t to the court an able paper, in which he
urged its occupation and settlement, chiefly on commercial and
industrial grounds. The war was then at its height; the plan was not
carried into effect, and Isle Royale was still a wilderness. It was now
proposed to occupy it for military and political reasons. One of its
many harbors, well fortified and garrisoned, would guard the approaches
of Canada, and in the next war furnish a base for attacking New England
and recovering Acadia.

After some hesitation the harbor called Port a l'Anglois was chosen for
the proposed establishment, to which the name of Louisbourg was given,
in honor of the King. It lies near the southeastern point of the island,
where an opening in the ironbound coast, at once easily accessible and
easily defended, gives entrance to a deep and sheltered basin, where a
fleet of war-ships may find good anchorage. The proposed fortress was to
be placed on the tongue of land that lies between this basin and the
sea. The place, well chosen from the point of view of the soldier or the
fisherman, was unfit for an agricultural colony, its surroundings being
barren hills studded with spruce and fir, and broad marshes buried in
moss.

In spite of the losses and humiliations of the war, great expectations
were formed from the new scheme. Several years earlier, when the
proposals of Raudot were before the Marine Council, it was confidently
declared that a strong fortress on Cape Breton would make the King
master of North America. The details of the establishment were settled
in advance. The King was to build the fortifications, supply them with
cannon, send out eight companies of soldiers, besides all the usual
officers of government, establish a well-endowed hospital, conducted by
nuns, as at Quebec, provide Jesuits and Recollets as chaplains, besides
Filles de la Congregation to teach girls, send families to the spot,
support them for two years, and furnish a good number of young women to
marry the soldiers.[189]

This plan, or something much like it, was carried into effect.
Louisbourg was purely and solely the offspring of the Crown and its
ally, the Church. In time it grew into a compact fishing town of about
four thousand inhabitants, with a strong garrison and a circuit of
formidable ramparts and batteries. It became by far the strongest
fortress on the Atlantic coast, and so famous as a resort of privateers
that it was known as the Dunquerque of America.

Wh