyed their spoils. 



Upon the outbreak of war between 

 France and England, in 1744, it may be 

 imagined that to the colonists of Massa- 

 chusetts and New Hampshire the reduc- 

 tion of this stronghold of His Most 

 Christian Majesty was a highly attrac- 

 tive project. 



A SIEGE THAT FORESHADOWED THE AMER- 

 ICAN REVOLUTION 



The first siege and capture of Louis- 

 burg by the little band of New England 

 militiamen under Pepperell, with the 

 British West India fleet under Warren, 

 probably foreshadowed the American 

 Revolution. Of these intrepid colonists 

 one historian says : 



"Their expedition against Cape Breton 

 was their first national enterprise and its 

 result their first national triumph, and 

 it presaged greater things. There were 

 not wanting those who saw in the down- 

 fall of Louisburg the independence of the 

 American colonies. . . . The dor- 

 mant idea of national separation was fan- 

 ned into flame before the walls of Louis- 

 burg." 



On the surface, however, it was purely 

 a British exploit to "curb the haughtiness 

 of France." 



There were militarv honors and a title 

 for Pepperell ; and New York and Phila- 

 delphia and Boston rang loyally with : 



"A glorious peace we shall have soon 

 For we have conquered Cape Breton, 

 With a fa, la, la," etc., 



