J.S. McLennan, Louisbourg: From Its Foundation To Its Fall (Sydney: Fortress Press, 1969), Chapter 12

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

As English blockades had suspended the normal activities of the people of Isle Royale, it is well, at this point, to measure the degree of success they reached in carrying on the business for which they had settled in Louisbourg and its outports. What else remains of the history of the place is mainly a narrative of military events, of its siege and capture ; implicitly, therefore, of its failure to protect its people, to maintain French influence on this Atlantic seaboard, and to safeguard the sea approaches to Canada.

The manner of carrying on the fisheries has been described in the memoir of 1706 at some length. As its writer, so the present, refers the reader interested in the details of this trade to the Sieur Deny's elaborate description.[1] A rare book [2] has some pages dealing specially with the Cape Breton trade. It may be noted that the Island is spoken of as Cape Breton Island instead of Isle Royale, the same survival of a name in common use, after an official change, which finds a later exemplification, in the continuance to-day of the name of Cape Breton in cases where the correct official designation has been since 1820, Nova Scotia.

The following is a free and somewhat condensed translation of this description of the trade :

1. Deny's Description of Acadia, Champlain Society, p. 257 ct seqq.
2. Remarques sur plusieurs (?) branches de commerce et de navigation, M.DCC.LVII.

The goods sent out are delivered at Louisbourg. The captain lands and remains on shore with his trading stock, while his lieutenant goes fishing with one or more inhabitants, who under a written agreement for a wage, payable in kind, fishes on the ship's account. The captain chooses men skilled in catching and preparing cod. The vessels of 100 tons have ordinarily twentyfive or twenty-six men, sometimes hired at a monthly wage, sometimes on shares. In either case the owner makes them advances.

The captain keeping shop at Louisbourg sells his goods for ready money, that is to say, payable at the end of the fishing season, which ordinarily lasts four months, either in cod at an agreed price, or in Bills of Exchange.

A vessel of 100 tons for this voyage costs usually 24,000 livres : its cargo about i8,ooo, and the wages and provisions for twenty-five men, about 10,000 livres.

The cargo of a vessel of loo tons for trading at Cape Breton would consist of salt provisions, fishing implements, ship chandlery, stuffs, boots and shoes, lead, iron, linen, a small quantity of brandy, wine and spirits. The only touch of luxury among the commodities is, that in mentioning shoes (Souliers) for women, the list adds for the most part, coloured ones.[2]

The principal consumption of dried cod is at Marseilles, where the greater part of the vessels discharge.[3] Thence some is sent to Italy. Cadiz and Alicante take from Marseilles nine or ten cargoes, and the balance is distributed to Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Nantes, St. Malo, and Havre.

In fishing for dry and green cod, Granville sends 55 to 60 vessels. The ports between Agon and St. Malo 65 to 80 ; Nantes, Olonne, and neighbouring ports, 55 to 60 vessels.

From St. Malo, Nantes, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, and Bayonne 60 to 8o vessels go to Cape Breton for fishing and trading.

The voyages for dry and green cod, including those to Gaspé and Labrador, employ fifteen or sixteen thousand seamen, and the air of the climate is so healthy that in ordinary seasons there scarcely die ten out of this whole number. With these there are from eighteen hundred to two thousand apprentices.

The same writer devotes a few pages to the fisheries of New England, in which he says that from Boston, Plymouth, Barnstaple, Cape Ann, and Marblehead, are sent out annually 180 vessels of 35 to 40 tons, and from Nova Scotia (Canso) 17 or 18 vessels, and that each of these makes three trips a season, taking from 200 to 250 quintals each voyage.[4] He speaks of the

1. The number of boats seems overstated by the official returns.
2 " Surtout en couleur."
3. New England also did a large trade with this port.
4. His estimate is less than that of Douglass'.

illicit trade with foreign ports, and estimates the number of men employed as from seventeen to eighteen hundred.

He concludes his sketch with a panegyric on the people of this industry, and notes the lack of attention to the services of the sailor- fishermen in comparison with that of the soldier. "One will recognize that the latter is useful to the State only in time of war, and nevertheless, that he costs at all times at least 125 livres a year, and that the sailor who serves his country at all times, who even enriches it by his labour and industry, costs the State only when the King makes him serve on his vessels ; these men, brought up so to speak among the dangers of the coasts, whom the greatest perils do not amaze, are as nimble in handling vessels, as intrepid in conflicts. Does not this class of men justly deserve a high place among the objects of the State, of which to-day its only rival is a Maritime Power? "

In addition to the fisheries conducted from French ports, there was the shore fishery of Isle Royale carried on by its own people, and occupying the labours of its permanent inhabitants, and the capital of the merchants resident at Louisbourg. Many of these merchants were, judging by such names as Rodriques and Daccarette, originally Basques, and long in the business. The representatives of the Rodriques in 1781 appealed to the Assemblée Nationale for a loan to carry on their business. They recounted in their memoir that they had lost all, first, at the capture of Port Royale in 1710, then at that of Louisbourg in '45 and in '58, wherein their losses were 240,000 £, and, again, at the capture of St. Pierre-Miquelon in 1778. They stated that at Louisbourg they had employed 200 to 300 fishermen.[1] Early in the history of Louisbourg, Normans also came there, although the majority of the names are Basque. Indeed a Widow Onfroy claimed to have begun this trade, in which she was followed by other outfitters of St. Malo. The traveller in France at all times has been struck with the business capacity of the Frenchwoman. The conduct of a fishing business at an outport of Isle Royale is a striking example of this capacity, which was exercised by more than the Malouin bourgeolse. Other women at various times are noted as administering fishing stations, usually established by a deceased husband. [2]

The boat-builders seem to have been Acadians, and it is early noted that scarcely a vessel came out which did not require a mast or spar, the supplying of which gave employment to the habitant. It also led to poaching on British

1. Their many purchases of vessels from the New Englanders in '49 and '50 would seem to substantiate their statement.
2. In 1753 at Petit Lorambec, we note four widows. One owned five chaloupes and had twenty-five fishermen. Another, four fishermen. The third owned two chaloupes and had nine fishermen. At Miré, one widow, Marie la Boyne, owned a schooner and grew wheat, corn, and fruit. At Port Dauphin we note another woman owner of property.

territory, for many fine sticks were brought from Pictou, presumably rather for these refittings than for the vessels which were built on the island.'[1]

The proximity of Isle Royale to the banks, [2] the excellence of the shore fishing, that is the catch made in open boats, which a more or less fabulous New England statement said was so good that the fish were taken with grapnels, and the skill of the French fisherman made Louisbourg a place of the first rank in this industry. Its annual catch was about 150,000 quintals. How great, relatively, is measured by the fact that in its best days, the Marblehead district caught 120,000 quintals, and that from the establishment of Louisbourg the New England fisheries declined. [3]

The commerce which resulted from these products of the sea was large some 7000 or 8000 tons of valuable commodities to be transported. In consequence, Louisbourg and its outports had a splendid concourse of vessels during its busy season. Below is tabulated the shipping of Isle Royale for ten normal years, 1733-1743 (1741 being wanting) of its industry.[4] It shows that one year with another 154 vessels visited its ports, principally Louisbourg. Again a comparison shows how important was its trade. Only three ports of the populous, enterprising, and sea-faring British colonies saw more vessels come in from sea than those which visited this outpost in Isle Royale of French commercial enterprise.

1. A minor industry was the brewing of spruce beer, the valuable antiscorbutic qualities of which made a demand for it not only from merchantmen, but also from men-of-war. Pichon, p. 69, says that the Acadian women chew spruce gum, and that it whitens their teeth and keeps them in good condition. A well-equipped brewery existed in the outskirts of the town.

	*Louisbourg.*	*Lunenburg, N.S.*	*Gloucester, Mass.*
Virgin Rocks, Grand Banks .. Green Bank ............................ Artimon .................................. Canso ..................................... Middle Grounds .................... Sable Island Bank .............. Cape North ........................... North Bay ............................. St. Pierre Bank ....................	370 206 91 50 83 150 69 201 156	574 410 251 170 156 132 295 328 350	868 699 553 468 450 405 589 623 651

2. Marblehead's fleet declined from 120 schooners in 1732 to 70 in 1747 (Douglass, vol. i. p. 302. He states the total catch of B.N.A. as 300,000 in I747, which seems to include Newfoundland).
4. Local fishermen and coasters are not included.

*Year.*	*From France.*	*From Canada.*	From French West Indies.	From New England and Acadia.	*Total.*
*1733*	70	17	25	46	*158*
*1734*	53	31	19	46	*149*
*1735*	68	25	16	52	*161*
*1736*	60	23	14	35	*132*
				*{ 35 }*
*1737*	43		15	*{ 5=Acadia }*	99
				*{ 30=English }*
*1738*	73	14	15	42	*144*
*1739*	56	20	24	49	*149*
*1740*	73	19	22	50	*164*
*1741*	*Wanting*
*1742*	57	9	24	67	*157*
*1743*	58	7	32	78	*175*

*Place.*	*Date.*	*Entries.*
*Portsmouth ............................*	*Xmas' 47-48*	*121*
*Newport .................................*	*March 25, 47-48*	56
*" .......................................*	*'48-49*	75
*New York ...............................*	*Sept. 29, '50*	*232*
*Boston ....................................*	*Xmas '47-48*	*540*
*Philadelphia ..........................*	*Xmas '47-48*
*Salem and outports ................*	}
*Marblehead ...........................*	*} Xmas'47-48*	*131*
*Cape Anne .............................*	}
*Ipswich ..................................*	}
*Newbury .................................*	}

Prévost wrote on January 4, 1753, a letter dealing with the trade of Isle Royale,[1] which supplements the statements just quoted. Fishing, he pointed out, was the base of the commerce with France, the West Indies, and Canada. The shore fishery was carried on by residents, in fishing- boats, which did not go more than four or five leagues off shore. The larger boats (" batteaux ") and schooners went to the Scatari, Green, Sable Island, and St. Pierre banks, as well as to those in the gulf, although the home banks are better.

Shore fishing was the easiest, and produced better fish, but the bank fishing

was preferred as it was easier to get men, and the schooners employed in it could be loaded for French ports in the autumn.

When a quintal of fish would buy a barrel of flour or one of salt, the trade was on a sound basis. Prévost estimated the profits of the merchants at twenty-five or thirty per cent. They obtained six months credit on many French goods, such as those of Montauban and Beauvais, and on sailcloth, and they did a good trade with the French Windward Islands in their schooners. The trade with these islands would be much improved if their merchants were prohibited from sending rum to St. Eustache and the other foreign islands, for if it all came to Louisbourg it would greatly increase the trade of that place. The traffic in New England vessels was an advantage, for the old vessels in which the purchasers came from the southern colonies were not broken up, but were bought by the D inhabitants for the coasting trade.

Two causes, therefore, forced Louisbourg into being the entrep6t at which a distribution of commodities from various sources could be carried on. These were the abhorrence of the shipowner for a voyage in ballast or partly laden, the equal abhorrence of the trader for an adverse balance compelling payment in money for his purchases.

More shipping capacity was required to export the fish of Louisbourg than to carry thither the imports of the place. The owners loaded the vessels to their capacity, and this surplus had to find an outlet. Thus Louisbourg became a trading centre, as it were, a clearing- house, where France, Canada, New England, and the West Indies mutually exchanged the commodities their vessels had brought, to avoid making unprofitable the round voyage, which would have unduly enhanced the cost of its fish. The tobacco, rum, and sugar of the West Indies, the cloths of Carcassone, the wines of Provence, sailcloths and linens, came to Louisbourg, far in excess of the possibilities of local use, and were sent out again. The permitted trades with Canada and the French islands could not absorb them, so the thrifty Acadian housewife bought from Louisbourg the few luxuries of her frugal life. The more prosperous New England trader, who supplied Louisbourg with building materials, with food, with planks and oaken staves, thence exported to the sugar islands, took in exchange the commodities of France and the rum-stuff of these islands. The towns of France furnished part at least of the sailcloth for his many vessels engaged in freighting and trade from Newfoundland to the West Indies. Much of this trade was illicit. The meagre returns of the commerce show this clearly. We have for 1740 the number of vesssels and their tonnage, as well as their declared cargoes inwards and outwards. The number of vessels from New England was 39, their aggregate tonnage 1131, their cargoes were :

Cows ..........................      24 @ 50 £                                   Rum (bbls.) ..............      715 @ 65 £
Bricks, M. .................       58     15                                      Molasses (bbls.)............ 460     40
Planks, M. ................      443     30                                     Brandy (kegs) ............... 200        5
Sageaux Bus. ...........      239       3                                      Iron (cwt.) .................... 48       20
Indian corn . ............    1237       2                                     Sailcloth .....................   713        1
Shingles, M. ...........       446        9                                     Cordage ....................      23       40
Pork (lbs.) ..............      6300       0.5                                   Coal (bbls.) ................ 670        3
Pipes (gross) ..........        316       3                                      Iron for anchors (cwt.) .. 5       40
Bureaus and chest                                                                                                        __________
      of drawers ........         95       60                                                    Value ............     70,6781 £
Rice (cwt.) ..............        100     20
Axes .......................       1122      4
Pigs .......................            52    20
Oxen .....................            18    75
Sheep ...................           445    10
Pears and apples,
etc. (qts.) ....................... 486     8
                                             ___________
                Value .............. 49,147 £

Unless the measurement of vessels has materially changed it seems obvious that neither inward nor outward was an adequate lading declared. Incidentally one may note the higher state of New England industry. The surplus of their fields and their handicrafts were exported. Isle Royale returned to her the products of other places with the exception of the trifling shipment of coal. T he advantages of her superb situation for the fisheries, the skill and enterprise with which her people prosecuted them, were minimized by her unfortunate position as regards the sparsity of her population, the uncertainty and high cost of its sustenance.

Much of this trade was done with Louisbourg, much of it through Canso, where so important a merchant of Boston as Faneuil [1] had a resident partner. The trade was known to the authorities) both English and French.

This intercourse had a further development. The French bought the fish of the New Englanders. The intercourse for this trading begun before the war, continued at Martengo, the first harbour to the westward of Canso, where both met and exchanged their commodities untroubled by officials. It has been interpreted that this meant that the superior enterprise of the New England man enabled him to catch fish cheaper than the French.[2] A sounder view would seem to be that through Louisbourg was the easiest channel for him to get the French commodities the British provinces required, and that he found that the

Louiksbourg merchant could dispose of his fish to better advantage than he had found as the result of his shipments to Toulon and Marseilles. [1]

In the commercial interest of France and England is found the cause of complacency with which their Governments looked on this illicit trade. The merchants of these countries were continually in a position to point out that an outlet for home manufactures and other products would be lessened if the trade were checked, so that nothing was done in this direction. It was not the peculiar offence of the colonist. The impulses of commerce are ever towards expansion and to profits. The predominant share of outfitters in the mother country in these trades, the greater ease with which, as compared with the colonist, their influence could be brought to bear on the official, so frequently a sharer in mercantile ventures, made it easy to ignore laws which checked profitable trade. The influence of the City was potent in Westminster and Whitehall. When the Ohio Company embroiled France and England, its English shareholders prevailed on the Ministry to take a firm position, with a promptness which would have been wanting had its only shareholders been Virginian planters and merchants. A seizure of a contraband trader in Isle Royale touched the interests not only of the Louisbourg agent, but of his principal in Bordeaux, Bayonne, or Marseilles, and he, like his London confrere, had means of bringing influences to bear on Ministers, which led to the discouragement of too zealous administrators. These influences, creditable or the reverse, were backed by the fact that French industry or French commerce in a particular case would be hurt.[2] The concrete prevailed over the general theory, with peculiar ease, as the theory was unsound.

This line of argument is supported by the fact that where interests of the French merchant came into conflict with those of the colonist the latter suffered. Raudot, it may be said again, with remarkable prescience saw that if Isle Royale was to really flourish, it should have free trade with New England. Costebelle, an experienced administrator, after a little experience at Louisbourg, saw the necessity of this, and recommended it to the Regency (April 19, 1717) ; but he adds with bitterness :

In this he was right, for the threat of the French merchants to send no vessels to Isle Royale, if this were permitted, ended the matter. Had it been

1. This New England trade with these ports was, nevertheless, very important (Weeden, p. 659). On these trades as well as that of Isle Royale he quotes Bollan, 118- 120 (Mass. Arch. 14, p. 560, and 22, p. 21).
2 See Appendix on illicit trading.

proposed later when the illicit trade with New England was in full operation, their view would have been different; but by 1727 the question was no longer open. In that year the Government of Louis XV. had committed itself to prohibition of foreign trade.

Again Bigot, who was an accomplished official, and understood the value of making no troublesome suggestions to an easy-going Minister, wished Isle Royale cod to take the place of Irish beef in the sugar islands. He spoke of it as only possible if it were not detrimental to the interests of the merchants of the kingdom.

The comparisons which had been made between the economic conditions of New England and Canada, not only in English, but by Charlevoix and other French writers, the assumption that in industries connected with the sea the English always had a marked superiority, make the conclusions as to the economic importance of Louisbourg surprising. We find that it was a source of wealth to France, that it surpassed the colonies of England engaged in the same trade, and that the most important in which the northern colonies of both France and England were engaged.

The facts as to the trade on which this opinion is based are given later in this work. There is also abundant evidence that English and colonial observers were fully alive to a progress which excited their admiration, envy, and fear.

Shirley's estimate is that the fisheries were worth annually a million sterling.[1] A French writer says that the whole value of the fishing of New England is worth £138,000. [2] This is confirmed by an English writer who says that in 1759 the French had nine hundred ships, and that the English trade was declining. Auchmuty, the first to get in print with a proposal to capture Isle Royale, says its fisheries were worth £2,000,000, confirmed again by a " Gentleman of a Large Trade in the City of London" (London, 1746), who says French trade is increasing, English diminishing. The English fleet outnumbered the French in 1700 five to one, and now was less than the French, and he confirms or repeats Shirley's estimate of its value as a million. The writer adds with wisdom that Fleury contributed to this result by promoting competition with England, and made "war upon this Kingdom by all the arts of peace." "An Accurate Description of Cape Breton," 1758, speaks of Raudot's scheme for its settlement as " a beautiful and well- digested project," and confirms the other opinions of its value. " A Letter to the Right Hon. W. P. " (Exon., 1758) says that if things had gone on as they had been, the French " would have beat us out of the Trade of Europe." "The Advantages of the Definite Treaty" (London, I 749) says that had the French not been molested, in a few years they would have totally ruined British foreign trade as it was, they had in a manner beat us out of our

1. C.O. 5/900, f. 212, and Appendix. 2 Hist. et commerce des colonies angloises, Paris, 1755.

Levant Trade, our Fishing Trade, and our Sugar Trade " ; and " A Letter from a Gentleman in London to his Friend in the Country" (London, 1748), in a eulogy of Cape Breton, says, " in no part of the world is the cod fishing carried on with better success."

Every chapter of Weeden which deals with the fisheries speaks of their fundamental importance. Douglass (vol. i. p. 6) says :

This the writers of the Memorials to Pontchartrain, 1706-9, foresaw. The alarmed pamphleteer in 1746, about the same time as Douglass wrote the above, says :

The opinions of London pamphleteers were confirmed by the soldier on the ground, Amherst's instructions to Whitmore, August 28, 1758:

Further and conclusive testimony is borne to the soundness of the trade of Louisbourg, by the fact that it was always on a specie basis. Its commerce never suffered from paper money, as did that of the British colonies and Quebec. The expression that Louisbourg was a clearing-house is further justified by a statement of Prévost to the effect that the New England traders could pass there Spanish gold and silver which was not current in the French West Indies.

This consensus of opinion,[3] in addition to the returns of the trade, shows that Isle Royale had completely justified the memorialists who had urged its establishment. Nor was this trade - in value, say, three million livres a year - brought into being at an excessive price. Roughly speaking, for to analyze the figures contained in returns would require an expert accountant ; the outlay of the Government, including the cost of the fortifications, which was yearly about 130,000 £, was, say, ten per cent of the trade. In other words, had a private Company taken up Isle Royale, as was proposed before its settlement, and carried on its business, had such a thing been possible, even spending as lavishly on administration and defence as the King, it would have been a not unprofitable venture. There has beei-i much exaggeration as to the outlay on the fortifications. Contemporary and later writers have spoken lightly of millions. The accounts do not indicate any large total. The

1. " Two Letters concerning some further Advantages and Improvements that may seem necessary to be made on the taking and keeping of Cape Breton " (London, 1746). It quotes " State of the British and French Trade to Africa and America considered," London, 1745.
2. C.O.. 5/53, Amherst to Whitmore, Aug. 28, 1758.
3. I have found no other view expressed by any writer of the period.

memoir on this subject [1] given to the King in 1743, makes the total about 3,500,000 £ a larger amount than seems justified by the returns of the Treasurer. [2]

Isle Royale was not the only fishing establishment, but it was most important ; as an entrep6t, it as fully served its purpose as the economic principles of the age permitted. The course of the narrative has indicated that the unfavourable conditions at Louisbourg were not peculiar to that place, for those of Canso and Annapolis Royal were as bad as under the French regime. The British Government was as deaf to the appeals of its local officials, and as late in taking action, as was Maurepas. Newfoundland had a population of 4000 in 1713 and 6000 in 1755. Canso remained about stationary throughout this period, so that the progress of Isle Royale compares well with that of the two British settlements nearest to it, not only geographically, but in the pursuits of their people. The fisherman justified himself commercially at Isle Royale. His rulers made no gains in Europe to counterbalance the injuries to the commonwealth resulting from their neglect to safeguard his industry. When the victories of peace come to be as highly esteemed as those of war, the French historian, who then writes of the colonial development of his country under the Bourbon kings, will have more pride than our con- temporaries in writing of Isle Royale. He can then point out that the American colonies of his country were lost, by her rival, beaten in the arts of peaceful development, wresting them with a strong hand from the government of his ancestors incapable in the last resort to force of defending possessions so valuable.

After this digression, it seems desirable to touch on the human side of life in the little town before narrating the culminating incident of its history.

The increase in its garrison overcrowded it, and pushed settlements of others than farmers out into the environs. [3]

Under ordinary circumstances such increase of the population would have raised prices. When the effect of a heightened demand was increased, through a diminished supply, the aggravation of the economic position was extreme. Important sources of supply were cut off by the embargo on exportation from the British Colonies, the active efforts of Cornwallis to stop any supply from Nova Scotia, and the captures of vessels by the blockading fleets.

1. C¹¹, L.R. vol. 26, f. 219.
2. There are two sources of information on this subject, besides occasional references in the general correspondence, Arch, Col. Amerique du Nord Isle Royale, vols. 8 and 11, and Arch. Marine G, vols. 52, 53, and 54 ; the latter gives a short annual statement from 1733, of various statistics about the colony.
3. Chassin dc Thierry, Senior Captain of the garrison, lived about five miles from town on the Miré Road (Derniers Jours, etc. p. 215).

It was at best of times a community with little money ; military salaries were low, as were those of other officials. [1]

This involved a meagre life, occasionally relieved by a place at the table of the more fortunate. Drucour recounts the following incident in a letter to Surlaville: [2] " Mme. de la Boularderie has just dined here ; we drank your health, and she told us you made her so merry that she saw eight candles instead of one ; we did not carry things as far."

Johnstone was delighted to have permission to embark ten or twelve days before the vessel sailed on a voyage to France, "in order to repair the bad fare which I had during a year at Louisbourg, which ordinarily consisted during the winter solely of cod-fish and hog's lard, and during the summer, fresh fish, bad salt rancid butter, and bad oil." [3]

Captain Hale wrote after being in Louisbourg with a flag of truce in 1756:

The cuisine of Louisbourg had other resources than cod : johnstone's servant,

The prevalence of gambling circumscribed the opportunities of the poorest of the officers for going into society. Des Bourbes writes :

". . . the society of the ladies of the place very amiable, but having always cards in their hands, my avocations would not permit of me daily to make one of their parties . . . " [7]

1. Captains, 1080 £ ; lieutenant, 720 £ ; enseigne en pied, 480 £ ; enseigne en second, £ . So hard was the position of the junior officers that after 1754 a bonus of 6000 £. annually was divided among the lieutenants and ensigns. The Governor's salary was 9000£ with a bonus of 6000 £ . Surlaville says the Governor's position in salary, bonus, and allowance was worth 19,800 £, and that the nominal salary of the Commissaire-Ordonnateur of 2400 £ was raised in the same way to 6000 £. Compared with similar positions to-day these emoluments were not inconsiderable, but in all the subaltern positions the pay was small, and was eked out by frugality or commercial ventures.
2. See Derniers Jours, etc. p. 128.
3. Memoirs of the Chevalier Johnstone, vol. ii. p. 172.
4. Derniers Jours, etc. p. 213.
5 Memoirs, etc. vol. ii p. 179.
6. Derniers Jours, etc. p.182.
7. Memoirs, etc. vol. ii. p. 178.

Both he and Des Bourbes speak with thankfulness of a taste for study which lightened the dreariness of their narrow life. Others had less innocent pastimes. Duels were not infrequent, and we have one instance of the misery caused by jealousy in the suicide of the unfortunate Montalembert. He was driven to distraction by the liaison of his wife with one of the officers of Bourgogne, whom even at the time of her marriage she preferred to the elderly husband chosen by her mother.[1]

The rivalries and jealousies between different factions in the service were many. Few towns could have had more. There was the common one of antagonism between the gens de l'épée and the gens de la plume, the military and civil orders of the administration, mitigated in this case by the ascendency Prévost had gained over Drucour.

There was the antagonism not only between the army and the navy, but also between naval officers serving afloat and on shore. The old Companies officers had grievances against those of the Companies raised in 1749. All these were on indifferent or hostile terms with the officers of Canada, who were occasionally transferred from Beauséjour to Louisbourg ; while Artois and Bourgogne aroused in the breasts of the ordinary garrison those feelings which it seems the fate of regular troops of all countries to excite among their colonial fellows ; while all of them were agreed in thinking the honours paid to Franquet were excessive.

At Louisbourg this jealousy produced its evil effects; Du Caubet, an officer of the Louisbourg garrison, was detached for service at Beauséjour. There he met the Langis brothers, officers of Canada, and a quarrel broke out. It reached, at Louisbourg, where they had both returned, its fatal end. One evening Du Caubet was found in his quarters dead from many barbarous wounds. It was an open secret that the elder Langis was the instigator of the deed. An inquiry was held, but led to nothing, and Langis escaped punishment. Pichon looked on this as significant, for he says, " The colonial officer would like to do as much to the last of the French officers." [2]

It was Prévost, however, who drew down on himself the most universal dislike. Such was the fate of the Intendant or his equivalent the Commissaire-Ordonnateur in most colonies, unless he were a man of rare tact and judgment. This Prévost was not. Neither Des Herbiers nor Raymond approved of him, but on the other hand he succeeded in making himself indispensable to Drucour. On one side there are incidents to show that Pr6vost was a man of independence. He refused, for example, to assist in

1. See Derniers Jours, etc. pp. 149, 214.
2. " L'Officier colon voudroit en faire autant au dernier des officiers de France " (Derniers Jours, etc. p. 131).

carrying out the categorical orders of La Jonquière to seize English vessels in the Port of Louisbourg ; and his correspondence with the Minister is that of a man of parts.

On the other hand, there are incidents which show that he was small and vindictive, perhaps to a greater extent than might be expected from any man of low birth and unattractive manners, occupying a position which gave him power to retaliate for the annoyances and indignities inflicted on him by his social superiors. He tells himself of the humiliations to which he was subjected on his official visit to De Bauffremont's ship. De Bauffremont was absent, but his officers were of the same opinion as their commander, who always treated him (Prévost) as the last of miscreants." The officers of the colonial troops, as well as those of Artois and Bourgogne, also sent him to Coventry and refused his invitations.

Nevertheless, he managed to have some friends, partly owing to the chance of his having married on February 14, 1745, a very attractive demoiselle Marie Thérèse Carrerot, the daughter of one of the principal merchants of the place. The power of conferring benefits gave him some allies and associates. Their sentiments find expression in a madrigal, the joint efforts of the Père Alexis of the Frères de la Charité, and M. Beaudeduit, one of the Conseil Supérieur. The poem was presented to him at an entertainment in his house, and goes as follows :

The most striking figure in Louisbourg at this time, even by standards other than that of official position, was the Chevalier de Drucour, its Governor, a younger son of a noble Norman family, who entered the service in 1719. His career was successful; while still a lieutenant he was appointed Lieutenant of the Gardes de la Marine (Midshipmen) at Brest, and later Commandant of that corps, a responsible position, for which he was selected without personal solicitation, on account of his wisdom and good conduct. In discharging the social duties of this position by entertaining the young noblemen under his charge, he exhausted not only his salary and income, but seriously cut into his patrimony, which he completely exhausted in the expenses incident to taking up the Governorship of Louisbourg. He further involved his affairs by obtaining advances from his brother, the Baron de Drucour, and the expenses of his administration left him penniless. It is obvious from this conduct of his affairs that Drucour was one of those nobles who preferred to maintain the dignity of any position to which his sovereign had called him, rather than exercise a reasonable regard for his private interests. He even did this with a liberality which seems unnecessary, for in rearranging the canteens he abandoned to the Majors of the place that share of the profits which had been the perquisite of every preceding Governor. [2]

In the arrangements he made, he went contrary to the opinion of the Company officers, but neither this nor any other of his acts gave rise to any criticism excepting that Prévost had gained an undue ascendency over him, and that his judgment of men was not discriminating. No one writes of him except in praise, and his good sense and firmness are more than once spoken of. The one personal letter we have from his hand is that of a pleasant and capable writer, who speaks of his difficulties without discouragement or vexation.

Madame Drucour, a daughter of the Courserac family which had given many officers to the French navy, did her part in making his régime popular. She was a woman of intelligence, gracious towards every one, and succeeded in making Government House extremely attractive.

1. His États de Service shows that, notwithstanding the dislike of his associates, he had the confidence of successive Ministers, and received promotions. It also shows the hardships to which an officer was exposed in the Colonial Service in those days. It was not until 1763 that there was any effective examination of his conduct. In consequence of the trial of de la Borde, treasurer of l'Isle Royale, Prévost, by order of April 18, was arrested, and taken to the Bastille (Marine B, vol. 117). On the 10th April 1764 he was set at liberty, but was never again to be employed in any position of confidence (Marine B, vol. 120).
2. The right to sell to the troops brought in about 3000 £ to the Governor (Papiers Surlaville).

a devoted wife. It may be noted, in passing, that the first and last Governors of Louisbourg both married widows, were splendidly mated, and left them in extreme poverty. Madame de Drucour was the widow of a Savigny. She received a pension of 1000 £, but died only a few weeks after her husband, about the time, October 1763, it was granted. In granting the pension, Drucour's character was recognised. He " s'étoit comporté dans cette place avec la plus grande désintéressement et la plus grande probité." The authorities therefore believed him when he wrote in 1757 :

Drucour's government was a time of continuous trial. In the first few months he was embarrassed by the multitude of promises which Raymond had made before leaving. But these embarrassments and the ordinary trials of the head of a community, with such clashing interests as that of Louisbourg, were trifling compared with the difficulties which confronted him in the succeeding years. He had no control over the fortifications, the condition of which was unsatisfactory, owing to the lack of activity of Franquet, and the sufficient supply of men, materials, and money for their repair. The finances were not in his charge, and part of the inadequate supply of funds was stolen by La Borde, the Treasurer.

The garrison was too small. He pointed out the necessity for its increase, proposing that the companies be increased to 70 men each, and eight more added ; he emphasised the advantage of this course by pointing out that the colonial troops of 104 officers and 2446 men, the force he proposed for the establishment, would cost annually 166,325 £., whereas 164 officers and 1050 men of regular troops, like those of Artois and Bourgogne, would require an annual expenditure of 2,500, 109 £.

But more insistent than the necessity of making the place effective as the guard of French supremacy in America, were the claims of subsistence for its garrison and its people. Each year the port was blockaded, each year its supplies were curtailed, and in 1757, after a winter in which not a family had an ounce of flour in the house, a winter so protracted that there remained eighteen inches of snow on the ground on the 12th of May, there was cause for the greatest anxiety. In June a vessel arrived which relieved the tension, but it was not until January 6, although Du Bois de la Motte had left all the spare provisions from his ships, that they felt assured of sufficient food for the winter. Doloboratz arrived with a cargo of provisions from France on that date, far later than had been thought possible to navigate these seas (Johnstone). The people and the garrison believed during the greater part

of this time that the Royal storehouses contained provisions for two years, a tribute to the firmness and tact of Drucour and Prévost. It is equally to Drucour's praise that during the blockade of Holburne he had kept in touch with Halifax. His scouts, notably Gautier, haunted the outskirts of the English settlement, occasionally making captures, sometimes bringing with them a willing deserter, at other times returning empty-handed. This information he passed on, and, in addition, he promised the Government that he would destroy the new buildings at Halifax if provisions arrived by the middle of November. They did not arrive, and the project fell through. In this discouraging condition, but undismayed, Drucour awaited an attack which he knew was inevitable. [1]

1. Le Loutre's Indians, who flocked to l'Ile Royale after the fall of Beauséjour, where they had been so bountifully supplied, were a source of trouble, and an additional drain on the inadequate store of provisions at Drucour's disposal. He speaks several times of their misery. He intended to use them and the Acadians in the foray against Halifax. Boishébert had been in command of this force (280 men) which had remained in Port Toulouse all summer.