THE BROME-WALTON FAMILY. 
27 
fut surpris que Way ant jusqu’alors tire que quelques bombes y et ignorant 
Veffet de cette derniere . '. . .” 
Thus the actual fact was that the surrender of this French strong¬ 
hold—-with garrison of 1500 soldiers, besides native levies'—and the 
resultant security of Nova Scotia, were wholly due to the excellent and 
effective shell practice of the Royal Artillery under Capt. Chas. Brome, 
R.A. 
Terms of Capitulation. 
Proposed .—(In marching out) . . , “ Le Commandant aura a la Tete de 
sa garnison six Pieces de Cannon du plus gros Calibre, et un Mortier, avec 
cinquante coups de Poudre a chaque Piece. La Garnison seront envoyes directe- 
ment par Mer a Louishourg.” 
Granted.' —“ The Commander, Officers, Staff Officers, and Others . . . . 
shall march out with their Arms, Baggage, and Brums heating.” 
In his Despatches of 28th June, .Governor Lawrence states that we 
captured an. immense quantity of arms and stores; but does not par¬ 
ticularise any cannon. 1 2 The French account runs . . . (£ il etoit 
pourvu abondamment de munitions de guerre et de bouches. — Memoires, 
p. 46. 
Captain Knox adds (Yol. I., pp. 55-56), “ The Fort, which is a 
pentagon, is situated on an eminence; was erected by the French after 
the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle ; had a ditch . . . .; and the artillery 
now mounted here (1757) are 6-prs., 9-prs., and 12-prs., a few 9-inch 
mortars, and- some cohorns.” 
The French must, indeed, have been “fruitful of invention” to have 
hoped to dispossess the British of the unrivalled harbours and bays of 
Nova Scotia “ by gunshots of ingenious device ” from Fort Beau-sejour 
while their fleet, in 1755, dominated Cape Breton, and their Louis- 
bourgh Arsenal was within hail ? The feat is not impossible :— 
For as with gonnes we kill the crowe 
For spoiling our releefe ; 
The deuill so must we overthrown 
'With gonshote of beleefe. — Gascoigne. 
By muster-roll of 1st September, 1755, Captain Charles Brome had 
returned to Halifax, from Fort Cumberland, leaving in the fort the 
detachment, who were there when Capt. Knox's (43rd) regiment 3 
arrived in 1757 and witnessed the rapidity of artillery fire : and, by 
muster roll of 1756, Capt. Brome’s company furnished 1 officer, 6 
N.-O.O., 30 gunners and matrosses for the field train with the army 
“ on the Continent ” in replacement of the R.A. who had perished at 
Du Quesne and in later operations. 
“On Y b Bombs.” 3 
Whence came y e Bomb— pot. d’enfer ? 
Words sometimes fossilize history, as amber does the fly; 4 and the 
1 London Gazette, 1756, No. 9497. 
2 Now the Oxfordshire Light Infantry. 
3 The term employed in R.A. muster-rolls to indicate staff service on bomb-ships. 
4 Archdeacon Trench On Words, “ Amenities of Literature,” by the elder Disraeli. 
