26 HISTORICAL SKETCH 0F PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

Governor General, and the officials of his government, together with General Levis, and the remnant of the French Army, were assembled at Montreal, anxiously awaiting the result of the recent campaigns in various directions,-—while General Amherst, General Murray, and Colonel Haviland (whose united forces numbered over 22,000 soldiers) were marching forward to the same point of assemblage. On being apprised of the approach of the British forces they concluded that it would be useless to oppose, with such a small body of disheartened soldiery as they commanded, an army of such strength, and .having no means of retreat the Governor-General, the Com- rmander-in-chief, and all persons serving under them surrendered '- to the British on the 8th September. Another notable event was the resignation to all claims of the Dominion of New France, in token of which the British flag was raised over the ramparts of Montreal, where it proudly waves from that day to the present.

It was thus 237 years subsequent to the navigator, John Verrazani, having explored the coast of the “New World,” to which he gave the title of New France,- 226 years after Jacques Cartier had erected a cross in the name of his King, at Cape Gaspe; and I 55 years following the founding of the first permanent settlement by the French in Acadia, when the Empire of New France ceased to exist as a dependency of the Mother Country. Her last Governor General, Generals of the Army, and other great men, together with the remnant of soldiery, were embarked on board of English ships and forwarded to France.

The long war, however, was about to be brought to a close. A definite treaty of peace between England and France was concluded at Paris, on the 10th February, 1763. In this peace France was to have posssession of the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, but of the vast Empire which she had founded on the continent, nothing to her remained. Thus Canada became an important and hopeful acquisition to the British Crown; the people of which, whether of French or British origin, are animated by the same sentiments of loyalty. Their same interests, therefore, are as secure in their keeping as in that of the people of the metropolitan state,——such being the legitimate fruits of freedom and of justice.