Manuscript document in secretarial hand, unsigned, dated Prince Edward Island Government House, July 28, 1812.

DES BARRES, Joseph Frederick Wallet [1721-1824] [Army officer, military engineer, surveyor, First Lieutenant Governor of Cape Breton, (1784-87), founder of Sydney, and Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island (1804-12)].

Published by [Charlottetown]: 1812.

About this Item

one-page folio. (horizontal folds, several tears with no loss of text). matted & framed (size of frame: 21.75 x 16 inches; 55.2 x 40.6 cm.). A distinguished military engineer, DesBarres served in the British Army in North America during the Seven Years' War, and participated in the capture of Louisbourg in 1758 and of Quebec in 1759. General James Wolfe used a chart which he prepared of the St. Lawrence River and approaches to Quebec in his assault on the city. From 1763 to 1773 DesBarres surveyed and charted the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to New York, which resulted in the publication in 1777 of the Atlantic Neptune, a four-volume atlas "which stands as a landmark in Canadian cartographic achievement" (R.J.Morgan, DCB, VI pp. 196) and is considered to be the most important atlas of North America published in the eighteenth century. He went on to become the first Lieutenant Governor of Cape Breton, 1784-87, the founder of Sydney, and the Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island, 1804-12. He faced considerable opposition to his administration in both colonies and with the home government and in each instance was recalled to England. The present document is dated just one month before his recall from Prince Edward Island in August of 1812. In it DesBarres reprimands the Grand Jury for overstepping the bounds of their authority although he says he is willing to attribute their statements to "good intentions in an infant colony language which under other circumstances might be very differently received.".

Seller Inventory # elala5919

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Manuscript document in secretarial hand, unsigned, dated Prince Edward Island Government House, July 28, 1812.
• Publisher: [Charlottetown]: 1812.
• Seller catalogs:
  • CanadianAutographs&Mss.