yal and Isle St. Jean, [Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island],
and also with Old France, during the season that the navigation of the
River St. Lawrence is impracticable; and as this is the only way of
communication for a considerable part of the year, possession of the
route is indispensably necessary to France. All who have any special
knowledge of Canada agree on this head, and their testimony finds
confirmation in an English publication that lately appeared in London,
entitled 'The Present State of North America,' in which the writer
sounds the tocsin of war against France and, although partiality,
inspired by love of country, has led him into many errors, he does not
seek to disguise how important it is to deprive France of the right of
navigation of the River St. John, which affords the only means of
communication with Quebec during the winter. 'The French,' says the
English author, 'have often sent supplies and merchandise from Old
France to Quebec, both in time of peace and of war, by the River St.
John, so as to avoid the difficulties and risks of navigation by the
River St. Lawrence. * * If we suffer them to remain in possession of
that river they will always have an open communication between France
and Canada during the winter, which they could have only from May to
October by the River St. Lawrence.'

"This testimony makes us feel more and more how essential it is for
France to keep possession of the River St. John so as to have
communication with Quebec and the rest of Canada during the seven
months of the year that the St. Lawrence is not navigable. The
communication which the English pretend they require by land between
New England and Nova Scotia, along the coast of the Etchemins[29] and
the Bay of Fundy, is only a vain pretext to mask their real motive,
which is to deprive France of a necessary route of communication.

[29] The country of the Etchemins, or Maliseets, included eastern
Maine, and the western part of New Brunswick.

"Considering the length of the road by land from New England to Port
Royal and Acadia, the obstacles to be encountered in the rivers that
fall into the sea along the coast, which will be more difficult to
cross near the mouth; all these circumstances render the communication
by land a veritable chimera; the more so that the way by sea from the
remotest part of New England to Port Royal is so short and so easy,
while that by land would be long, painful and difficul