384 CAPE BRETON.

the metropolis of the island; in which place the lieutenant-governor resided, the courts of law were held, and a garrison was stationed under the com- mand of a captain or subaltern oflicer. With the exception of Governor Desbarres, who founded Syd- ney, the different rulers were said to consider it wiser policy to make their power more subservient to their own particular views, than to the improvement and settlement of the colony, which prevented its prospe- rity during their administration; and it has, sub— sequent to the appointment of Lieutenant-General SirJames Kempt, in 1820, to the government of Nova Scotia, been re—annexed, as a county sending two members to represent it in general assembly, to that province.

General Kempt, previous to his promotion to the chief command in America, directed much of his attention to the improvement of Cape Breton. Roads have been traced, or opened, to facilitate the inter- course between the settlements; the location of lands placed under regulations which give ready possession to new settlers; and all that could be effected by the provincial government, has been extended to this

~ island. Its settlement by the English could scarcely be said to have commenced until after the American revolution, when several families of loyalists removed to Cape Breton. Emigration from the Highlands and islands of Scotland, which commenced in 1800, has continued from that period to add some hung dreds annually to the population.

Cape Breton is still, however, much less improved,