Saint-Pierre Miquelon | Page 8

but to vague and hardly realized ideas: like unto the distant murmur of ocean waves which barely reaches the ears of those who dwell away from the sea-shore.
And yet these islets are the wreck of an immense empire, which once stretched from the Polar regions to the mouths of the Mississipi, the great Father of Waters. They once formed but an infinitesimal portion of that vast domain, which the sons of St. Louis made fruitful with their labor and hallowed with their blood but which, after having opened up to civilization, they allowed to be taken from them by a vigilant and practical adversary.
These humble rocks under the shadow of the tri-color are inhabited by quite a little world of fishermen rendered hardy by the icy breath of Arctic breezes. This little corner of the world, which, at first sight, would be deemed unfit for habitation is surrounded with inexhaustible natural riches, by shoals of cod and herring, more precious than mines of silver and gold, such as those which endowed a small country, Holland, in the first place with the means of existence, then with wealth and finally, during a certain period of its history, with power.
The flowery style of this introduction should not surprise any one. Before the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, have passed all the celebrated navigators who discovered or explored Canada. From their waters France derives an important portion of its food supply. To their ports Spain yearly sends enormous quantities of salt for preserving the precious gifts of the sea. In their waters, during the proper season, hundreds of vessels and fishing-boats and thousands of French fishermen repair for the double purpose of collecting an ever abundant harvest for their country and of training themselves in the arduous duties of a sailor's life.
When we consider all this, what matters it that during one-half of the year their shores are buried in snow or hidden in dense fogs; what matters it that they are beaten by the thundering waves of that terrible Northern Ocean whose green waters, laden with sea-weed and wreckage of every kind, dash upon them and seem, in their wild fury, to desire to wash them off the map of the world?
A livelihood is there provided, not only for the inhabitants, but also for thousands and thousands who live beyond the Atlantic. The sea, that rough foster-mother opens its bosom to all who fear not the never ceasing motion of its waters.
There, are to be found none of those dreadful cases of hardship, those famine-stricken creatures which exist in large centres of population, in the very midst of all the resources of civilization.
The hardy and weather beaten seamen, have never any cause to dread famine. A constantly renewed manna is ever rising from the depths of the sea. It would seem as if God wished to show his power and point out to man the vanity of worldly wealth by causing life and natural riches to teem along these shores which, at first sight, seem devoted but to misery and death.
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Notwithstanding the above considerations, the choice of my subject may have surprised you. Not long ago Professor Bell came before you and related his personal experiences, his explorations of a field so vast and grand as Hudson's Bay and its neighborhood, and it seems like an abuse of your good nature to come and speak of three little islands which, from a physical point of view, have no extraordinary interest. But I have a special affection for them, which may perhaps be due to the smallness of their dimensions. Canada, with its unlimited extent, inspires me with a feeling of admiration. But it is easier to concentrate our affection on a smaller object which the mind can embrace without effort. Burke in his celebrated work "On the sublime and beautiful" points out that, as a rule, objects of a grand or terrible nature excite admiration, whilst those which are comparatively small and pleasant, give rise to love.
As I have already stated, the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon are all that remain to France of an empire which comprised the present British Possessions in North America and the Valley of the Mississipi or, in other words, one-half of the North American Continent. The fleurs-de-lys had to withdraw successively from New-Foundland in 1713, from Cap Breton and Prince Edward's Island in 1745, from Canada and Nova Scotia in 1763, as well as from the territory to the west of the Mississipi and the British Lion left to the old French monarchy only the right to fish on the coast of New Foundland, with the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon.
These islands are situated at the entrance of Fortune Bay which extends to a great depth into the southern