LliiV^r.' 
 
 F 
 1038 
 
 WHAT CAUSE!) THE DEPOUTATION 
 
 OF THE AOADIANS? 
 
 liV 
 
 JAMES PHINNEY BAXTER. 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
diss ^io?,^ 
 Book . ^~b5 
 
 SMITHSONIAN DKPOSIT. 
 
WHAT CAUSED THE DEPORTATION 
 
 OF THE ACADIANS? 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES PHINNEY BAXTER. 
 
 ^ ^ JM PEOC c,7)INGS of the AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, AT THE 
 
 Semi-Annual Meetin'J, April 26, 1899. 
 
 Waxemtx, Pa;S!S., m. ^, §t. 
 
 PKESS OF CHARLES HAMILTON, 
 
 311 MAIN STREET. 
 
 1899. 
 
J'' 
 
WHAT CAUSED THE DEPORTATION^ OF THE 
 ACADIANS? 
 
 It seems safe to observe that all historical analyses require 
 documentary evidence to satisfy the critical spirit of the 
 present age. In such analyses, the imaginative faculty is 
 not permitted to enjoy the scope which was once accorded 
 it, and the writer who overlooks this incurs grave responsi- 
 bilities. An author, however, is not to be held to too 
 severe account for missing evidence. He may use due 
 diligence in seeking it, and yet miss valuable matter to 
 which access is diiEcult, or unknown to him ; nay, it 
 happens, that one's very familiarity with a subject some- 
 times renders him oblivious to an important detail close 
 at hand ; hence one should be chary in ascribing lapses of 
 this sort to wilful oversight. 
 
 Again, it seems safe to observe, that in estimating the 
 moral contents of an act of the past, we should take into 
 account the difference between the standards then and now 
 employed, as well as the social conditions and political 
 exigencies of the time. 
 
 These reflections have been prompted by a late severe 
 arraignment of certain historical workers, one of whom is 
 no less than the late Francis Parkman of happy memory, 
 who in treating of the Acadians, is accused not only of 
 wilfully misrepresenting and distorting facts, but of ma- 
 liciously suppressing evidence in their favor, in order to 
 streno-then the case of his Ens^lish forebears.^ Little did 
 the author of " Evangeline " realize, when he penned that 
 
 Vide Acadia, i\rew York, Home Book Company; Montreal, John Lovell & Son. 
 
admirable poem, that he was creating history ; and yet very 
 many persons, probably a majority of our people, take 
 their history of the Acadians from that poetic fiction, just 
 as a considerable number of people take their theology 
 from the "Paradise Lost." Such persons will be likely to 
 listen approvingly to a writer who is in accord with them, 
 and disapprovingly to one who presents the other side of 
 the case ; and yet, there is another side. 
 
 To approximate a reasonable understanding of all that 
 was involved in the deportation of the Acadians, we should 
 go back to the year 1713, that memorable year in which, 
 by the Treaty of Utrecht, Acadia was ceded to Great Britain. 
 The cession of Acadia was but an incident in the great 
 struggle between principles which had been in conflict for 
 centuries, and which had drenched battle-fields with blood. 
 The spirit of universal dominion has always been the inspi- 
 ration of the Koman Church. When the Roman Empire 
 changed her name to the Holy Roman Empire she did not 
 change her spirit, but as ever demanded unquestioning 
 obedience to her power. She it was who dominated the 
 French court, directed statesmanship and shaped diplomacy ; 
 and she it was who kept alive the fires of war in Europe 
 and on this continent, that she might finally bring the na- 
 tions to her foot-stool. Sometimes she won, sometimes 
 she lost, but she never dreamed of giving up the contest. 
 Rome was eternal ; monarchs, nations even, temporary. 
 She had lost now, but the animosities, racial, religious, 
 and irreconcilable, survived, smouldering but ready to 
 break forth whenever conditions should become favorable. 
 The vanquished government sullenly withdrew to Isle 
 Royale, and there set up its imperium, while the victor took 
 possession of its prize, which it was not long permitted to 
 enjoy in peace. 
 
 England had succeeded in removing to a distance the 
 governmental machiner}^ by which France had exercised 
 control of the ceded territory, but not of the instrumen- 
 
talities through which Rome exercised power therein ; and 
 she, allied to France by a common interest, — the desire for 
 dominion, — furnished an ever read_y means to her ally to 
 recoup herself as far as possible for her losses. There was 
 peace between the two crowns, so far as ink and wax went, 
 but no farther, for French emissaries at once began to 
 foment trouble by inciting the savages to make war upon 
 their Eno-lish neig-hbors. These emissaries were Eomish 
 priests, whose pernicious efforts not only caused gi'eat suf- 
 fering and loss of life to the pioneer settlers, English and 
 French, but the final deportation of the Acadians, an act 
 which has been held up to the world as one of unwarranta- 
 ble and inexcusable cruelty. The criticism which this act 
 has received, admitting it to have been cruel, is a distinct 
 compliment to the English. Those who enjoy a reputation 
 for righteousness are alone criticised for failing to conform 
 strictly to righteous standards. France has almost escaped 
 censure for acts far exceeding in cruelty the deporta- 
 tion of the Acadians, although she did not have the 
 warrant of necessity to offer in defence of her action, 
 Avhich England did. 
 
 In 1689 the French monarch gave his sanction to a plot, 
 which, had it not been defeated by English brawn, would 
 have shocked the world for all time. This plot, carefully 
 formulated at Versailles, was to make an initial attack upon 
 Albany, and having captured that place, to proceed down 
 the Hudson with two war ships to attack New York and 
 force its surrender. Once in possession of New York, the 
 rootino; out of the heretic English colonists would be feasi- 
 ble. Their homes were to be broken up, and they scat- 
 tered abroad. Those who possessed wealth Avere to be 
 imprisoned until they were willing to exchange it for lib- 
 ert}^ Artisans were to be held as captives and forced to 
 labor for their French masters. Subjects of Rome, of 
 course, if any were found among the heretical colonists, 
 were to be exempt from these hard conditions, and were to 
 
6 
 
 be protected and fostered. This diabolical scheme, involv- 
 ing the destruction of an entire people, numbering accord- 
 inof to statistics over seventeen thousand souls, was intrusted 
 to Frontenac for execution, and we know how ardently he 
 entered upon his task, and how siguall}^ he failed in its 
 accomplishment, though he inflicted suffering and death 
 upon many English colonists. The same pitiless spirit was 
 exhibited in the laws against those who failed to bow in 
 unquestioning obedience to Rome, which disrupted fami- 
 lies, and sent men and women, "without form or figure of 
 trial," to the galleys or prisons, where they quickly suc- 
 cumbed to the hardships to which they were subjected. 
 
 It was for the release by the French king of one hundred 
 and thirty-nine galley-slaves, whose onl}^ offence was that 
 their Christianity was not Roman, that Queen Anne, shortly 
 after the signing the Treaty of Utrecht, in return for the 
 favor which she had solicited, granted certain privileges to 
 the Acadians within the territory which she had acquired. 
 The indefensible attitude of the French toward Protestants 
 must be fully recognized in order to interpret correctly the 
 acts of the English in their dealings with the problems which 
 they encountered after assuming rule in Acadia. 
 
 Nicholson, the English governor, had hardly settled his 
 military family in the new territory, when Yaudreuil, the 
 governor of New France, WTote to the French minister at 
 Versailles, quoting from Father de la Chasse, a Romish mis- 
 sionary, that " temporal interest serves as a vehicle of faith " 
 with the savages, and that a war between them and the 
 English " is more favorable to us than peace " ; hence " tem- 
 poral interest" was to be directed to this end. This was 
 the key-note to French policy, and from that moment, as 
 well in peace as in war, no effort was spared to render the 
 tenure of the English precarious, not only in Acadia, but 
 elsewhere in America, by fomenting trouble between them 
 and the savages, and by preventing the people in the ceded 
 territory from rendering allegiance to the English crown. 
 
When we consider the state of feeling which existed in 
 France toward Protestants, who were regarded as beyond 
 the pale of mercy, and with whom it was not deemed neces- 
 sary to keep faith, we cease to wonder at the methods 
 employed by French missionaries, reared in a school of 
 intolerance, the intensity of which we can in this age hardly 
 realize. By a law enacted in the reign of Louis XIV., two 
 years after the date of the Treaty of Utrecht, a person not 
 accepting in his last illness the Roman sacrament, was 
 regarded as a relapsed person, whose body might be dragged 
 through the streets on a hurdle and " consigned as the refuse 
 of the earth to the filth of the common sewer," while his 
 property was subject to confiscation by the State. The 
 penalty for preaching Christianity unsanctioned by Rome 
 was death, and the children of Protestant marriages were 
 declared illemtimate. The men who were educated under 
 such laws, and who believed them to be divinely sanctioned, 
 could not be expected to hesitate in the performance of any 
 act calculated to rid the land of heretics, and they did not 
 do so. Their correspondence, in connection with that of 
 the French government, fully reveals the part they played 
 during the period of forty-two years, which constitutes the 
 history of Acadia from the date of its cession to the Eng- 
 lish in April, 1713, to the beginning of the deportation of 
 its inhabitants in August, 1755. 
 
 To understand the subject clearly, we should first take 
 note of the fact, that by the terms of the Treaty the Aca- 
 dians were to " have liberty to remove themselves within 
 one year to any other place, as they shall think fit, with 
 all their movable effects " ; but that those who remained 
 and became British subjects, were " to enjoy the free exer- 
 cise of their relio-ion according to the usage of the Church 
 of Rome," but subject to British law. If they did not 
 depart within the specified time, that is, before the close 
 of August, 1714, they forfeited their right under the 
 Treaty to depart. Were they prevented during this period 
 
8 
 
 from departing? It would appear that they took steps 
 immediately to ascertain what aid they would receive from 
 the French government if they removed to Isle Eoyale, 
 and that they were not satisfied with the terms offered ; 
 that the nature of the soil was such as to disincline them 
 to leave their old homes. This caused delay. Finally, 
 however, land was offered them on Prince Edward Island, 
 which was more acceptable, and they applied for leave to 
 remove there, to Lieutenant-Governor Vetch, who was in 
 command at Port Royal during the absence of Nicholson, 
 who was soon expected to return, and Vetch referred the 
 matter to his superior's decision. Nicholson returned some 
 weeks before the expiration of the year, and was met by 
 agents of the French Government, who asked, as it was 
 then too late in th^ season for the Acadians to establish 
 themselves in the new territory, to extend the time of their 
 removal a year longer, and to permit them to construct 
 vessels for the transportation of their effects, and to receive 
 the outfit they would require from France. Nicholson 
 properly referred this proposal, as it involved a question 
 of commercial privilege, to the queen, who died before 
 receiving it, and the matter failed to be acted upon. It 
 would appear that Nicholson, who was governor for four 
 years, as well as his subordinates, viewed with alarm the 
 entire abandonment of the country by the inhabitants, 
 and that they were not disposed to aid them at all in the 
 project ; nay, that they were inclined to throw obstacles in 
 the way of its accomplishment, as it would leave the coun- 
 try bare of producers, and render still more insecure their 
 position in the country, unsatisfactory enough at the best. 
 That they did not exhibit a more self-sacrificing spirit, 
 and without reg-ard to their own welfare did not aid the 
 emissaries of France in their efforts to get their credulous 
 dependents out of the country, so that no suspicion of non- 
 compliance with the exact spirit of the treaty on the part 
 of any British officer could possibly be entertained by a 
 
9 
 
 modern critic, is doubtless to be regretted ; yet, Avhen we 
 consider the wily, treacherous and pitiless foes against 
 whom the English were struggling, as well as the moral 
 code existing at the time, we may well hesitate to judge 
 them by the more finely adjusted standards of today. 
 
 The question of the removal of the Acadians by the 
 terms of the treaty to French territory being practically 
 settled, although some of them departed from time to time 
 and joined their fellow-countrymen at Isle Roy ale and 
 elsewhere, the question of their status under the English 
 o-overnment is to be considered. To all intents and pur- 
 poses, by not removing from the country within the period 
 specified in the treaty for removal, no matter what influ- 
 ences prevailed to prevent them from so doing, they be- 
 came the subjects of Great Britain and amenable to her 
 laws; indeed, everything shows that they so regarded 
 themselves, though they refused to take the regular oath 
 of allegiance, except with the reservation that they should 
 not be called upon to bear arms. We may regard them, 
 therefore, as British subjects, in the sense that they were 
 subject to her laws and entitled to her protection, and 
 were bound in good faith not to aid or abet her enemies. 
 
 It would seem from the testimony which we possess, 
 that they were a peaceable people, densely ignorant and 
 superstitious, as the hahitans of Canada are today, though 
 we may properly infer much more so, as the latter have 
 for a long time been more or less in contact with educa- 
 tional influences. They were precisely the kind of people 
 to make the best Roman subjects, and were so regarded 
 by their old rulers, who were bound to use them to the 
 extent of their power against those under whose sway they 
 had come. Their misfortune was in listening to the emis- 
 saries sent among them by their former masters, and refus- 
 ing to win the confidence of the government under which 
 they were living, by frankly taking the oath of allegiance 
 to it. 
 
10 
 
 As before said, although France and England were at 
 peace, efforts to render the position of the English insecure 
 were begun very soon after the cession of Acadia to them. 
 On July 10th, 1715, the King wrote to Ramesay and 
 Begon, that he heard with satisfaction of the work of the 
 missionaries among the savages, and that "as it is impor- 
 tant to preserve them in the interests of the King, his 
 Majesty desires that the Sieurs de Ramesay and Begon 
 should incite these missionaries to redouble their efforts 
 to that end, and to enquire if it may not be proper to 
 attract them b}^ new benefits and destroy in the English 
 all hope of drawing them to their interests." 
 
 On December 24, 1715, the French minister wrote to 
 Beauharnois from Versailles, " Since I have learned. Sir, 
 of the loss that you have made of Acadia, I think contin- 
 uall}^ of the means whereby this important post may be 
 recovered before the English are firmly established there." 
 The intrigues of the missionaries resulted in inflaming the 
 savages with hate of the heretic English, and on September 
 6th following, Vaudreuil had the satisfaction of writing to 
 the French minister, that "the Abnakis, the past year, 
 1715, have taken from the English more than twenty 
 fishing vessels," and that he had promised to build them a 
 church. He also said that one of his principal efforts had 
 been " to maintain peace with the savages and to hinder 
 them as much as possible from going to the English to 
 traffic." This could only be done by making them pres- 
 ents every year, and he hoped " that his majesty will be 
 willing to send this year to Canada thirty thousand livres 
 of presents for the savages, and to continue to send every 
 year those that it is customary to give them." He sug- 
 gested that " thirt}^ thousand weight of powder, sixty 
 thousand of lead and six hundred hunting guns " be sent. 
 " The latter are known to the savao-es who want no others 
 but those of Tulle." They use "from twenty to twenty- 
 five thousand weight of powder annually." In his report 
 
11 
 
 to the government the 14th of the following month he 
 remarked that " the Abnakis, Micmacs and Malecites, and 
 others in the missions of the Jesuit fathers, Rale and 
 Lovard, remain on the sea coast, but they declare that 
 upon the slightest rupture, they will be on the side of the 
 French," The correspondence of the period reveals un- 
 ceasing efforts on the part of the French to influence the 
 savages against the English, 
 
 On October 29th, 1720, Father Charlevoix sent a memoir 
 to the Duke of Orleans explaining the situation of affairs 
 which had l)een brought about between the savages and 
 the English. Several savage chiefs appeared before Vau- 
 dreuil and enquired if he would openly help them against 
 the English. "I will engage," said the wily Frenchman, 
 "the other savage nations to assist you." At these words 
 they replied, with a mocking laugh, " Know that we and 
 all the nations of this great continent whenever we wish 
 will unite to drive out all strangers, whoever they may be." 
 Vaudreuil, surprised, and realizing that they must be 
 appeased, exclaimed dramatically, " that rather than aban- 
 don them to the mercy of the English he would march 
 himself to their relief." Continuing, Charlevoix compla- 
 cently says, "Monsieur Vaudreuil affirms that he has a 
 trusted man among the savages of Norridgewock, who is 
 wholly devoted to him, and b}^ whose means, he will make 
 the others do all that he may wish. Those who know the 
 savages better are convinced that he should not trust to 
 this. Monsieur Begon, on the other hand, is of the 
 opinion that it is necessary that some rattle brain of a 
 savage should strike the English a blow that leads to war," 
 
 The efforts of the French to arouse the enmity of the 
 savages against them soon became known to the English. 
 Not onh" was the garrison which held Port Royal, the 
 gateway of Acadia, constantly menaced by the savages, 
 but the settlements in New England were scouro^ed by 
 them. The French supplied them with guns and ammuni- 
 
12 
 
 tion, and instructed them that the land was theirs, and 
 that they should drive out the English intruders. French 
 officers disguised as savages led them in their reprisals 
 upon the settlers. While Vaudeuil and his associates were 
 writing polite letters to the English authorities, they were 
 urging their emissaries to inflame the savages against them. 
 On March 13, 1721, letters from Vaudreuil and Begon, 
 addressed to Rale, the French governor's " trusted man " 
 at Norridgewock, having been captured by the English, 
 Governor Shute addressed the Lords of Trade as follows : 
 
 " My Lords : 
 
 "In my Letter of the loth December last to the Rt Honble 
 Board, I tooke the liberty to hint to your Lordships that I 
 had good reason to Suspect that Mons'r Vaudreuil, the 
 Governor of Canada did Underhand stir up my Neighbor- 
 ing Indians to Maletreat His Majesty's liege Subjects. 
 
 " The Inclosed Letters will give plain Demonstration that 
 my Suspicions were well Grounded. I have only sent your 
 Lordships well attested Copys, not daring to send the origi- 
 nals, and run the risque of the Sea without direct Orders 
 from home so to do. 
 
 " I shall take the liberty to remarke to Your Lordships, 
 that these Letters were found in Mons'r Rale's House, a 
 ffrench Jesuite who constantly resides among my Neigh- 
 boring Indians & is Useing his Utmost Indeavours to En- 
 
 o'ao-e them in a War ao-ainst the English 
 
 The Indians have lately killed some of our Cattle & threaten 
 our Eastern Settlements, So that I am Under some Appre- 
 hension that a War will break out this Summer (which I 
 Avill Indeavour if possible to prevent) Except some Meas- 
 ures be taken to oblige the ffrench Government at Canada 
 to Act Strictly up to the Stipulations agreed to betwixt the 
 Crowns of Great Brittain & France." 
 
 The following daj^ he addressed a forcible and manly 
 letter to Vaudreuil, informing him of the letters in his pos- 
 session, and appealing to him to desist from his treacherous 
 and cruel proceedings. He did not do this, however, and 
 the result was an Indian war, with all its attendant cruel- 
 
13 
 
 ties ; a war for which the emissaries of France, in the livery 
 of Rome, were wholly responsible. 
 
 While the French were thus laboring to keep alive the 
 fires of war between the savages and their English neigh- 
 bors, they were not idle in Acadia. They fully realized 
 the advantages which they possessed in having a people 
 occupying English territory who were bound to them by 
 ties of blood and sympathy. Every effort was made by 
 the priests who were sent among these "neutrals," as they 
 were called, to hold them to the interests of France, and to 
 prevent them from becoming anything more than nominal 
 subjects of Great Britain. 
 
 In 1715 Lieutenant-Governor Caulfield commanded in 
 Acadia. As the time for the departure of the inhabitants, 
 under the treaty, had expired, steps were taken to admin- 
 ister the oath of allegiance to those remaining, but without 
 success. The inhabitants of Mines and Beaubassin flatly 
 refused to take the oath, giving as an excuse that they " had 
 made engagement to return under the rule of the King of 
 France." At Port Royal, however, they offered to take an 
 oath to maintain allegiance to Great Britain while they 
 remained in the country, provided they should be permitted 
 to depart at any time without hindrance. 
 
 At this time Pere Gaulin was acting as missionary at 
 Port Royal. Through his hands passed the presents to the 
 savages, and by his advice the Acadians acted. He was 
 intensely inimical to the English, and ready to do anything 
 to cause them discomfort. He had, before the peace, which 
 resulted in the cession of Acadia to the English, gathered 
 a considerable body of men against them before Annapolis 
 Royal, to which he laid unsuccessful siege. He was a man 
 full of resources, and unscrupulous, if we may believe the 
 French governor of Louisbourg, who rendered him sub- 
 stantial aid on that occasion. Such a man was bound to 
 prevent the people, if possible, from becoming loyal sub- 
 jects to a nation against whom he was hostile to the core. 
 
14 
 
 He had taught the savages " to assert their native rights " 
 to the ceded territory, and he was equally ready to teach 
 the Acadian French to refuse to take the oath of allegiance 
 to Great Britain, which it was necessary that they should 
 take, if they expected to enjoy her confidence and protec- 
 tion. Five years after Lieutenant-Governor Caulfield's 
 attempt to make them take this oath. General Phillips made 
 another attempt, and we find Pere Gaulin acting on the 
 occasion as their spokesman. His majesty, he said, was 
 very good to interest himself in their affairs, but that the 
 proposal meant nothing less than a violation of their oath 
 before Governor Nicholson, and that they wished to remain 
 faithful to their word without changing anything, because 
 if they modified its terms, it would expose them to the 
 resentment and vengeance of the savages. This subterfuge, 
 for it was nothing less, was understood by the English, as 
 appears by the minutes of the Council, September 27th, 
 1720— 
 
 "That the French inhabitants do persist in refusing to 
 take the oath of allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain, 
 and look upon themselves as the indispensable liege sub- 
 jects of France, by the engagement they have laid them- 
 selves under, and from which their Priests tell them they 
 cannot be absolved. . . . That these inhabitants and 
 the Indians are entirely influenced and guided by the Gov- 
 ernment of Cape Breton, and the missionary Priests resid- 
 ing among them." 
 
 This condition of affairs caused the Lords Commissioners 
 for Trade and Plantations to address a memorial to the 
 King, in which they said that the Acadians, who have 
 remained in the province since the cession, "are entirely in 
 the French interest, and by their communication and inter- 
 marriao;es with the neiffhbourino- Indians, have stained them 
 to their party ; whereby they are enabled upon any occa- 
 sion to engage the said Indians in a war against your 
 Majesty's subjects — that the little trade derived in this 
 country at present is entirely in the hands of these French 
 
15 
 
 inhabitants — For which reason, as well as many others, it 
 is absolutely necessary for your Majesty's Service that 
 these French inhabitants should be removed." This was in 
 1721, and is the key-note of the movement, which resulted 
 in the deportation of this unhappy people more than thirty 
 years later. 
 
 It is plain that this deportation was no hasty affair, and 
 that it might have been averted at any time, had it not been 
 for the cruel policy of the missionaries, which prevented 
 the Acadians from taking the only step possible to avert it. 
 One of the most active of these in the earl}^ history of the 
 Acadians, was Pere Gaulin ; "that old, mischievous incen- 
 diary," as he was denominated by Lieutenant-Governor 
 Doucett. In one of Doucett's reports to the Lords of 
 Trade, he says that "a good deal of plunder" taken from 
 the English in 1722, was in his chapel, "when he was there 
 to say mass to the Indians." On another occasion, says 
 Mascarene, he received the ransom of English soldiers 
 captured by his savages, and it is recorded of him in mem- 
 oranda of the French Council, that he was "a brave man 
 and capable of organizing and even conducting " the savages 
 "on an expedition." In the same document it is recom- 
 mended that instead of " 300 livres " which he was receiv- 
 ing, he "might be granted 500 livres on the Staff." In 
 1727, Louis XV., having received an erroneous report that 
 Gaulin had advised the savages to make peace with the 
 English, informed St, Ovide of the report, and ordered 
 him to continue to "encourage hostilities." To this St. 
 Ovide replied that " so far from M. Gaulin and the other 
 missionaries having prevailed upon the Indians to do so, 
 that they had, on the contrary, incurred the displeasure of 
 the Eno'lish for havino; incited the Indians to continue the 
 war." Another of these missionaries was St. Poncy, who, 
 if we ma}^ believe the report of Pere Maillard to his supe- 
 rior, " adroitly intercepted " letters of the English Gover- 
 nor, which fact, he says, " has been reported to us by those 
 
16 
 
 who were charged with the convej'^ance of these letters." 
 Of Le Loutre, so much has ah^eady been written, that it is 
 unnecessar}^ to detail the career of this restless plotter of 
 mischief, as it is of others who were engaged in the same 
 business. A single instance of his cruelty we ma}^ be par- 
 doned for quoting. Says Knox, who was his contempo- 
 rary, " he left a most remarkable character behind him in 
 Nova Scotia for inhumanity, insomuch that a sentinel who 
 had been placed over him (and had formerlj^ the misfor- 
 tune, when in a regiment stationed in that country, of being 
 his prisoner, and was miraculously preserved from being 
 scalped alive, to which cruel fate he had been doomed by 
 this same Priest, who marked him with a knife round the 
 forehead and pole in order to strip off the entire scalp) 
 and, recollecting his face, unfixed his bayonet, with an 
 intent, as he midauntedly confessed, to put him to death, 
 had he not been with the greatest difficulty prevented from 
 executing what he called a just vengeance on him. The 
 soldier's resentment was so great, and he appearing before 
 the Commander-in-Chief so determined, that it was thought 
 necessary to remove him to England, and exchange him 
 into another corps." 
 
 These men continued their work incessantly during the 
 long peace which existed between France and England from 
 1713 to 1744, when the two nations again came into con- 
 flict. Mascarene, who has been greatly extolled for his 
 kind and wise government of Acadia, had been in command 
 for a number of years, and so continued through the war, 
 which terminated in 1748. It has been attempted to show 
 that Mascarene always regarded the Acadians as loyal and 
 obedient subjects of Great Britain. Such, however, was 
 not the case. Early in his experience with them he says, 
 "The French who, like any new conquered people, were 
 glad to flatter themselves with the hope of recovering what 
 they had lost, saw with a great deal of satisfaction our moat 
 walls every day tumbling down, our hospitals filling with 
 
17 
 
 sick soldiers, — and thought no doubt no less than to oblige 
 us to relinquish the fort and to fall under their national 
 government again. About this time they dispatch't almost 
 unknown to us the ' priest ' from Manis to Canada with an 
 account as may be supposed of all this." Later, he says, 
 after the garrison had sustained a loss, "The French after 
 this changed their countenance at once, and of humble and 
 in appearance obedient, turn'd haughty and imperious, and 
 threaten'd no less than to take us by assault and put every 
 one of us ^ to the edge of the sword.' " And to show how 
 he regarded the situation at the close of the war in 1748, 
 when he retired from his office, the following extracts are 
 made from his report : 
 
 "It has appeared very plain to all on this side, that if the 
 French when at Lewisbourg, had carried their point and 
 master'd this Province, the addition of strength they would 
 have acquired in gaining four or five thousand French In- 
 habitants able to carr}^ arms, join'd to the several Tribes of 
 Indians, who to a man are all at their Devotion, and a 
 Country able to supply them with Provisions, they would 
 in less than a year have overrun the Governments of New 
 England. Those from Canada have since the taking of 
 Lewisbourg, made two or three attempts in expectation of 
 ships and Troops from France, to carry on the same scheme 
 in which they have been disappointed. The cessation of 
 arms, and the Peace like to ensue will for the present put 
 an end to their projects, but as they are to have Lewisbourg 
 restored to them, a few years will put them in the same 
 Posture they were at the beginning of the War, and if an- 
 other occasion offers, they may renew their Projects, and 
 by the experience they have had from their former miscar- 
 Hages, they will take better measures to render them more 
 successful. . . . From whence it appears how neces- 
 sary it is to put this Province on a better Foot than it has 
 been or is at present. One of the greatest inconveniences 
 it labours under is in having a large number of Inhabitants, 
 who cannot be reckon'd to be attach'd to the British Inter- 
 est ; and though they have been kept from joining the Ene- 
 my in Arms, it cannot be depended upon but that they may 
 
18 
 
 do so at some other time. The difficulty of removing them 
 lias been represented in the Letter addressed to Governor 
 Shirley the 7th Dec'r 1745, and which I had the honour to 
 transmit to your Lordships, and to which I humbly refer. 
 To counterballance the Deadweight of these French Inhabit- 
 ants, a Number of British Famil^^s might be settled on the 
 Eastern Coast of this Peninsula." 
 
 Even the kind and benevolent Mascarene had considered 
 the question of deportation ten years before it was begun, 
 and when he had ended with them, had no confidence in 
 their fidelity, although he had been able to keep them from 
 open acts of disloyalty. He was evidently so well pleased 
 with his success in this regard, that, whenever possible, he 
 took occasion to report that the}^ were submissive and 
 peaceable. The correspondence of the period, French and 
 English, reveals without a shadow of doubt how the French 
 " Neutrals," so called, were regarded by both peoples, and 
 it is idle to ignore their opinion. Vaudreuil on November 
 10, 1720, wrote "that the French at Port Royal were well 
 disposed to throw off the yoke of the English," and we 
 have seen how Mascarene regarded them. 
 
 Says Secretary Sherriff in March, 1745, "We are in 
 Danger not only from Old France, but even from that our 
 Neighbouring Province, if our Inhabitants are not re- 
 moved." 
 
 Says Shirley May 10, 1746. "I am persuaded nothing 
 has hinder'd the Acadians from taking up Arms against his 
 Majesty's Garrison at Annapolis, but the Terror which the 
 frequent Visits of the arm'd Vessels and Succours sent from 
 this Place — struck 'em with." 
 
 Similar quotations might be almost indefinitely multi- 
 plied, but these are perhaps sufficient. The question is 
 pressed, as though it established the status of the loyalty 
 of the Acadians to Great Britain, whj^ did they not join 
 the French expeditions sent among them to expel the 
 English ? The answer is not far to seek ; Shirley in fact 
 
19 
 
 has answered it. They did not dare to. The French had 
 abandoned them once to the English, and they distrusted 
 their power to protect them, while they had a wholesome 
 respect for English push and tenacit3\ Of the feeling 
 among the conquered people against the English, Knox 
 gives us a glimpse. He says, " Though the better sort of 
 them generally behaved with tolerable decency, yet the 
 poorer sort — being employed as servants and workmen — 
 took frequent occasions (which, however, never passed 
 unpunished) of being impertinent in displaying the fruits 
 of the good education they had received, for, in driving a 
 team of oxen, if an Officer or other British subject passed 
 them on the street or road, they instantly called out to 
 their cattle, by names of Luther, Calvin, Cronmer (mean- 
 ing Cranmer) &c., and then laid most unmercifully on the 
 poor beasts with their whips or clubs, as if they had in 
 reality got those eminent men under their hands." 
 
 In 1748 the war between France and England, which 
 had lasted for four years, came to a close, and a treaty 
 was signed at Aix-la-Chapelle, by which Louisbourg and 
 other territory captured by the English in the war were 
 restored to France. This was a grave mistake on the 
 part of England, and caused much irritation in New Eng- 
 land, whose frontier settlements had grievously suffered 
 from the savao-es, who had been instigated to make war 
 upon them by French emissaries ; indeed, the people of 
 New England never forgave Enoiand for restoring to their 
 inveterate enemy the strongly fortified city, considered 
 almost impregnable, which had been forced to yield to the 
 valor of their troops. 
 
 Acadia remained, as it had for thirty-six years, a province 
 of Great Britain, but its boundaries were still sufficiently 
 undefined to give rise to conflicting claims hy both English 
 and French. To offset the power of her rival, the seat of 
 whose power was Louisbourg, England founded Halifax 
 and planted there, in the summer of 1749, a colony of 
 
20 
 
 about three thousand persons, well equipped in all that 
 was necessary for the establishment of a stable govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Governor Cornwallis, who had succeeded Mascarene, de- 
 termined to exact from the Acadians the oath of allegiance 
 which they had so long refused to take, and he immedi- 
 ately issued a proclamation commanding the people to 
 appear within a given time and take the oath. This they 
 refused to do, and declared that rather than take it they 
 would leave the countrj^ This reply greatly irritated 
 Cornwallis, and he dismissed them with harsh words. 
 From this time the secret hostility which had always 
 existed between the English on the one hand and the 
 Acadians and savages on the other, continued to increase, 
 and frequently displayed itself in acts of violence. The 
 Abbe Le Loutre, who has already been mentioned, proved 
 to be a terrible foe to the English, and fomented trouble 
 to the extent of his ability. 
 
 In 1752 Cornwallis was succeeded by General Hopson, 
 who evidently exerted himself to establish peace among 
 the discordant elements by which he was surrounded. 
 The liberal policy of Hopson had its effect, and some of 
 the Acadians who had left the country petitioned to be 
 allowed to return, but stated in their petition that they 
 could not take the oath of alleo-iance, alleo-ing the old 
 excuse that their refusal to do so was caused by fear of the 
 savages. Just how far this excuse was really true is 
 questionable ; it certainly served its purpose for a time. 
 
 Unfortunately, perhaps, for the Acadians, Hopson's 
 mild rule came to an end in 1753, and Lawrence, a man of 
 a different type, succeeded to the government. Lawi"ence 
 was an active, energetic man, a good soldier, and one who 
 believed in obedience to authority. Alluding, just after 
 his assumption of office, to the status before the courts of 
 the Acadians, he says : "The French emissaries still con- 
 tinue to perplex them with difficulties about their taking 
 
21 
 
 the oath of allegiance." He was determined, however, to 
 bring the unsatisfactory relations which had so long existed 
 between them and the government to an end. He was 
 satisfied that the onl}^ way for England ever to hold her 
 possessions securely was to colonize the country with her 
 own people, and to make the French inhabitants take the 
 oath of allegiance or displace them. He was a soldier, 
 and fully realized the danger of sending these people to 
 swell the ranks of the enemj^ On August 1st, 1754, he 
 wrote the Lords of Trade, setting forth the condition of 
 affairs, and in this letter, speaking of the Acadians, de- 
 clares it as his opinion, " that it would be much better, if 
 they refuse the oath, that they were away." Can we 
 wonder at this opinion ? For more than forty years they 
 had baffled the attempts of the English governors to make 
 of them loyal subjects. The situation was one full of 
 perplexities. War was likely to break out at any time 
 between France and England, and here was a rapidly 
 increasing population, which even if it were not an active 
 ally of the enemy, would at least be, as Mascarene de- 
 clared it to be, "a dead weight " to the government. At a 
 council held at Halifax, July 3rd, 1755, the final test of 
 loj^alty was placed before the deputies who represented the 
 Acadians. They were asked to show the proof of their 
 fidelity to the government, which they had affirmed, 
 by taking the oath of allegiance. This they declined 
 to do. They were informed that for "Six Years past 
 the same thing had been often proposed to them, 
 and had been as often evaded under various frivol- 
 ous pretences, that they had often l)een informed 
 that some time or other it would be required of 
 them and must be done, and that the Council did not 
 doubt that they knew the Sentiments of the Inhabitants in 
 general, and had fully considered and determined this 
 point with regard to themselves before now, as they had 
 already been indulged with six Years to form a Resolution 
 
22 
 
 thereon." Their request to return home and consult theii 
 constituents further on the subject was refused, and they 
 were told that they must now finally decide whether they 
 would or would not take the oath. They again refused, 
 and were allowed until the next morning to form a final 
 resolution. On the next morning they appeared before 
 the Council, and upon their refusal to take the oath, were 
 informed that they were no longer British subjects, and 
 would be treated as subjects of France. Orders were 
 given to direct the Acadians to send new deputies in their 
 behalf with "regard to Taking the Oath, and that none of 
 them should for the future be admitted to Take it after 
 having once refused to." The deputies who had already 
 refused to take the oath here relented and offered to take 
 it, but were refused the privilege. In spite of this, on the 
 25th of Jul}^ the new deputies appeared before the Council 
 at Halifax, bringing the final answer of the inhabitants, 
 that they refused to take the oath of allegiance, though 
 they declared their fidelity to Great Britain. This final 
 refusal decided their fate, and La^A^-ence, on the 11th of 
 August, wrote to the other governors in America, detailing 
 what he had done and proposed to do. In this letter he 
 states that they had unanimously refused to take the oath, 
 and he asks " if they wou'd presume to do this when there 
 is a large Fleet of Ships of War in the Harbour and a con- 
 siderable land force in the Province, what might not we 
 expect from them when the approaching Winter deprives 
 us of the former, and when the troops which are only 
 hired from New England occasionally, and for a small time, 
 have returned home ? * * * As their numbers amount 
 to near Seven thousand Persons, the driving them off with 
 leave to go whither they pleased, wou'd have doubtless 
 strengthened Canada with so Considerable a Number of 
 Inhabitants, and as they have no cleared land to give them 
 at present, such as were able to bear Arms must have been 
 immediatel}^ employed in annoying this and the Neighbour- 
 
23 
 
 ing Colonies. To prevent such an inconvenience it was 
 judged as necessary, and the only practicable measure to 
 divide them among the Colonies, where they may be of 
 some use as most of them are healthy and strong People." 
 This was the plan that was carried out. The governors of 
 the Colonies, however, for the most part were not pleased 
 with this arrangement, and refused to provide for their 
 residence among them. This, of course, caused much suf- 
 fering among them, and many of them wandered about, 
 jfinding no settled place of abode. Many finally found 
 their way back to their French kinsmen. 
 
 This dispersion of the Acadians has been characterized 
 as an act of cruelty surpassing in atrocity anything ever 
 done by the French, not excepting the Massacre of St. 
 Bartholomew, or the wholesale burnings of Protestants. 
 This is, of course, exaggeration. That it was an act of 
 cruelty is admitted. The question is, was it necessary? 
 The English were in a precarious position, face to face 
 with a treacherous enemy, French and savage, with a sub- 
 ject population hostile to them at heart, and liable at any 
 time from inactive lookers-on to become active enemies. 
 The situation described cannot be questioned. It is possi- 
 ble that if they had not sent away the Acadians, they 
 might have finally completed the conquest of the country, 
 but this we have no right to affirm. It is certain that 
 many of the wisest and most patriotic among them re- 
 garded the removal of the Acadians and the colonization 
 of the country left vacant by them, as a necessity. It has 
 even been asked if it would not have been better for Eng- 
 land and the English race if the scheme of deportation had 
 been extended. 
 
 The Acadians have been depicted by some writers as 
 having been a people quite above the common passions of 
 mankind; living "an idjdlic life" of simplicity, purity 
 and freedom from guile ; loving and lovable. The truth 
 is, that we shall find their counterpart in the French 
 
24 
 
 habitans of today. In Vol. 284 of Nova Scotia Docu- 
 ments, under the title, " Observations on the Progress of 
 Agriculture in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, with 
 notices of Acadian manners and customs, in a project of 
 Moses de la Dernier, Esq.," they are thus described : 
 
 "The former inhabitants, the Acadians who were settled 
 before us on the different rivers which empty in the Bay 
 of Fundy, had many difficulties to encounter — being 
 ignorant of the natin-e and fertility of these valuable 
 Marshes — but so soon as they acquired the knowledge 
 of their great production of all sorts of Grain, and the 
 facility of Obtaining Great Crops with little Labour, They 
 gave up the cultivation of the upland to that degree as to 
 make no use of their manure, and also chose to remove 
 their barns and Hovels, rather than cart it away. They 
 were so ignorant of the true principles of Husbandry that 
 in the course of a century and a half the}^ neither made 
 cheese nor butter that was merchantable, and not having 
 any knowledge of trade and commerce and no emulation 
 or animation, but full of Bigotry and superstition, they 
 disdained to avail themselves of Instructions which they 
 might have had from Strangers, who settled from time to 
 time among them — They did not labour more than half 
 their time, the other half being chiefly taken up by their 
 holidaj^s." 
 
 This writer was much nearer them in point of time 
 than we are ; but that the}^ are fairly represented by 
 the habitans of today is declared by Joseph Guillaume 
 Barthe, membre de ITnstitut Canadien, in his remarkable 
 book, "Le Canada Reconquis par la France." "In spite," 
 he proudly says, "of two centuries of foreign domination 
 and unheard of efforts put forth by the new possessors to 
 assimilate the inhabitants of the conquered country, the 
 French of Canada always preserve the same language of 
 their fathers, the same religion, the same customs, the 
 same kind of life." And he asks, "What more does one 
 
25 
 
 want for the resemblance? " Here we have the key to the 
 whole matter. From the beginning they have been taught 
 by their priests to preserve their habits and customs, their 
 traditions and folk-lore, and, above all, their language and 
 fealty to France and to Eome. They have had constantly 
 kept before their eyes the picture of a new epoch, with 
 France the holy son of Eome crowned with the laurel of 
 victory, and dispensing to them with a lavish hand the 
 treasures of which they have been despoiled by the heretic 
 usurper, who lies prone under the iron heel of the im- 
 perious victor. This vision is as bright today as it was 
 to the poor Acadians in the time of Gaulin and St. Poncy 
 and Le Loutre. The Ancien Regime is to be again 
 restored, and New France is to rule not only the domain 
 of which England has despoiled her, but New England as 
 well, and who knows how far beyond her bounds ? This 
 dream seems almost too wild for sane men to entertain, 
 but it is entertained as a matter of faith ; indeed, it has 
 become a dogma and is tenaciously adhered to even by 
 men regarded as wise. 
 
 Some time ago the papers of New Orleans gave a report 
 of a lecture by a prominent lawyer of that city, delivered 
 to a French association. In this lecture the bald declara- 
 tion was made that the French people were to be restored 
 to their ancient rights to this continent. The fecundity of 
 the French people was dwelt upon, and attention was 
 drawn to the increasing sterility of the Anglo-Saxons, 
 which, it was stated, would in time give the French a 
 numerical superiority. The enthusiastic speaker urged 
 his hearers to maintain their ancient traditions, their 
 habits and customs, and, above all, their language and 
 religion. They were advised to keep their children 
 out of the English schools, and to maintain schools of 
 their own everywhere. Money, he said, was being lib- 
 erally supplied by their kinsmen in France to maintain 
 such schools, in which loyalty to French ideas must be 
 
26 
 
 taught. They were admonished to mamtain ever bright 
 the fires of loyalty to France. He told them that in 
 New England the good work of French colonization was 
 spreading, and that in Louisiana the promise of future 
 French domination was good. He advised his hearers not 
 to permit their children to contract marriages with the 
 English, but to keep themselves a separate people in every 
 respect and to use the English language only when obliged 
 to use it. These sentiments are only too common in 
 Canada. At a recent meeting of the Royal Society of 
 Canada at Montreal were several members of French ex- 
 traction, but at the same time English subjects, as their 
 ancestors for several generations had been. To the sur- 
 prise of some of the American delegates, their papers were 
 in the French language, although the audience was mostly 
 English. The president, who was English, at the close of 
 one of these papers, quietly but pleasantly remarked that 
 the paper was interesting, but would have been more so if 
 it had been in English. The rebuke was not sufficiently 
 pointed, as many doubtless felt. Here were men who had 
 been born and bred under the free and beneficent rule of 
 England. To her broad and liberal institutions they owed 
 a debt of gratitude which they could never repay, and yet 
 they deliberately emphasized the fact that they were still 
 French, and prided themselves in being so. We cannot 
 understand this intense loyalty to a foreign power until we 
 find its source in the religious teaching of these people. 
 From the day of England's acquisition of the country they 
 have been taught that her rule was to be temporary, and 
 that Providence was at last to restore to France her 
 ancient dominions. Rome, whom Cardinal Gibbons him- 
 self declares is ruled by "a bureau of administrators," and 
 whom Victor Charbonel, in his late letter to the Pope 
 relinquishing his clerical office, so fittingly denominates 
 "an ecclesiastical organization, which uses religion for 
 skillful administration, makes it a domineering power, a 
 
27 
 
 means of social and intellectual oppression, a system of 
 intolerance," has sedulously fostered this wild dream, in 
 order to herself hold the people in subjection to her 
 dictates. Bartlie, whose book, "Canada Reconquered by 
 France," has alread}^ been quoted, after rejoicing in the 
 fact that the French under British rule have never changed, 
 thus effervesces : " New Hebrews by the rivers of Babylon, 
 they ardently aspire to return to that family from which 
 they have been grievously separated by the exigencies of 
 inexorable politics. Their only way of salvation in this 
 terrible alternative, at least for the moment, is to solicit 
 and obtain the patronage of the ancient metropolis, Avhich, 
 by diverting to them a part of its superfluous population, 
 will enable them in a measure to counterbalance and live 
 on the same footing of equality with the ever increasing 
 English emigration, thus aiding them in repressing the 
 American invasion. Later, Eternal Providence, who 
 watches over the progress and liberty of all people or- 
 phaned or disinherited, and who when they have attained 
 their majority, or the fullness of their strength, cries in 
 their ears these all powerful words, 'arise and walk, be- 
 cause thou hast no more need of tutelage, and because 
 thou also hast the right of sitting at the common feast,' 
 later, we say, Eternal Providence will achieve for Canada 
 complete emancipation." His closing words are equally 
 remarkable, and we may add one more brief quotation. 
 " Behold," he cries, " O France, our worth ! Behold what 
 we have done to remain faithful. For thee, it now is, to 
 decide if we shall be punished for this fidelity by a com- 
 plete abandonment ; if we shall be disowned by thee, be- 
 cause Destiny has torn us from thy arms ; if we shall be 
 forgotten because misfortune has in some small deoree 
 altered our resemblance. Then wouldst thou be less o-en- 
 erous than Joseph sold by his brethren, who recognized 
 them in the day of his prosperity, and surely it is not we 
 who have sold thee." Then follow certain "Pieces Justifi- 
 
28 
 
 catives," or Proofs, showing what steps have been already 
 taken to reconnect the bonds of sympathy with France. 
 It is difficult for an American or an Englishman to believe 
 that the author of this book is serious, yet he has been 
 accepted by Frenchmen in Canada and France as voicing 
 the advanced sentiments of Frenchmen on both continents ; 
 indeed, as prophetic of the future restoration to power of 
 New France, more resplendent in glory than ever. As 
 has been said, it is difficult for one in whose veins cir- 
 culates the temperate blood of the Anglo-Saxon to take 
 these utterances as serious ; but this difficulty vanishes 
 when we consider the character of some of the publications 
 which are circulated among the French operatives in our 
 New England factory towns and their kinsmen over the 
 border. 
 
 Take but one of these publications of the better sort, 
 The Bethelem^ a monthly illustrated magazine, published 
 in several languages and devoted to the interests of St. 
 Anthony, who is its patron. In its columns are advertised 
 certain "holy industries," some of which are the sale of 
 rosaries, chaplets, crosier beads and "memorial lists of the 
 poor souls in Purgatory," all of which are "enriched" with 
 various indulgences. 
 
 The department devoted to correspondents is filled with 
 responses from all parts of the Union, which are painful 
 to read, as they indicate that the minds of the writers are 
 as clouded with superstition as if they belonged to the 
 middle ages instead of the Nineteenth Century.^ This is 
 only alluded to in order to refresh our memories respect- 
 ing the kind of teaching which the Acadians received, and 
 as a reminder of what their descendants a century and a half 
 later are receiving, and it is unwise for a modern author 
 
 1 Thus one man sends a gift because through the Saint's help he has been enabled 
 to purchase a piece of property at a price desired, and another because he has sold 
 his house at a good price. A woman contributes for the benefit of the Souls in 
 Purgatory because the Saint has procured work for her husband and son, and 
 others for various services rendered by the Saint. 
 
29 
 
 to contend that the Acadians, ignorant and superstitious, 
 and practised upon by such inventions as have been men- 
 tioned, were independent of their teachers, and followed 
 untrammelled the dictates of their own judgments in 
 refusing to become loyal English citizens. 
 
 When we consider the case of these poor people, of 
 families forcibly removed from their homes, often sepa- 
 rated, and compelled to wander in exile, suffering want, 
 and always unwelcome guests, we may well shed tears of 
 sympathy for them ; and knowing their character, how 
 simple and ignorant and stubborn they were, how firm 
 their belief in the value of merit resulting from obedience 
 to the teachings of their missionaries, we need not wonder 
 that they went blindly on, through physical inconvenience 
 and suffering, to attain a reward commensurate therewith ; 
 and this, it may be reasonably affirmed, and not English 
 trickery and cruelty, as has been asserted, caused the 
 deportation of the Acadians. 
 

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