n and France were again at war.

In America both sides had long seen that the war was inevitable. Never
had French opinion been more arrogant in asserting France's right to
North America than after the Treaty of Utrecht. At the dinner-table of
the Governor in Quebec there was incessant talk of Britain's incapacity,
of the sheer luck by which she had blundered into the occupation of
great areas, while in truth she was weak through lack of union and
organization. A natural antipathy, it was said, existed between
her colonies and herself; she was a monarchy while they were really
independent republics. France, on the other hand, had grown stronger
since the last war. In 1713 she had retained the island of Cape Breton
and now she had made it a new menace to British power. Boston, which
had breathed more freely after the fall of Port Royal in 1710, soon had
renewed cause for alarm in regard to its shipping. On the southern
coast of Cape Breton, there was a spacious harbor with a narrow entrance
easily fortified, and here France began to build the fortress of
Louisbourg. It was planned on the most approved military principles of
the time. Through its strength, the boastful talk went, France should
master North America. The King sent out cannon, undertook to build a
hospital, to furnish chaplains for the service of the Church, to help
education, and so on. Above all, he sent to Louisbourg soldiers.

Reports of these wonderful things reached the English colonies and
caused fears and misgivings. New England believed that Louisbourg
reflected the pomp and wealth of Versailles. The fortress was, in
truth, slow in building and never more than a rather desolate outpost
of France. It contained in all about four thousand people. During the
thirty years of the long truce it became so strong that it was without
a rival on the Atlantic coast. The excellent harbor was a haven for the
fishermen of adjacent waters and a base for French privateers, who were
a terror to all the near trade routes of the Atlantic. On the military
side Louisbourg seemed a success. But the French failed in their effort
to colonize the island of Cape Breton on which the fortress stood. Today
this island has great iron and other industries. There are coal-mines
near Louisbourg; and its harbor, long deserted after the fall of the
power of France, has now an extensive commerce. The island was indeed
fabulously rich in coals and minerals. To use these things, however,