PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 13 THE FRENCH OCCUPATION. In 1663, Captain Doublet , of the French navy, obtained a grant of the Island, together with the Magdalens, for the purpose of car- 1 tying on the fisheries in their waters. Asso¬ ciated with him were two companies of fish¬ ermen from the towns of Granville and St . -Malo. They seem to have confined their op¬ erations to a few harbors, and not to have attempted any settlement, beyond such as was necessary for the carrying on of their industry. Mr. Stewart , in his "Account of Prince Edward Island ," a valuable little work published in 1806, tells us that "From the best information, it does not appear that any settlements, with a view to cultivation, were made by the French on the Island, till after the Peace of Utrecht ; and it is said their government never encouraged the set¬ tlement, and refused, after Sieur Doublet 's patent was vacated, to give grants in perpe¬ tuity to the people who had settled in the Is¬ land, with a view to force, the settlement of , and to draw as many people as they could round the different fortified posts they held on the continent" In the early years of the eighteenth cen¬ tury, the Island seems to have been a place favored by the French inhabitants of Acadia,. who resorted thither, but subsequently aban¬ doned it. This is to be gathered from the correspondence of Lieutenant Governor Caulfield , of Nova Scotia , with the home government in London, to be found in Mur- dock's Archives. Writing from Annapolis Royal, on 16th May, 1716, to the Board of Trade and Plantations, he says that "The Island of St. John's, which the French of this colony seemed to like, in case they were obliged to quit us, is entirely abandoned by - these inhabitants, who went there out of this government." As there were no English here at that time, it is evident that, save for Indians, the Island was uninhabited. But this abandoned condition did not long continue. The French authorities at length recognized the Island's importance to them, and decided to settle it No doubt they came to this decision because they saw what a convenient place the Island could be made, as a source of supplies tor their forces in and elsewhere in its vicinity, and as commanding the trade of the neighboring territories. The English in Nova Scotia were equally alive to its impor¬ tance. Paul Mascerine , in a description of Nova Scotia ,'transmitted in 1720 by Gov ¬ ernor Phillips to the Lords of Trade, clearly points this out. He advocated the construe-' tion of a small fort on the neck of land be¬ tween Bay Verte and the Bay of Fundy, and. to show its necessity, says, "This is more so by reason that the French have sent four ships this summer, with two hundred fami¬ lies, with provisions, stores and materials for the erecting' of a fort and making a settle¬ ment on the Island of St. John's, which ie$ in the Bay of Verte. part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence , part of which Island (which is near fifty leagues long) is but three or four leagues distant from the main, and six in alt from Chignecto. When this settlement if made by the French, they will f rom theocfc command all the trade, and carry a greater sway over all all the Bay of Ftlndy than the English, who are the undoubted owners, but have only the name of possession of it till such measures are taken as are hereby hum¬ bly proposed." He emphasizes his conten¬ tion by adding, "For it is to be remembered that each of these places has a French popish missionary, who is the real chief commis¬ sioner of his flock, and takes his commands from his superiors in ," a state' ment interesting in itself, because of the light