by sea and land was
now determined on, and fixed for the 18th of June. Already the inland
battery had been silenced; the western gate of the town was beaten
down, and a breach effected in the wall; the circular battery of
sixteen guns was nearly ruined; and the western flank of the King's
bastion was nearly demolished. The besieged were in no condition to
resist a joint attack by sea and land. The preparations for such an
attack altogether dispirited them. A cessation of hostilities was asked
for, on the 15th, and obtained. On the 17th, after a siege of
forty-nine days, Louisbourg and the Island of Cap Breton surrendered.
Stores and prizes to the amount of nearly a million sterling fell into
the hands of the conquerors. Nor was this the only advantage. Security
was given to the colonies in their fisheries; Nova Scotia was preserved
to England; and the trade and fisheries of France were nearly ruined.
The successful General, a New Englander by birth, was created a baronet
of Great Britain, in recognition of his important services to the
State. Sir William Pepper(w)ell rose on the ruins of Louisbourg. On
France the blow fell with great severity. The court, aroused to
vengeance, sent the Duke D'Anville, a nobleman of great courage, in
1746, at the head of an armament of forty ships of war, fifty-six
transports, with three thousand five hundred men, and forty thousand
stand of arms for the use of the French and Indians in Canada, to
recover possession of Cape Breton, and to attack the colonies. Four
vessels of the line, forming the West India squadron, were to join the
expedition, and Canada sent off 1,700 men with the same view. The
greatest consternation possessed the English colonists, as part of this
immense fleet neared the American coast. But there was, in reality, no
cause for fear. The tempest had blasted the hopes of France. Only two
or three of the ships, with a few transports, reached Chebucto Bay, in
Nova Scotia. Many of the ships of this once formidable expedition were
seriously damaged by storms, others were lost, and one was forced to
return to Brest, on account of cholera among her crew. On arrival at
Chebucto, where Halifax is now situated, the Admiral became so
despondent that he poisoned himself, and the Vice Admiral, no more a
Roman than his superior, ran himself through the body with his sword.
So died both these gallant but unfortunate men, whose moral courage
quailed before what they knew must be publ