Page:Acadiensis Q2.djvu/299

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
HISTORIC SITES OF ACADIA
233

Royal of the French, I remember having seen, not many years ago, a block-house which had stood two or three sieges, one by the English when it was taken, and two in defence of the place for England. That block-house was demolished by the guardian, with the authority of the minister, for the purpose of making fuel. So Annapolis Royal, the theatre of the heroic duel between Subercase and Nicolson, is to-day without its old fortifications. The fortress, however, was rebuilt by local societies when they heard that the Dominion government was about to sell the old historical site. They saved them from destruction and from the government. This happened in 1892. They are to-day in a good state of preservation. So also are the old fortresses at Lunenburg. An honorable friend from the other House just tells me that there are two blockhouses at Lunenburg which have been restored and rebuilt. The oldest of them all is at Windsor. It is well cared for, and so are the grounds. If we go further east, to that great historic fortress of Louisbourg, we find it a field of desolation and ruin. I was sent there myself last fall by the Royal Society to examine the old fortress and report on it. I found that during the course of the year the owners had been able to find among the foundations and the debris about ten thousand of the old brick, which they sold for eight or nine dollars a thousand, and that is about the end of that unique battlefield—unique in the annals of North America. Honorable gentlemen will remember that the fate of this country once depended on the old fortress of Louisbourg. It had been built by the French at an immense cost, something like 25,000,000 or 30,000,000 francs. The English had to take the fortress of Louisbourg before they could take Canada. It was taken twice, the first time by the Americans and the English combined, the militia of New England being under Pepperell, and the English under Warren. It was the first time returned to France by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was again