Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-09-15

In the curves OF coves are little cabins OF she
and occasionally q settlement, where women OF
bafe-iesged on the beaches, and peer with shaded
eyes upon every passing craft Tor 1t Is the only
token TO them OF q world and OF humans
haotations Above them, the crags. and passing
craft Tar out TO sea, the gus whirl and gurH and
whistle But the sileaces are something wonder
soonest places on earth were among the packed
thousands In cities Ethically that may be. But
one shudders at the contemplation OF say w1n-
ter's living here, with a hundred miles OF impas-
siole coast, or an hundred miles OF tmpassiDle
WILDERNESS. between little groups Of sodden soula
After all there is a silence where humans are not,
which cannot even be broken BY the mignuest
thunderings ofthe sea.
wondrous interest lies In old Louisburg for
what Is not, rather than for what Is. The spen-
Old haroor has been looked upon as posi- Ole
great future point OF departure for Europe-Doand
steamships. Every rev years the hope Is revived,
nd credulous spectators, chiefly Americans In
vest millions In gigantic stock companies, which
shortly pass into financial shadow-land. IL can
never be what has been hoped. All the millions OF
Boston and New York can never prevent the
gigantic gorges or ice from forming mere In the
things facts instead OF theories will tell you of
tides and counter-currents fighting for mastery
here and piling the drift-ice from Newfoundland
and Labrador In such tremendous heaps within
these harbors that their settlements are walled
In out or sight from the sea behind mountafn-high
cleaning crystal until away into summer. But
France In the old days attempted here a more
visionary accomplishment than to make this grim
old haroor another New York. Her dream was TO
THE GREATEST FORTRESS ON EARTH,
and from its mighty walls command the New
World. After the surrender OF Newfoundland and
Acadia to Great Britain, by the treaty OF Utrecht,
the French Inhabitants and forces masSed here
and and under M De 81 Divide de Broullan the great
were expended by France, and "all the energies
and resources OF her government for twenty
years" were devoted TO its completion. Historians
world In It's time. The harpor was guarded by
battery OF thirty 2S-pounders on Goat Island, and
raked the entrance. On the landward side was
aDe desp nOas a1a and
defended by lines OF ramparts and bastions, on
which so guns were mounted; ana the West Gate
ioaIy CITADEL WAS In the eoyve Of tHe Ei1ns aS
ton. In the center OF the city was the stately
stone church, nunnery and hospital Of 81. Jean de
giles, and communicated with the wharves by five
gates In the har0Orward wall The world looked
with awe upon the somber walls OF Louisburg,
whose towers rose like giants above the Northern
seas" Then. logically, came incalculable loss and
slaughter. New England with 1000 men, Joined
by Warren's West Indian neet laid seige 10 the
supposedly impregnable stronghold, and after a
months bloody Selge its COMMANDER, Governor Du-
cham6on, surrendered 1t on June Is 1745. The next
40 battle-ships and frigates under Duke d. Awhile
was sent 10 recapture II. This expedition was
destroyed oy Unparalleled storms, but Two ships
OF line and few transports reaching Halifax,
where DAuville died Of grief, and Vice-Admirai
ID Estourneile committed suicide through humilia-
ZION and shame. Again France dispatched six.
teen men-of-war and twenty-elght other vessels TO
LousDurg. Tn Sc were nearly all captured by the
English with -, 100000 worth OF conveyed goods.
In 1149 the Close OF the FrancO-English war re-
stored Lou!sourg 10 France; but on the outbreak
OF another war In 1855 LouiSburg was again the
objective point OF tremendous defensive and az
greSslve operations. Stung by defeat and loss, IN
11oS Great Britain sent the greatest single battle
feeL known TO history with 11S transports and
1900 men against this mighty '.Dunkirk OF Amer
lca savage seige was begun against
the doomed city. on July &c, 1858, It fell;
and In 1160 English sappers and miners In
SIX mouths time utterly demolished the most gi-
gantic fortress OF modern times 1t Is a moderate
estimate that this grim Old ruin cost France and
England S2JO,OOO,OOO, the loss OF more than 700
baltleshipS and transports, and that fully 90 600
souls persisted In It's making It's care, in efforts
It's Destruction, or In It's defense. And yet how
the kindly hand OF time efaces such horrible scars
upon the earth and humanity. 1t Is place OF
almost desolate peace to-day. Not one In ten
thousand descended from the nations whose inten-
seSt hope and dread then conferred here, knows or
cares where the old war-scarred sepulcher stands;
and only the loiterer and dreamer, seeking the
lar-on spot at lnIreQuenJ times, may stand, In
vision, upon It's tremendous ramparts. or view the
dread marshaling or its mighty specter hosts.
EDGAR L WAKENAN