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diff --git a/6502.txt b/6502.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a7457e --- /dev/null +++ b/6502.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4370 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Acadian Exiles, by Arthur G. Doughty +#9 in our series Chronicles of Canada + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Acadian Exiles + A Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline + +Author: Arthur G. Doughty + +Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6502] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on December 23, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ACADIAN EXILES *** + + + + +This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan. + + + + + +CHRONICLES OF CANADA +Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton +In thirty-two volumes + +Volume 9 + + +THE ACADIAN EXILES +A Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline + +By ARTHUR G. DOUGHTY +TORONTO, 1916 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA + +The name Acadia, [Footnote: The origin of the name is +uncertain. By some authorities it is supposed to be +derived from the Micmac algaty, signifying a camp or +settlement. Others have traced it to the Micmac akade, +meaning a place where something abounds. Thus, Sunakade +(Shunacadie, C. B.), the cranberry place; Seguboon-akade +(Shubenacadie), the place of the potato, etc. The earliest +map marking the country, that of Ruscelli (1561), gives +the name Lacardie. Andre Thivet, a French writer, mentions +the country in 1575 as Arcadia; and many modern writers +believe Acadia to be merely a corruption of that classic +name.] which we now associate with a great tragedy of +history and song, was first used by the French to +distinguish the eastern or maritime part of New France +from the western part, which began with the St Lawrence +valley and was called Canada. Just where Acadia ended +and Canada began the French never clearly defined--in +course of time, as will be seen, this question became a +cause of war with the English--but we shall not be much +at fault if we take a line from the mouth of the river +Penobscot, due north to the St Lawrence, to mark the +western frontier of the Acadia of the French. Thus, as +the map shows, Acadia lay in that great peninsula which +is flanked by two large islands, and is washed on the +north and east by the river and gulf of St Lawrence, and +on the south by the Atlantic Ocean; and it comprised what +are to-day parts of Quebec and Maine, as well as the +provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward +Island. When the French came, and for long after, this +country was the hunting ground of tribes of the Algonquin +race--Micmacs, Malecites, and Abnakis or Abenakis. + +By right of the discoveries of Jean Verrazano (1524) and +Jacques Cartier (1534-42) the French crown laid claim to +all America north of the sphere of Spanish influence. +Colonial enterprise, however, did not thrive during the +religious wars which rent Europe in the sixteenth century; +and it was not until after the Edict of Nantes in 1598 +that France could follow up the discoveries of her seamen +by an effort to colonize either Acadia or Canada. Abortive +attempts had indeed been made by the Marquis de la Roche, +but these had resulted only in the marooning of fifty +unfortunate convicts on Sable Island. The first real +colonizing venture of the French in the New World was +that of the Sieur de Monts, the patron and associate of +Champlain. [Footnote: See The founder of New France in +this Series, chap. ii.] The site of this first colony +was in Acadia. Armed with viceregal powers and a trading +monopoly for ten years, De Monts gathered his colonists, +equipped two ships, and set out from Havre de Grace in +April 1604. The company numbered about a hundred and +fifty Frenchmen of various ranks and conditions, from +the lowest to the highest--convicts taken from the prisons, +labourers and artisans, Huguenot ministers and Catholic +priests, some gentlemen of noble birth, among them Jean +de Biencourt, Baron de Poutrincourt, and the already +famous explorer Champlain. + +The vessels reached Cape La Heve on the south coast of +Nova Scotia in May. They rounded Cape Sable, sailed up +the Bay of Fundy, and entered the Annapolis Basin, which +Champlain named Port Royal. The scene here so stirred +the admiration of the Baron de Poutrincourt that he +coveted the place as an estate for his family, and begged +De Monts, who by his patent was lord of the entire country, +to grant him the adjoining lands. De Monts consented; +the estate was conveyed; and Poutrincourt became the +seigneur of Port Royal. + +The adventurers crossed to the New Brunswick shore, turned +their vessel westward, passed the mouth of the river St +John, which they named, and finally dropped anchor in +Passamaquoddy Bay. Here, on a small island near the mouth +of the river St Croix, now on the boundary-line between +New Brunswick and Maine, De Monts landed his colonists. +They cleared the ground; and, within an enclosure known +as the Habitation de l'Isle Saincte-Croix, erected a few +buildings--'one made with very fair and artificial +carpentry work' for De Monts, while others, less ornamental, +were for 'Monsieur d'Orville, Monsieur Champlein, Monsieur +Champdore, and other men of high standing.' + +Then as the season waned the vessels, which linked them +to the world they had left, unfurled their sails and set +out for France. Seventy-nine men remained at St Croix, +among them De Monts and Champlain. In the vast solitude +of forest they settled down for the winter, which was +destined to be full of horrors. By spring thirty-five of +the company had died of scurvy and twenty more were at +the point of death. Evidently St Croix was not a good +place for a colony. The soil was sandy and there was no +fresh water. So, in June, after the arrival of a vessel +bringing supplies from France, De Monts and Champlain +set out to explore the coasts in search of a better site. +But, finding none which they deemed suitable, they decided +to tempt fortune at Poutrincourt's domain of Port Royal. +Thither, then, in August the colonists moved, carrying +their implements and stores across the Bay of Fundy, and +landing on the north side of the Annapolis Basin, opposite +Goat Island, where the village of Lower Granville now +stands. + +The colony thus formed at Port Royal in the summer of +1605--the first agricultural settlement of Europeans on +soil which is now Canadian--had a broken existence of +eight years. Owing to intrigues at the French court, De +Monts lost his charter in 1607 and the colony was +temporarily abandoned; but it was re-established in 1610 +by Poutrincourt and his son Charles de Biencourt. The +episode of Port Royal, one of the most lively in Canadian +history, introduces to us some striking characters. +Besides the leaders in the enterprise, already mentioned +--De Monts, Champlain, Poutrincourt, and Biencourt--we +meet here Lescarbot, [Footnote: Lescarbot was the historian +of the colony. His History of New France, reprinted by +the Champlain Society (Toronto, 1911), with an English +translation, notes, and appendices by W. L. Grant, is a +delightful and instructive work.] lawyer, merry philosopher, +historian, and farmer; likewise, Louis Hebert, planting +vines and sowing wheat--the same Louis Hebert who afterwards +became the first tiller of the soil at Quebec. Here, +also, is Membertou, sagamore of the Micmacs, 'a man of +a hundred summers' and 'the most formidable savage within +the memory of man.' Hither, too, in 1611, came the Jesuits +Biard and Masse, the first of the black-robed followers +of Loyola to set foot in New France. But the colony was +to perish in an event which foreshadowed the struggle in +America between France and England. In 1613 the English +Captain Argall from new-founded Virginia sailed up the +coasts of Acadia looking for Frenchmen. The Jesuits had +just begun on Mount Desert Island the mission of St +Sauveur. This Argall raided and destroyed. He then went +on and ravaged Port Royal. And its occupants, young +Biencourt and a handful of companions, were forced to +take to a wandering life among the Indians. + +Twenty years passed before the French made another +organized effort to colonize Acadia. The interval, however, +was not without events which had a bearing on the later +fortunes of the colony. Missionaries from Quebec, both +Recollets and Jesuits, took up their abode among the +Indians, on the river St John and at Nipisiguit on Chaleur +Bay. Trading companies exploited the fur fields and the +fisheries, and French vessels visited the coasts every +summer. It was during this period that the English Puritans +landed at Plymouth (1620), at Salem (1628), and at Boston +(1630), and made a lodgment there on the south-west flank +of Acadia. The period, too, saw Sir William Alexander's +Scots in Nova Scotia and saw the English Kirkes raiding +the settlements of New France. [Footnote: See The Jesuit +Missions in this Series, chap. iv.] + +The Baron de Poutrincourt died in 1615, leaving his estate +to his son Biencourt. And after Biencourt's own death in +1623, it was found that he had bequeathed a considerable +fortune, including all his property and rights in Acadia, +to his friend and companion, that interesting and +resourceful adventurer, Charles de la Tour. This man, +when a lad of fourteen, and his father, Claude de la +Tour, had come out to Acadia in the service of Poutrincourt. +After the destruction of Port Royal, Charles de la Tour +had followed young Biencourt into the forest, and had +lived with him the nomadic life of the Indians. Later, +the elder La Tour established himself for trade at the +mouth of the Penobscot, but he was driven away from this +post by a party from the English colony at Plymouth. The +younger La Tour, after coming into Biencourt's property, +built Fort Lomeron, afterwards named St Louis, at the +place now known as Port Latour, near Cape Sable. This +made him in fact, if not in name, the French ruler of +Acadia, for his Fort St Louis was the only place of any +strength in the whole country. + +By 1627 the survivors of Biencourt's wandering companions +had settled down, some of them in their old quarters at +Port Royal, but most of them with La Tour at Cape Sable. +Then came to Acadia seventy Scottish settlers, sent hither +by Sir William Alexander, who took up their quarters at +Port Royal and named it Scots Fort. The French described +these settlers as 'all kinds of vagabonds, barbarians, +and savages from Scotland'; and the elder La Tour went +to France to procure stores and ammunition, and to petition +the king to grant his son a commission to hold Acadia +against the intruders. But the elder La Tour was not to +come back in the role of a loyal subject of France. He +was returning in 1628 with the ships of the newly formed +Company of One Hundred Associates, under Roquemont, when, +off the Gaspe coast, appeared the hostile sail of the +Kirkes; and La Tour was taken prisoner to England. There +he entered into an alliance with the English, accepted +grants of land from Sir William Alexander, had himself +and his son made Baronets of Nova Scotia, and promised +to bring his son over to the English side. Young La Tour, +when his father returned, accepted the gift, and by some +means procured also, in 1631, a commission from the French +king as lieutenant-general of Acadia. Later, as we shall +see, his dual allegiance proved convenient. + +The restoration of Acadia to France in 1632, by the Treaty +of St Germain-en-Laye, was to Cardinal Richelieu the +signal for a renewal of the great colonizing project +which he had set on foot five years earlier and which +had been interrupted by the hostile activities of the +Kirkes. [Footnote: See The founder of New France, chap. +v, and The Jesuit Missions, chap. iv.] Richelieu appointed +lieutenant-general of Acadia Isaac de Razilly, one of +the Company of One Hundred Associates and commander of +the Order of Malta, with authority to take over Acadia +from the Scots. Razilly brought out with him three hundred +settlers, recruited mainly from the districts of Touraine +and Brittany--the first considerable body of colonists +to come to the country. He was a man of more than ordinary +ability, of keen insight and affable manners. 'The +commander,' wrote Champlain, 'possessed all the qualities +of a good, a perfect sea-captain; prudent, wise, +industrious; urged by the saintly motive of increasing +the glory of God and of exercising his energy in New +France in order to erect the cross of Christ and plant +the lilies of France therein.' He planned for Acadia on +a large scale. He endeavoured to persuade Louis XIII to +maintain a fleet of twelve vessels for the service of +the colony, and promised to bring out good settlers from +year to year. Unfortunately, his death occurred in 1635 +before his dreams could be realized. He had been given +the power to name his successor; and on his death-bed he +appointed his cousin and companion, Charles de Menou, +Sieur d'Aulnay Charnisay, adjuring him 'not to abandon +the country, but to pursue a task so gloriously begun.' + +Years of strife and confusion followed. Razilly had made +La Heve his headquarters; but Charnisay took up his at +Port Royal. [Footnote: Charnisay built his fort about +six miles farther up than the original Port Royal, and +on the opposite side of the river, at the place thenceforth +known as Port Royal until 1710, and since then as Annapolis +Royal or Annapolis.] This brought him into conflict with +Charles de la Tour, who had now established himself at +the mouth of the river St John, and whose commission from +the king, giving him jurisdiction over the whole of +Acadia, had, apparently, never been rescinded. The king, +to whom the dispute was referred, instructed that an +imaginary line should be drawn through the Bay of Fundy +to divide the territory of Charnisay from that of La +Tour. But this arrangement did not prevent the rivalry +between the two feudal chiefs from developing into open +warfare. In the struggle the honours rested with Charnisay. +Having first undermined La Tour's influence at court, he +attacked and captured La Tour's Fort St John. This happened +in 1645. La Tour himself was absent; but his wife, a +woman of heroic mould, made a most determined resistance. +[Footnote: This follows the story as told by Denys (see +p. 18 note), which has been generally accepted by +historians. But Charnisay in an elaborate memoir (Memoire +Instructif) gives a very different version of this affair.] +La Tour was impoverished and driven into exile; his +remarkable wife died soon afterwards; and Charnisay +remained lord of all he surveyed. But Charnisay was not +long to enjoy his dominion. In May 1650 he was thrown by +accident from his canoe into the Annapolis river and died +in consequence of the exposure. + +In the year following Charnisay's death Charles de la +Tour reappeared on the scene. Armed with a new patent +from the French king, making him governor and lieutenant- +general of Acadia, he took possession of his fort at the +mouth of the St John, and further strengthened his position +by marrying the widow of his old rival Charnisay. Three +years later (1654), when the country fell again into the +hands of the English, La Tour turned to good account his +previous relations with them. He was permitted to retain +his post, and lived happily with his wife [Footnote: They +had five children, who married and settled in Acadia. +Many of their descendants may be counted among the Acadian +families living at the present time in Nova Scotia and +New Brunswick.] at Fort St John, so far as history records, +until his death in 1666. + +By the Treaty of Breda in 1667 Acadia was restored to +France, and a period ensued of unbroken French rule. The +history of the forty-three years from the Treaty of Breda +until the English finally took possession is first a +history of slow but peaceful development, and latterly +of raids and bloody strife in which French and English +and Indians were involved. In 1671 the population, +according to a census of that year, numbered less than +four hundred and fifty. This was presently increased by +sixty new colonists from France. By 1685 this population +had more than doubled and the tiny settlements appeared +to be thriving. But after 1690 war again racked the land. + +During this period Acadia was under the government of +Quebec, but there was always a local governor. The first +of these, Hubert de Grandfontaine, came out in 1670. He +and some of his successors were men of force and ability; +but others, such as Brouillan, who issued card money +without authority and applied torture to an unconvicted +soldier, and Perrot, who sold liquor by the pint and the +half-pint in his own house, were unworthy representatives +of the crown. + +By 1710 the population of Acadia had grown to about +twenty-one hundred souls, distributed chiefly in the +districts of Port Royal, Minas, and Chignecto. Most of +these were descended from the settlers brought over by +Razilly and Charnisay between 1633 and 1638. On the whole, +they were a strong, healthy, virtuous people, sincerely +attached to their religion and their traditions. The most +notable singularity of their race was stubbornness, +although they could be led by kindness where they could +not be driven by force. Though inclined to litigation, +they were not unwilling to arbitrate their differences. +They 'had none who were bred mechanics; every farmer was +his own architect and every man of property a farmer.' +'The term Mister was unknown among them.' They took pride +in their appearance and wore most attractive costumes, +in which black and red colours predominated. Content with +the product of their labour and having few wants, they +lived in perfect equality and with extreme frugality. In +an age when learning was confined to the few, they were +not more illiterate than the corresponding class in other +countries. 'In the summer the men were continually employed +in husbandry.' They cultivated chiefly the rich marsh-lands +by the rivers and the sea, building dikes along the banks +and shores to shut out the tides; and made little effort +to clear the woodlands. 'In the winter they were engaged +in cutting timber and wood for fuel and fencing, and in +hunting; the women in carding, spinning, and weaving +wool, flax, and hemp, of which their country furnished +abundance; these, with furs from bears, beavers, foxes, +otters, and martens, gave them not only comfortable, but +in some cases handsome clothing.' Although they had large +herds of cattle, 'they never made any merchantable butter, +being used to set their milk in small noggins which were +kept in such order as to turn it thick and sour in a +short time, of which they ate voraciously.' [Footnote: +Public Archives, Canada, Brown Collection, M 651a, 171.] + +The lands which the Acadians reclaimed from the sea and +cultivated were fertile in the extreme. A description +has come down to us of what was doubtless a typical +Acadian garden. In it were quantities of 'very fine +well-headed cabbages and of all other sorts of pot herbs +and vegetables.' Apple and pear trees brought from France +flourished. The peas were 'so covered with pods that it +could only be believed by seeing.' The wheat was +particularly good. We read of one piece of land where +'each grain had produced six or eight stems, and the +smallest ear was half a foot in length, filled with +grain.' The streams and rivers, too, teemed with fish. +The noise of salmon sporting in the rivers sounded like +the rush of a turbulent rapid, and a catch such as 'ten +men could not haul to land' was often made in a night. +Pigeons were a plague, alighting in vast flocks in the +newly planted gardens. If the economic progress of the +country had been slow, the reason had lain, not in any +poverty of natural resources, but in the scantiness of +the population, the neglect of the home government, the +incessant turmoil within, and the devastating raids of +English enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BRITISH IN ACADIA + +Almost from the first England had advanced claims, slender +though they were, to the ownership of Acadia. And very +early, as we have seen, the colony had been subjected to +the scourge of English attacks. + +Argall's expedition had been little more than a buccaneering +exploit and an earnest of what was to come. Nor did any +permanent result, other than the substitution of the name +Nova Scotia for Acadia, flow from Sir William Alexander's +enterprise. Alexander, afterwards Lord Stirling, was a +Scottish courtier in the entourage of James I, from whom +he obtained in 1621 a grant of the province of New Scotland +or Nova Scotia. A year later he sent out a small body of +farm hands and one artisan, a blacksmith, to establish +a colony. The expedition miscarried; and another in the +next year shared a similar fate. A larger company of +Scots, however, as already mentioned, settled at Port +Royal in 1627 and erected a fort, known as Scots Fort, +on the site of the original settlement of De Monts. This +colony, with some reinforcements from Scotland, stood +its ground until the country was ceded to France in 1632. +On the arrival of Razilly in that year most of the Scottish +settlers went home, and the few who remained were soon +merged in the French population. + +For twenty-two years after this Acadia remained French, +under the feudal sway of its overlords, Razilly, Charnisay, +La Tour, and Nicolas Denys, the historian of Acadia. +[Footnote: He wrote The Description and Natural History +of the Coasts of North America. An edition, translated +and edited, with a memoir of the author, by W. F. Ganong, +will be found in the publications of the Champlain Society +(Toronto, 1908).] But in 1654 the fleet of Robert Sedgwick +suddenly appeared off Port Royal and compelled its +surrender in the name of Oliver Cromwell. Then for thirteen +years Acadia was nominally English. Sir Thomas Temple, +the governor during this period, tried to induce +English-speaking people to settle in the province, but +with small success. England's hold of Acadia was, in +fact, not very firm. The son of Emmanuel Le Borgne, who +claimed the whole country by right of a judgment he had +obtained in the French courts against Charnisay, apparently +found little difficulty in turning the English garrison +out of the fort at La Heve, leaving his unfortunate +victims without means of return to New England, or of +subsistence; but in such destitution that they were forced +'to live upon grass and to wade in the water for lobsters +to keep them alive.' Some amusing correspondence followed +between France and England. The French ambassador in +London complained of the depredations committed in the +house of a certain Monsieur de la Heve. The English +government, better informed about Acadia, replied that +it knew of no violence committed in the house of M. de +la Heve. 'Neither is there any such man in the land, but +there is a place so called, which Temple purchased for +eight thousand pounds from La Tour, where he built a +house. But one M. le Borny, two or three years since, by +force took it, so that the violence was on Le Borny's +part.' The strife was ended, however, as already mentioned, +by the Treaty of Breda in 1667, in the return of Acadia +to France in exchange for the islands in the West Indies +of St Christopher, Antigua, and Montserrat. + +Nearly a quarter of a century passed. France and England +were at peace and Acadia enjoyed freedom from foreign +attack. But the accession of William of Orange to the +throne of England heralded the outbreak of another +Anglo-French war. The month of May 1690 saw Sir William +Phips with a New England fleet and an army of over a +thousand men off Port Royal, demanding its surrender. +Menneval, the French governor, yielded his fortress on +the understanding that he and the garrison should be +transported to French soil. Phips, however, after pillaging +the place, desecrating the church, hoisting the English +flag, and obliging the inhabitants to take the oath of +allegiance to William and Mary, carried off his prisoners +to Boston. He was bent on the capture of Quebec in the +same year and had no mind to make the necessary arrangements +to hold Acadia. Hardly had he departed when a relief +expedition from France, under the command of Menneval's +brother Villebon, sailed into Port Royal. But as Villebon +had no sufficient force to reoccupy the fort, he pulled +down the English flag, replaced it by that of France, +and proceeded to the river St John. After a conference +with the Indians there he went to Quebec, and was present +with Frontenac in October when Phips appeared with his +summons to surrender. [Footnote: See The Fighting Governor +in this Series, chap. vii.] Villebon then went to France. +A year later he returned as governor of Acadia and took +up his quarters at Fort Jemseg, about fifty miles up the +St John river. Here he organized war-parties of Indians +to harry the English settlements; and the struggle +continued, with raid and counter-raid, until 1697, when +the Treaty of Ryswick halted the war between the two +crowns. + +The formal peace, however, was not for long. In 1702 +Queen Anne declared war against France and Spain. And +before peace returned the final capture of Acadia had +been effected. It was no fault of Subercase, the French +officer who in 1706 came to Port Royal as governor, that +the fortunes of war went against him. In 1707 he beat +off two violent attacks of the English; and if sufficient +means had been placed at his disposal, he might have +retained the colony for France. But the ministry at +Versailles, pressed on all sides, had no money to spare +for the succour of Acadia. Subercase set forth with +clearness the resources of the colony, and urged strong +reasons in favour of its development. In 1708 a hundred +soldiers came to his aid; but as no funds for their +maintenance came with them, they became a burden. The +garrison was reduced almost to starvation; and Subercase +was forced to replenish his stores by the capture of +pirate vessels. The last letter he wrote home was filled +with anguish over the impending fate of Port Royal. His +despair was not without cause. In the spring of 1710 +Queen Anne placed Colonel Francis Nicholson, one of her +leading colonial officers, in command of the troops +intended for the recovery of Nova Scotia. An army of +about fifteen hundred soldiers was raised in New England, +and a British fleet gathered in Boston Harbour. On October +5 (New Style) this expedition arrived before Port Royal. +The troops landed and laid siege once more to the +much-harassed capital of Acadia. The result was a foregone +conclusion. Five days later preliminary proposals were +exchanged between Nicholson and Subercase. The starving +inhabitants petitioned Subercase to give up. He held out, +however, till the cannonade of the enemy told him that +he must soon yield to force. He then sent an officer to +Nicholson to propose the terms of capitulation. It was +agreed that the garrison should march out with the honours +of war and be transported to France in English ships, +and that the inhabitants within three miles of the fort +should 'remain upon their estates, with their corn, +cattle, and furniture, during two years, in case they +are not desirous to go before, they taking the oath of +allegiance and fidelity to Her Sacred Majesty of Great +Britain.' Then to the roll of the drum, and with all the +honours of war, the French troops marched out and the +New Englanders marched in. The British flag was raised, +and, in honour of the queen of England, Port Royal was +named Annapolis Royal. A banquet was held in the fortress +to celebrate the event, and the French officers and their +ladies were invited to it to drink the health of Queen +Anne, while cannon on the bastions and cannon on the +ramparts thundered forth a royal salute. + +The celebration over, Subercase sent an envoy to Quebec, +to inform Vaudreuil, the governor of New France, of the +fall of Port Royal, and then embarked with his soldiers +for France. A few days later Nicholson took away most of +his troops and repaired to Boston, leaving a garrison of +four hundred and fifty men and officers under the command +of Colonel Samuel Vetch to hold the newly-won post until +peace should return and Her Majesty's pleasure concerning +it be made known. + +As far as he was able, Vetch set up military rule at +Annapolis Royal. He administered the oath of allegiance +to the inhabitants of the banlieue--within three miles +of the fort--according to the capitulation, and established +a court to try their disputes. Many and grave difficulties +faced the new governor and his officers. The Indians were +hostile, and, quite naturally in the state of war which +prevailed, emissaries of the French strove to keep the +Acadians unfriendly to their English masters. Moreover, +Vetch was badly in want of money. The soldiers had no +proper clothing for the winter; they had not been paid +for their services; the fort stood in need of repair; +and the military chest was empty. He could get no assistance +from Boston or London, and his only resource seemed to +be to levy on the inhabitants in the old-fashioned way +of conquerors. The Acadians pleaded poverty, but Vetch +sent out armed men to enforce his order, and succeeded +in collecting at least a part of the tribute he demanded, +not only from the inhabitants round the fort over whom +he had authority, but also from the settlers of Minas +and Chignecto, who were not included in the capitulation. + +The first winter passed, in some discomfort and privation, +but without any serious mishap to the English soldiers. +With the month of June, however, there came a disaster. +The Acadians had been directed to cut timber for the +repair of the fort and deliver it at Annapolis. They had +complied for a time and had then quit work, fearing, as +they said, attacks from the Indian allies of the French, +who threatened to kill them if they aided the enemy. +Thereupon Vetch ordered an officer to take seventy-five +men and go up the river to the place where the timber +was being felled and 'inform the people that if they +would bring it down they would receive every imaginable +protection,' but if they were averse or delayed to do so +he was to 'threaten them with severity.' 'And let the +soldiers make a show of killing their hogs,' the order +ran, 'but do not kill any, and let them kill some fowls, +but pay for them before you come away.' Armed with this +somewhat peculiar military order, the troops set out. +But as they ascended the river they were waylaid by a +war-party of French and Indians, and within an hour every +man of the seventy-five English was either killed or +taken captive. + +Soon after this tragic affair Vetch went to Boston to +take a hand in an invasion of Canada which was planned +for that summer. This invasion was to take place by both +sea and land simultaneously. Vetch joined the fleet of +Sir Hovenden Walker, consisting of some sixty vessels +which sailed from Boston in July. Meanwhile Colonel +Nicholson stood near Lake Champlain, with a force of +several thousand colonial troops and Six Nation Indians, +in readiness to advance on Canada to co-operate with the +fleet. But the fleet never got within striking distance. +Not far above the island of Anticosti some of the ships +ran aground and were wrecked with a loss of nearly a +thousand men; and the commander gave up the undertaking +and bore away for England. When news of this mishap +reached Nicholson he retreated and disbanded his men. +But, though the ambitious enterprise ended ingloriously, +it was not wholly fruitless, for it kept the French of +Quebec on guard at home; while but for this menace they +would probably have sent a war-party in force to drive +the English out of Acadia. + +The situation of the English at Annapolis was indeed +critical. Their numbers had been greatly reduced by +disease and raids and the men were in a sorry plight for +lack of provisions and clothing. Vetch could obtain +neither men nor money from England or the colonies. Help, +however, of a sort did come in the summer of 1712. This +was in the form of a band of Six Nation Indians, allies +of the English, from the colony of New York. [Footnote: +Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, vol. +iv, p. 41.] These savages pitched their habitations not +far from the fort, and thereafter the garrison suffered +less from the Micmac and Abnaki allies of the French. + +The Acadians were in revolt; and as long as they cherished +the belief that their countrymen would recover Acadia, +all attempts to secure their allegiance to Queen Anne +proved unavailing. At length, in April 1713, the Treaty +of Utrecht set at rest the question of the ownership of +the country. Cape Breton, Ile St Jean (Prince Edward +Island), and other islands in the Gulf were left in the +hands of the French. But Newfoundland and 'all Nova Scotia +or Acadia, with its ancient boundaries, as also the city +of Port Royal, now called Annapolis Royal,' passed to +the British crown. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE + +We have now to follow a sequence of events leading up to +the calamity to be narrated in a later chapter. By the +Treaty of Utrecht the old king, Louis XIV, had obtained +certain guarantees for his subjects in Acadia. It was +provided that 'they may have liberty to remove themselves +within a year to any other place with all their movable +effects'; and that 'those who are willing to remain +therein and to be subject to the kingdom of Britain are +to enjoy the free exercise of their religion.' And these +terms were confirmed by a warrant of Queen Anne addressed +to Nicholson, under date of June 23, 1713. [Footnote: +'Trusty and Well-beloved, We greet you Well! Whereas Our +Good Brother the Most Christian King hath at Our desire +released from imprisonment on board His Galleys, such of +His subjects as were detained there on account of their +professing the Protestant religion, We being willing to +show by some mark of Our Favour towards His subjects how +kindly we take His compliance therein, have therefore +thought fit hereby to Signifie Our Will and Pleasure to +you that you permit and allow such of them as have any +lands or Tenements in the Places under your Government +in Acadie and Newfoundland, that have been or are to be +yielded to Us by Vertue of the late Treaty of Peace, and +are Willing to Continue our Subjects to retain and Enjoy +their said Lands and Tenements without any Lett or +Molestation as fully and freely as other our Subjects do +or may possess their Lands and Estates or to sell the +same if they shall rather Chuse to remove elsewhere--And +for so doing this shall be your Warrant, And so we bid +you fare well. Given at our Court at Kensington the 23rd +day of June 1713 in the Twelfth Year of our Reign.'--Public +Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. iv, p. 97.] The +status of the Acadians under the treaty, reinforced by +this warrant, seems to be sufficiently clear. If they +wished to become British subjects, which of course implied +taking the oath of allegiance, they were to enjoy all +the privileges of citizenship, not accorded at that time +to Catholics in Great Britain, as well as the free exercise +of their religion. But if they preferred to remove to +another country within a year, they were to have that +liberty. + +The French authorities were not slow to take advantage +of this part of the treaty. In order to hold her position +in the New World and assert her authority, France had +transferred the garrison which she had formerly maintained +at Placentia, Newfoundland, to Cape Breton. This island +she had renamed Ile Royale, and here she was shortly to +rear the great fortress of Louisbourg. It was to her +interest to induce the Acadians to remove to this new +centre of French influence. In March 1713, therefore, +the French king intimated his wish that the Acadians +should emigrate to Ile Royale; every inducement, indeed, +must be offered them to settle there; though he cautioned +his officers that if any of the Acadians had already +taken the oath of allegiance to Great Britain, great care +must be exercised to avoid scandal. + +Many Acadians, then, on receiving attractive offers of +land in Ile Royale, applied to the English authorities +for permission to depart. The permission was not granted. +It was first refused by Governor Vetch on the ground that +he was retiring from office and was acting only in the +absence of Colonel Nicholson, who had been recently +appointed governor. The truth is that the English regarded +with alarm the removal of practically the entire population +from Nova Scotia. The governor of Ile Royale intervened, +and sent agents to Annapolis Royal to make a formal demand +on behalf of the Acadians, presenting in support of his +demand the warrant of Queen Anne. The inhabitants, it +was said, wished to leave Nova Scotia and settle in Ile +Royale, and 'they expect ships to convey themselves and +effects accordingly.' Nicholson, who had now arrived as +governor, took the position that he must refer the question +to England for the consideration of Her Majesty. + +When the demand of the governor of Ile Royale reached +England, Vetch was in London; and Vetch had financial +interests in Nova Scotia. He at once appealed to the +Lords of Trade, who in due course protested to the +sovereign 'that this would strip Nova Scotia and greatly +strengthen Cape Breton.' Time passed, however, and the +government made no pronouncement on the question. Meanwhile +Queen Anne had died. Matters drifted. The Acadians wished +to leave, but were not allowed to employ British vessels. +In despair they began to construct small boats on their +own account, to carry their families and effects to Ile +Royale. These boats, however, were seized by order of +Nicholson, and the Acadians were explicitly forbidden to +remove or to dispose of their possessions until a decision +with regard to the question should arrive from England. + +In January 1715 the accession of George I was proclaimed +throughout Acadia. But when the Acadians were required +to swear allegiance to the new monarch, they proved +obdurate. They agreed not to do anything against His +Britannic Majesty as long as they remained in Acadia; +but they refused to take the oath on the plea that they +had already pledged their word to migrate to Ile Royale. +John Doucette, who arrived in the colony in October 1717 +as lieutenant-governor, was informed by the Acadians that +'the French inhabitants had never own'd His Majesty as +Possessor of this His Continent of Nova Scotia and +L'Acadie.' When Doucette presented a paper for them to +sign, promising them the same protection and liberty as +the rest of His Majesty's subjects in Acadia, they brought +forward a document of their own, which evidently bore +the marks of honest toil, since Doucette 'would have been +glad to have sent' it to the secretary of state 'in a +cleaner manner.' In it they declared, 'We shall be ready +to carry into effect the demand proposed to us, as soon +as His Majesty shall have done us the favour of providing +some means of sheltering us from the savage tribes, who +are always ready to do all kinds of mischief... In case +other means cannot be found, we are ready to take an +oath, that we will take up arms neither against His +Britannic Majesty, nor against France, nor against any +of their subjects or allies.' [Footnote: Public Archives, +Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. viii, p. 181 et seq.] + +The attitude of both France and England towards the +unfortunate Acadians was thoroughly selfish. The French +at Louisbourg, after their first attempt to bring the +Acadians to Ile Royale, relapsed into inaction. They +still hoped doubtless that Acadia would be restored to +France, and while they would have been glad to welcome +the Acadians, they perceived the advantage of keeping +them under French influence in British territory. In +order to do this they had at their hand convenient means. +The guarantee to the Acadians of the freedom of their +religion had entailed the presence in Acadia of French +priests not British subjects, who were paid by the French +government and were under the direction of the bishop of +Quebec. These priests were, of course, loyal to France +and inimical to Great Britain. Another source of influence +possessed by the French lay in their alliance with the +Indian tribes, an alliance which the missionary priests +helped to hold firm. The fear of an Indian attack was +destined on more than one occasion to keep the Acadians +loyal to France. On the other hand, the British, while +loth to let the Acadians depart, did little to improve +their lot. It was a period of great economy in English +colonial administration. Walpole, in his desire to reduce +taxation, devoted very little money to colonial development; +and funds were doled out to the authorities at Annapolis +in the most parsimonious manner. 'It is a pity,' wrote +Newton, the collector of the customs at Annapolis and +Canso, in 1719, that 'so fine a province as Nova Scotia +should lie so long neglected. As for furs, feathers, and a +fishery, we may challenge any province in America to +produce the like, and beside that here is a good grainery; +masting and naval stores might be provided hence. And +was here a good establishment fixt our returns would be +very advantageous to the Crown and Great Britain.' As it +was, the British ministers were content to send out +elaborate instructions for the preservation of forests, +the encouragement of fisheries and the prevention of +foreign trade, without providing either means for carrying +out the schemes, or troops for the protection of the +country. + +Nothing further was done regarding the oath of allegiance +until the arrival of Governor Philipps in 1720, when the +Acadians were called upon to take the oath or leave the +country within four months, taking with them only two +sheep per family. This, it seems, was merely an attempt +to intimidate the people into taking the oath, for when +the Acadians, having no boats at their disposal, proposed +to travel by land, and began to cut out a road for the +passage of vehicles, they were stopped in the midst of +their labours by order of the governor. + +In a letter to England Philipps expressed the opinion +that the Acadians, if left alone, would no doubt become +contented British subjects, that their emigration at this +time would be a distinct loss to the garrison, which was +supplied by their labours. He added that the French were +active in maintaining their influence over them. One +potent factor in keeping them restless was the circulation +of reports that the English would not much longer tolerate +Catholicism. [Footnote: Public Archives, Canada. Nova +Scotia A, vol. xi, p. 186.] The Lords of Trade took this +letter into consideration, and in their reply of December +28, 1720, we find the proposal to remove the Acadians as +a means of settling the problem. [Footnote: 'As to the +French inhabitants of Nova Scotia, who appear so wavering +in their inclinations, we are apprehensive they will +never become good subjects to His Majesty whilst the +French Governors and their Priests retain so great an +influence over them, for which reason we are of opinion, +that they ought to be removed so soon as the forces which +we have proposed to be sent to you shall arrive in Nova +Scotia for the protection and better settlement of your +Province, but as you are not to attempt their removal +without His Majesty's positive orders for that purpose, +you will do well in the meanwhile to continue the same +prudent and cautious conduct towards them, to endeavour +to undeceive them concerning the exercise of their +religion, which will doubtless be allowed them if it +should be thought proper to let them stay where they +are.'--Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. xii, +p. 210.] This, however, was not the first mooting of the +idea. During the same year Paul Mascarene, in 'A Description +of Nova Scotia,' had given two reasons for the expulsion +of the inhabitants: first, that they were Roman Catholics, +under the full control of French priests opposed to +British interests; secondly, that they continually incited +the Indians to do mischief or disturb English settlements. +On the other hand, Mascarene discovered two motives for +retaining them: first, in order that they might not +strengthen the French establishments; secondly, that they +might be employed in furnishing supplies for the garrison +and in preparing fortifications until such time as the +English were strong enough to do without them. +[Footnote: 'A Description of Nova Scotia,' by Paul +Mascarene, transmitted to the Lords of Trade by Governor +Philipps.--Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. +xii, p. 118.] + +It does not appear that either the English or the French +government had any paternal affection for the poor +Acadians; but each was fully conscious of the use to +which they might be put. + +In a letter to the Lords of Trade Philipps sums up the +situation. 'The Acadians,' he says, 'decline to take the +oath of allegiance on two grounds--that in General +Nicholson's time they had signed an obligation to continue +subjects of France and retire to Cape Breton, and that +the Indians would cut their throats if they became +Englishmen.' + + If they are permitted [he continues] to remain upon + the footing they propose, it is very probable they + will be obedient to government as long as the two + Crowns continue in alliance, but in case of a rupture + will be so many enemies in our bosom, and I cannot + see any hopes, or likelihood, of making them English, + unless it was possible to procure these Priests to be + recalled who are tooth and nail against the Regent; + not sticking to say openly that it is his day now, + but will be theirs anon; and having others sent in + their stead, which (if anything) may contribute in a + little time to make some change in their sentiments. + +He further suggests an 'oath of obliging the Acadians to +live peaceably,' to take up arms against the Indians, +but not against the French, to acknowledge the king's +right to the country, to obey the government, and to hold +their lands of the king by a new tenure, 'instead of +holding them (as at present) from lords of manors who +are now at Cape Breton, where at this day they pay their +rent.' [Footnote: Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia +A, vol. xii, p. 96.] + +There were signs that the situation was not entirely +hopeless. The Acadians were not allowed to leave the +country, or even to settle down to the enjoyment of their +homes; they were employed in supplying the needs of the +troops, or in strengthening the British fortifications; +yet they seem to have patiently accepted the inevitable. +The Indians committed acts of violence, but the Acadians +remained peaceable. There was, too, a certain amount of +intermarriage between Acadian girls and the British +soldiers. In those early days of Nova Scotia, girls of +a marriageable age were few and were much sought after. +There was in Annapolis an old French gentlewoman 'whose +daughters, granddaughters, and other relatives' had +married British officers. These ladies soon acquired +considerable influence and were allowed to do much as +they pleased. The old gentlewoman, Marie Magdalen Maisonat, +who had married Mr William Winniett, a leading merchant +and one of the first British inhabitants of Annapolis, +became all-powerful in the town, not only on account of +her own estimable qualities, but also on account of the +position held by her daughters and granddaughters. Soldiers +arrested for breach of discipline often pleaded that they +had been 'sent for to finish a job of work for Madame'; +and this excuse was usually sufficient to secure an +acquittal. If not, the old lady would on her own authority +order the culprit's release, and 'no further enquiry was +made into the matter.' One British officer, who had +incurred her displeasure, was told that 'Me have rendered +King Shorge more important service dan ever you did or +peut-etre ever shall, and dis is well known to peoples +en autorite,' which may have been true if, as was asserted, +she sometimes presided at councils of war in the fort. +[Footnote: Knox, An Historical Journal of the Campaigns +in North America, Edited, etc., by A. G. Doughty. Vol. +i, pp. 94-6. (Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1914.)] + +It was with the Indians, rather than with the Acadians, +that the authorities had the greatest trouble. After +several hostile acts had been committed, the governor +determined to try the effect of the gentle art of +persuasion. He sent to England an agent named Bannfield +to purchase a large quantity of presents for the Indians. +Bannfield was thoroughly dishonest, and appropriated +two-thirds of the money to his own use, expending the +remainder on the purchase of articles of 'exceeding bad +quality.' A gorgeous entertainment was prepared for the +savages, and the presents were given to them. The Indians +took away the presents, but their missionaries had little +difficulty in showing them the inferiority of the English +gifts; and Philipps noted that they did not appear +satisfied. 'They will take all we give them,' he wrote, +'and cut our throats next day.' At length the Indians +boldly declared war against the British, an action which +Philipps attributed to the scandalous conduct of the +agent Bannfield. At the instigation of the French of Ile +Royale, they kept up hostilities for two years and +committed many barbarities. The Micmacs seized fishing +smacks, and killed and scalped a number of English soldiers +and fishermen. It was not until a more attractive supply +of presents arrived, and were distributed among the +chiefs, that they could be induced to make peace. + +During the progress of the Indian war Governor Philipps +had prudently refrained from discussing with the Acadians +the question of the oath; but in 1726 Lawrence Armstrong, +the lieutenant-governor, resolved to take up the matter +again. In the district of Annapolis he had little trouble. +The inhabitants there consented, after some discussion, +to sign a declaration of allegiance, with a clause +exempting them from the obligation of taking up arms. +[Footnote: This oath applied only to the inhabitants of +the district of Annapolis.] But to deal with the Acadians +of Minas and of Beaubassin on Chignecto Bay proved more +difficult. Certain 'anti-monarchical traders' from Boston +and evil-intentioned French inhabitants had represented +in these districts that the governor had no authority in +the land, and no power to administer oaths. No oath would +these Acadians take but to their own Bon Roy de France. +They promised, however, to pay all the rights and dues +which the British demanded. + +The death of George I in 1727, and the accession of George +II, made it necessary for the Acadians to acknowledge +the new monarch. This time the lieutenant-governor was +determined to do the business in a thorough and +comprehensive manner. He chartered a vessel at a cost of +a hundred pounds, and commissioned Ensign Wroth to proceed +from place to place at the head of a detachment of troops +proclaiming the new king and obtaining the submission of +the people. Wroth was eminently successful in proclaiming +His Majesty; but he had less success in regard to the +oath. Finding the Acadians obdurate, he promised them on +his own authority freedom in the exercise of their +religion, exemption from bearing arms, and liberty to +withdraw from the province at any time. These 'unwarrantable +concessions' Armstrong refused to ratify; and the Council +immediately declared them null and void, although they +resolved that 'the inhabitants... having signed and +proclaimed His Majesty and thereby acknowledged his title +and authority to and over this Province, shall have the +liberties and privileges of English subjects.' +[Footnote: Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia B, vol. +i, p. 177.] This was all the Acadians wished for. + +The commission of Ensign Wroth did not extend to the +district of Annapolis, which was dealt with by the Council. +The deputies of the Acadians there were summoned to appear +before the Council on September 6, 1727. But the +inhabitants, instead of answering the summons, called a +meeting on their own account and passed a resolution, +signed by seventy-one of their people, which they forwarded +to the Council. In this document they offered to take +the oath on the conditions offered by Wroth. This the +Council considered 'insolent and defiant,' and ordered +the arrest of the deputies. On September 16 Charles +Landry, Guillaume Bourgois, Abraham Bourg, and Francois +Richard were brought before the Council, and, on refusing +to take the oath except on the terms proposed by themselves, +were committed to prison for contempt and disrespect to +His Majesty. Next day the lieutenant-governor announced +that 'they had been guilty of several enormous crimes in +assembling the inhabitants in a riotous manner contrary +to the orders of government both as to time and place +and likewise in framing a rebellious paper.' It was then +resolved: 'That Charles Landry, Guillaume Bourgois and +Francis Richard, for their said offence, and likewise +for refusing the oath of fidelity to His Majesty which +was duly tendered them, be remanded to prison, laid in +irons, and there remain until His Majesty's pleasure +shall be made known concerning them, and that Abraham +Bourg, in consideration of his great age, shall have +leave to retire out of this His Majesty's Province, +according to his desire and promise, by the first +opportunity, leaving his effects behind him.' [Footnote: +Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia B, vol. i, p. 159.] +The rest of the inhabitants were to be debarred from +fishing on the British coasts. It is difficult to reconcile +the actions of the Council. The inhabitants who cheerfully +subscribed to the oath, with the exceptions made by Ensign +Wroth, were to be accorded the privileges of British +subjects, while some of those who would have been glad +to accept the same terms were laid in irons, and the +others debarred from fishing, their main support. + +Shortly after this Philipps was compelled to return to +Nova Scotia in order to restore tranquillity; for his +lieutenant Armstrong, a man of quick temper, had fallen +foul of the French priests, especially the Abbe Breslay, +whom he had caused to be handled somewhat roughly. +Armstrong, seeking an alliance with the Abnakis, had been +foiled by the French and had laid the blame at the door +of the priest, demanding the keys of the church and +causing the presbytery to be pillaged. In the end Breslay +had escaped in fear of his life. It was his complaints, +set forth in a memorial to the government, that had +brought about Philipps's return. The Acadians, with whom +Philipps was popular, welcomed him in a public manner; +and Philipps took advantage of the occasion to approach +them again on the subject of the oath. He restored the +Abbe Breslay to his flock, promised the people freedom +in religious matters, and assured them that they would +not be required to take up arms. Then all the Acadians +in the district of Annapolis subscribed to the following +oath: 'I promise and swear on the faith of a Christian +that I will be truly faithful and will submit myself to +His Majesty King George the Second, whom I acknowledge +as the lord and sovereign of Nova Scotia or Acadia. So +help me God.' In the spring of 1728 Philipps obtained +also the submission of the inhabitants of the other +districts, on similar terms; and even the Indians professed +a willingness to submit. This was a triumph for the +administration of Philipps, and laid at rest for a time +the vexed question of the oath. The triumph was, however, +more superficial than real, as we shall see by and by. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN TIMES OF WAR + +When Philipps had set at rest the question of the oath +of allegiance, he returned to England, and Armstrong, +less pacific than his chief, again assumed the +administration, and again had some trouble with the +priests. Two Acadian missionaries had been expelled from +the country for want of respect to the governor; and +Armstrong informed the inhabitants that in future he must +be consulted regarding the appointment of ecclesiastics, +and that men from Quebec would not be acceptable. Brouillan, +the governor of Ile Royale, had taken the ground that +the Acadian priests, not being subjects of Great Britain, +were not amenable to the British authorities. This view +was held by the priests themselves. The president of the +Navy Board at Paris, however, rebuked Brouillan, and +informed him that the priests in Acadia should by word +and example teach the obedience due to His Britannic +Majesty. This pronouncement cleared the air; the +disagreements with the missionaries were soon adjusted; +and one of them, St Poncy, after being warned to cultivate +the goodwill of the governor, was permitted to resume +his pastoral duties at Annapolis Royal. + +On the death of Armstrong, on December 6, 1739, from +wounds supposed to have been inflicted by his own hand, +John Adams was appointed lieutenant-governor and president +of the Council. In the following spring, however, Adams +was displaced by a vote of the Council in favour of Major +Paul Mascarene. 'The Secretary came to my House,' wrote +Adams to the Duke of Newcastle, 'and reported to me the +judgment of the Council in favour of Major Mascarene, +from whose judgment I appealed to His Majesty and said +if you have done well by the House of Jerubable [Jerubbaal] +then rejoice ye in Abimelech and let Abimelech rejoice +in you.' [Footnote: Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia +A, vol. xxv, p. 9.] After this lucid appeal, Adams, who +had deep religious convictions, retired to Boston and +bemoaned the unrighteousness of Annapolis. [Footnote: +Writing from Boston to the Lords of Trade, Adams said: +'I would have returned to Annapolis before now. But there +was no Chaplain in the Garrison to administer God's word +and sacrament to the people. But the Officers and Soldiers +in Garrison have Prophaned the Holy Sacrament of Baptism +and Ministeriall Function, by presuming to Baptize their +own children. Why His Majesty's Chaplain does not come +to his Duty I know not, but am persuaded it is a Disservice +and Dishonour to our Religion and Nation; and as I have +heard, some have got their children Baptized by the Popish +Priest, for there has been no Chaplain here for above +these four years.'--Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia +A, vol. xxv, p. 176.] + +It was under Mascarene's administration that Nova Scotia +passed through the period of warfare which now supervened. +For some time relations between France and England had +been growing strained in the New World, owing chiefly to +the fact that the Peace of Utrecht had left unsettled +the perilous question of boundary between the rival +powers. There was the greatest confusion as to the +boundaries of Nova Scotia or Acadia. The treaty had given +Great Britain the province of Acadia 'with its ancient +boundaries.' The 'ancient boundaries,' Great Britain +claimed, included the whole mainland of the present +maritime provinces and the Gaspe peninsula; whereas France +contended that they embraced only the peninsula of Nova +Scotia. Both powers, therefore, claimed the country north +of the isthmus of Chignecto, and the definition of the +boundary became a more and more pressing question. + +The outbreak of the war of the Austrian Succession in +Europe in 1741 set the match to the fuse. By 1744 the +French and English on the Atlantic seaboard were up in +arms. The governor of Ile Royale lost no time in attacking +Nova Scotia. He invaded the settlements at Canso with +about five hundred men; and presently a band of Indians, +apparently led by the Abbe Le Loutre, missionary to the +Micmacs, marched against Annapolis Royal. Towards these +aggressions the Acadians assumed an attitude of strict +neutrality. On the approach of Le Loutre's Micmacs they +went to their homes, refusing to take part in the affair. +Then when the raiders withdrew, on the arrival of +reinforcements from Boston, the Acadians returned to +their work on the fort. During the same year, when Du +Vivier with a considerable French force appeared before +Annapolis, the Acadians aided him with provisions. But +when the French troops desired to winter at Chignecto, +the Acadians objected and persuaded them to leave, which +'made their conduct appear to have been on this occasion +far better than could have been expected from them.' +[Footnote: Nova Scotia Documents, p. 147.] Once more the +Acadians resumed their work on the fortifications and +supplied the garrison with provisions. They frankly +admitted giving assistance to the French, but produced +an order from the Sieur du Vivier threatening them with +punishment at the hands of the Indians if they refused. + +In May of the following year (1745) a party of Canadians +and Indians, under the raider Marin, invested Annapolis. +Again the Acadians refused to take up arms and again +assisted the invaders with supplies. By the end of the +month, however, Marin and his raiders had vanished and +the garrison at Annapolis saw them no more. They had been +urgently summoned by the governor of Ile Royale to come +to his assistance, for Louisbourg was even then in dire +peril. An army of New Englanders under Pepperrell, +supported by a squadron of the British Navy under Warren, +had in fact laid siege to the fortress in the same month. +[Footnote: See The Great Fortress in this Series, chap. +ii.] But Marin's raiders could render no effective service. +On the forty-ninth day of the siege Louisbourg surrendered +to the English, [Footnote: June 17, Old Style, June 28, +New Style, 1745. The English at this time still used the +Old Style Julian calendar, while the French used the +Gregorian, New Style. Hence some of the disagreement in +respect to dates which we find in the various accounts +of this period.] and shortly afterwards the entire French +population, civil and military, among them many Acadians, +were transported to France. + +The fall of Louisbourg and the removal of the inhabitants +alarmed the French authorities, who now entertained fears +for the safety of Canada and determined to take steps +for the recapture of the lost stronghold, and with it +the whole of Acadia, in the following year. Accordingly, +a formidable fleet, under the command of the Duc d'Anville, +sailed from La Rochelle in June 1746; while the governor +of Quebec sent a strong detachment of fighting Canadians +under Ramesay to assist in the intended siege. But disaster +after disaster overtook the fleet. A violent tempest +scattered the ships in mid-ocean and an epidemic carried +off hundreds of seamen and soldiers. In the autumn the +commander, with a remnant of his ships, arrived in Chebucto +Bay (Halifax), where he himself died. The battered ships +finally put back to France, and nothing came of the +enterprise. [Footnote: See The Great Fortress, chap. +iii.] Meanwhile, rumours having reached Quebec of a +projected invasion of Canada by New England troops, the +governor Beauharnois had recalled Ramesay's Canadians +for the defence of Quebec; but on hearing that the French +ships had arrived in Chebucto Bay, and expecting them to +attack Annapolis, Ramesay marched his forces into the +heart of Acadia in order to be on hand to support the +fleet. Then, when the failure of the fleet became apparent, +he retired to Beaubassin at the head of Chignecto Bay, +and proceeded to fortify the neck of the peninsula, +building a fort at Baie Verte on the eastern shore. He +was joined by a considerable band of Malecites and Micmacs +under the Abbe Le Loutre; and emissaries were sent out +among the Acadians as far as Minas to persuade them to +take up arms on the side of the French. + +William Shirley, the governor of Massachusetts, who +exercised supervision over the affairs of Nova Scotia, +seeing in this a real menace to British power in the +colony, raised a thousand New Englanders and dispatched +them to Annapolis. Of these only four hundred and seventy, +under Colonel Arthur Noble of Massachusetts, arrived at +their destination. Most of the vessels carrying the others +were wrecked by storms; one was driven back by a French +warship. In December, however, Noble's New Englanders, +with a few soldiers from the Annapolis garrison, set out +to rid Acadia of the Canadians; and after much hardship +and toil finally reached the village of Grand Pre in the +district of Minas. Here the soldiers were quartered in +the houses of the Acadians for the winter, for Noble had +decided to postpone the movement against Ramesay's position +on the isthmus until spring. It would be impossible, he +thought, to make the march through the snow. + +But the warlike Canadians whom Ramesay had posted in the +neck of land between Chignecto Bay and Baie Verte did +not think so. No sooner had they learned of Noble's +position at Grand Pre than they resolved to surprise him +by a forced march and an attack by night. Friendly Acadians +warned the British of the intended surprise; but the +over-confident Noble scouted the idea. The snow in many +places was 'twelve to sixteen feet deep,' and no party, +even of Canadians, thought Noble, could possibly make a +hundred miles of forest in such a winter. So it came to +pass that one midnight, early in February, Noble's men +in Grand Pre found themselves surrounded. After a plucky +fight in which sixty English were killed, among them +Colonel Noble, and seventy more wounded, Captain Benjamin +Goldthwaite, who had assumed the command, surrendered. +The enemies then, to all appearances, became the best of +friends. The victorious Canadians sat down to eat and +drink with the defeated New Englanders, who made, says +Beaujeu, one of the Canadian officers, 'many compliments +on our polite manners and our skill in making war.' The +English prisoners were allowed to return to Annapolis +with the honours of war, while their sick and wounded +were cared for by the victors. This generosity Mascarene +afterwards gratefully acknowledged. + +When the Canadians returned to Chignecto with the report +of their victory over the British, Ramesay issued a +proclamation to the inhabitants of Grand Pre setting +forth that 'by virtue of conquest they now owed allegiance +to the King of France,' and warning them 'to hold no +communication with the inhabitants of Port Royal.' This +proclamation, however, had little effect. With few +exceptions the Acadians maintained their former attitude +and refused to bear arms, even on behalf of France and +in the presence of French troops. 'There were,' says +Mascarene, 'in the last action some of those inhabitants, +but none of any account belonging to this province... +The generality of the inhabitants of this province possess +still the same fidelity they have done before, in which +I endeavour to encourage them.' + +Quite naturally, however, there was some unrest among +the Acadians. After the capture of Louisbourg in 1745 +the British had transported all the inhabitants of that +place to France; and rumours were afloat of an expedition +for the conquest of Canada and that the Acadians were to +share a similar fate. This being made known to the British +ministry, the Duke of Newcastle wrote to Governor Shirley +of Massachusetts, instructing him to issue a proclamation +assuring the Acadians 'that there is not the least +foundation for any apprehension of that nature: but that +on the contrary it is His Majesty's resolution to protect +and maintain all such of them as shall continue in their +duty and allegiance to His Majesty in the quiet and +peaceable possession of their habitations and settlements +and that they shall continue to enjoy the free exercise +of their religion.' [Footnote: Newcastle to Shirley, May +30, 1747.--Canadian Archives Report, 1905, Appendix C, +vol. ii, p. 47.] + +Shirley proceeded to give effect to this order. He issued +a proclamation informing the inhabitants of the intention +of the king towards them; omitting, however, that clause +relating to their religion, a clause all-important to +them. The document was printed at Boston in French, and +sent to Mascarene to be distributed. Mascarene thought +at the time that it produced a good effect. Shirley's +instructions were clear; but in explanation of his omission +he represented that such a promise might cause +inconvenience, as it was desirable to wean the Acadians +from their attachment to the French and the influence of +the bishop of Quebec. He contended, moreover, that the +Treaty of Utrecht did not guarantee the free exercise of +religion. In view of this explanation, [Footnote: Bedford +to Shirley, May 10, 1748.] Shirley's action was approved +by the king. + +In Shirley's proclamation several persons were indicted +for high treason, [Footnote: Canadian Archives Report, +1906, Appendix C, vol. ii, p. 48.] and a reward of 50 +pounds was offered for the capture of any one offender +named. These, apparently, were the only pronounced rebels +in the province. There were more sputterings in Acadia +of the relentless war that raged between New France and +New England. Shirley had sent another detachment of troops +in April to reoccupy Grand Pre; and the governor of Quebec +had sent another war-party. But in the next year (1748) +the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, by which Ile Royale (Cape +Breton) and Ile St Jean (Prince Edward Island) were +restored to France, brought hostilities to a pause. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +CORNWALLIS AND THE ACADIANS + +In Nova Scotia England was weak from the fact that no +settlements of her own people had been established there. +After thirty years of British rule Mascarene had written, +'There is no number of English inhabitants settled in +this province worth mentioning, except the five companies +here [at Annapolis] and four at Canso.' Now the restoration +to France of Cape Breton with the fortress of Louisbourg +exposed Nova Scotia to attack; and in time of war with +France the Acadians would be a source of weakness rather +than of strength. Great Britain, therefore, resolved to +try the experiment of forming in Nova Scotia a colony of +her own sons. + +Thus it came to pass that a fleet of transports carrying +over twenty-five hundred colonists, counting women and +children, escorted by a sloop-of-war, cast anchor in +Chebucto Bay in July 1749. This expedition was commanded +by Edward Cornwallis, the newly appointed governor and +captain-general of Nova Scotia. He was a young officer +of thirty-six, twin-brother of the Rev. Frederick +Cornwallis, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and +uncle of the more famous Lord Cornwallis who surrendered +at Yorktown thirty-two years later. With the colonists +came many officers and disbanded soldiers; came, also, +the soldiers of the garrison which had occupied Louisbourg +before the peace; for the new settlement, named Halifax +in honour of the president of the Lords of Trade, was to +be a military stronghold, as well as a naval base, and +the seat of government for the province. + +While Cornwallis and his colonists laid the foundations +of Halifax, cleared the land, formed the streets, put up +their dwellings and defences, and organized their +government, the home authorities took up the problem of +securing more settlers for Nova Scotia. Cornwallis had +been instructed to prepare for settlements at Minas, La +Heve, Whitehead, and Baie Verte, the intention being that +the newcomers should eventually absorb the Acadians living +at these places. It had been suggested to the Lords of +Trade, probably by John Dick, a merchant of Rotterdam, +that the most effective means to this end would be to +introduce a large French Protestant element into Nova +Scotia. The government thereupon gave instructions that +the land should be surveyed and plans prepared dividing +the territory into alternate Protestant and Catholic +sections. Through intercourse and intermarriage with +neighbours speaking their own tongue, it was fondly hoped +that the Acadians, in course of time, would become loyal +British subjects. The next step was to secure French +Protestant emigrants. In December 1749 the Lords of Trade +entered into a contract with John Dick to transport 'not +more than fifteen hundred foreign Protestants to Nova +Scotia.' [Footnote: Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia +A, vol. xxxv, p. 189.] Dick was a man of energy and +resource and, in business methods, somewhat in advance +of his age. He appears to have understood the value of +advertising, judging from the handbills which he circulated +in France and from his advertisements in the newspapers. +But as time passed emigrants in anything like the numbers +expected were not forthcoming. Evil reports concerning +Nova Scotia had been circulated in France, and other +difficulties arose. After many delays, however, two +hundred and eighty persons recruited by Dick arrived at +Halifax. The character of some gave rise to complaint, +and Dick was cautioned by the government. His troubles +in France crept on apace. It began to be rumoured that +the emigrants were being enrolled in the Halifax militia; +and, France being no longer a profitable field, Dick +transferred his activities to Germany. Alluring handbills +in the German tongue were circulated, and in the end a +considerable number of Teutons arrived at Halifax. Most +of these were afterwards settled at Lunenburg. The +enterprise, of course, failed of its object to neutralize +and eventually assimilate the Acadian Catholic population; +nevertheless several thousand excellent 'foreign Protestant' +settlers reached Nova Scotia through various channels. +They were given land in different parts of the province +and in time became good citizens. + +Cornwallis's instructions from the British ministry +contained many clauses relating to the Acadians. Though +they had given assistance to the enemy, they should be +permitted to remain in the possession of their property. +They must, however, take the oath of allegiance 'within +three months from the date of the declaration' which the +governor was to make. Liberty of conscience should be +permitted to all. In the event of any of the inhabitants +wishing to leave the province, the governor should remind +them that the time allowed under the Treaty of Utrecht +for the removal of their property had long since expired. +The governor should take particular care that 'they do +no damage, before such their removal, to their respective +homes and plantations.' Determined efforts should be +made, not only to Anglicize, but to Protestantize the +people. Marriages between the Acadians and the English +were to be encouraged. Trade with the French settlements +was prohibited. No episcopal jurisdiction might be +exercised in the province, a mandate intended to shut +out the bishop of Quebec. Every facility was to be given +for the education of Acadian children in Protestant +schools. Those who embraced Protestantism were to be +confirmed in their lands, free from quit-rent for a period +of ten years. [Footnote: Canadian Archives Report, 1905, +Appendix C, vol. ii, p. 50.] + +Armed with these instructions, Cornwallis adopted at +first a strong policy. On July 14, 1749, he issued a +proclamation containing 'the declaration of His Majesty +regarding the French inhabitants of Nova Scotia,' and +calling on the Acadians to take the oath of allegiance +within three months. At a meeting of the Council held +the same day, at which representatives of the Acadians +were present, the document was discussed. The deputies +listened with some concern to the declaration, and inquired +whether permission would be given them to sell their +lands if they decided to leave the country. The governor +replied that under the Treaty of Utrecht they had enjoyed +this privilege for one year only, and that they could +not now 'be allowed to sell or carry off anything.' The +deputies asked for time to consult the inhabitants. This +was granted, with a warning that those who 'should not +take the oath of allegiance before the 15th of October +should forfeit all their possessions and rights in the +Province.' Deputies from nine districts appeared before +the Council on July 31 and spoke for the Acadians. The +Council deliberated and decided that no priest should +officiate without a licence from the governor; that no +exemption from bearing arms in time of war could be made; +that the oath must be taken as offered; and that all who +wished to continue in the possession of their lands must +appear and take the oath before October 15, which would +be the last day allowed them. [Footnote: Public Archives, +Canada. Nova Scotia B, vol. iv, p. 14.] + +A month later they presented to Cornwallis a petition +signed by one thousand inhabitants to the effect that +they had faithfully served King George, and were prepared +to renew the oath which was tendered to them by Governor +Philipps; that two years before His Majesty had promised +to maintain them in the peaceable enjoyment of their +possessions: 'And we believe, Your Excellency, that if +His Majesty had been informed of our conduct towards His +Majesty's Government, he would not propose to us an oath +which, if taken, would at any moment expose our lives to +great peril from the savage nations, who have reproached +us in a strange manner as to the oath we have taken to +His Majesty... But if Your Excellency is not disposed to +grant us what we take the liberty of asking, we are +resolved, every one of us, to leave the country.' In +reply Cornwallis reminded them that, as British subjects, +they were in the enjoyment of their religion and in +possession of their property. 'You tell me that General +Philipps granted you the reservation which you demand; +and I tell you gentlemen, that the general who granted +you such reservation did not do his duty... You have been +for more than thirty-four years past the subjects of the +King of Great Britain... Show now that you are grateful.' +[Footnote: Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia B, vol. +iv, p. 49.] + +The Acadians, however, showed still a decided aversion +to an unqualified oath; and Cornwallis apparently thought +it best to recede somewhat from the high stand he had +taken. He wrote to the home government explaining that +he hesitated to carry out the terms of his proclamation +of July 14 by confiscating the property of those who did +not take the oath, on the ground that the Acadians would +not emigrate at that season of the year, and that in the +meantime he could employ them to advantage. If they +continued to prove obstinate, he would seek new instructions +to force things to a conclusion. [Footnote: Public +Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. xxxv, p. 48.] The +Acadians, used by this time to the lenity of the British +government, were probably not surprised to find, at the +meeting of the Council held on October 11, no mention of +the oath which had to be taken before the 15th of the month. + +The winter passed, and still Cornwallis took no steps to +enforce his proclamation. He had his troubles; for the +French, from Quebec on the one side and from Louisbourg +on the other, were fomenting strife; and the Indians were +on the war-path. And, in February 1750, the Lords of +Trade wrote that as the French were forming new settlements +with a view to enticing the Acadians into them, any +forcible means of ejecting them should be waived for the +present. Cornwallis replied that he was anxious to leave +matters in abeyance until he ascertained what could be +done in the way of fortifying Chignecto. 'If a fort is +once built there,' he explained, 'they [the Indians] will +be driven out of the peninsula or submit. He also wished +to know what reinforcements he might expect in the spring. +Until then he would 'defer making the inhabitants take +the oath of allegiance.' + +Meanwhile the Acadians were not idle on their own behalf. +In October 1749 they addressed a memorial to Des Herbiers, +the governor of Ile Royale, to be transmitted to the +French king. They complained that the new governor intended +to suppress their missionaries, [Footnote: Cornwallis +had denied the jurisdiction of the bishop of Quebec, but +had intimated that he would grant a licence to any good +priest, his objection being to missionaries such as Le +Loutre, who stirred up the Indians to commit hostilities.] +and to force them to bear arms against the Indians, with +whom they had always been on friendly terms. They therefore +prayed the king to obtain concessions from Great Britain-- +the maintenance of the Quebec missionaries, the exemption +from bearing arms, or an extension of a year in which +they might withdraw with their effects. [Footnote: +Canadian Archives Report, 1905, Appendix N, vol. ii, p. +298.] Two months later they sent a petition to the Marquis +de la Jonquiere, the governor of Canada, actuated, they +said, by the love of their country and their religion. +They had refused to take the oath requiring them to bear +arms against their fellow-countrymen. They had, it is +true, appeared attached to the interests of the English, +in consequence of the oath which they had consented to +take only when exempted from bearing arms. Now that this +exemption was removed, they wished to leave Nova Scotia, +and hoped that the king would help them with vessels, as +they had been refused permission to build them. Great +offers had been made to them, but they preferred to leave. +[Footnote: Ibid., p. 301.] + +In the spring of 1750, unable to obtain permission from +Cornwallis to take a restricted oath, the Acadians almost +unanimously decided to emigrate. On April 19 deputies +from several settlements in the district of Minas--the +river Canard, Grand Pre, and Pisiquid--appeared before +the Council at Halifax and asked to be allowed to leave +the province with their effects. [Footnote: Public +Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia B, vol. iv, p. 130.] +According to Cornwallis, they professed that this decision +was taken against their inclination, and that the French +had threatened them with destruction at the hands of the +Indians if they remained. [Footnote: Public Archives, +Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. xxxvii, p. 7.] On May 25 the +inhabitants of Annapolis Royal came with a like petition. + +In reply to these petitions Cornwallis reminded the +inhabitants that the province was the country of their +fathers, and that they should enjoy the product of their +labours. As soon as there should be tranquillity he would +give them permission to depart, if they wished to do so; +but in the present circumstances passports could not be +granted to any one. They could not be permitted to +strengthen the hand of Great Britain's enemy. + +But in spite of the prohibition, of the forts that were +built to enforce it, and of British cruisers patrolling +the coasts to prevent intercourse with the French, there +was a considerable emigration. A number of families +crossed to Ile St Jean in the summer of 1750. They were +aided by the missionaries, and supplied with vessels and +arms by the French authorities at Louisbourg. By August +1750 we know that eight hundred Acadians were settled in +Ile St Jean. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE 'ANCIENT BOUNDARIES' + +By the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle the question +of the limits of Acadia had been referred to a commission +of arbitration, and each of the powers had agreed to +attempt no settlement on the debatable ground until such +time as the decision of the commissioners should be made +known. Each, however, continued to watch jealously over +its own interests. The English persisted in their claim +that the ancient boundaries included all the country +north of the Bay of Fundy to the St Lawrence, and Cornwallis +was directed to see to it that no subjects of the French +king settled within these boundaries. The French, on the +other hand, steadily asserted their ownership in all land +north of a line drawn from Baie Verte to Chignecto Bay. +The disputants, though openly at peace, glowered at each +other. Hardly had Cornwallis brought his colonists ashore +at Halifax, when La Galissoniere, the acting-governor of +Canada, sent Boishebert, with a detachment of twenty men, +to the river St John, to assert the French claim to that +district; and when La Galissoniere went to France as a +commissioner in the boundary dispute, his successor, La +Jonquiere, dispatched a force under the Chevalier de la +Corne to occupy the isthmus of Chignecto. + +About the same time the Indians went on the war-path, +apparently at the instigation of the French. Des Herbiers, +the governor of Ile Royale, when dispatching the Abbe Le +Loutre to the savages with the usual presents, had added +blankets and a supply of powder and ball, clearly intended +to aid them should they be disposed to attack the English +settlements. Indians from the river St John joined the +Micmacs and opened hostilities by seizing an English +vessel at Canso and taking twenty prisoners. The prisoners +were liberated by Des Herbiers; but the Micmacs, their +blood up, assembled at Chignecto, near La Corne's post, +and declared war on the English. The Council at Halifax +promptly raised several companies for defence, and offered +a reward of 10 pounds for the capture of an Indian, dead +or alive. Cornwallis complained bitterly to Louisbourg +that Le Loutre was stirring up trouble; but Des Herbiers +disingenuously disclaimed all responsibility for the +abbe. The Indians, he said, were merely allies, not French +subjects, and Le Loutre acted under the direction of the +governor of Canada. He promised also that if any Frenchman +molested the English, he should be punished, a promise +which, as subsequent events showed, he had no intention +of keeping. + +In November 1749 a party of one hundred and fifty Indians +captured a company of engineers at Grand Pre, where the +English had just built a fort. Le Loutre, however, ransomed +the prisoners and sent them to Louisbourg. The Indians, +emboldened by their success, then issued a proclamation +in the name of the king of France and their Indian allies +calling upon the Acadians to arm, under pain of death +for disobedience. On learning that eleven Acadians obeyed +this summons, Cornwallis sent Captain Goreham of the +Rangers to arrest them. The rebels, however, made good +their escape, thanks to the Indians; and Goreham could +only make prisoners of some of their children, whom he +brought before the governor. The children declared that +their parents had not been free agents, and produced in +evidence one of the threatening orders of the Indians. +In any case, of course, the children were in no way +responsible, and were therefore sent home; and the governor +described Goreham as 'no officer at all.' + +When spring came Cornwallis took steps to stop the +incursions of the savages and at the same time to check +the emigration of the Acadians. He sent detachments to +build and occupy fortified posts at Grand Pre, at Pisiquid, +and at other places. He ordered Major Lawrence to sail +up the Bay of Fundy with four hundred settlers for +Beaubassin, the Acadian village at the head of Chignecto +Bay. For the time being, however, this undertaking did +not prosper. On arriving, Lawrence encountered a band of +Micmacs, which Le Loutre had posted at the dikes to resist +the disembarkation. Some fighting ensued before Lawrence +succeeded in leading ashore a body of troops. The motive +of the turbulent abbe was to preserve the Acadians from +the contaminating presence of heretics and enemies of +his master, the French king. And, when he saw that he +could not prevent the English from making a lodgment in +the village, he went forward with his Micmacs and set it +on fire, thus forcing the Acadian inhabitants to cross +to the French camp at Beausejour, some two miles off. +Here La Corne had set up his standard to mark the boundary +of New France, beyond which he dared the British to +advance at their peril. At a conference which was arranged +between Lawrence and La Corne, La Corne said that the +governor of Canada, La Jonquiere, had directed him to +take possession of the country to the north, 'or at least +he was to keep it and must defend it till the boundaries +between the two Crowns should be settled.' [Footnote: +Canadian Archives Report, 1906, Appendix N, vol. ii, p. +321.] Moreover, if Lawrence should try to effect a +settlement, La Corne would oppose it to the last. And as +Lawrence's forces were quite inadequate to cope with La +Corne's, it only remained for Lawrence to return to +Halifax with his troops and settlers. + +Meanwhile Boishebert stood guard for the governor of +Quebec at the mouth of the river St John. In the previous +year, when he had arrived there, Cornwallis had sent an +officer to protest against what he considered an +encroachment; but Boishebert had answered simply that he +was commissioned to hold the place for his royal master +without attempting a settlement until the boundary dispute +should be adjusted. Now, in July 1750, Captain Cobb of +the York, cruising in the Bay of Fundy, sighted a French +sloop near the mouth of the St John, and opened fire. +The French captain immediately lowered his boats and +landed a party of sailors, apparently with the intention +of coming to a conference. Cobb followed his example. +Presently Boishebert came forward under a flag of truce +and demanded Cobb's authority for the act of war in +territory claimed by the French. Cobb produced his +commission and handed it to Boishebert. Keeping the +document in his possession, Boishebert ordered Cobb to +bring his vessel under the stern of the French sloop, +and sent French officers to board Cobb's ship and see +the order carried out. The sailors on the York, however, +held the Frenchmen as hostages for the safe return of +their captain. After some parleying Cobb was allowed to +return to his vessel, and the Frenchmen were released. +Boishebert, however, refused to return the captain's +commission. Cobb thereupon boarded the French sloop, +seized five of the crew, and sailed away. + +So the game went on. A month later the British sloop +Trial, at Baie Verte, captured a French sloop of seventy +tons which was engaged in carrying arms and supplies to +Le Loutre's Indians. On board were four deserters from +the British and a number of Acadians. Among the papers +found on the Acadians were letters addressed to their +friends in Quebec and others from Le Loutre and officers +of Fort St John and of Port La Joie in Ile St Jean. From +one of these letters we obtain a glimpse of the conditions +of the Acadians: + + I shall tell you that I was settled in Acadia. I have + four small children. I lived contented on my land. But + that did not last long, for we were compelled to leave + all our property and flee from under the domination of + the English. The King undertakes to transport us and + support us under the expectation of news from France. + If Acadia is not restored to France I hope to take my + little family and bring it to Canada. I beg you to let + me know the state of things in that country. I assure + you that we are in poor condition, for we are like the + Indians in the woods. + [Footnote: A. Doucet to Mde Langedo of Quebec, + August 5, 1750.] + +By other documents taken it was shown that supplies from +Quebec were frequently passing to the Indians, and that +the dispatches addressed to Cornwallis were intercepted +and forwarded to the governor of Quebec. [Footnote: +Cornwallis to Bedford, August 19, 1750.] + +These papers revealed to Cornwallis the peril which +menaced him. But, having been reinforced by the arrival +from Newfoundland of three hundred men of Lascelles's +regiment, he resolved to occupy Chignecto, which Lawrence +had been forced to abandon in April. Accordingly Lawrence +again set out, this time with about seven hundred men. +In mid-September his ships appeared off the burnt village +of Beaubassin. Again the landing was opposed by a band +of Indians and about thirty Acadians entrenched on the +shore. These, after some fighting and losses, were beaten +off; and the English troops landed and proceeded to +construct a fort, named by them Fort Lawrence, and to +erect barracks for the winter. La Corne, from his fort +at Beausejour, where he had his troops and a body of +Acadians, addressed a note to Lawrence, proposing a +meeting in a boat in the middle of the river. Lawrence +replied that he had no business with La Corne, and that +La Corne could come to him if he had anything to +communicate. Acts of violence followed. It was not long +before a scouting party under the command of Captain +Bartelot was surrounded by a band of Indians and Acadians. +[Footnote: La Valliere, one of the French officers on +the spot, says that the Indians and Acadians were encouraged +by Le Loutre during this attack.--Journal of the Sieur +de la Valliere.] Forty-five of the party were killed, +and Bartelot and eight men were taken prisoners. A few +weeks later there was an act of treachery which greatly +embittered the British soldiers. This was the murder of +Captain Howe, one of the British officers, by some of Le +Loutre's Micmacs. It was stated that Le Loutre was +personally implicated in the crime, but there appears +not the slightest foundation for this charge. One morning +in October Howe saw an Indian carrying a flag of truce +on the opposite side of the Missaguash river, which lay +between Fort Lawrence and Fort Beausejour. Howe, who had +often held converse with the savages, went forward to +meet the Indian, and the two soon became engaged in +conversation. Suddenly the Indian lowered his flag, a +body of savages concealed behind a dike opened fire, and +Howe fell, mortally wounded. In the work of bringing the +dying officer into the fort ten of his company also fell. + +Meanwhile an event occurred which seemed likely to promote +more cordial relations between the French and the English. +Early in October Des Herbiers returned to Halifax thirty- +seven prisoners, including six women, who had been captured +by the Indians but ransomed and sent to Louisbourg by +the Abbe Le Loutre. It is difficult to reconcile the +conduct of the meddlesome missionary on this occasion +with what we know of his character. He was possessed of +an inveterate hatred of the English and all their works; +yet he was capable of an act of humanity towards them. +After all, it may be that generosity was not foreign to +the nature of this fanatical French patriot. Cornwallis +was grateful, and cheerfully refunded the amount of the +ransom. [Footnote: Des Herbiers to Cornwallis, October +2, 1750.--Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. +xxxix, p. 13.] + +But the harmony existing between Des Herbiers and Cornwallis +was of short duration. In the same month the British +sloop Albany, commanded by Captain Rous, fell on the +French brigantine St Francois, Captain Vergor, on the +southern coast. Vergor, who was carrying stores and +ammunition to Louisbourg, ran up his colours, but after +a fight of three hours he was forced by Rous to surrender. +The captive ship was taken to Halifax and there condemned +as a prize, the cargo being considered contraband of war. +La Jonquiere addressed a peremptory letter to Cornwallis, +demanding whether he was acting under orders in seizing +a French vessel in French territory. He likewise instructed +Des Herbiers to seize ships of the enemy; and as a result +four prizes were sold by the Admiralty Court at Louisbourg. + +Open hostilities soon became the order of the day. During +the winter a party of Canadians and Indians and Acadians +disguised as Indians assembled near Fort Lawrence. They +succeeded in killing two men, and continued to fire on +the British position for two days. But, as the garrison +remained within the shelter of the walls, the attackers +grew weary of wasting ammunition and withdrew to harry +the settlement at Halifax. According to the French +accounts, these savages killed thirty persons on the +outskirts of Halifax in the spring of 1751, and Cornwallis +reported that four inhabitants and six soldiers had been +taken prisoners. Then in June three hundred British troops +from Fort Lawrence invaded the French territory to attempt +a surprise. They were discovered, however, and St Ours, +who had succeeded La Corne, brought out his forces and +drove them back to Fort Lawrence. A month later the +British made another attack and destroyed a dike, flooding +the lands of the Acadians in its neighbourhood. + +And during all this time England and France were +theoretically at peace. Their commissioners sat in Paris, +La Galissoniere on one side, Shirley on the other, piling +up mountains of argument as to the 'ancient boundaries' +of Acadia. All to no purpose; for neither nation could +afford to recede from its position. It was a question +for the last argument of kings. Meanwhile the officials +in the colonies anxiously waited for the decision; and +the poor Acadians, torn between the hostile camps, and +many of them now homeless, waited too. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A LULL IN THE CONFLICT + +The years 1752 and 1753 were, on the whole, years of +peace and quiet. This was largely due to changes in the +administration on both sides. At the end of 1751 the +Count de Raymond had replaced Des Herbiers as governor +of Ile Royale; in 1752 Duquesne succeeded La Jonquiere +at Quebec as governor of New France; and Peregrine Hopson +took the place of Cornwallis in the government of Nova +Scotia. Hopson adopted a policy of conciliation. When +the crew of a New England schooner in the summer of 1752 +killed an Indian lad and two girls whom they had enticed +on board, Hopson promptly offered a reward for the capture +of the culprits. He treated the Indians with such consistent +kindness that he was able in the month of September to +form an alliance with the Micmacs on the coast. He +established friendly relations also with Duquesne and +Raymond, and arranged with them a cartel of exchange +regarding deserters. + +Towards the Acadians Hopson seemed most sympathetic. From +the experience of Cornwallis he knew, of course, their +aversion to the oath of allegiance. In writing to the +Lords of Trade for instructions he pointed out the +obstinacy of the people on this question, but made it +clear how necessary their presence was to the welfare of +the province. Meanwhile he did his best to conciliate +them. When complaints were made that Captain Hamilton, +a British officer, had carried off some of their cattle, +Hamilton was reprimanded and the cattle were paid for. +Instructions were then issued to all officers to treat +the Acadians as British subjects, and to take nothing +from them by force. Should the people refuse to comply +with any just demand, the officer must report it to the +governor and await his orders. When the Acadians provided +wood for the garrison, certificates must be issued which +should entitle them to payment. + +The political horizon at the opening of the year 1753 +seemed bright to Hopson. But in the spring a most painful +occurrence threatened for a time to involve him in an +Indian war. Two men, Connor and Grace, while cruising +off the coast, had landed at Ile Dore, and with the +assistance of their ruffianly crew had plundered an Indian +storehouse. They were overtaken by a storm, their schooner +became a total wreck, and Connor and Grace alone survived. +They were rescued by the Indians, who cared for them and +gave them shelter. But the miserable cowards seized a +favourable moment to murder and scalp their benefactors. +Well satisfied with their brutal act, they proceeded to +Halifax with the ghastly trophies, and boldly demanded +payment for the scalps of two men, three women, and two +children. Their story seemed so improbable that the +Council ordered them to give security to appear in the +court at the next general session. [Footnote: Hopson to +Lords of Trade, April 30, 1753, p. 30. Deposition of +Connor and Grace, April 16, 1753, p. 30 et seq.--Public +Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. liii.] The prospect +of a permanent peace with the Indians vanished. They +demanded that the Council should send a schooner to Ile +Dore to protect their shores. The Council did send a +vessel. But no sooner had it arrived than the Indians +seized and massacred the whole crew save one man, who +claimed to be of French origin and was later ransomed by +the French. + +In September the inhabitants of Grand Pre, Canso, and +Pisiquid presented a petition to the Council at Halifax, +praying that their missionaries be excused from taking +the ordinary oath. The Acadians were entitled to the free +exercise of their religion, and the bishop of Quebec +would not send priests if they were required to become +British subjects. The Council deliberated. Fearing to +give the Acadians a pretext for leaving the country on +the plea that they had been deprived of the services of +their priests, the Council decided to grant the petition, +providing, however, that the priests should obtain a +licence from the governor. + +The Lords of Trade approved Hopson's policy, which appeared +to be bearing good fruit. Later in the autumn came another +delegation of Acadians who had formerly resided at Pisiquid +but had migrated to French territory, asking to be allowed +to return to their old homes. They had left on account +of the severe oath proposed by Cornwallis, but were now +willing to come back and take a restricted oath. For fear +of the Indians, they could not swear to bear arms in aid +of the English in time of war. They wished also to be +able to move from the province whenever they desired, +and to take their effects with them. Evidently they had +not found Utopia under the French flag. The Council gave +them the permission they desired, promised them the free +exercise of their religion, a sufficient number of priests +for their needs, and all the privileges conferred by the +Treaty of Utrecht. + +On the whole, the situation in the autumn of 1753 was +most promising. The Acadians, said Hopson, behaved +'tolerably well,' though they still feared the Indians +should they attach themselves to the English. Of the +French on the frontier there was nothing to complain; +and an era of peace seemed assured. But before the end +of the year another page in the history of Nova Scotia +had been turned. Raymond, the governor of Ile Royale, +gave place to D'Ailleboust. Hopson was compelled to return +to England on leave of absence through failing eyesight, +and Charles Lawrence reigned in his stead. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE LAWRENCE REGIME + +The policy both of France and of England towards the +Acadians was based upon political expediency rather than +upon any definite or well-conceived plan for the development +of the country. The inhabitants, born to serve rather +than to command, had honestly striven according to their +light to maintain respect for constituted authority. But +the state of unrest into which they were so frequently +thrown had deprived them of all sense of security in +their homes and had created among them a spirit of +suspicion. Unable to reason, disinclined to rebel, they +had settled down into a morose intractability, while +their confidence in the generosity or even in the justice +of their rulers gradually disappeared. Those who could +have restored them to a normal condition of healthy +citizenship saw fit to keep them in disquietude, holding +over their heads the tomahawk of the Indian. England and +France were nominally at peace. But each nation was only +waiting for a favourable moment to strike a decisive +blow, not merely for Acadia or any part of it, but for +the mastery of the North American continent. With this +object ever in the background, France, through her agents, +strove to make the Acadians a thorn in Great Britain's +side, while England hesitated to allow them to pass over +to the ranks of her enemies. At the same time she was +anxious that they should, by some visible sign, acknowledge +her sovereignty. But to become a British subject it was +necessary to take the oath of allegiance. Most of the +Acadians had refused to take this oath without reservations. +Great Britain should then have allowed them to depart or +should have deported them. She had done neither. On the +contrary, she had tried to keep them, had made concessions +to them to remain, and had closed her eyes to violations +of the law, until many of them had been, by various means, +acknowledged as British subjects. + +A Murray or a Dorchester would have humoured the people +and would probably have kept them in allegiance. But this +was an impossible task for Lawrence. He was unaccustomed +to compromise. He kept before him the letter of the law, +and believed that any deviation from it was fraught with +danger. He entered upon his duties as administrator in +the month of October 1753. Six weeks later he made a +report on the condition of affairs in the province. This +report contains one pregnant sentence. He is referring +to the emigrant Acadians who had left their homes for +French soil and were now wishing to come back, and he +says: 'But Your Lordships may be assured they will never +have my consent to return until they comply [take the +oath] without any reservation whatever.' [Footnote: +Lawrence to Lords of Trade, December 5, 1753.] This was +the keynote of all Lawrence's subsequent action. The +Acadians must take the oath without reserve, or leave +the country. He does not appear to have given any +consideration to the fact that for forty years the Lords +of Trade had, for various motives, nursed the people, or +that only two years before the Council at Halifax had +declared the Acadians to be still entitled to the privileges +accorded to them by the Treaty of Utrecht. To him the +Acadians were as an enemy in the camp, and as such they +were to be treated. + +The Lords of Trade partly acquiesced in Lawrence's +reasoning, yet they warned him to be cautious. A year +before they had announced that those who remained in the +country were to be considered as holding good titles; +but they now maintained that the inhabitants had 'in fact +no right, but upon condition of taking the oath of +allegiance absolute and unqualified.' Officials might be +sent among them to inquire into their disputes, but 'the +more we consider the point, the more nice and difficult +it appears to us; for, as on the one hand great caution +ought to be used to avoid giving alarm and creating such +a diffidence in their minds as might induce them to quit +the province, and by their numbers add strength to the +French settlements, so on the other hand we should be +equally cautious of creating an improper and false +confidence in them, that by a perseverance in refusing +to take the oath of allegiance, they may gradually work +out in their own way a right to their lands and to the +benefit and protection of the law, which they are not +entitled to but on that condition.' [Footnote: Lords of +Trade to Lawrence, March 4, 1754.] + +After nine months' tenure of office Lawrence had fully +made up his mind as to his policy in dealing with the +Acadians. On August 1, 1754, he addressed a letter to +the Lords of Trade, to acquaint them with the measures +which appeared to him to be 'the most practicable and +effectual for putting a stop to the many inconveniences +we have long laboured under, from their obstinacy, +treachery, partiality to their own countrymen, and their +ingratitude for the favour, indulgence, and protection +they have at all times so undeservedly received from His +Majesty's Government. Your Lordships well know that they +always affected a neutrality, and as it has been generally +imagined here that the mildness of an English Government +would by degrees have fixed them in their own interest, +no violent measures have ever been taken with them. But +I must observe to Your Lordships that this lenity has +not had the least good effect; on the contrary, I believe +they have at present laid aside all thoughts of taking +the oaths voluntarily, and great numbers of them at +present are gone to Beausejour to work for the French, +in order to dyke out the water at the settlement.' +[Footnote: Lawrence to Lords of Trade, August 1, 1754.] +Lawrence explained that he had offered the Acadians work +at Halifax, which they had refused to accept; and that +he had then issued a proclamation calling upon them 'to +return forthwith to their lands as they should answer +the contrary at their peril.' Moreover, 'They have not +for a long time brought anything to our markets, but on +the other hand have carried everything to the French and +Indians whom they have always assisted with provisions, +quarters, and intelligence. And indeed while they remain +without taking the oaths to His Majesty (which they never +will do till they are forced) and have incendiary French +priests among them there are no hopes of their amendment. +As they possess the best and largest tracts of land in +this province, it cannot be settled with any effect while +they remain in this situation. And tho' I would be very +far from attempting such a step without Your Lordships' +approbation, yet I cannot help being of opinion that it +would be much better, if they refuse the oaths, that they +were away. The only ill consequences that can attend +their going would be their taking arms and joining with +the Indians to distress our settlements, as they are +numerous and our troops are much divided; tho' indeed I +believe that a very large part of the inhabitants would +submit to any terms rather than take up arms on either +side; but that is only my conjecture, and not to be +depended upon in so critical a circumstance. However, if +Your Lordships should be of opinion that we are not +sufficiently established to take so important a step, we +could prevent any inconvenience by building a fort or a +few blockhouses on Chibenacadie [Shubenacadie] river. It +would hinder in a great measure their communication with +the French.' + +In order to prevent the Acadians from trading with the +French, Lawrence issued a proclamation forbidding the +exportation of corn from the province, imposing a penalty +of fifty pounds for each offence, half of such sum to be +paid to the informer. The exact purpose of the proclamation +was explained in a circular. First, it was to prevent +'the supplying of corn to the Indians and their abettors, +who, residing on the north side of the Bay of Fundy, do +commit hostilities upon His Majesty's subjects which they +cannot so conveniently do, that supply being cut off.' +Secondly, it was for the better supply of the Halifax +market, which had been obliged to supply itself from +other colonies. The inhabitants were not asked to sell +their corn to any particular person or at any fixed price; +all that was insisted upon was their supplying the Halifax +market before they should think of sending corn elsewhere. +There was, of course, nothing objectionable in this +proclamation. It was only a protective measure for the +benefit of the whole colony, and did 'not bind the French +inhabitants more or less than the rest of His Majesty's +subjects in the Province.' + +Towards the Indians Lawrence adopted the same tone as +towards the Acadians. The tribes at Cape Sable had for +some time talked of peace, and an alliance with them was +particularly to be encouraged. The French were becoming +more of a menace, having strengthened their works at +'Baye Verte and Beausejour, between which places they +lately have made a very fine road and continue to seduce +our French inhabitants to go over to them.' The message, +however, which Lawrence sent to the Indians was hardly +calculated to produce the desired results. 'In short if +the Indians,' the message ran, 'or he [Le Loutre] on their +behalf, have anything to propose of this kind about which +they are really in earnest, they very well know where +and how to apply.' +[Footnote: Nova Scotia Documents, p. 210.] + +The answer of the Indians was communicated by Le Loutre. +They agreed to offer no insult to the English who kept +to the highway, but they promised to treat as enemies +all those who departed from it. If a durable peace was +to be made, they demanded the cession to them of an +exclusive territory suitable for hunting and fishing and +for a mission. This territory was to extend from Baie +Verte through Cobequid (Truro) to the Shubenacadie, along +the south coast to the peninsula of Canso, and back to +Baie Verte--an area comprising half the province of Nova +Scotia. Whether the Indians were serious in their +application for this immense domain, we know not; probably +it was an answer to the haughty note of Lawrence. +Considering the demand of the Indians insolent, the +Council at Halifax vouchsafed no reply to it; but the +commandant of Fort Lawrence at Chignecto was instructed +to inform the Indians 'that if they have any serious +thoughts of making peace... they may repair to Halifax,' +where any reasonable proposal would be considered. + +A case instructive of the new temper of the administration +was that of the Abbe Daudin of Pisiquid. The abbe had +been suspected of stirring up trouble among the Indians, +and Captain Murray of Fort Edward was requested to keep +an eye on him. When the inhabitants refused to bring in +wood for fuel and for the repair of the fort, as they +had been ordered to do, and presented to Murray a statement +signed by eighty-six of their people, declaring that +their oath of fidelity did not require them to furnish +the garrison with wood, Murray attributed their conduct +to the influence of Daudin. Murray therefore received +instructions to repeat his orders, and to summon Daudin +and five others to appear at Halifax under pain of arrest. +When questioned by Murray, Daudin took the ground that +the people, who were free, should have been contracted +with, and not treated as slaves; but he asserted that if +Murray had consulted him instead of reporting to Lawrence, +he could have brought the inhabitants to him in a submissive +manner. When requested to repair to Halifax, Daudin +pleaded illness; and his followers became insolent, and +questioned Murray's authority. Daudin and five others +were immediately arrested and sent under escort to the +capital. + +At a special meeting of the Council held on the evening +of October 2, 1754, Claude Brossart, Charles Le Blanc, +Baptiste Galerne, and Joseph Hebert were required to +explain their refusal to obey the orders of Murray, and +the following examination took place: + + Q. Why did you not comply with that order to bring in + firewood? + + A. Some of them had wood and some had not, therefore + they gave in the remonstrance to Captain Murray. + + Q. Why was that not represented in the remonstrance, + which contained an absolute refusal without setting + forth any cause? + + A. They did not understand the contents of it. + + Q. Was the proclamation ever published at the church + and stuck up against the wall, and by whom? + + A. It was, and they believe by John Hebert. + + Q. Was it put up with the wrong side uppermost? + + A. They heard that it was. + +The inhabitants were never known to boast of a reckless +facility in reading, even under normal conditions, and +no doubt the grotesque appearance of the letters in the +inverted document prompted the answer that 'they did not +understand the contents of it.' Neither have we any +evidence to prove that John Hebert contributed to their +enlightenment by reading the document. The prisoners, +however, were severely reprimanded by the Council, and +were ordered under pain of military execution to bring +in the firewood. + +The Abbe Daudin, when brought before the Council, was +questioned as to his position in the province. He replied +that he served 'only as a simple missionary to occupy +himself in spiritual affairs; not in temporal.' The abbe +denied that he had made the statements attributed to him, +and was allowed to prepare a paper which he termed his +defence. The next day his defence was presented and read; +but the Council considered that it did not contain anything +'material towards his justification' and ordered his +removal from the province. A few weeks later, however, +the inhabitants addressed a communication to Lawrence, +asking for the reinstatement of the abbe. They expressed +their submission to the government, promising to comply +with the order regarding the supply of wood; and the +Council, considering that the Acadians could not obtain +another priest, relented and permitted the abbe to return +to his duties. + +It is noteworthy, however, that Lawrence's regime was +not so rigorous as to prevent some of the Acadians who +had abandoned their lands and emigrated to French territory +from returning to Nova Scotia. In October 1754 six +families, consisting of twenty-eight persons who had +settled in Cape Breton, returned to Halifax in a destitute +condition. They declared that they had been terrified by +the threats of Le Loutre, and by the picture he had drawn +of the fate that would befall them at the hands of the +Indians if they remained under the domination of the +English; that they had retired to Cape Breton, where they +had remained ever since; but that the lands given them +had been unproductive, and that they had been unable to +support their families. They therefore wished to return +to their former habitations. They cheerfully subscribed +to the oath which was tendered them, and in consideration +of their poverty twenty-four of them were allowed provisions +during the winter, and the other four a week's provisions +'to subsist them till they returned to their former +habitations at Pisiquid.' The Council considered that +their return would have a good effect. Thus it came about +that the pangs of hunger accomplished a result which +threats and promises had failed to produce. + +While Lawrence was formulating his policy with regard to +the Acadians, events were at the same time rapidly moving +towards a renewal of war between France and Great Britain +in North America. Indeed, though as yet there had been +no formal declaration, the American phase of the momentous +Seven Years' War had already begun. France had been +dreaming of a colonial empire stretching from Newfoundland +to the Gulf of Mexico. She had asserted her ownership of +the valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi; and she had +set before herself the object of confining the English +colonies within limits as narrow as possible. In May 1754 +Shirley, the governor of Massachusetts, had advised the +home government that he had received intelligence from +Halifax 'that some of the rebel inhabitants of Chignecto, +together with the Indians of the Peninsula and St John +River, are through the influence of the French garrison +at Beausejour engaged in an enterprise to break up all +the eastern settlements,' and he pointed out that 'if +the advices are true, they will afford ... one instance +of the many mischievous consequences to the colonists of +New England as well as to His Majesty's Province of Nova +Scotia which must proceed from the French of Canada having +possessed themselves of the isthmus of the Peninsula and +St John's river in the Bay of Fundy, and continuing their +encroachments within His Majesty's territories.' [Footnote: +Nova Scotia Documents, p. 382. Shirley to Sir T. Robinson, +May 23, 1754.] To this communication the government had +replied in July 1754 that it was the king's wish that +Shirley should co-operate with Lawrence in attacking the +French forts in Nova Scotia. + +The British, therefore, determined upon aggressive action. +In December Shirley acknowledged having received certain +proposals made by Lawrence 'for driving the French of +Canada out of Nova Scotia according to the scheme laid +down in your letters to me and instructions to Colonel +Monckton. I viewed this plan most justly calculated by +Your Honour for His Majesty's Service with great pleasure +and did not hesitate to send you the assistance you +desir'd of me for carrying it into execution, as soon as +I had perused it. ...I came to a determination to co-operate +with you in the most vigorous manner, for effecting the +important service within your own Government, which Your +Honour may depend upon my prosecuting to the utmost of +my power.' [Footnote: Nova Scotia Documents, p. 389. +Shirley says: 'It is now near eleven at night and I have +been writing hard since seven in the morning... and can +scarce hold the pen in my hand.'] In a letter to the +Lords of Trade in January 1755, Lawrence expressed the +opinion that 'no measure I could take for the security +of the Province would have the desired effect until the +fort at Beausejour and every French settlement on the +north side of the Bay of Fundy was absolutely extirpated, +having very good intelligence that the French had determined +as soon as ever they had put the fortifications of +Louisbourg into a tolerable condition to make themselves +masters of the Bay of Fundy by taking our fort at +Chignecto.' [Footnote: Lawrence to Lords of Trade, January +12, 1755.] + +In accordance with this Colonel Monckton was instructed +to prepare for an expedition against Beausejour and St +John in the spring of 1755. He was given for the purpose +a letter of unlimited credit on Boston; and every regiment +in Nova Scotia was brought up to the strength of one +thousand men. By May the expedition was ready. Monckton, +with two thousand troops, embarked at Annapolis Royal, +and by June 1 the expedition was at Chignecto. In the +meantime Vergor, the French commandant at Beausejour, +had not been passive. He had strengthened his defences, +had summoned the inhabitants of the surrounding districts +to his help, had mounted cannon in a blockhouse defending +the passage of the river, and had thrown up a strong +breastwork of timber along the shore. On June 3 the +British landed. They had little difficulty in driving +the French from their entrenchments. The inhabitants had +no heart in the work of defence; and the French, unable +to make a stand, threw their cannon into the river and +burned the blockhouse and other buildings. They then +retired to the fort, together with about two hundred and +twenty of the Acadians; the rest of the Acadians threw +away their arms and ammunition, asserting that they did +not wish to be hanged. The British took up a position in +the woods about a mile and a half from the fort; and on +the 13th they succeeded in establishing a battery on a +hill within easy range. The bombardment of the place, +which began the next day, was at first ineffective; and +for a time the British were driven back. But, in the +meantime, news reached the French that no reinforcements +could be expected from Louisbourg; and such disaffection +arose among the Acadians that they were forbidden by a +council of war to deliberate together or to desert the +fort under pain of being shot. When the British renewed +the attack, however, the Acadians requested Vergor to +capitulate; and he feebly acquiesced. The British offered +very favourable terms. So far as the Acadians were +concerned, it was proposed that, since they had taken up +arms under threat of death, they were to be pardoned and +allowed to return to their homes and enjoy the free +exercise of their religion. The soldiers of the garrison +were sent as prisoners to Halifax. + +After the fall of Beausejour, which Monckton renamed Fort +Cumberland, the British met with little further resistance. +Fort Gaspereau on Baie Verte, against which Monckton next +proceeded, was evacuated by the commandant Villeray, who +found himself unable to obtain the assistance of the +Acadians. And the few Acadians at the river St John, when +Captain Rous appeared before the settlement with three +ships, made an immediate submission. Rous destroyed the +cannon, burned the fort, and retired with his troops up +the river. The Indians of the St John, evidently impressed +by the completeness of the British success and awed by +their strong force, invited Rous to come ashore, and +assured him of their friendliness. + +Having removed the menace of the French forts, Lawrence +was now able to deal more freely with the question of +the Acadians. The opportunity for action was not long in +presenting itself. In June the Acadians of Minas presented +to Lawrence a petition couched in language not as tactful +as it might have been. In this memorial they requested +the restoration of some of their former privileges. They +first assured the lieutenant-governor of their fidelity, +which they had maintained in face of threats on the part +of the French, and of their determination to remain loyal +when in the enjoyment of former liberties. They asked to +be allowed the use of their canoes, a privilege of which +they were deprived on the pretext that they had been +carrying provisions to the French at Beausejour. Some +refugees might have done so, but they had not. They used +these canoes for fishing to maintain their families. By +an order of June 4 they had been required to hand in +their guns. Some of them had done so, but they needed +them for protection against the wild beasts, which were +more numerous since the Indians had left these parts. +The possession of a gun did not induce them to rebel, +neither did the withdrawal of the weapon render them more +faithful. Loyalty was a matter of conscience. If they +decided to remain faithful, they wished to know what were +the lieutenant-governor's intentions towards them. + +On receiving this memorial Lawrence ordered the deputies +of the Acadians to remain in Halifax, on the ground that +the paper was impertinent. Upon this the deputies presented +another memorial, in which they disclaimed any intention +of disrespect, and wished to be allowed a hearing in +order to explain. The Council held a meeting; and the +lieutenant-governor explained 'that Captain Murray had +informed him that for some time before the delivery of +the first of the said memorials the French inhabitants +in general had behaved with greater submission and +obedience to the orders of Government than usual, and +had already delivered to him a considerable number of +their firearms; but that at the delivery of the said +memorial they treated him with great indecency and +insolence, which gave him strong suspicions that they +had obtained some intelligence which we were then ignorant +of, and which the lieutenant-governor conceived might +most probably be a report that had been about that time +spread amongst them of a French fleet being then in the +Bay of Fundy.' [Footnote: Minutes of Council, July 3, +1755.] The deputies were then brought in and told that +if they had not submitted the second memorial they would +have been punished for their presumption. 'They were +severely reprimanded for their audacity in subscribing +and presenting so impertinent a paper, but in compassion +to their weakness and ignorance of the nature of our +constitution,' the Council professed itself still ready +to treat them with leniency, and ordered the memorial to +be read paragraph by paragraph. + +When the question of the oath came up for discussion, +the deputies said they were ready to take it as they had +done before. To this the Council replied that 'His Majesty +had disapproved of the manner of their taking the oath +before' and 'that it was not consistent with his honour +to make any conditions.' The deputies were then allowed +until the following morning to come to a resolution. On +the next day they declared that they could not consent +to take the oath in the form required without consulting +others. They were then informed that as the taking of +the oath was a personal act and as they had for themselves +refused to take it as directed by law, and had therefore +sufficiently evinced the sincerity of their unfriendliness +towards the government, the Council could look upon them +no longer as subjects of His Majesty, but must treat them +hereafter as subjects of the king of France. They were +ordered to withdraw. The Council then decided that with +regard to the oath none of them should for the future be +admitted to take it after having once refused to do so, +but that effectual measures ought to be taken to remove +all such recusants out of the province. The deputies, +again being called in and informed of this resolution, +offered to take the oath, but were informed that there +was no reason to hope that 'their proposed compliance +proceeds from an honest mind and can be esteemed only +the effect of compulsion and force, and is contrary to +a clause in 1 Geo. II, c. 13, whereby persons who have +once refused to take oaths cannot be afterwards permitted +to take them, but are considered as Popish recusants.' +Therefore they could not be indulged with such permission. +Later they were ordered into confinement. + +On the 25th of July a memorial signed by over two hundred +of the inhabitants of Annapolis Royal was laid before +the Council. The memorialists said they had unanimously +consented to deliver up their firearms, although they +had never had any desire to use them against His Majesty's +government. They declared that they had nothing to reproach +themselves with, for they had always been loyal, and that +several of them had risked their lives in order to give +information regarding the enemy. They would abide by the +old oath, but they could not take a new one. The deputies +who had brought this memorial from Annapolis, on being +called before the Council and asked what they had to say +regarding the new oath, declared 'that they could not +take any other oath than what they had formerly taken.' +If it was the king's intention, they added, to force them +out of the country, they hoped 'that they should be +allowed a convenient time for their departure.' The +Council warned them of the consequences of their refusal; +and they were allowed until the following Monday to +decide. Their final answer was polite, but obdurate: + + Inasmuch as a report is in circulation among us, the + French inhabitants of this province, that His Excellency + the Governor demands of us an oath of obedience + conformable, in some manner, to that of natural subjects + of His Majesty King George the Second, and as, in + consequence, we are morally certain that several of + our inhabitants are detained and put to inconvenience + at Halifax for that object; if the above are his + intentions with respect to us, we all take the liberty + of representing to His Excellency, and to all the + inhabitants, that we and our fathers, having taken an + oath of fidelity, which has been approved of several + times in the name of the King, and under the privileges + of which we have lived faithful and obedient, and + protected by His Majesty the King of Great Britain, + according to the letters and proclamation of His + Excellency Governor Shirley, dated 16th of September + 1746, and 21st of October 1747, we will never prove + so fickle as to take an oath which changes, ever so + little, the conditions and the privileges obtained + for us by our sovereign and our fathers in the past. + + And as we are well aware that the King, our master, + loves and protects only constant, faithful, and free + subjects, and as it is only by virtue of his kindness, + and of the fidelity which we have always preserved + towards His Majesty, that he has granted to us, and + that he still continues to grant to us, the entire + possession of our property and the free and public + exercise of the Roman Catholic Religion, we desire to + continue, to the utmost of our power, to be faithful + and dutiful in the same manner that we were allowed + to be by His Excellency Mr Richard Philipps. + + Charity for our detained inhabitants, and their + innocence, obliged us to beg Your Excellency, to allow + yourself to be touched by their miseries, and to + restore to them that liberty which we ask for them, + with all possible submission and the most profound + respect. + +The inhabitants of Pisiquid presented a similar petition. +They hoped that they would be listened to, and that the +imprisoned deputies would be released. Another memorial +was presented by the inhabitants of Minas. They refused +to take a new oath; and thereupon their deputies were +ordered to be imprisoned. + +There was now, the Council considered, only one course +left open for it to pursue. Nothing remained but to +consider the means which should be taken to send the +inhabitants out of the province, and distribute them +among the several colonies on the continent. + +'I am determined,' Lawrence had written, 'to bring the +inhabitants to a compliance, or rid the province of such +perfidious subjects.' [Footnote: Lawrence to Lords of +Trade, July 18, 1755.] He was now about to fulfil his +promise. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE EXPULSION + +The imprisonment of the deputies, on George's Island at +Halifax, naturally agitated the minds of the simple +Acadians. In the ripening fields and in the villages +might be seen groups discussing the fate of their +companions. But, though they may have feared further +punitive acts at the hands of the British, they were +totally unprepared for the approaching catastrophe, and +did not for a moment dream that they were to be cast out +of their homes, deprived of all they held dear in the +land of their nativity, and sent adrift as wanderers and +exiles. + +It is no part of this narrative to sit in judgment or to +debate whether the forcible expatriation of the Acadians +was a necessary measure or a justifiable act of war. +However this may be, it is important to fix the +responsibility for a deed so painful in its execution +and so momentous in its consequences. + +The Council at Halifax had no power to enact laws. Its +action was limited to the authority vested in the governor +by his commission and his instructions. And, as Lawrence +had as yet neither commission nor instructions, [Footnote: +He had not yet been appointed governor. Hopson had wished +to resign in the summer of 1754; but the Lords of Trade, +who held him in high esteem, had refused to accept his +resignation, and Lawrence had been made merely +lieutenant-governor, though with the full salary of a +governor.] he asked the chief justice, Jonathan Belcher, +to prepare an opinion, as he desired to be fortified with +legal authority for the drastic act on which he had +determined. Belcher had arrived in Nova Scotia from New +England nine months before. He does not appear to have +examined the official correspondence between the years +1713 and 1755, or even the Minutes of Council. At any +rate, he presented a document ill-founded in fact and +contemptible in argument. The Acadians are not to be +allowed to remain, he said, because 'it will be contrary +to the letter and spirit of His Majesty's instructions +to Governor Cornwallis, and in my humble apprehension +would incur the displeasure of the crown and the +parliament.' [Footnote: Public Archives, Canada. Nova +Scotia A, vol. lviii, p. 380. Opinion of Chief Justice +Belcher.] What the instructions to Cornwallis had to do +with it is not clear. There is no clause in that document +contemplating the forcible removal of the people. But +even this is immaterial, since the instructions to +Cornwallis were not then in force. Hopson, who had +succeeded Cornwallis, had been given new instructions, +and the Council was governed by them, since, legally at +any rate, Hopson was still governor in 1755; and, according +to his instructions, Hopson was 'to issue a declaration +in His Majesty's name setting forth, that tho' His Majesty +is fully sensible that the many indulgences ... to the +said inhabitants in allowing them the entirely free +exercise of their religion and the quiet peaceable +possession of their lands, have not met with a dutiful +return, but on the contrary, divers of the said inhabitants +have openly abetted or privately assisted His Majesty's +enemies ... yet His Majesty being desirous of shewing +marks of his royal grace to the said inhabitants, in +hopes thereby to induce them to become for the future +true and loyal subjects, is pleased to declare, that the +said inhabitants shall continue in the free exercise of +their religion, as far as the Laws of Great Britain shall +admit of the same ... provided that the said inhabitants +do within three months from the date of such declaration +... take the Oath of Allegiance.' The next clause instructed +the governor to report to the Lords of Trade on the effect +of the declaration. If the inhabitants or any part of +them should refuse the oath, he was to ascertain 'His +Majesty's further directions in what manner to conduct +yourself towards such of the French inhabitants as shall +not have complied therewith.' [Footnote: Public Archives, +Canada. Nova Scotia E, vol. ii. Instructions to Governors.] +Hopson had tendered the oath to the Acadians. The oath +had been refused by them. Their refusal had been reported +to the government; and there the matter rested. + +In another paragraph of the opinion the chief justice +asserted that 'persons are declared recusants if they +refuse on a summons to take the oath at the sessions, +and can never after such refusal be permitted to take +them.' This, no doubt, was the law. But the king had +ignored the law, and had commanded his representatives +in Nova Scotia to tender the oath again to a people who, +upon several occasions, had refused to take it. It was +not reasonable, therefore, to suppose, as the chief +justice did, that the king would be displeased at the +performance of an act which he had expressly commanded. + +We have seen that, in the spring of 1754, when Lawrence +had intimated to the government that a number of the +Acadians who had gone over to the enemy were now anxious +to return to their lands, which he would not permit until +they had taken an oath without reserve, he was advised +not to 'create a diffidence in their minds which might +induce them to quit the province.' That this was still +the policy is evident from a letter to the same effect +written to Lawrence by Sir Thomas Robinson of the British +ministry on August 13, 1755, two weeks after the ominous +decision of the Halifax Council. [Footnote: Nova Scotia +Documents, p. 279. Here is a sentence from the letter: +'It cannot therefore be too much recommended to you, to +use the greatest caution and prudence in your conduct +towards these neutrals, and to assure such of them as +may be trusted, especially upon their taking the oaths +to His Majesty and his government, that they may remain +in the quiet possession of their settlements, under proper +regulations.'] Lawrence, however, could not have received +this last communication until the plans for the expulsion +were well advanced. On the other hand, the decision of +the Council was not received in England until November +20, so that the king was not aware of it until the +expulsion was already a reality. The meaning of these +facts is clear. The thing was done by Lawrence and his +Council without the authority or knowledge of the home +government. [Footnote: At the meeting of the Halifax +Council which decreed the removal of the Acadians the +following members were present: the lieutenant-governor, +Benjamin Green, John Collier, William Cotterell, John +Rous, and Jonathan Belcher. Vice-Admiral Boscawen and +Rear-Admiral Mostyn were also present at the 'earnest +request' of the Council.--Minutes of Council, July 28, +1755.] + +The proceedings in connection with the expulsion were +carried on simultaneously in different parts of the +province; and the circumstances varied according to the +temper or situation of the people. It will be convenient +to deal with each group or district separately. + +On July 31, 1755, Lawrence ordered Colonel Monckton, who +lay with his troops at the newly captured Fort Cumberland, +to gather in the inhabitants of the isthmus of Chignecto, +and of Chepody, on the north shore of the Bay. The district +of Minas was committed to the care of Colonel Winslow. +Captain Murray, in command at Fort Edward, was to secure +the inhabitants of Pisiquid, and Major Handfield, at +Annapolis Royal, the people in his district. + +It is regrettable that we do not find in the instructions +to these officers any discrimination made between the +Acadians who had persistently refused to take the oath +and those who had been recognized by the governor and +Council as British subjects. Monckton was advised to +observe secrecy, and to 'endeavour to fall upon some +stratagem to get the men, both young and old (especially +the heads of families)' into his power, and to detain +them until the transports should arrive. He was also to +inform the inhabitants that all their cattle and corn +were now the property of the crown, and no person should +be allowed to carry off 'the least thing but their ready +money and household furniture.' [Footnote: Nova Scotia +Documents, p. 267.] On August 8 Monckton was advised that +the transports would be available soon, and that in the +interval he would do well to destroy all the villages in +the vicinity of Beausejour or Cumberland, and to use +'every other method to distress as much as can be, those +who may attempt to conceal themselves in the woods.' +Monckton promptly conceived a plan to entrap the people. +He issued a summons, calling upon the adult males to +appear at Fort Cumberland on the 11th. About four hundred +responded to the call. The proceedings were summary. +Monckton merely told them that by the decision of the +Council they were declared rebels on account of their +past misdeeds; that their lands and chattels were forfeited +to the crown, and that in the meantime they would be +treated as prisoners. [Footnote: Collections of the Nova +Scotia Historical Society, vol. iv, Journal of Colonel +John Winslow, part i, p. 227.] The gates of the fort were +then closed. + +Less successful was Captain Cobb, who had been sent to +Chepody to capture the Acadians there. Before his arrival +the people had fled to the woods. Three other parties, +detached from Fort Cumberland to scour the country in +search of stragglers, reported various successes. Major +Preble returned the next day with three Acadians, and +Captain Perry brought in eleven. Captain Lewis, who had +gone to Cobequid, had captured two vessels bound for +Louisbourg with cattle and sheep, and had taken several +prisoners and destroyed a number of villages on the route. + +The more energetic of the Acadians still at large were +not easily caught. The pangs of hunger, however, might +tempt many to leave the security of their hiding-places, +and Monckton determined to gather in as many more as +possible. On August 28 Captain Frye sailed from Fort +Cumberland for Chepody, Memramcook, and Petitcodiac, on +the north shore, with orders to take prisoners and burn +the villages on the way. [Footnote: 'Major Frye with a +party of 200 men embarked on Board Captain Cobb Newel +and Adams to go to Sheperday and take what French thay +Could and burn thare vilges thare and at Petcojack.' +--Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, vol. +i, p. 131. Diary of John Thomas.] Captain Gilbert was +sent to Baie Verte on a similar mission. Finding the +village deserted on his arrival at Chepody, Frye set fire +to the buildings and sailed toward Petitcodiac. On the +way the appearance of a house or a barn seems to have +been the signal for the vessels to cast anchor, while a +party of soldiers, torch in hand, laid waste the homes +of the peasantry. On September 4, however, the expedition +suffered a serious check. A landing party of about sixty +were applying the torch to a village on the shore, when +they were set upon by a hundred Indians and Acadians, +and a general engagement ensued. The British, though +reinforced by men from the ships, were severely handled; +and in the end Frye regained the boats with a loss of +twenty-three killed and missing and eleven wounded. This +attack was the work of Boishebert, the Canadian leader, +whom we met some time ago at St John. On the capture of +that place by Rous in the summer Boishebert had taken to +the woods with his followers, and was assisting the +settlers of Chepody to gather in the harvest when Frye's +raiders appeared. Frye did not attempt to pursue his +assailants, but retired at once to Fort Cumberland with +twenty-three captured women and children. He had, however, +destroyed over two hundred buildings and a large quantity +of wheat and flax. Meanwhile Gilbert had laid waste the +village at Baie Verte and the neighbouring farms. +[Footnote: 'A Party Likewise from ye Bay of verte under +ye comand of Capt. Gilbert who had bin and consumed that +vilige and the Houses adjasent.'--Diary of John Thomas.] + +By August 31 the transports had arrived at Beausejour, +and early in the month of September the embarkation began. +The work, however, was tedious, and in the interval the +English met with another misfortune. On October 1 eighty-six +Acadian prisoners dug a hole under the wall of Fort +Lawrence and, eluding the vigilance of the guards, made +good their escape in the night. [Footnote: 'Stormy Dark +Night Eighty Six French Prisoners Dugg under ye Wall att +Foart Lawrance and got Clear undiscovered by ye Centry.' +--Diary of John Thomas.] But on October 13 a fleet of +ten sail, carrying nine hundred and sixty Acadian exiles, +left Chignecto Bay bound for South Carolina and Georgia. +After the departure of the vessels the soldiers destroyed +every barn and house in the vicinity and drove several +herds of cattle into Fort Cumberland. [Footnote: We +Burnt 30 Houses Brought away one Woman 200 Hed of Neat +Cattle 20 Horses ... we mustered about Sunrise mustered +the Cattle Togather Drove them over ye River near westcock +Sot Near 50 Houses on Fyre and Returned to Fort Cumberland +with our Cattle etc. about 6 Clock P.M.'--Diary of John +Thomas, pp. 136-7.] + +Lawrence was now rid of nearly a thousand Acadians. It +was less than he expected, to be sure, and yet no doubt +it was a great relief to him. About this time he should +have received Sir Thomas Robinson's letter of August 13, +conveying to him the king's wishes in effect that the +Acadians were not to be molested. [Footnote: The date +of the receipt of this letter is uncertain; but it is +evident that he received it before the 30th of November, +as on that day he replied to a letter of the 13th of +August.] This letter received in time would no doubt have +stopped the whole undertaking. But now that some of the +people had already been deported, there was nothing to +be done but to go on with the business to the bitter end. + +At Annapolis Royal, more than a hundred miles south of +Monckton's camp, matters proceeded more slowly. Handfield, +the commandant there, had decided to wait for the arrival +of the promised transports before attempting to round up +the inhabitants. Then, when his soldiers went forward on +their mission up the river, no sound of human voice met +their ears in any of the settlements. The inhabitants +had hidden in the woods. Handfield appealed to Winslow, +who was then at Grand Pre, for more troops to bring the +people to reason. [Footnote: Winslow's Journal, part +ii, p. 96.] But Winslow had no troops to spare. Handfield +does not appear to have relished his task, which he +described as a 'disagreeable and troublesome part of the +service.' What induced the inhabitants to return to their +homes is not clear, but early in the month of September +they resumed their occupations. They remained unmolested +until early in November, when a fresh detachment of troops +arrived to assist in their removal. On December 4 over +sixteen hundred men, women, and children were crowded +into the transports, which lay off Goat Island and which +four days later set sail at eight o'clock in the morning. + +Meanwhile Captain Murray of Fort Edward was doing his +duty in the Pisiquid neighbourhood. On September 5 he +wrote to Winslow at Grand Pre, only a few miles distant: +'I have succeeded finely and have got 183 men into my +possession.' [Footnote: Winslow's Journal, part ii, p. +96.] But there was still much to be done. Three days +later he wrote again: 'I am afraid there will be some +lives lost before they are got together, for you know +our soldiers hate them, and if they can find a pretence +to kill them, they will.' Of the means Murray employed +to accomplish his task we are not told, but he must have +been exceedingly active up to October 14, for on that +date nine hundred persons had been gathered into his net. +His real troubles now began; he was short of provisions +and without transports. At last two arrived, one of ninety +tons, and the other of one hundred and fifty: these, +however, would not accommodate half the people. Another +sloop was promised, but it was slow in coming. He became +alarmed. 'Good God, what can keep her!' he wrote. 'I +earnestly entreat you to send her with all despatch... +Then with the three sloops and more vessels I will put +them aboard, let the consequence be what it will.' +[Footnote: Ibid., p. 173.] He was as good as his word. +On October 23 Winslow wrote: 'Captain Murray has come +from Pisiquid with upwards of one thousand people in four +vessels.' [Footnote: Ibid., p. 178.] + +Colonel Winslow arrived on August 19 at Grand Pre, in +the district of Minas. After requesting the inhabitants +to remove all sacred objects from the church, which he +intended to use as a place of arms, he took up his quarters +in the presbytery. A camp was then formed around the +church, and enclosed by a picket-fence. His first action +was to summon the principal inhabitants to inform them +that they would be required to furnish provisions for +the troops during their occupancy, and to take effective +measures to protect the crops which had not yet been +garnered. There was danger that if the object of his +visit were to become known, the grain might be destroyed. +He was careful, therefore, to see that the harvest was +gathered in before making any unfavourable announcement. + +On August 29 Winslow held a consultation with Murray as +to the most expeditious means of effecting the removal +of the people. The next day three sloops from Boston came +to anchor in the basin. There was, of course, immediate +and intense excitement among the inhabitants; yet, in +spite of all inquiries regarding their presence, no +information could be elicited from either the crews or +the soldiers. On September 2, however, Winslow issued a +proclamation informing the people that the lieutenant- +governor had a communication to impart to them respecting +a new resolution, and that His Majesty's intentions in +respect thereto would be made known. They were, therefore, +to appear in the church at Grand Pre on Friday, September +5, at three o'clock in the afternoon. No excuse would +be accepted for non-attendance; and should any fail to +attend, their lands and chattels would be forfeited to +the crown. + +Winslow's position was by no means strong. He had taken +all the precautions possible; but he was short of +provisions, and there was no sign of the expected +supply-ship, the Saul. Besides, the Acadians far outnumbered +his soldiers, and should they prove rebellious trouble +might ensue. 'Things are now very heavy on my heart and +hands,' he wrote a few days later. 'I wish we had more +men, but as it is shall I question not to be able to +scuffle through.' [Footnote: Winslow's Journal, part ii, +p. 97.] + +The eventful 5th of September arrived, and at three +o'clock four hundred and eighteen of the inhabitants +walked slowly into the church, which had been familiar +to them from their youth, and closely connected with the +most solemn as well as with the most joyous events of +their lives. Here their children had been baptized, and +here many of them had been united in the bonds of matrimony. +Here the remains of those they loved had been carried, +ere they were consigned to their final resting-place, +and here, too, after divine service, they had congregated +to glean intelligence of what was going on in the world +beyond their ken. Now, however, the scene was changed. +Guards were at the door; and in the centre of the church +a table had been placed, round which soldiers were drawn +up. Presently Colonel Winslow entered, attended by his +officers. Deep silence fell upon the people as he began +to speak. The substance of his speech has been preserved +in his Journal, as follows: + + Gentlemen, I have received from His Excellency, Governor + Lawrence, the King's commission which I have in my + hand. By his orders you are convened to hear His + Majesty's final resolution in respect to the French + inhabitants of this his province of Nova Scotia, who + for almost half a century have had more indulgence + granted them than any of his subjects in any part of + his dominions. What use you have made of it, you + yourselves best know. + + The duty I am now upon, though necessary, is very + disagreeable to my natural make and temper, as I know + it must be grievous to you who are of the same species. + But it is not my business to animadvert, but to obey + such orders as I receive; and therefore without + hesitation I shall deliver you His Majesty's orders + and instructions, namely: That your lands and tenements, + cattle of all kinds and live stock of all sorts are + forfeited to the Crown with all your other effects, + saving your money and household goods, and that you + yourselves are to be removed from this his province. + + Thus it is peremptorily His Majesty's orders that all + the French inhabitants of these districts be removed; + and through His Majesty's goodness I am directed to + allow you liberty to carry with you your money and as + many of your household goods as you can take without + discommoding the vessels you go in. I shall do everything + in my power that all these goods be secured to you, + and that you be not molested in carrying them with + you, and also that whole families shall go in the same + vessel; so that this removal which I am sensible must + give you a great deal of trouble may be made as easy + as His Majesty's service will admit; and I hope that + in whatever part of the world your lot may fall, you + may be faithful subjects, and a peaceable and happy + people. + + I must also inform you that it is His Majesty's pleasure + that you remain in security under the inspection and + direction of the troops that I have the honour to + command. + + [Footnote: Winslow's Journal, part ii, p. 94. It is + not thought necessary here to follow the grotesque + spelling of the original. It will be noted that the + doom of the people is pronounced in the name of the + king. But, as already stated, the king or the home + government knew nothing of it; and instructions of a + quite contrary tenor were even then on their way to + Lawrence.] + +This address having been delivered and interpreted to +the people, Winslow issued orders to the troops and seamen +not to kill any of the cattle or rob the orchards, as +the lands and possessions of the inhabitants were now +the property of the king. He then withdrew to his quarters +in the presbytery, leaving the soldiers on guard. + +The first thoughts of the stricken prisoners were of +their families, with whom they had no means of communication +and who would not understand the cause of their detention. +After some conversation together, a few of the elders +asked leave to speak to the commander. This being granted, +they requested to be allowed to carry the melancholy news +to the homes of the prisoners. Winslow at length ordered +them to choose each day twenty men, for whom the others +would be held responsible, to communicate with their +families, and to bring in food for all the prisoners. + +Only five transports lay in the basin of Minas. No +provisions were in sight. It was impossible as yet to +put all the prisoners on board. More had been captured, +and they now outnumbered Winslow's troops nearly two to +one. Presently news came of the disaster to Frye's party +at Chepody. Winslow, having observed suspicious movements +among the prisoners, began to fear for the safety of his +own position. He held a consultation with his officers. +It was decided to divide the prisoners, and put fifty of +the younger men on each of the transports. [Footnote: +Winslow's Journal, part ii, p. 108.--'September 10. Called +my officers together and communicated to them what I had +observed, and after debating matters it was determined, +'nemine contradicente', that it would be best to divide +the prisoners.'] The parish priest, Father Landry, who +had a good knowledge of English and was the principal +spokesman of the Acadians, was told to inform the +inhabitants that one hour would be given them to prepare +for going on board. Winslow then brought up the whole of +his troops, and stationed them between the door of the +church and the gate. The Acadians were drawn up; the +young men were told off and ordered to march. They refused +to obey unless their fathers might accompany them. +[Footnote: Ibid., p. 109.--'They all answered they would +not go without their fathers. I told them that was a word +I did not understand, for that the King's command was to +me absolute and should be absolutely obeyed, and that I +did not love to use harsh means, but that the time did +not admit of parleys or delays; and then ordered the +whole troops to fix their bayonets and advance towards +the French. I bid the four right-hand files of the +prisoners, consisting of twenty-four men, which I told +off myself to divide from the rest, one of whom I took +hold on.'] Winslow informed them that orders were orders, +that this was not the time for parley, and commanded the +troops to fix bayonets and advance. This appears to have +had the effect desired, for, with the assistance of the +commander, who pushed one of them along, twenty-four men +started off and the rest followed. The road from the +church to the ships, nearly a mile and a half in length, +was lined by hundreds of women and children, who fell on +their knees weeping and praying. Eighty soldiers conducted +the procession, which moved but slowly. Some of the men +sang, some wept, and others prayed. [Footnote: Winslow's +Journal, part ii, p. 109.--'They went off praying, singing, +and crying, being met by the women and children all the +way (which is a mile and a half), with great lamentations.'] +At last the young men were put aboard and left under +guard, while the escort returned to bring another contingent +of the prisoners; and so until all who were deemed +dangerous had been disposed of. The vessels had not been +provisioned; but the women and children brought daily to +the shore food which the soldiers conveyed to the prisoners. + +After this it appears that the soldiers committed some +depredations in the neighbourhood, and Winslow issued an +order forbidding any one to leave the camp after the +roll-call. [Footnote: Winslow's Journal, part ii, p. +113.--'September 13. No party or person will be permitted +to go out after calling the roll on any account whatever, +as many bad things have been done lately in the night, +to the distressing of the distressed French inhabitants +in this neighbourhood.'] In the meantime parties were +sent to remote parts of the rivers in search of stragglers, +but only thirty, very old and infirm, were found, and it +was decided to leave them ashore until the ships should +be ready to depart. It still remained, however, to bring +in the inhabitants of the parish of Cobequid, and a +detachment under Captain Lewis was dispatched on this +errand. He returned without a prisoner. The inhabitants +of Cobequid had fled; but Lewis reported that he had laid +their habitations in ruins. + +Neither the needed transports nor the provisions had +arrived. Winslow chafed and groaned. He longed to be rid +of the painful and miserable business. At last, on the +evening of September 28, came the belated supply-ship; +but where were the transports? Winslow resolved to fill +up the five vessels which lay in the basin, and ordered +that the women and children should be brought to the +shore. Families and those of the same village were to +be kept together, as far as possible. + +Meanwhile twenty-four of the young men imprisoned on the +ships made good their escape, and one Francois Hebert +was charged as an abettor. Winslow ordered Hebert to be +brought ashore, and, to impress upon the Acadians the +gravity of his offence, his house and barn were set on +fire in his presence. At the same time the inhabitants +were warned that unless the young men surrendered within +two days all their household furniture would be confiscated +and their habitations destroyed. If captured, no quarter +would be given them. The result was that twenty-two of +the young men returned to the transports. The other two +were overtaken by the soldiers and shot. [Footnote: +Winslow's Journal, part ii, p. 173.] + +Finally a number of transports arrived, and, on October +8, amid scenes of wild confusion, the embarkation began +in earnest. From the villages far and near came the +families of those who were detained in the church and on +the vessels. Some came aiding the infirm or carrying the +sick, while others were laden with bundles of their +personal effects. Most were on foot, although a few rode +in the vehicles bringing their household goods. Old and +young wended their way to the vessels, weary and footsore +and sad at heart. In all, eighty families were taken to +the boats. The next day the men who had been imprisoned +on the vessels since September 10 were brought ashore in +order that they might join their families and accompany +the people of their own villages. Four days later (October +13) several of the ships received sailing orders, some +for Maryland, others for Pennsylvania, and others for +Virginia. + +By the 1st of November Winslow had sent off over fifteen +hundred exiles. But his anxieties were by no means at an +end. There were still a large number of people to be +deported. The difficulty lay in the shortage of transports. +After the vessels had been taxed to their utmost, Winslow +had still over six hundred persons on his hands; [Footnote: +Winslow's Journal, part ii, p. 183.] and he was obliged +in the meantime to quarter them in houses at Grand Pre. +There remained also the task of destroying the villages +to prevent their occupation by stragglers, in accordance +with Lawrence's orders. Finally, on December 13, transports +were provided for the unhappy remnant of the prisoners; +and seven days later the last vessels left port. The +cruel task was done. In all, over six thousand persons +had been forcibly deported, while the rest of the population +had been driven to the wilderness and their homes laid +waste. Some wandered to the Isle St Jean and others to +New Brunswick and Canada. The land of the Acadians was +a solitude. + +And so, sorrow-framed, the story of the expulsion draws +to its close. Hardly had the deplorable work ended, when +England made with Frederick of Prussia the treaty which +formally inaugurated her Seven Years' War with France. +For Lawrence, perhaps, this was a fortunate circumstance. +The day of mutual concessions had passed; and an act +which a few months before might have been denounced as +unwarrantable might now, in the heat of a mighty contest, +be regarded as a patriotic service. Nor is this the only +instance of the kind in history. Often, indeed, has war +served, not only to cover the grossest inhumanities; it +has even furnished an excuse for substantial reward. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE EXILES + +Thus the Acadians passed from the land of their birth +and from the scenes of their youth. Some were to wander +as exiles in many lands for many years, separated from +their children and from their kind, while others, more +fortunate, were soon to regain their native soil. + +Lawrence, in his instructions to the governors of the +colonies to which he had sent the exiles, said that they +were 'to be received and disposed of in such a manner as +may best answer our design of preventing their reunion' +as a people. It was not intended to tear apart families +and friends, but, owing to the scarcity of vessels and +the inadequate arrangements for the deportation, there +were many cruel separations. The deputies confined since +July on George's Island, for example, were at the last +moment transferred to Annapolis in order that they might +accompany their families, but this was not effected, for +the deputies themselves landed in North Carolina, while +their wives and children were dispersed in other colonies. +[Footnote: Nova Scotia Documents, p. 280. Calnek and +Savary, History of the County of Annapolis, p. 124.] One +of the leading Acadians, and one who had loyally served +the British, Rene Le Blanc, notary of Grand Pre, was +landed with his wife and his two youngest children in +New York, while his eighteen other children were scattered +far and wide. [Footnote: Petition of the Acadians deported +to Philadelphia. Printed in Richard, vol. ii, p. 371.] +The real separation of families, however, began in the +colonies. For example, four hundred persons were transported +to Connecticut; but before the whole number arrived an +order went forth for their dispersion in fifty towns. +Nineteen were allotted to Norwich, while three only were +sent to Haddon. In some colonies only the first boats +were allowed to disembark the exiles, and the masters of +the others were forced to seek other ports. + +The treatment of the exiles in the colonies varied +according to circumstances. In some instances the younger +men and women were bound out to service for periods +varying from three to twelve weeks. In others they were +left free to maintain themselves by their own efforts, +the state to provide for such as were incapable, through +age or infirmity, of performing manual labour. Hundreds +of those who were placed under control escaped and +wandered, footsore and half clad, from town to town in +the hope of meeting their relatives or of finding means +to return to their former homes. Little record has been +preserved of the journeyings of these unfortunates or of +the sufferings they endured. + +About a third of the people deported from Nova Scotia in +1755 found their way to South Carolina, although that +does not appear to have been the destination proposed +for them by Lawrence. On November 6, 1755, the South +Carolina Gazette announced that 'the Baltimore Snow is +expected from the Bay of Fundy with some French Neutrals +on board to be distributed in the British colonies.' A +fortnight later the first of these arrived, and in the +course of a few weeks over a thousand had been landed at +Charleston. Soon after, probably passed on by other +colonies, a thousand more arrived. Alarmed by the presence +of so many strangers, the authorities adopted measures +to place them under restraint; and in February 1756 two +parties of the prisoners broke loose: thirty of them +outdistanced their pursuers; five or six, according to +the Gazette, made their way to the plantation of a Mr +Williams on the Santee, terrified the family, secured a +quantity of clothing and firearms, broke open a box +containing money, and headed across the Alleghanies, it +was thought, for the French stronghold, Fort Duquesne, +where Pittsburgh now stands. This conjecture is probable, +since nine Acadians from Fort Duquesne arrived at the +river St John some time later. In the interval the South +Carolina legislature passed an act for the dispersion of +four-fifths of the French Neutrals in various parishes +at the public expense, the remaining fifth to be supported +at Charleston by the vestry of St Phillips. On April 16 +passports were given to one hundred and thirty persons +to proceed to Virginia. Here they obtained the authority +of the governor to return to Acadia, and they reached +the river St John on June 16, 1756. Some time later the +governor of South Carolina gave the remainder of the +people permission to go where they pleased. Two old ships +and a quantity of inferior provisions were placed at +their disposal, and they sailed for Hampton, Virginia. +In due course nine hundred of them landed in the district +of the river St John, where they were employed by Vaudreuil, +the governor of New France, in harrying the British. By +the year 1763 only two hundred and eighty-three Acadians +remained in South Carolina. One family of the name of +Lanneau became Protestants and gave two ministers to the +Presbyterian Church--the Rev. John Lanneau, who afterwards +went as a missionary to Jerusalem, and the Rev. Basil +Lanneau, who became Hebrew tutor in the Theological +Seminary at Columbia. + +Among the refugees who put out from Minas on October 13, +1755, were some four hundred and fifty destined for +Philadelphia. The vessels touched Delaware on November +20, when it was discovered that there were several cases +of smallpox on board, and the masters were ordered to +leave the shore. They were not permitted to land at +Philadelphia until the 10th of December. Many of the +exiles died during the winter, and were buried in the +cemetery of the poor which now forms a part of Washington +Park, Philadelphia. The survivors were lodged in a poor +quarter of the town, in 'neutral huts,' as their mean +dwellings were termed. When the plague-stricken people +arrived, Philadelphia had scarcely recovered from the +panic of a recent earthquake. Moreover, there was a +letter, said to have been written by Lawrence, dated at +Halifax, August 6, and published in the Philadelphia +Gazette on September 4, not calculated to place the +destitute refugees in a favourable light. This is the +substance of the letter: We are now forming the noble +project of driving the French Neutrals out of this +province. They have long been our secret enemies and have +assisted the Indians. If we are able to accomplish their +expulsion, it will be one of the great achievements of +the English in America, for, among other considerations, +the lands which they occupy are among the best in the +country, and we can place good English farmers in their +stead. A few days later another letter was published to +the effect that three Acadians had been arrested charged +with poisoning the wells in the vicinity of Halifax. +Their trial, it was stated, had not yet taken place; but +if guilty they would have but a few hours to live. + +Robert Hunter Morris, the governor at this time of +Pennsylvania, wrote to Shirley of Massachusetts saying +that, as he had not sufficient troops to enforce order, +he feared that the Acadians would unite with the Irish +and German Catholics in a conspiracy against the state. +He also addressed the governor of New Jersey [Footnote: +Jonathan Belcher, governor of New Jersey and later of +Massachusetts. He was the father of the chief justice of +Nova Scotia.] to the same effect. The governor of New +Jersey, in his reply, expressed surprise that those who +planned to send the French Neutrals, or rather rebels +and traitors to the British crown, had not realized that +there were already too many strangers for the peace and +security of the colonies: that they should have been sent +to Old France. He was quite in accord with Morris in +believing there was a danger of the people joining the +Irish Papists in an attempt to ruin and destroy the king's +colonies. + +The Acadians had arrived at Philadelphia in a most +deplorable condition. One of the Quakers who visited the +boats while they were in quarantine reported that they +were without shirts and socks and were sadly in need of +bed-clothing. A petition to the governor, giving an +account of their conduct in Acadia and of the treatment +they had received, fell on deaf ears. An act was passed +for their dispersion in the counties of Bucks, Lancaster, +and Chester. The refugees, however, were not without +friends. To several Quakers they were indebted for many +acts of kindness and generosity. + +Among those deported to Philadelphia was one of the Le +Blanc family, a boy of seventeen, Charles Le Blanc. Early +in life he engaged in commerce, and in the course of a +long and successful career in Philadelphia amassed an +enormous fortune, including large estates in the colonies +and in Canada. After his death in 1816 there were many +claimants to his estate, and the litigation over it is +not yet ended. + +The Acadians taken to New York were evidently as poor as +their fellow-refugees at Philadelphia. An Act of July 6, +1756, recites that 'a certain number have been received +into this colony, poor, naked, and destitute of every +convenience and support of life, and, to the end that +they may not continue as they now really are, useless to +His Majesty, to themselves, and a burthen to this colony, +be it enacted ... that the Justices of the Peace ... be +required and empowered to bind with respectable families +such as are not arrived at the age of twenty-one years, +for such a space of time as they may think proper.' The +justices were to make the most favourable contracts for +them, and when their term of service expired, they were +to be paid either in implements of trade, clothing, or +other gratuity. + +In the month of August 1756 one hundred and ten sturdy +Acadian boys and girls made their appearance in New York. +They had travelled all the way from Georgia in the hope +of finding means to return to Acadia. Great was their +disappointment when they were seized by the authorities +and placed out to service. Later some of the parents +straggled in, but they were dispersed immediately in +Orange and Westchester counties, and some on Long Island, +in charge of a constable. The New York Mercury of July +1757 reported that a number of the neutrals had been +captured near Fort Edward while on their way to Crown +Point. Between the arrival of the first detachment in +New York and the month of August 1757 the colony was +compelled to provide for large numbers who came in from +distant places. To prevent any further escape the sheriffs +were commanded to secure all the Acadians, except women +and children, in the county gaol. + +At a later date these unfortunates were put to a strange +use. Sir Harry Moore, governor of the colony of New York +(1765-69), had designs upon the French colony at Santo +Domingo, in the West Indies, and desired plans of the +town and its fortifications. So he entered into +correspondence with the French Admiral, Count d'Estaing, +offering to transport thither seventy Acadian families +in order that they might live under the French flag. The +count accepted the offer and issued a proclamation to +the Acadians inviting them to Santo Domingo. Moore had +arranged that John Hanson should conduct the exiles to +their new home. Hanson, on arriving at the French colony, +was to take a contract to build houses and make out the +desired military plans while so engaged. He succeeded in +transporting the Acadians, but failed in the real object +of his mission. He was not allowed the liberty of building +houses in Santo Domingo. The Acadians who went to the +West Indies suffered greatly. The tropical climate proved +disastrous to men and women who had been reared in the +atmosphere of the Bay of Fundy. They crawled under trees +and shrubs to escape the fierce rays of the sun. Numbers +of them perished and life became a burden to the others. + +Far different was the lot of the Acadians who were sent +to Maryland. [Footnote: The Maryland Gazette, Annapolis, +December 4, 1755, said: 'Sunday last [November 30] arrived +here the last of the vessels from Nova Scotia with French +Neutrals for this place, which makes four within this +fortnight bringing upwards of nine hundred of them. As +the poor people have been deprived of their settlements +in Nova Scotia, and sent here for some political reason +bare and destitute, Christian charity, nay, common +humanity, calls on every one according to his ability to +lend assistance and to help these objects of compassion.'] +There they were kindly received and found, no doubt, a +happier lot than in any of the other colonies. Those +landed at Baltimore were at first lodged in private houses +and in a building belonging to a Mr Fotherall, where they +had a little chapel. And it was not long before the frugal +and industrious exiles were able to construct small but +comfortable houses of their own on South Charles Street, +giving to that quarter of the city the name of French +Town. Many of them found employment on the waterside and +in navigation. The old and infirm picked oakum. + +Massachusetts at one time counted in the colony a thousand +and forty of the exiles, but all these had not come direct +on the ships from Nova Scotia. Many of them had wandered +in from other colonies. The people of Massachusetts loved +not Catholics and Frenchmen; nevertheless, in some +instances they received the refugees with especial +kindness. At Worcester a small tract of land was set +aside for the Acadians to cultivate, with permission to +hunt deer at all seasons. The able-bodied men and women +toiled in the fields as reapers, and added to their income +in the evening by making wooden implements. The Acadians +were truly primitive in their methods. 'Although,' says +a writer of the time, 'they tilled the soil they kept no +animals for labour. The young men drew their material +for fencing with thongs of sinew, and they turned the +earth with a spade. The slightest allusion to their native +land drew forth tears and many of the aged died of a +broken heart.' + +As French Neutrals began to come into Boston from other +towns, the selectmen of that city protested vigorously +and passed the people on to outlying parishes, promising, +however, to be responsible for their maintenance should +they become a public charge. Several instances are recorded +of children being sent to join their parents. A certain +number were confined in the workhouse and in the provincial +hospital. But on December 6, 1760, the authorities gave +instructions for the hospital to be cleared to make room +for the colonial troops who were returning home, many of +them suffering from contagious diseases; and the Acadians +were forthwith turned out. + +Although none of the Acadians appear to have been sent +direct to Louisiana, large numbers of them found their +way thither from various places, especially from Virginia, +where they were not allowed to remain. Finding in Louisiana +men speaking their own tongue, they felt a sense of +security, and gradually settled down with a degree of +contentment. There are to-day in various parishes of the +state of Louisiana many thousand Acadian-Americans. + +Of the Acadians who succeeded in escaping deportation +and went into voluntary exile, many sought shelter in +New Brunswick, on the rivers Petitcodiac, Memramcook, +Buctouche, Richibucto, and Miramichi, and along Chaleur +Bay. The largest of the settlements so formed was the +one on the Miramichi, at Pierre Beaubair's seigneury, +where the village of Nelson now stands. For several years +these refugees in New Brunswick bravely struggled against +hardship, disease, and starvation; but in the late autumn +of 1759 the several settlements sent deputies to Colonel +Frye at Fort Cumberland, asking on what terms they would +be received back to Nova Scotia. Frye took a number of +them into the fort for the winter, and presented their +case to Lawrence. It was decided to accept their submission +and supply them with provisions. But when the people +returned they were held as vassals; and many of them +afterwards were either sent out of the province to France +or England, or left it voluntarily for St Pierre and +Miquelon or the West Indies. + +Other fugitives of 1755, fifteen hundred, according to +one authority, [Footnote: Placide Gaudet, 'Acadian +Genealogy and Notes,' Canadian Archives Report, 1905. +vol. ii, part iii, Appendix A, p. xv.] succeeded in +reaching Quebec. Here their lot was a hard one. Bigot +and his myrmidons plundered everybody, and the starving +Acadians did not escape. They had managed to bring with +them a little money and a few household treasures, of +which they were soon robbed. For a time they were each +allowed but four ounces of bread a day, and were reduced, +it is said, to searching the gutters for food. To add to +their miseries smallpox broke out among them and many +perished from the disease. After Quebec surrendered and +the victorious British army entered the gates, some two +hundred of them, under the leadership of a priest, Father +Coquart, who apparently had a passport from General +Murray, marched through the wilderness to the headwaters +of the St John and went down to Fort Frederick at the +mouth of that river. Colonel Arbuthnot, the British +commandant there, treated them generously. In 1761, +however, many Acadians at the St John were seized and +deported to Halifax, where they were held as prisoners +of war, but were provided with rations and given 'good +wages for road-making.' [Footnote: MacMechan in Canada +and its Provinces, vol. xiii, p. 115.] Of those who +escaped this deportation, some established themselves on +the Kennebecasis river and some went up the St John to +St Anne's, now Fredericton. But even here the Acadians +were not to have a permanent home. Twenty years later, +when the war of the Revolution ended and land was needed +for the king's disbanded soldiers, the lands of the +Acadians were seized. Once more the unfortunate people +sought new homes, and found them at last along the banks +of Chaleur Bay and of the Madawaska, where thousands of +their descendants now rudely cultivate the fields and +live happy, contented lives. + +The deportation did not bring peace to Nova Scotia. +Acadians of New Brunswick and of those who had sought +refuge in the forest fastnesses of the peninsula and Cape +Breton joined with the Indians in guerilla warfare against +the British; and there was more killing of settlers and +more destruction of property from Indian raids than ever +before. Early in the month of January 1756 British rangers +rounded up over two hundred Acadian prisoners at Annapolis, +and put them on board a vessel bound for South Carolina. +The prisoners, however, made themselves masters of the +ship and sailed into the St John river in February. French +privateers, manned by Acadians, haunted the Bay of Fundy +and the Gulf of St Lawrence and carried off as prizes +twelve British vessels. But in 1761 the British raided +a settlement of the marauders on Chaleur Bay, and took +three hundred and fifty prisoners to Halifax. + +We have seen in a preceding chapter that from time to +time numbers of Acadians voluntarily left their homes in +Nova Scotia and went over to French soil. Many of these +took up their abode in Ile St Jean at Port La Joie +(Charlottetown), where they soon formed a prosperous +settlement and were able to supply not only the fortress +but the town of Louisbourg with provisions. Those who +were not engaged in agricultural pursuits found profitable +employment in the fisheries. There were also thriving +settlements at Point Prince, St Peter, and Malpeque. It +is computed that in 1755 there were at least four thousand +Acadians in Ile St Jean. A much larger estimate is given +by some historians. Now, on the fall of Louisbourg in +1758, some of the British transports which had brought +out troops from Cork to Halifax were ordered to Ile St +Jean to carry the Acadians and French to France. The +largest of these transports was the Duke William; another +was named the Violet. Some of the Acadians made good +their escape, but many were dragged on board the vessels. +On the Duke William was a missionary priest, and before +the vessels sailed he was called upon to perform numerous +marriages, for the single men had learned that if they +landed unmarried in France they would be forced to perform +military service, for which they had no inclination. Nine +transports sailed in consort, but were soon caught in a +violent tempest and scattered. On December 10 the Duke +William came upon the Violet in a sinking condition; and +notwithstanding all efforts at rescue, the Violet went +down with nearly four hundred souls. Meanwhile the Duke +William herself had sprung a leak. For a time she was +kept afloat by empty casks in the hold, but presently it +became evident that the ship was doomed. The long-boat +was put out and filled to capacity. And scarcely had the +boat cleared when an explosion occurred and the Duke +William went down, taking three hundred persons to a +watery grave. The longboat finally reached Penzance with +twenty-seven of the castaways. The other vessels probably +found some French port. [Footnote In 1763 there were +2,370 Acadians in the maritime towns of France and 866 +at various English ports. Many of these returned later +to the land of their birth. See Canadian Archives Report, +1905, vol. ii, Appendix G, pp. 148 and 157.] + +In Nova Scotia the Acadians were sorely needed. Even +their bitter enemy, Jonathan Belcher, now lieutenant- +governor, [Footnote: He succeeded Lawrence, who died in +October 1760. Two documents in the Colonial Office Records +raise more than a suspicion that Lawrence had been by no +means an exemplary public servant. The first is a complaint +made by Robert Sanderson, speaker of the first legislature +of Nova Scotia, elected in 1758, respecting the grave +misconduct of Lawrence in many stated particulars, +including the release from gaol before trial of prisoners +charged with burglary and other grave offences as well +as the misapplication of public funds. The second is a +letter from the Lords of Trade to Belcher laying down +rules for his conduct as lieutenant-governor and referring +to the many serious charges against his predecessor, some +of which they regard as having substantial foundation, +and none of which they express themselves as altogether +rejecting. Consult, in the Public Archives, Canada, Nova +Scotia A, vol. lxv.] wrote on June 18, 1761: 'By +representations made to me from the new settlements in +this province, it appears extremely necessary that the +inhabitants should be assisted by the Acadians in repairing +the dykes for the preservation and recovery of the marsh +lands, particularly as on the progress of this work, in +which the Acadians are the most skilful people in the +country, the support and subsistence of several hundred +of the inhabitants will depend.' [Footnote: Nova Scotia +Documents, p. 319.] It seemed almost impossible to induce +settlers to come to the province; and those who did come +seem to have been unable to follow the example of the +former owners of the soil, for much of the land which +had been reclaimed from the sea by the labour and ingenuity +of the Acadian farmers was once more being swept by the +ocean tides. + +Yet, when the Acadians began to return to Nova Scotia in +ever-increasing numbers, Belcher and the Halifax Council +decided to banish them again. In 1762 five transports +loaded with prisoners were sent to Massachusetts, but +that colony wanted no more Acadians and sent them back. +Belcher had some difficulty in explaining his action to +the home government. And the Lords of Trade did not +scruple to censure him. + +When the Treaty of Paris (February 1763) brought peace +between France and England and put an end to French power +in America, the Acadians could no longer be considered +a menace, and there was no good political reason for +keeping them out of Canada or Nova Scotia. Almost +immediately those in exile began to seek new homes among +people of their own race and religion. The first migration +seems to have been from New England by the Lake Champlain +route to the province of Quebec. There they settled at +various places, notably L'Acadie, St Gregoire, Nicolet, +Becancour, St Jacques-l'Achigan, St Philippe, and Laprairie. +In these communities hundreds of their descendants still +live. + +In 1766 the exiles in Massachusetts assembled in Boston +and decided to return to their native land. All who were +fit to travel, numbering about nine hundred men, women, +and children, marched through the wilderness along the +Atlantic coast and across New Brunswick to the isthmus +of Chignecto. Many perished by the way, overcome by the +burden and fatigue of a journey which lasted over four +months. But at last the weary pilgrims approached their +destination. And near the site of the present village of +Coverdale in Albert county, New Brunswick, they were +attracted to a small farmhouse by the crowing of a cock +in the early dawn. To their unspeakable joy they found +the house inhabited by a family of their own race. Here +they halted for a few days, making inquiry concerning +their old friends. Then they tramped on in different +directions. Everywhere on the isthmus the scene was +changed. The old familiar farm buildings had disappeared +or were occupied by strangers of an alien tongue, and +even the names of places were known no more. Some journeyed +to Windsor and some to Annapolis, where they remained +for a time. At length, on the western shores of the +present counties of Digby and Yarmouth, they found a +home, and there to-day live the descendants of these +pilgrims. For miles their neat villages skirt the shores +of the ocean and the banks of the streams. For a century +and a half they have lived in peace, cultivating their +salt-marsh lands and fresh-water meadows, preserving the +simple manners, customs, and language of their ancestors. +They form a community apart, a hermit community. But they +are useful citizens, good farmers, hardy fishermen and +sailors. + +Both in Canada and in the United States are to be found +many Acadians occupying exalted positions. The chief +justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, Joseph A. +Breaux, is of Acadian descent. In Canada the Rt Rev. +Edward Le Blanc, bishop of Acadia, the Hon. P. E. Le +Blanc, lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec, +and the Hon. Pascal Poirier, senator, are Acadians, as +are many other prominent men. And Isabella Labarre, who +married Jean Foret, of Beaubassin, was one of the maternal +ancestors of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. + +Save in the Maritime Provinces, it is not possible to +count the offspring of the original French settlers of +Acadia who came out from France in the seventeenth century. +It is estimated that there were at the time of the +expulsion ten or eleven thousand under the British flag, +and four or five thousand in Ile St Jean and elsewhere +on French territory. About six thousand were deported, +as we have seen, and scattered over the British colonies. +Undoubtedly a great number of Americans of to-day are +descendants of those exiles, but, except at the mouth of +the Mississippi, they are merged in the general population +and their identity is lost. Neither can we tell how many +of those who found their way to Old France remained there +permanently. For upwards of twenty years the French +government was concerned in finding places for them. Some +were settled on estates; some were sent to Corsica; +others, as late as 1778, went to Louisiana. Nor can we +estimate the number of Acadians in the province of Quebec, +for no distinction has been made between them and the +general French-Canadian population. For the Maritime +Provinces, however, we have the count of the census of +1911. This shows 98,611 in New Brunswick, 51,746 in Nova +Scotia, and 13,117 in Prince Edward Island, a total of +163,474 in the three provinces. The largest communities +are those of Gloucester, Victoria, Madawaska, and Kent +counties in New Brunswick, and of Digby and Yarmouth in +Nova Scotia. Several thousand Acadians are counted in +Cape Breton; so, too, in Halifax and Cumberland counties. +But in the county of Annapolis, where stands the site of +the first settlement formed on the soil of Canada--the +site of the ancient stronghold of Acadia--and which for +many generations was the principal home of the Acadian +people, only two or three hundred Acadians are to be +found to-day; while, looking out over Minas Basin, the +scene of so much sorrow and suffering, one solitary family +keeps its lonely vigil in the village of Grand Pre. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The story of Acadia and the Acadians has been told many +times, but most of the treatises on the subject are +unsatisfactory from the historical point of view, either +because of the biased attitude taken by the authors or +because of their inadequate use of original sources. The +present writer has deliberately avoided consulting +secondary works. The following titles, however, are here +suggested for the benefit of the reader who wishes to +become acquainted with the literature of the subject. + +Thomas Chandler Haliburton, 'An Historical and Statistical +Account of Nova Scotia' (2 vols., Halifax, 1829), the +earliest general history of the province, based on but +slight knowledge of the sources. Beamish Murdoch, 'A +History of Nova Scotia' (3 vols., Halifax, 1865-1867), +fuller and more accurate than Haliburton, but having less +charm of style. Francis Parkman, 'France and England in +North America' (9 vols., Boston, 1865-1892, and later +editions). The chapters on Acadia are scattered through +several volumes of this valuable series: see the volumes +entitled 'Pioneers of France, The Old Regime, A Half-Century +of Conflict', and 'Montcalm and Wolfe'. Celestin Moreau, +'Histoire de l'Acadie Francoise' (Paris, 1873). James +Hannay, 'History of Acadia' (St John, 1879). P. H. Smith, +'Acadia: A Lost Chapter in American History' (Pawling, +N.Y., 1884). Justin Winsor, 'Narrative and Critical +History of America': see vols. iv and v (Boston, 1884, +1887), containing scholarly bibliographical notes. Abbe +H. R. Casgrain, 'Un Pelerinage au pays d'Evangeline' +(Quebec, 1887). Rameau de Saint-Pere, 'Une Colonie Feodale +en Amerique, l'Acadie' (2 vols., Paris and Montreal, +1889): the appendix contains some interesting documents. +Edouard Richard, 'Acadia: Missing Links of a Lost Chapter +in American History' (2 vols., New York and Montreal, +1895). Rev. Wm. O. Raymond, 'The River St John' (2nd ed., +St John, 1910). + +Some older works which incidentally contain interesting +or valuable references to Acadia may be mentioned. F. X. +Charlevoix, 'Histoire et Description Generale de la +Nouvelle France' (3 vols., Paris, 1744; and translation +by J. G. Shea, 6 vols., New York, 1866-1872). Abbe +Guillaume Thomas Raynal, 'Histoire philosophique et +politique des Etablissemens dans les deux Indes' (5 vols., +Paris, 1770), which first painted a picture of an idyllic +life of simplicity and happiness among the Acadians. +Thomas Hutchinson, 'History of the Colony of Massachusetts +Bay' (3 vols., London, 1765-1828). G. R. Minot, +'Continuation of the History of the Province of +Massachusetts Bay' (2 vols., Boston, 1798-1803). Jeremy +Belknap, 'History of New Hampshire' (3 vols., Boston, +1791-1792). W. D. Williamson, 'History of the State of +Maine' (2 vols., Hallowell, 1832). The last four works +are of much value for the relations between Acadia and +the New England colonies. + +Among special studies of note are: J. G. Kohl, 'Discovery +of Maine' ('Documentary History of the State of Maine,' +vol. i, 1869). H. P. Biggar, 'Early Trading Companies of +New France' (Toronto, 1901). Henry Kirke, 'The First +English Conquest of Canada' (London, 1871; 2nd ed., 1908), +a work which devotes much space to the early establishments +in Nova Scotia. Rev. Edmund F. Slafter, 'Sir William +Alexander and American Colonization' (Boston, 1873), +which contains a valuable selection of documents. Abbe +J. A. Maurault, 'Histoire des Abenakis' (Sorel, 1866). +Pascal Poirier, 'Origine des Acadiens' (Montreal, 1874) +and 'Des Acadiens deportes a Boston en 1755' ('Trans. +Roy. Soc. of Can.,' 3rd series, vol. ii, 1908). + +Several local histories contain information regarding +the Acadian exiles in the American colonies. William +Lincoln, 'History of Worcester, Massachusetts' (Worcester, +1862). Bernard C. Steiner, 'History of the Plantation of +Menunkatuck and of the Original Town of Guilford, +Connecticut' (Baltimore, 1897). Rev. D. P. O'Neill, +'History of St Raymond's Church, Westchester New York.' +J. T. Scharf, 'Chronicles of Baltimore' ( Baltimore, +1874). Edward M'Crady, 'History of South Carolina under +the Royal Government, 1719-1776' (New York, 1899). + +Of original sources, many of the more important narratives +are available in print. Champlain's Voyages, a work which +appeared in its first form in 1604: recent editions are +by Laverdiere (6 vols., Quebec, 1870); translation by +Slafter (3 vols., The Prince Society, Boston, 1880-1882); +and translations of portions by W. L. Grant in Jameson's +'Original Narratives of Early American History' (New +York, 1907). Marc Lescarbot, 'Histoire de la Nouvelle +France' (1st ed., Paris, 1609): a new edition with +translation has been edited by W. L. Grant (The Champlain +Society, 3 vols., Toronto, 1907-1914). Nicolas Denys, +'Description Geographique et Historique des Costes de +l'Amerique Septentrionale' (Paris, 1672): new edition +and translation by William F. Ganong (The Champlain +Society, Toronto, 1908). Denys tells of De Monts, +Poutrincourt, Biencourt, and the La Tours. + +Supplementary information can be obtained from 'The Jesuit +Relations' (the first number, by Father Biard, was +published at Lyons, 1616); see edition with translation, +by R. G. Thwaites (Cleveland, 1896). See also Purchas, +'His Pilgrimes,' vol. iv (1625); and John Winthrop, +'History of New England,' edited by James Savage (2 vols., +Boston, 1825-1826), and by J. K. Hosmer in 'Original +Narratives of Early American History' (New York, 1908). +Gaston du Boscq de Beaumont, 'Les Derniers Jours de +l'Acadie,' 1748-1758 (Paris, 1899) contains many interesting +letters and memoirs from the French side at the time of +the expulsion. + +There are several important collections of documentary +sources available in print. The 'Memorials of the English +and French Commissaries concerning the Limits of Nova +Scotia or Acadia' (London and Paris, 1755) contains the +arguments and documents produced on both sides in the +dispute regarding the Acadian boundaries. Many documents +of general interest are to be found in the 'Collection +de Documents relatifs a l'Histoire de la Nouvelle France' +(4 vols., Quebec, 1885); in 'Documents relative to the +Colonial History of the State of New York,' edited by +O'Callaghan and Fernow (15 vols., Albany, 1856-1887), +particularly vol. ix; and in the 'Collections' of the +Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston, 1792-). The +'Collections' of the Nova Scotia Historical Society +(Halifax, 1879-), besides modern studies, contain many +valuable contemporary documents, including 'Journal of +Colonel Nicholson at the Capture of Annapolis,' 'Diary +of John Thomas,' and 'Journal of Colonel John Winslow.' +Thomas and Winslow are among the most important sources +for the expulsion. + +The 'Report on Canadian Archives' for 1912 prints several +interesting documents bearing on the early history of +Acadia, and the Report for 1905 (vol. ii) contains +documents relating to the expulsion, edited by Placide +Gaudet. The calendars contained in various Reports to +which references are made below may also be consulted. +The British Government publications, the 'Calendar of +State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies,' +which has been brought down only to 1702, and the 'Acts +of the Privy Council, Colonial Series,' are also useful. +But perhaps the most valuable of all is the volume entitled +'Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of +Nova Scotia,' edited by Thomas B. Akins (Halifax, 1869), +though the editor has taken many liberties with his texts. +A volume entitled 'Nova Scotia Archives II,' edited by +Archibald MacMechan (Halifax, 1900), contains calendars +of Governors' Letter Books and a Commission Book, 1713-1741. + +The principal manuscript collections of material for +Acadian history are in Paris, London, Boston, Halifax, +and Ottawa. In Paris are the official records of French +rule in America. Of the 'Archives des Colonies,' deposited +at the 'Archives Nationales,' the following series are +most important: + +Series B: Letter Books of Orders of the King and Dispatches +from 1663 onward (partially calendared in Canadian Archives +'Reports' for 1899; Supplement, 1904 and 1905). + +Series C: correspondence received from the colonies, +which is subdivided geographically. All the American +colonies have letters relating to the refugee Acadians, +but the most important section for general Acadian history +is C-11, which relates to Canada and its dependencies, +including Acadia itself, Ile Royale, now Cape Breton, +and Ile St Jean, now Prince Edward Island. + +Series F, which includes in its subdivisions documents +relating to commercial companies and religious missions, +and the Moreau St Mery Collection of miscellaneous official +documents. + +Series G: registers, censuses, lists of Acadian refugees, +and notarial records. + +The 'Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres' has, in the +'Angleterre' section of its 'Correspondence Politique' +and the 'Amerique' section of its 'Memoires et Documents,' +extensive material on the disputes with the English +Government over Acadia. The 'Archives de la Marine' +(Series B), which is divided into eight sub-series, has +a vast collection of documents relating to America, +including Acadia. Acadian material is also found scattered +through other series of the 'Archives Nationales' and +among the manuscripts of the 'Bibliotheque Nationale.' +At the town of Vire, in France, among the municipal +archives, are to be found the papers of Thomas Pichon, +a French officer at Louisbourg and Beausejour, who after +the fall of Beausejour lived on intimate terms with the +British in Nova Scotia. + +In London most of the official documents for the period +under consideration in this volume are preserved in the +Public Record Office. The most useful collections are +among the Colonial Office Papers: Series C.O. 5, formerly +described as America and West Indies, embraces the papers +of the office of the Secretary of State who had charge +of the American colonies; and C.O. 217-221, formerly, +for the most part, described as Board of Trade Nova +Scotia, contains the correspondence of the Board of Trade +relating to Nova Scotia. The 'Admiralty Papers and Treasury +Board Papers' likewise contain considerable material for +the story of British administration in Acadia. + +In the British Museum are some manuscripts of interest, +the most noteworthy being Lieutenant-Governor Vetch's +Letter Book (Sloane MS. 3607), and the Brown Collection +(Additional MSS. 190694). These are papers relating to +Nova Scotia and the Acadians, 1711-1794, including the +correspondence of Paul Mascarene. + +In Boston two important collections are to be found: the +Massachusetts State Archives, which contain some original +documents bearing on the relations between New England +and Nova Scotia, and others connected with the disposal +of those Acadians who were transported to Massachusetts, +and many transcripts made from the French Archives; and +the Parkman Papers, which are now in the possession of +the Massachusetts Historical Society. + +The Public Records of Nova Scotia at Halifax contain +transcripts from the Paris and Massachusetts Archives +relating to Acadia, transcripts from the Public Record +Office at London and from the British Museum, letter-books +of the Governors of Nova Scotia, minutes of the Executive +Council, and much miscellaneous correspondence and papers +belonging to our period. + +In the Public Archives of Canada at Ottawa a very extensive +collection of transcripts has been assembled comprising +all the more important official documents relating to +Acadia. A full description of most of the series can be +obtained from David W. Parker's 'Guide to the Documents +in the Manuscript Room at the Public Archives of Canada,' +vol. i (Ottawa, 1914). The series known as Nova Scotia +State Papers is divided into several sub-series: A. +Correspondence from 1603 onwards, made up chiefly of +transcripts from the Papers of the Secretary of State +and of the Board of Trade at the Public Record Office, +but including some from the British Museum and elsewhere +(a calendar is to be found in the 'Report on Canadian +Archives' for 1894); B. Minutes of the Executive Council +of Nova Scotia, 1720-1785; E. Instructions to Governors, +1708 onwards. The Archives also possess transcripts of +the French 'Archives des Colonies,' Series B, down to +1746, Series C-11 and parts of Series F and G, and of +many documents of the 'Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres,' +of the 'Archives de la Marine,' Series B, and of the +'Bibliotheque Nationale' (among the latter being the +'Memoire instructif de la conduite du Sr. de la Tour'). +Also transcripts of the Pichon Papers, of much of the +C.O. 5 Series for this period in the Public Record Office, +London; of Vetch's Letter Book, the Brown Collection and +other sources in the British Museum; and of parts of the +Parkman Papers, and other records regarding the exiled +Acadians in the Massachusetts Archives. + +END + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Acadian Exiles, by Arthur G. 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