THE
NEw ENGLAND MAGAZINE.
NEW. SERIES.
SEPTEMBER, 1891. Vou V. No: 4.
THE BRASS CANNON OF CAMPOBELLO.
By Kate Gannett Wells.
HE history of the island of Camp-
pobello, in Passamaquoddy Bay,
off Eastport, Maine, still presents peculiar features of interest to those who care for romance in history. It pos- sessed singular picturesqueness, unpro- ductiveness, and courtly rule, — for here was maintained even till 1857 an almost feudal rule. William Owen of Wales, admiral, achieved distinction a century ago at the battle of Pondicherry in India, under Lord Clive, and when old and wounded asked for a pension or gratuity. (Through the intercession of Sir William Campbell, governor-general of Nova Scotia, the English government in 1767, granted Passamaquoddy Outer Island to the admiral and his cousins, for it was a larger territory than could be deeded to any one individual ; and Owen in gratitude changed its name to Campobello. David Owen lived here as agent for the others, and as all of the original four owners
died, the land became the property of William Fitz-William Owen.
The young admiral, as he was called, was the hero of the land, and of the hearts of the girls, during the first half of this century. He was a man of iron will, strong affections, and sundry caprices. As a boy he was isolated from his family by military rule, and brought up in bar- racks. When asked his name at five years of age, he answered, “I don’t know; mother can tell you.” From the barracks he went the round of boarding- schools, sometimes, when he had been very good, being allowed to wear a cocked hat and a suit of scarlet made from an old coat of his father’s. Like all English boys he learned the catechism and collects. If wearied with repeating the Lord’s Prayer, he wished he dared say it backwards, yet he feared that by so doing he might raise the devil, and that then it would be a long time before he
