n.
Such questions as the limits of Acadia, and the bounds of the territory
of the Iroquois, were to be among the subjects of fruitful controversy
for half a century.

{210}

XV.

ACADIA AND ILE ROYALE, FROM THE TREATY OF
UTRECHT TO THE TREATY OF
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.

(1713-1748.)

The attention of Louis XIV. and his ministers was now naturally
directed to Cape Breton, which, like the greater island of
Newfoundland, guards the eastern approaches to the valley of the St.
Lawrence. Cape Breton had been neglected since the days of Denys,
though its harbours had been for over two centuries frequented by
sailors of all nationalities. Plaisance, the Placentia of the
Portuguese, had been for years the headquarters of the French fisheries
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but when Newfoundland was ceded to the
English, all the French officials and fishermen removed to English
Harbour, on the eastern coast of Cape Breton, ever since known as
Louisbourg. The island itself was called Ile Royale, and its first
governor was M. de Costabelle, who had held a similar position at
Plaisance. It was not, however, until 1720, that France commenced the
{211} construction of the fortifications of Louisbourg, which
eventually cost her over ten million dollars of modern money, and even
then, they were never completed in accordance with the original design,
on account of the enormous expense which far exceeded the original
estimates. The fortifications were built on an oblong neck of land on
the southern shore of the port, which lies only two leagues from that
famous cape from which the island takes its name. The fortress
occupied an area of over one hundred acres, and was planned on the best
system of Vauban and other great masters of engineering skill, who
intended it should be, as indeed it was, despite some faulty details of
construction, the most complete example of a strongly fortified city in
America. The harbour was also defended by batteries on an island at
the entrance, and at other important points, while there were fortified
works and small garrisons at Port Toulouse (St. Peter's) and Port
Dauphin (St. Anne's). The government of the island was modelled on
that of Canada, to which it was subordinate, and the governor was
generally a military man. During the years the fortress was in
possession of the French, there were probably, on an average, nearly
two thousand people living in the town and vicinity, but this numb