n was of course angry at the terms of the treaty. What sacrifices
had Massachusetts not made! The least of them was the great burden of
debt which she had piled up. Her sons had borne what Pepperrell called
"almost incredible hardships." They had landed cannon on a lee shore
when the great waves pounded to pieces their boats and when men wading
breast high were crushed by the weight of iron. Harnessed two and three
hundred to a gun, they had dragged the pieces one after the other over
rocks and through bog and slime, and had then served them in the open
under the fire of the enemy. New Englanders had died like "rotten sheep"
in Louisbourg. The graves of nearly a thousand of them lay on the bleak
point outside the wall. What they had gained by this sacrifice must now
be abandoned. A spirit of discontent with the mother country went abroad
and, after this sacrifice of colonial interests, never wholly died out.
It is not without interest to note in passing that Gridley, the engineer
who drew the plan of the defenses of Louisbourg, thirty years later
drew those of Bunker Hill to protect men of the English race who fought
against England.

Every one knew that the peace of 1748 was only a truce and Britain began
promptly new defenses. Into the spacious harbor of Chebucto, which three
years earlier had been the scene of the sorrows of d'Anville's fleet,
there sailed in June, 1749, a considerable British squadron bent on
a momentous errand. It carried some thousands of settlers, Edward
Cornwallis, a governor clothed with adequate authority, and a force
sufficient for the defense of the new foundation. Cornwallis was
delighted with the prospect. "All the officers agree the harbour is
the finest they have ever seen"--this, of Halifax harbor with the great
Bedford Basin, opening beyond it, spacious enough to contain the fleets
of the world. "The Country is one continuous Wood, no clear spot to be
seen or heard of. D'Anville's fleet...cleared no ground; they encamped
their men on the beach." The garrison was withdrawn from Louisbourg
and soon arrived at Halifax, with a vast quantity of stores. A town was
marked out; lots were drawn for sites; and every one knew where he might
build his house. There were prodigious digging, chopping, hammering. "I
shall be able to get them all Houses before winter," wrote Cornwallis
cheerily. Firm military discipline, indeed, did wonders. Before winter
came, a town had been created, and with the town