MISSI01T OF ST. LAWB3HCE ~MOE3LL' •T T T T The district now known as the mission of St. Lawrence of Morell , coinprieeB within its parochial limits the site of the old French town of . Peters, once the principal trading post of lie St. Jean. At the mouth of St. Peter 's Harbour, on the land of Mr. John Sinnott , may still he seen row after row of the old cellars of the French houses, while, close down by the sea are the Uastions of what was, according to plans" still extant, a finer fortress than that of Port La Joie. It was from St. Peter 's in 1755 that the three hundred French Neutrals and their families were sent to a cruel death, unler pretent of being shipped home to , they being, by order of the Nova Scotia Government, forced to embark in a leaky transport which foundered within a hundred leagues of the Scilly Isles. The remainder of the French Lv inhabitants of the Isle St. Jean then took fright, some going to , while others made their way to the New Colonies. Others again, on the hide and seek principal, were removed to a different part of the Island. Many years later Irish and Scotch settlers csne to take up the land and their ploughs now furrow what were once the streets of the deserted town of . Pierre. The greater part of Morell was at that time owned by Mr. Worrell , who is said to have been s. good landlord, butk as he only granted leases for a term of forty years, the early settlers contented themselves at first, with small farms, for which they paid about thirty two cents an acre. This rent they paid, by working for Mr. Worrell , they also purchased seed from him, paying him in manual labour. The oldert inhabitants still tell, iaow, after a hard days work, they would return to their log hut in the woods with a bag of seed potatoes on their backs to be sowed amongst the stumps of their new clearings. Up to the year 1266 the settlers of Morell heard mass at St. Andrews , but in that year they commenced, under