He had orders
to proceed to Gaspe, Miramichi, and other settlements on the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, destroy them, and disperse their inhabitants; a measure of
needless and unpardonable rigor, which, while detesting it, he executed
with characteristic thoroughness. "Sir Charles Hardy and I," he wrote to
his father, "are preparing to rob the fishermen of their nets and burn
their huts. When that great exploit is at an end, I return to
Louisbourg, and thence to England." Having finished the work, he wrote
to Amherst: "Your orders were carried into execution. We have done a
great deal of mischief, and spread the terror of His Majesty's arms
through the Gulf, but have added nothing to the reputation of them." The
destruction of property was great; yet, as Knox writes, "he would not
suffer the least barbarity to be committed upon the persons of the
wretched inhabitants."[596]
[Footnote 596: "Les Anglais ont tres-bien traites les prisonniers qu'ils
ont faits dans cette partie" [_Gaspe_, etc]. _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 4
Nov. 1758._]
He returned to Louisbourg, and sailed for England to recruit his
shattered health for greater conflicts.
NOTE. Four long and minute French diaries of the siege of Louisbourg are
before me. The first, that of Drucour, covers a hundred and six folio
pages, and contains his correspondence with Amherst, Boscawen, and
Desgouttes. The second is that of the naval captain Tourville, commander
of the ship "Capricieux," and covers fifty pages.
Pages:
610
611
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617
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619
620
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623
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