J.S. McLennan, Louisbourg: From Its Foundation To Its Fall (Sydney: Fortress Press, 1969), Chapter 3

© Fortress Press

The Navy Board took up the direction of affairs with vigour, although they were seriously cramped by the lack of funds ; for the hope of better things, which the Regent's government inspired, had relieved, only to the slightest degree, the scarcity of money. At the earliest possible time, letters were written to the officials saying that provisions would be sent them from one of the southern ports early in the spring, and that the deplorable conditions of the winter of 1715 would not be permitted to occur again. This promise was kept, for the first merchant ships arrived on the 10th of April 1716, and in May the first provisions sent out had been received. The sufferings of the winter had not been extreme, although conditions must have been far from comfortable. At Port Toulouse they were almost without bread, many of their cattle had died from lack of fodder, and two shipwrecks on Isle Madame had added to the miseries of their situation. To relieve the distress of the inhabitants at Louisbourg, St. Ovide had to supply them from the stores of the garrison. On the other hand, the supply of intoxicants being reduced to a minimum, the garrison was never in better health. 

The change of administration at home leads naturally to an account of the objects which were sought in the settlement of Isle Royale, the conditions there which affected the attainment of the end aimed at, and the administrative machinery which the Navy Board employed. The narrative of what took place at Louisbourg will show the degree of success its administration attained, as well as the effectiveness of the methods the Board employed. The object was to establish at Isle Royale a flourishing settlement based on its principal industry, the fisheries, and the development of the other resources of the Island, and an entrepôt at which the commerce based on these industries might be carried on with France, the West Indies, and Canada. The first encouragement given to this trade before the Board took charge was the remission of the duties on coal coming from Isle Royale (January 29, 1715). A year later fish and fish oils were also allowed free importation into France, and at a later date again, duties on products of the French West Indies, coming by way of Louisbourg, were also removed. The exemptions were each for a term of ten years, but in each case they were, as the time elapsed, renewed. [1]

The sustenance of several hundred people on an island which produced at the time no food for man except its abundant fish and game, was the object of vital importance. Supplies were to be drawn from France and Canada, which was entirely in accordance with the economic policy of the time ; also from Acadia. This trade was on the border-land of the permitted, for although it was a British colony, the fact that its inhabitants were French, who, it was hoped, would remove to Isle Royale, made it politic to encourage this intercourse. On account, however, of the higher state to which agriculture had been developed in New England, and the keenness for profitable trade of its inhabitants, it was not only the surest, but the cheapest source of supply for the nourishment of these French settlers. 

The advantages of this commerce, foreseen by Raudot, were felt by Costebelle, who wrote proposing that, as far as concerned the products of those colonies, it should be permitted to Isle Royale. The Board, being advised that French merchants would cease to send their vessels to Isle Royale if his view was accepted, decided, instead, to make more stringent rules against all commercial intercourse with foreigners. 

The cost of food stuffs from France was very high, the supply in Canada was uncertain, from both the voyage was difficult, and the cost of transportation therefore high ; intercourse with Acadia was dependent on the inaction of its English administration, who complained at a later date that there was often scarcity in Annapolis when Louisbourg was abundantly supplied. The local officials therefore found themselves hampered by the prohibition of commercial intercourse with its most advantageous source of supply. 

The administration of the Colony was nominally part of the government of New France, but the affairs of Isle Royale were directed from the Cabinet of the Minister, and the Governor and Intendant of Canada were advised about the affairs of Isle Royale only in as far as the business of the two colonies was concerned. The connection was kept alive, however, in the phraseology of Royal documents which were addressed to the authorities of New France as well as those of Isle Royale, although the subject-matter concerned the latter colony alone. 

The chief official of the Colony was the Governor, and next to him in rank was, in Isle Royale, the Commissaire-Ordonnateur discharging the functions which, in more important colonies, as Canada, in the provinces of France, and in quasi-dependent states such as Lorraine during the reign there of Stanislas of Poland, were those of the Intendant. 

1. Moreau St. Méry, vol. 50, pp. 27, 43, 54, 576. 

All military matters except the commissariat were under the exclusive control of the Governor, as well as the disposition of any vessels, which, however, he was obliged to supply to the Commissaire-Ordonnateur. Grants of lands and the maintenance of order were common to both, while the administration of justice, the supervision of the hospital, the care of the King's stores, and the providing of supplies belonged exclusively to the Commissaire-Ordonnateur. The Governor represented the military, the Commissaire-Ordonnateur the civil element. There was natural antagonism between the two, and every letter of joint instructions from the Minister inculcated the necessity of harmony. But the distinction between their departments was not easy to draw, and constant friction resulted, although the home administration did all that it could to minimize its causes. Their seats in church, the order in which the sacrament should be administered, their places in processions were regulated. While the easy-going Costebelle had no trouble with Soubras, St. Ovide constantly quarrelled with the three Commissaire-Ordonnateurs who served with him. They quarrelled about precedence, about the realities of business, about its formalities, and while probably no staff of a government or corporation is free from jealousy or rivalry, these motives are not allowed, under a strong administration, to interfere with efficiency. The conditions at Louisbourg, however, were so bad that, as an instance, the Council writes that the Governor and the Commissaire-Ordonnateur seem to agree only in one thing, that being to hamper the engineer in the work of building the fortifications. Their disagreements reached, in the same year, such a point that St. Ovide, the Governor, and de Mezy, who had replaced Soubras, were informed that if they could not agree, remedies would be proposed to the Regent which would be disagreeable to them both.[1] Even so sharp a threat as this did not make things go smoothly for long. But it would be unfair to come to the conclusion that the officials of Isle Royale were entirely occupied in such rivalries. Each in his own department was desirous of doing well, or at least of standing well with the Minister. Each was jealous of the dignity of his office, and feared to secure an immediate benefit to the common weal by making concessions which might diminish the prestige of the position he occupied. 

Verville and Verrier, the engineers of the fortifications, Isabeau and Ganet, the contractors who built them, saw only the necessity of hastening on this work to which they were urged by the home Government. They complained of St. Ovide, who, as military head, was bound to protect the interest of the captains whose soldiers worked for the contractors. The Commissaire-Ordonnateur, equally with the Governor, did not care for this work, being in great part independejit of them, atid the latter having to submit to the outlay for the fortifications 

1. B, vol. 42, f. 480 and 490, July 9, Sept. 20, 1720.

being kept separate from the current accounts of the establishment. Zeal is not as likely to produce such friction as slackness, but in an isolated community, without a supreme head, so distant that it took months to get a decision from the highest authority, public interest suffered even from the unharmonized zeal of the officials. 

The ordinary course of business was that the Commissaire-Ordonnateur and the Governor wrote joint letters to the Board, and that each addressed it separately, on subjects exclusively in his control ; and that in reply the Board, and afterwards the Minister, wrote in the same way. Sometimes it happened that the Commissaire-Ordonnateur, in another letter, withdrew statements which he had signed in the joint letter in the interests of harmony. [1] This correspondence and the accounts were taken up at headquarters, analyzed, evidently by well- informed and able subordinates of the Minister, and the replies sent out by the men of war which sailed in the early summer ; so that the normal intercourse was to have letters written in the autumn answered in the following May or June. It is obvious from Ministerial replies that other sources of information than the letters of colonial officials were available. One of these sources was the presence in France of officers of the garrison on leave, who were given the despatches and probably had an audience with the Minister.[2] Another unquestionably was correspondence which no longer is available, and a third was the presence in France of officials familiar with the conditions of the Colony. From one or all of these were gathered the statements on which the decisions of the Council and Ministers were made.[3]

A superior council was established in 1717 which consisted of the Governor, the King's Lieutenant, the Commissaire-Ordonnateur sitting as first councillor, two other councillors, a procureur-general, and a greffier. This was a Court of Justice governed by the Coutume de Paris, from which appeals were allowed to Quebec and France, and only after registration by it did patents, proclamations, regulations, and grants of land become effective. There was also established an Admiralty Court [4] which had charge of shipping, wrecks, and marine police. It was sustained by moderate fees on the shipping of the port, and being under the High Admiral of France, who had certain rights over prizes, confiscations, and wrecks, created a new source of conflict. 

Of greater importance than the " men of the pen," who were officials, Treasurer, clerks, and the like, under the Commissaire-Ordonnateur, 'were the men of the sword the officers of the troops which the French administration unlike that of England, thought it necessary to keep in an isolated colony even 

1. E.g. Soubras, I.R. vol. 3, f, 186. 
2. La Perelle, who went with dispatches in 1721, had an audience with the Regent arranged for him (I.R. 2, 378). 
3. The major of the troops, the Treasurer and officers of the Admiralty wrote annually. The rules of the Board as to correspondence were not strictly observe. 
4. Edict of Jan. 12, 1727

in time of profound peace. These troops were neither regular regiments of the splendid armies of France nor " Compagnies Franches de la Marine," which, formed in 1690, garrisoned the naval depots of France and served on her King's ships, although in organization and uniform the Louisbourg troops closely resembled the latter corps. They were apparently supplementary companies organized on the same basis, for the total number of the Compagnies Franches [1] is accounted for in other services than that of the Colony. There is some looseness in the way the Isle Royale troops are described. La Ronde and de Pensens announced themselves to Armstrong in 17I4 as captains of " Compagnies Franches." Later these were described as " Compagnies Détachées," also as " Compagnies Françaises." Each company was a separate unit, and the only purely military officer over the company commanders was a major in each garrison to supervise the discipline of the companies in the place. He had so little authority that the supervision was usually ineffective, and a status so uncertain that he had to have at Louisbourg a declaration that he took precedence of the captains of the companies. 

The strength of the garrison of Louisbourg varied from six of these companies to twenty-four in the last years. Each consisted of forty-five men, raised later to sixty, and in 1742 to seventy, not counting the drummer, under command of a captain, lieutenant, enseigne (an enseigne en deux was added, and two cadets a l'aiguilette), two sergeants and two corporals.[2] The rations were somewhat better than those of Canada, following in this the custom which had obtained in Placentia, and for the lower grades of the officers the pay also was slightly higher, although Soubras states that it was inadequate.[3] The uniform was white with blue facings. At Louisbourg the soldiers were allowed to marry, and apparently it was a perquisite of the married soldiers to keep taverns. 

The pay of the men was small, but they were supposed to carry on the work of the King in building fortifications and similar works, for which they received extra pay. They were also allowed to work for the inhabitants, which added to their income. The fact that they were only paid twice a year, their fondness for drink, their captains supplying them with it, and at a profit to themselves, [4] made of these troops an undisciplined and ineffective body, which punishments did not deter from evil courses nor inducements to settle, turn into good citizens. The officers began their career early ; they were entered as soldiers at the

1. The only account I have found of this body, which deals only incidentally with the troops at Isle Royale, is Les Anciennes Troupes de la Marine, by G. Coste, Paris, 1893
2. B, 35, f. 786. 
3. I.R. vol. 2, p, 120. 
4. The outfit was inadequate. Soubras pointed out in 1717 that it was impossible that one pair of shoes and stockings should last for a year. 

earliest age, even unweaned, " à la mamelle," says L'Hermitte, but, counting this an exaggeration, it is known that the sons, six years old, of officers served in the ranks, that is, drew rations and pay. They passed through the various grades reasonably certain of a pension, unless by gross misconduct they forfeited their positions. An early act of the Regency was to fix the age of entrance at sixteen. The commissions in these companies were not confined exclusively to those trained for them. Indeed the militant forces were rather treated as one, whether their service was on sea or land, and there were not infrequent instances of company officers taking a position on board ships, and of sea officers being translated into officers of these companies. The rank of the captain corresponded to Enseigne de Vaisseau, for practical purposes as well as precedence. [1]

The conditions at Louisbourg were bad for the officers as well as for the men, their relations, the superior making pecuniary profit out of the inferior, were demoralizing for both parties, and the permanence of residence for both officers and men added another to the many causes which worked against effectiveness. There were few changes among the officers except by death, and in the quietude of Louisbourg, man after man rose slowly through the different grades, placing his sons in the same service, and passed away without at any moment discharging the serious duties of his profession. Eight company officers signed the declaration of taking possession in 1713, the descendants of six of them were at the siege in I745, and in addition to these, many of the earlier officers were represented by sons and grandsons at the second siege. From 1713 to 1744 not more active duty was required of these officers than garrison service in the town, in one of its outposts, or an occasional mission to Quebec or Boston. Thus, owing to the trivial distances they travelled, to that extraordinary genius of the French for dealing with the aborigines, they had neither the training in adventurous journeys nor in the diplomacy which the transforming into permanent allies of new tribes gave to the officer serving in Canada. The glimpses which they got of France in the leave which many of them enjoyed, brought them in touch from time to time with social conditions different from their own. The effect of such visits was transitory. The permanent pressure on the individual came from the standards of a small place, with its relationships of blood, marriage, and the social and official adjustments which propinquity forces on the members of an isolated community. The fishing which the officers carried on in their own names in 17I7, and not improbably through other parties to a later time, brought them into touch with the bourgeois merchants, marriages took place, and in time we find children of these merchants and of civil officials serving as officers of these companies. In

1. St. Ovide in 1732 was made a post- captain in the navy (B, vol. 57).

every respect the conditions were unfavourable to professional and social development, so that the readiness for service and the zeal we find in many instances is satisfactory evidence of the tough fibre of sound moral qualities. In one instance, that of Joseph de Catalogne, an officer spent his leisure in scientific studies to such effect that his treatise on the magnet gained for him a seat in the Acad6mie des Sciences. Some of these officers had some training as engineers, and although the fortifications of Louisbourg were in charge of an engineer sent out from France, these officials assisted him and were in charge of the fortifications which were built at the outports. The Couange family were in this position, and the work of some other young officers was praised by the authorities, while incidentally it may be mentioned that Lartigue, the King's storekeeper, an amateur engineer, displayed skill during the first siege, and there remains to us an admirable map of the siege of 1758 which is his handiwork.[1] The garrison was further supplemented by some half companies of the Swiss regiment of Karrer, which was first formed in I7I9, and included in its ranks many deserters from foreign regiments. It was ill 1720 transferred to the department of the navy, and thereafter detachments were sent out, not only to Louisbourg, but to the southern colonies of France. One of the advantages of these troops was that they were a relief to those of France, and furnished a larger proportion of skilled workmen than could be found among the recruits for the French companies. The industry for which this organization was established, the fisheries, and for the protection of which not only was the garrison maintained but fortifications were built, was carried on both by vessels filled out in France and by merchants resident in Louisbourg and its outports. [2] 

A complicated trade of this kind, in which the Government undertook to regulate wages and prices of the product, gave rise to much controversy. The disposition of the local authorities was naturally to favour the merchants and fishermen of the place against their competitors who came out for the season. Regulations were passed against the traders from France remaining all winter, against their selling at retail. [3] The French merchants as well as the natives complained of a tax, following the precedent of Placentia, of a quintal of fish from each boat for the support of the hospital. The Board gave way to the representations of the merchants, and it was not till some years later that the tax was imposed. So far did St. Ovide at a later date carry his favouring of local enterprise that the trade with Quebec received a most serious check on account of the regulations that vessels from Canada should not leave port with their cargoes unsold. This placed them at the mercy of a ring of local buyers, so that 

1. Arch. de la M. Sec. Hydro. herein reproduced. 
2. For details of this trade see Chapter XII. 
3. Those were disallowed by the Navv Board.

the Quebec vessels ceased for a time to come to Louisbourg. Regulations were also attempted to prevent larger vessels from fishing near the port, as it interfered with boat fishing, and, in short, in every one of these early years are to be found instances of flagrant violation of Colbert's maxim, that entire liberty in trade should be allowed to those whom alone the State recognized, its own citizens. 

Under these conditions and with this administration proceeded the development of the Colony. It was decided, probably on account of the complaints against his regulations, that Soubras should return to Dunkerque. His career had certainly not been marked by success, but his correspondence gives the impression that he was efficient, although not forceful, for most of the steps he had taken for what he had considered the welfare of the Colony were either disallowed by superior authority or proved ineffective. A petition from the people asking that he should be retained in Cape Breton was forwarded to France, but de Mezy, who was on the retired list as Commissaire-Ordonnateur, was appointed to the position in 1718. He did not, however, come out until the following year. 

In the summer of I716 L'Hermitte returned to Cape Breton and made an expedition to Sable Island, rumours having reached the Court that its settlement might be possible. But then, as now, these shifting sand-banks were but a menace to the navigator. A vessel from Quebec, with a valuable cargo, had been lost there in 1713, only two of her crew escaping to the Island, whence they were rescued by a New England vessel. [1] L'Hermitte also made some plans of Louisbourg and Port Toulouse and in the autumn returned to Paris. Beaucours, who succeeded him, was apparently not more satisfactory as an engineer, and his estimates, like those of L'Hermitte, were considered excessive. He was moved from headquarters at Port Dauphin to Port Toulouse as major, and the Sieur Verville was sent out from France as engineer in charge of the fortifications. The instructions given to him were to examine the places, to fortify Louisbourg against a sudden attack until the works at Port Dauphin were completed, to prepare complete plans and estimates of cost for the three places, and before returning to France to leave instructions for the preparation of materials. He was advised not to forget that it is not necessary to fortify on so large a scale in the colonies as in Europe. The special grant for this year was sixty thousand livres. 

Verville, to whom these instructions [2] were given in June, visited Isle Royale in the autumn and returned to France, where he made a report to the Board. His plans and estimates for the fortifications were accepted and work was begun. [3]

1. Among those lost was the Marquis d'Alogny, commander of the troops in Canada. 
2. June 23, 1716, M. St. M. vol. 51. 
3. July 3, 1717.

The Board directed that the works at Louisbourg, notwithstanding the previous decisions which made Port Dauphin the seat of government, should be first gone on with. At the former place Verville took as the key of his system of fortifications the little hillock which dominates the peninsula as well as the plain of Gabarus lying to the westward, and established there a bastion-redoubt in masonry, which was to contain a barracks for at least six companies and their officers, and was to be protected from a surprise by a ditch and covered way. Other bastions were to be built at the two hills found between this point and the sea ; another on the hillock " E " on the harbour side, where a demi-bastion would protect this end of the works as well as cover by its fire the adjacent waters of the port, the whole occupying a distance of something over one thousand yards (495 toises). 

A heavy battery was to be established at the point " K," which would sweep the upper part of the harbour. These, all of which were to be executed in fascines and connected by earth-works (retranchements de campagne), together with the Island battery, formed the basis of the elaborate system of fortifications which on the same principles and on the same site, were carried out at a very considerable expense by Verville himself and his successors. The map opposite indicates his scheme, and incidentally shows the site of the town to have at that time a considerable number of inhabitants. Verville, owing to his character or the confidence he felt in the security of his position, did not confine himself to a narrow interpretation of the scope of his duties. He pointed out the loss of time in the troops travelling about six miles to and fro between the barracks and their work. He examined for himself the shores adjacent to the town, which he had been assured were inaccessible, and found that in five places it was possible to land without wetting his shoe, thus proving unfounded the opinion of St. Ovide and Soubras that the only attack to be feared was by the harbour. He established a battery at "K," afterwards known as the Grand or Royal Battery, which was intended to sweep both the upper part of the harbour and its entrance. It was never of any practical use, as it was exposed on the land side, and as pointed out by Chaussegros de Lery, the engineer of Quebec, a fort on the easterly side, near the site on which the lighthouse was afterwards built, would have been extremely effective in the defence of the place.[1]

In a climate like that of Louisbourg, masonry, which Verville substituted for provisional earthwork and fascines, was not only expensive to build but costly to maintain. The present condition of the earthworks erected along the coast in 1757 indicates that the latter system of construction would not only have been vastly cheaper in first cost, but much more permanent, and as the results proved, equally effective when put to the test. In minor matters his observation was not 

1. MSS. Que. vol. 3, p. 267.

always accurate. He thought, for example, that the environs of Louisbourg would supply firewood for the town and garrison for a century, and yet within a few years we find the greater part of this supply brought from places as distant as Port Toulouse. But the difficulty of ascertaining the resources of an unknown and heavily wooded country is shown by their considering the value of the discovery of limestone at Canso of sufficient importance to merit a gratuity ; by their bringing this material from Port Dauphin to Louisbourg, and by their establishing a brickyard at Port Toulouse. It is now known that limestone is abundant at Barasois de Miré (Catalone Lake), about six miles from Louisbourg, and on the Mir6 River, not far from its mouth, is a bed of perfect brick clay. [1]

The notes of the Navy Board frequently quote Verville's opinions, or refer matters to him, although he criticized the policy of the Board in encouraging soldiers to settle. The chief outcome of his representations on extra-professional matters was the forbidding of officers to engage in fishing, which was enacted in I718. He urged this course on the Government on the ground that it was unprofitable to the officers, detrimental to their soldiers, and unfair to the civilians. 

The first year of the settlement (1714) New England vessels came in to trade. St. Ovide bought four of their cargoes, L'Hermitte says, a fact which he deplores, as they can undersell the local merchants ; but similar transactions are not noted in the following two or three years. St. Ovide says four or five vessels came in for wood and water, but that he only allowed them to remain for twenty-four hours, and placed on each a sergeant and two men to prevent illicit trading. In September 1716 he reports that an English frigate visited Louisbourg to claim eighty deserters from Annapolis. He, mortified that his own cellar was so low that he could not make this little present, allowed the captain to buy from merchants of the town a cask of wine and a keg of brandy, for which molasses was exchanged. [2]

This was the frigate Rose, [3] twenty guns, cruising from Boston, seeking for deserters from Annapolis (Captain's letters, 1596). She arrived at Louisbourg on the 29th of August, and saluted the fort with eleven guns, which was properly returned, and after remaining there till the 7th of September left on a cruise to the westward. She was under the command of Lieutenant B. Young. He reports that a French vessel of forty guns, which was the Attlante, arrived shortly before his leaving. Lieutenant Young occupied part of his time by drawing a rough map of the port and the operations then going on, which is now preserved in the Colonial Office, London. 

Legitimate trade shows its first beginnings in those years. A vessel from Martinique was wrecked at Isle Madame. Boularderie, who had saved the situation in 1713 as far as the Quebec supplies and garrison were concerned, 

1. These were used after 1727 (B, 50, f. 599). 
2. I.R. vol. 1, p. 455. 
3. B.T.N.S. vol. 2, p. 96. 

branched out by sending a vessel for molasses for the supply of the settlements.[1] The authorities at Quebec had been urged to establish trade with Isle Royale. This was carried on from the first, an important part of it being supplies of flour, peas, etc., for the troops, which were annually sent except in years of scarcity in Canada. The frigate Attlante loaded coal for Rochefort, and the fishing industry was prosecuted by an increasing number of vessels, but the trade which gave the authorities the greatest concern was that with the British colonies. In addition to the New England vessels a constant trade was carried on by way of the Gulf by the French inhabitants of Nova Scotia, a development which was foreseen by Mascarene and Bennett, the officers who had accompanied La Ronde on his visit to these settlements. The profitable business of supplying Louisbourg with provisions made New England traders indifferent to regulations, and they took full advantage of this new market.[2]

The transfer of the Acadians to Cape Breton, so ardently hot)ed for, the advantages of which were recognized by both the French and English as of the utmost value to the new establishment, became year by year more obviously impossible. One reason, and perhaps the most important, next to the disadvantages of Cape Breton from their standpoint as compared with Nova Scotia, was that the promises of the French Government had not been carried out ; possibly many of the other reasons alleged by them for remaining, even under distressing conditions, were meant to conceal the real one. The Regent's Council was annoyed at a report to the effect that some of those who had worked for the King had not been paid, a report which Costebelle denied. Soubras described them as a people naturally froward, distrustful, and irresolute, [3] those of them who had rations too lazy to clear land even for a garden ; the first statement, in connection with Isle Royale, of that disparagement of the colonial fellow-citizen which is so difficult for the European to suppress .[4] 

Barrailh, a competent officer, thought that the priests were at the bottom of their trouble, as they could more completely govern these people and live at their ease in Acadia, but that if they were moved to Isle Royale the people would follow them. Verville showed accuracy of observation in stating that he thought the Acadians were of more service to the new colony where they were than if removed, and the last time there was talk of sending a vessel for them was in the instructions given to Barrailh to go in the Charente. These instructions were as usual pacific, and ordered him to take every care to avoid a rupture with the English authorities. He was not sent by the Louisbourg 

1. I.R. vol. 1, P. 455. 
2. The traders of New England began by claiming that commerce was free to them, possibly a misapprehension as to the terms of the Commercial Treaty of Utrecht. This, however, referred only to the European territories of the contracting parties, and, moreover, never went into effect, as its ratification was refused by Parliament. 
3. " Ce peuple natureliment indociles diffiantes et irresolus." 
4. I.R. 2, p. 52.

authorities, but instead, the Acadians were informed that if they came in their own vessels they would receive a welcome. So far a fall from the promises of de la Ronde was followed by an equal abatement ill their enthusiasm. De Mezy saw they would not leave a good for a poor country ; Father de la Marche, while sure of their loyalty, had to admit that they would not leave Nova Scotia. Doucette,[1] in a letter to St. Ovide, May 15, 1718, took the view that the agreement might be null and void if the inhabitants of Nova Scotia desired, if not, that speedy orders might be issued to provide for their retirement into the dominions of France. This was an adequate warrant for more effective steps than any of the authorities at Louisbourg took.[2] Had they removed to Isle Royale, or had France not sought to retain its influence over them, their subsequent history had been less tragic. The danger which Vetch feared [3] passed away, for those who did come were a few farmers, many idlers who were supported by the Government, and a certain number of carpenters, boat-builders, longshoremen, and tavern-keepers, who found in the activities of Loulsbourg more profitable employment than Nova Scotia afforded them. It was not until Isle St. jean was opened up that atly considerable number of them again lived under the French Crown. 

Costebelle sailed from Louisbourg on the Attlante on the 12th of October 1716. Her voyage was so protracted that he landed at Belle Isle no earlier than Christmas Day. A week later he was at Croisic, whence he forwarded the dispatches he had brought, as he was so ill that he could not say when his health would permit him to take horse for Paris.' His business was to obtain a settlement of various claims he had against the Crown for outlays at Placentia, which included supplies to the King's stores, the sending of a vessel to France and one to Boston with La Ronde in 1711, [5] in that curious attempt to play on the republican feelings of New England which they had conceived and most unsuccessfully carried out after it had received the approval of Pontchartrain. A more important item was that 18,000 £ for the entertainment of the English prisoners at his table.[6] The total amount was 71,000, £ but his vouchers were inadequate, and there were outstanding claims against him respecting the spoils of St. John's which came into his possession after its capture.[7]

Costebelle obtained from the Regent a gratuity of 2000 £, and he remained in France for some months. He visited, in the following August, his birth-place, St. Alexandre, a hamlet on the borders of Languedoc, which from the highlands looks down on Pont St. Esprit and the valley of the majestic Rhone. He 

1.  Doucette was Lieut.-Governor of Nova Scotia from 1717 to 1726. 
2. B.T.N.S. vol. 2. 
3. p. 21. 
4. I.R. 1, 457. 
5. Mass. Arch. vol. 6. 
6. The sum seems large, but the Governors apparently entertained constantly. St. Ovide, who in 1717 had not received his salary for 17l4, says that at his table were always twenty to twenty-four persons. 
7. I.R. 5, p. 11. 

returned to Louisbourg on the Attlante, and on the voyage was so ill that on September 6, 1717, in a shaky hand, he made his will leaving 500 £. to his servant, the chain on which he wore his Cross of St. Louis to his eldest daughter, and some papers to his brother. The fact that in his will he did not mention his wife, a member of the De la Tour family, a widow whom he had married in 1704, at Placentia, indicates his feebleness at the moment and the embarrassment of his affairs. He was an affectionate husband, who knew the heights of married felicity, as he wrote to her : "Sans toi je ne sçaurois goûter que des plaisirs imparfaits," and with tender courage says, " Ne t'embrasse l'esprit d'aucune affaire bonne ou mauvais, ma plus chère amie et laisse-moi supporter les contretemps que la fortune peut nous prépare." [1] Though in this same letter he says that he will extricate her from her troubles, this was impossible. He died leaving her in absolute destitution. Her torments at the hands of pitiless creditors, until she left Louisbourg were, says St. Ovide, a harrowing spectacle.[2] 

On the death of Costebelle he was succeeded by St. Ovide, a dithyrambic petition having been sent to the Government asking for his appointment. " Oui, Monseigneur, l'officier et le soldat, le marchand et l'habitant, les pasteurs, et leurs troupeaux, tous élèevent leur voix, tous forment des voeux en sa faveur." [3] The King's lieutenancy, made vacant by his promotion, was given to de Beaucours. 

The work on the fortifications had engaged the attention of the authorities, but up to this time they had been carried on by day's labour under the supervision of the engineer, the force employed being the troops and various artisans sent out from France for this purpose. Verville complained of the extravagance and slow progress made, and the council determined to carry on this construction by contract. The work was put up to tender "à 1'extinction de bougie." The successful bidder was a Sieur Isabeau who proceeded to Louisbourg on the first King's ship which went out in the following year, and took over the work. [4]

The Council of the Navy had promised, after the disastrous winter of I715-16, that such conditions would not be permitted to occur again ; but after a famine ill 1717 so bad that the troops at Port Toulouse were, in the spring, reduced to bread and water,[5] in 17I8 conditions were again so desperate, there being in the colony only two hundredweight of bread for four thousand people, that after contemplating sending the entire garrison back to France or Acadia,[6]

1. Bib. Nat. N.A. F, 3283. 
2. Madame Costebelle found on presenting her claims to the Regent that Costebelle had taken the gratuity referred in satisfaction of them. She, however, received a pension which she drew for many years. The Alphabet Laffilard says he died in France, but in this seems inaccurate. His effects at Louisbourg were sold in 1720 for the benefit of his creditors. 
3. I.R. vol. 2, f. 217
4. B, 40, f. 538 1/2, June 28, 1718.
5. I.R. 2, f. 243
6. St. Ovide abandoned the idea of sending them to settlements about Chignecto, as it might give umbrage to the English. That he contemplated doing so would seem to bear the same construction as La Ronde, Denys, and de Pensens not visiting these settlements in 1714, namely, that there was no doubt in the minds of any of them that they were in French territory.

St. Ovide took the step of sending most of it to Quebec for the winter. He thus left in Louisbourg, at a time which the events to be recounted in the next chapter will show was a critical one, only some one hundred and forty-one soldiers. The change, however, in economic conditions was so swift that the next year, October I719, Barrailh, who was again out in Isle Royale, says that there were seventy vessels in the island, which made bread, wine, and brandy cheaper in Louisbourg than in France. This is generally confirmed by Bradstreet, an officer of the English garrison at Canso, writing to the Board of Trade in I725 saying, "he was familiar with Louisbourg, and had found there so many vessels from New England and Nova Scotia that two sheep could be bought there for the price of one at Canso. [1]

The development of the town is seen not only in the increase of its population but by the various regulations which were made from time to time ; on the military side forbidding the erection of any buildings or the planting of trees within a distance of three hundred and fifty toises from the fortifications ; on the commercial, by the regulations against the erection of houses higher than seven feet in the post in order that the free circulation of air, essential to the successful drying of fish, might not be hampered ; on the civil side by forbidding, on account of the danger of fire, the covering of the houses with bark. The town was laid out and a plan made,[2] and lands were granted to the people under the condition that within a year and a day the land should be occupied (d'y tenir feu et lieu). 

The streets of the new town were -narrow. Outside of Italian cities of this period but few towns were drained, and had it not been for the salubrity of the air of Cape Breton conditions at Louisbourg would have been unwholesome. The fishing industry is not a cleanly one ; the sheep and goats of the people were kept by a public herd, who received soldier's ration and small pay, but the pigs ran at large. An ordinance was passed empowering any one to kill them if they destroyed property. The regulation states that " they damage the drying fish and the poultry, and are even so ferocious that there is danger sometimes for little children." 

The necessity for an hospital was recognized from the first, although the tax proposed by Soubras for its support was disallowed. The treatment given was unsatisfactory to the people. The Bayle et Jurats of St. Jean de Luz and one La Mothe, a merchant representing the people of Louisbourg, appeared before the Board. In the course of their representations they stated that the hospital was useless, as the people went to the ship's surgeons or used Indian 

1. B.T.N.S. vol. 2.
2. The plan ordered in 1718 did not finally receive ministerial sanction until 1723. 

remedies in place of those supplied by the two local surgeons, and they did not hesitate to say that Soubras turned the funds to his own use. The Board endeavoured to improve matters. They ordered that one of the best surgeons be sent from Brest, as the reports of La Grange and Le Roux, who had come from Placentia, were unsatisfactory. It was also decided to place the hospital in the charge of the Frères de la Charité, [1] four of whom had come out in I716. 

A conflict of jurisdiction had arisen in ecclesiastical matters. Spiritual affairs in Placentia had been under Recollets of Brittany, and Father Dom. de la Marche had come with the first settlers ; but the Bishop of Quebec, whose diocese included Nova Scotia and Isle Royale, had appointed the Recollets of Paris to this cure. The civil authorities temporized with the matter, and allotted the spiritual care of the Acadians and the services of the King's chapel to the latter, while the general population was served by monks of Brittany, who finally remained in possession of the field. [2[The importance of the Basque element ill the population was recognized by sending out a priest of that nationality. 

The chief drawback to the prosperity of Louisbourg was unquestionably drink. It impressed Verville so much that he says, in explaining the ineffectiveness of the work going on, that the troops who should be at work escape daily to roam the woods and to get drunk, far in excess of these European nations who were given to drink. 

Soubras battled with the evil and proposed and tried many expedients. Fines, rewards to informers, and severe punishments of those who would not tell where they obtained drink, were the obvious measures. He tried also the prohibition of the officers' canteens, in which drink was sold to the soldiers, but found that this simply increased the number of groggeries. He endeavoured to restrict the sale to six of the principal people of the place, but found that these would not act, and he anticipated the Gothenburg system by proposing that the sale should be exclusively in the hands of the Government. In some of these proposals he received the support of the Board, but the result justified Costebelle's view that nothing effective could be done until more settled conditions prevailed. 

The echoes of the Regent's experiments were heard in Louisbourg, and Law's Mississippi Company was imitated in these northern islands. M. Poupet de la Boularderie, formerly an officer in the Navy and in the troops of Acadia, but for many years a trader, was given a grant of that beautiful and fertile island which lies between the great and little entrances to the Bras d'Or Lakes. It still perpetuates his name. His grant also included the opposite southern shore to a league in depth, the island at Ingonish, exclusive beach 

1. This was a religious fraternity founded in 1540 by the Portuguese, St. Jean de Dieu, at Granada in Spain, thence it spread to Italy and in 1601 to France. It was of sufficient eminence to have charge of the hospitals de la Charité in Paris and at Charenton. 
2' Their letters patent were not sent out until 1731 (B, 55, f. 577). 

rights for one hundred fishers, and the use of the King's ship Le Paon for two years. [1] He undertook to place one hundred settlers the first year, fifty the next, and employ one hundred fishermen. He was given command for the King in his lands, and a " safe conduct " for three months, that delightful opposite of the lettre de cacher, which during its currency made its holder superior to all judicial and police mandates. He proceeded vigorously to the development of his grant, first by his unaided efforts, which were undertaken on so great a scale that he contemplated the building of a ship of twelve hundred tons ; but, hampered by the shipwreck of one of his vessels in the St. Lawrence, and the exhaustion of his funds, he turned his grant over to a company of Malouln merchants, with whom he quarrelled.[2] He formed another company in Havre and Rouen, which accomplished little, so that at his death in 1738 it was a question whether the grant of the property would be confirmed to his son.[3] There had been obtained for his son in early life a position as a page in the household of Her Royal Highness, the Duchesse d'Orléans. When he had outgrown this position at Court, he obtained a lieutenancy in the regiment of Richelieu, and after a service of seven years obtained a company therein. When the aged Berwick, that able general whom the deposed Stuarts had given to France, led her armies to victory over the Austrians, Boularderie went through the campaigns of Kehl, Phillippsbourg, and Clauzen. Then, through a reverse of fortune, he had to sell his company, but retained the assistance of that grand Seigneur, the Duc de Richelieu. The death of his father followed shortly afterwards, and the concessions being confirmed to him, Boularderie came out to Isle Royale, with the remains of his personal fortune, the proceeds of the sale of a house in Paris. He brought with him husbandmen and craftsmen from Normandy, and according to his own account was most successful. " I have in my employment twenty-five persons, a very handsome house, barn, stable, dairy, dovecot, and oven, wind and water-mills, twenty-five cows and other live stock." [4] He grew wheat, in 1740 he had 150 bbls. of fine wheat and vegetables as in Europe, and had a large orchard and a garden, but disasters befell him in this charming establishment. 

The earlier grants of the islands in the Gulf, St. Jean and the Magdalens, having been finally revoked in I710, a Count St. Pierre took advantage of his position at Court, that of first Equerry to the Duchesse d'Orléans, to obtain a grant and found a company for the development of these islands. His enterprise was unsuccessful. The merchants of St. Malo protested so vigorously against the exercise by the company of its exclusive fishing rights, and their protection 

1. Feb. 15, 1719, B, vol. 41, f. 565, 
2. Cor. (Canada), C, 11, 64, 1724. 
3. One account speaks of the older Boularderie as captain in Acadia in 1702, his grant describes him as Enseigne de Vaisseau. He was given a frigate in 1713 for trading. 
4. Derniers Jours de l'Acadie, p. 287.

by an armed vessel (1722) [1] that these rights were curtailed, and notwithstanding  the loan of artillery and an officer, the enterprise was abandoned in I724 and these islands reunited to the royal domain in 1730, the fear of a seignorial establishment having, in the interval, retarded the settlement of the island by the Acadians.[2] M. Ruette D'Auteuil, after a stormy career in Canada, where he had been at one time Procureur-General at Quebec, also received a grant of Isle Madame on substantially the same conditions of settlement, but no vigorous efforts were made at colonization. After some years St. Ovide reported that it had also failed, and expressed his disapproval of the system. These companies, like their great prototype, added three to the long list of failures, both French and English, to establish in America the profitable corporate administration of land. 

At last the question of the chief establishment of the colony was to be permanently settled. St. Ovide had been much impressed by the advantages of Port Toulouse on his tour through the island, thus confirming the good opinion it had made on him in 1714, and now recommended it warmly to the Council, and asked them to hear Rouville, who was in France, and to appoint a commission to make a report on the matter.[3] 

This suggestion was supported by two petitions. One, which described Louisbourg as a bottomless pit for funds, was signed by officials ; the other by the principal inhabitants. The latter stated that so soon after coming from Placentia and other places, they were unable to bear the expense of a second moving, but if the King would pay the actual cost, they would gladly go to Port Toulouse, and leave behind the tavern-keepers, who made up two-thirds of the population of Louisbourg. [4] The reply to these petitions, which reflect, on account of his position, perhaps little more than the personal opinion of the Governor, was in the negative. Louisbourg was made the principal place, the first indication of which had been the mounting of six guns in 1719. But to mark the decision as final, a medal commemorating its founding and fortification was designed and struck, and in the following year it was placed in the foundation of the King's bastion. Six years had passed in uncertainty. Isle Royale had repeated the mistakes previously made in Canada and Louisiana, against which Villien had warned the Minister without success. However, the question was at last settled, the administration was concentrated there, and was coincident with De Mezy's taking the place of Soubras. The troops were brought together from the outports, with the exception of small detachments, and a renewal of discipline was hoped for, and in some measure attained. 

1. C, 11, vol. 12, p. 78 
2. May 1720, I.R. vol. 5, f. 56. 
3. I.R. vol. 4, Jan. 9, 1719. 
4. This indicates again the prevalence of drinking, as does an earlier letter of St. Ovitle and Soubras, who speak of "Cabaretiers qui ruinent entierrement la colonnie," Nov. 13, 1717 (I.R. vol.. 2).