IMAGE EVALUATION
TESV TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

I.I

\\M III 2.5

IM 12.2

.40

2.0

1.25 1.4

1.6

^ 6" —

►

■7]

'c^l

cm ^

Photographic

Sciences
Corporation

Ll>^

%''

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. M580

(716) 872-4503

CIHM/ICMH

Microfiche

Series.

CIHM/ICMH
Collection de
microfiches.

-d

Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques

1980

Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques

The Institute has attempted to obtain the best
original copy available for filming. Features of this
copy which may be bibliographically unique,
which may alter any of the images in the
reproduction, or which may significantly change
the usual method of filming, are checked below.

L'Instltut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire
qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details
de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du
point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier
une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une
modification dans la mdthode normale de filmage
sont indiqu^s ci-dessous.

□ Coloured covers/
Couverture de couleur

□ Covers damaged/
Couverture endommag^e

□ Covers restored and/or laminated/
Couverture restaur6e et/ou pellicul6e

□ Cover title missing/
Le titre de couverture manque

D
D
D
D
D

Coloured maps/

Cartes gdographiques en couleur

Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/
Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire)

Coloured plates and/or illustrations/
Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur

Bound with other material/
Reli6 avec d'autres documents

Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion
along interior margin/

La reliure serr6e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la
distortion le long de la marge intdrieure

Blank leaves added during restoration may
appear within the text. Whenever possible, these
have been omitted from filming/
II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout6es
lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte,
mais, lorsque cela dtait possible, ces pages n'ont
pas 6t6 fitm^es.

□ Coloured pages/
Pages de couleur

□ Pagas damaged/
Pages endommagdes

I — I Pages restored and/or laminated/

Pages restaur6es et/ou pelliculdes

Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/
Pages ddcolordes, tachetdes ou piqu^es

□Pages detached/
Pages d6tach6es

r~lf Showthrough/
I ^1 Transparence

□ Quality of print varies/
Quality in6gale de I'impression

□ Includes supplementary material/
Comprend du materiel supplementaire

□ Only edition available/
Seule 6<:iition disponible

Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata
slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to
ensure the best possible image/
Les pages totalement ou partiellement
obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure,
etc., ont 6t6 film6es d nouveau de fapon d
obtenir la meilleure image possible.

Additional comments:/
Commentaires suppl6meni.airef.:

10X

This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/

Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indiqu6 ci-dessous.

14X 18X 22X

26X

30X

12X

16X

20X

24X

28X

32X

The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks
to the generosity of:

Library of the Public
Archives of Canada

L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la
g6n6rosit6 de:

La bibliothdque des Archives
publiques du Canada

The images appearing here are the best quality
possible considering the condition and legibility
of the original copy and in keeping with the
filming contract specifications.

Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed
beginning with the front cover and ending on
the last page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, or the back cover whnn appropriate. All
other original copies are filmed beginning on the
first page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, and ending on the Inst page with a printed
or illustrated impression

The last recorded frame on each microfiche
shall contain the symbol — »• (meaning "CON-
TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"),
whichever applies.

Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at
different reduction ratios. Those too large to be
entirely included in one exposure are filmed
beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to
right and top to bottom, as many frames as
required. The following diagrams illustrate the
method:

Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le
plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et
de la nettetd de l'exemplaire film6, et en
conformity avec les conditions du contrat de
filmage.

Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en
papier est imprimde sent film6s en commenpant
par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la
dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second
plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires
originaux sont film^s en commen^ant par la
premidre page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par
la dernidre page qui comporte une telle
empreinte.

Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la
dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le
cas: le symbols — ♦►signifie "A SUIVRE ", le
symbole V signifie "FIN".

Les cartes, pianches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre
filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents.
Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre
reproduit en un seui clichd, il est filmd d partir
de I'angle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite,
et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre
d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants
illustrent la mdthode.

THE

HISTORY OF ACADIA,

FROM

ITS FIRST DISCOVEEY

*fQ

ITS SURRENDER TO ENGLAND

BY THE

TREATY OF PARIS.

iJ^IMIES TLJ^lSTlSTJiJ^.

ST. JOHN, K B. :
PRINTED BY J. & A. McMlLLAN.
■ 1879.

/— ' ^

^5"

Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canad.i, in tlie year 1875), by

JAMKS II ANN AY,
In the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.

T»V

PREFACE.

This Book is the result of a resolve formed some fifteen
years ago to write a History of Acadia during the period of
its occupation by the French, and up to the time when it was
finally surrendered to England by the Treaty of Paris. No
doubt I entered upon the undertaking with but a slight con-
ception of the labor it would involve ; but that, perhaps, was
a fortunate circumstance, for otherwise I might have been
deterred by the magnitude of the task. Owing to the lack of
well equipped libraries in New Brunswick, I had to collect,
at great labor and nmch expense, all the books and publica-
tions bearing on the early history of New England and
Acadia; and having collected them, I had the satisfaction of
discovering that very few of them were of the slightest value
as works of authority. The only use of most of them is to
put the inquirer on his guard and to stimulate him to more
exhaustive researches into the annals of the period of which
he proposes to write.

After years spent in collecting books, in preliminary
inquiries, in making myself familiar with minute matters of
detail, which, perhaps, belong rather to the antiquarian than
the historian, and after having to lay aside my work many
times, often for months together, in co£...4uence of the

PREFACE.

demands of a most exacting and laborious profession, this
history was to have been published in the Summer of 1877. I
was at Oak Point, on the St. John River, whither I had gone
to obtain quiet and complete the last chapters of this volume,
when one pleasant morning in June a little boy came running
across the fields with the tidings that the city of St. John had
been burnt down the previous day. Before night I reached
the city, and di^•covered the worst, that my book, then half
printed, my library, and the whole of the manuscript in the
printing office had been destroyed in the great conflagration,
which carried ruin to so many homes. With the exception of
about one hundred and eighty pages, of which I had a printed
copy, the whole work of writing the history of Acadia had to
be done over again. This has been accomplished, and now
the result is before the reader.

In this volume I have not adopted the plan which is usual
in historical works of original research, of placing the names
of the authorities in notes on each page. In cases where it
seemed necessary to do so, I have rather chosen to name the
auth rity in the text, as the more simple and convenient
method. For the discoveries of Charaplain and the settlement
at Port Royal, the authorities I have mainly relied on are,
Champlain's work, Lescarbot, and the first volume of the
Jesuit Relations. For the subsequent events, up to the capture
of Port Royal by the English in 1654, the work of Denys,
Governor Winthrop's Diary^, and a vast number of public
documents in the Aolume of the E. and F. Commissioners,
Hazard's and Hutchinson's collections and similar works
have been consulted. After the surrender of Acadia to
France in 1670, the memoirs and despatches obtained by the

PREFACE.

several Provincial Governments from the archives of Paris,
furnish abundance of historical material down to the taking
of Port Royal in 1710. After that period, the public docu-
ments of Nova Scotia, some of which have been reprinted by
the Government of that Province, serve as the basis of my
story.

My aim has been to trace every statement to its original
source, and to accept no fact from a printed book at second
hand where it was possible to avoid doing so. Champlain,
Lescarbot, Denys, Winthrop, and one or two other books, I
consider nearly of equal authority with documentary evidence,
because these authors relate facts which happened in their
own time, and which mainly came under their own personal
observation. Winthrop, especially, is of great value, and
without his aid it would have been impossible to give an
accurate statement of the singular story of La Tour.

The first and principal object I have kept in view has been
to tell the simple truth, and for the sake of this I have been
willing to sacrifice mere picturesque effect and all attempts at
fine writing. Indeed, the necessarily annalistic character of
much of the narrative would prove an effectual barrier against
anything more ambitious, and it w ould be ridiculous to clothe
the petty struggles of Acadian history in grandiloquent lan-
guage. Up to the capture of Port Royal in 1710, 1 have been
very full in my treatment of events in Acadia, but from that
date to the end of the period of which the volume treats, I
have disregarded everything relative to the mere English
Colony of Nova Scotia, which did not properl} fall within the
scope of my narrative. I have given a good deal of space to
the question of the expulsion of the Acadians, and I think

PREFACE.

that very few po()})le, who follow the .story to the end, will be
prepared to say that it wa.s not a necosisury measure of self-
preservation on the part of the English authorities in Nova
Scotia.

When I had made some progress in my researches, the
manuscripts of the late Profe.ssor Kobb, of the University of
New Brunswick, who had devoted a good deal of attention to
Acadian history, were placed in my hand.s. Dr. Robb had
made copious extracts from the manuscripts in the library of
Quebiv', and I derived much assistance from the result of his
labors, i am indebted to Mr. E. Jack of Fredericton for
much valuable aid, and to Mr. I. Allen Jack of St. John for
manuscripti? and maps. Mr. Thomas B. Aikcns of Halifax is
also entitled to my thanks for assistance courteously and
promptly rendered on one occasion. But my thanks are
especially due to Miss E. Wagstaff of St. John, whose aid in
making transk.tions of difficult French manuscripts has been
invaluable. This lady during the great St. John fire let her
own property burn while she saved two of the precious volumes
of manuscripts copied from the archives of Paris.

I cannot close this Preface without paying my tribute of
respect to the labors of the late Beamish Murdoch, my prede-
cessor in this field, whose history of Nova Scotia is a wonderful
monument of industry and research, which will serve as a
guide to all future historians to the sources of the history of
Acadia. Mr. Murdoch only essayed " the task of collecting
and reducing into annals, facts of interest" with reference to
the history of his native Province ; had he done more, this
book would never have been written. But having paused at
that point, I felt tha'v the field was free for me to attempt to

rUKl'-ACK.

Vii

w(ave into a cork^istint murutivo tlic facts wliidi he had
trout((l in a more ihiguwutavy way. It will he for the reader
U> si.y with what inea.sure of success this has been ucconi-
plislicd.

St. John, N. B., March, 1879.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

CHAPTKK J

KARLY VOYAGES TO TlIK NOUTIIEIJN I'ARTS OF AMKKIC'A.

The 4th of March, 1493, wa.s a day of glatl tidings for
Enrojx^ and for mankind. Yot it was not the witness of
any great trinniph on the Held of arn)s; nor the birth day
of any man of ilhistrious name; nor the date of any royal
pageant, lint on that (hiy a litth; bark, leaky, frail, and
shattered by the tempest, songht shelter in the ])ort of Lis-
bon ; no anxions merchant awaited her arrival ; no salnti;
thnndered her a welcome, but she brought to the shores of
Europe " the richest freight that ever lay u|)on the bosom
of the deep — the tidings of a new world." J^'or ages before,
connucrce had languishetl within the narrow comj)ass of the
IMcditerranean Sea, and tlu> enterprise of man had been
restrained by the stormy Atlantic, now the highway of
nations, but which was l)elieved by the men of those days
to be a limitless ocean. It took a succession of the boldest
Portuguese navigators upwards of seventy years to reach
that stormy Cape which marks the southern limit of the
c'intinent of Africa, and no man but Columbus had dreamed
oi passing over that vast waste of water which rolled in
untamed majesty to the west.

The discovery of America dispelled in a moment the

superstitious fears which had enslaved the minds of men

for so many centuries, and swept away, so lar as geography

was concerned, the nnich vaunted wisdom of antiquity.
A

iir

IIJSTOKY OF ACADIA.

Here was ;i field fur the ('iiterpri.si' of nuiii such as had
uuver hofore been opeiicd up, and Avhich modern discovery
has niado it iui])ossihle to ])arallel in these (hiys. Kuroix!
was in a '/^xvnt f'erniont o\'er the event, which disclosed new
visions of wealth and power to the enterprisinj:; and hohl.
I'iVery needy adventurer saw in it a means of bettering liis
fortune, auvl every monai'ch recognized in it an easy mode
of extendinj:; his dominions. The goklen hu'e stinudated
national as well as individual cupidity, and thousands were
ready to brave the dangers of that s:imo stormy Atlantic
which they h:ul considered (^olumbus ;i madman for at-
tempting to pass. The thirst for gold was as keen in the
fifteentli century as it is to-day. Amongst those who tunu^d
their eyes towards the new continent was Jlenry VII. of
England, a monarch who combined in a surprising degree,
caution, with a spirit of enterprise, and avarice with ambi-
tion, lie had only been prevented l»y a narrow chance
from becoming the patron of Columbus in his great discov-
ery, and had this prudent P^nglish King been the lirst to
obtain i)ossession of the rich tropical portions of the western
continent, the hi^'tory of the British Colonies of America,
and probably of the mother country also, would have been
different. INIore colonial gold might have flowed into the
coffers of England, but a colony planted 'x'ueatli the equa-
tor would have had little in common, either in mental or
])hysical characteristics, Avith that hardy race of men which
seized w'ith iron hand the rugged shores of New England.
At the close of the fifteenth century the position of Eng-
land as a maritime power was very different from that
which she occupied a hundred years later. Her war ships
were few; th) first of that long line of illustrious admirals,
■who have borne her flag in triumph on every sea, had not
then been born ; and he would have been a bold man who

HISTORY OF ACADIA

would then have venturoii to predict that England would
hecome the first nuiritimo nation in the world, without a
rival in commercial enterprit^c or naval power, unloss she
found one among the vigorous (iolonies she planted with
her own hand. In consequence of the lack of exjiericnced
navigators of English birth, Henry VII. was obliged to
accept the services of foreigners to carry out his plans of
discovery.

In 1495 there was residing in Bristol a native of Venice
named John Cabot, who in his youth had been a pilot, but
who subsequently had embarked in mercantile pursuits.
No part of the world was at that period more famous for the
skill of its navigators than the Italian Peninsula, and Venice,
fron: its favorable situation in the Mediterranean, and its
large commerce, was, above all others, the place from which a
bold and skilful mariner might be expected to come. Cabot
had caught the enthusiasm which the discovery of America
had wrought upon the minds of men, and embraced the
idea that by sailing to the north-west a passage to India
might be found. He found in the English monarch a wil-
ling and eager patron, and on the 5th March, 1495, received
from the King a royal commission granting to him and his
sons Sebastian, Loui.i and Santius, full authority to «iil to
all countries and seas of the east, Avest and north, under the
flag of England, for the discovery of the " isles, regions
and provinces of the heatlien and infidels," with power to
set up the banner of England in the newly discovered
countries, and to s.ubdue and possess them as lieutenants of
ths King. Cabot and his sons Avere to enjoy the privileges
of the excIusiA'c trade, but one-fifth of the profit Avas to go
to the King.

In the Spring of 1497 Cabot set sail in a ship named
the MatthcAV, provided by the King, and essayed for the

4 HISTORY OF ACAr)lA.

Hrst time tlio passaj^c; of the North Atlantic. He was ac-
(iompauicd by liis son Sebastian, and in company with their
ship, sailed three or fonr sniall vess(!ls fitted out by the
merchants of Bristol, and laden with goods for the purpose
of tradinjj; with the natives. On the 24th of June they dis-
covered the main Itiiid ol' America, probably the coast of
Labrador in the vicinity <»f the Straits of lielleisle, and on
the same day they saw an if^land lyinj;- oj)posite to the main-
land. To the land first discovered Cabot gave the njime of
Prima Vista, while the island received the name of St.
John, probably from the circumstance of the day of its dis-
covery being St. John's day. There are good grounds for
believing that this island of Cabot's discovery was New-
foundland, although, unfortunately, the meagre record of
the voyage which has survived, is insufficient to determine
the matter with absolute certainty. The inhabitants of this
new hind were clad in the skins of wild animals, and armed
Avith bows and arrows, spears, darts, slings and wooden
clubs. The country was sterile and uncultivated, produc-
ing no fruit. White bears, and stngs of an usuisual height
and size, were numerous. The waters around it abounded
in fish, especially a kind called by the natives baccalaos,
which, (luring the centuries which have passed since then,
has been the means of bringing vast fleets from Europe to
gather the rich harvest of this now famous sea.* Salmon
were also found in great plenty in the rivers of the new
laud, and seals were abundant along its shores. It Iiad,
likewise, so the chronicle informs us, hawks which were
black like ravens, and partridges and eagles with dark
plumage.

Cabot, after skirting along the coast for some distance,
took two of the natives and returned to England, which he

*This flsh has since then received the less musical name of the cod.

HISTORY OF ACADTA. 5

reached in August. Tluis was the continent of America
discovered under the auspices of tlic crown of England,
more than a year l)cfore Colnm})ns reached tlie coast of
South America.*

In the following year the King granted a new patent to
the Cabots, and gave them authority to engage in another
voyasre of discovery to the coast of North America. John
Cabot, who had been knighted for the discoveries made by
him on the former voyage, was unable to accompany this
second expedition, and the command of it was given to his
son Sebastian. Two sliips were provided and fitted out for
the voyage, and on board of them embarked three hundred
sailors, traders, and adventurers. Pearly in the summer of
1498 they set sail. The discovery of a north-west pa.ssage
to India was one of the main objects of this, as it had been
of the former voyage, and, .■.v-<'ordingly, Cabot, after reacli-
ing the coast of Newfoundland, turned the bows of his
ships towards the north-Avest. He did not dream then that
the solution of the curious geograi)hical problem which he
was the first to attem})t, would not be attained until more
than three centuries and a half had passed, and hundreds
of human lives and an untold amount of treasure had been
sacrificed in the endeavour, or he would scarcely liave ven-
tured with his frail shi])s to brave the dangers of that
unknown northern sea. IJut men, hai)py in their iguoranoc
of the future, press forward in searc^h of an unattainable
goal, and so Cabot, undismaye<l and without misgiving or
doubt, swept on with free sail towards the ice-locked o(!ean
of the North.

Cabot as he sailed northward found the shores free from
ice, for it was then the month of July, Init he was alarmed

♦This ilisi'ovciy i>( Cubut was iiiadt' (lio rouiKlalioii ul' tin' Ijiglisli claiiii!* to
North Aniciiea. •

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

ut the apjK'arance of numerous icebergs seaward, and before
many days the field ice became so abundant that he found
it impossible to proceed, and Avas reluctantly obliged to
return south. Jle followed the coast of America, looking
for ii passar'T to India, uutii ]k reached the coast of Florida;
then he gave up the attemjjt iu despair and returned to
England. Cabot subseq icntly received high honors from
the English King, and, during the reigu of Edward VI.,
was mad(^ grand ]>ilot of Eugland, aud granted a large
pension.

No nation during the fifteenth century exceeded the Por-
tuguese in maritime enterprise. Beginning in 1412, they,
with equal perseverance and success, pushed forward the
work of exploring the western coast of Africa, which before
that time had only been known to Europeans as far south
as Cajx? Non. Six years later they succeeded in reaching
Cape Bojador. In 1420 tliev discovered Madeira. In
1 433 Cape Bojador, which had been so long the limit of
their navigation, was doubled, and in 1449 the Cape de
Verd Islands were discovered. In 1471 they ventured to
cross the equinoctial line, which they — following the absurd
teachings of tlu; ancients — had believed to be impassable.
Finally, Bartholomew Diaz, in 1486, attained that lofty
promontory which he called the Cape of Storms, but which
his King re-nained the Cape of Good Hope. Thus had
the Portuguese, in the course of three quarters of a century,
explored the whole west coast of Africa to its southern
limit, and showed the way by which India might be reached.
It is, therefore not surprising that a people so enterprising
and sagacious should have looked with interest, not unmix-
ed with jealousy, on the discoveries which the English and
Spaniards were making iu the new world. Of the Portu-
guese adventurers who were thus animated by a desire to

HISTORY OF ACADTA.

make discoveries in America, there Mas none more ardent
and rcsolnte than (laspar de Cortcreal. Ho resolved to
pnrsue the track of Cabot to the north and <i;ain imperish-
able renown by the discovery of that passage to India which
Cabot liad been nnal)le to lind. In 1500 lie set sail from
Lisbon with two ships and reached the coast of l^abrador,
which he named Terra Verde. He entered the Gnlf of
.St. Lawrence, and it is by no means improbable that he
landed on some portion of Acadia. lie followed tin' coast
to the north for several hundred miles until, like Cabot, he
was compelled by the ice to return. But the most notable
circumstance in connection with the voyage of Cortereal
was the fact of his capturing fifty-seven of the natives, and
taking them to Europe, where they were sold as slaves.
The countrv from which those unfortunates were taken, is
described as abounding in immense ])incs, fit for masts,
which shows that it could not have ))een very far to the
north. It was thickly peopled, and the natives were attired
in the skins of wild animals; they lived in huts, and used
knives, hatchets, and arrow-heads made of stone. They
were described as a well-made and robust race, well fitted
for labor. This description might very well apply to the
Indians of Acadia.

Encouraged bv the success of his iirst venture in human
blood, Cortereal set out in 1501 on another voyage for tim-
ber and slaves. But the fetters which lie had forged for
his fellow men were destined never to conflni; the free-born
natives of America. That shore which he had polluted
for the first time with the touch of slavery, he was I'ated
never more to lichold. JNIany months jiasscd without any
tidings of the lost adventurer, and his brother, INIichael dc
Cortereal, fitted out two ships and went in search of him.
But the sanse avenging spirit which had overwhelmed the

III8T0RY OV ACADIA.

1^:

'fit!

one, now pursued the other. He also passed away over the
traekless ocean, and no friendly <i;ale ever brought baelc t(^
Europe an intimation oC the fate of either.

In 1504 tlu! liasfjne and IJreton fishermen first east their
lines on the ]Janks of Newloundland, and to the latter the
island of Cape Ilreton owes its name. Then eommeuced
the gathering- of that bountiful ocean harvest which has
since rewarded the toil of so many generations of fishermen.
Never was so rich a mine of wealth opened by the most
fortunate adventurer of the south as tliose ocean plains, and,
although untold millions have been taken from the appar-
ently inexhaustible store, the deep still yields as rich a
return tor the lal)or of man as in the days of those ancient
toilers of the sea.

The accounts which the iishermen brought back to En-
rope of the coasts which they had visited in the pui*suit of
their calling Avcre not so favorable as to tempt many colo-
nists to the new Avorld. T'he pursuit of gold was then the
object which mainly engrossed the minds of the adventurers
■of France and Hpain, and, beyond the pursuit of the lish-
iM'ies which wore early recognized as a stturce of wealth,
nothing was done to profit by the discoveries which had
been made.

In 1524 a native of Florence, named John Verazzano,
was sent by Francis I. of France on a voyage of discovery.
That monarch had viewed with some degree of jealousy the
progress which Spain and Portugal had made in the explo-
ration and settlement (tf America, the more especially as
Pope Alexander VI. had issued a bull bestowing the new
world on the Kings of those two countries. The King of
France was but little disposed, either to bow submissively
to the decrees of Rome, or to acknowledge the right of
.Spain and Portugal to the whole of America. Charles V.

HISTORY OF iUJADIA.

of Spain romonstratcd with Fraiu'is af>;ainst liis fonntling
any colonics in America, an act which lie consulcred an
invasion of his rifjjhts, bnt the French Kiiifj sarcastically
replied that he wonld like to see the clanse in father Adam's
will which l)0(pieath('d to his royal brother alone, so vast a
heritage. Vera^^'/ano set sail from a rocky island near Ma-
deira on the 17th of Jannary, in a ship named the Dolphin,
with a crew of fifty men, and provisions for ei<j;ht months.
After a tempestnons ])assa<i|;e to the west he came in si<>;ht
of a conntry, u|) to that time nnknown, which was thickly
inhabited by a race of friendly savajjfes, who In^held the
white strangers with astonishment and delight. The diffi-
culty of landing on account of the surf made trading
impossible, but a bold young sailor who swam ashore was
treated by tliosc simple-minded natives with much kindness.
This land, according to Vera/zano's reckoning, was in
thirty -four north latitude, and was doubtless part of North
Carolina. \"erazzano followed the coast to the northward,
landing at many places to barter with the natives, whom
he found more savaw and less frieudlv the further north he
went. 1I(( sailed as far as tifty degrtH's of north latitude,
having explored seven hundred leagues of the coast of
America. An enterprise of such magnitude entitles Vcraz-
zano to a high jdace among the navigators of the sixteenth
century, and the record of his voyage, which has l)een pre-
served, shows him to have been a man of nuich judgment
and ability.

To the whole of the newly explored regiosi he gave the
name of New France, and, after his return to Euroix', he
propounded a schenjc for the further exploration and colo-
nization of the new land, which received the countenance
of the King, lint this ])lan was never carried to success,
and the subsecpient fate of the navigator is at this day a

, "I

1 '<!

iriSTOTlY OF ACADIA.

iiiattor of (loiihl. It i.s related on the authority of llaimisio,
that ho made a ,sul)ser|iK'iit voyajije in which he was killed
and devoured by the natives, hut other authorities go to
show that h<' was alive after the allejjed date of this catas-
trophe. Whatever his sul)se(|uent adventures or fate may
have been, he added nothinjj;' more to the world's knowledge
in regard to America.

In 1527 Master Thomas Thorne, a learned and wealthy
resident of Bristol, addressed a letter to King Henry VIIT.,
in which he argued that the discovery of the northern ])arts
of Amerie.'i might be carried even as far as the North Pole,
and urged the King to assist in the undertaking. Henry
VIII., stimulated no doubt l)v the example of g ne of the
other European nations, ae(.'ordingly fitted out two ships,
one of them bearing the pious name of Dominus Vobiscum,
and in May of the same year they set sail. A Canon of
St. Paul's, a man of nnieh wealth, and imbued with an
ardent desire for scientific discovery, accompanied the expe-
dition. But the voyage was not ])rosperous, and the ad .-en-
turcrsdonot appear to have reached farther north than the
Straits of Belleisle, through which they ])assed ; but they
had scarcely entered the (Julf of St. Lawrence when one of
their ships was cast away. The other then followed the
(!oast south as far as Cape Breton and Arambec — wh'ch
was the name then given by the English to Acadia — retuin-
ina: to Enji-land in October of the same vear.

Francis I. still continued to cherish the desire to make
further discoveries in the new world, and in 1534 two small
vessels of sixty tons burthen were fitted o\it for a voyage to
America by his directions. Each vessel carried a comple-
ment of sixty-one men, and the expedition was placed under
the conunand of daipies Cartier, a verv bold and skilful
pilot of St. Malo. He departed from that port on the 20th

IIISTOKY OF ACADIA.

Aj)ril, l.'in4, and holding a due west course, on the lOtli
May came in sight of Cape Bonavista in Newfoundland.
He found this Cajx; so much beset with ice tliat ho was
unable to enter the Bay of Bonavista, and was constrained
to take refuge in St. Catharine's Haven, five leagues to the
.south-east. There he remained ten days. From thence,
sailing to the northward, he skirted the eastern coast of the
island, and passing through the Straits of Belleisle, entered
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and followed the coast as fur
south as Cape St. George. He admired the fisheries and
harbors of Newfoundland, but speaks very unfavorably of
the soil.* He found the inhabitants to be men of good
stature, but wild and unruly. Both sexes were clothed with
the skins of wild animals. They painted their faces a roan
color, and decorated their hair with feathers. They had
canoes of birch bark in which they fished and captured
seals. He understood from them that they did not reside
permanently on the island, but came from hotter countries
on the main land to catch seals.

Leaving Newfoundland, Cartier sailed to the soulh-west
and visited the Magdalene Islands ; from thence proceeding
west, on the 30th June, he came in sight of the coast of
Acadia. The land first seen by Cartier appears to havL'
been Cape Escuminac at the southern entrance of Mirami-
chi Bay.f The next day he landed and found the country
to be fertile and well wooded. He there saw a large number
of the inhabitants crossing a river in their canoes. Cartier
entered this river, and speaks of it as " a very goodly river

♦ He says, " If the soil were as good as Iho harhors are It were n great comnioJity,
but it ii not to be calletl New Land but ratlier stones and wild crags and a jdace lit
for wild beasts, for in all the North Island I did not see a cart load of },'ood earth.
Yet went I on shore in many places. * * To be short I believe that this was the
land that God alloted to Cain."— Hakluyt, Vol. 3, p. 20!t.

t Named by the French, Cape Orleans; it appears to have been known to the
French fishermen by that name before Cartier's visit.

iriSTdllY OK ACADIA.

'II

l)ut very sliallow." It is now (lilliciilt t(» (Ictoniiiiio whidi
V rivers of that portion of the const of Now

)f tl

10 main

liruiiswick is tlio one tliiis dcscrilMMl. ('artier was oharniod
with tlio hcauty and fertility of tiie country, and speaks of
it in j:;Iowin<i^ terms." The forest trees \, ro. principally
])inos, cedars, w

•hite

ehns, ash, willows and vew trees, an(

many other kinds with which the navi<:;ator was unae-

(inani

ted. Where there were no trees the irronnd was cov-

ered witli }jjoosehorries, strawberries, hiackherries, wild jieas
and a species of wild c<irii which reseniUIed rye. The cli-
mate was as warm as that of S))ain, and the binls wore very
nnmerons. The land was level, and the natives manifested
a friendly disposili(»n. Such is, in substance, tlu! account
which is ^iven of this part of New linniswick by its first
recorded discoverer, who, fresh from the ru<i;o;ed coast and
severe climate of Newfoundland, was the better able to ap-
preoi

ate its beauties.

roni

iraniK

hi I

>av,

( 'art

ler sai

led t

owai'(

Istl

ic north

and, roundinti; l*oint Miscou, entered a fine bay to which,
in conse(|uence of the excessive warmth of the climate, ho
{ijave th(! name of l>ay Chaleur or I>ay of ifeat. Crossini^
to the northern shore; of this IJay he entered an open liaven
now known as J*ort I)aniel, and from this point explored
the whole of the I>ay, goin}^ within it a distance of twenty-
five leajj^ues, which must have bronj^jht him very near the
mouth of the Jiestijjjouchi^ Iviver. Sin<!;ularly enouf!;h, the

♦"Nevertheless we went that ihiy iishon' in I'lmr phu'cs to sih; the ^;o<)(lly anil
sweet smelling trees that were there. We tonnd them to he eeihirs, ewe trees,
)iiiies, white elms, ashes, willows, with many other sorts of trees to ns niiknown, hnt
without any frnit. The ^'ninnds where no wood is are very I'air and all full of
peiison, white and red p>i>scln'rries, strawberries, tilaeUlierries and wild corn even
like unto rye, which seemeth to have lieen sown and plon;,'lu'cl. The eouiitry is of
better teni|(eratur(> than any other that ean hi' seen, and very hot. There are many
thrushes, stock doves and other birds ; to be short, then' waiiletli nothing hut good
harimrs." — Ilaekluyt. .'t Vol., ]> i">.

fllSToUY OF ACADIA.

siiiiH' rvil i'ortimi! wliicli caused liiiii U) miss tlic «liscov»'rv
of the Minimiclii Ivivcr, ii»»\v attended liiin, and Uv liinie<l
l)Mel< without eiitei*in<; the Kesti;;(»uelie. In tlu^ eonrse ol"
his exploration of the Hay ( 'hah'ur, ('artier had rre((uent
and friendly intercourse with the Indians. lie; visited
Hathurst harbor, and there i'oinid \Unv hundred Indians,
who received him with many demonstrations oC joy, and
rejjjah'd him with the (lesli of seals. They were disposed to
enj;ag(^ in tratlic with the white strangers to tlu' extent, of
their limited means, an<l so hrisU was the demand for iial-
ehets, knives and heads, that most of them sold the very
skins with which they were clothed and went away naked.
Thes(! Indians were of the Souriquois or Micmae tribe.*
From their ]>acific disposition and friendly conduct, ('artier
lormed the impression that they mij^ht easily bo converted
to the Christian relifjjion. Their habits, he says, were mi-
gratory, and they lived i)rinci[>ally by llshinj*;. Cartier
speaks of the j^reat abundance of salmon in the rivers on
that (!oa.st, a (juality for which they are still celebrated.

Leavinj^ behind the beautiful and fertile country on the
southern shore of the Bay (.'haleur and its friendly and hos-
pitable inhabitants, Cartier sailed north-<>ast and entered
the harbor of Gaspe. The inhabitants were of an entirely
distinct tribe from those of Bay Chaleur, speaking a differ-
ent language, eating their food almost raw, and having no
other dwellings but their canoes. On a point of land which
lies at the entrance of this harbor, the French erected a
cross thirty feet high, and hung upon it a shield with the

* This was established in a very singular inaiiiUT. When Chaniplaiii had settled
his colony at Port Royal in 1605, he was visited hy the Mieinae Indians, headed liy
their chief Membertou, who was nearly one luindrcd years of age. This aged
warrior remembered Carticr'.s visit to the Bay Clialeur, and was at that time a
married man with a family. Membertou became a Christian, and was baptized at
Port Royal in IGIO. lie died iu the following year.

HISTOKY OK ACADIA.

anus of France. This typical act of taking possession of
the country was ingoniously j)erforino(l so as to aj)|)C'ar to
lli(^ natives a religions ceremony. After the cross was
erected tlie old (^Jliief seems to have had his snspicions
arousi'd that something more than worshij) was intended,
and he visited the ships to remonstrate with Cartier. He
was however as.siu'e(l that the cross was merely for a land-
mark to guit'e the white visitors to the entrancx; of the
harbor on their next voyage. On the 25th July Cartier
departed from (Jaspd, taking Avith him two sons of the
Chief whom he had seized hy stratagem. They were, in
some measure, reconciled to their lot by liberal presents of
savage liuery antl promises of being brought back to their
own country in the following year.

Cartier sailed north as far as the north sh' re of the St.
liawrence, but, although he was actually within the estuary
of that river, he dtK's not appear to have suspected its ex-
istence. He was on the verge of a great discovery ; the
noblest river in America was ojKin before him, but he was
unaware of its presence. The weather suddenly grew stormy
and temi>estuous; autumn was approaching. Strong east-
erly winds began to prevail, and he feared that if he
remained longer they would be obliged to pass the wiuter
in that unknown region. These considerations induced
him to resolve on an immediate return to Europe, and,
shaping his course once more towards the east, the little
fleet reached St. Malo in safety on the 5th September.

The favorable account which Cartier gave of his discov-
eries, made the French King eager to found a colony in the
new world, and another expedition was accordingly under-
taken under the command of the same great navigator.
Three ships were fitted out, the largest of one hundred and
twenty tons, and the others of sixty and forty tons respec-

IIISTOKY OK A< ADIA.

lively. Araiiy ;;fiitlciiicii <»l nicaiis Jiad Itccii induced <<•
,.iijr;iife ill llie adventure. TIio vovaj^e was inaugurated as
heeaiiK; so iiiij)(>i'tai)t an uiidei'takiii<>;, and IH-I'ore einhark-
iiig, the crews witli tlieir cDiiimanders rc[)aired to IIk; catln.'-
dral (»!' St. Mal(» and received tin; hlessinjj; of the Hisliop.
Oil tlie liMli May, l")l5r), the; e.\|K!diti()n set sjiil iVoiu St.
iMalo. Shortly after their de|iartiire a \:;n]v. s|)raug up which
s|»C'ediIy increased to a teiii|>est, and the ships wen; in dan-
ger t)i' heinj:; htst. (\irtier's vessel hecaine se[)iu'ated froiii
lh(! other two, hut on the 'JfJth July, met ihein a<;ain at the
a|)poiiited rendezvous in Xewloiiiidland. It was August
hef'ore they entered the (iiiU'ol' St. FiawreiuH'.

Keeping more t(» lh(! north than \u' had <loiie on his for-
mer voyage, ('artier discovered a large ishmd to which he
gave the iianie(»f Assumption, hut it is known as Anticosti
at tli(.' |)reseiit (kiy." ('artier had on hoard of liis vess(;l the
two Indians taken on his former voyage, and tiiey informed
liim that th(>y were near the kingdom of Sagiieiiay, and tliut
beyond it was Canada, j Passing up the river St. Law-
rence, the adventurers enterwl the deep and gloomy Sague-
nay, where they mot four canoo hiads of natives, wlio were
timid at first, but came to them when spoken U) by Carticr's
Indians, wlio understood their kuiguage. The kitoness of
tiie season prevented them from e.\pk)ring the Saguenay,
and they continued their voyage up the St. Lawrence. On
"the 6th September they reached an isUmd which abounded
in hazel trees, Avhicli in consequence received from Cartier
the name Isle an Coudrcs, which it still bears. On the 7th
they came to a large and fertile island of great beauty, which
abonnded in vines. This Cartier named Isle dc Bacchus :

* Anticosti is an cviilenl corruption of Natiscotcc, tlic name which the Indians
gave it.

fThe name CnnaJa, wliich has since been applied to the whole of this region, is
an Indian word, and slgnilics a collection of huts, a town.

1(J

HISTORY OF At'ADIA.

III''''

•mi

18' «

:•!' :i

it is now ('iilloil Orloiins. Tlici'd they oast anchor and went
ashore, talcinj^- tlu? two Indians with them. By their aid,
they were at once ])Ut on a friendly footinji; witli the natives,
and the I'eelinjj; of distrust with which tiie savages had re-
garded the white visitors was entirely extinguished.

On th(! following day Doiuiacona, King of the country,
ciune to visit them accomiKinied by twelve canoes filled M'itii
warriors. An interchange of civilities took ])lace, and the
Indian King testified by signs his delight at the arrival of
the white strangers. Cartier now advanced nj) the river to
find a secure haven for hip vessels, and he found a jdace in
every respect suitable, at the mouth of a small river now
known as the St. Charles. Close by, on a high blutf over-
looking the St. Lawrence, stood the Indian town of Stada-
cona, tmd beneath the black antl frowning precipice the
great stream, cramped and confined within a narrow chan-
nel, swept swiftly onwards to the sea. To this passage the
Indians had given the name of Quebec, which in their lan-
guage signifies a strait, — a name destined to become great
and glorious in our counr "'s story.

It needs not the gilding of romance to invest (^uel)ee
with the dignity which belongs to it as the scene of illus-
trious deeds and the birth-place of Canadian history. The
rock upon whidi it stands will not be more enduring than
the fiune of the achievements which it has witnessed, or the
renown of the soldiers who contended for it in wager of
battle. The ancient Indian town of Stadaeona, which stood
upon its site, has long since perished ; the warlike ra(v who
made it their home have been driven iortli, and are now a
feeble and desj)ise(l tribe ; the great forest which extended
on every side like a boundless ocean, has been cut down by
the patient industry of man ; all is changed save the beetling
cliff which overshadows it; for the frowning battlements

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

of a walled and fortified city have usurped the place of the
fragile homes of the Algonquin race.

This*city was for a century and a half the capital of the
great French empire in America, the heart whose pulsations
were felt from the coast of Labrador to the mouth of the
Mississippi. Its name has been in times past ominous of
disaster and bloodshed to the English race, and it has also
yielded our country triumphs which illuminated every city
in Britain, and filled the hearts of its people with joy and
pride. From it the bloody edicts went forth which gave
over the border settlements of New ICngland to the hands
of the merciless savage, and which covered her villages with
mourning. Over the sea from this barren rock echoed the
tidings of that famous victory which gave the vast territory
of Canada to the English crown, and in which Wolfe by a
soldier's death, immortalized his name. Nor should it be
forgotten, that during the war of the Revolution, in a dark
hour for England, the strong battlements of Quebec re-
siste<l the tide of invasion and preserved England's greatest
colony.

The unsuspecting savages, unconscious of the ruin which
the white man's presence would bring upon their rac?,
treated the French with kindness and hospitality. Their
King, Donnacona, brought them many presents, a good
understanding was speedily established, and a league of
friendship entered into. But when Cartier proposed to
proceed further up the river, the Indians attempted to dis-
.suade him. The navigation, they told him, was dangerous,
the country was barren, and the native tribes warlike and
hostile. When such remonstrances ftiiled, Donnacona at-
tempted to terrify the French, and deter them from going
up, by dressing three Indians to represent evil spirits who
declared that they had been sent by their god Cudruaigny,
B

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

■r-:\\

to say that the country up tlio river was i'ull of ice and
snow, and thai whoever went there would die. Cartier
of course laughed at this attempt to influence him, and
told the Indians that Cudruaigny was a fool. Finding all
his efforts imavailing, Donnacona ordered the Indian
interpreters not to aecom^iany Cartier, and tliey were
obliged to obey the command of their King. Nevertheless,
on the 19th September, Cartier started u[) the river with
his pinnace and two boats with a large company of men.
The farther they advanced inland the more the country
improved ; the forest trees became larger, grape vines were
seen hanging Avith thick clusters of fruit, and the meadows
grew broader and more fertile. The natives were every-
where friendly, bringing them fish and such articles as they
had to sell, but they warned them of the dangers of the
navigation farther up. At length, after various adven-
tures, Cartier arrived at the Indian town of Hochelaga,
the home of the Huron tribe, a race less .warlike and more
inclined to agriculture than most savages.* Their town
was large, situated in the midst of corn fields, and sur-
rounded by a triple row of palisades thirty feet high. liike
the Indians of Stadacona, the people of Hochelaga were
governed by a King or Agouhanna, who, instead of being
a great warrior, was a feeble and palsied old man. Cartier
visited Hochelaga and was very kindly received, and, as
those simple minded savages believed him to be a superior
being, all their sick and feeble were brought to him to be
healed by the touch of his hand. When he departed they
grieved as at the loss of an old and tried friend, and many
of tliem followed him along the bank after he had em-

*Tliat these Indians of Uoclielagii belonged to the Iluron-Iroquois family of
tribes is proved by a variety of circuiustanccs, among wliieii may bo named the
attinities of tlieir language, the character of their towns and defensive works, and
of the remains of pipes and pottery dug up at Montreal in 1800.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

lor

in-

barked, until, borne rapidly away by a favorable wind and
the swift current, he was lost to their sight.

Above the town of Hochelaga rose a mountain from
whose summit can be seen a vast extent of level country
from which the last vestige of the forest has long since
disappeared. The territory beneath is rich in all the ma-
terial wealth of fine farms, noble orchards and splendid
residences. It is rich, too, in historical associations, for it
is the great campaign ground of Canada, and its glory
is kept fresh in the memory of the French Canadian by
the echoes of Chateaugay. Beneath the mountain, on the
site of the ancient Hochelaga, lies a great city, where a
hundred and fifty thousand people of European origin
have their homes, the centre of a vast commerce and of a
great railway system, and widely renowned for its beauty,
enterprise and wealth. To the mountain Cartier gave the
name of Mount Royal, which it still retains, and thus tlie
city beneath it, and the island upon which it stands re-
ceived the name of Montreal.

Cartier hastened to Quebec, Avhere he had decided to
spend the winter. But when winter came, the French
were foujid unprepared for its rigors. The almost tropical
summer gave them no intimation of that season of Siberian
cold which Avas to follow it. Their ships were hemmed in
by thick ice and covered with drifting snow, and an un-
known sickness, probably the scurvy, broke out among the
men. By the middle of March, of one hundred and ten
men who composed the crcAvs, twenty five had died, and
all the others, with three or four exceptions, were aiFected
by the disease. The living were too feeble to bury the
dead, and the only resource was to cover them Avith snow.
While in this pitiable condition the ingenuity of Cartier
was taxed to the utmost to disguise their real condition

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

i>!:

i;i I

ill

from the Indians, whose friendship he had good reason to
doubt. Fortunately for him, the savages were affected by
the same malady, and, by pretending that one of his serv-
ants who had been with them had taken the disease, he
managed to discover the remedy they used, which was to
drink the liquor in which the bark and leaves of a certain
tree had been boiled. In a few days they used up an
entire tree in this way, and in a week every man Avas cured.
Indeed so marvellous were the effects of its use that the old
chronicle of the voyage declares, " If all the physicians
of Mounti^elier had been there with all the drugs of
Alexandria, they could not have done so much in one year
as that tree did in six days." This Avonderful tree is
believed to have been the white pine.

When Spring returned, Cartier prepared to depart for
France, and he signalised his leave-taking by an act that
was alike treacherous and cruel. He invited the King,
Donnacona, and four of his principal chiefs to a great
feast, and in the midst of the festivities, violated the laws
of hospitality by seizing and imprisoning them on board
his vessels. He departed amidst the lamentations of the
Indians, although he caused Donnacona to tell them that
he was going to Europe of his own free will and would
return to them in a year. But the promise was never ful-
filled, for the Indian King died in the land of his captivity.
Cartier reached France on the 8th July, 1536, bearing the
tidings of his great discovery, which was thenceforward
to be known to the world by the name of Canada.

In the spring of 1536, Avhile he was still at Quebec, a
number of London merchants sent out two vessels on
a trading voyage to the coast of America, under the com-
mand of one Master Hore. They spent some time in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, and afterwards anchored in a harbor

i..

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

'ard i

',-n'

c, a J

on the western coast of Newfoundland. They found the
natives so shy that they were unable to communicate with
them, and, falling short of provisions, were driven to the
necessity of eating such herbs and roots as they could find,
although, close to the finest fishery in the world, it is
difficult to understand why they should have suffered from
hunger. At last, when every other resource was exhausted,
they were reduced to the extremity of casting lots to deter-
mine who should perish for the sustenance of the remainder.
They were finally relieved from their dreadful position by
the arrival of a French vessel, which they immediately
seized, and which was found to be well stored with pro-
visions. The two countries were then at j^eace, and the
Frenchmen complained of the outrage to Henry VIII.
The King, on finding the great straits to which his subjects
had been reduced, forgave the offence, and generously
recompensed the Frenchmen out of his own private purse.

The failure of Cartier to discover gold in the new world,
added to the dreadful severity of the winter and the priva-
tions his men had suffered, for a time put an end to any
further expeditions to Canada, although the arrival of the
Indian King at the French Court produced a profound
sensation. But no human enterprise was ever suffered to
languish for want of men bold enough to undertake it, and
accordingly in 1.54], Cartier, in connexion with Francis
de la lloche, lord of Roberval, prepared another expedition
for the exploration of Canada. King Francis, who had
])rovided most of the funds for the enterprise, conferred
the chief connnand on Roberval, making him his lieutenant
general and viceroy in Canada. Cartier was appointed
captain general of the fleet.

Roberval's intention was to found a colony in Canada,
and his preparations were made on so extensive a scale that

"('!

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

they "Nverc .still inconiplotc in tlie Spring of 1541, when
Cartier was ready to depart. Tlie latter accordingly set
sail on the 23rd May, without his chief, with five vessels
and a large company of gentlemen, soMiers and mariners.
He also took with him cattle, goats ar 1 hogs for the new
colony. After a tempestuous passage they reached New-
foundland, where thoy awaited the arrival of Roberval, but,
after a long d(!lay, desjiairing of his coming, they sailed
for Canada, arriving at Quebec on the 23rd August. The
ships were immediately surrounded by an eager multitude
of Indians enquiring for their King. Cartier was obliged
to tell them that Donnacona was dead. Those savage
stoics heard the tidings with apparent indifference, but
from that moment they regarded the French as their
enemies. Cartier felt that he had not deserved their
friendship, and Ik; did not dare to trust it. He selected
a spot higher uy* the river where ho laid up three of his
vessels under the protection of two small forts which he
erected. The remaining two he sent to France to inform
the King of his position, and that Roberval had not
arrived. He spent the winter without any serious encoun-
ter with the Indians, but he was well aware that they only
awaited a favorable opportunity to attack him. He had
to be continually on the alert, and in the Spring he became
so much disheartened by the difficulties which surrounded
him and the continued absence of Roberval, that he re-
solved to return to France.

W.en he ai'rived at St. John's, Newfoundland, on his
retuiii voyage, he found Roberval there with three ships
on his way to the new colony. He informed Roberval
that he had left Canada because with his small force he
was unable to withstand the savages, Avho went about daily
to annoy him. Roberval commanded Cartier to return

III8T0UY OF ACADIA.

with him to Canada, but his ambition as a discoverer was
satisfied, and he -was iniwilling to endure the dangers and
privations of another winter in the midst of hostile savages.
To avoid an open rupture with liis eonunander, lie weighed
anchor silently in the night and departed for France.
Roberval proceeded to Canada, took possession of the forts
built by Cartier, and there spent the winter. Their provi-
sions, however, fell short, and each man was put on a very
meagre allowance. The scurvy broke out, and, not having
llie remedy that Car4:ier had used, fifty of the colony died
before Spring. Roberval's colonists nuist either have been
a very bad lot or he an extremely severe ruler, for during
the winter one man was hanged for theft,* several put in
irons and many whipped, both men and women, "by
which means," as the old chronicle informs us, "they lived
in quiet." Koberval's colony was a failure, and next
summer he returned to France with what remained of it.
In 1549 he organized another cx])edition, but the ho))cs
that were founded on it were doomed to be blasted, lie
set sail for Canada aceomjianied by his brother Achille and
a band of brave adventurers, but never reached the shores
of the New World. Their fate is still one of the secrets of
the sea. Canada had reason to regret the event, for the
loss of that expedition retarded its colonization for more
than fifty years.

For many years after the loss of lloberval's expedition,
C^anada was almost entirely forgotten by the French,
lieligious wars and civil dissensions occupied the whole
attention of the nation, and a court that was busily engaged
in slaughtering its subjects at home, could not be expected

*'riii.s was the fii'st civil execution in Canada. Tlie iianie of the ofl'endcr was
Michael Gallion. One of ihoso kei)t in irons during tlie winter was John of
Nantes. His oflcnco is not stated.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

to take much interest in an; chcnie for increasing their
numbers abroad. \ Hugucnoi colony, whicii was founded
in Florida in 15G 1, under the auspices of Admiral Coligny,
was, after it had been u single year in existence, utterly
destroyed by the Spaniards. All the colonists were bar-
barously murdered, and Ribault, the governor, is said to
ha\e been actually flayed, by order of Menendez, the
Spanish leader. The corpses of the murdered colonists
were hung on trees on which were placed the inscription :
" These wretches have not been thus treated because they
were Frenchmen, but because they were heretics and
enemies of God." There is good reason to believe that
the French Court connived at tiie destruction of this
colony. This was worthy of the perpetratoi^s of the mas-
sacre of St. Bartholomew. The unchristianized and unciv-
ilized savages of America would have been more humane.

England was the next power to engage in the work of
colonizing the northern regions of America, and, although
late in the field, was destined to eclipse all competitors in
the end. Her first venture, however, was far from being
encouraging.

In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, an elder brother of
Sir Walter Raleigh, set sail for the new world with a fleet
of five vessels, for the purpose of founding a colony. No
expedition of that day had left the shores of Europe better
prepared for the purposes of discovery and colonization.
Of the two hundred and sixty men who composed it, many
were mechanics, such as shipwrights, masons, carpenteis,
blacksmiths, workers in metal and refiners. A large stock
of provisions and articles of traffic was also taken, and,
indeed, nothing that the skill and ingenuity of that age
could devise appears to have been omitted. But Gilbert
Avas unlucky from the very inception of his voyage. He

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

had only been two days at sea when the Raleigh, the
largest vessel in the fleet, turned back in consequence of a
contagious sickness having broken out among her crew.*
After a foggy and disagreeable passage, the fleet entered
the harbor of St. John's, Newfoundland, where were found
thirty-six vessels of different nationalities. Gilbert, by
virtue of his commission, took possession of the Island
in the name of Queen Elizabeth, and enacted and pro-
claimed laws for the government of the inhabitants and
traders.f Some time was spent there in searching for
silver mines, and a quantity of ore was obtained which
was believed to be precious. What its real value was can
never be known for it was on board the Delight, which
was lobL with most of her crew on the rocks of Cipe
Breton. This event and the wishes of his officers induced
Gilbert to return to England. He shifted his flag to the
Squirrel, the smallest of his fleet, in fact a mere boat of
ten tons burthen. When about mid-Atlantic on their wav
back, a terrific gale arose which placed the vessels in immi-
nent danger. The Squirrel during the day labored terribly
and was nearly overwhelmed. Gilbert sat calmly in the
stern with a book in his hand, and when the Golden Hind
approached within hearing, called out to those on board
of her : " W'^ are as near Heaven by sea as by land."
At midnight the lights of the Squirrel suddenly disaj)-
peared ; the mighty ocean had swallowed uj) both hor and

*Tlii3 vessel was fitted out by Sir Walter Raleigh.

t"for a beginning he proposed and delivered three laws to be in force imme-
diately. That is to say, the first for religion which in public exercise should lie
according to the Church of England. The second for maintenance of her nuijcsty's
right and possession of those territories against which, if anything wore uttem])ted
Ijrejudicial, the party offending should be adjudged and c-iLeculcd as in case of high
treason. The third, that if any person should utter words sounding to the dishonor
of her majesty, he should lose his cars and have his ship and goods confiscated."
— Hackluyt'* Voyages, 3 Vol., p. 193.

niSTOKY OK ACADIA.

her gallant coinmaiulor. The (ioldcii Iliiifl, the hust (if
this fleet Mhieh had left Kiigland under such proniisino-
auspices a few mouths before, arri\'ed liome late in Sej)teni-
ber. The death of Sir lluin})hrey fiilhert was a sad loss
to the new world as well as to the old, for in his ocean
<;rav<' was hurled the h )pe ol' Acadia heinj; made a British
colony. I low ditferent mij^ht its history have l)cen had
that naviji;ator's desi;i;ns been carried into eflect !

At length, after many years of gloom and misery, France
obtained a respite from her religious wars, and Henry IV.
was firmly seated on the throne. Then the spirit of adven-
ture began to revive, and the attention of the more enter-
])rising was directed to the new world as a place where
they might have scope for their and)ition. The olfice of
lieutenant general and viceroy of Canada, which, since the
death of Iloberval, had been an empty title, Mas in 1598
bestowed by Henry TV. on the JManpiis de la Roche,
toirether with a commission which gave him very extensive
])owers in the regions he jiroposcd to colonize. In that
year he sailed for America, taking with him forty-eight
convicts from the French prisons. He left these unfortu-
nate beings on Sable Island, a barren and desolate desert of
sand which lies a hundred miles from the coast of Nova
Scotia. He then proceeded towards the main land with the
avowed object of seeking a suitable place for his colony.
He visited the coast of Acadia and was returning to Sable
Island when his ship was caught in a tempest and driven
back to the coast of I"'ranco. The Avi'etched convicts Mere
left to their fate. It was five years before Henry l^^ heard
what had become of them, and then, Mith that spirit of hu-
manity "which ever distinguished him, he immediately sent
Chedotel, who had been de la Roche's pilot, M'ith a vessel
to ascertain their fate. He found that twelve of them had

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

■■^

survived the terrible har(lsliij)s (tf their coiuUtion. They
had subsisted chiefly on cattle which were ruuuing wild on
the island, j)r()bably the produce of animals which had
escaped from wrecked vessels.* They wen; clothed in seal
skins, and their shelter was a rude hut niade out of
the planks of a wreck. It is a striking illustration of the
acquisitive nature of man, that these unfortunates in their
forlorn condition had collected a large quantity of valu:d)le
furs. They presented themselves before the King on their
return, by his desire, attired in their singidar dress just as
they had been found. He commiserated their condition so
nuich that he immediately gi*anted them their liberty and
gave each of them fifty crowns. Their sufl'crings had
indeed Ixjcn terrible enough to expiate almost any crime.
Their faces, in consequence of the hardships they had
endured, had assumed a savage and ferocious expression, so
that they appeared more like wild animals than civilized
men. De la Roche, whose cruelty or neglect had been the
cause of their misfortunes, died miserably of a broken
heart, harassed by lawsuits and ruined in fortune.

While costly expeditions under the patronage of wealthy
monarchs were contributing to the sum of human knowledge
by trans-atlantic discoveries, a sot of humbler adventurers
Avere not less busily engaged in making America known to
the people of Europe. The fisheries of Newfoundland and
Acadia attracted to their shores large numbers of adventur-
ous men, who were equally ready to fish or to trade with
the Indians as occasion offered. In this way the whole coast
of the Gulf of St. Lawrence became well known lonix before
Canada or Acadia contained a single white settler, and the
Atlantic coast of Acadia was equally familiar to those

*The Bnron de Lcry is beliaved to have left some liorsos and cattle on Sable
Island in 1518.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

tmders luul fislicniicii. There is no positive j)roof that
they ever entered the Bay of Fundy dnrinp; the sixteenth
ecntury, but the probabilities are strongly in favor of their
Imving done so. Thus slowly but steadily the dim outline
of the new world displayed its form to the people of
Europe, and the spirit of adventure, no longer eonfined to
the great and wealthy, grew in the breasts of the people.
Already a new era of colonization and progress was begin-
ning to dawn. Who could have ventured to predict the
glory of its meridian splendor ?

CHAPTER H

TlIK ADORIGINKS OF ACADIA.

The exploration of America cHtahliHhcd th<! fact that it
was everywhere inhabited, from the shores of the Arc^'j
Ocean to its extreme nonthern limit. P]ven the isUuids
which siirrnimded it were in most wuses fonnd to Ikj
|)e(»pled, and there was no lar{>je extent of territory on the
continent withont its ([nota of natives. It then Ixicame an
intcrestiiifj; qnestion for ])hiIosophers to determine from
what part of the old world America Avas peopled, and by
what means the ancestors of its inhabitants reached the new
continent. Surronnded on both sides by vast oceans, it
seemed incredible that savages who had no vessels larger
than a canoe could come to America by sea, and although
ingenuity has exhausted itself in conjectures, and modern
research thrown all its available light upon the subject, the
question of how America was jieopled has not yet been
satisfactorily determined.

It is not to be denied that in modern times this question
lias assumed a very different juspect from that which it pre-
sented a century ago, when Robertson wrote his history of
America. He assumed — and he has been followed in this
respect by many subsequent writers — that the inhabitants
of the new world were all of one race, and in the partially
civilized communities of INIexico and Peru, he recognized
only races of people who had improved to some extent on
the customs of the rude Tartar ancestors, from whom he
conceived them to have S2)rung. Finding it difficult
to make this hypothesis agree with the undoubted progress

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

they had made in the arts, he cavalierly treated the Spanish
accounts of their skill as the exaggerations of a people who
desired to augment, as much as possible, the importance of
the nations they had subdued. While he did scant justice
to the civdization of Mexico and Peru, he ignored altoge-
ther the existence of any remains of civilization beyond
their limits. It would, of course, be unjust to charge this
distinguished historian with any desire to suppress the
truth, but it would be equally absurd, at the present day,
to adopt him as a guide. Since his day the substantial
correctness of the Spanish accounts of the civilization
of Mexico and Peru has been fully vindicated. The
remains of their temples, pyramids and palaces still bear
silent testimony to their former grandeur ; and in other
portions of America have been brought to light the remains
of cities whose inhabitants, although they have utterly
perished and left no record, must have had some pretensions
to cultivation and refinement.

The arclueological remains of America arc of so exten-
sive a character as to strike any one >vi. j pursues the subject
lor the first time with astonishment. They are naturally
divided into two classes, those that appear to have originated
among cultivated races, and those that have manifestly
belonged to uncivilized peoples. Of the former class
Acadia is entirely destitute, and the same remark is true in
regard to the whole Atlantic seaboard of the United States.,
as far south as Florida. But such remains abound fro u
the State of New York along the western slope of tiic
Alleghanies, through Georgia to the southern portion oi'
Florida. They are veiy numerous in Kentucky, Illinois
and Ohio, and are to be found in great numbers along the
margins of all the western rivers, on the head waters and
branches of the Mississippi and Missouri, and down to the

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

(Jiilfof Mexico. They are abundant in Mexico, but are
found in the greatest numbers and in the highest state of
perfection in Central America. A large proportion of the
remains of partially civilized races throughout the United
States consists of the ruins of fortresses and fortified towns,
and tumuli or pyramids of earth. In Onondaga county,
New York, was the ruin of a fortified town which covered
more than five hundred acres of ground, and there are said
to be at least a hundred ruined fortifications of various
sizes in tliat State. In many other States they are still
more numerous. In short, throughout the whole extent of
country from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, are
found the ruins of a perpetual succession of intrenched
camps, and fortresses of earth and stone, constructed on the
most gigantic scale, with redoubts, breastworks, ramparts
and mounds of observation. Still more stujiendous are the
tumuli and pyramids which abound throughout the same
territory, and which may be numbered by hundreds. One
of the largest of these in Illinois, is seven hundred feet in
length, five hundred feet wide at the base, and ninety feet
in height, and its solid contents may be roughly estimated
at twenty million cubic feet. Some of the smaller class of
mounds appear to have been used for the purposes of sepul-
ture. One near Circleville, Ohio, was found to contain an
immense number of human skeletons of every size and age,
all laid horizontally with tiieir heads towards the centre of
the mound. In a mound near the town of Chillicothe in
the same State was found a single human skeleton covered
Avith a mat, and decorated with a stone ornament, a string
of bone beads, and a piece of copper made in the shape of
a cros'. Still more remarkable was the discovery made in
ouo of the sepulchral mounds in INIarietta. There the
skeleton of a warrior Avas found Avith the remains of

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

a buckler of copper, overlaid with a thick silver plate,
lying across his breast. By his side were several broken
pieces of copper tubing filled with iron rust, the remains,
it was thought, of his sword and its scabbard. A piece of
iron ore was also found with them.* This discovery
seems to prove that the use of iron was known to the
natives of America at a very remote period, and that this
knowledge was subsequently lost, for at the time of the con-
quest of Mexico and Peru by the Spaniards, no iron utensils
were in use. Implements of copper are very frequently
found in these mounds, and specimens of pottery, some of
them displaying excellent workmanship and a knowledge
of chemistry, are abundant. In some of the mounds
bracelets and rings of brass, ornaments of silver and speci-
mens of sculpture have been brought to light. Some of
these pieces of pottery have been compared in beauty and
workmanship to the choicest antique vases of Europe ;
others are remarkable for their enormous size. An earthen
vessel was discovered in a mound at Lancaster, Ohio, which
was eighteen feet long and six feet in width.

Such discoveries incontestibly prove the former existence
in those regions of a people who were acquainted with many
of the arts of civilization, and the ancient character of the
ruins is attested by the fact that in many instances a heavy
growth of forest 'rees had arisen above them. But grand
and imposing as are those ruined fortresses and pyramids,
they are far surpassed by the ancient cities of Ceritral
America. Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood, in their wan-
derings through Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan,
discovered the ruins of no less than fifty-four cities, and
there were others of which they heard, but which they had

* An interesting account of this discovery will be found in Vol. I. of the collec-
tions of the American Antiquarian Society.

mSTOKY OF ACADIA.

not time to visit. They brouti^ht back with them drawings
of the principal objects of interest among tlie ruins, and, in
many instances, i)lans of the cities themselves. One of tlje
most reniarkaljle and probably the most ancient of tiiose
cities is Copan, in the State of Honduras. It is situated
on a river of the same name, and extends along its banks
for upwards of two miles. The principal structure is what
has been termed the temple, an oblong enclosure with a
front on the i-iver of six hundred and twenty-four fcet,^
built of cut stone, the wall being from sixty to ninety feet
in height. But the most interesting features of the ruins
are the statues of Indian deities or kings, Avhich are very
mnnerous. These are executed in bold alto-relievo, on
stone columns from eleven to fourteen feet in height, and
covered on the back with fantastic hieroglyphics. Jn front
of several of tliese idols were altars, probably intended for
the ])urposes of sacrifice. One of these, made out of a solid
block six feet s(piare and four feet high, was ornamented
on its side in a remarkable manner in bas-relief, M'ith
sixteen figures of men wearing turbans, and sitting cross
legged, in Oriental style, while the top of the altar was
covered with hieroglyphics. Of the workmanship of these
monuments of Oopan, i\Ir. Stephens, himself an Oriental
traveller and entitled to speak with authority, declares that
it is e(pial to the finest Egyptian sculpture, and that it
would l)e impossible with the best instruments of modern
times to cut stones more perfectly. Yet of the people who
executed those great works or of their history wc have no
record, and tradition has preserved nothing which can aid
us in discovering the origin or fate of the inhabitants of this
deserted city.

The ruins of Palenque are of a still more remarkable
character, and consist of temples and palaces, elevated on

I, 1'

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

pyraniidsj of earth faced Avitli stone. The principal huikl-
ina; is two hundred and t\vcntv-ei<j;ht feet lonj; and one
hundred and (iiglity feet -wide. The outside walls, whidi
are about twenty-five feet in hei<2;ht and surmounted by a
broad projecting cornice of stone, 'vvere, at the time of Mr.
Stephens' visit, still in an excellent state of ]) reservation,
and many of the interior partition walls Mere entire. This
building was of stone, with a mortar of lime and sand, the
front covered with stucco and painted. Its walls are orna-
mented Avith sculi)tures in bas-relief, representing human
figures, M'arriors exacting submission from suppliant enemies,
and priests offering sacrifices. One of these sculptures
re])resents a cross, and beside it arc two men, Avho arc
probably priests, who appear to be engaged in some religious
ceremony. All the sculj)tures are distinguished by a
profusion of ornaments, especially in the head dresses of
the figures represented. They are all well and firmly
drawn, but the pi'ofiles of the faces are remarkable for the
smallness of the facial angle and the prominence of the
nose. Hieroglyphics, similar in character to those found
at Copan, cover the walls of the ])alaces and temples.
Everywhere the Tuins give evidence of the artistic taste
and skill of their former inhabitants.

At Uxmal, in Yucatan, are the ruins of a city which
differs entirely in many respects from Copan and Palenque.
Although neither history nor tradition has preserved any
record respecting its existence, its buildings are in a much
better state " preservation than any of the other ruined
cities of Central America. One enormous building, wliich
was probably a palace, has a front three hundred and
twenty feet in length, and, when visited by Stephens thirty-
eight years ago, stood with its walls erect, almost as perfect
as when deserted by its inhabitants. It stood on three ranges

Vfii

HISTORY OK ACADIA.

of tcrracvs, the sui .mit of tlio upper raugt' hoing clovutcd
thirt\-Hve foot iibovo the ground and tlie lower range
being six luuidred feet iu length at the base. Stephens says
of it : " If it stood at this day on its grand artificial terrace
in ]Ivde Park or the (hardens of the Tuillerics, it would
forin a new order, I do not say equalling, but not unworthy
to stand side by side with the remains of Egyptian, Grecian
and Roman Art." In another place he says: "The roof
■was tight, the apartments were dry, an \ to speak luidcr-
standingly, a few thousand dollars expended in repairs
"vvould have restored it and made it iit for tliere-o(!cupatiou
of its royal owners." In one of the apartments the walls
■were coated with very fine i)laster of l*aris ; the walls of the
other ai)artments were of smooth polished stone. There
^vcre several other buildings at Uxmal in a very })erfect
condition, one of thcMU still larger than the building above
described, and all of them distinguished by one remarkable
feature. They were built t)f plain cut stone to the tops of
the doors, above them there was a rich cornice and mould-
ing, and from this to the top of the building the whole wall
was covered with rich and elaborately sculptured ornaments,
differing entirelv in character from those of any of the other
ruined cities that have been explored in modern times.
Stephens says : " The designs were strange and incompre-
hensible, very elaborate, sometimes grotescpie, but often
simple, tasteful and beautiful. Among the intelligible
subjects are squares and diamonds, with l)usts of human
beings, heads of leopards, and compositions of leaves and
flowers, and the ornament known everywhere as 'greques.'
The ornaments which succeed each other are all different;
the whole form an extraordinary mass of richness and
complexity, and the effect is both grand and curious."
* * * u rj^j^^ reader will be able to conceive the

;:■>

HISTORY OF ACADJA.

immense time, .skill and labor re(juire<l for earving such a
surface of stone, and the wealth, ])ower and cultivation of
the j)eoj)le who could command such skill and labor for the
mere decoration of their edifices. Probably all these
ornaments have a symbolical meaning ; each stone is part
of an allegory or fable hidden from us ; inscrutable under
the light of the feeble torch we may burn before it, but
which, if ever revealed, will show that the history of the
world yet remains to be Avritten." One singular circum-
stance in connection with this deserted city is the fact that
no water is to be found near it, so that water must have
been brought into it by artificial means.

While the former existence of highly civilized coinnui-
nities in ^Vmerica is thus attested, we have the additional
evidence which is furnished by the statements of contempo-
raneous Spanish Avriters as to the condition of Mexico and
Peru at the time of the conrpiest. Here Averc two empires
containing large and populous cities, with buildings of lime
and stone, painted and sculi)tured ornaments, idols, courts,
strong walls, pahuses and lofty temples. .Vt Cholula are
still to be seen the ruins of the largest j)yramid in Mexico.
It covers upwards of twenty-six acres of ground, or double
that of the largest ICgyptian pyramid, and it is one hundred
and seventy-seven feet in height. It was constructed of
alternate layers of clay and unburnt brick, divided into
four separate stages or stories, and ranged exactly in the
direction of the cardinal points. At the time of tlie
Spanish conquest this pyramid was surmounted by a
stately temple, and it was only one of many, for every city
or populous village had its temple. Bernal Diaz, himself
one of the conquerors of Mexico, speaks with enthusiasm
of its scenery. Approaching the city, he says : " We could
compare it to nothing but the enchanted scenes we had read

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

■I

of in AiiukIIs de Gaul, from the great to^ver.s and temples
and otiier edifices of lime and stone whieh seemed to rise
up out of the water." And again he says: "At the
great square -we were astonished at the crowds of j)eoi)le
and the regularity which prevailed, and the vast (piantitics
of merchandi/e." He adds that the ascent to the great
temple was by one hundred and fourteen steps, and that
from its summit could be seen the temples of the adjacent
cities, built in the form of towers and fortresses, all white-
washed and wonderfully brilliant. The noise and bustle of
the market-place could be heard almost a league off, and
"those who had been at Home and Constantino])le said that
for convenience, regularity and ])oj)ulatlon, they had never
seen the like." In addition to the knowledge of agricul-
ture, which the Mexicans possessed, they had the art of
working in metal, and their implements of bronze sui)i)lied,
in a lartje measure, the want ol' iron. Thev liad also
a considerable knowledge of astronomy, and had a solar
year more accurately calculated than that of the Greeks and
Romans. It is unnecessary to describe the institutions of
the Peruvians or their progress in the arts. They were in
some respects a more advanced peoi)le than the Mexican.s,
and the ruins of their cities, temples and highways are
wonderful monuments of the power and wealth of the Incas.
The second class of ancient remains, such as are mani-
festly the production of uncivilized races, has a very wide
distribution over the whole continent. Such remains consist
generally of axes, hatchets, }>ipes and arrow and spear
heads of stone, exhibiting nuieh mechanical skill, but little
or no knowledge of art. They are uniform in their charac-
^r throughout the whole of America, and resemble the im-
plements belonging to Avhat has been termed the stone age,
found in many parts of Europe. Some of them arc found

'^f'^

HIST

ACADIA.

■ liii

li;,:!,

on the surfiU'c of the ground, and some beneath it ; but
thase that belong to a remote age do not appear to be eithei
better or worse in ])ointof workmanslnp than those of more
modern date. They arc just such im[)lements as Mere
found in the hands of the savages of Acadia when they
were first visited by Ein'oj)eans. All along the Atlantic
coast of America from Nova Scotia to Florida are shell
heaps which mark the cam])ing grounds of the Indians
from time immemorial. Some of these shell heaps are
upwards of three feet in thickness, cover more than an
acre, and many of them are of very great antiipiity, for
when seen by the first settlers more than two centuries ago
they were covered with a heavy growth of forest trees.
Most of tlie shell lieajss that have been examined yield
implements of bone, such as arrow and spear heads and a
variety of other articles of the same material of which the use
am only be coiijecitured. The bones offish and of various
animals whicii formed the food of the Indians are also
found in them, some of them being the bones of animals
which are now extin(!t in the places where the slu.'ll heaps
are. An examination of these remains of their savage
feasts shows pretty clearly that the Indians were not very
nice in their choice of food, and that M'hile they rc^lished.
moose, bear and beaver, they would eat anything from a
dog to a rattlesnake, when hungrv. Similar shell heaps
exist in various parts of Europe, and those of Denmark
which have been carefully examined are similar in their
contents to those of America. The resemblance is strong
enough to be suggestive of a conunon origin.

The traditions of the uncivilized aborigines of America
throw no cor,si<lerablc light upon their origin, but those of
the more j)olish(!d races are deserving of more attention.
The Peruvians trace the origin of their empire to a period

^lii

•'!*

-.a
■■'I

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

four liiiiulird yours prior to the Spanisli conquest, wlicu,
according to tlioir traditions, Manco C'ai)ac and his consort
appeared atnonj^' them, and declared themselves to he the
children of the Sun, sent by their beneficent parent to
instruct them, lender their guidance they became skilled
in a<n-iculturc and the arts, and from the scattered and
barbarous tribes grew a po[)ulous and powerful em[)ire.
The Aztecs, if their traditions arc to be credited, made
their journey over from Asia by way of the Aleutian
Islands about the eleventh century, and it is well estab-
lished that they did not reach Mexico until 1824. liut they
were n(jt the first civilized inhabitants of that country.
They founded the Mexican Empire on the ruins of that of
the Toltecs, who were by far the most civilized and
ingenious people in .Vmerica of which any record has been
preserved. Thev had been in Mexico for a thousand vear.s
[)rior to the arrival of the Aztecs, and the ruined cities of
(. entral America an; believed to have been built by them.
Few of the uncivilized Indiai;. have anv traditions as to
their origin ; most oi' them, the Algoucpiins among the rest,
point to the rising Sun as the direction from which their
forefathers came, but the (Quiches alone have any definite
account of their route. According to their traditions their
ancestors came from the East, making a ])erilous journey
through fiekls of ice and in ])r(»tracted darkness. Some
have inferred from this that they must have reached
America by some ^Vrctic route.

(jreat stress has been laid on the fact of the general
similarity which all the natives of America have to each
other. It is not to be denied that all the tribes of North
American Indians have many points of resemblance, bxit,
that thev are all entirelv alike is not true. The prairie

Indians differ greatlv from the forest Indi;

ei<a

iiA'

ins.

The

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Indians of C'lililoniia and Jiritish Colinnhia have .scarooly
aiiv roKMuhlanco to the eastern nations, and it is not dilli-
cult to detect ])oints of dillerencc between tril)es wliicli are
generally hclieved to l)e closely allied in their origin, lie
that as it may, and without discussing the (|uestion of
similarity, which is at the best a very uncertain test
of origin, the crania which an examination of the Indian
graves brings to light evidently belong to ditfi-rent races.
In Peru alone an examination of the crania found ])roves
conclusively that three distinct races dwelt there which
have been dassilied as the Chincas, the Aymaraes, and the
ITuaneas. The crania of the latter offer a Aery rare and
characteristic formation, the head being flattened so that
the facial angle is very small. It is i);>s.sil)le that to some
extent this peculiarity may have been caused by artificial
])ressure, as is the case with some tribes of Indians on the
l*acilic coast at the present day; but it has nevertheless
been proved that, however this peculiarity may have been
exaggerated by art, it was a natural characteristic of the
race, llumbohk thouglit that the origin of such a custom
may be traced to the natural incliir.ition of each race to
h)()k upon their own personal peculiarities aS' the standard
of beauty. It has been already remarked that in all the
scul])tured iigures of Mexico and Central America the
facial angle is very small, for it was natural that a people
with this peculiarity, and who regarded it as a standard of
l)eauty, si)0uld represent this ty])e of forehead in an exag-
gerated form in the statues of their divinities and heroes.
No more surprise therefore need be expressed at the
extravagant forms of profile in the sculptures of Central
America, than at those of the Greek statues of their divini-
ties, which were equally untrue to nature, although in the
opposite direction.

4,.- ..

IIISTOKY OF ACADIA.

This di<>rc'.ssi()n in regard to tlie p;iMior!il suhjoct of
Anu'ricaii ArcliiOftloiry will aid tlic general roador to iindt'r-
staiid the hcariiiu's of tlii' f|UC',stion of the orij^in of the
Indian races. Jn most works "whioli j)rofess to s])cak of
the Al)ori<:;int's, a cursory jjflanco or a passing remark in
regard to the anti(iuarian remains of America, is considered
sufficient. It seem.4 to he assumed that every reader has
dived deeply into the snl)ject of American Arehteology,
Avhereas to many it is entirely new. And the suhject is a
great one, and well worthy (»f attentive study. Many
works have been written upon it to sujjport ])artieulai
theories, hut as the facts t(»sup[)ort the theories pro])ounded
liave Ik en lienerallv selected after the theories were formed,
.such works are of little vahu. It is l)etter to give a
geneial outline of the facts, as has been done here, and let
every reader think ov.er the subject for himself. It must
l)e admitted that it affords a tempting field for conjcctiu'e.

It seems to be pretty evident that all the American
natives can only be saitl to l)e of the same race, in the same
manner that all men are said to be of the same descent
from Adam, it would appear, too, that America has been
inhabited from the remotest ages, and that for many centu-
ries before its discovery, civilized communities and savage
tribes dwelt side by side. That from time to time immi-
grants have arrived from Asia by way t)f Behring's Straits,
which are only thirty-six miles in width, or l>y the
Aleutian Islands, which present an almost continuous
eliain of land from .Asia to ^Vmerica. That while an
indigenous civilization had grown up in some portions of
America, adventurers or castaways from India, or from
other ])ortions of Southern Asia, brought to its shores some
knowledge of the religion and of the arts of the ancient
continent, and that tlie (piestion — how America wa.s first

^:&

'■'hi

IIISTOKY OF A("AT)IA.

!' i

peopled — can only be solved by iv referenee to a condition
ofatriiirs which lias long ceased to exist, and is one of the
problems which ])hiI<)S(>phy has as yet left undctornnned in
connection with the nu;frations of ])rc-hist<)ric man.

The! ilcd Indians of America, instead (»f being, as has
been broadly conten(h'd, the broken and scattered remains of
nations formerly civili/c(i,aj)pear rather to be a race of men
who had attained the highest state of advancement which it
was possible for a race of imnters to reach with such imple-
ments as they possessed. AUhongh savages in their mode
of life, they were savages of the highest tyi>e, veritable
Romans in spirit, c]o(|uent, brave and honorable, with some
of the highest (pialities and virtues of civiii/ation. TiuMr
contact with white men lias not improved tiieni in a moral
point of view, although it !uis given tliem betier weapons
and more comfortable clothing. Even in the last respect
their advance has not been s(j great as might be supposed.
The axe of iron has indeed rej)hu'ed that of stone; the rifle
has su})j)lanted tlie bow and arrow; but nio<lcrn ingenuity
has not been able to devise a better vessel for the uses to
which it is ai)[)lie<l than the bark canoe, a more elfoctual
means of ranging the winter woods tiian the snow slioe, or
a more comfortable covering for the feet than that most
perfect ol'all shoes, ilui Indian moccasin.

The Indians of North America inhabiting the region
between the Missis>ii)[>i, the Ailantic, and the country of
the Es(|niinaux, \vere divided into eight great I'amilics,
each speaking a language radically distinct from all the
others. Of these, tlie Algonijuins were by far the most
numerous; thev oeeuijied iiearlv half of tlie territory east
of the ^lississippi, and extemled iVoni Labrador to North
Carolina. It is to this family lIuiL the Indians of Acadia
belouir. Wlicn tlie French i'lVi^t visited Acadia thev found

HISTOUY <)!' ACADIA.

it (lividc'cl i)i't\voen two trilu's who ditfciXMl cnnsidonibly in
liiiMHiivo and in their mode of life. The whole of the
IVninsidii of Nova S('(»tia, and the (Julf shore of New
lirnnswieU were occnpied hy the Sonri(.|Uois, which was the
tribe now known as the Mieniacs, while the Ktcheinins
oeeupied the territory iVoni the River St. John to the
KennelxH'. The latter tribe are now known as Malicites,
and thev call thenisc-lves AVabannakai, or men of the Eitst.
There is reason to believe that the Ktcheinins, or Midicites,
did not ori;^iii!dlv occupy any portion of Acadia, bnt that
thev intrnded themselves into the territorv of the Micmacs
abont the bo^innin<^ of the seventeenth centnry, and
gradually spread themselves along the Northern coast of
the Bay of Fundy and n[) the River St. John, pressing the
Micmacs back to the gulf and the peidnsnla of Nova Scotia.
The Malicites were a very warlike ])eople, much more so
than the Micmacs, and they were generally in league with
the Indians of Maine and CV.nada against the colonists of
New ICiigland.

Although tlie Indians, from their ])eculiar mode of
warfare and tlieir contempt for peaceful pursuits, were at all
times dangerous enemies, then; is reason to believe that their
numbers have been great. y exaggerated. By the census of
1871, it aj)peared that there were in New Brunswick 1403
Indians, l(i(>(i in Nova Scotia, and .'j2'"> in Prince Edward
Island, or 3392 in all. ( )f these, 503, most of whom reside
on the St. John River, may be set down as ^lalicites, so
that the Micmacs of Acadia number nearly three thousand,
which would represent a force of six hundred warriors. It
is doubtful if their numbers were e\er much greater. In
1607, when Membertou assembleil all his Micmac warriors,
from Gaspe to Cape Sable, to make war up(^n Armouehi-
quois at Saco, their whole number amounted only to four

Ill
m

•1

•i

■i!

,|: ■ ■■111

1 ■!

I'll ,,

3:1

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

huiidred. In 1694, when the Malicitos and Canibas, under
Matakando, made their grand raid on Oy.ster River and the
other settlements of New Hampshire, the whole numl)er
engaged in tlie expedition was only two hundred and fifty ;
and two years later, when Fort Nashwaak was besieged by
the English, thirty-six warriors was the whole number that
the Indian settlement of Aukpaque could s})are for the
assistance of the garrison. It appears from a memorandum
made in 1726 by Captain Gyles, who had resided many
years with the Indians, that the number from sixteen years
of age and upwards on the River St. John, Avas one hundred ;
and at Passama(juoddy, thirty. A letter written in 1753 by
Governor ITopson to the Lords of Trade states that there
Avere about three hundred families of Micmacs in the
country ; but he could not find any person Avho had been
amonirthem who liadever seen two liundred Indians under
arms together. From these statements it uv.w be safelv
inferred that the Avhole force of the Micmacs and JNIalicites
combined never exceeded seven or eigiit hundred warriors,
and that no material decrease has taken place in their
numbers since the first settlement of the country.

Excellent reasons existed to prevent the Indians from
ever becoming ver\' numerous. An imcultivated country
can only support a limited population. The hunter must
draw his sustenance from a very Avide range of territory,
and the life of hardship and privation to Avhich the Indian
is exposed, is fatal to all but tiie strongest and most hardy.
The Indians of Acadia n?ro essentially a race of hunters
and Avarriors, Ivike mCit Indian tribes, they despised
agriculture, and considered it a pursuit only fit for Avomeu
and slaves. Some of the northern Indians cultivated the
ground to a small extent, and it is certain that the Indians
of Acadia did so during the French occupation, but their

f
i \

r \

\\f.\

!■" i,

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

operations in tillage were on a very limited scale; and to
this day our Indians are averse to the steady kibor of the
field. They had no domestic animals except the dog, and
he was useful only in the chase.

During the summer the Micmacs drew a large portion of
their subsistence from the sea. Every bay and inlet
swarmed w ith fish, and there they might always reap an
unfailing harvest. The Malicites, although living inland,
were not Avithont their share of the same kind of food. Fish
were al)undaiit in every stream and river, and the salmon
was pursued M'ith torch and spear over the shallows by the
savage denizens of the St. John. In this way from one to
two hundred salmon would be sometimes taken at a time.
The Indians also used hooks of bone or shells, and lines
and nets made of a coarse kind of hemp. They had weirs,
in Avhicli they at times captured great cpiantities of fish;
but the torch and spear were their favorite implements
of fishing.

Notwithstanding the abundance of fish at certain seasons,
the savages Mere at all times principally dependent on the
forest for their food. Cxame is believed to have been nuieh
more abundant in Acadia in former times than it is now, and
about the time when dc la Tour and Charnisay were fight-
ing with each other for the possession of the country, as
many as three thousand moose skins were collected on the
St. John River each year. Wild fowl of all kinds gath-
ered in incredible numbers along tiie shores, on the marsh
lands and up the rivers. Charlevoix states that near St.
John geese laid their eggs so abundantly that they alone
might have sustained the whole population ; and the same,
according to Lescarbot, was true with regard to the St.
Croix. Denys speaks of immense flocks of wild pigeons
passing his camp on the Miramichi, every morning and

'*4

^ i

■:.,ii,i

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

evening' for oiglit dav.s to<2;ctlR'r ; and he adds, tliat it was
hardly possible to sleep for the noise made by the salmon
going over the shoals, and the innuense flocks of geese and
ducks. At JJatliurst, and all along the northern shore of
New Brunswiek, their number was such as almost to
exceed belief.

The habitations of the Indians were generally huts or
wigwams, made of })oles and covered with bark ; but in
some instances they erected dwellings of a move per-
manent character, and surrounded them with palisades,
so as to form a sort of fort. There were several structures
of this descrij)tion on the St. John in early times : one at
Aukpacpie, another at Medoetee and a third at !Madawaska.
Denys sjjcaks of a fortified dwelling which the chief of
Richibueto had erected on the shore of the Gulf, and in
which he describes him as receiving strangers, sitting on
the ground, looking like an ape with a pipe in his mouth,
and preserving his dignity by being very taciturn and
getting drunk oidy in private.

The Indians cooked their meat by broiling it on live
coals, or roasting it on a ; ort of spit in front of the fir(\ But
soup was their favorite delicacy; they boiled it in a capa-
cious wooden cauldron made out of the butt of a large tree
and hollowed out by fire. Ah such a vessel was not easily
made, they frequently regulated their camjiing ground, in
some measure, by the conveniences for establishing such a
soup-kettle. The soup was boiled by dropping red hot
stones into the cauldron, whi(!h, when cooled, were imme-
diately replaced by others hot from the fire, until the meat
was cooked. The sorp thus made was tiieir great drink,
for Denys sjiys "they drank as little water then as now;"
and he adds : " Thus they dined without care, or salt or

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

,-"'.!

pepjKT, und fiualling' dee}) draughts of good fat soup, IK'cd
long, and multiplied, aud were happy."

Yet, although at certain seasons they luxuriated in
abundance of food, at times they wore subject to the great-
est privations and on the verge of starvation. Then, no
sort of food came amiss to them ; reptiles, dogs, and ani-
mals of all sorts, were eagerly f-ouglit after and greedily
devoured ; roots"''' of various kinds were in great demand,
and, sometimes, they were forced to bf»il even the bones of
their Ibrmer feasts to a[)pease their hunger. AVild grapes,
also, it appears, formed a ])ortion of the food of the St.
John Indians.'!' This freijuent scarcity of food was in part
owiu"; to the uncertainty of the chase, but cliieflv to the
improvident habits of the Indians, who, when they had
abundance of food, gorged themsc^lves with it, and never
thought of looking for more imtil it was all gone. This
again was the result of another custom, which rccjuired all
the food obtained, either by hunting or otherwise, to be
equally divided ; so that, as the active and indolent shared
alike, all incentive to industry was taken awa}, and no
large accumulation of food ever became possible. TJie
St. John Indians were, ]ierhai)s, less o})en to this reflectioa
than most others, and with them there Avere at times some
attempts made to preserve food for future use. They pre-
served their meat by taking the flesh from the bones and

*Mrs. Uowlandsoii, wlio was captured during King Philip's war, says; "Their
chief and commonest food was (jro\ind nuts. They oat also nuts and acorns, arti-
chokes and lily roots and ground heans. They would pick up old bones and cut
them in pieces at the joints, scald them over the tiro to nuike the vermin come out,
boil them, and then drink the li()Uor."

tSce narrative of .lohn Oyles' captivity. He was taken by the Indians when the
Fort at I'eniaiiuid was captured in lilSi), and was a captive on the St. John. Kiver
nine years— six with the Indians at Medoctcc, and three with Louis d'Amonrs,
Sicur do Chauflburs at Jcniseg. The latter treated him very kindly, and linally
gave him his liberty. His narrative, which is the most valuhle contribution extant
relative to the customs of the Acadian Indians, was pui^li.shcd in Drakc'.s Tragedies
of the Wilderness, and also with Historical Notes by the author of this History.

•i\^

" /

1, ,

,i;:

1M:

m
ill

r.,:,ii

HISTORY Ol' ACADIA.

drying it in smoke, by which means it was kept sound for
months, or even years, without salt. They had a curious
Avay of drying ''orn when in the milk: they boiled it on
the car in large kettles until it became j)retty hard ; it was
then shelled from the cob Avith sharp clam siiells and dried
on bark in the sun. When thorougiily dry the kernels
shrivelled to the dimensions of a small pea, and Mould keep
for years. When boiled again they swelled as large as
when on the ear, and wxtc said by (lyles to be " incompa-
rably sweeter than any other corn."

An Indian feast, as made by the savages of Acadia two
centuries ago, was (piite diil^erent from anything to be seen
at the jiresent day. The ingredients were fish, flesh, or
Indian corn and beans boiled together. Sometimes, wlien
pounded corn was plenty, hasty pudding or porridge was
made of it. An Indian boiled a sufficient nund)er of
kettles full of food, and sent a messenger to each wigwam
door, who exclaimed : '' Kah menscoorebah," Avhich means
" I come to conduct vou to a feast." The invited y;uest
then Avould demand Avhether he nuist take a spoon or a
knife in his dish, which was a polite way of finding out
what the bill of fare Avas to be. When the guests Avere met
at the Avigwam of the host, tAvo or three young men Avere
appointed to deal out the food, Avhich Avas done Avitli the
utmost exactness in proportion to the number of each man's
family at home. When the guests Avei'c done eating, one of
the young men stood Avithout the Avigwam door, and called
out : " Mensecommock," Avhich means " Come and fetch."
This Avas the signal for the squaws to go to their 1ms-
bands, and each squaAV took the dish, Avith Avhat her
husband had left, Avhich she carried home and ate Avith her
children. Neither married Avomen nor youths under tAventy
Avere allowed to be present, but old AvidoAv squaAvs and

ill:;! I

■!■

HISTOKY UF ACADIA.

captive men were allowed to sit by the wigwam door. The
Indian men continued in the wigwam, relating their warlike
and hunting exploits, or telling comical stories. The
seniors gave maxims of prudence and grave counsel to the
young men, which were always listened to with a degree of
respect and attention not always found jn assemblies of
white men. Each spoke according to his fancy, but rules
of order Avere observed — there was no coughing down of
speakers, as in modern Houses of Parliament — and but one
spoke at a time. When every man had told his story, one
would rise up and sing a feast song, after which others
followed alternately, until the company broke up.

The taciturn and silent character of the Indians has been
so much spoken of as to have become almost proverbial,
l)ut it seems to be much less a natural quality with them
tlian is generally supposed. They are decidedly fond of
speech-making, and equally fond of telling stories of the
prowess either of their ancestors or of themselves. The
causes of their tacituvnitv will be easily understood when
it it is remembered how limited is the range of subjects on
Avhich they are able to converse. Their hunting or wai'like
exploits, and a few traditions, arc almost the only matters
on which they can s})eak. Uidike civilized men, they
know nothing of the news of the world, the teachings of
history or philosophy, or the politics and business of life.
Their education and pursuits entirely unfit them for the
discussion of a thousand questions with which civilized
men are familiar, and hence they are silent for lack of
having anything to say.

But it is as warriors that the Indians have attracted the

greatest amount of attention and won the most fame. With

the Indians, war was the object that they regarded as most

worthy of their efforts, and to be a great warrior was cheir
D

:r:^:-:^

^..^?■■■.■,v'

HISTOKY OF ACADIA.

■ijii.

■"I

■■"iiii

higliest ambition. They taught their children that valor,
fortitude and skill in war, were the noblest accomplish-
ments of a man, in which respect they resembled the ijeople
of Sparta ; but, unlike them, they did not consider that to
attain them it was necessary to sacrifice decency, honesty
and truth. In ^hese respects the uncivilized and untaught
savages were superior to the polished Greeks. Their false-
hood never passed into a proverb. They were distinguished
for their honesty. They were still more distinguished for
their chastity. There is no instance on record of any insult
being offered to a female captive by any of the Eastern
Indians, however cruelly she might otherwise have been
treated. It would be pleasant to learn the name of any
civilized people of which the same could be said. When
we read the tales of Indian atrocities in war, of the murder
of infants and mothers, of stealthy midnight marches and
barbarous assassinations, we are struck with horror and
indignation at the recital. These are proper and natural
feelings which do honor to the sensibilities of mankind.
But on turning to the other side of the picture, and reading
the bald and often distorted statements which have been
recorded of the treatment of Indians by white men, who
have themselves been the narrators of their own deeds, our
views become greatly modified. In the course of this
work, many tales of Indian cruelty and revenge will be
told, and others not less harrowing, of atrocities committed
by Englishmen and New Englanders on both the French
and the Indians. When the Pilgrim Fathers landed at
Plymouth, in 1620, they were visited by Massasoit, the
great Sachem or King of the tribes in the vicinity, and a
treaty of amity was arranged between his people and the
Colonists. During the thirty years following, Massasoit
ever remained their constant friend. When he died, his

y>i

IIISTOKY OF ACADIA.

son, Alexander, renewed the old treaties of friendship with
the New Englanders, and all went on harmoniously until
the people of Plymouth, on the pretext that he entertained
designs unfriendly to them, caused him to be ignominiously
arrested, and threatened with instant death if he did not
immediately appear before their council. The insult threw
him into a burning fever, and two days afterwards he died,
probably from natural causes, but the Indians firmly
believed that the white men had poisoned him. King
Philip, his brother and successor, with a soul rankling with
hatred, resolved to avenge the wrong. The great Indian
war of 1675 wah the result, and few civilized wars have
been undertaken for a better cause. Unfortunately for the
Indians, their enemies have been their only historians; the
records of their cruelties remain, but the wrongs which
provoked them are either untold, or are ignored and
forgotten.

The warlike weapons of the Indians before the white
men visited them consisted of bows and arrows, the latter
tipped with stone or bone, and battle-axes or tomahawks of
stone. The scalping knife was made of a sharpened bone,
or the edge of a broken silex ; the knife now used is a later
invention, which the manufacturers of Birmingham or
Sheffield were kind enough to supply their red brethren for
a consideration, in unlimited numbers, to be used on the
scalps of their white brethren in America. The introduc-
tion of fire-arms quickly supplanted the bow and arrow,
and the tomahawk of later times was made of iron and
steel. Before they became demoralized by contact with
civilization, the Indians, previous to going to war, were in
the habit of informing their enemies of the fact by sending
some symbol to put them on their guard. When, in 1622,
Canonicus proposed to go to war with the Plymouth colony,

'. <■

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

he sent his defiance in the shape of u bundle of arrows
tied up in the skin of a rattlesnake. Later, it is to be
feared, that the sendin<r of a declaration of war was some-
times forgotten. IJefore starting, they always had a feast
of dog's flesh, which they believed made them eonragecms,
and a war-dance, at which the older warriors excited and
stinudatcd the others to engage in the pro])()sed enter})rise
by dancing in a sort of frenzy to the music of a (.Irum, and
by the recital of their former deeds in war. Everything
being ready, the expedition started. While in friendly ter-
ritory they divided into small parties for the convenience of
hunting ; but when they reached the enemy's frontier they
went in close array, and in silence. To conceal their
numbers, sometimes they marched in single file, each one in
the track of his [)redecessor. Every device that their in-
genious minds could suggest was employed to outwit and
surprise the enemy. They enticed them into ambuscades,
or waylaid and scalped them while i)assing in fancied
security.* If no straggling [)arties of the enemy were met
with, they sought one of his principal villages, which they
attacked under cover of the darkness ; a general massacre
ensued, and those who were so unfortunate as to be, taken
alive were carried btick with them to die by lingering tor-
ments. It sometimes hapi)ened that captives were not thus
treated, but were adopted into the tribe and made to supply
the place of some dead warrior. Their fiite was deter-
mined by a (council, and in any case, Avhether they were to
be tortured to death or adopted as brothers, they were

!i:l

* A remarkable instance of Indian strategy was a trick played by the Catawbas
on tiio Caugnawagas early in the last century. They crept near the hunting camps
of the latter, and lay in ambush, and, in order to decoy the Caugnawagas out, sent
two or three Catawbas in the night past their camp with buffalo hoofs fixed on their
feet. In the morningthe Caugnawagas followed the track, fell into the snare, ami
many were killed.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

roquirod to pass throuf>;h the ordoal. This, with the
Inxiuois, consisted in the captive ririning between a double
file of the warriors and being beaten by each as h(> passed.
The Acadian Indians had a different system of torture;
the captive was held up in the arms of four Indians, and
then allowed to drop on his ba(^k on the ground, and in
this way tortured luitil the cinuiit of the large wigwam,
some thirty or forty feet long, was completed. Sometimes
he was beaten with whi])s, or shaken head downwards.
The squaws always took a great interest in these proceed-
ings, and w(>rc more cruel than the men. They seemed to
regard the torturing of prisoners as their share in the glory
of a victory over the enemy. "When a ca})tive was con-
demned to death, he Avas mutilated with knives, tortured
in every conceivable way, and burnt at the stake ; but if
adopted by the tribe, no distinction was ever made between
him and the rest. He became, to all intents and purposes,
one of themselves, and shared equally with them, as well
in the pleasures and abundance, as in the misfortunes and
privations of the tribe.

When a young Indian considered his acquirements and
worldly possessions would admit of it, he generally began
to look for a Avife. If he possessed a canoe, gun and am-
munition, spear, hatchet, a moonodah, or pouch, looking-
glass, paint, pipe, tobacco, and dice bowl, he was looked
ui)on as a man of wealthy and very eligible for a husband.
A squaw who could make pouches, birch dishes, snow-
shoes, moccasins, string wampum beads, and boil the
kettle, was considered a highly accomplished lady. The
courtship was extremely simple and short. The lover,
after advising with his relations as to the girl he should
choose, went to the wigwam where she was, and if he liked
her looks, ossed a chip or stick into her lap, which she

k.S'X

• mHi

■'Is?!

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

would take, and, after looking at it with well-feigned
wonder, if she liked her lover's looks, would toss it back
to him with a sweet smile. That was the signal that he
was acccptetl. But if she desired to reject him, she threw
the chip aside with a frown. The marriage ceremony
varied greatly with different tribes, and with most there
was no ceremony at all. It is not known that any sjxjcial
marriage ceremony existed among the Indians of Acadia.
The religious views of the Indians of Acadia were of
the most vague and indefinite character. Champlain de-
clares that they had no more religion than the beasts they
hunted. But it is certain that they believed in a future
state of existence, and that they were in the habit of mak-
ing offerings to departed or unseen spirits. Their system
of theology was a structure founded on superstition, for the
Indians were the most superstitious of men. They placed
implicit faith in the incantation of jugglers ; they believed
in invisible spirits, some good and some bad, who dwelt in
the winds and in the water. But as courage in war and
skill in the chase were their standards of virtue, their reli-
gious views had little influence on their moral conduct.
Their paradise was merety a ])lace of sensual enjoyment,
where hunger and fatigue were unknown. There was
nothing ennobling or exalted in their system of theology —
nothing which appealed to the higher nature of man.*

• To illustrate the views which they entertain«d in regard to objects of devotion,
I may mention a circumstance related by Denys. At the time La Tour had hia
fort at St. John a singular tree, about the thickness of a barrel, was from time to
time visible in the Falls : it floated upright, and sometimes was not seen for several
days. This was considered a proper object of worship by the Indians. They called
it Manitou, and made offerings of beaver skins to it, which they fixed on it by means
of arrow heads. Denys states that he has seen it, and that La Tour allowed ten of
his men to try to drag it out by means of a rope which they attached to it, but were
unable to move it. No doubt the ingenious La Tour had anchored the tree there
himself, and history is silent in regard to who gathered the beaver skins froip th»
Manitou.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Their funeral ceremonies were of a touching character.
When the head of a family died there was great weeping
and sorrowing for three or four days. The faces of the
friends were besmeared with soot, which was the common
symbol of grief. At the proper time a funeral oration
was ])ronounced, in which the genealogy of the deceased
was recited, and the great and good actions of his life, his
dinners and feasts, his adventures in war and in the chase
recounted. On the third day a feast was held as a recogni-
tion of the great satisfaction which the deceased was
supposed to feel at rejoining his ancestors. After this the
women made a garment, or winding sheet, of birch bark,
in which he was wrapped and put away on a sort of scaffold
for twelve months to dry. At the end of that time the
body was buried in a grave, in which the relatives at the
same time threw bows, arrows, snow-shoes, darts, robes,
axes, pots, moccasins and skins. Denys states that he has
seen furs to the value of a thousand francs thrown in, which
no man dared to touch. Once he had a grave on the Gulf
shore opened, and he showed the savages that the skins
were rotten, and the copj^er pot all covered with verdigris.
They only remarked that the pot was dead too, and that its
soul had gone with the soul of their friend, who Avas now
using it as before.

Lescarbot gives an account of the funeral obsequies of
Pennoniac, a Micmac chief, who was killed by the Armou-
chiquois in 1607. He was first brought back to St. Croix,
where the savages wept over his body and embalmed it.
They then took it to Port Royal, where, for eight days,
they howled lustily over his remains. Then they went to
his hut and burnt it up with its contents, dogs included, to
prevent any quarrelling among his relatives as to the pro-
perty. The body was left in the custody of the parents until
Spring, when he was bewailed again, and finally laid in a

■'■j-'^

rj(j

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

new gravo near Vi\]Hi Sahlo^ along with many piixs, knives,
axes, otter skins and pots.

lief'ore sotting forth on any exjMnlition the Indians wonld
hold a pow-wow, at which certain secret ccr"inonies were
periornu'd Cor the pnrpose of discovering whether they
would meet with success or failure. They had a respect
for the devil, whi(!h was quite natural, considering the
character of some of their actions ; and the fear of ghosts,
goblins, and evil spirits, was contiinially before their eyes.
Perhaps their solitary wanderings through the forest were a
means of instilling into their minds the extreme dread of
the su])ernatnral which infected them. They were in the
habit of making sacrifices when in difHculty or danger to
the spirit or demon which they desired to ju'opitiate. A
dog was regarded as the most valuable sacrifice, and if, in
crossing a lake, their canoe was in danger of being over-
whelmed bv the winds ii nd waves a d()<r was thrown
overboard, with its fore paws tied together, to satisfy the
hunger of the angry Manitou. They were continually on
the watch for omens, and easily deterred from any enter-
prise by a sign which they regarded as unfavorable. A
hunter would turn back from the most i)romising expedition
at the cry of some wild animal which he thought was an
omen of failure in the chase. The same superstitions
prevail among them to the present day.* •

* A j,'0(>(l story, in illustration of Indian superstition, is told by Mr. E. Jack, of
Fri'dcricton. He was on a surveying journey, and had encamped near Mount
Porcupine, in Charlotte County. One of his men, named Smith, had ascended the
mountain to look for pine, and on his return told Saugus, an Indian, who was witli
the party, that ho saw an old man on the mountain, twelve feet high, with one
eye, who called to him, " Where i.s Saugus? I want to eat him." Poor Saugus was
much terrified at the intelligence. During the night an owl commenced to hoot
over the camp, and filled Saugus with such consternation that he woke up Mr.
Jack to say that " Smith's old man"' was coming. Next morning, Mr. Jack ofTered
Saugus two dollars to go up to the mountain for a knife which Smith had left stick-
ing in a spruce tree, but Saugus was not to be tempted by the bribe to take such a
dangerous journey.

HISTORY OK ACADIA.

The Iiuliiins, Intni their simple iikkIc of lito iuul abuiicl-
ant exercise, were not exposed to iiiaiiy diseases wliieli are
known to eivilized men. Jiut some of their niahidies were
extremely fatal. Their iiiujertain means of .snhsistenee,
sometimes exposed to starvation, and at other timen indulj:;-
ing in great excesses, undermined their constitutions and
sowed the seeds of disease. Consumption, pleurisy, asthma
and paralysis, the result of the fatigue and hardships of the
chase, also carried olf great numbers of them ; and at times,
epidemics of an unknown and mysterious nature swept
them away by thousands. For three or four years j^revlous
to the landing of the Pilgrim I'^ithers, a deadly pestilence
raged along the seaboard from Penobscot to Narraganset
Bay. Some tribes were nearly destroyed. The Massaclui-
setts wei'c reduced from three thousand to three hundred
figiiting men ; and ninny districts which had been popu-
lous, Avere left without a single inhabitant. What the
disease was Avliich then swept over the land (;an, of course,
never be ascertained. In 1004 another terrible visitation
of the same nature swept over Maine and Acadia. At
Pentagoet great lunnbers died of it, and it carried off the
Chief of the Kiver Saint John and vast numbers of others.
At Medoctec alone, over a hundred persons died, and so
great was the terror caused by the ])lague that the Indians
deserted that village entirely and did not settle there again
for many years. The symptoms, as described by Gyles,
who was an eye witness, \vere — that a person seemingly in
perfect health would commence bleeding at the mouth and
nose, turn blue in spots, and die in two or three hours.*
Strange to say, the disease was at its worst during the

•The .symptoms of Uie plague which jirevails in ICgypt are somewhat similar.
The most fatal symptom is violent hleedhiK at tlu' nose, and tliose thus taken are
never known to recover.— £ato;'jt Albert j\'' yanza,p. 383.

't;

'■''f'A

sip

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

winter. No such plague appears to have visited Acadia
since that time; yet, unlike all other races, the Indians
rather diminish than increase in numbers. Nor is it diffi-
cult to ascertain the cause. All over America, whether
the white man is a friend or an enemy, the red man fades
before him. Peace is not less fatal than war to the savage :
in the latter, he is shot down with an unsparing hand ; in
the former, he is demoralized and degraded by vicious
customs : exposed to temptations he has no power to resist,
which enervate his frame and end in misery and dea^h.
Every tree which is felled in the forest reduces the area of
the hunting grounds which he inherited from his fathers,
and on which his existence depends. Every mill which
attests the energy and industry of his white brother is an
additional omen of his extinction. Every day he sees the
girdle of fields and meadows narrowing the circle of his
hopes. Driven back, mile by mile, whither shall he at
last retire ? He is a stranger and an alien in his own land
— an outcast, robbed of his birthright by a stronger race.
He and his tribe are but a feeble few, and their efforts
avail nothing against the ceaseless advance of the pale
faced race, who come welded together into a resistless
phalanx by the iron hand of civilization.

.■<«.

CHAPTER III.

champlain's discoveries, and the island of
saint croix.

Towards the close of the sixteenth century France had
attained a degree of internal tranquillity which gave the
nation some leisure for the pursuit of pacific enterprises.
Henry IV. Avas on the throne, and that large-minded and
truly great King was doing his utmost to increase the pros-
perity of his country by the husbanding of its resources,
the improvement of agriculture, and the extension of com-
merce. Guided by his strong and vigorous hand, the nation
rapidly recovered from the effects of its former misfortunes;
trade flourished, wealth increased, and luxury followed in
their train. It was at this jjeriod that those enterprises for
the colonization of North America — which had been aban-
doned under the pressure of civil commotion — began to be
renewed. Indeed it was necessary for France to be on the
alert, for English adventurers were scouring every sea, and
the work of planting English colonies was being carried on
with vigor under royal auspices. The time had come for
the commencement of the great contest between the rival
nations for the rich Empire of the west. Yet it would be
extremely absurd to suppose that either the English or
French colonizers of America had any conception of the
grand destiny of the S-ates whose foundations they helped
to lay. Extensive colonial empires were things which had
not in Europe at that day been recognized as practicable.
It was rather to gather the abundance of the land, than to
found empires on its soil, that brought Europeans to Ame-

v;-.^:

\ 1 - N^it)/^

. . . >

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

rica, and those who were prepared to make themselves
permanent liomcs in the new world were chiefly men who
expatriated themselves in consequence of civil or religious
persecution, or because of loss of fortune.

The first essay of France towards colonizing North Ame-
rica gave little promise of success. In 1599 Pontgrave, a
rich merchant of Ht. Malo, conceived the plan of obtaining
j^jossession of a monopoly of the fur trade on the coast, and
fitted out a small bark for a voyage up the St. Lawrence.'
xle induced Chauvin,* a captain in the French navy, who
had served in the late wars, and had influential friends at
Court, to enter into his schemes, and obtained from the
King a patent with the same ])Owers Avhich had formerly
been granted to l)e la Roche. Chauvin set sail for America,
and reached Tadoussac, where he attempted to establish
a trading post. But his men came near dying of hunger
during the Avinter, and but for the savagas, who took com-
passion on their sufferings and supplied them with food, all
must have perished. Chauvin abandoned Tadoussac in the
Spring, but afterwards made another voyage to that place,
in whicli he was accompanied by Pontgrave and other
gentlemen. In 1602, while preparing for a third expedi-
tion, he suddenly died.

After the death of Cliauvin, Eymard de Chaste, Cheva-
lier of Malta, Commander of Lormetan, Grand Master of
the Order of St. Lazarus, and Governor of Dieppe,
obtained the same commission which Chauvin had held.
To provide for the expense of another expedition, an asso-
ciation was formed consisting of many gentlemen and the
principal merchants of Rouen, and others. Pontgrav6 was
chosen to conduct the vessels to Tadoussac, and Samuel

* Chauvin was a native of Normandy, and a Huguenot,

i''

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Chumplain, ;i captain of approved intolligenco and courage,
went witli liini. They set sail in 1603, and ascended the
St. Lawrence as far as the Sault St. liOuis. It appears that
at this period Hochelaga, which had been the residence of
the powerful Hurons in Carticr's time, had fallen into such
decay that they did not even visit it. Champlain discov-
ered, however, that Montreal was an island, and drew a
chart of the river, which Avas presented to the king on his
return. In the meantime I)c Chaste had died. His zeal
in the cause of colonization, and his powerful influence,
made his loss a severe blow to the adventurers; but the
mantle which had fallen from his shoulders Avas destined to
grace another C(pially worthy, and the schemes of coloniza-
tion, which he had meditated, to be pursued to a successful
termination.

Among the persons who had accompanied Chauvin and
Pontgrave tc» Canada, was a gentleman of the bed-chamber
of King Henry IV., named De Monts, a much attached
follower of the monarch, and one who had done him good
service in the wars. He had been struck with the advan-
tages which nn'ght be derived from a vigorous prosecution
of the fur trade, and still more by the fitness of New
France for a Royal Colony. Although Tadoussac had a
favorable position as a depot for the trade, he discerned in
Acadia, with its milder climate and more fertile soil, a more
suitable place for a colony of farmers, and, with the bold
grasp of a man Avho felt himself e(pial to the task of
establishing the power of his country in America, he re-
solved to combine both schemes in one, and to make the
peltry trade and the colony mutually assist and support
each other. That he was a person in every way fitted to
accomplish the object which he proposed, has been admitted
by the imited voice of contemporary writers. He was

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

distinguished for his great talents and wide experience.
To the accomplishments of a soldier, lie added the tact of
a statesman. He was ever zealous for the glory of his
country, and upright in his views. He was also, what was
equally necessary for the founder of a colony, incorruptibly
honest and firm in his resolves. That he was a Protestant
perhaps detracted something from his influence as the
founder of a Catholic colony; but that fact has Iwen so far
useful to his reputation by making his just dealing and
integrity under trying circumstances the more conspicuous.
That he did not succeed in all his undertakings, must be
attributed partly to the fact that he was often badly served,
partly to inexperience, the result of want of knowledge of
the country, and partly to fortune. Nothing can rob him
of the honor of being the founder of the first permanent
settlement in the Canadian Dominion, and his name will
go down to posterity with that distinction attached to it as
long as its people take an interest in their country's early
history. He obtained from the King, on the 8th Novem-
ber, 1603, a patent constituting him Lieutenant General
of the Territory of Acadia, between the 40th and 46th
degrees of latitude, with power to take and divide the land,
to create officesof war, justice and policy; to prescribe laws
and ordinances; to make war and peace; to build forts
and towns, and establish garrisons. He was also directed
to convert the savages to the Christian religion; and in
fine, to use the words of the commission, " to do generally
whatsoever may make for the conquest, peopling, inhabit-
ing and preservation of the said land of Acadie." The
association formed by his predecessor, De Chaste, being still
in existence, De Monts induced many wealthy merchants
of Rochelle and other places to join it, and on December
8th, 1603, obtained from the King letters patent granting

i illJi

1 f

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

to him and his associates the exclusive right to trade with
the savages in furs and other articles between Cape de
Raze* and the 40th degree of latitu ie, for ten years. Four
ships were then made ready for a voyage to his new gov-
ernment, and many gentlemen, induced by curiosity to see
the new world, or moved by a desire to make it their
home, came forward and volunteered to accompany him.
The most distinguished of these was a gentleman of Picar-
die, named Jean de Biencourt, Baron de Poutrincourt, who
wished to remove with his family to Acadia. He was
highly esteemed by the King as a brave soldier, and
proved a most valuable addition to the colony.

Champlain was the person chosen to conduct the vessels
to Acadia, and he gladly consented to perform the service.
This illustrious man, who has left his name for ever insep-
arably connected with the history of Canada, had even then
earned a good title to be called an experienced voyager.
He was remarkable, not only for his good sense, strong
penetration and upright views, but for his activity, daring,
firmness, enterprise, and valor. He had a natural gaiety of
spirit, which made him at all times a cheerful companion,
and no one understood better than he how to make the
irksome tediousness of a long residence on shipboard
endurable for those under his command. His zeal for the
interest of his country was ardent and disinterested ; his
heart was tender and compassionate, and he was thoroughly
unselfish. He was a faithful historian, intelligent and ob-
servant as an explorer, and an experienced seaman. But,

* Cape de Raze, no doubt, means Cape Race, It is so marked on the old maps.
This grant seems never to have been seen by Charlevoix, for he describes it as
extending from the 40th to the 54th degree. The words are, " Depuis le Cap de
Raze jusqu'au quarantieme degre comprevant toute la coto de I'Acadie, terra et
Cap Breton, bale de Saint [illegible], de Chaleur, isles percees Gaspay, Chichedec,
Mesamichi, Lesquemin, Tadoussac et la riviere de Canada, tant d'un cote que
d'autre et toutes les bales et rivieres qui entrant au de ^ans desdites costes."

. . % i
'.■■■",'^<

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

porhap.s, tlie strongest and noblest feature of his eliariietcr
was liis untiring zeal for the propagation of the Ciiristian
religion among the savages. To accomplish this end, he
was ready to encounter difficulties, dangers, and death. No
Jesuit father was ever imbued with a more resolute
missionary spirit. It was a common saying of his, "that
the salvation of one soul was of more value than the con-
quest of an empire," and " that kings ought not to think
of extending their authority over idolatrous nations, excejit
for the jmrpose of subjecting them to Jesus Christ." For
thirty years, often with slender resources, but always with
untiring energy, he toiled to extend the possessions of his
country in America, and to convert the savages; and it has
been truly said that " when he died, Canada lost her best
friend." Of the four vessels which De INIonts and his
associates had provided, one Avas ordered to Tadoussao, to
prosecute the fur trade. Another, under Pontgrave, whose
zeal in voyages to the new world nothing could tame, was
sent to Canso, to scour the straits between Cape Breton and
the island of St. John, for the purpose of driving those
away who might venture to interfere with the fur trade.
The other two vessels, under the immediate command
of De Monts liimself, formed the main expedition, and
were for the purpose of conveying the colony which
was destined to carry the arts of civilization to the shores
of Acadia. The colonists numbered about one hundred
and twenty persons, consisting of artizans, agriculturists,
priests. Huguenot ministers, and gentlemen. They were of
both religions — Catholic as well as Protestant — but the
former were the more numerous. Champlain believed that
in this mixture of religions there would be a source of diffi-
culties for the colony, but none of a serious nature arose
from this cause. Everything that the ingenuity of that

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

day coulcl suggest avjis (Ioik.' to t'n^^nrc suoeoss. Tools of all
kinds were provided in ahnndancc, huilding materials were
also taken, and arms and annnunition -wore supplied in
suificient (piantities for any possible contingeney. The
o?dy thing wanting Avas knowledge of the dini{!ulties i'roni
climate and other causes, against wiiich they Mould reijulre
to ])rovide, but that knowledge Avas only to be gained
in th(.' rude school of experience.

Do Monts set sail from Havre dc Grace on the 7tli
March, 1(j04, leaving his consort, conmianded by Captain
Morrcl, mIhcIi contained most of the implements and
provisions for the -winter, to follo^v him. The vessels
were to meet at Canso, but De Monts made a bad land-fall,
was driven too i'ar to the south, and in a month from the
day of his departure, found himself off Cape la Have. In
the first harbor he entered he found a vessel engaged
in trading in violation of his monopoly. This vessel he
seized and confiscated, but lie perpetuated the name of his
victim by calling the harbor where the seizure was made
Port Rossignol, after the master of the vessel. Passing to
the westward he entered a harbor which he named Port
iSIouton, to preserve the memory of another victim, an
unfortunate sheep which fell from the vessel and was
(h'owned. By this time they had grown weary of life on
board a ship, and De Monts lamled his company and sent
exploring parties east and west, to see if a suitable place
for a settlement could be found. In the meantime he had
become anxious at the delay in the arrival of his consort,
which had not yet appeared. Finally she was discovered
near Canso, and her stores brought from her by the aid oi
the Indians, Avith whom he was on excellent terms, and
whose families he in the interval fed. Morrcl then,
E

'i^

■f. ■ %;

/ ■

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

havliifi; received his instriurtioiis, j)roeeedc(l with his vessel
to Tadoussac.

The ex|iloring ])arties sent out ))y De Monts liaving
foiHul 110 suitabh;; phiee for tiic colony, they again euiharked
and sailed to the south-west. Following tlu! coast as
closely as they could with safety, they j)assed on, and,
rounding Cape Sable, entered the Bay of Fundy. This
Dc Monts named le grand Eaic I^-anyoiso, a name which it
retained until the English got possession of the country.
They next entered St. Mary's Bay, to which De, Monts gave
the name it still bears, and finding the country pleasant,
anchored and sent out exploring pai-ties. There was on
board the ship a priest from Paris, named Aubrey, a man
of good family, who being an active, intelligent })erson,
and a naturalist of some ability, was in the habit of Uuiding
with the exploring parties to examine the productions
of the country. While at St. Mary's Bay, he went out as
usual with one of the parties, but his companions were
dismayed on their return to the vessel to discover that he
was still absent. Guns were fired from the vessel to guide
him in case he had lost his way, but night came and passed
without any sign of his return. For four days the woods
were searched in all directions without finding any traces of
the wanderer, until hope died, and it was the opinion of all
that he was no longer living. Then indeed a horrible
suspicion of foul play disturbed, for the first and last time,
the harmony of the two religious parties which composed
the colony. One of those who had been with him was a
Protestant. He and the lost Aubrey had been heard to
dispute on religious matters, high words had passed between
them, and zealous friends of the missing man searched
their memories to recall some word or look of his rival in
the controversy, which could be strained into evidence of

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

<)7

revongf! and assassiiiiition. To tho honor of" tliat company,
1)0 it said, that thougli crnolly suspectod, no violence was
done him, bnt it was with bitter hearts they sailed out of
the Bay of St. Mary.

But this ijcloom was soon disi)ell('d. Scarci^ a score of
miles from the scene of their mournful adventinc, they
entered a narrow channel, between two lofty hills, and
found themselves sailinj^ in a sjjacions basin souk; leatjues
in extent. All around them were vast woods, covering
elevations which uradtially grew to lie mountains as tliey
receded from the sea. I^ittle rivers added their contribu-
tion of waters to the great basin, and the wide meadows
beyond s(!emed like a sea bearing a forest on its breast.
This noble harbor fdlcd Champlain with admiration, and
struck by its si)aciousness and security, he gave it the name
of Port Royal. He found that a large river flowed into
the basin from the eastward, and was divided at its en-
trance by an island, within which a vessel might anchor
in deep water. Champlain ascended it as far as his boats
could go, which was fourteen or fifteen leagues, and he
gave it the name of River de I'Esquille,* from a fish of

*Chaini)lain describes the river thus: — •' I iiauieii it I'ort Uoyal, to whii;lj de-
scends three streams, one sufBciently largo, drawing from tlie east, called tho river
of the lCsii\iille, which is a little tish the length of a span, which they catc» in
(inantities, also jilenty of herring, and many other sorts of fish, which arc abundant
in their season. This river is almost a quarter of a league wide at its entrance,
wherein there is an island which is about half a league in circuit, filled with wood
like tlie rest of the land, as pines, firs, vines, birches, aspens, and some oaks, which
are, with the other frees, in small numbers. There are two entrances to the said
river, one to the north and tho other to the south of the island. That to the north
is the best, where vessels may lie at anchor sheltered by the island in o, (J, 7, 8 and
9 fathoms of water, but must take care of some shoals which are joined to the
i.sland and the main laud, very dangerous if you do not observe tho channel. 1
went 14 or 15 leagues to where the tide flows and could not go further into the
interior on account of the navigation. lu this place it is 60 paces in width, and
has a fathom and a half of water. * * Within the harbor is another island,
distant from the first about two leagues, where there is another small river which
goes some distance inland, which I named the river St. Anthony. Its entrance is
distant from the head of St. Mary's Bay about four leagues by traveling through
the vooda."— Champlain, Vol. I, pp. 70, 71, 72.

IIISTOKY OK ACADIA.

!1 ,■

that iiiinu', will) which it iilKniiidcd. To another river,
lower <h)\vii the basin, he j^ave the name of St. Anthony.
When lh(!y hmded they lonnd that the fertility of tlic soil
and the variety ol' i(s natural pnxhietions did not deceive
their expectations. The* woods were composed of oaks,
ash, birelies, pines and iirs; the basin swarmed with lish,
and tiu' meadows werc! luxuriant witli };rass. They visited
a ])oint of land near the junction of the main river which
Howed into the basin and a smaller tributary which entered
it from the south, a place long destined to be memorable as
the seat of French power in Acatlia." I'outrincourt was
so charmed with tlu- beauty of Port IJoyal and its sur-
roundings that he resolved to make it iiis home, and
requested a grant of it from I3e Monts, which he received,
coupled with the condition that during the ensuing ten
years he should bring out to it from I'Vance a sufKcient
junnber of other families to inhabit and cultivate the place.
In 1607 this grant was confirmed by the King.

Leaving behind them the beautiful basin of Port Royal,
they again set sail in (piest of further discoveries and
followed the coast towards the cast. Champlain's sim})le
and truthful narrative of the voyage makes it ])ossible to
follow his track almost with the accuracy of an actual
observer of his movements. They came in sight of Cape
Chigneeto, which Cham])lain named the Cape of two Bays,
because it was the western extren)ity of the land which
divides Chigneeto Bay from the Basin of ISlines. They
observed the lofty island which lies oft' from the Cape, and
to this, in (;onsequence of its elevation, the name of Isle
Haut was given. They landed on its solitary shore, seldom
even at the present day profaned by the presence of man,
and climbed to its sunniiit. There; they found a spring of

* This was afterwards the site of the town of Port lloyal.

'ifl

iriHTOliY OF ACADIA.

Hi)

(Icli^litf'iil wiitcr, and in aiiotlicr plncc iiulicatiuiis of copper.
I'^roin this island tiicy went to Advocate JIarhor, a natural
haven, hut dry at low water, and one \vhich seems to have
struck Chaniplain's fancy much, for he has left sailinj»-
directions foi- enter! ni;' it. .\t the clilf beyond it, which i.s
now named ("ape d'Or, they found anotiier copper nnne,
which has heen often explored since hut never \v(»rl<e(l with
HU(!cess. They then sailed eastward as far as Partridtrc
Island, Parrshoro, observed the remarkable rise and fall of
the tides, and discovered the river by which the Indians
reached the J>asin of iMine.i from Traeadie, Miramichi, and
other ])arts of the Gull' of fSt. Ijawrence.* At Partridge
I.sland C-liampdore discovered sonic rude amethysts ; one
larire cluster was divided between De Monts and Poutrin-
court, wiu) afterwards set the stones in ^ol<l and j>;ave them
to the Kinji; and (iueen. Champlain, n(»twithstandin}i; the
richness of the land in minerals, was discoura,i:;e(l by the
forbiddinjj; aspect of its rock-bound shore, and he has
recorded in his book his unfavorable opinion of its soil.

The voyagers then crossed the ]iay of Chigne(!to, and
arrived at Quaco, where they hmded and found indications
of iron, and passing to the westward reached a fine bay
wdiich contained three islands and a rock, two bearing
a league to the west, and the otlier at the mouth of a river,
the largest and deepest they had yet seen. This Chaniplaiii
named the Kiver St. John, because they arrived there on
the day of St. John the Baptist. By the Indians it
was called the Ouygoudy.f It has been generally stated
by those who have written on the subject, and accepted as
true, that Champlain on this occasion ascended and explored

♦This stream is now called Partridge Island River; from it, by a short portage,
the Indians passed to the river Ilebert, which flows into Cumberland Bay.

t Wigoudi would probably better express the Indian pronunciation of the name
of this river. It means a highway.

'.i

i 'M

;-|^

HISTORY OK ACADIA.

s \

t}ie St. .John River, l)ut it is quite clear that he did
not. No siK'h Htiitement is to ho t'ound in liis I)ook, and
8n(!h an important expedition wonld not have heen passed
over in silence. Lescarbot states, nnd his authority eainiot
be impeached, that the expedition for th(! exploration of
the iSt. John was undertaken in lOOH, or foin* years later.
Chaniplain }i;ives a mimite account of the Falls at the
month of the St, John and of the mode of passing them,
and also some account of the river ahove, hut the latter wa«
doubtless furnished to him by Champdore, who visited the
river in 1608. He states that the Falls being passed, the
river enlarged to a league in (!ertain {)Iac!es, and that there
were thret; islands, near which there were a great quantity
of meadows and handsome woods, such as oaks, beeches,
butternuts, and vines of the wild grape. The inhabitants
of the coinitry, he says, went by the river to Tadoussac on
the great river St. Lawrence, and had to pass over
but little land to reach that ])lace. Shallo])s could only
ascend fifteen leagues on account of the rapids, Mhich could
only be navigated by the canoes of the savages. Such an
account, though correct enough in some ])artieulars as
regards the width of the river, the islands near Oak
Point, which are those which are evidently meant, and
the wild grapes which they j)roduce is manifestly not the
result of Cham|)lain's personal observation. He was too
ac(!urate and ])ainstaking to have erred so grossly as to
think that the stresim was only navigable for lifteen leagues
by shallo))s, in consequence of the rapids. Some less
conscientious lieutenant must be credited with the mis-
statement.

If it were possible to bring together but for a moment
the pjist and the present, and to place the scene as it was
viewed by Chaniplain, and as it is to-day, side by side, we

IHSTOKY OF ACADIA.

should Ih' al)I(' to rcali/c nioro clcarlv than aiiv lu'ii can
(k'scrihc how vastly the face of iiatnrc may hv changed hy
the inchistry of man. Could Champhiin, as he ^iv/x'd on
the eedar-clad rocks which surrounded tlie harbor of St.
John, have looked into the future with the eye of proplieey,
it would have taken nothint; less than a Divine revelation
to induce liin) to helieve that his vision would ever come to
pa.ss. He would have seen himself surrounded hy unheard
of scenes and unknown inventions. Here and there a
ji'liiiipscof the primeval rock niif^ht fori", moment streufijthen
his faith that the busy city before him stocKl on th(( banks
of his own St. John, but the snorting locomotive, the
splashing steand)oat and the clashing sound of strange
machinery would have sadly tried his belief. And if,
indeed, he trusted his vision, and saw with complacent
eyes the flourishing conmnniity which had grown on the
place of his discovery, Jiis mind would be (Mubittered by the
reflection that his own countrvnien had lost the fair heritage
to which he had jjointed the way, and had been supplanted
by an alien race, speaking a strange tongue, who valued
little the memory of tlie man wlu) had been the first to
treiid theii' shores.

Leaving tlie River St. John, C'hamplain sailed to the
west, and came in sight of four islands, now called the
Wolves, but which he named Isles aux Margos, from the
great number of birds which he found on them. The
young l)irds, he says, were as good to eat as pigeons. He
sjiw an island six leagues in extent, which was called by
the savages INIanthane. He presently found himself sailing
among islands, of which the number was so great that he
could not count them, many of them veiy beautiful, and
abounding in gootl harbors. They were all in a cul de sac,
which he judged to be fifteen leagues in circuit. The bays

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

ill

and |)iissag(\s between the islands abonnded wii'i fisli, and
the v()yajj!;('rs eaiight great niuubers of them. ]jut the
season was advancing, and De ^Fonts was anxious to find
some ]»la('e wliere he might settle his colony, now grown
weary oi' the shij), and eager i'or a more active life. Jn this
l)eautif'nl archipelago he saw that, whatever might be their
success in agricultural oj)erati()ns, the abuiuu nre of fish
would always make their means of subsistence sure, and as
this was a central point from which he cotdd hold inter-
eourst' with the Fudians, he sought for a proper ])lace on
whi( h to erect a fort and dwelling. He finally fixed upon
an island in the St. Croix lliver, a few miles above St.
Ajidrews, as his liead-quarters, and there conuuenced pre-
paratic's for making it a permanent settlement. Looking
at his selection now by the light «»f conmiou experience hi.s
choice of a locality scenes to li:ive been a luost unwise one;
but his error may well be excused, cor.sidering his want of
knowledge of the country and climate. To this island,
■\vliich is now known on the iiia]»s as Doucett's Island, lie
gave the name of St. Croix. Us position lias been the
subject of nuicli controversy, but that has only been so
because national boundaries depended on the determination
of its locality. The description given of it by Champ'uin
and Lescarbot are so full and exact that any stranger taking
them in his hand could easily identify it — for it liad
peculiarities in shape and surroundings which could
scarcely be found in any other island on the coast of Ame-
rica, (piite independently of its latitude, which is accurately
stated by Chani})lain.

De Monts lost no time in commencing the erection of
suitable buildings for his colony, and in the mean time an
event (K-curred ■\vhieii caused universal njoicing. C^hamp-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

.if

(lore wa-^ oidcrcd to convey Master Simon, a niinci-, wlio
liad been oronLiht witli the cxjK'dition, to (.'xainiiU' nioro
carcl'nllv tlic (>i\s at St. Mary's Bay. While engaged in
their researches at that j)hi('e tiieir attention was attracted by
the siu'iial o}" a handiverchief attached to a sticiv on the
shore, and immediately landing, they we^'e overjoyed to fi: .!
the missing Anhrey, weak, indeed, and perishing of hunger,
but still able to speak. For seventeen days he had
subsisted on berries and roots, and was sadly emaciated. Jt
ap|)eare(l that hv luid strayed from liis companions while in
search of his swoi'd, which he iiad lei't by a brook where he
st()])ped lo drink. Having found it, he was mrable to
retrace his ste])s, an.i had wandered he knew not whither.
I)e Monts and the whole colony were greatly delighted at
his safe return, which relieved the little community from
the misery of unjust susj)icions.

St. Croix Island is oblong in shape, and lies I'rom noi'th
to south. It contains ])robably ten acres of land.''' At its
southern extremity, lying towards the sea, was a little hill,
or islet, severed from t'le other, where De I\Ionts placed his
cannon. At the northern vnd of the island he built a fort,
so as to connnand the river u]) and down. Outside of the
fort was a large building which served as a barracks, and
around it several sn)allcr structures. Within the fort was
the residence of De flouts, fitted up, as Lescarbot tells us,
with "fair carpentry work," while close by were the resi-
dences of Champlain, Champdore and d'Orville. There
wa.s also a covered galli'ry for exercise in bad weather. A
storehouse, covered with shingles, a large brick oven, and a

ia])el

complet<'d the structures of the colony (»n tl

*Ht. Croix IsUiinl, aicoriUiiLt to tlio pluu imuK' in 17SI7 liy TliDiiui.i Wriglit,
Survcyor-dcnonil of tlu' Islniul of St, .loliii, i> sixti'i'ii cliains in li'ngtli and seven
in extri'nie width.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

island.* On the wostern sliore of the St. Croix a water-
mill was oommencod for fjrindinjj:; corn, while some of the
settlers erected bnildings close to the brook on the eastern
bank of the river, where the colonists obtained water, and
laid ont land for a garden.

AMiile the colonists were engaged in their varions works,
Pontrincoiirt took his de])artnre for France. He had seen
the country, and was satisfied with its excellence; he had
chosen Port Koyal as the })lace where he should reside, and
it only remained for him to return for the ])urj)ose of
removing his family to their new lumie. He took with
him the Ix'st wishes of his friends, who hoped i'or his
speedy return, and he was the bearer to the King of the
glad tidings that France had at last founded a colony in the
new world.

During the course of tlieir explorations the adventurers
had found the savages everv where friendly. Thev had
received the French, not with, the distant and cold civility
of sus[)icious strangers, but with the cordiality of old
friends. 'Pluy were eager to trade with them, and had
rendered them valuabk> services on more than one occasion.
Thus commenced that friendshij) and amity between the
French and the Indians of Acadia which was never broken
or disturbed, which alotie enabled the former to maintain a
long contest against the powerful colonies of England with
some showof e(piality,and which made the Indians faithful
to their memory lony: after the last vestiges of French
power had been swejit away.

Scarcely had the colonists concluded their labors when

*In 17117 flic stone foiiiidations of tlii'sc biiiUlinps wore brous^ht to light by
Kobert Pagan and others. Five distinet pih's of ruins were discovered at the nortli
end of tlie island, and Croni the manner in whieh th" work had been done, it was
quite evident that a permanent settlement Inid been intended. The evidence of
this discovery was placed before the Commissioners a|)|)ointed to determine the
locality of St. Croix island, and, no doubt, materially influenced their decision.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

the winter canio upon thcni with awful and unexpected
severity. They were struck with terror and surprise at
tlu! fury of the snow storms and the severity of the frost.
The river l)ecanie a hhick and chilly tide, covered with
mai*ses of floating ice, and the land around them a dreary
and frost-bound desert. It soon was painfully a{)parent
that their residence had been unwisely chosen. The island
wa.s without water, and the wockI upon it had been exhausted
by the erection of the buildings an<I fort. ]?oth the.se
articles of ])rinie necessity had to be brought from the main
land, and this was a service arduous and difficult to men
who had been accustomed to the milder temperature of
France. To add to their troubles a number of Indians
encamped at the foot (»f the island. Their entire friend-
liness was not then so well imdcrstofKl as it afterwards
became, and the French were harassed and wearied by
continual watching to guard against attack. In the midst
of this sntfcring and anxiety there came upon them a
frightful visitation. A strange and unknown disease broke
out among them, whicii proved alarmingly fatal. No
medicine seemed to relieve it, and the natives knew of no
remedy against its ravages. Out of the small colony of
seventy-nine, tiiirty-five died, and many of the survivors
were only saved l)y the timely arrival of warmer weather.
Those who were not attacked Avere scarcely able to ])rovide
for the wants of the sick and to bury the dead.* Many

*('liiiinpliiiii ilo.sc'tibc.s Uii.s disease sis fdUows; — " Diirhig the winter a certain
disease broke out aiuoiiK inaiiy of our j)eople, called the disease of the country,
otherwise theseurvy, as I liave since heard le!,rned men say. It originated in the
mouth of those wlio have a large amount of flabby and superfluous flesh, (causing
a bad put refaction, ~) which increases to such an extent, that they can scarcely take
any thing, unless it is almost entirely liiiuid. The teeth become quite loose, and
they can be extracted by the fingers without causing any pain. The superfluity
of this flesh requires to be cut away, and this causes a violent bleeding fron: the
mouth. They are afterwards seized with a great pain in the legs and arms, which
swell up and become very hard, all marked as if bitten by fleas, and they are unable
to walk from the contraction of the nerves, so that they have no strength left, and

iiy

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

a longing eyo was cast over tho pitiless soa as Inch severed
tlicni from their own lair land, which so many of them
were fated never to behold again.

The return of Spring brought M'ith it brighter skies and
better hopes, but De Monts determined to remove his colony
from tSt. Croix island. As soon as the state of the sea.s
would permit, he fitted out and armed his ])innaee, and,
accompanied by Chain])lain, sailed along the coast towards
the south-west, with a view to the discovery of a morc
favorable situation and a more genial climate. They made
a careful examination of the whole coast as far as Cape
Cod, entered the bay of Penobscot, and at the Kemiebc(^
erected a cross. Some of the places which they visited
appeared inviting, and suitable for settlement, but the
savages were numerous, unfriendly and thievish, and their
company being small, it was considered unsafe to settle
among them. For these reasons they returned to St. Croix
Avith the intention of removing the colony to Port Royal.

In the meantime Pontgrave, who Avas quite indefatigable
in his ^Vcadian schemes, had arrived with an aecession of
forty men and fresh su]>plies from France, a most welcome
addition to their diminished nu'nbers and resources. Every-
thing portable was removed from St. Croix Island, but the
buildiiigs were left standing. The end)arkation of the
colonists and stores was s})eedily accomplished under the
direction of Pontgrav^, and with mingled feelings of ])lea-
sure and reji-ret they bade farewell to that solitary island

suffer tliL' most intolerable \mn. They have aUo pains in the loin.s, the stomach
and intestines, a very bad cough, and shortness of breath ; in short, they are in
such a state that tiie greater part of those seized with the complaint can neither
raise nor move themselves, and if they attempt to stand erect they fall down
senseless, so that of seventy-nine of us, thirty-live died, and more than twenty
barely escaped death. The greater part of those unatFected with the complaint,
complained of slight pains and shortness of breath. We could find no remedy to
cure those attacked by the complaint, and we could not discover any cause for
the dijease,"

;f;v.

Mrl

'■ 'J

IIIRTOKY OF ACAmA.

whicli had boon tho scone ol" so iimcli misery and sutfering,
but which was still, in a measure, endeared to them because
it was their tirst home in the new world, and the last rest-
ing ])lace of s(» many loyed companions and friends.
Before they departed, some of the colonists sowed portions
of it with rye, and when yisited in the autunni, two years
later, a heavy crop of grain was found on tlur island, which
the (colonists reaped and carried away. Thus suddenly
ended the occu])ation of an island which since that tune has
never been inhabited by any permanent resident, except
the keeper of the light-house, whose l)eacon ^yarns the
voyager on the St. C^'oix to avoid its rockv shores.

- *3

1 1

.,',»

•1'

CHAPTER IV

I'V'

TIIK COLONY AT roilT KOVAL.

TuK phifL' eiioricii for the residona; of the colony at Port
Royal was opponite Goat Island, on the nortli bank of tho
river of Port Royal,* distant abont six niik's i'roni tho
j)re.scnt town of Annapolis. It was a position easily
fortified, favorable for traflie with the savages, and beantiful
by nature. The land around it, althouijjh somewhat stony,
was strong and fertile, and the marsh lands, some distiineo
away, were of inexhaustible richness. The climate, too,
was milder than that of the greater portion of the peninsida,
and well a(laj)ted to the eidtivation of fruit. Timber of the
best quality was abundant, and extensive fisheries were
close by. JS^othing, it would seem, was wanting that
nature could bestow to make Port Royal a flourishing
colony. The work of erecting buildings was ra])idly
advant!(!d, dwellings and storehouses were built, and a small
palisaded fort constructed. When this work was being
csirried on, De Monts sailed for France to provide for the
provisioning of the (iolony, until crops could be raised, and
to attend to his trading interests. He left Pontgrave as his
lieutenant to govern the colony in his absence, and with him
Champlain and Champdore, to assist in the general conduct
of affairs, and take charge of any exploring expeditions
that might be re(iuired. Pontgrav6 was an energetic
and active man, zealous in the work of colonization, and
equally zealous in the prosecution of trade. While he

* Now Annapolis River. It waa named by the French the Dauphin, but popularly
known and markod on their maps as the River of Port Royal.

IILSTOIIY OF ACADIA.

pushed forward the preparations iictiessary for the conifort-
able wintering of the cohjiiy, he did not neglect the
coninicrcial pursuits, witliout whicli the colony could not
then subsist. The savages, among wiioin he was, were of
the 8()uri([Uois or Micnuu' tribe, and well disposed towards
the whites. For the purpose of diH'pening this attachiueut,
and at the same time currying on a prolitabhi business, he
connuenced an aiitive trade with them for [lie skins of
moose, otter and beaver. After the winter had set in, this
barter became very brisk, and the good disposition of the
natives was to the advantage of the P^'cnch in another
way, for they brought tlu'iu abundance of fresh meat, and
enabled them to live through the cold season in comparative
comfort. They were ([uite free from any serious epidemic,
such as had proved so fatal at St. Croix, and only six died
during the winter. Their supplies of breadstuils were
abundant, but the labor of grinding their grain by hand
proved most irksome, and Lescarbot gravely states tiiat he
believed this had contributed to kill those who died. The
Indians, although so lil)eral with their venison, refused to
assist in this severe work, which was not surprising, con-
sidering how averse the savages were to labor of any
description. A more probable cause of the mortality was
the fact that they had neglected to drain their dwellings,
which were consequently damp and uncomfortable.

In the Spring of IGOG Pontgrave made an attempt to
find a warmer climate and a better placie for his colony in
a more southern latitude. He fitted out the barque which
had been left with him, and set sail for Cape Cod ; but his
venture proved disastrous. Twice he was driven back to
Port Royal by the violence of the tempest, and on the third
essay was so unfortunate as to have his vessel injured on
the rocks at the mouth of the port. This deterred him

r -^k

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

from any t'lirtlier attciii])!, wliicli, iiidcod, could only havo
l)ecn attondod witli j^iviitor disasters; sudi was tlic weakness
of his vessel, and so <>;reat were tiu; dant^ers of that tempestu-
ous sea. Poutt^rave then built another hanpie, or shallo]),
so that he would not he (juite without means of transport
in ease of accident, or shortness of ])rovisions. The result
proved that lie had been guided by a wise forethought.
The Spriujif advanced, and provisions began to <^row scarce,
but there; was no sign of De Monts' arrival. Sunniier was
ushered in, but still the expected supplies did not eome, and
Pontgrave, now really alarmed for th'.; safety of De Monts,
and ap[)rehensive that the colony would soon be without
food, determined to embark his peo[)le, and run along the
coast as far as C'anso, in the hope that he might fall
in with some iishing vessel, by which their wants inigi;t be
relieved, and in which they might obtain a passage to
France. Having finally given up all hope of the arrival of
the expected succor, Pontgrave set sail on the 25th July
from Port Royal, leaving two men behind, who had
volunteered to remain and take charjxe of the stores.

In the meantime De Monts had been hasteniu"; to the
relief of his colony. On liis arrival in France his accounts
of Acadia had been coldly received. The expense of the
venture had been heavy, and the returns small. Many of
the merchants who belonged to the <!omj)any Avere dissatis-
fied, and it appeared equally difficult to fit out ships for
the relief of the colony or to get men to embark in them.
In this juncture ]*outrincourt nobly came to his aid. His
presence in France at that time was of vital importance to
his own interests in consequence of some lawsuits in Avhich
he was engaged; but notwithstanding this position of
affairs he agreed to return to Acadia and assist De Monts
in placing the colony on a permanent footing. Poutrin-

II18T<)!:V OF A('AI>1A.

Cdiirt was now more ivsdiiito tlian t'viT to estaMisIi liiin^olt'
there with liis iaiiiily. lie also porsiiailed Jiesrarlutt, an
advot-atc who resided in I'aris, to aeeonipany them. After
many vexations dfhiys a vessel of one hundred and fd'ty
tons, named the Jonas, was Htted ont at Jioehelle, and set
sail for Acadia on the 11th Mav l(j()6. The vovaue was
lonj^ and tedions IVoni adverse winds, and rendered still
mfire s(» by visits whieii were made to varions j)arts of the
coast from Canso to (ape Sable. They ])assed Cape Sable
on the 2odi July, and reached Port iioyal on the 27th with
the flood tide, saluting- the fort as they entered the basin.
They were nuich surprised to discover that I'ontirrave had
departed, and that only two men had been left. It seems
that they had sailed outside of Brier Island in cominji; up
the bay, while Pontijrave had lione throu<2;h the Petite i)as-
sajjjc between Lonij:; Island and the main, in conseiinenee of
wliieh they had missed eaeli other. I^ontixvavc, however.
Cell in with ii shallop which had been left on the coast by
De iNIonts, and was iid'ormed that tlie Jonas had arrived.
With all haste he retraced his course and reached Port
lioyal on the olst July, to the great delight of De ]Monts
and his com|)anions. The occasion was celebrated by a
festival. Poutrineourt opened ji hogshead of wine, imkI
the night was spent in bacchanalian revelry.

Poutrineourt lost no time in connneneing the cultivation
of his tcrritor} . Although the season was Avell advanced,
he sowed a variety of vegetables and grain, and soon had
the satisfaction of seeing them start fr<jm the virgin soil.
He would have been content to settle down and make Port
Iloyal his permanent residence, but De Monts, who was
about to return to France, besought him to make one effort
more to find a place for the (U)lony farther south. To do
this it became necessary for him to give up tlio snporin-

/(rl

HISTORY <)I' ACADIA.

'|i

tciidcuci' of his iiifi'iculuinil operations, and the rest of the
sumuuM" was ('nj|)loyo(l in a IViiirlcss search. lie left I'ort
Royal on tlie 2iSth Aufz;nst, a('<'()ni])anie(l l)y Chanipdoro,
and on tlie same day the .lonas also pnt to sea with Do
Monts and l*ontgrave, wlio were returning to France.
Lesearhot, who was a valuable addition to the e<tlony, wius
left in charge of the estahlishnient at J*ort Royal, and
directed to Ueej) the colonists in ortler.

I'ontrincourt's voyagi' south began in Liic midst of
difliculty and ended in disaster. The elements were un|)ro-
pitious, and the barque in which he sailed was small and
leaky. They were twice forced back by stress of weather
before they reached St. C.'roix Island. There they found
the grain rij)ening, and gathered sonic! of it, which they
sent back to Port Royal. Tiiey then j)roceeded south as
far as Cape Cod, where, from its more southern latitude,
they iio[)ed to find a situation wiiere the cold would be less
extreme than at Port Royal ; but their barque became
entangled among th(! shoals, the rudder Avas broken, and
they were obliged to come to anchor three leagues from the
land. It took them fifteen days to make the necessary
repairs. While some of Poutrincourt's men were asiiore
they got into collision witii the savages, in consequence of
some thefts of the latter which they resented. To prevent
further difficulty he ordered his men to go on board the
vessel, as from the hostile api)earance of the savages, it was
evident that bloodshed could not otherwise be prevented.
Five of them who neglected to obey this wise order were
surprised, two of them killed :.i the spot and the others
wounded, two of them mortally. Poutrincourt immediately
went ashore with ten men and buried their dead comrades,
over whom they erected a cross, the savages in the mean-
while yelling in triumph at a safe distance. When they

iiist()i:y of a(!AI)1a.

returned to their vessel the brutal natives (hij:; u|) tho
bodies and t(»r(! down the cross, insulting the h'reneh by
shouts and j:;estures of detianee. 'I'he hitter were then
unable to return to the shore in consequenee of it beiiifi; low
wa'er, but when the tide served they replaced the cross
and l)o(lies. After an unsuccessfid attempt to pass biyoiid
the Cape, I'outrineourt was forced back to th(! sumo harbor
wlu^n; his men had been killed, and while there, some of
the natives, who came down on pretence of trading, were
captured and put to death. Another attempt was made to
sail farth(!r south, but they were ajjcain (b'iven back, and —
the condition of his wounded men bein<^ extremely pre-
carious — Poutrincourt bore up for Port ivoyal, which he
n^ached on the 14th Xovember.

He was received with »rreat joy by the colonists, who
had despaired of his safety. Lesearbot celebrated his re-
turn by u soi't of triumph, crowning the gates of the fort
with laurel, over which was placed tlu; arms of France,
lielow were jilaeed the arms of De i\[onts and of Poutrin-
court, also wreathed with laun;!, and a song was composed
by Lcscarbot in honor of the occasion. That indefatigable
and lijjht-heavted Frenchman had not been idle durinjj
I'outrineourt's absence. With the assistance of Louis
Hehert, the apothecary, who had much exiierience in such
matters, he liad superintended the i)reparation of ground
for gardens and fields. Pie also had a ditch dug round
the fort, which drained it com|)letely and made it dry and
comfortable. He had the buildings more perfectly fitted
up by the carpenters ; had roads cut through the woods to
various points, and charcoal burnt for the forge, which was
kept in active operation for the preparation of tools for the
"•vorkmen and laborers. And he had accomplished all this
without any great strain on the strength of the men, for

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

I.I

2.0

1.25 1.4 16

^ 6"

►

/}.

'/a

(f ■*

" <!>' >'

^;*

Photographic

Sciences
Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80

(716) 872-4503

fiP

Vv''

■ ,

S ■

ir^

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

he only required tlieiu to work three hours a day. The
rest of tlie time tliey spent as they jjleased — in hunting,
fishing, ranging tiie forest, or in rest.

Tlie next winter was passed in eonifort and cheerfuhiess.
This was owing to the <uire which had been taken to make
the fort and dwellings dry, and also to an admirable
arransxemeut which Imd been established at the table of
Poutrincourt by Champlain. He organized tlie guests,
fiftoen in number, into a society which he called the ordre
de hon temps. Each guest in his turn became steward and
caterer for the day, during which he wore the collar " of
the order and a napkin, and carried a stall'." At dinner
he marshalled the way to the table at the head of the pro-
cession of guests. After su])per he resigned the insignia of
office to his successor, with the ceremony of drinking to him
in a cup of wine. It became a point of honor with each
guest, as his day of service came, to have the table well
supplied with game, either by his own exertions, or by
purchasing irom the Indians, and in consequence they fared
sumi)tuously during the whole winter, so that Lescarbot
was enabled to reply with truth to some Parisian epicures,
who made sport of their coarse fare, that they lived as
luxuriously as they could have done in the -street Aux Ours
in Paris, and at a nuicii less cost. It is painful, however,
to be obliged to record that, although bread and game were
abundant, the wine of those festive Frenchmen fell short,
so that before Spring they were reduced from three quarts
a man daily to the inconsiderable allowance of a pint. The
winter was mild and fair, and only four died, who are
described as having been sluggish and fretful. These men
died in February and March, and in January it seems that
the whole company went two leagues to see their cornfield,
and dined cheerfully in the sunshine. People accustomed

I'l;

If-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

to tlie climate may be pardoned for .supposing that a few
experiments of that de.seription might have a tendency to
thill the ranks of the colonists, many of whom might not
be the most rugged of men.

The Micmacs were their constant visitoiN througlu)ut
the winter, making them presents of venison, and .selling
the remainder at a fair ])rice. Membertou, their great
Sachem — who was chief of the whole tribe from GasjxJ to
Cape Sable — and many of their les.ser dignitaries were the
frequent guests of Poutrincourt. Membertou had been a
noted warrior, and was a great friend of the white men.
He was very aged, and remembered Cartier's visit to the
Bay Chaleur in 1534.

In the Spring, Poutrincourt, with his accustomed energy,
renewed the work of improvement. He had a water-mill
erected for the purpo.se of grinding grain, which they had
previously done with great toil by hand labor. The
fisheries were also prosecuted vigorously, two small vasseLs
for coasting voyages bulk, and all the available land pre-
pared for cultivation. Everything promised fair for a busy
and prosperous seii.son, when their labor.-* were brought to a
■sudden termination by an untoward event.

One morning, in May, a vessel was ob.scrved by the
Indians making her Avay up the liasin. Poutrincourt was
immediately informed of the circumstance, and .-<('t out in a
.shallop with ('hampdore to meet her. She proved to be
a small barque from the Jona^, which then lay at C'anso,
and brought the evil tidings that the company of merchants
was broken uj), and that no more supplies would Ix)
furnished to the colony. This, then, was the inglorious
tcruiination of all Poutrincourt's hopes and labors. Ju,>*t as
the conununity was being put in a position to become .self-
sustaining, the mes.sage came which .sealed its fate. As the

:v^->.(

j>\

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

vesHcl brought no sufficient supplies, nothing remained but
to lejive Port Royal, where so nuich money and toil had
been fruitlessly exj)ended.

Tiie (xiuse of so sudden a change in the conduct of the
comj)any of merchants was tiie revocation by the King of
the exclusive monopoly of the fur trade, which had been
granted to De jNIonts and his a.s'<ociates for ten yean-. The
grant ol' this monopoly had provoked great jealousy in
France among merchants and traders, M'ho were debarred
from this lucrative trade, and their jealousy was not
lessened by the knowledge that the Dutch, who cared
nothing for Do Monts' patent, were ]>rosecuting the trade
which Frenchmen w-'re unable to pursue, without violating
the laws. It was also urged by the enemies of this
monoj)oly that De Monts, during the three years he had
held the patent, had made no converts among the natives.
These seem to have been the reasons which influenced the
King, and the patent being revoked, the dissaluticm of the
company Ibllowed. Accordingly the Jonas was sent out to
bring bnck the colony, and, to defray the expenses of the
voyage, was ordered to fish and trade at Canso, while the
pcoi)le were brought round from Port Royal in the smaller
vessel.

Pourtrincourt, however, had resolved that he would
return to Acadia, even if he brought with him none but the
members of his own family. To enable him to take home
with him to France visible tokens of the excellence of the
prcKlucts of the country, it was necessary ibr him to stay
until his corn was ripe, and to ac(!omplish this without
sacrificing tiie interests of the merchants, at whose charge
the vessel had been sent, he employed Chevalier, the
(!ommandcr of the barque, to trade with the Indians for
besiver at St. John and St. Croix, and went to Mines

■^•!-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

himself with the sjime object. By this means the departure
of the colonists wjis delayed until the end of July.

Some time prior to this a war had broken out between
the Indians of Acadia and the tribes west of the Penobscot.
The whole available force of the Micmacs was called into
the field, and Port Royal was the place of rendezvous.*
Early in June the Chief, Membertou, took his departure
for Saco, with four hundred warriors, to attack the Armou-
choqiiois, who dwelt there. This savage pageant was a
novel and interesting sight to the French, as the great
flotilla of canoes swept past the fort and settlement towards
the west. Before Poiitrincourt departed, Membertou and
his warriors returned from their campaign, which had been
attended with success, but for several years the warfare
between the tribes east and west of the Penobscot continued.
It was characterized by revenge, violence and extermina-
tion ; the great Bashaba, or Prince of the western tribes,
was slain, and his nation totally defeated. His death was
followed by a civil war amongst his now divided tribes ;
a fearful pestilence succeeded and swe})t over the whole
coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod. Some tribes were
totally exterminated, and others reduced to one-tenth of
their former strength in warriors. Such was the tragic
termination of this great savage war. On the 30th July
most of the colonists left Port Royal in the small barque.
Their destination was Canso, where the Jonas was
awaiting them to take them to France. On the 11th
August, Poutrincourt, finding that his grain was ripe,
gathered a ([uantity of it to take to France as a proof of
the excellence of the soil and climate. He also took Avith
him a number of other natural productions of the country.

'■'I'^Jai.-'

.- 1 '•■''■■li'

■■km

', ;>;>
''-'^^

:■!■' ]m

♦The cause of tlip war was tin- killing of Pennoniac, a Micinac CUief, by the
Armouelioquois who dwelt iit Choiiacoit or Saco.

¥■

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

He gave Meinhorton and his people ten hogsheads of meal
and all the grain that was left standing. He enjoined
them to sow more in the Spring, and, if any of his country-
men came there from France, to give them their friendsliip
and assistance. They were deeply grieved at I'ontrincourt's
departure, and promised faithfully to carry out his wislms.
A system of nuitual forbearance and assistance had endeared
those i)olished Frenchmen to the savages of Acadia, and
their departiu'e seemed like the loss of old and tried friends.
It is an honorable feature in the character of the first
colonists of Acadia that they could awaken such sentiments
in the breasts of those barbarous warriors.

Poutrincourt and his company reached France in the
Jonas in the latter part of September, and lie immediately
waited on the King, to whom he jircsented wheat, barley
and oats, grown in Acadia, and other sjtecimens of its pro-
ductions — animal, vegetable and mineral. Among the
former were five living wild gc^ese, whicli iiad been hatched
from eggs found near Port Royal. King Henry was
much pleased with those specimens of the natural products
of the colonv, and cn<'ouriiu;ed Poutrincourt to continue his
efforts in tliat direction. He ratified the grant of Port
'lioyal, which had been made to him by De Monts. He
desired him to j)rocure the services of the Jesuits in the
conversion of tiie Indians of Acadia, and offered to give
two thousand livres towards their support. All these
inducements coincided with Poutrincourt's resolution to
continue the (iolony, and encouraged him to follow out liis
plans for that purpose, but time was required to complete
them, and for two years Port Royal remained without
white inhabitants. All the buildings had, however, been
left untouched, and only awaited new occupants. The
grain fields also were kept in order by the savages, and

.L 1,1

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Cliampdore, who was on tlio coast in 1608, and visited
Port Royal, found the grain growing finely, and was
rcooived hy Mcniberton and Iiis people with every demon-
stration of welcome. Everything was favorable for a new
essay in colonization, which could not fail to be successful,
considering the experience of its chief promoter, and that
so nuich had already been accomplished in the way of
conciliating the savages and erecting habitations for the
people.

r*]

iik

' 1.

lit- ■

CHAPTER V.

J'OUTKINCOIJRT S COLONY.

fti

'i:

'4:

!l; ii

PouTRiNCOURT was fletaiiiecl in France much longer
than he had intended, (»wing to his relying on the assist-
ance of others, who promised to join with him in the
settlement of Acadia, but who finally withdrew from the
engagements into which they had (^ntered. He at last
concluded an arrangement with a merchant named Robin,
who was to suj)ply the settlement for five years and provide
funds for bartering with the Indians for certain specified
profits; and on the 26th February, IGIO, he set sail for
Port Royal, which he did not reach until June. Poutrin-
court, who was a devout Catholic, had entered willingly
into the schemes proposed to him for the maintenance of
Jesuit missionaries in Acadia, and had brought with him
to the colony a priest named Josse Flesche, who, however,
was not a member of that order. This father prosecuted
the work of converting the savages with such good results
that on the 24th of June of the same year twenty-five of
them were baptized at Port Royal, one of whom was Mem-
be' ton, their great Sachem. This aged chief was so zealous
for his new I'aith, that he offered to make war on all who
should refuse to become Christians. This mode of com-
pelling conformity of faith was thought rather to savor of
the system pursued by Mahomet, and was declined. Pou-
trincourt, who was skilful in music, composed tunes for
the hynuis and chants used by the Indian converts in the
ceremonial of the church, and, under his instructions and
that of the priest, they soon became devout worshippers.

u -

iUi:

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Early in July he had sent his son, Bien(!Ourt, who was a
youth of nineteen, to France, to carry the news of the
convei*sion of the natives, and obtain supplies for the
winter. He was expected to return within four months, as
the colony was greatly in need of provisions. Poutrin-
court had with him twenty-three ])ersons for whom he had
to provide, and when winter set in, without any appearance
of the expected succor, he began to be seriously alarmed.
By prudent management, and by the aid of diligent
hunting and fishing, they contrived to subsist through the
winter without losing any of their number, and it was well
that their experience of Acadian life in winter enabled
them to depend on their own exertions for sustenance, for
had they relied on Biencoui't for supplies, they must all
have perished.

Biencourt's detention was caused neither by want of
zeal nor of industry on his i)art. He reached Dieppe on
the 21st August, IGIO, but found on his arrival that many
startling changes had taken place in the j)osition of affairs
in France. Henry IV. had hcicn assassinated three
months before, leaving behind him a son and successor,
Louis XIII., only nine years of age. The power which
Henry had so wisely and firndy wielded for the good of his
country had passed into the hands of the (pieen m(,<"her,
Mary ih Medicis, a woman of strong passions and narrow
understanding, who was wholly controlled by Italian
favorites. Shortly after his arrival Biencourt presented
himself at court, and informed the Queen of the conver-
sions that had taken place in Acadia. The news was
gladly received, and she desired him to take two Jesuit
missionaries with him on his return. Two mend)ers of
that order — Fathers Pierre Biard and Enemond Masse —
were appointed to accompany him, and the (^ueen and

• ,'a

jf!^

■■::i'-i:'

■■• .-.'..■'■ri.U ,

1)2

HIHTORY OF A( AlHA.

'■I,

»'.:

I l, ;

ladies of the court provided lilu'rally for the voyage. The
young King gave the nilssiiouaries live hundred erowns,
and every requisite in th(! shape of clothing and supplies
was [)rovided for their comfort. Jiiencourt's vessel was to
have sailed from Diep|K! in the latter jiart of October, but,
on ])roceeding there to embark, the missionaries were met
by a new and unexi)ectcd difficulty. Two Huguenot
traders, who were engaged in the adventure with Jiiencourt
and Robin, refused to allow any Jesuits to go in the vessel,
although they professed their willingness to allow any
other priests to go. liiencourt and llobin were obliged to
submit, but this illiberal conduct did not succeed in its
object. Madame de Guercheville, a lady of the court,
quickly succeeded in collecting among her friends sufficient
funds to buyout the interest of the obstinate traders, which
did not exceed four thousand livres, and the missionaries
were allowed to embark. It was also arranged that the
sum thus collected should belong to the Jesuit mission, and
that they should receive the benefit of it.

The vessel in which Hiencourt and his company of
thirty-six persons were embarked was a small craft of about
sixty tons burthen. It speaks well for his boldness and
skill that, with this little barqne, he should have essayed
a winter voyage to Acadia ; but he had a strong motive to
urge him forward, for he know well the straits to which
his father and the colonists would be reduced by his delay,
and he set sail from Dieppe on the 2Gth January, 1611.
They met M'ith very rough weather, and were forced to
take shelter in an English port, and their voyage alto-
gether lasted about four months. On their way out they
fell in with Chamj)lain, who was bound for Quebec, and at
one time were in considerable danger from icebergs. They
finally reached Port Royal on the 22nd May, but with their

■ia

HISTORY OK ACADIA.

stores sailly (liiuinishcd in ('oii,s('(|nonc(' dt' the <^xtroino
l('nfi;tli •>!' the ])assii;i('.

l*(»utriiic()urt, wIid IkkI Ik'oii <i;rfiitK' jilaniit'd lor their
safety, was |)rop()rti(»nally pleased at their arrival, hut, as
tlieir provisions were nearly exhausted, and the number to
Ih> provided for <:;reatly increased, it beeanu; neeessiry for
him to look for further su|)plies. With this view lu^ Avent
to a harbor named Lu Pierre Blanche, (the white stone),*
which lay twenty-two leagues due west from Port Hoyal,
and wliicii he Unew was frequented by lishormen and
traders. Here he found no less than four l^'eneh vessels,
one of which belonged to De Monts and another to Poiit-
gravc. I'outrineourt expressed his intention of going to
France, and made them recognl/e his son, liieneourt, as
vice-admiral in his absence. He also requested thoni to
furnish him with supplies, promising to repay them on his
return to France. The necessary suj>plies were obtained on
these terms, and they returned to Port Ivoyal.

It then became necessary for Poutrincourt to make ano-
ther voyage to I'^'ance for the purjwse of arranging for the
regular furnishing of supplies until the colony became
self-sustaining. He accordingly left Port Royal in July,
leaving Jiiencoiu't in command of the colony, which then
consisted of twenty-two persons, including the two Jesuit
missionaries. These two fathers, with the zeal which has
(!ver distinguished their order, engaged vigorously in the
study of the native languages, and the manners and cus-
toms of the aborigines. To forward this as much as po.s-
sible, father Masse took up his abode in the Micmac village,
which then existed at the mouth of the St. John, where

* This must have been at Grand Mauan, which in about twenty-two leagues due
west from Port Royal, and where there is an island which is still called Whitehead
Island.

'■'ijft'.-'

})4

HISTOJIY OK ACADIA.

1;.'

\ii

II i, :

Louis McMuhortoii, the sou of tlu; old cliiof, resided, while
father Hiiird (lt^•ote(l himself more jiiirtieiilarly to the
Indians idxoit I'ort lloyal. lie also frecjuently aeeom-
puiiied nieiieoiirt in the numerous tri|)s which he uiadc to
various parts of the IJay <»f Fundy. While they were
absent on one of these o(!easions, on a visit to St. Croix
Island, Memhertou was brou^^ht from St. ^[ary's Bay to
Port ivoyal in a dyiuj^ eondition. It soon becsuiie ap|)arent
that he could live but a litlh^ time, and an unseendy dis-
pute arose as to where lu; should be buried. Bieneourt
wished him to be buried with his own people, ajjjrecably to
a promise which he had made to the dyinf^ Chief, who
desired to be laid with his forefather; The Jesuits, on
the other hand, contended that he should be buried in con-
8(!crated fi;round, as a proof of the reality of his conversion.
]iiencourt curtly told them that they might consecrate the
Indian burial place, but that he should see Membertou's
wishes carried out. The old Ciiief finally consented to be
buried with the Cliristians, and he was ac(;ordingIy interred
in the burial ground at Port Uoyal. This, unfortunately,
was only the lii-st of a series of disputes between the Jesuits
and the young governor, all of which were not so satisfac-
torily adjusted.

In the n)eantime the colonists were becoming straitened
for provisions, and, a*; a precaution against absolute want,
were put upon short allowance when the first fall of snow
came, which was on the IGch November. As the year
closed their prospects looked gloomy euough ; but relief
speedily came, for on the 23rd January, 1612, a vessel
arrived with supplies. This vessel had been sent in pur-
suance of an arrangement which Poutrincourt and Robin
had made with Madame de Guercheville, who had already
exerted herself so strenuously to promote the mission of

IIISTOKY OF ACADIA.

the Jesuits. She lulvimced a tlionsaiid erowiis for supplies,
but Poutriucourt soon discovered that he had called in an
ally who would lain become his master. This ambitious
lady had indeed formed the<lesijifn of establishing in Acadia
a sort of spiritual despotism, of which the mend)ers of the
Order of .Fesus shoidd bo the riders and she the jtatroness.
To carry out this plan, it mij^ht be necessary to <lispossess
I'outrincourt, or, at all events, to oi, *n j)ossession ol' the
rest of Acadia. She had abundanei! of influence at court,
and the (iueen and her adviser, Conciini, held views similar
to her own. She quickly proceeded to put her ])lans into
operation. Findinj^ that the whole of Acadia, except Port
Uoyal, belonged to I)e Monts, she obtained from him a
release of his rights, and immediately obtained a grant of
it from the K g for herself. She did not doubt that
Poutrincourt's necessities, and the burthen of the charge
which the Jesuit mission inflicted on the trade of the
colony, would speedily compel him to abandon Port Royal
to her also, lie did not purpose at that time to return to
Port Royal, but i)ut the vessel which he sent with supplies
in charge of one Simon Imbert, who had Ixjen a long time
his servant, and in whom he had entire confidence. Ma-
dame do Guerchcville, with equal forethought, sent out
another Jesuit, named Gilbert Du Thet, who went in the
vessel, ostensibly as a passenger, but in reality as a spy
upon Imbert, and to look after her interests.

The result of sucii ar angements might epjsily have been
foreseen. Scarcely had they landed at Port Royal when a
bitter dispute arose between Du Thet and Imbert. The
former accused the latter of misappropriating a part of the
cargo, and Imbert retorted by accusing the Jesuits of a
plot to expel Biencourt and his jieople from the country
and obtain Port Royal for themselves. These recrimina-

IIISTOKY OF A( AJ)IA.

I. ^'

■I

1 ■
M ■

1 '"

■

tions caused the tmiercnces wliicli Imd toi'inorlv existed
l)et\veeu Bicncourt and t\\v Jesuits to be renewed with fresh
animosity and viu;or.

Fatiiers liiard and !Masse hatl, on their tii'st arrival, re-
fused to administer baptism to the savaj^es with(^»ut fully
insti'uetin^z; th i in the doetrines f>i* the Christian relij^ion,
and had sent llesehe, the ])ri(st, by wliom Membertou had
l)cen baptized, back to 1*'' ranee. This produced remon-
strances from liieneourt, who w;is a hot-headed and deter-
mined youui^ man, but little impressed, it is to be feared,
with the sacred charaeter of the ordinances Avhich he called
upon them to exercise. The dispute had been so warm
that the Jesuits had actually obtained a chart of the eoast
and proposed to leave Port Royal by stealth ; but Bien-
fourt discovered the plan, and pointed out to them that
they could not leave without the command of the head of
their Order, and that it wt)uld be highly contrary to the
Order of Jesus for them to forsake their posts without any
authority to do so, leaving the little colony to which they
ha I been sent without the exercises of religion. These
arguments j)revailed for the time, but fresii disputes arose.
Biencourt resented their attempt.s to interfere with his
authority, and so scandahjus did the differences become that
they threatened i i excomnuuiicate Biencourt, and, Lescar-
bot says, actually carried their threats into execution. The
governor, on his ])art, coolly informed them that, however
high their s])iritual authority might be, he was their gov-
ernor on earth, and that lie would have obedience from all
imder him, priests included, (,ven if it required the lash to
compel it.

These threats had not been forgotten Avhen the mutual
accusations of Du Thet and Imbert opened the old wounds.
The Jesuits accused Biencourt of carrying on the colony as

m !r

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

ji mere trading speculation for liis own profit, and neglect-
ing the interests of religion, which he only used as a cov(!r
for his schemes of gain. lie retorted in terms equally
bitter, that the missionaries, instead of attending to their
legitimate functions, were seeking to subvert his govern-
ment and ruin his colony. In consequence of this last
contest, the public exercises of religion were entirely sus-
pended for three months. ]iiard and Masse, who ap[)car
to have been entirely innocent of any participation in
Madame de Guerchcville's schemes, and only sincerely
desirous of converting the savages, felt that there was some
show of truth in the statements made by Imbert, as it was
evident Du Thet liad not come out as a missionary, and
that his presence, under the circumstances, was a bitter
injustice to them and their mission. At length on the 2oth
June, 1(512, a reconciliation took ])la('C I)etween them and
liicncourt, father Biard administered mass, and then
Ix'gged of Biencourt that he would send Du Thet back to
I'^rance, which he did, and the colony was once more
tranquil.

In August, Biouj'otn't, accompanied by father Biard,
went up the Basin of Mines in a shallo[) to trade with the
Indians, and afterwards up Cliignecto Bay, where for the
first time they beheld that immense tract of nuirsh which
now forms so large a j)ortion of the wealth of two great
coimties. They gazed with sur])rise and admiration on the
almost boundless expanse of virgin soil, but no thought
seems to have entered their minds of utilizing its fertility.
The Indians there, they found to be less migratoiy in their
habits than most others. Game was abundant, nnd the
natives seemed quiet and contented. On their rc^turn, the
wind continued for a long time contrary, and iliev were in
danger of perishing for want of food. In their extremity,

V'-"i

i>',;

[ ■

if'i ■

]

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

father Biard made a vow that if G(xl would grant them a
fair wind, lie would make the poor savages who accompa-
nied them Christians. But they frustrated that good design
by deserting the shallo[) in search of something to eat. .

Gilbert l)u Thet returned to France vith the report that
there wa.s little hope of the conversion of the savages at
Port Royal, and informed Madame de Guercheville that
the character of Biencoiu't afforded no prosjiect of the influ-
ence of the Jesuits becoming predominant in tne colony.
She therefore resolved to remove them from Port Royal
and establish a colony of her own. Poutrincourt had, by
this time, begun to be aware of the character of his new
ally, and serious misunderstandings had, in consequence,
arisen between them. The prospect of getting rid of the
Jesuits was, therefore, a very agreeable one to him, for
although he was a most zealous Roman Catholic, and
anxious for the conversion of the savages, he had, like
many worthy men of his church, acquired a strong dislike
to the members of the Order of Jesus. It was i)retended
by those Avho favored the Jesuits — and the statement has
been repeated by their partizans — that Poutrincourt's object
in establishing the colony at Port Royal was solely to trade
with the siivages, and that his avowed desire to convert
them was only a pretence and a cloak to cover his real
design. But it cannot be said that he ever displayed any
want of zeal for the ])ropagation of the Christian faith.
It was by the missionary whom he brought to Acadia that
the first of its savages were converted. The Jesuits, what-
ever may have been their religious zeal, were the first to
cause dissensions in the colony, and they appeared more
disposed to seize the reins of government than to engage ia
the more humble work of converting the natives to the
Christian faith.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Madame de Guercheville fitted out a vessel of a hundred
tons burthen at Honfleur, and gave the command of the
expedition to M. de La Saussaye, who was to be governor of
the colony. Tiiis vessel was a|)pointed to take out twenty-
seven persons and j)rovisions for one year. Amongst
others, there went in the vessel two Jesuits, Father Quantin
and brother Gilbert Du Thet, of whom mention has already
been made. They were to return to France after the
colony was properly established, if fatliers Biard and
Masse were then alive and able to undertake their mis-
sionary duties. The whole company, including sailors,
numbered forty-eight persons. The vessel was better
j)rovided with stores and implements than any that had
gone to Acadia before that time. She carried, also, horses
for the cultivation of the fields, and goats to provide the
colon v with milk. The Queen contributed four tents
fron; the royal stores, and some munitions of war. She
also wrote a letter, commanding that fathers Biard and
Masse be allowed to leave Port Royal. The ship set sail
on the 12th March, 1613, and on the 16th May reached
Capo La Have, where they held high mass and erected a
cross, on which was placed the arms of the Marchioness de
Gucrcheville, as a symbol that they took possession of the
country for her. When they arrived at Port Koyal, they
only found five persons — fathers Biard and Msisse, their
servant, the apothecary Hebert, and another. All the rest
were absent, either hunting or trading. They shewed the
Queen's letter to Hubert, who represented Biencourt in
his absence, and taking the two Jesuits, with their servant
and luggage aboard, again set sail. It was their intention
to establish the colony at Pentugwt, which father Biard
had visited the year previous, but when oif Grand Manan a
thick fog came on, which lasted for two days, and when it

■ : -:^m

\'l:^m

I--!,

L'?

100

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

It.:

i ■ '

i - ■

became clear, they put into a harbor on the eastern side of
Mount Desert Island, in Maine. Tlie harbor was deep,
secure and commodious, and they judged this would be a
favorable site for the colony, and named tiie place St.
Sauveur. All the company \vere s|)eedily engaged in
cleanng ground and erecting buildings. La Haussaye was
advised by the principal colonists to erect a .Aifflcient forti-
fication before connnencing to cultivate the soil, but he
disregarded this advice, and nothing was (H)mj)leted in the
way of defence, except tlie raising of a small palisaded
structure, when a storm burst upon the colony, which was
little expected by its founders.

In 1^''^7 a company of London merchants had founded a
colony on the James River, in Virginia, where, after
suffering greatly from the insalubrity of the climate and
want of provisions, they had attained a considerable degree
of property. In 1()13 they sent a fleet of eleven vessels to
fish on the coast of Acadia, convoyed by an armed vessel
under the command of Captain Sanuiel Argal, who had
l)een conm^cted with the colony since KiOO. Argal was one
of those adventurers formed in the school of Drake, who
made a trade of piracy, but confined themselves to the
robbery of those who were so unfortunate as not to be their
own countrymen. He was a man of good abilities and
great resolution, but he was also rapacious, • passionate,
arbitrary, and (fruel, a lit instrument in every way to
accomplish the designs of tlie people of a greedy colony,
who, having just barely escaped destruction themselves,
were Ixjnt upon destroying every one else.

When Argal arrived at Mount Desert, he was told by
the Indians that the French were there in the harbor with
a vessel. Learning that they were not very immerous, he
at once resolved to attack them. All the French were

1^1

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

101

ashore when Argal approached, except ten men, most of
whom were unacquainted with the working of a sliip.
Argal attacked the French with musketry, and at the
second discharge Gilbert Du Thet fell back, mortally
Avoundcd ; four others were severely injured, and two yoyng
men, named Lemoine and Neveau, jumped overboard and
were drowned. Having taken possession of tlie vessel,
Argal went ashore and informed La Saussaye that the
place where they were was English territory, and included
in the charter of Virginia, and that they must remove ;
but, if they could prove to him that they were there under
a commission from the (irown of France, he would treat
them tenderly. He then asked La Saussaye to show him
his commission ; but, as Argal, with uni)aralelled indecency,
had abstracted it from his chest while the vessel was being
])lundered by his men, the unhappy governor was of course
unable to produce it. Argal then assumed a very lofty
tone, accused him of being a freebooter and a pirate —
which was precisely what he was himself — and told the
French it was only by his clemency they were allowed to
escape with their lives. By the intercession of Biard and
Masse, he affected to be disposed to deal more leniently
with them. It was finally arranged that fifteen of the
French, including Flory, the captain of the vessel, Lamotte
le V^ilin, La Saussaye's lieutenant, fathers Biard and
Quantin, and a number of mechanics, should go with Argal
to Virginia, where they were to be allowed the free exer-
cise of their religion, with liberty to go to France at the
expiration of a year. The remainder were to take a shallop
and proceed in search of some French fishing vessel, in
which to return to France. They accordingly started, and
were fortunate enough to fall in with two veasels on the

■>r?xJ

102

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

coast, one of which Ixilongcd to PoutgravO, and reached
France after soriie liardshij) and suffering.

When Argal arrived in Virginia, he found that his
perfidious theft of the French governor's commission was
lively to cause iiis prisoners to be treated as i)irates. They
were put into prison and in a fair way of being executed,
in spite of Argal's remonstrances, until stru(!k with shame
and remorse, he ]>roduced the commission wliich lie had so
dishonestly filched from them, and the prisoners were set
free, lint the production of this document, while it saved
the lives of one set oi' Frenchmen, brought ruin upon all
the others who remained in Acadia. The Virginia colo-
nists, although utterly unable to people a hundredth part
of the State wliich now bears that name, were too jealous-
minded to allow any foreigners to live peaceably within
eight hundred miles of them, and resolved to send Argal
to destroy all the French settlements in Acadia, and erase
all traces of their power. He was furnished with three
armed vcs,sels, and was accompanied by the two Jesuit
fathers, Biard and Quantin. Argal first visited St. Sau-
veur, where he destroyc<l the cross which the Jesuits had
erected and set up another in its place with the name of the
King of Great Britain inscribed upon it. He then burnt
down all the buildings which the French had built
there, and sailed for St. Croix Island, where he found a
quantity of salt which had been stored there by the fish-
ermen. He burnt down all the buildings at St. Croix, and
destroyed the fort. He then crossed to Port Royal, piloted,
it is said, by an Indian, but it was shrewdly suspected and
generally believed in France, that father Biard was the
person who did this favor to the English. At Port Royal
he found no {)erson in the fort, all the inhabitants being at
work in the fields five miles away. The first intimation

ill

riim

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

103

they had of the presence of strangers was the smoke of
th'^ir burning dwellings, which, together with the fort, in
which a great quantity of goods was stored, he completely
destroyed. He even efface<l with a pick the arms of
France and the names of De Monts nnd other Acadian
pioneers, which were engraved on a large stone which stood
within the fort. He is said to have spared the mills and
barns up the river, but that could only have been because
he did not know that they were there. No one acquainted
with Argal's character could accuse him of such absurd
clemency towards a Frenchman.

Biencourt made his appearance at this juncture, and
requested a conf rence with Argal. They met in a meadow
with a few of their followers. Biard endeavored to
persuade the French to abandon the country and seek
shelter with the invaders, but his advice was received so
badly that he was denounced as a traitor, and was in
danger of violence from his countrymen. Biencourt pro-
posed a division of the trade of the country, but Argal
refused to accede to this, stating that he had been ordered
to dispossess him, and that if found there again he would be
treated as an enemy. It is related that while they were
engaged in this discussion a Micmac savage came up, and
in broken language and with suitable gestures, endeavored
to mediate a pea(!e, wondering that persons who seemed to
be of one race should make \var upon each other. If this
ever took plac^ vhich is very improbable, it would only
serve to show taat the Indians were as great hypocrites as
civilized men, who profess the greatest regard for peace,
while cutting each others throats, and invoke the aid of
heaven to assist them in their efforts to shed huiO.*\n blood.

When Argal departed from Port Royal, he left that
settlement — on which more than a hundred thousand crowns

:*v^:

104

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

h;4l'

?■:

1 f

i 1'''' I
1

llt.'L .

had been cxj ^ndod — in aHlms, and more dreary and desolate
than an nninliabited desert eould liave been, beoanse its Hoil
was brandr I witli the marks of nnjjjenerons hatred, nnpro-
voked enmi.y, and wanton destrnetion. The continent
was not wide enough, it wouhl seem, for two i-'nall eolonies
to subsist harmoniously upon it, even if their settlements
were elose uj)on a thousand miles apart. Tlie only excuse
otlered ibr this piratical outra<i;e of Arj^al — which was
committed during a period of profound peace — was the claim
which was nuule by England to tlie whole continent of
North America, founded on the discoveries of the Cabots
more than a century before. That claim might, perlm[)S,
have been of s(»me value if followed by inunediate occu-
pancy, as was the case with the Sj)aniar(ls in the South, but
that not having been done, and tlie French colony being
the oldest, it was entitled to, at least, as much consideration
as that of Virginia. Siugularly enough, this act produced
no remonstrance from J^^f mce. As has been well said by
one of her sons: ''The Queen Regent's court was a focus of
intrigues which eventuated in a civil war, and pi.t the inde-
Jjendenee of the kingdom in peril." There was no room
for patriotism in the hearts of the people who governed
France in those days.

Poutrincourt, who attributed all his misfortunes to the
Jesuits, took no further j)art in the affairs of Acadia, but
entered into the service of the King, where he distinguished
himself, and was killed in the year 1615, at the siege of
Mt'ry-sur-Seine, which he had undertaken to capture for
the King. Biencourt, however, refused to abandon the
country, but, with a few chosen and faithful companions,
maintained himself in it during the remainder of his life.
One of the friends who shared his exile and enjoyed h>s
confidence was Charles de La Tour, a name afterwards

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

105

racnioniblc in the Jiiinal.s of Acadia. Soinc'tinies they
resided with tho savages, at other times they dwelt near
Port Royal, but of their adventurous life little is known.
The trials and sutt'erings of those who reside in the wilder-
ness seldom see the light, '.mless at the instance of the
adventurers themselves. But Hiencoiu-t left no record
behind him, and La Tour, who might have told the story,
was a nmn of the sword rather than of the pen.

.-ti'i

: k

CHAPTER VI.

SIR WILLIAM ALEXANDKU AND THE LATOUK8.

While the French were struj^gling to maintain their
Colony in Acadia, in the midst of many adverse influences,
the Pvnglish had begun to turn their attention to colonizing
the coast of New England. In 1605, Captain Weymouth,
a navigator of considerable experience, was despatched by
the Earl of Southampton, Lord Arundel of Wardour, and
several other English gentlemen, ostensibly to discover a
north-west passage, but really to explore a portion of the
coast of North America, with the view to the settlement of
a colony.

Weymouth, instead of keeping well to the north, came
in sight of the coast of America, as far south as Cape Cod,
and I'rom there sailed towards the north until he reached
the mouth of the Kennebe(!, and entered the Sagadahock,
a river which is now known as the Androscoggin. While
on the coast he seized five of the natives and returned with
them to England. The favorable description he gave of
the country induced several gentlemen — among whom were
the T^ord Chief Justice Popham and Sir Fernando Gorges
— to form a Company for the purpose of colonizing it.
The Crown, on being petitioned, granted a charter for two
Colonies, then called the London Company and the Ply-
mouth Company, but better known at the present day as
the South and North V^irginia Company. Both Companies
were immediately organized. The establishment of the
former colony has already been mentioned ; the latter, in
which Gorges and Popham were more immediately inter-

liv :

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

107

cstcd, liiul for its bomularieH the 38th and 45th parallels
of latitude. In August, 1606, a ship commanded by
Captain Henry Chaloungc, was fitted out to go to Saga-
dahock with a nund)er of colonists. Two of the natives
Weymouth had captured were on board to pilot the vessel
into the river. Chalounge neglected his orders, kept too
far to the south, and was captured by a Spanish fleet. A
few days after lie had sailed, Popham fitted out another
vessel, commanded by Captain Pring, and sent by her a
few more colonists and additional supplies, with two of the
natives as [)ilots. Pring rea(!hed Sagadahock in safety, but
found no colonv there. After waiting some time for
Chalounge's arrival, he concluded that some disaster had
happened to bin), and returned to England, where he found
the Com[)any and the i)ubllc greatly discouraged at the
termination cl* the enterprise. Pring's favorable account
of the country iiuiticed the Company to fit out two other
vessels in the following year. They arrived at Sagadahock
on the 15th of August, 1607, with over one hundre<l colo-
nists. They first landed on an Island, some eight or ten
acres in extent, now called Stage Island, and erected some
buildings ; but, finding the place unsuitable, they removed
to the mainland — to a j^lace now called Hunnewell's Point
— where they erected dwellings and a small fort, and con-
tinued nearly a year. The winter was very severe, and
the colonists were much discouraged at the prospect before
them. If tradition is to he credited, they were a sorry lot,
and conducted themselves in a very unbecoming manner
towards the friendly natives. It is related that — unable
to endure their insolence any longer — the savages killed
one of them and drove the rest out of their fort. They
then opened one of the casks of powder, and, being unac-
quainted with its properties, it blew up, destroying nearly

■■■•■ p.

'J-.

iUl

• V - .1- . '

••'■'.

'■'» >.

' .'

' 1

.( , -. -

- ^i^^^H

'".'■'y

> 4-* i'''>'

' ^-^i^BJj^H

108

mSTOUY Ol' ACADIA.

i-'

every thing- in tlic fort ami killing numy of tlu-ni. Tlilnk-
ing that this vvus an evidcnt'o of the anger of the Great
Spirit for (jiuirrclling with iUv wliitos, they very humbly
begged I'orgivcness, and friendshij) was restored. When
the winter was over the colonists embarked on board their
vessels and sailed f(»r England, taking with them tlu; most
unfavorable account of the country — its climate, resoiu'ces
and salubrity. They represented it as intolerably cold and
sterile, and not iidiabitable by the English nation. This
lujfavorable account of the country, together with the death
of Chief . Justice I'opham, greatly discouraged all those who
liad interested themselves in the undertaking, with the ex-
ce|)ti()n of Sir I'Y'rnando (iorges, wito was not to be dauute<l
by any diflicultics whatever. Where others saw uotliing
but stcrilitv and miserv, he looked confidentlv forward to
the establishment of a prosj)erous colony. Read by the
light of our present knowledge, his answer to those who
objected to the coldness of the climate, sounds almost like
prophecy. He says: "As for the coldness of the clime,
1 had had too much experience in the world to be fright-
ened with such a blast, as, knowing many great kingdoms
and large territories more northerly seated, and by many
degrees colder than the clime from whence they came, yet
plentifully inhabited, and divers of them stored with no
better conuuodiiies for trade and commerce than those parts
afforded, if like industry, art and labor be used." For
several years he employed a vessel on the coast of Maine to
trade and make discoveries at his own cost. Richard
Vines had charge of this vessel, and he spent one winter
with the Indians while the pestilence was raging among
them with such destructive eflPect, that the living could not
bury the dead; yet neither he nor any of the white men
with him were attacked, though they slept in the same

HISTORY OK ACADIA.

109

wij^wams with manv that diod. 'I'hoii^h (iorgcs <»l)taiu('(l
niiicli iisci'iil int'ormatioii from his Hcrvants whom ho thus
criiployc*!, in rcj^ard to the coimtry ami itH resources, he

ith

)lot)ist.s to

ibimd that he could at that time obtain neither colonists
settle the territory, nor capitalists to advance money for
such an enterprise. New Knj;land had to wait a few years
longer for the advent of those in(U'fati<;al)le men who were
destined to lay the foundations of that jijreat and prosperou.s
community, whose; people now look hack with reverence on
their nuu h honored " Pilgrim Fathers."

For several years after the; destruction of Port Royal by
Arj^.d, there is a blank in the history of Acadia, and one
which it is now impossible to till. Hi(!ncourt still remained
in the country, and occasionally resided at Port Jloyal, and
it docs not appear that any considerable number of his
[)eo[)le returned to France.* A languid possession of
Acadia was still maintained, but under sucli circumstances
that little or no improvement in its condition became
possible. Ju 1(315), a year of great civil and religious
excitement in France, two trading companies were formed
for the ])urpose of developing the resources of Acadia.
One company was authorized to carry on the shore fishery,
the other to trade with the savages for furs. Both compa-
nies appear to have prosecuted their operations with
considerable vigor. The fur traders established a post at
the River St. John, as the most convenient depot for traffic
with the savages. The; fishery establisiiment was at
Miscon, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. To provide for the
religious wants of the employ i^s of the two comi)anics, and
of the colonists, who still remained at Port Royal, three
Recollet Missionaries were sent to Acadia, where, in addi-

* iMiiis H6bert, who had been the apothecary at Port Royal, appears to have
returned to France, for he took his family to Quebec in 1617.

■■:.■' 'Hfl

.--^.f

m-^:

H-'4^ \

110

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

:jr

I..

tion to their stipulated duties, they did good sei'viee in tlie
conversion of the niitives.

On the 9th November, l(j20, tlie Pilgrim Fathers in the
Mayflower came in sight of Cape Cod, and, after exploring
the coast, concluded to settle their colony at Plymouth
Bay. But as it wsts without the bounds of the t;harter of
the South Virginia Coni])any, from wl'.ich thoy had a
patent, and symj)toms of faction appearing among the
servants, they formed an association, by which they agreed
to combine for the })urpose of mutual protection and the
maintenance of order, and submit to such government and
governors as should be made and chosen by common
consent. This was the first permanent settlement in New
England, and through nnich hardship and suffering, it
speedily attained a wealth and importance which none of
the French colonies could boast.

In the meantime the work of colonizing Canada had
been going on under the direction of J)e Monts and Cham-
plain. The latter took a number of (colonists up the river
St. Lawrence in July, 1608, and founded Q. ''bee. The
first permanent erection n...ied was a storehouse, and dwell-
ings for the colonists were soon added. Cham})lain spent
the winter with the colony of which he had the command,
and he may be said to have devoted the remainder of his
life to the colonization of Canada. But so slow was the
growth of Quebec, that, in 1020, when Champlain erected
a small fort there, the colony only numbered sixty souls.

After the destruction of Port Royal by Argal, the
English continued to assert their right to Acadia by virtue
of its discovery by Cabot, The French who continued
there were merely regarded as interlopers, whose presence,
like that of the Indians, was simply tolerated for the time.
The fact of a navigator in the service of England having

■ ;.ifvp3|.i

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Ill

seen its shores more than a century before, was considered
by King James to have cstiibllshed his sovereignty over
the country for all time to come. There was at the court
of this pedantic monarcli a Scottish gentleman, named Sir
William Alexander, who claimed to be descended from
Somerled, King of the Isles. He was a man of some tal-
ents, and like King James himself, was ambitious of being
known as an author. He had published a quarto volume
of plays and poems, which arc now utterly forgotten, and
desired to turn his attention to the colonization of America.
The King, who delighted in long pedigrees and anti-tobacco
tracts, in compliance with his wishes, granted him a piece
of territory in America, nearly as large as the kingdoms
Avhich he himself governed so badly. This grant was made
in September, 1621, and embraced the whole of the Pro-
vinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and the Gaspd
Peninsula. The territory granted was to be known by the
name of Nova Scotia, and to be held at a quit rent of one -
})enny Scots per year, to be j)aid on the soil of Nova Scotia
on the festival of the nativity of Christ, if demanded. This
charter also endowed the grantee with enormous powers for
the regulation and government of his territory, the creation
of titles and offices, and the maintenance of fortifications
and fleets. In pursuance of his charter. Sir William Alex-
ander, in 1622, equipped a vessel for the purpose of taking
a colony to his new possession. By the time they reached
Newfoundland it Avas late in the season, and they concluded
to winter there. In the following Spring they visited the
coast of Acadia and entered Port Joli, where they intended
to settle, but some unexpected diificulties arising, they re-
solved to make discoveries and not to plant a colony ; and
after remaining some time on the coast, they returned to
Scotland in July. At that time the French were in pC'

i:M

112

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

'i."

H&ssion (jf Port Royal, and jiossibly that circumstance may
liavc influenced the determination of the Scottish cohmists.
However that may be, it is (juite certain tliat on that
occasion no [)ermanont settlement was made by Sir William
Alexander's i)eo{)lc, and for several years that fortunate
gmntee did nothin<>; for Acadia beyond sending a vessel
annually to ex])lore its shores and trade with the Indians.
In 1625 James I. died, and Alexander obtiiined from his
son, Charles I,, a confirmation of his grant of Xova Scotia,
and, for the purjiose of facilitating the settlement of a
colony, and ])roviding funds for its subsistence, an order of
baronets of Nova Scotia was created. It was to consist of
one hundred and fifty gentlemen, wdio were Avilling to
contrilnite to the founding of the colony, each of whom
was to receive a tract of land, six miles by three, in Nova
Scotia, Avhich Alexander released to them in consideration
of their aid in the work of colonization. One hundred and
seven of these baronets were created l)et\veen 1625 and
16^35, thirty-four of whom had their estates in what is now
New Brunswick, fifteen in Nova Scotia, twenty-four in
Cape Breton and thirty-four in Anticosti. Creations to
this order of baronetage continued to be made up to the
time of the union between England and Scotland, the
whole number of creations up to that period being upwards
of two hundred and eighty, of which about one hundred
and fifty still exist. This was a scheme Avliich undoubtedly
gave a fair promise of success, and which, if vigorously
carried out, would probably have ended in the founding
of a strong colony. But while Alexander was still hesitat-
ing and confining his exertions merely to sending a vessel
to trade on the coast, suddenly a Avar broke out between
England and France. This Avar, Avhich was undertaken
ostensibly for the relief of the French Huguenots, but

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

113

■\vlilch was in reality brouglit about by tlio intrigues and
ambitious views of Buckingham, commenced early in 1(527.
During the same year Cardinal Richelieu, then at the
height of his power, formed an association for the purpose
of colonization, called the Com})any of New France. It
consisted of one hundred gentlemen, many of them jiersons
of much influence. Among the original members of this
association were llichelieu himself, De Razilly and Champ-
lain. They were bound by the act by which the Company
was created to settle two hundred persons the first year,
and at the end of fifteen years to augment the nund)er of
colonists to four thousand, every settler to be of French
hirth and a Catholic. Each settlement was to be supplied
by them with three ecclesiastics. King Louis XIII., who
took an interest in the undertaking, gave the Company two
vessels of war, and the favor with which it was regarded by
him, and the wealth and influence of its mendicrs, seemed
almost to ensure its success. Twelve of its |)rin('ipal
members received })atents of nobility, the Comi)any was
allowed to receive and transmit merchandise of all kinds
without ])aying dues, and free entry was given in France to
all articles manufactured or j)ro(hiv'ed in C^uiada. To
these privileges Avere added the mc n(>j)oly of the fur trade*
of hunting, and of the shofe fishery, and the power of gov-
erning and ruling the country at will, and of declaring
peace and war. Such was the organization which the bold
and sagacious llichelieu created for the pur|)()se of engro,ss-
ing the trade of New France and creating a strong j)ower
there to overawe and check the English colonies.

In Euroj)e the war betneen France and England was

conducted in a very languid manner, but more vigor was

displayed in America. Indeed, the extreme feebleness of

the French colonies exposed them to insult or destruction,

+.1

^— ?

114

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

l!^

and no man saw tliis more clearly than the person then in
command in Acadia, Charles de St. Etionne, afterwards
better known as the Sieur de La Tour. This extraordinary
man, who is (certainly the most notiU)le character in Acadian
history, had already expericnt-ed vicissitude*^ such as seldom
mark the life of any one individual. His father, Claude
St. Etienne Sieur de La Tour, was a Fren(!h Huguenot,
allied to the noble house of Jiouillon, who had lost the
greater part of his estates in the civil war. He came to
Acadia about the year 1009, with his son Charles, who was
then only fourteen years of age, to seek in the new world
some part of the fortune he had lost in the old. He en-
gaged in trading to some extent until the colony at Port
Royal was broken up by Ai-gal. After that unfortunate
event, he erected a fort and trading house at the mouth of
the Penobscot River, in Maine, of which he was dispossessed
by the English of the Plymouth Colony in 1626. His son
Charles allied himself with Biencourt, who, driven from
his colony, found a temporary home with the Indians.
The two soon became inseparable friends. Biencourt made
the young Huguenot his lieutenant, and in 1623, when he
died, bequeathed to him his rights in l*ort Royal, and
made him his successor in the government of the colony.
It could not have fallen into better hands, for he was a
man equally bold, enterprising and prudent. He pos-
sessed resolution, activity and sagacity of no ordinary kind,
and had that art — the most necessary of any for a leader —
the art of winning the confidence of those with whom he
was associated. About the year 1625 he married a Hugue-
not lady, but of her family, or how she came to Acadia,
nothing is known. She was one of the most remarkable
women of the age, and lady de La Tour will be re-
membered as long as the history of Acadia has any charms
for its people.

• 'I

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

115

Shortly after his marriage, Charles de St. Etienne
reiiiovocl from Port Royal, and erected a fort near Cape
Sable, at a harbor now known as Port La Tour. This
stronghold, which he named Fort St. Louis, seems to have
been chosen chiefly on account of its convenience as a depot
for Indian trade. He was residing there in 1G27, when
the war broki; out, and perceived at once that Acadia was
in great danger of being lost to France forever. He
addressed a memorial to tlie King, in which he asked to be
appointed commandant of Acadia, and stated that if the
colony was to be saved to France, ammunition and arms
must be provided at once. He had with him, he said, a
small band of Frenchmen, in whom he had entire confi-
dence, and the Souriquois, who, to the nund)cr of one
hundred families, resided near him, were sincerely attachetl
to him, and could be relied on, so that, with their aid, he
had no doubt of his abilitvto defend the colonv if arms and
amnumition were sent. His father, who then was return-
ing to France, was the bearer of this communication to the
King, which was favorably received, and several vessels
fitted out under the command of Roquemont and La Tour,
with cannon, ammunition and stores for Acadia and Quebec.
Scarcely had they reached the shores of Acadia when they
were captured by an English s(piadron, under Sir David
Kirk. La Tour was sent to Englantl a prisoner, and Kirk,
{)ro(!eeding to Acadia, took })ossession of Port Royal, leaving
a few men there in charge of the works, with instructions
to prepare the place for the reception of a colony in the fol-
lowing year. Tlie whole number of vessels captured by
Kirk at this time amounted to eighteen, witii one hundred
and thirty-five pieces of ordnance and a vast quantity of
ammunition, quite sufficient to have put both Port Royal
and Quebec in a respectable state of defence. While at

"'M:^

'■m

'f- ':'^

,*v?-^

f'il /

./_

1 •

Ii'

IK)

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Tadoussac, in July, 1628, Kirk Jiad scut a summons
to (iiiehoc to surrender, but Champlain returncti a defiant
answer, and Kirk not bein^ aware of its wretched cohJitioii
postponed attacking it until the following year, contcnc'ig
himself with cutting off its supplies. Had he attacked it
then the place must have fallen immediately, for it oniy
contained fifty pounds of powder, and was short of j)rovi-
sions. In 1G29 Kirk again made his appearances in the St.
Lawrence with a strong squadron, and suinmon(!d (Quebec
to surrender. This time there was no thought of resistance.
The place was destitute both of provisions and ammunition,
and Champlain had no alternative but to accept the favor-
able terms offeretl by Kirk, who took possession of the place
on the 29th July, 1629, and carried Champlain to England,
leaving his brother, I^ouis Kirk, in command of QucIkjc.
He was a lenient and pojnilar governor, and most of the
French colom'sts concluded to remain in the country.
Early in the same year Lord James Stuart, with three
vessels, had taken j)osscssion of a fishing craft on the coast,
belonging to St. Jean de Luz, which he sent to Port Royal
with two of his own, and with the third proceeded to Port
aux Baleines* in Cape Breton, where he erected a fort,
claiming that the territory belonged to Great Britain. He
was, however, not allowed to remain long in peaceable pos-
session of his new ac(piisition. Captain Daniel, who
commiuidcd a Freneth war vessel, heard of the English fort,
and immediately attacked and captured it, with its garrison.
He utterly destroyed the fort, but erected another at the

♦Murdoch conjectures this to have been St. Anne's Harbor, liut a reference to
Charlevoix's map of Isle Uoyale shows that it was the harbor immediately to the
westward of the oast point of Cape Breton, and within the island now called Puerto
Nuevo Island, which is laid down on the map of Charlevoix "Portenove ou la
Baleine." This harbor has now no name on the maps, and it is possible there may
be no settlement there. It is about ten miles from Louisburg,

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

117

ontriince of the Grand Cibou,* whidi ho armed with eight
guns and garrisoned with tliirty-eight men. He then
sailed for Falmouth, where he landed fortv-two of his
prisoners, and took the remainder — twenty-one in number,
including Lord James Stuart — to Dieppe. Thus it appears
that the English were the first to recognize the vast import-
ance of Cape Breton as a position which conunandcd the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, but the French im|)rovcd vastly
u])on the lesson thus taught them, and it wtus then; that they
made their last stand for the preservation of their power
in Acadia.

While this conflict wa.s going on in America, all hostili-
ties between England and France had been put an end to
in Europe by a treaty made between those powers at Suza,
in Piedmont, in April, 1629. It will thus be seen that
Quebec had been captured after peace had been concluded,
and that some work was still left for the (li|)lonuitists to
arrange. Port Royal was in the possession of the ICnglish,
and, with the exception of Fort St. Louis, at Cai)e Sable,
they may be said to have had possession of the entire terri-
tory of Acadia. When Charles de St. Eticnne found
that there was no prosi)ect of help from France, he sum-
moned all the French in Acadia into his fort, and put it
in as good a posture of defence as his means would permit,
lie then calmly awaited any attack that might be made,
confident tiiat he had left nothing undone that it was in
his power to do, to defend his post.

La Tour, in the meantime, had been conveyed to Eng-
land as a ]>risoner of war; but he does not appear t(» have
remained long in that position. He became ac(|uainted
with Sir William Alexander, and was j)resented at court,

* This is what is now called Great Urass d'Or, u corruption of Lnlirador. Fort
Dauphin was afterwards built on the site of Daniel's Fort, or in its vicinity.

ir: ^

ii-

11:

118 HISTORY OF ACADIA.

where he was received with favor. While in Luadon he
minf>;lc<l much with his Protestimt bretiiren who had fled
from France, and no doubt his mind became greatly influ-
enced by t!ieir strictures on the (londnct of the King and
Richelieu in breaking faith with the people of Rochelle.
Whatever was the ca'isc, he fell away from his allegiance
to his native countr>. lie married, while in London, one
of the maids of honor to the (^ueen Plem'ietta Maria, and
from that time lie seems to have regarded himself as a
subject of Great Britain. An extraordinary degree of favor
was shown to him by the King ; he wsis created a baronet
of Nova Scotia, his son received the same honor,* and on
the 3()th Aj)ril, Ifi.'JO, La Tour and his son Charles received
from Sir William Alexander a grant of a tract of territory
in Acadia, from Yarmouth along the coast to Lunenburg,
and fifteen leagues inland towards the north, y grant which
may be roughly estimated to contain four thousand five
hundred wpiarc miles. This territory wius to be held under
the Crown of Scotland, and to be divided into two baro-
nies*, which were to be named the barony of St. Etienne
and the baronv of Iva Tour. The y;rantees were also in-
V "^ed with the j)ower of building forts and towns, and
with the right of admiralty over the whole coast, Avhieh
was about one hundred and fifty miles in extent. So
nuiniticent a gift recpiired some corresponding return on
the j)art of the grantees, and, accordingly. La T^our under-
took to plant a colony of Scotch in Acadia and to obtain

♦The foUowini; is a list of tiaroiiots civati'd, ami of the plucos wliiTo they held
lands, from the creation of tie La Tour to his son, iiielusive: —

1629 — XovcinlitT ItO — Sir (Mimte do St. Klicniie Seignour de La Tour, . . Nova Scotia.

IffW — Marcii ;ll— .Sir Htibert Hniiiiav, «f Mochi-imi New Bruiiswiolt,

•* April 20 — Sir William KorbeH, of Now Craigeivar, ..... New Brunswick,

" " 24— Sir ■lames Stewart, Lord Ochiltree, New Brunswick

" " 24— Sir Peirs Crosble, - New Brunswiclt.

n ti 24— Sir Walter Crosbie, of rro>lio Parlt, Wioltlow, . . . New Brunswick.

" Hay 12— Sir Charlen de St. Ktieime, Seigneur de St. Denlscourt, . . Nova Scotia.

Hi, ,( I

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

119

possession of his son's fort of St. Louis for the King of
Great Britain. Accordingly, in 1630, he set sail with a
number of colonists in two vessels well provided, and he
appears to have had no doubts as to his ability to carry
out what he had promised. When the vessels arrived at
Port Ivatour, he landed and visited his son at fort St.
Louis, liut Charles do St. Etienne utterly refused to
entertain for a luonient the i)roposition made to him by his
father to deliver his fort to the English. When the latter
endeavored to seduce him from his allegiance by relating
the high consideration in which he was held at the p]uglish
court, and the honors and rewards which he would receive
if he would come under Eii' 1ish rule, he replied that the
King of Erance had confided the defence of the fort to his
keeping, and that he was incapable of betraying the confi-
dejice which had been placeil in him ; that however much
he might value any honor or title bestowed upon him by
a foreign prince, he would regard still more highly the
approval of his own sovereign for having faithfully per-
formed his duty ; and that he would not be seduced from
his allegiance, even at the solicitation of a jiarent whom he
loved. Overwhelmed with mortification. La Tour retired
on board of his ship and addressed a letter to his son,
couched in the most tender and : iil'i'tionate language, and
setting forth the advantages which they would both derive
from pursuing the course which he desired his son to adopt.
Finding this produced no effect, he tried to intimidate his
son by menaces; and, finding these disregarded, and utterly
driven to desperation, he disembarked his soldiers and a
nund)er of armed seamen, and tried to carry the fort by
assault. The assailants were driven back with loss, and on
the second day made another attack, but with no better
success. La Tour was urgent for another assault on the

< !

' dii

'^'9

* '

'.'I'M

•'-

wSU

'^Hn

^I'^H

l:\'

120

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

third day, but tlie comnmnding oflicor would not porniit
any more of his men to be .sacrificed, and retired with them
to the ships. La Tour was now in a most pitiable position
and knew not which way to turn. lie had made himsell'
u traitor to his country, and ho had broken his [)romises
to the Kn<"lish. To remain with either was oidv to take a
choice of (ivils, and the earth was not wide enou<;h to enable
him to escape from the anjrer. of both. lie, however,
believed himself safer with the foreigners, whom he had
deceived, than with his own countrymen, whom he had
l)<'tt syed. Ife therefore went with the Scotch colonists,
Avho retired to join their countrymen at Port lioyal. Great
as inight have been J va Tour's grief at this misadventure
nn his own account, it could not fail to be much increased
by the reflection tliat he had made the lady who had be-
come his wife the innocent sharer of his misfortunes. He
told her, in touching language, that he iiad counted on
introducing her in Ac;',dia to a life of happiness and com-
fort, but that he was now reduced to beggary, and, if she
chose, he woidd release her from her [)ainful position and
allow her to return to her family. She replied in the noble
language of Ruth, telling him that she had not married
him to abandon him at the first breath of misfortune, and
that, whatever trials and troubles ho had to endure, she
would bo willing to share with him.

The colony at Port Jloyal, in which Iax Tour found
refuge, had been established there in 1620 by a son of Sir
William Alexander, and consistcid chiefly of natives of
Scotland. They had erected a fort on the Granville shore,
opposite Goat Island, the site of Champlain's fort. Very
little is known of the history of the colony, and the little
that has been preserved, is chiefly a record of misfortunes.
During the first winter, out of seventy colonists, no less

!!^^

HISTORY OF ac:adia.

121

than thirty died, ami the .survivors soem to have had but
little heart to withstand tlu' ri«:;(>r.s of another winter. The
arrival of the vessels in whieh La Tour had eonie, with
additions to their mnnbers and supplies, somewhat revived
their droopinj; spirits; hut there were daufi'ers menacing
the existence of the ('(douy which neither their prudence
nor their industr) could avert.

The attention of those peoi)le in I'rance, who took an
interest in the alfairs of America, was directed to tlie
ciipture of (iuehec by the Knj^lish in time ()f jjcace, and
much indi<jjnation was expressed that such an outrage
should be i»ermitte(l. Strong pressure was brought to bear
on the King to demand the restitution of this stronghold,
and, as Uichelieu was favorable t(» such a demand being
made, Louis XIIl. was easily induced to accede to their
wishes. In the meantime the Com[)any of New France re-
solved to j)reserve what ])ossessions still remained to them
in America. Accordingly, in l(i30, two vessels were fitted
at Bordeaux by ^l. Tul'et, a merchant and citizen of that
town, and a mend)er oi' the ("omj)any, with suj)plics, arms,
and anuuunition for the new fort at (irand Cibou, in Cape
Breton, and for Fort St. Louis at Port La Tour. They
had a long and stormy passage, and did jiot reach Cape
Sable until late in the season, which was the more annoy-
ing, as they had on board a considerable number of
workmen and artizans for the purpose of forming a new
settlement in .Vcadia, and three Recollet fathers to perform
missionary services. Captain ]Marot, who had conunand of
this expedition, brought Charles de St. Etienne a letter
from M. Tufet, enjoining him to remain steadfast in the
King's cause, and expressing the confidence which the
Company had in his patriotism and firmness. It also
informed him that the vessels contained arms, ammunition,

^.'A-^4

122

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

li'flli

'J.V . '

supplies sind men, which were at his service, to build
(IwellingH aud forts wherever he deemed most convenient.
St. Ktienne was naturally much gratified at this illustration
of the favor with which he was regarded in his native
country, hut he was much troubled on account of the con-
duct of his father, who still remained at Port Royal with
the Scotch. After consulting with Captain Marot, it was
agreed that the best plan was to advise his fath(!r of the
probability of Port Royal being given up bv(jireat Jiritain,
and to refjuest him to return to Cape Sable, so that they
might be informed of the nundiers and intentions of the
Scotch, L:i Tour very cheerfully comj)lied with this
invitation, and repaired to Cape Sable, where his son had a
comfortable dwelling erected for the accommodation of his
family and attendants without the walls of the fort. He
brought the intelligence that the Port Royal colonists
intended to make another attack on Fort St. Louis. A
long consultation wiis then held, in which I^a Tour, St.
Etieune, Captain Marot and the Rccollet fathers took
part, and the ipiestion as to what wns the best course to be
pursued was discussed in all its bearings. It was finally
concluded to erect a strong fort at the mouth of the St. John
River, where there was a powerful tribe of Indians, which
would serve the double purpose of repelling the intrusions
of the English in that direction, and would give the French
at the sam(! time conunand o!' the whole peltry trade of that
vast tract of wilderness, which extended to the River St.
Lawrence. La Tour was to superintend the erection of
this fort, and continue in command until it w^as completed,
while St. Etieune would still remain at Cape Sable, and
resist any attack which might be made upon him by the
Scotch. Captain Marot was to convey the workmen,

' 1 Jjl

y _

1 M

Wm'

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

123

artizans and their supplies to the mouth of the St. John,
and the work was to be proceeded witli at once.

This plan was equally hold and judicious, and no time
was lost in csirrying; it into effect. The workmen were
conveyed to the St. John, and operations coninuMKed with
vigor, but as the pr(»poscd worlc was to he constructed on
an extensive scale, but little could be done towards its
accom])lishmcnt that season, and when another season had
arrived, the political aspect of affairs appeared to render its
immediate construction less necessary. The King of
Great Brilain seemed little disposed to resist the demand
that had been made upon him for the restoration of (Quebec
and Acadia. The value of these possessions had not then
been recogni/ed either in England or France, and Charles
I. wa.s not willing to risk further difficulty with his most
Christian brother, Louis, for the sake of such \\v)rthless
acquisitions. Although he ])rofessed to regard th(> territory
of Acadia as belonging to the Crown of England, and had
granted it to one of his subjects who had partially colonized
it, he meanly gave it uj) to France, when threatened that if
he did not do so, four hundred thousand crowns of the
portion oi' (^ueeiv Henrietta Maria would be retained. In
June, 1631, he authorized his and)assador. Sir Isaac Wake,
to conclude a treaty with the French King for the purpose
of setting at rest all controversies, and in July informed
Sir AVilliam Alexander, who, the year previous, had been
created Earl of Sterling, that Port Royal was to be restored
to the French, and the fort destroyed which the Scotch had
erected. On the 29th March, 1632, the treaty of St. Ger~
main-en-Laye was signed, one of its provisions being that
Acadia should be restored to France.

In the meantime Charles de St. Etienne's })atriotism and
courage were recognized in France by the granting of a

:\f

,;^'

' '

. >

'f ,

i ''.:■ .. ii

} '' ,-->l

124

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

commission to him, dated 11th February, 1631, by which
he was appointed to command as the King's lieutenant-
general in Acadia. Great activity was now displayed by the
Company of New France, and, while the King invested his
loyal subject with dignity and authority, the Company sup-
plied him \vith ammunition and stores, that his commission
might not prove a bootless honor, and sent a well-stocked
vessel to Fort St. I^ouis in April 1631, with a letter con-
firming, on the par., of the Company, the command granted
by the King. The fort at Cape Breton was also supplied
at tb^ ^■lme time, but things had gone badly there, for
Gaude, the commander, had basely murdered Martel, his
lieutenant, although there were there two missionaries,
fathers Vimont and Vieuxpont, whose teachings and exam-
ple seem to have had no effect in bringing this barbarous
commander to respect the proprieties of life.

Thus ended the year 1631, a year which was remarkable
as marking the termination of that ])eriod of apathy and
neglect which had been so prejudicial to the interc^* of
Canada and Acadia, and which had caused their shores to
be comparatively deserted, while New England was being
filled up with hardy and industrious colonists.

ill

- t:

- ^ '■■ '■''!:.

CHAPTER VII.

ISAAC DE KAZILLYS COLONY.

Agreeably to the treaty of peace, France proceeded to
resume possession of those portions of her North American
dominions which had been seized by England. The Com-
pany of New France, then strong in wealth and numbers,
and strong also in royal favor, had resolved to colonize
Acjidia, and to accomplish this, neither money nor labor
was to be spared ; for the undertaking was not more for
the prrut or llie Company than it was for the honor of the
King. Isaac De Razilly was the person selected to effect
the res oration of the country to France. This commander,
who had served as a captain in the navy at Rochelle, and
who added to his titles as commander of the Isle Bouchard
and commodore of Bretagne, that of Knight Commander
of St. John of Jerusalem, had likewise another claim to
notice equally strong. Ho was a relative of the great Car-
dinal Richelieu, and stood high in his favor, at a time when
to be the Cardinal's favorite was more than to be a favorite
of the King himself.

On the 27th March, 1(382, De Razilly entered into an
agreement with the Company of New France, by the terms
of which he was to receive from the Cardinal a vessel called
I.'-sperance en Dieu, free and in sailing order, ready to
r.ceivo her cargo, armed with her guns, swivels, powder
and shot. He Avas to receive also the sum of ten thousand
livres in ready money, in consideration of which he engaged
to put the Company of New France in possession of Port
Royal, without any further charges. He engaged also to

i .

... :,^1

ff^

126

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

11^

h , '

!r.

fit out an armed pinnaco of at least one hundred tons, and
to carry out to Acadia three Cajnichin friars, and such a
number of men as the Com})any of New France should
judge to be pro]ier. On the 10th of May he received a
commission from the King, authorizing him to cause the
Scotch and other subjects of Grciit Britain to withdraw
from Quebec, Port Koyal tmrt Cape ]3reton. A few days
later he obtained from the Company of New France a grant
of the river and bay of St. Croix, twelve; leagues in front
and twenty in depth, with the .'idjacent islands, including
the Island of St. Croix, on whicli De JNIonts spent his first
winter in Acadia. De Razilly was furnished also by the
Secretary of State with letters {)atcnt of the King of Great
Britain, under the great seal of Scotland, for the restitution
of Port Royal to the French, and an order of King Charles
to his subjects in Port Royal for the demolition and aban-
donment of the ])lace. De Razilly likewise carried with
him a letter from Sir William Alexander to Captain
Andros Forrester, who was conunander of the Scotch
colony at Port Royal, requiring him to deliver up that
place to the French commander. Thus fully armed, with
all necessary authority for carrying out his undertaking,
De Razilly set sail for Acadia..

He took with him a number of peasants and artizans to
people the new colony, and in his train were two men,
whose names are inseparably linked with early Acadian
history. One of these, Charles de Menou, seigneur d'Aul-
nay de Charnisay, became the life-long enemy of C'larles
de St. Etienne; the other, Nicholas Denys, after a life of
adventure in Acadia, became its historian, returned to
France, and died at a ripe age in the land of his birth.

As soon as De Razilly arrived at Port Royal, it was
surrendered to him by the Scotch commander, the fort

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

127

haviii}^ been previously demolished. The Scotch colony
wa-s at that time in an extremely feeble state. Nearly half
the colonists had died durinj^ the first winter, and, although
subsequently reinforced, they were much discouraged and
in no condition to persevere in the work of settling of Aca-
dia. To most of them, therefore, the order for their return
to their native land was most welcome. A few, however,
decided to remain and cast their lot with the French who
were come to occupy the country. These Scotch families
who remained in Acadia became entirely lost amid the
French population in the course of a generation, and so the
name, and almost the memory, of Sir William Alexander's
Scorch colony perished.

De Razilly did not settle his colony at Port lloyal.
Experience had taught the French that, great as were the
advantages of that place, there were other points on the
coast more favorably situated for the successful prosecution
of the fisheries, and that was one of the main objects of the
Company of New Franco. De Razilly a(!cordingly, after
taking formal possession of Port Royal, went to La Have,
and there planted his colony. This place had long been
known to the French fishermen, and it was admirably
situated for carrying on the shore fishery. Its harbor was
spacious and easy of access ; a considerable river, which
flowed into it, su[)plied a means of connnunicating with the
interior of the peninsula, and the whole shore, to the east
and west, abounded in fish. De Razilly's fort was erected
at the head of La Have harbor, on its western side, on a
little hillock of three or four acres, and was, like all the
Acadian forts of that day, merely a palisaded enclosure
with bastions at the four corners. Such a stronghold was
then consideretl sufficient for all purposes, for the Indians
were friendly, and the New England colonists were too

1-.

■' ;!

;- j5

« f

■> ' 5^

m: :■

f9 UJl^^' if)

'PMInll

ji , , . "■■!♦■■

ijiii

'*.

i'^'

■i

1- :

■, -J

• 1

128

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

weak to give the French in Acadia any concern. The fort
at La Have was, therefore, but a sort of trading house,
about which the habitations of the colonists might cluster,
and it was entirely overshadowed in importance by the
forts of Port Royal and St. John, ^vhich afterwards became
the scene of so many warlike operations.

De Razilly appears to have been moved by a sincere
desire to establish a strong French colony in Acadia ; but
to accomplish this object was a matter of no small difficulty.
The French, like the other Latin peoples, have never been
possessed of that migratory spirit which has spread the
Anglo-Saxon race over so large a })art of the habitable
globe, and they have always made indifferent colonists. It
was, however, one of the conditions on Avhich the privileges
of the Company of New France had been granted, that it
should supply Acadia with colonists, and it was necessary
to make some effort to fulfil this part of the obligations
imposed on the Company. De Razilly, in the first year of
his settlement at La Have brought out to Acadia forty
families from France, most of whom were cultivators of the
soil, and they weri^ settled about the fort on the indifferent
and rocky land which surrounds La Have. There is reason
to believe that for some years their main pursuit was the
shore fishery, which was found more immediately profitable
than the cultivation of the soil. La Have, and the coasts
about it, abounded in such fish as cod, sturgeon, halibut,
salmon, shad, ale wives and herrings, and both De Razilly
and Nicholas Denys, at th period, engaged in fishing
operations on a large scale. Denys established a fishery at
Port Rossignol, a harbor to the westAvard of La Have, and
it would seem that De Razilly was interested in his opera-
tions. No doubt the ucv French commander in Acadia
had discovered that it was more prudent to employ his

■JI:

■Si

HISTORY OK ACADIA.

129

colonists in those pursuits wliii-h would yield an iinniediate
return for their labor, ratlier than to engage in the arduous
task of developing the agrieultural wealth of an unsubdued
continent. W'hatever may have been De Razilly's views
upon the subject, it is at least certain tiiat his colony ol'
Frenclnnen never took any strong root at Iai Have during
the years of its existence ther'.'.

Jiut weak as was the La Have colonv, and uncertain as
was its tenure of the soil on which it was placed, it nuist
have looked strong and ini])osing to the distant colonists of
New England, for it filled them with alarm. CJovernor
Winthrop, in his diary, gives ex})ression to the i'eelings of
jspprehension and distrust with which tlie planting of De
Razilly's colony was viewed in lioston ; and he relates how
lie called the assistants to l^oston, and tiie ministers and
captains, and some other chief men, to advise what was best
to be done for the safety of New England. At this meet-
ing it was agreed that a plantation and I'ort should be
lorthwith begun at Natascott, that the fort at Boston should
l)e finished, and that a ])lantat!on should be begun at Aga-
wam, which was considered the best place in New JMigland
for tillage and cattle. Winthrop was appr<'hensive that if
Agawam was left vacant much longer, it might i'all into
the hands of the French.

No doubt there were some grounds for these apprehen-
sions, for the French in Acadia often exhibited a capacity
to aimoy and injure quite out of proportion to their actual
strength. In June 1632, before De Kazilly arrived in
Acadia, an event took place which gave some indications
of the spirit in which the treaty of St. Germain was likely
to be interpreted by the subjects of France. A party of
French came in a pinnace to Penobscot, where the New
Plymouth colonists had established a trading house, after

■ ■i-.,-ni

1, .

i,' .

\i:

I ■ • < I:

.Uli

:■■■' h

lit

1 1 1

; '• ■; ^

" 1

130

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

La Tour had been (Hs2)(),sser<se(l. The French pretended to
have just arrived from sea, that they had lost their reckon-
ing, that their vessel was leaky, and that they desired to
haul her up and repair her. It happened that the master
of the trading house and most of his men had gone to the
westward for a supply of goods, leaving only three or four
men to jirotect the fort. The French, seeding the weak
state of the garrison, resolved to lielp themselves to the
contents of the trading house, and, having over])()werd the
few men in charge, loaded their vessel with their goods,
Avhich consisted of three hundred weight of 'ueaver, besides
trading stuff, such as coats, rugs, blankets, and biscuit,
the whole valued at five hundred pounds sterling. The
French did not injure or imprison the Englishmen in
charge of the post, but when they had secured their plun-
der, set them at liberty, telling them to carry to their
master the insolent message, that some gentlemen of the Isle
of Rh6 had been there.

Governor Bradford, who gives a circumstantial narrative
of this transaction, does not furnish the name of the
French leader wlio rifled Penobscot, but states that he had
with him a false Scot, who acted as interpreter. It is highly
probable that Claude La Tour was at the head of the party,
and that he took this novel method of carrying out the
treaty of St. Germain, and at the same time reimbursing
himself for his losses at Penobscot, when it was taken from
him by the English. It is clear that the treaty of St. Ger-
main contemplated the restoration of Penobscot to France,
but certainly not by the Corsair-like method adopted by
the gentlemen from the Isle of Rh&. In their case one act
of piracy led to others. While returning with the plunder
of Penobscot, the French fell in with the shallop of an
Englishman named Dixy Bull, who had l)een engaged in

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

i;U

tradinj^j to the oii.stward, and rohhfd liim of" his gocnls.

seems to liave been so luuch (liseonraij;e(

Bull

)y tlie ill success
of his attempt to mai<e an honest living hy trading that lie
resolved to turn pirate himselt". lie gathered together
tif'teen other vagabond Knglishmen, who were scattered
about the coast east of Boston, and, seizing some boats,
made a raid on Pemaquid, where there had been a small
English settlement i'or some years. ]iull rifled the fort
there, and pliuidered tiie settlers, losing <tne of his men l)y
a musket siiot. Me was finally chased away by a hastily
organized force uuder Xeale and Hilton from Piscataqua.
This bold act of robbery excited great indignation at
Boston, and a bark was fitted out Avith twenty men, under
the conunand of Lieutenant Mason, to capture ]iull aiul
his gang. After a two months' cruise, however, they
returned without having seen anything of him, and he
appears to have escaped to England. Tliis man was the
first pirate known on the coast of New England. '

In the following year Charles La Tour took possession
of Machias, where Mr. Allerton of Plynionth and some
others had set up a trading wigwam, guarded by five men.
La Tour dispossessed them, claiming Machias as French
territory. Some resistance being ottered, two of the
English were killed, and the other three and the goods
carried off to La Tour's fort at Cape Sable. Mr. Allerton
afterwards sent a pinnace to La Tour to obtain the restora-
tion of the men and the return of the goods which he had
taken from Machias. But La Tour made answer that he
took them as lawful prize, and that he had done so under
the authority of the King of France, who claimed the
whole territory fror _.ape Sable to Cape Cod. He desired
Mr. Allerton's men to take notice, and to inform the rest
of the English, that if they traded to the east of Pemaquid,

'xm

>■■■• xm

'•!)

132

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

S'lU

r '

i|!

jii

ho would soi/o tliom and tlioir vessels. Oiieoi iiie Piiiglish
was iiiipnulent enouf^h to ask I^a Tour t(t show his coni-
luission, and lu; answered witli some heat, that his sword
was a suffieient eonituission where he had strength enough
to overeonie his enemi(>s, and that, when that failed, it
would be time enough for him to show his (umimission.
Both men and goods were sent by La Tour to France,
where the men were set at liberty, but the goods were
adjudged to be lawful prize. T^a Tour's conduct in this
affair shows that he was not merely acting the ])art of a
freebooter, as some of the New England writers pretend,
but as the lieutenant of the King, and under a claim to
territorial rights, which, however extravagant, was probably
(piite as good as any of the claims under which America
was held at that period.

This claim of the French King was enforced again in
the following year (1635). M. Dc Razilly sent a ship to
I'enobscot under the command of his lieutenant, Charni-
say, M'ho had come to Acadia with him, three years before.
The trading house at Penobscot, which had been despoiled
of its goods by the Fi'cnch in 1G32, was still kept up by
the Plymouth people, and was as little ca])ablc of defence
a.s it had been on the former occasion. Charnisay took
possession of Penobscot without meeting with any serious
resistance, and seized all the goods in the trading house,
giving bills for them to the men in charge. He gave the
men their liberty, but, before they departed, he shewed
them the commission which he had from the French com-
mander at La Have to remove all the English from the
settlements as far south as the Pemaquid. He bade them
tell their people at the English plantations, that he would
come the next year with eight ships and displant them all
as far south as the fortieth degree of north latitude. At

.if

■Til

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

133

the same time he professed all courtesy for the En<>;lish and
a desire to live on the most friendly terms with them.
Charnisay then proeeedeU to oeeu[)y the trading post and
to strengthen its defences. The seijuel showed that his pre-
cautions were by no means superfluous. The Plymouth
colonists were highly enraged at the insolence of the French
and at the loss of their goods, and resolved to recapture
Penobscot. They hired a vessel named the (ircat Hope
from her master, Mr. Girling, who undertook for a i)ay-
ment of two hundred pounds to drive tiie French out. The
Plymouth people also aided him with a bark and about
twenty men. When they reached Penobscot they found
the French, who were eighteen in number, so strongly
intrenched that, after expending most of their powd(>r and
shot in cannonading them, they were unable to make any
impression on their works. This imexj)ected repulse ren-
dered a change of policy necessary, and accordingly the
Plymouth bark was sent to Boston to ol)tain as^' 'stance,
Girling's ship being left to blockade the Frencii in the
meantime.

The general court assembled at Boston, and agreed to aid
the Plymouth people to drive out the French from Penob-
scot, which all were satisfied was a measure essential to tlu^
comfort and safety of the New England colonies. But
when it came to the discussion of details with the Plymouth
people, there was found to be a wide diiference of opinion
as to the terms on which the aid should be granted. ^Ir.
Prence and the redoubtable Captain JNIiles Standish, who
were sent to Boston as commissioners by the Plymouth
colony, contended that the removal of the French from
Penobscot, was a matter which concerned all the English
colonies, and in wliieh they ought all to make common
cause. They said that the people of Plymouth should only

■•;■ *

•

rrr

1.34

IIISTOIIY OF ACADIA.

l)(! iiiiulc to coiiti'lhiitc tlicir proper slmn; of tlu; cost of the
ronioviil of the J^^'cnch. The coiiiinissioncrs for the colony
of MiissHcliiisctts Hay, on the other hand, refnsod to have
unythinj; to do with the; expeditifin to I'enoh.scot, (!xcei)t in
aid of the I'lynionth coh)nists and at their cost. So material
a dilfereiiee of (»])ini()n made it impossihh^ for the represen-
tatives of the two colonies to come to terms, and the resnlt
was that the (conference fell throuj^h, and the French were
left in nndistnrbed ])ossession of the month of the Penobscot
river for many years. There were mntnal jealousies, even
at that early day between the people of Plymouth and the
jxiople of Massachusetts IJay, which j)revented them from
unitinf*; in an nndertakinj^ which concerned both colonies
in an equal deijree. If one colony was more interested tiian
the other, it certainly was that one which lay nearest to the
French at Penobscot, and was, therefore, most likely to
receive annoyance from them. Yet it was Ma.ssachusetts
which o(!cnpied that position, that refused to stir in the
matter unless paid by the people of Plymouth. Could the
people of New England have looked but a little way into
the future, they would not have j^rudi^ed the cost of an
cxpeditioii to drive the French to the St. Croix.

At this |)eriod, however, there was but little of that bit-
terness b(!tween the people of New England and the French
in vVcadia which in after years distinguished their ccmtests.
Indeed, many acts of kindness on both sides are recorded
in. the annals of that time, one of which deserves mention,
as it brings Charnisay into a more favorable light than he
is generally shown in by the old chronicles. A pinnace
belonging to Sir Richard Saltonsall, which had been sent
out to Connecticut, was, on her return to JOngland, cast
away npon the Isle of Sable. The French npon the island
treatal the shipwrecked company kindly and sent them to

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

l.'}5

De Razilly at J^a Have, who used tliem with groat cour-
tesy, giving lour of their uunihor a passage to Frauee.
Tiie others, who preferred to n^turu to New England, he
t'urnislied with a sliallop to earry them back to Boston.
Wliile sailing carefully round the coast with their frail
craft, they were obliged to ])Ut into Penobscot, which was
just then being blockaded by (Jirling's ship. Charnisay,
at such a time, might have been excused if he liad shown
some harshness to the countrymen of the people who were
just then attacking l»im. But he disj)layed no such feel-
ing, merely contenting himself with detaining them until
Girling's ship was gone. He then forwarded them on their
voyage to Boston, sending by them a letter to the governor
of jNlassachusetts Hay, in which he, in courteous terms,
gave expression to his I'eelings of friendship and esteem.

Sir Richard Saltonsall's men were not the first English-
men who were so unfortunate as to be cast away on Sable
Island. In 1()3.'> Mr. John Rose, a Boston man, lost his
vessel, the Mary and Jane, on that inhospitable island de-
sert, but made a ])innace out of the wreck in which he and
his crew roaehed the mainland of Acadia. l?ose saw more
than eight hundred wild cattle on the island, and great
numbers of foxes, some of which were black. The account
he gave to the French of this island so tempted their
cupidity that they resolved to go thither, and seventeen of
them eud)arked in a small vessel for Sable Island, taking
Rose with them as i)ilot. These Frenchmen built them-
selves a residence, and proceeded to hunt the wild cattle,
foxes and sea-horse, which abounded on the island. Rose
returned to New England, but the tidings of his adventures
soon spread, and in 1635 two Boston men, named (iraves
and Hodges, organized a company to go to Sable Island
for sea-horse and wild cattle. They went well provided

■ -'»

■ ,t

f ■■■' '-'"J^

. .; ..., ■ .:

'■■■'¥ Sm

i^m

5 l"

i'li ;

! ' 'Tj

;l|

■Ifc

lip

. ,'. ?! ;

•■i

'f>.

I fl

iii!

i;{(>

HISTORY OK ACADIA.

with evorythinp; nccossarv for a rosidonco thoro, carrvincj a
]M)vtabl(' house to dwell in, and other neeessary articles.
They loiiiid sixteen Frenchmen on the island, who had
wintered there and huilt a little fort. They had succeeded
in killing a few black foxes, but had slau}>htered so many
of the cattle that not over one hundred and forty were left.
The Kn^lishmen only succeeded in killing a few sea-horse,
owing to the distance they had to travel ni the sand to their
haunts, and they were obliged to come away from the island
at th(! very time when sea-horse were beginning to (!ome
ashore in the greatest numbers. They returned to Boston
on the 2(jih August, IG-'if). Two years later, twenty men
went from lioston in a pinnace to kill sea-horse on Sable
Island, out after cruising about for six weeks were unable
to find it, and returned home. In Se|)tember 1G,'J7, they
set out again with more skilful seamen to renew their
search, with the intention of wintering there. Nothing
was heard from them for nearly two years. In March
lij'M) a bark was sent to Sabh^ Island to bring them back,
but was caught in a tem[)e.st and wrecked there, and out of
her timbers they iiiaile a smaller vessel, in which the men
returned to Doston. They reported the island to be very
healthful and temperate, not having lost a man in nearly
two years, nor had any of them been sick. They had col-
lected a great store of seal oil and skins, and some sea-horse
teeth, but the loss of their vessel overthrew their hopes of
profit from the venture. After this, the people of Boston
sent out several companies of adventurers to Sable Island
to hunt wild cattle and sea-horses, one company getting
there in 1 642 goods to the value of one thousand five hun-
dred pounds. The wild cattle were soon all killed oii'
under the pressui'e of so many attacks, and expeditions to
Sable Island afterwards became unprofitable. The ances-

HISTOUY OF ACADIA.

137

tors of th(! wild liorses which are still to be found on Sahle
Island, we may ])resnnie, were left there by some of tiie
j'^n^lish or French adventurers who hunted on it during
the first half of the seventeenth century.

The internal hist(try of Acadia for the four years l)etween
1(!;>2 and l().'i<), does not })resent many [)oints of particular
interest. De Hazilly's colony of farmers and lishermen at
La Have, and ('harles La Tour's settlement at Cape Sable,
were at first the only inhabited places hi Acadia, but within
these years the settlement at l*ort Royal was re-established,
and, as has already been stated, in Ki'^o I'enobscot was
occupied by Charnisay, acting; as De Hazilly's lieutenant.
This last, however, never was anythinj^ more than a forti-
fied tradin<^ post with a small pirrison.

Several important grants were made by the Company of
!ie\v France about this time. In 1()."34 this Company
•rrantrd to Claude De Razillv, brother of the conmiander of
Acadia, the fort and settlement of Port Royal in Acadia,
together with the Isle of Sabk' and the fort and settlement
at J^a Have. This Claude De Razillv was largely engaged
in the fishing business, and the operations which the French
were conducting on Sable Island aj)})ear to have been foi'
his benefit.

The next grant of importance made in .Vcadia by the
Company was a fitting reward for faithful service and
loyalty to the King. Charles de St. Etienne, the sieur de
La Tour,* who is described in the jrant as lieutenant-
general for the King on the coast of Acadia in Xcw
France, was granted the fort and habitation of La Tour on
the River St. John, with the lands adjacent, having a

-i.

^*l

imiiit^

* Whero La Tour is spoken of ln'roaftcr in tliis liislory, CliiirlL'S La Tour is meant,
Claude, the fatlier, liaving taken no active part in tlie allairs of Acadia alter the
year 16.'i5.

'.■\ -n

I !

•:'■

?!■

!'•

Ill
11

s..

''':

138

HISTORY (_)F ACADIA.

frontage of five leagues on the river, and extending ten
leagues hack into the country. The date of this grant was
the loth .January, 1G35, and during this year La Tour
removed part of his establishment from Cai)e Sable to the
River St. John, where a fort had been connneneed some
ycare before. This fort was destined in alter years to
become the scene of some of the most stirring events in
Acadian history.

The work of the missionaries, which, during the Knglish
occupation had bei^n abandoned, was renewed in IG-''.'}. In
that year the moid<s of the Order of St. Francis, from the
Province of Aquitane, returned to .Vcadia, and the missions
on the St. John and at Miscou were re-estal)lished. Those
pious fathers contiiuied to retain the possession of this
missionary field, and under their ministrations all the
siivages of .Vcadia, in the course of time, became Christians,
at least in name. Those humble missionarv laborers have
had no historian to relate their })rivations and toils, and,
unlike the -Jesuits, they did not become their own annalists.
It surely was not for an earthly reward that they con-
demned liiemsolves to s[)end their days among s(pialid
savages in the deep recesses of the Ibrest, exposed to all the
vicissitudes of savage life, discomfort, disease, hunger, and
sometimes starvation. The zeal which could carry men so
far in the patii of duty, without eomjdaining, nu;st surely
iiave been lighted i'rom some more sacred Haine than burns
on any earthly altar.

In lG.j(), Isaac De lla/illy, in the midst of his plans for
the colonization of Acadia, suddenlv died, leavinir the
young coloiiv without its leader and heatl. His death was
a peculiarly severe misfortune, hajjpening when it did, for
his work was not finished. Had his life been prolonged,
Acadia, instead of bo<'oming for yonva a field of conflict for

IIIoTOKY OF ACADIA.

1:59

rival .seigniors, would have settled into a tranquil, prosper-
ous and g-rowing colony. A\'hat was wanted in Acadia was
a peaceful and industrious po))ulation, and neither the
glitter of arms nor the s])lcndor of titles could sup})ly its
])la('e. The fabric of every nation's prosperity rests on the
shoulders of the humble sons of toil, but they had nothing
to induce them to come to Abulia, where little else was
heard for years l)ut the clashing of swords. The result
was that during a period of nearly forty years, while
New England wits being rapidly peopled, scarcely a family
was added to the i)opulation of .Vcadia. The Knglish
colonies grew daily in strength, and developed into the
vigor of manhood, while Acadia remained always cursed/^
with the weakness of a sickly infancy.

^^i

ife'i:

S- ' '

CHAPTER VIII

d ■•'

i !

Iji ; i
iljj.

CIVIL WAR IX ACADIA.

When Isaac De Razilly died, his jjroperty and territorial
rights iu Acadia came into the possession of iiis brother
Claude, Avho liad been associated with him in fishing enter-
prises on the coast. Charles La Tour was then settled at
/-' the mouth of the river St. John in his new fort, and his
father, Claude, M'as holding for him his old stronghold
Fort St. Louis, at Port Latour. The sieur d'Aulnay Char-
nisay, was in possession of the fort and trading house at
Penobscot,* which he was holding as a lieutenant-general
for the King, mainly it would seem, for the purpose of resist-
ino; the encroachments of the English colonists who were
pushing their settlements to the eastward. At that perio<l,
as we learn from a letter written in 163G by Charnisay to
the governor of Massa(!husctts Bay, the French claimed the
country as far west as Pemaquid, and substantially the
same claim was maintained sixty years later in Villcbon's
„ time.

Charnisay was a relative of the deceased connnander, Dc
Razilly, and he seems to have been permitted by Claude,
his brother and heir, to enter into jiossession of his estates
immediately after Isaac De Razilly's death. The actual
deed of transfer of Isaac De Razilly's possessions in Acadia
was not given to Charnisay until 1642, but this was but
the formal recognition of what was already an accomplished
fact, for Charnisay long before that had been treating these

♦Called Ijy the French Pcntagoet.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

141

:)ssions as his own. One of his first acts was to take
possession of Port Royal and to erect a new fort tliere, and
as soon as this was done, he removed the majority of the
La Have cohmists to I'ort Royal, giving them lands on the
banks of that bcantiful riv(>r which flows through the gar-
den of Acadia. He also brought out from France some
twenty additional families of colonists, whom he settled at
Port Royal, which thenceforth became the principal settle-
ment in Acadia. Cliarnisay, however, had no desire to see
Acadia peopled, and in colonizing Port Royal his motives
were purely of a selfish character. Denys charges liim with
keeping the inliabitants of Port Royal in the condition of
slaves, and not allowing them to make any profit from their
labor. His great object and aim Avas to grow wealthy out
of the fur trade, and of course, to enable him to maintain
the small anny of retainers necessary for its prosecution, it
was more convenient that he should be able to obtain food
for them in Acadia, so that a colony at Port Royal was
almost essential to the success of his plans. But beyond
that he did not go, and there is too much reason to fear that
what his (contemporaries said of Charnisay was true, that
he was hard and haughty in character, that he was afraid
of the country being inhabited, and that he was the means
of entirely preventing the settlement of colonists in Acadia
for many years.

Acadia, large as it was, was not large enough for two
.such ambitious men as Charles La Tour and d'Aulnay
Charnisay. The two were entirely dissimilar in disposition
and character, and each saw in the other qualities which
excited his resentment. La Tour, although trained in the
hardest school of adversity, and altiiough he had spent the
better part of his boyhood and youth among the Indians,
exposed to all the hardships incident to a savage life, had

142

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

it ■, •
j i
i t

all the qualities of a jjolished couvtier and politician.
Where he got that wonderfiil suiivity of address whieh
enabled him to gain the favH)r of all whose aid he sought,
is perhaps a useless in(|uiry, for the school in which he was
taught was not one in which such accomplishments were in
vogue. Under happier auspices, and in a country where
his talents could have iiad scope, Cluirles La Tour could
scarcely have failed to make a conspicuous figure in his
nation's history, but in Acadia the rugged might of nature
neutralized his talents, and almost reduced him to the level
of commoner men. He might, perhaps, have lived and
died in obscurity, but for the misfortunes which have linked
his name with one of the most romantic chapters in Acadian
history.

Charles La Tour's fort at the river St. John was a struc-
ture of four bastions, one hundred and eighty feet square,
and enclosed by palisades, after the fashion of that age.
It was placed on the west side of the harbor of St. John,
on a point of land opposite Navy Island, commanding at
once the harbor to the south of it and a considerable stretch
of the river to the northward. Here he dwelt in state, like
a feudal baron, with a large number of soldiers and retain-
ers in garrison, who, besides their martial occupations, were
made useful in the Indian trade which lie conducted. Here
the painted savages, not only from the St. John and its
tributaries, but from the rivers in the interior of Maine,
came to dispose of the furs which were the spoils of the
chase. Here the yearly ship from France brought him
goods suitable for the Indian trade, supplies of ammuni-
tion, and such provisions as the wilderness did not afford.
A welcome sight her arrival must have been to those exiled
Frenchmen, as she came freighted with guerdons and
memories of their native land.

i , ' -

:j ; ■■- - - ;

' t- '

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

143

A nulo abiiiiduiicc reigned at tlio hoard around wliich
gathered the defenders of Fort Latour. Tlic wilderness
Avas then a rieli preserve of game, Avhcre the moose, (jaribou
and red deer roamed in savage freedom. Wild fowl of all
kinds abounded along the marsh and intervale lands of the
St. -John, and the river itself — undisturbed bv steamboats
and unpolluted by saw mills — swarmed with fish. La
Tour, as Denys informs us, had a stake net on the flats
below his fort, where he took such abundance of gasj)eraux
us sometimes to break the net, besides catching salujon,
shad and bass. And so those soldier- traders lived, on the
spoils of forest, ocean and river, a life of careless freedom,
undisturbed by the politics of the world, and little crossed
by its c^ires.

Within the fort Lady La Tour led a lonely life, with no
(H)inpanions but her domesti(!S and her children, for her
lord was often away ranging the woods, cruising on the
coast, or perhaps on a voyage to Frana'. She was a devout
Huguenot, but, although Claude La Tour hud been of the
same faith, Charles appears to have professed nimself a
Roman Catholic about the year 1632. Policy pi'obably
had quite as much to do with his profession as conviction,
for he seems to have troubled himself little about points of
theology, and was more concerned for the j)rofits of the fur
trade than the discussion of doctrinal <}ue.stions. After the
fashion of the times, and to show his conformity with the
religion of the court and King, he usually kept a couple of
ecclesiastics in his fort, one of whom frequently accompa-
nied him on voyages along the coast. The difference
of religion between the husband and wife, if any sincere
difference really existed, seems never to have marred the
harmony of their relations. He never attempted to make
her conform to his professions of religion; she remained

'-.f:

III

I
I

144

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

a Huifiienot to the last, ulthoiijili the relijjjion of Iii.s wife
WHS one of the main eharu^es broufiht against liim by the
oneniics who songlit his ruin.

The (litfercnces between Charles La Tonr and (Jharnisay
seem to hiive commeneed very soon after the oeeni)ation by
the former of Fort Lu Tonr at St. John in 1G35. Ft is not
necessary to enter into any minnte examination of the
canses of the (|narrel, for nothing could be more natural
than that men, situated as La Tour and Charnisay were,
should have disputes. Both held large territories in
Acadia; both had commissions from the King of France as
his lieutenants; both were engaged in the same trade. To
comi)licate matters still further, C'harnisay's fort at Port
Royal Avas in the middle of the territory whicli had been
placed under the govermnent of La Tonr, while the fort of
the latter, at the mouth of the St. John, was in the territory
which was imder the government of Charnisav. Although
the territory attached to this fort was only fifty square
leagues in extent, it euid^led La "^Pour to connnand the
whole trade of the 8t. -John river, which was then incom-
parably the best river in Acadia for the fur trade. In
fact, the trader Avho held the mouth of the St. John river
was in a position to do most of the Indian trade from the
Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Penobscot. It was impossible,
thercfoi'c, that Charnisay (ionld look upon the advantages
possessed by his rival without jealousy, and, having some
influence at the French court by the favor of Cardinal
Richelieu, he set himself diligently to work to supplant La
Tour, who, having spent most of his life in Acadia, was
comparatively a stranger in France.

The first results of Charnisay's efforts at the French
court were not very encouraging. They are embodied in a
royal letter addressed to him on the 10th of February,

11^

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

145

1638. This (locunient, -wliich \va« signed by King liouis
himself, after setting forth his desire that there should be u
good understanding between Charnisay and I^a Tour, and
that the limits of the places where each was to command
should not be the subject of controversy between them,
dec;lared the will of the King to be that Charnisay should
1)0 his lieutenant-general on the coast of the Etcheniins,
" beginning from the centre of the firm land of the French
Bay, thence towards Virginia," and that La Tour should
be his lieutenant-general on the coast of Acadia, '* from the
middle of the French Bay to the Strait of Canso." Charni-
say was told that he was not empv. vvered to change any
arrangement in the settlement at the River St. John, made
oy La Tour, who was to direct the economy of his j)cople
according to his judgment; and La Tour, on the other
iiand, was not to attempt to change any thing in the settle-
ments of Charnisay at La Have or Port Koyal. The fur
trade was directed to be conducted in the same maner as in
the time of commander Isaac De Razilly. Charnisay was
further directed to redouble his care for the ])reservation of
the places within the bounds of his authority, and to
permit no foreigners to settle within "the countries and
coasts of New France."

This very plain and explicit statement of the wishes of
the French king failed entirely in its object, for the very
excellent reason that Charnisay's interests were altogether
opposed to the arrangement which it contemplated. He
soon found means to defeat it. The justice of a cause at
that period in France had but little influence on its success
or failure, and truth and integrity were of comparatively no
account Avhen balanced against that species of pressure
which a person high in favor at court could bring against
their possessor. Richelieu, although enfeebled with age,

... If,

% 'I

■'i^k

^r ■ ; 'Al

146

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

was still master of France, aiul to have influence with him
was to be strong indeed. That Charnisay had much influ-
ence with the great Cardinal is ccrtivin, but at this day it is
not so easy to see precisely from whence that influence w;us
derived. It has been conjectured that lie was a relative,
but that consideration might have had less weight with
Richelieu than others which could be suggested. The con-
nection of Richelieu with the Omipany of New France,
and Charnisay's purchase of the territorial rights of the
Cardinal's relative, Isaac Do Ray;illy, would naturally bring
him under his notice, and Charnisay seems to have lacked
neither boldness nor perseverance in the pursuit of gain or
of revenge. His father, who resided in Paris, and who Ls
styled, in a document which still exists, "Councillor of the
King in his state and ])rivate councils," no doubt was inti-
mate with Richelieu, and probably did much to forward
his son's interest at court, while La Tour had no agent at
court, and no friends in France, except the men of Rochclle,
who were the last sort of people likely to gain Richelieu's
ear. It was not so many years before that he had been
directing all his energies, backed by all the power of
France, to the reduction of that rebellious city, and it was
a still shorter time since he had issued the fatal edict which
destroyed its independence for ever. The friends of La
Tour in Rochelle were all Huguenots, and therefore doubly
odious to the man who was the real master of France.

La Tour, on his part, seems to have been quite unaware
of the plans which Charnisay was laying to destroy him.
Had he known that accusations of the gravest charactter
were being preferred against him in France by the agents
of Charnisay, he would certainly have taken some pains to
set himself right before the government, for, weak as he
was at court, Charnisay wa^ no match for him in those

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

147

accomplishments which miike men successful courtiers.
Had La Tour hecn in France in the year 1640, he would
no doubt have been able to maintain himself* in the favor
of the Kinf^, and his doinj^ so at that time might have
changed the whole current of Acadian history. Ihit it
was not fated so to be. While long and wordy documents,
tilled with accusations of treason and other crimes against
La Tour, were being presented to Richelieu, the man most
vitally interested in those do(;uments was quietly pursuing
the ordinary routine of his life in New France. In that
year he appears to have been in Quebec, for his name is
still to be seen on the registers there as sponsor for the son
of a Scotchman named Abraham Martin. The incident
would scarcely be worthy of mention were it not for the
fact that this Abraham Martin was the owner of the plains
of Abraham, and gave his name to one of the most famous
battle fields in the history of the Avorld. His son, Charles
Amador Martin, La Tour's godson and namesake, became
a })riest and a c^uion of the Quebec cathedral.*

Li 1641 the long impending blow fell. On the 13th
February of that year an order was issued by the King,
directed to La Tour, commanding him to embark and
return to France immediately, to answer the charges which
had been made against him. A letter wus likewise sent by
the King to Charnisay, directing him that, if La Tour
failed to obey the order of the King, he was to seize his
person and make an inventory of his effects. To accom-
plish this, Charnisay was ordered to employ all the means
and forces at his disposal, and to put La Tour's forts in
the hands of persons well disposed to the King's service.

* Abraham Martin was pilot for the King on the St. Lawrence. His wife's name
was Margaret L'Anglois. Their sou, Kiista •;, christened 24th October, lfi21, waa
the first child born In Quebec of white pareutt,.

148

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

i •- .

ri'i

>■'

■ u -^

•,

La Tour, in short, wjus at one blow to ho stripped of his
property, (l(![)riv('(l of his liberty, and sent a prisoner to
l>anee. A few (hiys after this order was issued, the King
in council revoked the commission of ^j^overnor whicili
Charles La I'our had held for ten years — a commission
which he had honorably won and manfully defended.

To facilitate the carryinj^ out of these orders against La
Tour, a vessel, named the St. l^'rancis, was sent by the
King to A(!adia to carry the deposed governor to Franco.
This vessel appears to have reached Acadia early in
August, but when tiie letters she carried were presented to
lia Tour, he utterly refused to obey them, stating that tiie
orders of the King had been obtained by misrepresentation,
which was, no doul)t, perfectly true. ]Iis fort at St. John
was in such a state of defence that Charnisay did not
venture to attack it, and lie was obliged to content himself
Avith ordering his secretiU'y, Capon, to prepare and forward
to Franco the necessary papers, setting forth La Tour's
refusal to embark in the St. Francis, and his disobedience
to the King's orders in other res|)ects. These [)apers were
Bent to France in the same vessel which was to have borne
the proscribed I^a Tour.

The mere disobedience of a royal order in a distant
colony, which few people knew anything about, and still
fewer cared anything for, would probably have passed with
little notice, and might have been in a short time forgotten,
but for the persevering conduct of Ciiarnisay. He seems
to have had very accurate information of the course of
government in France, and he knew also that without
assistance from France he could not hope to dispossess La
Tour, who would doubtless defy the King's orders as long
as he had force enough at his command to enable him to
do 80. A governor who liad been maintaining himself in

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

149

Acadia, hy the aid of his sword alono, for so many years,
was not likely to pay much heed to any of those docunientH
wliich the legal gentlemen of Paris regarded as all-power-
ful, and whi(!h, donbtless, were so where there was an army
to enforce them. But a writ of ejectment served in Acadia
required something more than the King's .sea! to make it
eifectual, where the man on whom it was to be served had
a strong fort armecj with cannon and a garrison of armed
retainers at his eomnumd. Charnisay, therefore, towards
t\u' close of the year 1G41, went to France to strengthen
himself at court, and to obtain such material assistjuice as
would enable him to eflf'ectually destroy his rival La Tour.
La Tour was well aware that Charnisay had powerful
friends at court and that he was not likely to rest quiet after
one defeat, especially where he could make any action
forward his own interest which might be taken by the
government of France to vindicate its authority. La Tour
therefore began to prepare for the struggle which appeared
inevitable, and to enable him to do so succiCssfuUy, it was
necessary for him to call in some outside aid. His
first thought seems to have been to obtjiin help from his
neighbors of New England, with whom he was on good
terms, and who had sufficient force to a.ssist him effectually.
Accordingly, in November, 1641, he sent a messenger to
Boston to see what could be done there to aid his cause.
This messenger, who was a Huguenot named Rochette, from
Roehelle, had called ut Pemaquid on his w^ay and there left
his boats. Mr. Shurt, the principal resident of that place,
received him courteously and gave him a letter to Richard
Bellingham, the governor of Masachusetts Bay. Rochette
proposed that the people of Massachusetts Bay should enter
into a treaty with La Tour. The proposed treaty, as Win-
Ihrop informs us, was to embrace three points : fiist, liberty

• 1

-I

■'^

vvll

111

■J

',>^;'; ■■■

,, a-i

Vi. , ■■ y ,':^

ISO

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

".nffll

■

ill

i ■

i ;

lib

of fret' commerce; second, asHisUuicc aji;ain.st d'Auluay
Chaniistiy, with whom he had war; tliird, that he might
make n.'tuni of goods out of Kiighind l)y the merchants of
Boston. The first condition with reference to trade wa.s
imniodiately granted. Th(! Massatihnsetts authorities ex-
(Hised themselves from entertaining th(! otiier two, on the
groinid that Uodiette had brought with him no k'tters or
commission from La Tour. This iniglit have l)een an
excellent reason for not making any treaty wliatever witii
Rochetto, but why such an objection should be ajjplied to
two propositions out of three, is not so clear. If Rociiette
was a ('omi)etent agent for La Tour as regards one condi-
tion, he was c(!rtainlya competent agent with rcsj)ect to the
others. Jhit causistry was a thing not unknown in New
England at that time. However, Rochette, altliough he
did not obtain all he asked, was most courteously entertained
by the people of Boston, and, after remaining with them
for some days took his departure again for Fort La Tour.
La Tour was so little discouraged by the refusjil to treat
with ids messenger, Rochette, that in October of the follow-
ing year (1()-12) lie sent his lieutenant to Boston with a
shallop and fourtetm nien. He carried letters from La
Tour to Jolin Winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts
Bay, filhxl with compliments and desiring assistance from
the peo[)le of New Elngland against his enemy, Char-
nisay. I^a Tour's j)eople nnnained about a week in Boston,
and were well treated by the hospitable New Englandcrs,
but no measures were taken then to grant the assistance
asked for, although there was no question as to the lieuten-
ant's authority to treat on behalf of La Tour. Winthrop
records the fact that, although all these Frenchmc" were
Papists, uhey attended the Church meetings in Boston, and
the lieutenant professed to be greatly affected, at what he

I[ISTORY OF ACADIA.

151

sjiw, ami at the order wliieh was kept in those solemn
assemblies. One of the elders gave him a French testa-
ment, with Marlorat's notes,* which he gratefully accepted
and pronusod to read. Altogether, the intercourse between
the Frenchmen and the i)eo|»le of Boston was of the most
agreeable nature, and tl»ey seem to iiave parted with the
host feelings towards each other.

La Tour's lieutenant, while in I>oston, became acniuainted
•with several merchants, and made j)roposals to them with
regard to the opening u[) of a trade with his master. The
Hoston merchants of that day were not wanting in enter-
prise and i)ol(lness, and some of them immediately .sent a
pitniace to the St. John river, laden with suitable goods, to
trade with the French governor. He gave them a very
courteous welcome, and their trade seems to have been
nuitually satisfactory, for it was tiie 1 ^'gimiing of a con-
nexion with the Bo.^ton ni'rchants whiith lasted as long as
he remained in Acadia, lie sent letters by tiiem to Gov-
ernor Wintlirop, in which he related the state of the
controversy l)etween himself and Charnisay, and in which
he tliaidvcd the people of Boston for the handsome manner
in which they had entertained his lieutenant. On their
voyage back to lioston the merchants sto])pe(l at l^eina(|uid,
which was then a common pUu^e of call between Acadia
and Boston. There they met Charnisay himself, who,
learning that they had come from La Tour at St. John,
took great pains to inform them that the latter was a rebel,
and exhibited a copy of an order which he had procured in
France for his arrest. Charnisay sent a printed copy of
thi;; order of arrest to Governor Winthrop, and accom-

*.Mi;rli)i-iit WHS 11 I'roiR'h I'rotL'staiit 'liviiio, who was executed at ]{oii(ii liy tho
ortlors uf Monliuoroiicy, after thu capture of tliat jUy in 15G2. Suveral of his tracts,
which were chiefly conitiientatorial in their character, were translated into
Kiifc'lish.

I'K^ : :''

152

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Im-^

7i ]

panio'l it with the threat that, if any of the merchants of
Boston sent their vessels to trade with La Tonr, he would
seize them as lawful prize.

This order of arrest was the result of Charnisay's voyage
to Fran(« a few months before. It was dated the 21st of
February, 1(542, and mtis substantially a confirmation of the
ord(!r which had been made just one year previous. It
dire(!ted Charnisay to seize La Tour's forts and person, and
to send him to France as a rebel and traitor to the King.
Without an armed force to carry it out, it was merely a
dead letter, for La Tour was as little disposed as ever to
give up his fort, even at the command of the King.
Charnisay, while in France, had gone through the legal
formalities of an arrangement which had been substantially
executed long before, and seciu'cd a transfer to himself of
all the estates Avhich the late Isaac De Kazilly had pos-
sessed in Acadia. The deeds by wliich tli'i transfer was
made were executed bv Claude De Razillv, and were dated
the IGth January, 1G42. They conveyed to Charnisay
both Isaac De Razilly's Acadian [)roperty and his rights in
the Company of New France, the consideration of the
transfer being the sum of fourteen thousand livres, which
Charnisay agreed to jiay in seven years. This wholly
inadequate consideration for the transfer of such an enor-
mous ])roperty, shows that it was then made for some other
purpose than merely to confirm to Charnisay what he
already possessed. The fact was, that Charnisay was sadly
in need of money to enable him to ecpiip a sufficient force
to dispossess La Tour, and to obtain tiie sum he required,
it was necessary that he should have a perfect title to his
possessions in Acadia. Then, and at subsequent jjeriods,
he obtained on this property large sums from Emmanuel
Le Borgne, the sums thus obtained amounting in 1649 to

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

153

the enormous aggregate of two hundred and sixty thousand
livres, most of wliich was wastefuUy expended in an absurd
crusade against a fellow countryman witii whom he might
have lived in peace ; for Acadia Avas large enough for both,
and both might have been enriched by its trade had Char-
nisay chosen to let La Tour alone, whereas, as matters
turned out, both Aven; ruined.

The supreme effort which Charnisay was about to make
for the destruction of his rival demanded abundant means,
and money must have been liberally supplied, for it enabled
him to arm and e(juij) such a force as had seldom before
been brought by any one ])rivate individual against
another. No less than live vessels and five hundred armed
men Mere provided by him for this Acadian war, a force
which, humanly speaking, should have been able to sweej)
everything before it, and to bear down any ojjposition
Avhich La Tour could oflcr.

But while Charnisay was thus preparing for the conflict,
La Tour was not idle. He sent liochettc to France to
represent at llochelle the desperate straits in which he was
likely to be, and to obtain aid, if possible, to enable him
to maintain himself in Acadia. Rochelle, although stricken
down and deprived of its ancient j)rivileges, was still the
home of an energetic und wealthy Huguenot popula<^ion,
who hated the very name of Richelieu, and who were ready
to befriend any who dared to resist his commands. The
Roehellois seem to have embraced La Tour's cause with a
warmth and heartiness which would be regarded as surpris-
ing in modern times among men who have never felt the
edge of a sword at their throats on account of their faith.
It was enough for them to know that a persecuted brother
in Acadia was in distress, and was in danger of being
destroyed by an enemy, who was also the enemy of their

Ill-

l.'

■ ■

■ ajLMi

r*\

'■- BikiM

.'\|^H

,"• ■ ;

« ' ■ . ■

1 ".■

■(

154

HISTOEY OF ACADIA.

religion. They felt tliat they could do no less than rush
to his rescue. Accordingly, they fitted out a large armed
vessel named the Clement, loaded her with ammunition
and supplies, and, putting on board of her one hundred and
forty armed Rochellois, sent her to the aid of La Tour in
Acadia. Thus Avas the civil war in that distant region fed
on both sides from F-ance, and swords were being sharp-
ened at Rochelle and in Paris, destined to clash in
fratricidal strife, and to be stained with blood needlessly
spilt. Darkly and ominously the elouds of late were
gathering over Fort La Tour.

\V^

|v 'V

CHAPTER IX.

THE SIKGKS AND CAl'TURK OF FOIIT LA TOUK.

On the 12tli June, 1643, the people of Boston were
considerably amazed, and not a little frightened, at the
sudden aj)pearancc of an armed French sliip in tlieir har-
bor. .She (!ame in so unexpectedly and so swiftly that
scarcely any one observed iier until she passed Castle Island,
when she thundered forth a salute which echoed over the
little Puritan town. But it was not returned, because the
ciistle was deserted, the General Court having, in a fit of
economy, withdrawn the small garrison which had formerly
held it, and so this French stranger had Boston at his
mercy had liis designs been hostile. As the vessel sped up
the harlx boat filled with men was seen tt) leave her side,
and was rowed rapidly to Governor's Island, landing at
Governor Winthrop's garden. The Governor and two of
his sons came forward to meet the strangers, who proved
to be La Tour and a party of his men. The Acadian
governor was not long in explaining the cause of his visit.
Early in the Spring his enemy, Charnisay, had suddenly
made his appearance before Fort I^a Tour with two ships
and a galliot, besides several small craft, manned by five
hundred men. Being unable to carry the fort by assault, as
he had hoped, he proceeded to bhx'kade it, knowing that
want of provisions would eventually compel I^a Tour to
surrender. In tlie meantime the Clement from Rochelle,
laden with supplies for tiie fort, arrived oif St. John, but
was unable to enter the harbor owing to the blockade. At
this iuncture La Tour, ever fertile in resources, l)ethought

■^1

^^m

,S|

-41

};Plii|"|

.M^-

156

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

him of his Boston friends, whose trade lie was beginning
to cultivate. Accordingly, -he and his wife stole silently
out of St. John harbor in a shallop, under cover of the
darkness, and boarded the Clement, which immediately set
sail for Boston. They had been favored with a fair wind
and had made a rapid ])assage, and they had taken a pilot
out of a boat from Boston which they met at sea, leaving a
Frenchman to supply his place. La Tour had now come
to obtain such aid as would enable him to return to his fort,
which was sadly in need of the ammunition and jirovisions
which the Clement contained.

Governor Winthroj) declined to give any pledge of
assistance, until he had conferred with the other magis-
trates, but next day he called together such of them as
were at hand, and gave La Tour a hearing before them.
The captain of the Clement produced a parchment, dated
the ])revious April, under the hand and seal of the vice-
admiral of France, authorizing him to carry supplies to
La Tour, who was styled in this document his majesty's
lieutenant-general of A«idia. He also produced a letter
from the agent of the Company of New France, addressed
to La Tour, informing him of the attempts which Charnisay
was making against 'ilm, and advising him to have a care
for his own safety. In this letter, also. La Tour was
called lieutenant-general for the King. These documents,
being of later date than the order of arrest jiroduced by
Charnisay, satisfied Governor Winthrop that Ijo. Tour was
still regarded in France as the governor of Acadia. The
truth was that in France, in April 1643, the government
was in a transition state. Richelieu had died four months
before, and the sceptre was about to fall from the feeble
hand of Louis XIII., who was stricken with a mortal
disease. Some confusion in the various departments of the

IIISTOKY OF ACADIA.

157

admin istmtiou was the inevitable result of such a state of
affairs, and, in view of this the re(;()gniti()n of La Tour as
governor of Acadia, eveji after the proceedings whici had
been taken against him, is not so difficult to understand.
Governor Winthrop and his associates accepted the docu-
ments })resented by La Tour as evidence that he stood on
good terms with the Company of ^'ew Fi'ance, and also
with the French government. Therefore, although they
could not grant him aid against Charnisay without the
advice of the other commissioners of the New England
confederacy, they gave him jiermission to hire such ships
and men as were in Boston, so that he might return to
Acadia with force enough to enable him to reach his fort in
sjifety. I^a Tour, who had many warm friends among the
merchants of Boston, lost no time in taking advantage of
the permission thus granted to him. However reluctant
the General Court might be to give active aid, the traders
of Boston were shrewd enough to see the great injury which
would result to them from the destruction of La Tour, and
an increase in the power and importance of Charnisay.
The former was friendly to the people of New England,
and both willing and anxious to trade Avith them. The
latter hated the New Englanders cordially, refused to trade
with them, and omitted to take advantage of no opportunity
of giving them annoyance. All their interests led them to
support La Tour's caus'», and had they done wisely they
would have continued to sustain him to the end, notwith-
standing the remonstrances of some very enlightened
gentlemen among the Puritans, who were horrified at the
idea of extending any a.ssistance to a Papist.

La Tour hired from Edward Gibbons and Thomas
Hawkins, of Boston, four vessels — the Seabridge, Philip
and Mary, Increase, and Greyhound — with fifty-two men

1, ,

,'l'

• ■ t

158

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

and tliirty-eiglit pieces of ordnance. lie also enlisted
ninety-two soldiers to augment the force on board his ves-
sels, and provided them with arms and sup])lies. Two
yeiirs later La Tour M'as obliged to mortgage his fort in
Acadia to Gibbons and Hawkins for the sum of two thous-
and and eighty-four pounds to secure them for the money
advanced for supplies in 1643, a large sum for those days,
which will convey some idea of the ruinous character of
the strife which Charnisay and La Tour were waging
against each otlier. The terms on which the ships were
hired do not seem to have contemplated their ])articipation
in any offensive operations. They were required to go as
near to La Tour's fort as they could conveniently ride at
anchor, and to join with the Clement in the defence of
themselves and of La Tour against Charnisay's forces in
case they should unjustly assault or oppose La Tour on his
way to his fort. Any further assistance was to bo a matter
of mutual agreement between La Tour and the agent of the
owners of the ships, who was to accompany the expedition.
No doubt the wily Frenchman thought that, in case of a
conflict in which the English vessels took part against
Charnisay, they would forget the strict terms of the agree-
ment and assist him in annihilating his enemy. The result
proved that he was not far wrong in his calculations.

But a more formidable danger than even Charnisay's
forces menaced La Tour's enterprise in its very inception.
The news of the doings at Boston had been spread far and
wide throughout New England, and had excited in some
quarters great alarm. Thomas Gorges wrote from his home
in Plscataqua to warn Governor Winthrop of the danger
into which he was leading the colony by taking sides
against Charnisay. He represented that the latter had long
waited, at a charge of eight hundred pounds a month, to

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

159

destroy La Tour, and that, if his hopes were frustrated by
the people of New England, he would seek satisfaction.
Mr. Endicott, afterwards Governor of the colony, wrote
from Salem to express his fears at the Governor having
anything to do with *' these idolatrous French." Many
others, whose names Winthrop does not record, joined in
these remonstrances against giving aid to La Tour ; several
ministers referred to the matter in their sermons, and one
even went so far as to prophecy from his jmlpit that becaui;e
of this alliance with the French governor tlui streets of
Boston would yet run red with blood. It became neces-
sary for Governor Winthrop to write and publish the true
state of the proceedings between himself and La Tour,
which seemed to be much misunderstood. Finally, to give
all parties a chance to be heard, the Governor ai)pointed
another meeting, to which all the magistrates, de[)utics and
elders were invited, and the whole matter was again fully
debated.

The Puritans regarded the Old Testament as a safe guide
in matters of public policy, and the arguments against and
in favor of giving aid to La Tour were all drawn from its
pages. One party endeavored to show by tlie examples of
Jehoshaphat, Josias and Amaziah, that it M'as Avrong for
righteous men to be associated in any way with the imgodly.
The other side contended as stoutly that the censure on
those kings for aiding the wiciked only applied to the par-
ticular instances under which it was given, and could not
be applied to every case, or it would be unlawful to help
any wicked man in any case, even though he were a brother
or a father, and in dauirer of losintr his life. These and
other arguments — some of which strike the modern reader
as being rather sophistical — engaged the attention of the
meeting for the better part of a day ; but the friends of La

160

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

■- 1 , "

Tour seem to have had the best of the argument, for the
former decision to permit him to hire ships and men in
Boston was not interfered with, and the expedition intended
for the relief of his fort was allowed to proceed.

La Tour, with his Heet of auxiliaries, set sail from Boston
on the evening of the 14th of July, parting on the best of
terms with the chief men of the town, who accompanied
him to his boat. He liad made himself so agreeable to all
tliat he had entirely disirmed those who at first were jealous
of his jn'escnce, and as he sailed away, he carried with him
the best wishes of the people. The quest upon which he
had gone was one of danger and difliculty, and, as if to
mark it with this character from the very outset, liis flotilla
sailed out of Broad Sound, where, as AVinthrop tells us, no
vessels of such tonnage had gone before. But there was
reason for haste, for Fort La Tour had all this time been
blockaded by the ships of Charnisiiy, who looked forward
to a speedy triumph over liis rival. lie did not dream
that La Tour had escaped from his grasp, and was organ-
izing a force to overwhelm him.

When La Tour's fleet of five ships and a pinnace came
in sio-ht of St. John, Charnisav seems for the first time to
have suspected the truth. His vessels were lying beside
Partridge Island, but he did not wait to measure his
strength against his enemy, but hoisted sail and stood right
home for Port Royal. La Tour pursued, but Charnisay
got his vessels into Port Royal Basin in safety, and ran
them aground opposite liis mill. He and his men then
betook themselves to the shore, and commenced to put the
mill in a posture of defence. Captain Hawkins, who com-
manded the New Englanders, sent a messenger ashore with
a letter which Governor Winthrop had addressed to Char-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

161

nisay. This IctU'r M'as a sort of ai)()l()}:;y fur the presence
of the Boston people in aid of La Tour, and professed a
desire to brin«^ about a reconciliation between him and
Cliarnisay ; but the latter refused to open it because it did
not address him as lieutenant-general for the Kin<>; in
Acadia. He exhibited the original of the order of arrest
against La Tour, and sent Captain ILiwkins a copy of it,
but refused to conu; to any terms of j)caw. The messenger
rej)orted that there was great terror and confusion among
the French, but that all, friars included, Avere [)utting forth
their best efforts to fortify themselves.

La Tour, upon this, urged Captain Hawkins to send a
force ashore to attack his enemy. Hawkins refused to give
any orders to his men, but signified that any who chose to
go ashore with La Tour might do so. Al)out thirty of the
New Englandcrs took advantage of this j)ermission, and
the united force attacked Cliarnisay 's position, driving his
men from the mill where they had fortifie<l themselves.
Three of Charnisay's men were killed and one prisoner
taken in the mill. La Tour had three men wounded, but
the New Englandcrs suffered no loss. The Boston vessels
then returned to Fort I/itour, which had been so sud-
denly freed from its i)erilous blockade. AVhile they were
lying there a ])innace belonging to Cliarnisay fell into their
hands. This craft was laden with four liundred moose
and ibur hundred beaver skins, and was, therefore, a valu-
able ])rize. The booty was divided between the crews and
owners of the Boston vessels and La Tour — for Captain
Hawkins, although unwilling to fight against the enemies
of La Tour, was quite ready to rob them where it could be
done without danger. AVhen the time for which the ships
had been hired was nearly expired, they were paid off by
K

•'

162

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Lsi Tour,* and returned to Boston, wliieli they reached on
the 20th of Aufi;uHt, having been absent but thirty-seven
day;-'. They had certainly made good despatch, and their
return without loss was fortunate ; but tiie elders were
offended and grieved at some of their actions, especially at
their piratical seizure of Charnisay's pinnace. They saw
readily enough that such an act would provoke tlie enmity of
the revengefid Frenchman, who was none too well dis[)osed
toward the j)eople of Boston at any time, and who would
now liave a substantial grievance against them. Tlusy
had, in fact, done either too much or too little. They
should either have remained neutral in the war between
Charnisay and La Tour, or, having taken any part in it,
they should have given the latter such effectual aid as
would have enabled him to destroy his rival.

As it was, Charnisay was more resolute than ever to com-
pass the object upon which he had set his heart. As a
preliminary to further proceedings, he commenced the
erection of a new fort at Port Royal f which would be
capable of making a good defence in case he should again
be attacked. As soon as it was fit for occupation he set sail
for France, to protect his interests at the French court and
to obtain further aid against La Tour. While in France
lie heard of the arrival there of the person whom he
hated above all others. This was the lady La Tour, who
had gone to Rochelle to further her husband's interests
there and to procure supplies for the fort. A generous
rival would have seen in her a noble and devoted wife

*Winthrop says that the pinnace went up the St. John river some twenty
leagues and loaded with coal. This statement shows that tlie coal mines of Queen's
County were known and worked at a very early period.

+ Winthrop is the authority for this statement. Although It is scarcely suscepti-
ble of proof, I assume that Charnisay's old fort was on the site of that of Champlain,
opposite Goat Island, and that the new fort was built on the site of the now ruined
fortifications of Annapolis.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

163

•whose heroic constancy deserved his respect ; but Charnisay
had nothing generous in liis nature to any that bore his
great enemy's hated name. lie procured an order for the
arrest of the hidy I^a Tour on the ground that she was,
equally with her husband, a traitor to the King. Fortu-
nately she iiad friends, who fonnvnrned her of the danger
whi(!li imj)ended, and before the order could be executed
sIk; fled to England, which, even in those days of civil war,
was a safer retreat for a Huguenot lady than France. In
England she found friends, and by their aid was able to
communicate with her husband, and inform him of the
danger he was in from Charnisay. As for herself, she lost
no time in freighting a ship from London with provisions
and munitions of war for Fort Latour, and had the energy
of those on whom she relied for service been equal to her
own, would doubtless have reached it in time to ward off
any attack which might threaten.

La Tour, bereft of his wife's counsel and companionship,
and oppressed with the sense of coming disaster, waited
wearily by the shores of the St. John for her return.
Months passed, but still she came not, and then, almost
despairing of her safety, and perplexed by a hundred
doubts and fears, he started for Boston, where he arrived in
July, 1644. John Endicott was then the Governor of
Massachusetts, and La Tour speedily made known to him
the difficulties with which he was surrounded, and besought
his aid. The Governor appointed a meeting of the magis-
trates and elders of Boston, before which the distre&sed
Frenchman appeared, and made known his case. He was
careful to give due prominence to his father's grant of
territory in Acadia from Sir William Alexander, and to
assert his long possession of that territory and of Fort La-
tour. The men of Boston were impressed by the strength

■

•■■'1

■m

HM.

164

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

of his case. Most of the inagistnitcs and sonio of tlio elders
were elear that he shoukl he relieved, hoth on the ground of
charity, as u distressed neigid)or, and also in point of pru-
ilencc, so as to root out, or at leiust weaken, such a dangerous
neighbor as ('harnisay. ]iut as many of the elders were
absent, and, as three or four of the magistrates dissented, it
was agreed that the rest of the ciders should be called in,
and that another meeting should be held at Salem to
discuss the matter further. At this second meeting, after
nuich (hsputation, it was found that some of the magistrates
and elders still remained unwilling to aid La Tour, and the
majority who favored him were indisposed to take action
Avitiiout the consent of all. This being so, a third method
was suggested, to which, as it involved no risk, all gave a
ready assent. This was simply (o send a letter of remon-
strance to C'harnisay. In this letter very little was said
about La Tour or his wrongs, but a great deal was said
against C'harnisay's interference with the merchants of
Boston, who had gone to Fort Latour to trade. Some
apologies were made for the conduct of those who had gone
from Boston to aid I^a Tour the ])revious year, and satis-
faction was demanded for the taking of Penobscot by
Charnisay, an event which had occurred eight years before.
The grim Frenchman, if he had any sense of humor at all,
must have smiled at the perfunctory manner in whit^h La
Tour's New England friends were pleading his cause.
Such a letter was, in fact, an invitution to him to procseed to
all extremities against La Tour, for it showed that the latter
had nothing further to hope for from the people of Boston.
La Tour, however, had to be satisfied with what he had
obtained, and on the 9th September he left Boston, where
he had spent two months to very little purpose. It was
training day, and all the train bands made a guard for him

ITISTOIIY OF ACADIA.

165

to his boat, and as his sliip sailed out of the h«rl)or he was
sahitod by all tiie Eiif^lish vessels lying at auf^hor. He was
aeeonjpaiiied by a Jioston vessel, laden with provisions, and
here fortune, which had sometimes ])r()vcd adverse, favored
him, for ('harnisay, with an armed shij) was cruising off'
Penobscot, and waiting to capture him. Had La Tour
g(me forward with the fair wind with which he left port,
he woul<l surely have fallen into the hands of his enemy,
but he delayed at several places by the way, until ('harnisay
corutluding he had escaped, put into port, and then ho
passed on unmolested to Fort Latour.

Scarcely had the white sails of La Tour's vessels sunk
on the eastern horizon when a stout ship from London
came sailing into Boston harbor. She had been fitted out
by Aldernian Berkley and Captain Bailey, and she brought
among her passengers Roger Williams, the founder of the
Providence [)lantation. But her chief passenger was that
Iieroic and devoted wife, whose memory will never perish
from Acadian histoiy, the lady La Tour. They had left
England six months before, and their destination was Fort
Latour, for which they had a cargo of goods. But the
master of the vessel spent so much time in trading by the
way, that they did not reach Cape Sable until Septemlxjr,
and as soon as they got into the Bay of Fnndy they fell in
with one of Charnisay's vessels, which was cruising to
intercept and capture them. The master of the ship was
forced to hide the lady La Tour and her ])eoplc in the hold
and to conceal the identity of his ship, whic^h he j)retended
was bound direct to Boston. Charnisay, who little sus-
pected how great a prize he had in his hands, let the vessel
go, merely contenting himself with sending a civil message
to the governor of Massachusetts, in which he professed
Lis desire to be ou good terms with the people of that

IS!-

I a

166

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

colony, and expressed his intention to communicate further
with them with regard to his diifcrences with La Tour»
The vessel was therefore obliged to abandon her voyage
to Fort Lat(;ur and go to Boston instead. This change
in the vova";e, added to the unreasonable delav which had
already taken place, was a great loss and inconvenience to
the lady T^a Tour, and she sought her remedy by bringing
an action on the charter party against the jiersons who
freighted the ship. The cjinse was tried at a s[)ecial Court
in Boston before all the magistrates and a jury of the princi-
pal men who gave her a verdict of two thousand ])ounds
damages. On this judgment she seized the cargo of the
ship, which was appraised at eleven hundred pounds, and
hiring three vessels in Loston to convoy her home, at
length arrived safely at Fort Latour, to the indescribable
relief of her husband, who had almost despaired of her
safety. She had been absent from him more than a year.
While the lady La Tour was still in Boston a messenger
arrived from Charnisay in the person of Monsieur Marie,
whom th(* men of Massachusetts supposed to be ;. friar,
although he was attired like a layman. Pie was accom-
panied by ten nuni, and brought letters of credence and a
commission from Charnisay. The object of his mission
was to prevent the people of New England from giving any
further aid to La Tour, and to obtiiin, if possible, their
assistance for his master against the truculent Frenchman
who persisted in holding Fort Latour against the mandate
of the Kiiu;; himself. Marie had with him a commission
fnni the 'ving, under the great seal of France, with the
privy seal annexed, in which the former proceedings
against La Tour were verified, and in which he was con-
demned as a rebel and a traitor. Attached to this wa.s an
order for the apj)rehension of La Tour and his lady, the

I'
hi

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

167

latter, amonjj; her other crime!*, being cliargcd with having
fled out of France against the .special order of the King.*
M. Marie, after exhil)iting these documents, complained of
the aid given to La Tovir in the previous year, and proflfered
terms for a league of peace and amity. He also proposed
that the peo} le of Massachusetts should assist C'harnisay
against La Tour, or, at all events, that they should give the
latter no further aid. The magistrates said that some of
the ships and many of the men which La Tour had em-
})loyed to aid him were strangers to them, and that none of
them had any conunission from them nor any j)ermission
to commit any acts of liostility. They urged strongly that
Charnisay should l)ecome reconciled to La Tour. Marie
replied to this that if La Tour would voluntarily submit
and come in, he would assure him of liis life and liberty,
but if he was taken, he was sure to lose his head in France,
and, as for his lady, she Avas known to be the cause of his
contempt and rebellion, and therefore Charnisay was re-
solved to caj)ture licr to prevent her from reaching her
husband. The end of these negotiations was that an
agreement was made between the governor and magistrates
of Massachusetts on behalf of the colony, and ]\L Marie, on
behalf of Charnisay, governor and lieutenant-general for
the King of France in Acadia. This document, which
was signed on the 8th October, 1G44, mutually bound the
people of ^Massju'husetts and Charnisay to keej) firm peace

■,■• V.

i^'^^'L

* Aiiioii); tluMlncuiiu'iits ])ies(n'vo(l liy tlu' Monou f.iniily aii' letters I'roin Char-
nisiiy, eliiu'gnig lady Lu'roiir willi being (if low origin iiiul dissolute manners. The
most inl'annuis eharges are made againsl r,a Tour liimself. One memoir preserved
liy tlie Meuou family snys; "Alter the dentil of Hioneourt La Tour lived a
waiKhring lifv' in tlie woods with eighteen or twenty followers, mingling with the
Indians, leading lleentio\is and infamous lives, like brutes, without any exercise of
religion, not even causing their children, born of Indian women, to he baptized ;
on the contrary, abandoning them to ihcir mothers, as they still continue to do."
As Charnisay was not in Acadia at the time of which he wriies, nor for years
afterwards, he ji oliably ilretv on his imagination for most of his facts.

H "■

J. 2» f : IT;

aajtoaJtu^jx

168

fllSTORY OF ACADIA.

\i,

11 i

with eac'li other. It made it lawful for all persons, both
French and English, to trade with each other, tlie peoj)le of
Massachusetts reserving the right to trade with any otlior
persons they chose, whether French or not, wherever they
dwelt. This agreement, it will be observed, effectually
])reventcd tiie Massachusetts })eople from giving any open
aid to liU Tour, but it did not hinder them from trading
with him. The main advantage which most of the magis-
trates saw in it Avas that it freed the colony from the fear
that Charnisay would take revenge on them for the harm
he had sustained from the force which went from Boston to
aid La Tour the year before. Marie, having finished his
business with great despatch, left lioston the same evening,
two days before the lady liaTour set sail for her fort. No
doubt his iiaste was partly (hie to tb.c hope of giving
Charnisay warning in time to enable him to intercept her;
if so, it was a delusive lio])e, for long before tl:e commis-
sioner reached his master, the lady I^a Tour was safe
within her fort at St. John.

When Charnisay heard that the lady La Tour had
escaped from Boston and arrived at Fort Latour, his rage
was boundless. The treaty of peace which his agent had
made with the peo[)le of Massachusetts seemed to him but
a poor equivalent for the escape of his most hated enemy
from his vengeance. He wrote a most angry and insulting
letter to the governor of Massachusetts, in which he charged
the people of that colony with being responsible for her
esca[)e, and he wildly threatened theni witli the vengeance
of his master, the King of France. The cheeks of the
.stern Puritan governor burned with anger as he read this
menacing epistle, in which the honor of the magistrates wr^
called in question and the whole colony insulted in their
pei*son8.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

169

Chiirnisay soon had an opportunity of proving in a prac-
tical nianner liow much he was provoked. La Tour had
gone to Boston early in the winter for supplies for liis fort,
and sent forward a small vessel to Fort Latour, laden
with provisions. Charnisay — who was cruising off the
mouth of the St. John to intercept I^a Tour — captured this
craft, and turned her crew, all of Avhom were lOnglish, upon
Partridge Island, in the midst of deep snow, without fire,
and with only a sorry wigwam for their shelter. He kept
them there ten days, and then gave them an old shallop in
which t(; return home. But he took from them most of
their clothes, and refused them either gun or compass, so
that they had ncith(>r the means to defend themselves nor
to navigate the seas in safety. They, however, contrived to
reach l^oston, where the ill treatment they had received
provoked great indignation. A vessel was inmiediately
desi)atclied to Charnisay, with letters from (Governor Endi-
cott, remonstrating against the gross breach of the treaty
which he had conuiiitted, and likewise answering the
charges whicji he had made in his letter, relative to the aid
given to the lady J^a Tour. The I'uritan governor de-
clared with spirit that his })eo])lc were not to be coerced
hy threats, and that, while they did what was right
according to their consciences, they did not fear even the
vengeance of the King of France. For even shoidd he
attempt to destroy them. New England had a God Avho was
able to save and who would not forsake His servants.

When this pious letter was delivered at I'ort Royal to
Charnisay, he v>'as already in a most unainiablc temper,
and it added fuel ^o his anger. He told the messenger,
Mr, Allen, that he would return no answer, nor would he
permit him even to enter his fort, but he lodged him in his
gunner's house without the gate. He, however, treated him

■4

i»i:

■ " (

■■;■ "if

■ " ■ f

-'!<!■

170

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

1 1 :'■
U

with no personal discourtesy, for lie went daily to dine and
sup Avith him, thereby giving him to understiind tiiat it was
simply as the bearer of Governor i]ndieott's letter that he
was unwelcome. At length, after some delay, he wrote an
answer to the Massachusetts governor in very high language,
requiring satisfaction for the burning of his mill in 1643
by the New England auxiliaries of Iai Tour, and threaten-
ing revenge in case his demands were not granted.

Charnisay indeed had some reason to be angry, for lie
had just met with a most disastrous and humiliating defeat.
At tiie very time when the crew of the Boston vessel, whom
ho had put on Partridge Island were maintaining an arduous
struggle against cold and hunger, two friars hailed his sliij)
from the mainland and asked to be taken on board. The
lady La Tour had discovered that these men were plotting
against her and in league w ith Charnisay, and, instead of
hanging them as spies and traitors as she might have done,
she contented herself with simply turning them out of the
fort. When tiiey were received on board Charnisay 's vessel
they told him that his opportunity for vengeance had come.
They said that La Tour was abscjit, that his fort contained
but fifty men, tiiat there was but little j)owdc: in the fort,
and tliat little much decayed, and that he might easily
caj)ture the place. Filled with higli hojjes of triumph,
Charnisay entered the harbor of JSt. John and ranged his
vessel in front of Fort Latour, in tlie expectation of seeing
the flag wliich waved above it hauled down at liis sum-
mons. But lie was grievously disappointed. Tiie lady
La Tour had an heroic soul, and was not disposed to yield
without a struggle. She insjiired her little garrison with u
spirit equal to her nwn. I'^roni one of the bastions she
directed the attack on Charnisay's ship, and a fierce cannon-
ade commenced which resulteil disastniusly to the besiegers.

'ri:' >".

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

171

Thoir vessel was so vigorously assailed by the ordnance of
the fort, and so much shattered, that, to keep her from
absolutely sinking beneath them, Charnisay's men \v(;re
obliged to warp her ashore behind a point of land where
she was safe from the guns of the fort. Twenty of the
lx3.siegers were killed and thirteen wounded in this affair,
which terminated in a manner so diflerent from Charnisay's
expectations.

This repulse took place in February, 1645, and in the
following April Charnisay again attacked Fort Latour —
this time from the land side. Unfortunately it stood in no
better position for defence than it was in before, and La
Tour was still absent in Boston, unable to reach his fort
owing to the armed cruisers with which Charnisay Avatched
the Bay of Fundy, and denied any aid from the people of
New England, who had formerly assisted him. Fortune,
which for years had alternately frowned and smiled on the
proscribed Governor of Acadia, now seemed to avert her
face; the shadow of destiny was upon him, and in a little
while he was to be (le})rived of all his possessions, and of
those who were far dearer to him than any earthly treas-
ures. How strange were the fortunes of this man, M'hose
whole life reads like a romance, who made ordinary men
the pliant instruments of his will, whose sj)irit no adverse
fate could subdue, and who, although ap[)arently crushed to
the earth, lived to triumph over all his enemies!

It was on the 18th April, 1645, tliat Charnisjvy began his
last attack on Fort Latour. The lady I^a Tour, although
hopeless of making a successful resistance, resolved to
defend her fort to the last. For three days and three
nights the attack proceeded, but the defence was so well
conducted that the besiegers made no progress, and
Charnisay was compelled to draw off his forces with loss.

172

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

i}'

Treachery finally accomplished what force could not effect.
Charnisay found means to bribe a Swiss sentry who formed
one of the garrison, and on the fourth day, Avhich was
Easter Sunday, while the garrison were at jjrayers, this
traitor permitted the enemy to approach without givinj^
any warning. They were already scaling the walls of the
fort before the garrison were aware of their attack. The
lady La Tour, in this extremity, opposed the assault at the
head of her men, and repulsed the besiegers with so nmch
vigor that Charnisay — who had lost twelve men killed and
many wounded— despaired of taking the fort. He therefore
proposed terms of capitulation, offering the garrison life
and liberty if they would consent to yield. The lady La
Tour knew that successfnl resistance was imj)ossible, and
she desired to save the lives of those under her command.
She therefore accepted the terms which Charnisay offered,
and permitted him to enter the fort. Xo sooner did he
find himself in possession of the place, to the capture of
which all his efforts had for years been directed, than lie
disclosed the full baseness of his nature. lie caused all
the garrison, botli French and English, to be hanged, except
one man, to whom he gave his life on the dreadful condi-
tion that he became the executioner of his comrades in
arms. But even the murder of these poor soldiers did not
satisfy Charnisay's desire for vengeance. No doubt he
would have assassinated the lady La Tour also, had he only
dared, but the court of France, venal a.s it was, would
scarcely have tolerated such an outrage as that. But he did
what was almost as bad. He compelled the heroic lady to
be present at the execution of her soldiers, with a roj)e
round her neck, like one who should liave been executed
also, but who by favor had been reprieved. But it mattered
little to her what further plans of vengeance her great

inSTOHY OF ACADIA.

173

oiu'iny migi.i design; tliey had little power to touch her.
Her great heart was broken. She was severed from the
husband, to whose fortunes she had been S(j faithful, and
could scarcely hope to sec his face again, except us a captive
like herself. She felt that her work in life was done, for
siic was not born for captivity. So she faded away, day by
(lay, until her heroic soul left its earthly tenement, and in
three weeks from the time when she witnessed the capture
of her fort, she was laid to rest by the baidvs of the St.
-folui, which she loved so well, and where she had lived for
.■^o many years. Thus died the iirst and greatest of
Acadian heroines — a woman whose name is as proudly
enshrined in the history of this land as that of any
sceptred Queen in European story. As long as the sons
:md daughters of this new Acadia take an interest in their
country's early history, they M'ill read with admiration the
noble story of the constancy and heroism of the lady
La Tour.

This noble wife and mother left behind her a little child,
which was sent to France in the care of one of the Itidy'.s
gentlewomen. What became of this unfortunate infant is
not known, but as no further mention is made of it in the
genealogies of the family of La Tour, it j)robably died
young. The booty taken by Charnisay in Fort Latour
was very large, and was valued at ten thousand pounds
scerling, an estimate which will serve to show the extent of
the trade which was carried on by La Tour in Acadia, for
all this wealth was the result of the Indian trade. The
loss of so much property was ruinous to La Tour, whose
affairs w^ere already much embarrassed l)y the cost he had
been put to in his warfare with Charnisay. Nor had the
latter, although he had succeeded in ruining his rival,
greatly improved his own fortunes. For he had become

/■■-^

■m

■ 1

174

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

deeply involved in France, in consequence of the large
forces he had been obliged to maintain in Acadia, and his
success was dearly purchased. The civil war, in which
these rivals had engaged, was in fact destructive to both.
But for Charnisay's vindictive jealousy and ambition, both
might have lived in Acadia in peace, and acquired great
wealth by trade. The result of the war was that La 1\)ur
lost all, and beciime an outcast, and almost a beggar, while
Charnisay incurred such an enormous indebtedness, jus no
man could hope to liquidate by trade in Acadia, large and
profitable as its trade undoubtedly was.

1'i •■■ .
i ; ■ '

jil ' ' ■

CHAPTER X.

THE DEATH OF CHAUNISAY.

La Touu was in Boston when the tidings of the capture
of his fort and the death of his wife reached him, and the
heavy news must have dashed even sueli a strong spirit as
his, for it involved both the breaking up of his dome*5tic
hcartii and the loss of his estate. But the feelings of the
inner heart are seldom inscril)cd on the pages of a book ; the
strongest natures suif'er in silence, and therefore we can
only conjecture the measure of the grief which oppressed
the bereaved and despoiled lord of Acadia. But La Tour
had a hopeful spirit and a read}- mind to design means for
relieving himself from his difficulties. He seems also to
have had the faculty of imparting the same confidence in
his fortunes to others which he felt himself. No man ever
had firmer friends than La Tour made in Boston. Al-
though the result of their transactions in some instances
involved their own ruin as well as his, they appear never to
have doubted him or to have lost faith in his integrity.
In his greatest straits he never wanted for money or friends
in the capital of New England, and this fact alone is a
complete refutation of the calumnies which some New Eng-
land writers have heaped upon his memory. The men of
Boston, who were his contemporaries, knew La Tour better
than those obscure scribes whose attempts to blacken his
character were made after he had been dead for a hundred
years.

On the 13th May, 1645, La Tour gave a mortgage of
his fort and property at St. John to sergeant major Edward

fiiil

•^1

ill^i

■■M '

^MH

17G

IIISTOKY OF ACADIA.

Ik''

i[ ■

-■r

' ■ '¥

Ik ■ -

■ '^ pi

1 .

t S '

; h Hi

(Jihbons of Boston. This instrmncnt was iiiiulc to secure
the, paynu'nt ol' tlie t'lill sum oi' i:2,()8l Mliicli iio owed
(Jihhons for money nnd sup[)lios advanced, and the condi-
tion was that this sum was to he repaid, with interest, on
the 20th February, 1()")2. As this niort<^a^e was made
nearly a montli after tlie capture of Fort Ijatour, -vve may
presume that event was known in Boston when it was
executed, and that it was the first act of La Tour towards
securiu"; his New Fnuland creditors after lu; had heard of
tlie great loss which had overtaUen iiini. He jM-ohuhly
thou<rht also that tlie fact of a leadiny; citizen of .Boston
having a large interest in the i)roperty which C'harnisay
liad seized, Avonld force the peo2)le of New J^igland out of
their neutral attitude and induce them to take an active
jiart against that tru(!ulent governor. Tiiis very matter
was, in fact, brought uj) before the Commissioners of the
United Colonies, who met at JJoston in the following
Angust, but they decided that the mortgage having been
made after the commission from the King of France to
Charnisay was made known, it was of no eftect against the
latter, especially after the fort had been seized into the
hands of the King of France by authority of the said
commission. Thus any expectations of aid whi(!li La Tour
might have formed on that basis were doomed to disa])-
pointment, the people of New England being more anxious
for peace than for money, or even for the maintenance of
their own lionor. The only warfare which they Avere dis-
posed to wage was that which they constantly maintained
against all whose religious views ditfercd from their own,
or who felt inclined to protest against the gloomy theo-
logical despotism which they had estiiblished on the shores
of the New AVorld.

La Tour, finding that there was no prospect of his

iriSTOHY OF AC.VniA.

mx'iviii'; iiiiy I'lirtlu'r Iiclp from the aiitlioritics of Masssi-
cliiisc'ttts, resolved to <io to X('\vfouii(llaii(l, wlicro Sir David
Kirk was (jrovornor, tliini<ing that lie, ha'iuvr almost a
Frciichmau, would he likely to take a livelier interest in
his fortunes than a man of alien race. lie aeeordiugly took
shipping in a Boston lishing vessel bound to Newfound-
land, and on his arrival there, was very courteously reeeived
by Kirk, who made him many fair promises; hut he soon
(liseovered (hat Kirk, even if he had the will, had not the
means to aid him ellectuallv, so he returned to Hoston in
one of Kirk's vessels. He spent most of the following
winter in Jioston,* hut towards S|)ring a uumher of the
merchants of that [)lacc furnished him with supplies to the
value of five hundred pounds for a trading voyage to the
eastward, and he set forth again in the same little craft in
which he luuf returned from Newfoundland. The master
of this vessel was a stranger, and her crew consisted of five
(if La Tour's Frenchmen and live I'^nglish of JJostc^n. In
May, lOK), the latter returned to their homes with a pitiful
story of wrong and suttering. They told that, when La
Tour reached Cajie Sable, which was in the heai't of winter,
lu' conspired with the nmstcr and his own Frenchmen, and
forced tlie Fuglish sailors out of the vessel, shooting one of
them himself in the face with a pistol. They said that,
utter wandering uj) and down for tifteen days, they ibund
some Indians, who gave them a shallop and victuals and an
Indian pilot, so that they were enabled to reach Boston,

It is impossible at this distance of time to determine
what degree of credit is to be given to this story, which, if
true, would prove La Tour to have been one of the basest
of men. It rests on the authority of Governor A\^inthrop,

*Winthrop says tliat dm ing the winter l^a Toiir was entertained by Mr. Samuel
Maverick, at Nottles Island.

93'

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

v» ,„. ^S

(p.-

1.0

I.I

1.25

''^IIIIIM IIIII2.5

K. 'k.

1.4

IM 12.2

1.6

•9i

<^# >

'c-l

^'>, ^ N

'^i ■■>'

($>1

Photographic

Sciences
Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, NY. 14580

(716) 872-4503

€^

V* <TO

^y" A ^

r^^'

&?-

P'^-f' • r^

178

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

one of the most faithful and conscientious gentlemen of his
age, but he, of course, had to rely on the statements of the
sailors themselves, who alleged that they had been the
victims of La Tour's cruelty. There is nothing to be said
in favor of this story, except that it rests on direct evi-
dence. Against it may be put the previous character of La
Tour, who had so conduc^ted himself during the forty years
of his rtsideuce in Acadia, that even when he appeared to
be absolutely ruined, the merchants with whom he tradwl
in Boston, did not lose confidence in his integrity. Add to
that, that for many years after this alleged outrage he lived
in Acadia, that he stood so high in the tavor of tiie English
government as to receive almost vmparalleled gifts at its
hands, and we are forced to conclude that this sailors' story
of outrage and piracy, which has given some writers an
opportunity of blackening La Tour's character, was merely
invented by the sailoi's to justify their own mutinous con-
duct, and to win sympathy for the sufferings -they had
brought upon themselves by their own acts.

La Tour arrived at Quebec on the 8th August, 1646,
and on his landing on the following day was received with
great honor by the governor, M. Montmagny. Salutes
were fired; he was lodged i;i the fort, and the Governor
gave him precedence, a distinction which he accepted the
first day, but afterwards decjlined. Nothing, perhaps,
could better illustrate the looseness of the Frencii system of
admuiistration than the fact that such honors were given
by the governor of Canada to a man who, in Acadia, had
been declared an outlaw by royal edict. But in France it
was not merit, but influence and the use of money, which
won the favor of those in authority, and the bastile stood
always open to receive men whose only crime was that they

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

179

liad become distasteful to some great i)ersonage with influ-
ence enough to obtain an order for their imprisonment.

For the next four years La Tour was absent from
Acadia, and during two of them at least he was in Canada.
We get glimpses of his life from time to time in the journal
of the Jesuit Superior,* which has been preserved in the
archives of the seminary at Quebec. In one entry he is
ro(!orded as accompanying father De Quen to baptize M. de
Chuvigry's child. 1\\ another, he is mentioned as convey-
ing father Bailloquet to Montreal in his shallop. He was
one of those who took part in the procession of the feast of
the Holy Sacrament in 1648. In that year he is also
mentioned as having gone forth to engage in the war which
was being waged against the Iroquois. Those were exciting
years in Canada, and there was abundant scope there for
the talents of a man so bold and enterprising as La Tour.
He continued to engage in the fur trade, and in the prose-
cution of that profitable pursuit he is said to liave visited
the shores of Hudson's Bay, that vast ocean gulf which
afterwards gave its name to the great Company by which
for two centuries the fur trade of North America was
nitiinly controlled.

Charnisay, having succeeded in driving his rival out of
Acadia, may be said to have attained tlie sunmiit of his
hopes. He had the whole of Western Acadia to himself,
and with establishments at Port, Royal, Penobscot and St.
John, could control the entire fur trade of a region nearly
half as large as the kingdom of France. The territory in
the possession of Denys was but a narrow strip on the
Gulf of St. Lawrence; all the rest of Acadia was Char-
nisay's own. The proper occupation and defence of his
three forts required him usually to maintain three hundred

* This iutereaUng journal was publisbcd in 1871.

;l!

:4I

■::m

'".ir

rFT

■■;i ,

180

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

I .'■';

men, and demanded likewise large supplies of food and
ammunition. His principal establishment was at Port
Royal, where most of the inhabitants, brought out from
France by Isaac I)e Razilly, as well as those brought by
Charnisay himself, were settled. There he had built mills
for the grinding of grain, and had dyked the marshe.- to
increase their fertility by the exclusion of the tide. He
had two large farms at Port Royal, which were cultivated
on his own account, and he also engaged somewhat in ship-
building. During his occupation of Port Royal he built
there two vessels of about seventy tons each, besides five
pinnaces and several shallops. These were probably the
firsL vessels built in Acadia. These enterprises, together
with the care of such small outlying settlements as Tja
Have and St. Anne, must have kept Charnisay fully
employed while in Acadia, and made him the very reverse
of an idle man. Yet he might have done far more for
Acadia than he did, had he only been content to relinquish
warlike pursuits and devote himself wholly to the work of
trade and colonization.

In the Autumn of 1645 Charnisay ])aid another visit to
France, where he carried to the Queen Regent the news
of his success in Acadia. He was received bv her with
great favor, and received from her a letter acknowledging
his great zeal in opposing La Tour, who was accused in it
of a desire to subvert the King's authority in Acadia.
Accompanying it was another letter, purjjorting to come
from the King himself — then a mere child — in which La
Tour was charged with a design to deliver up his fort to
foreigners. The King ordered a vessel to be equipped to
bring Charnisay to Acadia, to which he returned laden
with princely favors and cheered by the smiles of royalty.

The treaty which the authorities of Massachusetts had

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

181

made in 1644 with M. Marie, Charnisay's agent, had never
been ratified by the latter, although it had received the
sanction of the Commissioners of the United Colonies.
When Captain Bridges was seni by them in 1645 to Char-
nisay for his confirmation of the articles of peace — although
he entertained the messenger with all state and courtesy —
he refused to subscribe the articles until certain differences
between himself and the people of New England were
composed. He accordingly wrote back a letter, in which
he accused the Commissioners of desiring to gain time, and
said that if their messenger had been furnished wiHi power
to have treated with him, he had no doubt that they cou'd
have come to an agreement. He, however, added that he
would postpone any further action towards redressing his
wrongs until the Spring, when he expected to hear from
the Commissioners again. When the General Court of
Massachusetts next met, they took this answer into con-
sideration, and agreed to send the deputy governor, Mr.
Dudley, Mr. Hawthorne and Major Denison to meet
Charnisay at Penobscot, with full power to make a treaty
which should cover all the points in dispute between them
and the governor of Acadia. But when Charnisay was
informed by letter of this resolution, he sent back word
that he was now convinced the people of New England
seriously desired peace, as he did himself, and that he
accounted himself highly honored that they should propose
to send such principal men of theirs to him. But he desired
to spare them that labor, and he would send two or three
of his men tr> Boston in August to make a treaty. This
proposal was not ungrateful to Governor Winthrop and the
magistrates of Baston, for the deputy governor, Mr. Dud-
ley, owing to his advanced age, was scarcely counted fit for
the voyage to Penobscot, yet his experience and closeness

«illi

iiif

jl.

(

182

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

at a bargain were deemed desirable in dealing with Char-
nisay.

On Monday, the 20th August, 1646, M. Marie, M. Louis
and Charnisay's secretary arrived at Boston in a pinnace,
and were met at the water side by Major Gibbons, who
conducted them to his residence, where they were to lodge.
After public worship was over, the (Governor sent a guard
of musketeers to attend them to his house, where they were
entertained with wine and sweetmeats, and he afterwards
accompanied them home to their lodgings. The next
morning they repaired to the Governor and delivered him
their commission, which was in the form of an open letter
delivered to the Governor and magistrates. Although they
lodged with Major Gibbons, their diet was provided at the
ordinary, where the magistrates were accustomed to eat
■when attending the court, and the Governor always honored
them with his presence at meals. Every morning they
called at the house of the Governor, who attended them to
the place of meetmg, and in the evening either he or one
of the commissioners accotnpanied them to their lodgings.
Thus everything was done with due form and («remony. It
■was the third day at noon before the commissioners of the
United Colonies could be got together, but from that time
to tlie close of the negotiations the work was carried on with
all diligence. Charnisay's representatives laid before them
the great injuries which he had sustained from Captain
Hawkins and his men when they went to aid La Tour,
and sought to make the commissioners responsible for the
damage. But they denied that they had given Hawkins
any commission, or even permission, to do what he had
done. They said they had only given La Tour assistance
to conduct his ship home, according to the request contained
in the commission of the vice-admiral of France. And, as

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

183

'■ ''■■> !!^5

for what Hawkins and his men had done beyond their
commission, in palliation of that they produced Cham isay's
own letter, sent by Captain Bailey, in which he stated that
the King of France had laid all the blame on the vice-
admiral for those occurrences, and that the King had
enjoined him not to break with the ])eoj)le of New England
because of what Hawkins had done. The commissioners
also pleaded the ])eace formerly made with M. Marie,
without any reservation of these things. The Frenchmen
answered that, although the I^ing had remitted his own
interest, yet he had not iiitended to deprive Charnisay of
his own private satisfaction. For two days the commis-
sioners battled over this point, and it looked at one time as
if the negotia*"''>ns would break off altogether ; but in the
end the Puritans proved the better iiands at a bargain.
The Freiich commissioners at first claimed eight thousand
pounds as damages, but afterwards they said they did not
stand ujwn the value. They were willing to accept a very
small sum in satisfaction of the claim if the commissioners
for New England would acknowledge any guilt on the
part of their government. Finally, a compromise was
reached, to which both pai'ties were willing to agree. The
New England commissioners agreed to accei)t the French
commissioners answer in satisfaction of those things which
they had (jjuirged upon Charnisay. The French commis-
sioners, on their part, accepted the answer of the New
England commissioners, so as to clear the government of
Massachusetts of what had been charged against them.
But, 5ia they could not excuse what Captain Hawkins and
the other volunteers from New P]ugland had done, the
commissioners agreed to send a small present to Charnisay
in satisfaction of that, and so all injuries and demands ^t i,j
to be remitted and a final peace to be conclude<l.

' m

•■J.:'4

■Hi- :t' Sifl

ffilf

ii'':ii

i'^j

H'ii.:
' ii i.

184

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Fortunately for the tlirifty Puritans tliey were not re-
quired to disburse any money on this occasion, nor did the
])resent to be given to Charnisay come fron) the general
fund, but from the private estate of Governor \Vinthrt>p.
Some months before a oertiiin Captain Croniwell, one of
those redoubtable rovers of the sea, trained in the school of
Drake, had visited Boston. He had just come from a
cruise in the Spanish Main, where he had captured several
Spanish vessels bound to Spain from Mexico. In one of
them was a sedan chair of very elegant make, which the
Viceroy of Mexico wa.s sending home to his sister in Spain.
Cromwell had presented this chair to Governor Winthrop,
and the Governor now offered it to Charnisay's commis-
sioners, and it was accepted as a satisfaction of all claims
against the j>eople of New England. Wintlirop was
almost as well pleased to get rid of this chair as M. Marie
was to receive it, for it wits altogether too fine an article to
be of any use to him. The grave Governor of Massachu-
setts would have cut but a sorry figure in a vehicle made
for the use of some ancient Spanish duenna.

The agreement between the representatives of Charnisay
and the commissioners of the United Colonies having been
signed by both parties, M. Marie and his companions took
their departure under a salute from Boston, Charlestown
and Castle Island. They had been treated most courte-
ously during their stay, but were glad enough, no doubt, to
get away from a place where a man did not dare to appear
on the streets on the Sabbath, unless he chanced to be
going to public worship. The peace thus concluded wa.s
an excellent measure in all respects, and removed any
apprehensions of further trouble. It enabled the people of
New England to pursue their peaceful avocations without
apprehensions of being molested, and it gave Charnisay —

, I

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

185

if lie so desired — an o})p()rtuiiity of improving his
Acadian possessions in safety. Yet, althougii the peace
was kept, au event took ))lace the very next year which |)ut
its continuance in some peril. In March a vessel of eighty
tons was fitted out at Hoston by one Captain Dobson for a
trading voyage to the eastward. Her |)apers were made
out for the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but being caught in a
storm, and having lost a boat, they j)ut into harbor at Cape
tSable, and commenced to trade with the Indians. Char-
nisay heard of their presence, and sent twenty men overland
from Port Royal, who succeeded in capturing the vessel
and her crew. Both vessel and crew were taken to Port
Koyal. The shij) and her cargo, which were worth a
thousand pounds, were c()nfiscated, and the men were put
into two old shallops and sent home, arriving at Boston in
May. The merchants, who had lost by this venture, were
very indignant, and complained to the court for redress,
offering to fit out an armed shii) to attack Charnisay's
vessels, but the court thought it neither safe nor expedient
to begin war with the French, especially as they (jould not
charge any manifest WTong upon Charnisay, for they had
told him that if any New Englanders traded within his
territory, they should do so at their own ])eril. The
seizure of the ship was therefore not an unlawful act, but in
accordance with the common practice of the times among
civilized nations. Besides, Governor Winthrop thought
there must be an overruling providence in the affair,
otherwise Charnisay could not have seized u ship, so well
fitted, for she was double manned, nor could wise men have
lost her so foolishly.

In February, 1647, Charnisay received another mark of
the royal favor. A commission was i.ssuetl to him under
the sign manual of Louis XIV., confirming and re-estab-

yfS

:#.

■;> .

1 1

■M

■ . ■ t...

Sit.

■'.:■ f.

j - -k«<>

•V Vi

.■f-^

i^;

''■j&ljji

;ij--

I-":!:

186

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

lishing liim in the office of governor and licutenunt-f^eneral
for the Kinj^ in Acadia. This commisHion recites the
services of Charnisay in Acadia, statin|r that he had for
fourteen years been employed in the conversion of the
Indians and in the establisliinp; of the royal authority. It
credits him with having'built a seminary, carried outCa])u-
chins from France to teach the Indian children, and with
expellinfjj foreign religionists from the fort of Penobscot,
and with recovering by force of arms and placing under
obedience the fort of the River St. John, which La Tour
had occuj)ied, and, by open rebellion, was striving to retain
against the royal will. This commission, besides making
him governor of Acadia from the St. Lawrence to Vir-
ginia,* gave him the exclusive privilege of the fur trade
over all that vast territory, and the use of the mines and
minerals tp him and his heirs. Thus Charnisay, after his
long struggle with his enemies, stood the undisputed nuister
of Acadia, both by possession and by the highest docu-
mentary title which his King could give him. He was
more absolutely a ruler in Acadia than even the French
King was in his own dominions, for he had no council to
trouble him with advice, no Mazarin to govern him,
no Queen Mother to impose her wishes uj)on him. Well
may his breast have swelled \vith pride as he contemjilated
his own sudden rise to fame, fortune and authority.

Only one thing more was needed to complete the work
he had begun, and that was the expulsion of Nicholas
Denys from Acadia. Denys had come to Acadia in 1632
with IsmicDe Razilly, and for some time had been engaged
in the shore fishery at La Have. When Isaac De Razilly

♦Virginia in tills PoininisKioii meant the Britisli possessions in North America
generally. The territory between 34 and 45 north latitude was all termed Virginia
in the grants made by King James I. to the North and South Virginia Companies
in 1606.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

187

(lied he was nominated by the Company of New France
(lovornor of the whole coast of the Bay of St. Ivawrence
and the isles adjacent, from Cape Canso to Cape Rosiers.
lk'\i\^ a man of much enterprise and business capacity, he
speedily built up a profitable fishinj; business and erected
two small forts, (me at Chedabucto and the other at St.
Peter's, in the Island of Cape Breton. Ihi also had a
fishinej (istablishment at Miscou, at the entrance of the
Bay Chaleur, where the Jesiiits had established a mission
ill 1G35. Charuisay, armed with his new commission from
the King, captured Denys' forts, seiz(;d his goods, broke up
his fishing establishments, and ruined his settlers. Denys
and his family had to leave the country, and seek refuge in
Quebec. Ho deserved better treatment at the hands of
Cliarnisiiy, for they had been com|)anions in youth and
friends. But all those early associations were forgotten.
Any one who ventured to carry on trade in Acadia, Char-
nisay counted an enemy, and treated him as such, and so
La Tour, Denys and the New England colonists necessarily
fell under his displeasure, and felt the weight of his
resentment.

But there is one enemy which no man can escape, and
that is Death. The most formidable walls and battlements
will not keep him out. His footstejxs are sometimes heard,
even in the paUu'cs of Kings, and the sword falls from the
hand of earth's greatest conquerors when he appears. And
so Charuisay, the victor in the struggle against his mortal
enemies, wa.s vanquished at length by a mightier hand than
his own. In 1650 he was drowned in the river of Port
Royal. Neither history nor Iradition give us any further
particulars of his fate than Is (iontained in these few words.
But if it is true, as some say, that .a man who goes down to
death through the dark waters sees before him in an instan-

'■ */

.:i

■1

■

;'■ v., ,^i

np^

P-'^I

i^4

!■

j'nj

' HI

•p

' Ml

't j

"'HI

{''

'in

»'"

' H^l

'■ V ''

S -N

188

HISTOKY OK ACADIA.

tjinc'ous mental vision a panorunm of liis whole life, tli(!ii
Hiirc'ly (1(H?|) anguish must have .smitten the .soul of the
(lyinj^ Churn isay — for he had been hard and eruel and
revengeful. He luul shown himself to be de.stitutc of pity
for his kind. No generous thought for his enemies luul
ever found a pla(!e in his heart. And above the shadowy
forms of tho.se he had wronged and murdered, the face of
one victim must have impressed him with a deeper remorse
than all the rest, that of the heroic, noble and faithful lady
La Tour.

If Charnissiy had any friends when living, none of thcni
were to be found after his death. Most nien like to sj)eak
gently of the dead, but ..o one had anything but evil to
tell of him. Dcnys, his contemporary — who knew him
well — only speaks of his nipacity, tyranny and cruelty.
His influence at the French court, which nmst have been
great, rested on such a slender foundation of merit that it
did not survive him for a single day. He who had .stood
80 high in the royal favor was, a few months after his
death, branded as a false accuser in an offitiial document
signed by the King's own hand. The whole fruits of hia
life-long contentions and schemes were either wasted or
were gathered by his enemies.

I I !'■

ill I

' V

CHAPTER XJ.

LA TOUK KKTUKNH TO ACADIA.

TiiK news of Cliiirnisay .- 'oath st'cnis to have roachod
La Tour very soon after the event took placv, and the
exiled lord of Aeadia lost no time in takinjjj advantage of
an oeenrrenec which aj^ain placed wealth and honor within
his grasp. He made all haste to reach France, where for
so many years he had not dared to show his face, and went
vigorously to work to urulo all that his dead rival had done
in regt. d to the affairs of Acadia. At the French court in
these days a living man with a good cause; was not always
certain of success; but La Tour, no doubt, wiscily judged
that such a man ranged against a dead rival, whose cause
was bad, could scarcely fail. Nor was he deceived, for he
speedily obtained from the French govermiicnt an acepiittal
of the charges which had been preferred against him by
Charnisay, and, what was of more value, he obtained a new
commission as governor and lieutenant-general for the
King in Acadia. This document, which was in the form
of letters patent from the King of France, was dated the
2oth February, 165L It recited that La Tour had been
appointed am' "stablished governor by Louis XIII., and
had for forty-two years devoted himself there to the con-
version of the savages, and the establishment of the royal
authority; that he had constructed two forts, and contributed
to the extent of his power to the instruction of the savages,
had by his courage and valor driven the foreign sectaries
from these forts, which they had taken possession of to the

"■41

*l;-i-

•v' v']i

;! — '■■ '

, -[-m

V '^

•^ '

■ ■■ '^■\i*i

■ T *«*

,*■ •,

' ■' ' rf '^

190 «

IIISTOIIY OF ACADIA.

!■ 1

prejudice of the rifjlits Jiiul autliority of the Crown, and
wouKl liuve eo'.itiiuu'd to do ko had he not been hindered l»y
Charles De Menoii, iSieur d'Auhiay Charnisay, who had
favored his enemies in aeeusations and pretences, wliich
*' 'V liad not been able to verify, and of which the said La
'l>»nr had been absolved. The connnission then j)roceede(l
to confirm to him the {government of Acadia and all lii«
territorial riglits in it. It gave him power to aj)j)oiiit
ofK<rrs, to enact laws and ordinances, and to make peace
and war. It tjave him all the mines and minerals in the
country, reservin<j; only a royalty to the Crown, and gave
him also the exclusive right to the i'ur trade. Finally, it
empowered him to seize and confiscate to his own use the
vessels and mercluuidise of any who sought to infringe upon
his exclusive privileges. Thus, with his character cleared
of the clouds which had rested upon it, ami endowed with
the amplest powers that his sovereign could bestow. La
Tour stood once more the absolute nutster of Acadia.

Armed with this patent, La Tour returne<l to Acadia,
and in September, 1G51, took possession of his old fort at
the nnfUth of tlu; .St. John, and resumed the trade with the
Indians, which had been so j)rofitable in former years.
Tiii widow of Charnisay was still living in Acadia with her
(ihildren, and she seems to liave made no oppohition to Lu
Tour's re-occuj)ati(m of his fort, but it was impossible that
she could view without alarm his i)retenslons to the govern-
shi|) of the whole Provincie. In June, 1651, the King had
issued a letter and commission to the Sieur de I<a Fosse,
authorizing him to administer the property and government
of Charnisay, but his widow seems to have thought that
some more powe i'ul protector was necessary, in order to
enable her lo enjoy her estates in peace. Accordingly, in
February, 1()52, siie entered into an arrangement with the

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

191

Duke De Vendome,* grand master and superintendent of
tlie navigation and coninierce of France, by which she
sought to enlist his rank and influence in lier cause. By
this it was agreed that Vendome shouM aid in recovering
her forts from La Tour, Denys and others, who had
usurj)ed possession of her territory, and, in consideration of
the expense to which he would be put in carrying out this
arrangement, she agreed that Vendome, his heirs and
assigns should be co-seigniors of Acadia with lier and her
children. This agreement was confirmed by the King by
letters patent, dated December, 1652, but as Vendome
never paid anything under it, the claims of his heir to terri-
torial rights in Acadia were set aside by a judgment of the
French Council of State in 1703.

In fact, almost before this agreement was completed —
certainly before there was any opportunity of it becoming
operative — another arrangement had been made which
rendered the interposition of Vendome wholly unnece&sary.
On the 24th February, 1 653, a document was signed at the
fort of Port lloyal which put an end at once and forever
to the strife between the families of La Tour and Char-
nisay in Acadia. This was a marriage contract which was
entered into between Charnisay's widow and La Tour, the
end and principal design of the intended marriage being,
as the contract expressed it, " The peace and tranquillity of
the country, and concord and union between the two fami-
lies." This contract was drawn with elaborate care, as was
fitting in a document which was intended to reconcile and
settle so many conflicting claims and interests, for both
parties to this marriage had children by their former mar-

♦C'lBsar Due de Vendome was a reputed sou of Henry IV. by his ini.stre8.s,
Gabrielle d'Etlrees. He was horn in 1594, and in 1598, on liis betrothal to FranQoiso
de Ivorraine, daughter and heiress of the Due de Mercteur, n as made legitimate and
created Due de Vendome,

■m

;. t:l

If' ■ !

I r

192

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

nages

U- ■H-

ktL:it

Hi-

The creditors and associates of Charnisay had to
be provided for, and tlie children which might be the result
of the new union liad also to be taken into account. La
Toju' endowed his future wife, for her lifetime, with his
fort and habitation on the River St. John, and also gave
her for a marriage i)resent the sum of thirty thousand
livres tournois, which circumstance shows that he was then
in easy circumstances, and turning his monopoly of the fur
trade in Acadia to profitable account. The marriage con-
tract was witnessed by father Leonard de Charteres, vice-
prefect and custos of the mission, by brother Jean Desnouse
and by three other witnesses, so that no formality seems to
have been wanting to give the alliance that solemn character
^vhich the im[)ortance of the interests involved ajjpcarcd
to demand.

Thus, after so many years of conflict, the two families,
whose feuds had been so disastrous to Acadia, were imited,
and their differences dis[)osed of in such a way that it was
impossible they should ever again become occasion for strife.
La Tour had then passed his sixtieth year, and after a life
of much viscissitudes must luive rejoiced at the ])rospect of
peace, which his changed circumstances seemed to offer.
But fortune had still something left in store for him as
surprising as anything tliat ho had before experienced at
her hands.

Hitherto the wars in vVcadia had been conducted by
soldiers who, whatever their other qualities, were at least at

* Lii Tour liiul two or more sons by his IJrst nmrriiiKO, but they seem to have
been eciucatt^d in Kranco, and they never took any part in Acadian afliiirs. La
Tour's oldest daughter was born in 1626, so that these sons were probably grown
up at the time of his second marriage. Wo may presume that they wore brought
up by the Huguenot relatives of their mother at Iloehelle, and that, as by the
marriage contract their father's property in France was especially set apart for
them, they lived and died in that eountry. Charnisay's eldest son was Joseph do
Menou, who was born in 16:i6, and was killed in the service of the King prior to
1686. Charnisay was twice married.

>■ y***^-^^^

I) have
rs. La
grown

broujjlit
by the

part for
ph de

prior to

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

193

home in the tented field and accustomed to the sounds of
battle. La Tour and Charnisay had contended against
each other like nobles of the medieval times, with hundreds
of armed retainers and for a princely prize. But it was
reserved for this period to sec a new element introduced
into the wars of Acadia, and to behold a man who, without
warlike experience or the courage of a soldier, undertook to
paralyze the might of the sword by writs of ejectment, and
to expel the bold nobles who occupied the forts of Acadia
by the eiforts of catchpoles and constables. Such attempts
wouUl have been ridiculous a few years before, when the
sword was in every man's hand, and when even a royal
mandate was of no effect unless backed by suf?i(nent force to
compel its execution. But the times had changed since
those brave days, and a long exemption from the evils of
civil war had produced its effects even ;n the bold and
vigilant La Tour. His fort at St. John had become merely
a trading post, and he himself a merchant. Port Koyal was
similarly held by La Verdure on behalf of the children
of the deceased Charnisay, and trading posts were main-
tained by La Tour at Penobscot and Cape Sable.

It was at this period that Emmanuel Ijg Borgne first
appeared in Acadia. He had been a merchant of liochelle,
and had made advances to Charnisay to the extent of two
hundred and sixty thousiuid livres prior to 1G50. He
appears to have obtained judgment from the Courts in his
favor for that sum, and, armed with this authority, came
out to Acadia in 1653 to take possession of Chnrnisay's
estate. When he arrived at Port lloyal he appears to have
became impressed with the idea that he might seize the
whole of Acadia, Charnisay having claimed nothing less.
Filled with this design, he commenced active operations
against Nicholas Denys, who Avas carrying on the shore

'' ; r .

194

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

fishery at La Have. Denys in that .same year liad obtaiiiod
a grant from the Company of New France of all the
territory from Can.so to ( 'ape Hosiers. By virtue of the
authority contained in this grant he was busily engajred in
founding a settlement at Ht. Peter's, in the Island of Cape
Breton, when Le Borgne attacked him. Denys states that
his people were then on shore clearing land, but that he
Jiimsclf had gone to St. Anne'.s to see the harbor, when
sixty of I./e Borgne's men landed and made ids people at
St. Peter's all prisoners. They also took posse.ssion of hi.s
vessel, and of all it contained. Tlien twenty-five of Le
Borgne's men were .sent to lie in ambush orj the road,
which Denys would take on coming from St. Anne's.
Deny.s, who had only three unarmed men with him, was
captured by this detachment and carried to Port Royal.
As they passed La Have, on their return with their booty
and prisoners, Le Borgne's men burnt down the establish-
ment which M. Denys had there, not even sparing the
chapel, which, with the fort and buildings, was destroyed.
Denys was placed in irons and contined in a dungeon at
Port Royal; but he was liberated before the end of the
year, and returned to France, to complain of the outrages
of which he had been made the victim. On the 30th
January, 1654, he received a commi-ssion from the King,
confirming him in the grants made to him by the Company
of New France, and appointing him King's governor and
lieutenant-general " in all the country, territory, coasts and
confines of the great Bay of St. Lawrence, beginning from
Cape Canso unto Cape Rosiers, the Islands of Newfound-
laud, of Cape Breton, St. John and other islands adjacent."
In the Spring of 1654 Denys returned to St. Peter's, where
he found his fort in charge of an officer, whom Le Borgne
had placed there a short time before, and this person quietly

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

195

surrendered it to Deiiys on the King's eoinniission and tlie
grant of" the Com{)any l)eing produced. Dcnys then sent
these do(!umonts by a trusty messenger to Port Koyal, so
tliat Le Borgne might be informed of tiieir contents and
govern himself accordingly.

Le Borgne, while these things were passing at St. Peter's,
had his mind fixed on another exj)loit — no less than the
capture of Fort Ijatour. La Tour himself — whose trade
relations were rather with New England than with France —
had been considerably embarrassed l)y a prt)hibition of the
(jleneral Court of Massachusetts in 165:3 against the trans-
port of ])rovisions either to the French or Dutch. La Tour
complained of this prohibition being applied to him, and
the order was so far relaxed in his favor that a small vessel
was allowed to go from Boston with flour and provisions
for his fort at St. John. In the summer of 1G54 he was
again short of ])rovisions, and his supplies from Boston had
not arrived. Of this fact Lo Borgne was aware, and he
conceived the idea of making the necessities of La Tour
the means of capturing his fort. He went to Fort Latour
with two vessels filled with men, intending to seize that
place, under pretence of carrying La Tour provisions. But
before he had been enabled to put this nefarious design into
execution a shallop arrived from Port Royal in hot haste
to inform him of what Denys had been doing at St. Anne's.
Le Borgne was utterly confounded by tliis intelligence, and,
learning that the messenger of Denys was still at Port
Royal with the original grant and commission in his posses-
sion, he resolved at once to return and rob him of them by
force, so that Denys might have no authority to show for
his presence at St. Anne's when he next went to attack
him, which he proposed to do at once. Such was the plan
which Le Borgne conceived for the purpose of circumvent-

'if

-.►Si

■„■*

, i

■^m

ri:- ■

■;'i - ■ .

fi'H

196

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

in^ M. Dcnys, and an attempt would, no doubt, have been
made to carry it out had not the French in Acadia, in the
midst of their petty quarrels, been suddenly summoned to
face the {greatest danger that had ever menaced their colony.

On the very next day after the departure of Le Borgne
from Fort Latour, an ICnglish fleet appeared in front of it,
and summoned it to surrender. Two years before, the
English Parliament had declared war against the Dutch,
and the first l)low was struck by Blake iit the naval ])owor
of Holland. The jealousies between the English colonists
of Massachusetts and the Dutch of New York, suggested
the idea of transferring the scene of warfare from the Old
"World to the New, and the lord protector, Oliver Crom-
well, sent out four armed vessels to Boston, with a view to
organize an expedition against the Dutch of Manhattan
Island. These vessels did not arrive at Boston until the
beginning of June, 1654, and a few days later news came
that peace had been concluded l)etween England and Hol-
land. Preparations had, however, by that time been well
advanced, and five hundred men enlisted in Massjichusetts,
under the conunand of Major Robert Sedgwick, of
Charleston, a military officer of some re])utation in the
colony. Those who had the expedition in charge thought
that it would be a pity to let so fine an armament go to
waiite for want of emj)loyment, and where could such a
force be employed to better advantage than against the
French in Acadia? The meu of Massachusetts were not
long in deciding that it was their duty to dispossess their
Popish neighbors to the north-east, and Sedgwick and the
commander of the fleet readily fell in with their plans.
This was tlie reason why the English fleet so suddenly
appeared before Fort Latour.

La Tour had already received so many buffets from for-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

197

tuiic, that even his jiatienco must have been cxliaustctl by
this hist blow. But he acceptal the rnevitabki with dignity
juid firmness ; his fort was entirely unpre])ared for an attack;
he was short of provisions, and so he yielded gracefully to
his fate and surrendered the stronghold which he could not
defend. Almost before L<; Borgne's shi[)s had reached
Port Koyal the English flag was waving over Fort Latour.

Le Borgne, in the midst of Ids ])lans for the recxipturo of
Donvs, was suddenly startled by the aj)pearance of the
English fleet in Port Royal Basin. To a real soldier the
prospect of an encounter with an enemy, however superior
in strength, is seldom unwelcome, but to a man like Le
Borgp", who was waging war by writs and ejectments, and
undortaking the capture of fortresses on commercial })rinci-
ples, such a sight was sufficiently alarming. Still, when
sununoned to surrender, he replied with a boldness which
he could scar(!ely have felt, and ])laeed the English under
the necessity of attacking him. The men that he sent out
against them were repulsed and put to flight, and Le
Borgne, finding that his vocation was not that of a soldier,
resolved to capitulate. Advances to that end were made on
the loth August; on the IGth the articles were completed
and signed on board the Admiral's ship, Auguste, and on
the following day Port Royal was surrendered.

Le Borgne's ship, the Chateauford, had been lying in the
Basin when the English ajipeared, and was promptly cap-
tured Her armament made it impossible to mistake her
chara -ter, yet in the articles of capitulation, Le Borgne, who,
before and afterwards, claimed the lordship of all Acadia,
sought to appear merely as a private citizen and merchant,
and in that capacity endeavoured to obtain the restoration
of his ship and property. Sedgwick was not to be so
easily imposed upon, and, although he promised to take

^ti

■ »:

ill

ml
■0'

/•''.'

W-

198

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

the niattxT into consideration, ho restored Le Borf];ne
nothing. Lii Venhire, by whom the capitulation was
made as commandant for the King, obtained honorable
terms lor liis soldiers and transportation for them to
France. He also received favor.ible consideration for the
children of Charnisay, who had much proj)erty at Port
Royal. The inhabitants were permitted to remain, with
lil)erty of conscience, and to enjoy their property, or to sell
it, and return to France. The missionary priests were also
})ermitted to remain in the country, if they cho.s , provided
they lived two or three leagues from the fort. Most of tli(^
inhabitants aj)j)ear to have availed themselves of this |x;r-
mission to remain in Acadia, wliich now, with all it' forts,
passed into the hands of the English. Sedgwick returned
to Massachusetts with his booty, leaving Captain John
Leverett at Port Royal as governor and commander of the
forts of St. John, Port Royal and Penobscot.

i :f

III'

CHAPTER XII.

'•i

THE ENfiLIHH IN ACADIA.

The seizure of Acadia was very jijratifyinfr to the |H,-ople
of New Eiifrland, who had looked with ahiriM on the
growth of a foreififu l)ower on their northern borders, and
tlieir consciences do not seem to have Ixjen troubled by the
fa.'t that there wjus no state of war existinjij between Eng-
land and France at the time to justify the act. Cromwell,
who was then in the zenith of his power, seems to have
approved the measure, and the officers by whom it had
been accomplished apj)ear to have been filled with a zealous
desire to make Acadia a permanent English colony. A
government had been promptly organized for the new
Province, one of its first regulations being that no one
should trade with the savages but such as were deputed to
do so by those in authority, it being considered that those
who enjoyed this trade should pay enough for the privilege
to maintain the garrison. The General Court of Massa-
chusetts was asked to enforce this law, so that persons
convicted of any breach of it should be punished in Massa-
chusetts, as if they had been taken in Acadia. It was also
asked to pledge itself to furnish assistance to the English
in Acadia, in case they were attacked and needed help.

At this time Cardinal Mazarin, then the virtual ruler of
France, was endetvoring to conclude a treaty of commerce
with England, and such a treaty wos made at Westminster
on the 2nd November, 1655. The twenty-fifth article of
this treaty stated that the forts of Penobscot, St. John,
Port Royal, and La Have were claimed by France as forts

1||

■A

:; ■'m

II'!' [ r •] ^sp

HI->

ll 1

|fl^' i

' . ' ^

• 1 ,' ,

m ii

200

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

in Acadia, and tlio nuittor was referred to tlie (ionsideratioii
of commissioners vvliose ai)i)()intment was authorized by the
treaty. No comniiseioners were namwl under this author-
ity until 1(562.

La Tour, in the mean time, finding liimself at tiie age of
sixty-two without a home in Acadia, betiiought himself of
a l)old move for the purpose of retrieving his fortunes.
Hv hastened to JCngland, and with all the plausibility and
address of which he was master, laid his case before Crom-
well, showing that as co-grantee and heir of his father he
was entitled to a large territory in Acjidia under the Eng-
lish Crown, through Sir William Alexander. The result
Avas a trinm])hant success for the Acadian diplomatist. On
the {)th August, IGoG, La Tour in conjunction with Thomas
Temple and M'^illiiun Crowne, received from Cromwell a
grant of an innnense tract of territory in Acadia, extending
from what is now known as Lunenburg in Nova Scotia, to
the River St. George in Maine, including the whole coast
of the Bay of Fuiidy on both sides and one hundred
leagues inland, a territory considerably larger than the
island of (ireat Britain.* As the language of this grant
seemed to make a distinction between the boundaries of
Acadia and Nova Scotia, it ojwned the way to all the dis-
putes wiiich followed as to the proper limits of ihat Province.

In making this grant, Cromwell seems to have had in
view the restoration to La Tour of the very territory

* Tho wordfi of the grant are as follows :— " The country and territory called Aca-
dia and part of the couutry called Nova Scotia, from Merliguesche on the cast coast
to the port and Cape of liaheve, along the sea coast to Cape Sable, and from thcnco
to a certain port called Port Latour, and now named Port L'Esmeron, and from
thence along the coasts and islands to Cape Forohu, and from thence to the Cape
and Uiver St. Mary along the sea coast to Port Uoyal, and from thence along the
coast to the head of the Bay, and from thence along the said Bay to the fort of St.
John, and from thence all along the coast of Pentagoet and the Kivcr St. George in
Mescourus on the coufiues of New England on the west coast, and one hur.dred
leagues inward."

lilSTORY OF ACADIA.

201

gniiited to liini and his (le<'oa8('<l f'utlior by 8ir Williuiu
Aloxiinder, and while ho was able thiiK to avail himself of
La Tour'n knowledt^e of the country to advance itH settle-
ment, he was also free to reward Temple and Crowne for
their services to his cause.* The only consideration exac^tcd
IVom the fijrantoes in return lor so rich a herita^ijo was the
])aynicnt of a small aniuial rental in beaver skins. The
jfrantces luid the absolute control of the whole trade of the
coinitry, and mijjfht conHscate all vessels found trading
without their permission. No person could be appointed
jjovernor of a fort wiio had not b(!en approved by the
Protector, and none but Protestants were to be permitte<l to
reside in the territory granted. This last provision seems
never to have been enforced against the French Acadians.

Tem])le received the apj)ointment of governor of the forts
atSt. JoliM and Penobscot, and early in 1()57 arrived in
Acadia with an order toCa|)tain Jx'verett lor their delivery
to him. Temple then commencetl those large exi)enditurc.s
for the im))rovement of his territt)ry, which involved him
so tlee|)ly that they ended in his ruin. La Tour sold out
his rights in Acatlia to Temj)le and Crowne and retired
into private life, leaving to other shoulders the burthen of
an authority which he had borne so hmg. No doubt he
was sagacious enough to foresee that serious disputes were
certain to arise between England and, France with regard
to the possession of Acadia.

The iirst movement camo from the Company of New
France, which was deeply interested in the question. In
January, 1G58, they sent Le Borgne to England to urge
the inunediate restoration of Acadia, and King Louis wrote

"^l

♦Temple was a Colonel in the army. In the Memoirs of Thomas Hollis ho is
called a brother to Sir William Temple, biit I iloiiltt the statement. Crowne was a
minister, and the father of John Crowue the Dramatist, who was born in Acadia.

i: l\

' . 1

1 ; ■

202

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

to Hourdffiiux, his Anil Kissiulor in liondon, rt'(|iU'Htinj; him
to support this (Icmand. The tiino seemed propitious tor
Hueh a step, for in the jirevious March, France and Enjijland
had conchidcd an allianci! aj!;ainst Spain. Hut Cromwell
would not listen to afiy proposal to surrender Acadia, and
the nejjotiations tell to the fi;roinid.

Hut Le Hor>:;n(! did not trust to ne<i;otiation alone. In
February, KioH, he sent his son Kmmanuel to Acadia with
fifty iiu'ii, with orders to occupy I^a Have and rebuild the
fort there. With youn<jj Le Hor<i;ne went <»ne (Juilbaut, a
trader of Rochelle, who was his partner in business. Tluy
reach(>d La Have safely, and in a short tinu^ constructed a
small palisaded fort. But the Enjj^lish soon got notice of
tlieir arrival, and a force was sent to dislodfjje them. Le
Borjrne, who seems to have resembled his father in char-
acter, fled to the wo(kIs jianic stricken, and left his partner
to bear the brunt of the P^njijlish attack, (luilbaut, how-
ever, speedily became conscious that the fort could not be
held, and oflered to surrender it and leave Acadia on
condition that he and his men should be allowed to carry
off their jiroperty. Soon after this agreement was (sarried
out, liC liorgne was constrained by hunger to emerge from
the M'oods and surrender himself to the English. They
carried him off to Boston, and from thence to London.
The King of France, through his ambassador, complained
of the treatment Le Borgiie had received, and demanded
his release and reparation for the injury done to him.
Before this remonstrance reached P^ngland, the liord Pro-
tector had breathed his last. Le Borgne was released and
permitted to return to France, but his gootls were not
restored.

Temple made the fort at Penobscot his lieadquarters in
Acadia, but maintained garrisons at St. John and Port

IIISTOKY OK ACADIA.

203

Itoviil. Fort Latour, at St. Joliii, seems to have l)eeii
abandoned at this time, and a smaller fort <'reeted at
Jemsef^, >i|) the St. John Hiv(r, that position heinj; repirded
as more eonveniont for the Indian trade. The peltry trade
of Acadia was then very larj^o and profitable, and a larjj^
iiiiionnt was also obtained for Hshin)^ and tradinijj licenses
on the coast. No doubt his speculations in Acadia would
iiavc turned out well, had the- life of Cromwell been spared;
but his death involved him in no end of tntublc. Charles
II. was restorcil (o the tlirone in May lOfiO, and 1Vm|)le's
possessions in vVcadia were at once made the subject of
attack by two sets of claimants — the Crown of France and
private parties in Fnf>:land. The most dangerous of the
latter was one Thoma. Elliot, whose claims to Acadia
were rej)ortcd on by the Council of State in 1()G1, and
with him Teujple was finally obliged to compromise by
an annual payment of six hundred pounds, lie was
obliged, also, to go to England to defend his int(;re8ts, one
Captain Breedon being appointed governor of the Province
in December, 1B61. \Ve luive u glimpse of Breedon's
administration in the report of a meeting of the Conimis-
Kioners of the United Colonies of New England at Boston
in September, 1662. He made his appearance before them
and exhibited a complaint against certain Mohawk Indians
for killing some of his trading Indians and taking others
captive, to the nimiber of about eighty persons, and also
for killing the cattle and robbing the storehouses of the
colonists. He asked the commissioners for aid against
such outrages, and they j)ermitted him to enlist such a
number of volunteers as might be necessary to enable him
to obtain satisfaction.

Breedon's term of government was brief, for the same
year Temple returned to Acadia with the commission of the

i-viii'

204

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

■:4|iif-|'/.

III!

governor of Nova Scotia in his possession. On that visit
he also obtained what was of considerably less value, the
title of knight baronet. He apjMiars to have received these
favors from the weak and worthless Charles, more by
reason of his wit than from the justice of his claims. A
very characteristic anecdote of the intercourse of Temple
with tile King is told in the Memoirs of the venerable
Thomas Hollis, whose name will be ever dear to the
students of Harvard. During the Protectorate, the Massa-
chusetts authorities had coined a quantity of silver money
— the well known pine-tree shillings. Charles wa.s highly
incensed at this invasion of his prerogative, and in the
course of a conversation with Temple on the affairs of
Massachusetts, abused the colonists roundly. Temple
presented some of the money to the King, who, observing
the device of the pine-tree on the coin, asked him what tree
it was. Temple wittily replied that it was the Royal
Oak, which had preserved his majesty's life. This ex])lana-
tion quite iMollified the King, a d he dismiased the affair,
calling his presumptuous subje«.ts in Massachusetts "a
parcel of honest dogs."

In 1661 the French King renewed his demands for the
restoration of Acadia. In the following year M. d'Estrates,
the French i^mbassador in London, desired that commis-
sioners might be named, agreeably to the 25th article of
the treaty of 1655, to discuss the title to Acadia, and this
was done, but no immediate result was attained. The
people of New England were bitterly opposed to the restora-
tion of Acadia, and used all their influence to prevent such
a result. Negotiations on the subject of Acadia were still
in progress between the two Crowns in 1665, when the war
between England and Holland commenced, which was
shortly followed by a war with France.

HISTOEY OF ACADIA.

205

In 1664, while tliose nc<>;otiations Averc goinj; on, Charles
II. granted to his brother, the Duke of York, all the terri-
tory from the St. Croix westward to Pemaquid, and from
the head of the river of that name northward by way of
the Kennebec to the St. Lawrence. This grant, which
was termed the " Duke of York's property," or " the terri-
tory of Sagadahock," was a serious infringement on the
rights of Temple and Crowne, whose territory extended
westward to the River St. George. As matters turned out,
the making of this grant had no practical effect on
Temple's rights, but the circumstance must have warned
him how little he could depend on the good faith of the
p]nglish King.

The Company of New France, which, as we have seen,
had been founded by Richelieu in 1627, had by this time
fallen into decay. The results it had achieved bore no sort
of proportion to the magnificent promises with Avhich it
had commenced its work. More than half of the original
hundred partners were dead, and it was evident that those
that survived were not in a position to do much for New
France. For these reasons M. d'Avaugour, Governor of
Canada, persuaded the King to dissolve the Company of
New France. Accordingly, in February, 1663, the Com-
pany surrendered all its rights and property- in New
France to the King, while he, by an edict made the same
year, revoked all grants made by the Company of lands
which had not been cleared, or should remain uncleared,
six months from the date of the edict.

But while one huge monopoly was thus got rid of,
another far more powerful an J (dangerous was broi ght into
existence, This was the Company of the Wv.^t Indies,
which was established by a royal edict of the 24th May,
1664. Its domains extended over both hemispheres, and

I 1' ■ -'■■■ ■> i

pmv.
liiMj

j].-

It '*i' i

206

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

included Acad in and the whole of New France. It had a
monopoly of trade granted to it for forty years, and was
endowed with most of the privileges of sovereignty, in-
cluding the power to wage war and to make peace. A
singular instance of the rights assumed by this ])Owerful
Company is furnished by the fact that, in i G66, it under-
took to arrange with the English West India Company
and the proprietors of 'ands in America for the liberty of
trade and neutrality during the war between the two
Crowns.

Ln this year, 1660, Charles La Tour breathed liis last.*
He had reached the rijjc age of seventy-two, and after much
hardship and many changes of fortune, he had enjoyed a
period of ])rosperous tranquillity in his declining years.
He died and was buried in that beloved Acadia which had
been his home from boyhood.

The inglorious war which England was waging with
France and Holland, was brought to a close by the treaty
of Breda, which was signed July 3Ist, 1667. By this
treaty it was agreed that the English half of the Island of
St. Christoj)her, of which they had been dispossessed by the
French, should be restored, and that England in return
should give up Acadia to France. Thus was one of the
richest pieces of territory on the American continent bar-
tered for one half of a paltry island containing an area
scarce a thousandth part as great as that of the country so
inconsiderately surrendered.

* La Tour had five children by liis second wife, Madaino Ohritnisay, viz., Marie,
born in 1654, and married to Alexander Lo Borgne de BelViisle ; Jacques, born in
1661, married to Anne Melan<;on ; Charles, born in 1664: Anne, also born in 1664,
married to Jacques Muis, sieur de Poubomcou; Margut .ite, born ia 1665, mar-
ried to Abraham Muis. The D'Entrements, who are still numerous in the western
part of Nova Scotia, are many of them the descendants of Anne and Marguerite
La Tour. There are several other families, both in Nova Scotia and New Bruns-
wick, that have some of the blood of La Tour in their veins, such as the Girourds,
Forliers and Landrys.

^*!:

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

207

The French Avere in fjjrcat haste to resume possession of
their restored Province, the West India Conij)any taking
tiie lead in the ste])s necessary for that purpose. In the
sunuiier of 16G8 they .'^ent Morillon Du Bourg to Acadia.
He carried witli him a commission from the King of
France, an order from the King of England to Temple to
deliver up Acadia to Du Bourg, and very ample instruc-
tions as to the arrangements he was to make for the
restitution of the Province. He was accompanietl to
Acadia by Alexander Le Borgne, a son of the soldier-
merchant whose career in Acadia had been so unfortunate.
This son, who was then but twenty-four years of age, had
assumed the title of Belleisle, and from this j)eriod until
his death, he figures ])rominently in Acadian history. Du
Bourg, instead of pntceeding direct to Boston, where
Temple was residing, followed the whole length of the
coast of Acadia, beginning at La Have, and visited all the
places marked in his instructions. At Port Royal he left
Belleisle, investing him with authority to act as governor,
and finally reached Boston late in October.

The order of Charles II. to Temple for the surrender
of Acadia, was in the ssuue terms as the Act of Surrender
of February, 1668, and required him to deliver up "f'l
that country called Acadia," specifying "the forts and
habitations of Pentagoet, St. John, Port Royal, Laheve,
and Cape Sable." Temple on being served with this order,
took the ground that several of the places specified were in
Nova Scotia and not in Acadia, and that His Majesty must
have granted the order under a misapprehension as to the
fact.s of the case. He maintained that of all the places
named in the order only Laheve and Cape Sable were in
Acadia, the rest of the places named, viz: Port Royal, St.
John and Pentagoet being in Nova Scotia. He, therefore,

M.'.A.*'t!l*« Sf

!!'■ ir

j; -H

^^■m

208

HISTOKY OF ACADIA.

signified his resolve to hold on to tliese places until His
Majesty's intentions were further known. He also objected
that St. Christopher had not been restored to England, and
that Du Bourg had invaded Acadia in a hostile manner.
Four days after Temple had communicated this determina-
tion to Du Bourg, and Avhile the latter was still detained in
Boston, a ship arrived from England bearing an important
letter from King Charles to Temple, in which he was com-
manded not to deliver up Acadia until His Majesty's
further pleasure was known. Why this order was sent can
now only be conjectured, but it was probably the result of
some representations previously made by Temple to the
King. Temple having communicated this last order to
Du Bourg, the latter took his departue for St. Christopher.
In the meantime Temple sent an armed force to Port Royal
to drive Belleisle from that place. Temple, in subsequent
letters to the Lords of Trade and to the Earl of Arlington,
endeavoured to strengthen his position relative to Acadia,
and to induce the King to retain the country. He pathe-
tically pleads his eld age, his poverty, the great expense at
which he has been to preserve and imjirove the territory,
and the ruin which must follow in case he is dispossessed
of it. None of these arguments, however, moved King
Charles. He was too much under the influence of the
French Monarch to have any consideration for his own
subjects where their interests clashed. By an order of 8th
March, 1669, subsequently confirmed by a second order
made in the following August, he ordered Temple peremp-
torily to deliver up Pentagoet, St. John, Port Royal, Cape
Sable, and La Have to the pei^son appointed by the French
King to receive them. This order was delivered to Temple
in Boston in July, 1670, by Hubert d'Andigny, Chevalier
de Grand-fontaine, who bore a commission from Louis

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

209

XIV., tliited tlu! previous Ju!y,onipu\veriiig liini to receive
possession of Acadia. Tein|)lc at oiuie obeyed this order,
and being unable to carry it out ])ersonally in eonsequence
of ill-health, issuwl his order to Captiiin Kiehard Walker,
his deputy-governor, then actually present in Acadia, to
.surrender it to Grand-fontaine. Accordingly, the fort at
Penobscot was surrendered on the 5th August, Jeniseg, on
the St. John River, on the 27th of the same month, and
Port Royal, September 2nd. The small post at Port
Latour was immediately afterwards delivered up under an
order from Walker to Rinedon, who was in command
there. Grand-fontaine received the surrender of Penobscot
in person, and at once established himself there. The task
of taking pos.session of the other posts and forts in Acadia
was entrusted to his lieutenant, Soulanges. A careful
inventory was taken of the forts and their contents, with a
view, it would seem, of establishing a claim for indemnity
on Temple's behalf. He estimated his expenditures in
Acadia at £16,000, but neither he nor his heirs were
ever able to recover any jiart of this large sum from the
English Crown. Thus Acadia passed once more into the
possession of France.

.1^

{■'.I

' ■■■■• m

I , ,•< ^

■. I.' >

Vii"'

CHAPTER XIII.

I'UOM GKAND-FONTAINE TO MENJi EVAL.

Grand-fontaine, as we lia\'e seen, liad established
himself at Penobscot in August, 1G70, as commandant for
the King of France in Acadia. He was not wanting in
zeal for the service of the King, and he required it all in
order to rise superior to the de{)ressing influences by which
he was surrounded. The fort which he hud made his
residence was a paltry work, incapable of resisting any
serious attack, and only fit to be used as an Indian trading
station. Its garrison numbered but twenty-five, all tolfl.
But bad as it was, it was the only fortification in Acadia,
with the exception of the fort at Jemscg, which was still
more contemptible in its armament. Fort Latour had
been long abandoned, the fortifications at Port Royal had
crumbled away, Fort St. Louis, at Port Latour, had de-
generated into a mere fishing station, the fort at La Have
had no other tenants but the wild beasts from the forest
which siu'rounded it.

Such was the military aspect of xVcadla. Its civil con-
dition was, if possible, worse. Grand-fontaine had" a census
of the Province taken in 1671, which exhibits in a striking
manner its poverty and weakness. The total number of
peop' in Acadia was but four hundred and forty-one,
including the twenty-five soldiers which garrisoned the
fort at Penobscot. At Port Royal were sixty-eight families,
numbering three hundred and sixty-three souls, of whom
two hundred were under twenty years of age. At Pubnico
there were fourteen persons, and the same number at Cape

-11

X»l

HISTORY OF ACiVDIA.

211

Negro. At Musquodoboit there were tliirtcen souls ; at St.
Peter's, in Cape Breton, seven, and three at Riviere aux
Roclielois. In all Acadia tliere were but four hundred and
thirty-nine arpents of land under cultivation, and the live
stock of the colony consisted of eight hundred and sixty-six
horned cattle, four hundred and seven sheej>, and thirty-six
gouts. This was a small result for so many years of eolo-
nizjition and such vast expenditures to yield.

At this period, however, a greater d(!gree of vigor was
infused into the work of colonizing Canada, and Acadia
.shared in the benefits of it. Colbert, the French minister
of that day, wtis a man of great ability, and he interested
liimsolf in the work of j)eopling the French possessions in
North America. Courcelles, the Covernor of New France,
and Talon, the Intcndant, were tilled with zeal for the
advancement of the colony, and spared no eifbrts to that
end. Talwn appears to have had views of public affairs
far in advance of his age, and even in advance of those of
Coll)ert. He pointed out to the latter the great injury
which was likely to be done to New France by giving tl;e
West India Company a monopoly of its trade, and the
revocation of the privileges of the Company in 1674 may
be largely traced to his influence.

In l(j71 a vessel named I/Oranger brought sixty pas-
sengers to Acadia, five of whom were females. Talon
desired to 0])en (!omnumi(!ation with Penobscot by way of
the head waters of the Penobscot river, and some of the
new colonists were intended to settle on that interior line
of cotnmunication Avith Canada, but most of them were
sent to Port Royal. In the letter in which Grand-fontaine
informs the French minister of the arrival of these colo-
nists, we get some glimpses of the routine of his duties as
commandant in Acadia, and of the difficulties which he

m -

212

HISTORY OP AC>T)IA.

had to face. Ho wius then about tu . nd his ensign to the
River St. .John, to establish Fort Latour and guard it
nntil lie could have the cannon brought down from the
fort at Jeniscg. The same ensign was charged with the
duty of telling the j)eople at l*ort Royal to live in peace
until seme one could be sent to command them. It would
seem liiat there had Ixjen much disorder at that place iu
consequence of Belleisle attempting to excnuse authority
over the inhabitants. Jielleisle and Molin, the priest, had
been carrying matters with a high hand, having caused a
negro to be hung without any trial, killed an Indian, and
banished three inhabitimts. Grand-fontaine had also been
obliged to put his lieutenant, Dc Marson, under arrest for
disrespect to iiimself. He was embarrassed for want of
officers fit to command, and desired the minister to send
him half-pay officers to put in charge; of the trading posts
and fishing stations in his territory-. He pointed put the de-
sirability of occupying the River St. George, which boundal
the English settlements. He stated that if the King could
obtain from the Duke of York the restitution of Kennebec
and Pemaquid, the English settlers of these ])laces would
be contented, as they did not wish to recognize the authority
of the Massachusetts government, and only asked for liberty
of conscience. It is remarkable that in the course of this
same year the Massachusetts authorities ordered another
survey to be made of the eastern limits of their patent,
and the new surveyor succeeded in satisfying his employers
so well that he advanced the frontier of Massachusetts as
far east as Penobscot Bay, within a few miles of the
French fort at Penobscot. Evidently the question of
boundaries between Acadia and Massachusetts was soon
likely to reach a more interesting stage.

During Grand-fontaine's administration, one more was

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

213

udded to tlie settlenicnt.s of Acadia. Jacob Bourgeois, a
resident of Port Royal, took a few colonists to Chignecto,
where an enormous area of marsh land awaited but the
care of man to yield its riches. He was followed soon
afterwards by l^ierrc vVrsenault, who took' more settlers to
the colony, and thus the beginnings were made of what
afterwards became a large and flourishing settlement.
Tiiese marsh lands had been known to the French as early
as the year 1G12, when they were visited by Biencourt
and father Biard.

A few years later a settlement was commenced at Mines.
Its principal founder was a rich inliabitant of Port Royal,
named Piere Theri' t, and Claude and Antoine I^andry and
Kenc LcBlanc! were associated with him. This settlement
became a favorite outlet for the surplus young men of Port
Royal, and finally grew to be the richest and most populous
in Acadia.

Grand-fontaine did not remain long in Acadia, being
readied to France in May, 1673, Chambly, who had
been an officer of the Carignan Sali^res regiment, being
appointed commandant in Acadia in Ids stead. One
morning, in 1674, as Chambly and his little garrison of
thirty men were engaged in their usual duties about the
fort at Penobscot, they '. ere startled by the appearance of
a Dutch war vessel in the river. Louis XIY. was then
engaged in a war with Holland, and while his generals
were winning glory for him in Europe, the Dutch thought
that they might safely attack the ill-guarded Provinces of
France in America. The Hollander carried one hundred
and ten men, and was heavily armed, while Chambly was
in no condition to defend the place successfully. But a
soldier, who had fought against the Turks, could not be
expected to yield without bloodshed, and so Chambly

r'''-K

^^'i'

214

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

iiii{lert(K)k the hopeless tank of driving off his assailants,
but after several of his men had been killed, and he him-
self shot through the; body, he was obliged to retire, and
the fort was surrenderd at diseretion. The eomuiander of
the Hollanders at.once sent a detiiehment to the St. John
River, where I)e Marson was in eoniniand at Jeniseg with
a few soldiers. He was s|)eedily (captured, and the fort
ruined. The amount of plunder as the residt of this ex{)e-
dition was not large, and the Dutehnian made no attempt
to hold on to the forts whi(!h he had so easily captured.
But it had one im])ortant result ; the French government
from that time made no further attempts to occupy the fort
at l*en<)hscot, and it fell into decay.

In December, 1G74, the French West India Company,
which had been created ten years before, was dissolved by
royal edict, and the lands, which had been granted to it,
reverted to the Crown of France. This was an act of
wise statesnianshij), and had it been followed up by entire
liberty of trade on the coasts of Acadia, the consequences
would have been most important. J5ut, unfortunately,
neither Louis XIV. nor his minister seemed capable of
imderstanding that any sort of commerce could l)enefit
Acadia which was not a monopoly.

In May, IGTG, Chambly received a new commission from
the King appointing him Governor of Acadia. In this
document he was directed to uphold the arms of his majesty
in the way of aggression as well as of defence; to maintain
goml order and discipline among the soldiers Avho were to
be given him for the defence of the fort; to urge the
Colonists to trade in skins and devote themselves to com-
merce, and to allow entire freedom to the French merchants
to trade in Acadia, in virtue of the passports from his
majesty, of which they were the bearers. These manifold

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

215

duties were quite out of proportion to (Jhainbly's means of
«irryin{; tiieni out, for he was without soldiers or ships,
and was merely living in Acadia on sufferance. A curious
proof of the defenceless state of the country is furnished by
the fact that the l)ut<'h at this time again occupied Penob-
scot, and undertook to restore and garrison the fort. The
French were in no condition to resist this se(!ond invasion
of their territory, but the English colonists who had just
succeeded in getting rid of the Dutch Province to the south
of them, were not disposed to see a Dutch colony established
on their northern borders. Accordingly, two or three
vessels were sent from lioston, and the Dutch driven from
Penobscot, the English, with incredible generosity, leaving
the fort unoccupied as soon as they had dispossessetl the
intruders from the Netherlands.

Pentjigoet, as the Penobscot fort was cidled, was however
not suffered to remain long without a tenant, but wa.s
immediately occupied by the Baron de 8t. Castin, one of
the most pictin'cs(pie characters in Acadian history. Cas-
tin was a native of Oloron in the Busses Pyrenees and had
been an officer of the Carignan Sali5res. When that famous
regiment was disbanded he threw himself anumg the savages
of Acadia, whose language he speedily learu'xl. He mar-
ried a daughter of Matakando,* the j)rincij)al chief of the
Penobscot Indians, and soon became more influential in
their councsils than any of their natural leaders. He acquired
an immense fortune by trading with them, and was thus
able to attain the attachment of his savage allies bv hand-
sonic presents, as well as by the ties of affection. His
presence at Penobscot Avas eminently useful to the French
in Acadia, for it kept the savages of all that coast faithful

*Tlic ICiijdisli tailed this cliicf irmlaikawiimlo, wliili; tlic I'lviiuli callcil liim
.Mataknmlo. I spare the roador the extra syllable.

\r m

wmt

216

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

to their oiiiise uiul provoiited them from mukiiij^ pejiee ^ith
the Plntrlish. There was no man of his (hiv that the border
settlers of New Kn^huul were less disposed to (|iiarrel with
than the Baron St. Castin.

But t'astin was not the oidy nuunher of the XohlcuM
vho came from Canada to Aeadia. In 1G70 Michael J^«;
Neuf sieur de Jja Valliere, a s(Mon of the Potherie family,
arrived from Qiiehec. The same year he obtained a larj^c
grant of territory at C'higneeto, and established a tishitijr
station at St. John. Soon after his arrival Cluunbly left
Acadia to assume the government of (Jrenaila, and Soulaii-
ges, who was a|)i)ointed to command in C'hambly's |)laee,
died before he had held that connnission very long. The
latter was grantee of two extensive seigniorial estates on
the St. John, Nashwaak, and Jemseg. 1 1 is death threw the
appointment of Commandant in Aeadia into the liands of
La Valliere, wlio received a commission from Count Fron-
tenac, then Governor of Canada, dated the 16th July, 1078.

La Villiere had come to Acadia mainly for the purpose
of making money, and he was disposetl to view his new
office ius a ready means of attaining that end. P]vidently
there was an opportiuiity for a thrifty commander to better
his fortunes without doing the King any great injury. He
was a fisherman and trader ; the English who came upon
the coast were fishermen and traders also, and he saw a way
of making such arrangements with them as would be
mutually advantageous. Former commanders had vainly
endeavoured to prevent the English from fishing on the
coast ; he recognized at once the fruitlessness of such efforts,
and permitted all to fish, provided they paid him a license
fee of five pistoles for each vessel. Former commanders
had also endeavoured to prevent the English from trading
on the coast. He Avas willing they should trade as much

:».'

FIISTORY OF ACADIA.

217

as tlicv pleased, |)n»vi(le(l tliey traded w itli him. 80 La
Valliere eiie()iira;i;ed the English to eoiiie to tht cooHt of
Acadia, and for several years they eaine and went, and
fished and traded as nnich as they wi.shed.

This, however, was too good to last. A merehant from
Uoehelle, named liergier, came to Acadia, and saw at once
its iimnense resonrces and the; |)rt)tital)le nse to which they
might he pnt. He allied with him three citizens of I'aris,
named (Jantier, Honcher and I)e M(entes, and formed a
('ompany for the prosecntiim of the shore fishery in Acadia.
In February, 1(582, the King made a grant t(t these per-
sons of such lands as they might find suitable idong the
coast of Acadia and on the St. John Uiver, for the i)urpose
of forming an establishment for the inshore fishery, extend-
ing six leagues round the seltlonents tiiey should make.
They had also permission to engage in trade with the
French islands of America and in Kaw France in fish, oil,
timber and other goods. Under this authority they com-
menced operations by erecting a small fort and fishing
establishment at the head of Chedabucto Bay, on the site
of the present town of Guysborough, and brought out a
number of men from France to fish and cultivat(! the soil.
From that time there w^as no peace in Acadia. I^a Yal-
liens's interests clashed with those of the fishing company,
and Jicrgier and his associates were incessant and clamorous
in their complaints against him. They accused him not
only of permitting the English to fish and trade on the
coast, but of rol)bing the Indians, and of other acts of
rapacity. Tiiey also represented that he was a poor man,
with but a small settlement of eight or ten men, with no
force sufficient to enforce the authority of the King, and
therefore obliged to trade with the F^nglish for a living.
All this and much more was said of the commandant in

,t»

£■•'

I-

5--

218

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

3 'i-.

numerous memorials, which were supj)orted by elaborate
documents in proof of the statements advanced. The same
memorials which (iontained these accusations against La
Valli6rc, were also filled with complaints of the conduct of
the English of Boston and Salem, who were accused of acts
of piracy on the coast. The peo{)le of Port Royal had
fitted out six small fishing vessels, and these were captured
by some freebooters, whom Bcrgier speaks of as English,
one Carter of Salem being the instigator of this outrage.
At this period, and for twenty years afterwards, acts of
piracy were frequent on the coast of Acadia, and caused
grejit annoyance and loss to the inhabitimts. Although
many of these outlaws were English, many also were
French, but no government was willing to be made ''e-
sponsible for their acts because of their nationality. The
Governor of Massachusetts, to whom Bergier complained
of these outrages, promised to })unish the })arties who com-
mitted them if they fc^ll into his hands, and told Bergier
to do the same. The latter actually sue ""dal in capturing
a man named Tailer, wiio had piloted the buccaneers that
cjiptured the Port Royal vessels, but instead of hanging
him j)roniptly, detained him a long time in his fort, with a
view to sending him to Quebec for trial.

The re[)resentations of Bergier and otiiers were so far
successful tliat tlie appointment of La Villiere was can-
celled by the King, almost at the very time when he was
on the point of being promoted to the oilice of (Jovernor.
He had nmde liimseif so acceptable to Count Fronten-io
and his successor, La Barre, that, on (lieir representations,
the King, in August 1GH.3, sent La Barre a despatch signi-
fying iiis intention of appointing La Villiere Governci'.
-But before he receive<l this commission, I^ouis had changed
his mind, and in Afjril, 11)84, M. Perrot was appointed

! .

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

219

Governor of Acadia, and Bergier was commissioned as
lieutenant of the King under Perrot. La Villi6re was at
the same time strictly forbidden to act as commandant in
Acadia, or to grant fishing licenses to foreigners.

Perrot at the time he received this appointment was
Governor of Montreal. A more unsuitable man for
Governor of Acadia could scarcely have been found, for all
the bad qualities of which La Valli6re had been accused
were exaggerated in him. His conduct at Montreal had
been so scandalous that it had caused his imprisonment in
Quebec for nearly a year, and in the Bastile for a shorter
term. That he was reinstated as Governor of Montreal and
afterwards made Governor of Acadia must be attributed to
ihe fact that he was related to Talon, the former Intendant,
who wa** high in favor at the court of the King. Perrot
conducted himself in Acadia ])recisely as he had done at
Montreal. He engaged in illicit trade, sold brandy to the
Indians, and attempted to monopolize the whole j)eltry
traffic of the country. He also continued the practice, for
which La Valli6re had been so nmch censured, of allowing
the English to fish on the coast.

fortunately for the shore Fishery Comj)any, Perrot did
not arrive in Acadia for some time after his appointment,
and in the meantime Bergier proceeded to carry out his
instructions with the zeal of a man, whose self-interest
coincided with his duty. In the course of the summer he
captured eight English vessels for fishing and trading on
the coast of Acada, and sent them to France to be con-
demned. Even this achievement was not without its
drawbacks, for two of the vessels taken had licenses from
La A'^alliere, and Bergier was obliged to restore them and
to indemnify their owners. La Valliere, who had retired
to his farm at Chignecto, (;ontinued to give the Fishery

y'!r-\«Tv^ ,

:■: i

220

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Company much trouble. He entirely disregarded Bergier's
commission, and on one occasion went so far as to send a
force to attack Bergier, who was then trading on the coast
of Cape Breton. Beaubassin, La Valliere's son, who was
the leader in this attack, entered Bergier's cabin in the
night with a party of armed men, bound his servants, and
robbed him of all his goods. Bergier considered himself
lucky in escaping with his life. An unfortunate Indian,
who was on his v/ay to Chedabucto with a canoe load
of skins, was also captured by Beaubassin and robbed
of the whole. These outrages were duly complained of to
the minister, but the booty was never returned, and neither
La Valliore nor his son receivetl any punishment for their
piratical conduct.

At this period there was a strong disposition on the part
of many of the Acadians to become rangers of the woods
(coureurs de bois) rather than cultivators of the soil.
This was an evil which had reached enormous proportions
in Canada, and against which the most stringent laws had
been enacted, the penalty for bush-ranging being no less
than death. The fascinations of forest life must have been
strong, indeed, wlien men would brave such risks for their
sake, but a coureur de bois, as he sat by his camp fire in
the wilderness, could feri that he was, at least for the time,
a free man, and pity his too much governed brothers in
the settlements. Freedom is of some value after all, even
if it can only be gained by flying from civilization.
Several of the most noted bush-rangers of Canada had
come to Acadia. Among them were four sons of Councillor
D' Amours, of Quebec, who had been arrested for bush-
ranging in Canada. Three of them received grants of land
iu Acadia in 1684, and they commenced a trade with the
Indians of the St. John River, giving them brandy and

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

221

French goods for their furs. The vast unsettled wilder-
ness through which this river flowed was a paradise to the
coureur de bois.

When Perrot arrived in Acadia he was dismayed to find
that coureurs de bois were doing most of the trade of the
Province. This cut him to the soul. True, when Gov-
ernor of Montreal, he had done his best to encourage
bush-ranging, but he took care to reap the profits of the
illicit trade which he encouraged. He was the more angry
because he was utterly powerless to prevent other traders
from participating in the profits of a traffic which, as
Governor, he thought should have been wholly his own.
He had thirty soldiers in Port Royal quartered on the
inhabitants, but they could not aid him much in his attempt
to make himself the only merchant in Acadia. St. Castin,
who did the largest trade of any private person in the
Province, was, for that reason, more detested by Perrot
than any other man in Acadia, and was made the subject
of many complaints in his despatches to the Minister.
Perrot also looked with jealousy on the operations of the
Fishing Company at Chedabucto, and desired to erect a
rival establishment at La Have, of which he requested
a grant, with a frontage of twelve leagues on the sea coast
and ten leagues in depth inland. In order to enable him
to settle his proposed seigniory, he demanded fifty soldiers
in addition to the thirty already in garrison, a corvette of
ten guns, and a large supply of tools and material for
re-building the fort. He also asked for authority to seize
the inhabitants who were not engaged in cultivating the
soil, or who had not settled establishments, so that he could
compel them to work for him at La Have. These and a
number of other requests equally modest are contained in a
memorial which he forwarded to the Minister in 1686, but

W \v\:} 1

■• » ">.•

-■w

<;Jt|^|;^ :•?;■

222

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

they received no attention. Indeed, by tlie time his memo-
rial reached France, the resokition to rcplac^e him by a
more honest Governor had ah'eady been taken.

At this period we get an interesting view of the state of
Acadia from the census taken by De Meulles, the Intendant
of Canada, whicli visited all the Acadian settlements in
1685 and 1686, and prepared a memorial on the state of
the Province and a census of its inhabitants. Their total
number at this ])eriod, exclusive of soldiers, was 851, tlie
population having more than doubled since the enumera-
tion of fifteen years before. Port Royal, although it had
in the meantime established new settlements at Chignecto
and Mines, had increased its population from 363 to 592.
At Chignecto tiicre was a settlement of 127 persons and 57
at Mines. The progress of the latter settlement had been
retarded by the claims made by La Valliere to scignorial
rights there. But Belleisle who was seignior of Port Koval
and who claimed Mines also, succeeded in having his rival's
pretensions set aside by the Intendant, and from that time
Mines [)r()si)ered rapidly in i)opulation. After making the
largest allowance for natural increase it is evident that a
considerable proportion of the gain in population between
1671 and 1686 must have been due to immigration, and as
a fiu'ther proof of this, the number of surnames in the
colony had doul)le(l in the interval. In another chapter
I pur{)ose to deal more at length with this matter of Aca-
dian i)opulation.

In April, 1687, M. DeMenneval was appointed Governor
of Acadia, and Perrot was ortlered to return to France,
an order which he totally disregarded. Before Meimeval
arrived to roplace him he had an opportunity of taking a
petty revenge on St. Ca.stin, his liated rival in trade.
Castin was visiting Port Royal and seems to have com-

; 4

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

223

mitted some act of imprudence in the way of gallantry for
which Perrot kept him under arrest for seven weeks, long
enough to interfere seriously with Castin's trading arrange-
ments for that season. He was naturally disgusted at this
trick of his rival, and in a letter to Governor Denonville,
complaining of his arrest, he gives a most unflattering
description of Perrot's doings in Acadia, even accusing him
of selling brandy by the pint and half-jiint before st''angers
in his own house. Perrot was not the last governor of
Acadia against whom similar charges were made.

Menneval, on succeeding to the goverimicnt, was
furnished with a letter of instruction which contained
elaborate directions for his guidance in the conduct of
affairs. He was informed that the princijial object of the
King was the propagation of the Catholic faith, and there-
fore he was ordered to maintain the observances of religion
among the inhabitants and repress all licentiousness and
immorality. He was to j)revent the inhabitants from
going into the woods under pretence of trading, and to
restore to the royal dominions those granted lands which
had not been occupied. Inhabitants guilty of excesses, or
who refused to conform to the laws against bush-ranging,
were to be sent back to France. He was also ordered to
prevent foreigners from fishing or trading on the coast,
and to aid him in this he was suj)plied with a frigate — La
Fri|)oune — under the command of M. De Beauregard.
Thirtv additional soldiers were also to be sent to him, and
he was instructed, with their help, to rebuild the fort at
Port Royal, which he was to make his jirincipal })lace of
residence. Finally, he was told that the prohibition
against licentiousness and bush-ranging applied like-
wise to St. Caatin, who was to be given to understand
that he must give up the vagabond life he was leading

• iif: ':

r •

P|l

ji ^.'jfl

. !

:!:

224

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

with the savages, and the trade which lie carried on with
the English, and commence without delay a substantial
settlement. He was further to be told that if he did as he
was commanded and acted as became a gentleman, the
King would giv<! him tokens of his favor. Lest Louis
XIV. should be accused of hypocrisy in thus rating St.
Castin for his immoral conduct, it should be remembered
that the King, after spending all his youth and strength in
licentiousness, had reformed at the age of forty-seven,
married Madame Dc Maintcnon, become extremely pious,
and was then engaged in the task of wholly extirpating
lieresy from his dominions.

Perrot had represented to the Minister that Boudrot, the
Judge at Port Royal, was so old as to be unfit for duty,
and that D'Entrcmont, Procureur du lioi (Attorney Gene-
ral) was an ignorant man. Both were displaced in 1688,
Des Goutins being appointed Judge, and Du Breuil
Attorney General. The directions to the former show the
paternal interest Avhich the King was taking in Acadia.
He was to discourage lawsuits and act rather as an arbi-
trator than as a Judge. He was told to examine into the
resources of the colony, to report where new settlements
might be made, to give an account of the land fit for
cultivation, and the best fishing stations, and to ascertain
the number of inhabitants who might find a subsistence in
the colony. He was to encourage the inhabitants to sow
all sorts of grain, and to plant all kinds of trees brought
from France, in order that those which were the most
useful and profitable might be selected. Amongst his other
duties was the preparation and transmission to France of
an annual census of the colony. The nature of these
directions shows what a lively interest Louis and his
minister were taking in colonial affairs. It was well that

■; n:

ITISTORY OF ACADIA.

225

such a spirit was abroad, for the colonics of France were
threatened by enormous danjjjers, and events of (h'eadful
import to France were about to transpire in Europe.
Ivouis, who iiad kept FugUmd his subservient ally for
twenty years, by makinu; pensioners of two of her Kings,
was soon to see the resources of England employed
against him by his life long enemy, AV^illiam of Orange.

The position of St. Castin at Penobscot was one which
exposed him to peculiar dangers, for it was a debatable
land whi(!h was claimed by both nations. James II. of
England regarded it as a })art of his ducal territory under
his grant of 1664, and in 1686 Messrs. Palmer and West,
the Commissioners appointed by Dongan, Governor of
New York, to superintend the affairs of the ducal province
of Sagadahoc, were directed to lay claim to the country as
far west as the St. Croix. In pursuance of this claim they
seized a cargo of wine which had been landed at Penobscot,
and confiscated it for non-payment of duties, on the ground
that it should have been eiitered and paid duty at the
Custom House at Pemaquid, their head-quarters. This
act gave offence both to the French and the })eople of
]\rassashusetts, for the wine belonged to jMr. John Nelson,
a {lopular young gentleman of Boston, nej)hew of Sir
Tiiomas Temple, and the people of Boston looked with no
sort of favor on the erection of such a Province to the
eastward of them. However, for the present, the dispute
was settled amicably, for after some correspondence on the
Bubject the wine was restored.

The difficulty was revived in 1688 when Andi'os became
royal governor of New England, under a commission from
James II. "^e resolved to seize upon Penobscot, and went
there in the Rose frigate in the course of the Spring of that
year. The frigate anchored opposite Castine's residence
o

if I
'■.It

226

HISTORY •

lDIA.

and Andros sent a lieutenant ashore to inform the Baron
that he desired to see him on board his vessel. St. Castin,
who had not a very high idea of the good faitii of Andros
declined the interview, and retired with his family to the
woo<ls, leaving most of liis goods and household eftects
behind him. Andros landed with a party of oificcrs and
entered Castin's dwelling, which they robbed of a quantity
of arms, amnumition, iron kettles and cloth. They even
carried oif his chairs, and Andros claimed great credit for
his generosity for not interfering with the altar and the
pictures and ornaments attached to it. Andros returned
to Pemaquid in triumph with his booty, but it proved a
costly prize, for it was the means of bringing on another
Indian war.

The Indians commenced hostilities in the following
August, and no one doubts that they were urged on by St.
Castin, although they had some grievances of their own
■which furnished them with an excuse for going to war.
Andros marched against the Indians with a large force, but
they entirely eluded him, and he neither killed nor captured
a single savage. Before he had an opportunity of taking
the field again in the Spring of 1689 a revolution hud
taken place in Massachusetts, and he had beeh removed
from office. His master, James II., had been driven from
the throne and was a fugitive in France, and in May
William of Orange now become William II F. of England,
declared war against Louis. In America, French and
Indians were at once banded together for the destruction of
the English Colonies. The war was to be carried on along
the whole line from Niagara to the Penobscot. Frontenac
had been reappointed governor of Canada, and the pro-
gramme of operations intrusted to him was bold enough to
satisfy even his ambition. New England was to be

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

227

ravaged and laid under contribution, New York was to be
captured and its Protestant poj)ulation banished from its
Koil.

The Eastern Indians renewed the war in June, 1689, by
the destruction of Dover, New Hampshire, where Major
Waldron and twenty-two others were killed and twenty-
nine taken captive. Waldron richly deserved his fate', for
more than twelve years before he had been guilty of a base
act of treachery towards the Indians, which has, doubtless,
since caused the spilling of much innocent blood. In
1670, towards the close of King Philip's war, Waldron,
then conuuander of the militia at Dover, had made peace
with four hundred Indians, and they were encamped near
liis house. Two companies of soldiers soon after arrived at
Dover, and by their aid Waldron contrived a s(!heme to
make the Indians j)risoners. He proposed to the savages
to l.ave a review and sham fight after the English fashion,
the militia and soldiers to form one party cjn the Indians
another. After manoeuvring for some time, Waldron
induced the Indians to tire the first vollev, and the instant
this was done they were surrounded by the soldiers, and
the whole of them made prisoners. Some of them were
set at liberty, but over two hundred were taken to Boston,
where seven or eight were hanged, and the rest sold into
slavery. It was to avenge this despicable act that Waldron
was slain in 1689.

The destruction of Dover was soon followed by other
attacks. In July a number of men were killed by the
Indians at Saco, and in August the fort at Pemaquid,
garrisoned by Captain Weems and fifteen men, was taken
and the settlement destroyed. A number of St. John
^iver Indians were in that expedition, and John Gyles,
whose interesting account of his nine years captivity

■U'.-j

^Jl-^l

h''':l

b);

228

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

conhiins imi(!li valiijil)l<^ int'orniatioii with regard to them,
was one of" the prisoners taken. Thury, a Jesuit mis-
sionary, stationed on tlie Penobscot, was with the Indians
when they attacked Peniaqiiid.

New Enghmd was aroused to a(!tion by these attacks,
and sent a hirge force of vohintocrs into the field to drive
the Indians to their fastnesses. Major ('luirch, wlio had
won rejMitation in King Pliilij)'s war, was phiced in
command of the forces of tlie United Colonies, The only
operation of imjKJrtance in whicli he took part that year
was a fight he had with the Indians at Falmouth, in which
he suffered considerable loss. After ascending the Kemio-
bec for some distance, he turned back, and, leaving sixty
soldiers in Fort lioyal, returned to Boston. This ended
the operations for the year, and the border settlors of Ne>v
England welcomed the ai)proach of winter as likely to
give them a respite against their savage foes.

While these events were trans})iring on the frontiers of
Acadia, Port Royal, the capital and heart of the Province,
was the scene of a series of petty quarrels between
Menneval and Des Goutins, who, instead of loyally sup-
porting each other, and endeavoring to perfect the defences
of the place, spent their time in writing long letters to the
Minister full of complaints against each other. Menneval,
it would seem, was walking in the path of his predecessors
in office, and carying on a trade with the English for his
own profit. He was also accused of tyranni(;al conduct,
and of interfering with the functions of the Judge, while
the priests were accused of being his partners and assistants
in the unlawful trade with the English, their houses being
made the receptacle for English goods, which were carried
on shore at night under the noses of the sentinels, who
were forbidden to cry, " Who goes there? "

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

229

The French (Jovcrnmcnt had sent two war vessels to the
coast of Acadia in the Autumn of 1688, whi(;h captured
six English ketches and a brij^antine, wliit^h were engaged
in fishing. Menneval had the brigantine brought to Port
lloyal, where he ])ro|)()sed to fit her up as a war vessel to
drive away tiie English fishermen and guard the coast
from [)irates. If, however, he was as deeply concerned in
English trade as tiie accusations of his enemies would seem
to indicate, he would })robably have been able to put the
vessel to a more profitable use.

The war between the French and English in America
opened early in 1690 by a series of attacks planned by
Frontenac on the English colonies. Three war parties
were formed at Montreal, Three Rivers and Quebec, their
<lestination being respectively New York, New Hampshire
and Maine. The Montreal force consisted of two hundred
and ten men, of whom about one half were Indians, con-
verts of the Iroquois tribe settled near Montreal. The
loaders were d'Allebout, de Mantet and Lemoine de Sainte-
IK'iene. They had intended to attack Albany, but, when
after a terrible winter journey through the wilderness they
roaeiied its vicinity, the savages objected, and Schenectedy
was attacked instead. This peaceful village was assailed
at midnight on the 4th February, and many of the inhabi-
tants massacred in their beds — old men, women and little
children all shared the same fate. Sixty persons were
killed, of whom ten were women and twelve were children ;
all the houses in the village were burnt down, with the
exception of two, and twenty-seven persons were led cap-
tive to Canada. Many of those who escaiied the ma&sacre
and fled towards Albany, lost their limbs from frost. This
attack may be considered a specimen of what the chivalry
of Canada was capable of, for besides the leaders who were

y i

V '

I ■ a nil'

280

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

memberH of the NoblcsHO, d'llxjrvillc, Bienville, and othor
Canadian gentlemen took part in it. The victors, although
they carried away a great quantity of plunder, did not
escape unmolested, I'or they were pursued by a party of
Mohawks, and a number of theni killed or taken.

The Three Rivers expedition consisted of forty-nine
men, of whom twenty-five were Indians, under the famous
Hopehood. The conmiander of the force was Franyois
Hertel, a resolute man, who in his youth had l)een captured
and tortured by the Mohawks. After a journey which
occupied two months, and was attended by great hardships,
this party attacked Berwick on the morning of the 28th
March, before daybreak. Thirty-four jxirsons were killed,
and more than fifty taken prisoners. After setting fire to
the houses, barns and other buildings, Hertel's party re-
treated to the woods, pursued by one hundred and forty
persons hastily collected from the neighboring towns.
Hertel made a stand at AVooster Iliver, checked the pur-
suit, and at nightfall continued his retreat unmolested.

The third war party, sent out by Frontenac, left Quebec
on the 28th January. It consisted of fifty Canadians and
soldiers, and seventy Abenaquis Indians, all under the
command of Porteneuf and his lieutenant, Courtemanehe.
On the Kennebec they were joined by Hertel and his
party, now reduced to thirty-six men, and a number of
Kennebec Indians also reinforced them. A still larger
reinforcement of Indians from St. John and Penobscot,
under Matkakando and St. Castin, swelled the total force
to about five hundred men. This expedition differed from
the others, by reason of the fact that the English were not
surprised, but the overwhelming numbers of the enemy
made the result the same. Falmouth was attacked on the
26th May, and all the people who were unable to reach

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

231

the fortified lum.seH were slain. Duriiij; the night the
iiihabitunts retired to Fort Loyal, where there was a small
garrison under Captain Davis. The French and Indians
l)esicge(l this place for four days, and finally Davis was
forced to surrender. Porteneuf promised the inmates of
Port Loyal quarter and a guard to the next English town,
but when the place was given up, all the conditions of the
surrender were violated. The French allowed the Indians
to nuirder the whole of the prisoners, who numbered about
one hundred, men, women and children, with the exception
of Captain Davis and three or I'our others, who were car-
ried off to Quebec. Fort Loyal was destroyed, and the
(lead bodies of the unfortunate people of Falmouth were
allowed to lie unburied about the ashes of their homes.
All that summer their gha.stly corpses remained exposed
to the elements and to the wild animals of the forest; but
in October, Major Church, then on an expedition to the
eastward, gathered their bones together and buried them.
While the people of Maine were thus suffering from the
attacks of savages, important events were taking place in
Acadia. The war had been proclaimed at Boston on the
17th December, 1689, and the New England jjcople,
mindful of what they had suffer* 1 from the French in
times past, resolved to attempt the reduction both of Port
Royal and Quebec. The Port Royal expedition sailed
from Boston on the 9th May, 1 690. It consisted of seven
vessels, a frigate of forty guMs, two sloops of sixteen and
eight guns, and four ketches, and a complement of seven
hundred men. The command was given to Sir William
Phips, a native of Maine, who had brought himself into
notice by his recovery of the cargo of a Spanish treasure-
ship which had been wrecked near the Bahamas fifty
years before.

'ill

II ^i.

232

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Phi])s and his squadron arrived off Port Royal on the
19th May, and the alarm was at once given to the fort by
the guard stationed at the entrance of the Basin firing off a
mortar. At eleven the same night they arrived at the
fort, and reported to Menneval the number of the
enemy. Menneval at once perceived that an attack Mas
intended, and summoned the inhabitants into the fort by
the firing of a cannon. Only three of them obeyed the
signal, and they advised Menneval to give uj) the idea of
defending the fort, and to retire with his garrison and
stores to a {)lace two leagues further uj) the river, where
the English would be unable to follow him. Menneval
consented to abide by this advice, as the fort was evidently
incapable of a successful defence ; lie had only seventy men
in garrison, the fortifications were in an unfinished state,
and the eighteen cannon which he had were not mounted.
Measures were at once taken to carry this progranmie into
effect. The brigantine, which was lying in the river, was
brought near the fort, and the soldiers commenced to load
her with provisions and ammunition, to be taken to the
post up river. \\'liile this was going on, the two priests —
Petit and Trouve — arrived, and induced Menneval to
change his plan. They persuaded him that he would only
increase his difficulties by I'baiidoning the fort, and that a&
matters stood he might make an advantageous capitulation,
which Petit himself undertook to negotiate. Accordingly,
when the English squadron entered Port Royal Basin on
the following day, and Phips sent his trumpeter to summon
the garrison to surrender, Menneval detained him, and
sent Petit to Piiips to arrange a capitulation. The terms
finally agreed upon were that the garrison should be con-
veyed to France, with their arms and baggage; that the
inhabitants should remain unmolested on their lands,

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

233

enjoying the free exercise of their religion, and that their
chureh should not bo injured. On these conditions Port
Koyal was surrendered.

While Menncval was on board the English flag-ship
ratifying these terms, some soldiers and inhabitants broke
into the storehouse f)f M. Perrot and took out some goods.
Phips made this a pretext for violating the terms of the
capitulation. His soldiers rifled the church, broke tiic altar
ornaments, and ])lundered the houses of the two ])riests,
robbed Menncval of his personal property, and carried hira
and most of his soldiers and tlie two ])riests off to Boston,
where they wer<> thrown into j)rison. Before he left Port
Royal, Phips (jailed all the inhabitants together and made
them take tiie oath of allegiance to the crown of England,
vv'iiich they did without nuich demur. He also organized
a sort of })rovisional government of which Chevalier, a
sergeant of the garrison, was made President, with a council
of six inhabitants. They bound themselves to administer
the affairs of the settlement under the crown of ]Cngland
and the government of Massachusetts.

Phips returned to Bo.ston with his ])1 under, but sent
one of his Captains itamed Alden to reduce La Have
and Ciiedabucto. The only ])la(!e where any resistance
was ottered was Chcdabucto, where Captain Montorgueil
had a garrison of fourteen men, who were finally compelled
to surrender. All the goods belonging to the Fishing Cora-
))any were taken, and their losses there and at Port Royal
were very large, amounting to upwards of fifty thousand
crowns.

CHAPTER XIV.

VILLEBON ON THE ST. JOHN.

A FEW days after the departure of the Englisli, a French
ship, the Union, came Killing into Port Royul Ba,sin. She
was from France direct, and was laden with merchandize,
provisions for the garrison, ammunition for the Indians,
and presents to keep them faithful to the cause of France.
She also brought ten recruits to complete the complement
of the Acadian garrisons, fifty stand of arms for the
soldiers, Saccardie, an engineer officer, to direct the re-
building of the fort at Port Royal, and Villebon, a brother
of Menneval, who had been one of his officers in Acadia,
who now came to place himself at the head of the Indians
of the Kennebec, for the purpose of continuing the war
against New England. Perrot, ex-Governor and trader,
came on board almost as soon as the Union droj)ped anchor,
and told Villebon the doleful story of the capture of the
place by Phips. Des Goutins, the* Judge, also came, and
further explained the situation, and a consultation was held
to decide what was the best course to pursue. As the
English were still on the coast, and might return if they
lieard of Villebon's arrival, it was decided that his safest
plan was to proceed to the River St. John and occupy
the old fort at Jemseg. There the eifects of the Crown
and of the Company could be stored in safely, and a suffi-
cient number of soldiers collected to guard them. Villebon
immediately proceeded to carry this programme into effect.
He crossed to St. John, and went up that river to pre-
pare Fort Jemseg for the arrival of the goods entrusted to

■'.■*«

HISTOEY OF ACADIA.

235

his care. The Union was directed to follow in a few days.
But the Union never came, and when Villebon returned to
Port Royal in high anger at the neglect of his orders, he
learned that a misfortune even greater than the first had
overtaken the cause of France. Two pirate ships had
made their appearance in his absence, and finding Port
Royal defenceless, their ruffianly crews had landed and
engaged in their congenial work of pillage and murder.
At the Cape, near the entrance of the Basin, on the Gran-
ville side, they burnt sixteen houses, and then proceeding
to the fort they burnt twelve houses in its vicinity, includ-
ing one in which was a woman and lier children. Two of
the other inhabitants they hanged, and then seizing all the
plunder they could gather, including the Union and her
cargo, they sailed away. They took with them Saccardie
and Perrot, the latter of whom they ducked almost to the
point of death, in order to force him to tell where his
money was buried. He survived the operation, however,
and got back to France, where, in the following year, he
Avas writing memorials on the state of Acadia and seeking
to be re-appointed its Governor.

Villebon, in the trying position in which he was placed,
acted with prudence and vigor. He returned at once to
Jeniseg, and there assembled as many of the savage
chiefs as he could collect. He told them how the presents
intended for them had been seized by the English, but
said that he was about to return to France to get better
presents for them than those which had been lost. He
begged them to make no peace with the English until his
return, but to continue the war and to meet him there in
the following Spring. They promised to carry out his
wishes, and expressed their determination to remain faithful
to the cause of their brothers — the French. Villebon,

yf-

- :)

lIP*

v ?

i .

i* ' f^^'i'vJ

236

HISTOEY OF ACADIA.

bidding them farewell, took his departure for Quelxic, from
which he proposed to take ship for France.

Quebec was at this time threatened by an attack from
the English. The easy success of Phips at Port Royal
emboldened the people of the United Colonics to prepare
an expedition for the capture of Quebec, the seat of Fron-
tenac's government and the place where all the murderous
assaults against their settlements liad been planned. Phips
was placed in command of the Quebec expedition, which
consisted of thirty-two vessels and upwards of two thousand
men. It left Boston on the 19th August, but did not
reach Quebec until the middle of October. Phips sum-
moned the garrison to surrender, but his proposal was
treated with contempt by Frontenac, and several ill-
planned attacks, Avhich he made upon the place, made no
impression. After losing many men, he was forced to
retire, and the misery of his position was aggravated by the
small pox, which had broken out violently among his men.
Phips returned to Boston late in November, to tell the
story of his failure.

Villebon had been detained in Quebec by the English
invasion which jirevented vessels from leaving the St. Law-
rence, but Ixjfore the winter set in he returned to France in
the ship which carried Frontenac's despatches announcing
the failure of the atUick on Quebec. He explained the
situation of affairs in Acadia to the minister, and being a
favorite of Count Frontenac, from whom he had high letters
of recommendation, he was appointed to command in Acadia.
He received very full instructions in regard to his duties ;
the necessity for keeping the Indians hostile to the English
being specially ])ressed on his attention. He reached
Quebec in July, but the vessel which was to carry him
to Acadia was detained there for some time, and he did

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

2,37

not reach Port Royal until late in September. Bonaven-
turc, the officer who carried him to hi,s new charge however
effected a fortunate capture in the seizure of Colonel Ed-
ward Tyng, who had been appointed governor of Port
Royal by the Mtissachusetts authorities, and who was being
conveyed to that place by Mr. John Nelson who was well
actpiainted with Acadia. Potii were carried to Quebec and
from thence to France, where Tyng died a i)risoner. Nel-
son, after several years captivity, was restored to his family.

Villebon, after pulling down the English flag at Port
Royal, and informing the inhabitants that they were once
more to consid<>r themselves subjects of France, established
himself at Fort Jemseg, on the St. John. He had with
him fifty soldiers, a garrison sufficient to ward off any
attack that was likely to be made upon him at that remote
post. He had with him his brother, Porteneuf, the daring
leader of the attack on Fort Loyal.

During Villebon's absence from Acadia the savages had
done but little for the common t^iuse. Indeed, in Decem-
ber, 1690, six Abenaquis chiefs had signed a five months'
truce with the P^nglish, and had promised to meet them in
the following May to surrender their })risoners and make a
lasting peace. They did not come at the time appointed,
but in June, Moxus, one of the signers of the truce,
attacked Wells with two hundred Indians. This place
was defended by a strong garrison, under Captain Converse,
and the savages were repulsed. They went away, vowing
vengeance against Converse, and during the remainder of
tlie Autumn roamed about the country like a pack of
wolves, killing and destroying.

The presence of Villebon at Jemseg was soon felt. He
put himself in communication with Thury, the priest of
the Penobscot tribe, and incited them to a winter attack on

■'M

'0 ^31

- ^mli

'^iK

' HbH '

r» ' . ;

"rm

b'-i

iiiiiN

238

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

the English settlements. One hundred and fifty of that
tribe and a large band of Kennebec Indians made an
atta(!k on York in February, 1692. The place was sur-
prised, one of the five fortified houses which it contained,
taken, and all the inhabitants, who were unable to gain the
others, killed or captured. About seventy-five persons were
slain, among whom was the venerable Mr. Dummer, the
minister of the place. The captives numbered nearly one
hundred. Several aged women and a number of children
Avere released and allowed to go to the garrisoned houses to
requite the English for sparing the lives of some Indian
women and children at I\>jepscot a year and a half before.
This proves that the savages were not wholly destitute of
gratitude, and that they had rather a nice sense of honor,
for it is worthy of note that at Pejepscot, Ciuirch did not
spare all the squaws and children, but only the wives of
the two Sagamores, their children and two or three old
squaws. All the other Indian women and the children, of
which there was a large number, this squaw-killer Church
slew in cold blood.

In the following Spring, another great war party was
organized by Villebon, composed of Micmacs, Malicites
from the St. John, and the tribes of the Penobscot and
Kennebec, to the number of four hundred warriors.
Porteneuf was with the party, and several other officers
and Canadian soldiers, St. Castin and all the principal
chiefs of the tribes engaged. Their rendezvous was Penob-
scot, and from there they went in canoes to attack Wells.
The principal garrisoned liouse at this place was occupied
by Captain Converse, who had some thirty men with him.
He defended his post bravely, and repulsed his assailants,
the French being unable to induce their savage allies to
make a determined assault A French officer named I^a

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

239

Brognaric was killed in this attempt. In revenge for hia
death the savages put John Diamond — whom they had
taken (japtive before attacking the fort — to the torture.
Having thus wreaked their fury on a helpless prisoner,
they dispersed and returned to their homes.

Sir William Phii)s had this year been appointed Gov-
ernor of Massacihusetts, under a new royal charter granted
by William and Mary. He commissioned Church, and
gave him a force to clear the eastern frontier, and went in
person with him to carry out what had long been a favorite
plan of his own, the erection of a strong fortress at Pema-
quid. There, near the si o of the old stockade built by
Andros, rose a formidable work, built of stone, which cost
the Province upwards of twenty thousand pounds. It
mounted eighteen giuis, and was garrisoned by sixty men.
Phips gave it the high-sounding name of Fort William
Henry. Both Phips and Church had long desired to
capture St. Castin, whom they regarded as the chief cause
of the hostility of the Indians. Accordingly, Church went
to Edgemoragan Reach, a little to the eastward of Penob-
scot, where two Fren(4iraen named Petipas and St. Aubin
resided, and carried them with their families to Boston.
Phips thought to make them the means of capturing St.
Castin. Petipas and St. Aubin were sent to Penobscot
with two French soldiers named Du Vignon and Albert,
who had deserted from the garrison at Quebec, to surprise
St. Castin and bring him away. They were told to pre-
tend that they were escaped prisoners, so that ihe Baron
would be thrown otf his guard. The wives and v-^hildren
of Pi'tipas and St. Aubin were in the meantime deavined
in Boston as hostages for the faithful performance of the
treacherous mission with which they had been entrusted.
Instead of betraying the Baron, they disclosed to him the

r >.

*-■ .
;, I

/*--««

:: jit

liKIHLl '

240

mSTOKY OF ACADIA.

flH'^'f

M f;Ni-

Jr :■

*■''

i\-U.

,,. T?*' «

K ■

:> ^" ^

iii

itiU

III

plot of which he wius to ho nuido the victim, and the two
deserters were seized and sent to Quehee, where tliey were
tried, (!on(h'inned and siiot. Petij)as and St. Auhin, in
consideration of their fidehty, afterwards received a sum of
money from VillelK)n to enable them to ransom their
families from imprisonment.

The two deserters who met su(;h a well-merited fate, had
been the hearers of a letter from Nelson, who was then a
prisoner at (J,uebee, which probably saved Fort Mniliatu
Henry from eajiture. Matakando had gone to (Quebec to
visit Count Frontemu;, and informeil him of what the Eng-
lish were doing at Pemaquid. He resolved to drive them
from that position before they had time to establish them-
selves ; and as there were two war vessels available, the Poli
and Ijuvrieux, under the command of d'lbcrville and Bona-
vcntnre, there seemed to be no diffienlty in executing that
design. It was arranged that they should co-operate with
Villebon and take on board a party of Indians at St. John
and Penobscot, and then assail Pemacjuid. Hut the design
miscarried. AVhen they reached their destination, the
Enii'lish were on the alert, the news of the attack having
been carried to Boston by the deserters, whom Nelson had
bribed. D'Ibervillc found an English vessel riding at
anchor under the guns of the new fort, and declined to
make the intended attack. He was much ct^nsured for
pursuing this course, and the Indians were so dissatisfied
that the affair tlireatened to cause a breach between them
and the French.

This year Villebon removed his garrison from Jeniseg
to Nashwaak, where he commenced the erection of a new
fort on a point of land on the northern bank of that river
at its junction with the St. John, nearly opposite the city
of Fredericton. The change was made because Fort

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

241

Jcrnse<^ Avas .subject to iiiiuidutions, und because it was
iiisullicient in size. Fort Nashwuak was a palisiided work
of four bastions, similar to the majority of those in Acadia.
It liad one great advantage over tlie fort at Jcmscg in its
nearness to the Jndian villages. The winter of 1692-3
was spent at tlu; new fort in the midst of this vast Acadian
forest.

During 1093, Frontenac was waging war against the
Mohawks of New York, and Aciidia had a season of repose.
The Acadian Indians, who — like all the Indian races —
were fickle and changeable as children, were already weary
of the war, especially since the failure of the attempt to
surprise the fort at Pemaquid. That stronghold annoyed
them to an extent which can scarcely be appreciated, except
by those acquainted with tiieir habits. Standing out far
into the ocean, it ))revented thcni from making canoe voy-
ages along the coiust, and cut off the Indians of the Andros-
coggin and Kennebec from sea conununication with those
of the Penobscot and St. John. ]Many of them began to
think seriously of making peace with the English, and in
August thirteen chiefs, representing all the tribes from l*as-
sainaquoddy to Saco, concluded a treaty with the English
Commissioners at Pemacjuid, by which they declared their
submission to the Ci'own of England, renounced the cause
of France, agreed to release all captives without ransom,
and live in perj)etual peace and fricndshi}) with the Eng-
lish. They left five hostages at Pemaquid as pledges of
their good faith.

The making of this treaty caused much rejoicing in
New England, which had suffered greatly from Indian
attacks, but the French regarded it with dismay, and soon
found means to render it a nullity. Fortunately for them,
they possessed a mou of influencing the savages, to which

. ?

■1 Til

, t

If'!

If: 11

•■■■ m
nil

'1 .

I' ft

242

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

the English could not pretend. MiHsionaries of the Order
of Jesus had long resideil among the Abenacfuis tribes, and
they had beeome converted to the Christian faith, after u
fashion. At this period the two Jesuit missionaries, ]iigot
on the Kennebec, and Thury on the Penobscot, were active
in their opjiosition to the English peace. V'iilcbon also
spared no effort to produce a breach of the treaty. The
Malicites, among whom he lived, and the Micmacs of the
Peninsula, had taken no part in the alliance, and he
employed their powerful influence to renew the war.
Porteneuf, his brother, had been withdrawn from Acadia,
and replaced by Villieu, an officer of some reputation,
who came nominally as commander of a detachment of
Marines in Acadia, but in reality was intended to be
employed to lead the savages in a new crusade against the
English settlements.

After spending the winter at Fort Nashwaak, Villieu on
the 1st May started for the Penobscot, taking Medoctec on
his way, and travelling by the usual route up Eel River
and down the Mattawamkeag to his destination. There he
met the chief Taxous, Thury the Jesuit, and Bigot, the
missionary from Kennebec. After some conferences with
the Indians, he returned with a party of them to Nashwaak
for presents and to obtain soldiers from Villebon. The
latter was only able to give him two soldiers, none of the
others being capable of managing a canoe, an indispensable
accomplishment for such an expedition. Even these two
left him at Medoctec, and returned to the fort. Villieu
sought to create the impression that Villebon was indiffer-
ent to the success of the expedition, but all the probabilities
are against such an inference. On June 3rd Villieu was
once more at Castin's house, on the Penobscot, in conference
with Taxous and the priests. Again the Indians were

■A

: ■■'I^*

siA

HIKTORY OF ACADIA.

243

assembled, but at this juiuiturc Matakando arrived with the
news that the Knglish intended to deliver u|) the prisoners
on the ritli July, according to the terms of the treaty. This
set the Indians tulking of jieaee, and it recjuired all Thury's
cl(Kjuenee to prevent them from at once returning to their
homes. It was oidy l)y working on tlie jealousy of Taxous
and other chiefs, and representing to them that Matiikando
had no right to make the treaty without their being parties
to it, that anything like a warlike sj)irit was kept up.
Every argument wjia made use of, which it was thought
would serve to ])rejudice them against the English. They
were told that the invitation to go to Pemaquid to obtain
prisoners was only a snare for the purpose of killing or
ca|)turing all their principal warriors, and Waldron's
treachery at Dover was cited as a specimen of English
faith. Finally, on the 27th June, a dog feast was held, at
which all ^he Indians sang the war song, except Mata-
kando and thirty of his party, and they, after much
persuasion and ridicule and many presents, at length were
won over. The great war party now increased to two
hundred and fifty warriors by bands from the Kennel)ec,
and commanded by Matakando, Bomaseen and Taxous,
attacked Dover, captured five of its twelve garrisoned
iiouses, killed upwards of one hundred persons, and carried
twenty-seven into captivity. Twenty houses were burnt,
but Thury took possession of the meeting house and pre-
vented the savages from doing it any injury. After this
exploit the savages divided themselves into smaller bands
and killed several persons at Groton, Piscataqua, York,
Kittery, and other places. Villieu went to Montreal to
receive the applause of Count Frontenac, to whom he pre-
sented a string of English scalps — a fine gift for one
French gentleman to bestow upon another. Villieu had

.1...

■"'■jf

1' HI

\i^A

! i:

. -;..,

...... .f

244

HISTORY OK ACADIA.

(loiio his work well; he Imd i)n)keii tiie pence with the
Kn|i;li.'<h, !ui<l sowed such seedH of distrust: between them
and the saviisjfes a>* to make it almost impossible for a
lastin<i; peace; to 1)(! made.

The Fishin<i; Company of Acadia w(>re still in (>xist(!ii('e
at this period, aUhouji;li they had experiencetl many vicis-
situdes. In 1()(S7 they had increased their colony at
Chedabueto to one hundred and fifty persons, of whom
eighty wen; fishermen. Tliat year their troubles c(mi-
menced. The ship which was cotnin<>; to carry tiieir fish
to France got blown otf the coast, and next Spring when
another vessel arrived, most of the tlsh were spoik'd. Then
they had their largest vessel wrecked at Uochellc. In
August, 1088, a pirate attaeiked Chedabueto, plundered it
and captured the two vessels of the Company then anchored
in front of it. In 1G9(), when Port Royal was taken, the
Company lost all the goods in their storehouse there, and
their establishment at Chedabueto was broken up and
plundered by an English war vessel immediately after-
wartls. After Villebon's return to Acadia, the Company
assisted in re-estjiblishing the colony by furnishing supj)lies
in the shape of provisions and goods to the French settlers
and savages. Each year they sent a vessel to the St. John
river with goods, and on more than one occasion the assist-
ance they were able to give proved very acceptable to the
King's troops.

In the midst of their rejoicings over the destruction of
the English settlements, the savages of. Acadia were
stricken with a mortal plague which swept them away by
huntlreds. The war parties which went from the St. John
river in September were turned back at Penobscot, and the
warlike operations of the year were brought to a close.
The Chief of the St. John Indians died of this disease, and

inSTOKY OF ACADIA.

24r)

its niv;i}2;os woro so sovnrc that Mcdocti'c was abandoned hy
the .sava;:;e.s for the time. Upwards of one Imndrcd and
twenty persons, inelndinji; many of the hest warriors of tlic
trihe, died on the St. .John river alone.

Villehon kept a diary dnriiiji; his eoinniand in .\('a<lia,
and hy its aid and that of the many despatches sent by
himself and others to the Minist(>r, wo obtain a clearer idea
of liie in Acadia in his tin)e than at almost any other ju-riod
in its history. His principal (lanses of concern w(>re to
keep the Indians at war with the Kiij^lish, to jtrevent the
latter from fishing on the c'oa.st, and to gnard his fort from
attack. His means were very inadeqnate, but he made uj)
in vigilance and activity wiiat he lacked in strength. Some
of the orders which he gave will strike the peo[)l(! of this
tlay as Ixjing cruel in the extrenu', but it was an age of
cruelty, and wars are always cruel, especially wars in whicli
savage tribes ;ire enlisted.

To keep the coast of the Province clear of English fish-
ermen, Bonaventure cruised i)retty constantly in a war
ship for several years. He was aided by a number of
French privateers, who found sufficuent profit in the occa-
sional capture of an English fishing vessel to induce them
to keep the sea. The English of Massacihusetts generally
had a war vessel on the Acadian coast, and several priva-
teers, fitted out at Salem and elsewhere in New England,
were generally cruising in these waters. All these private
armed vessels the Frencli were accustomed to designate
as " pirates." Besides them there were genuine pirates on
the coast sometimes, who plundered with strict imparti-
ality, irrespective of nationality. Between war vessels,
privateers and pirates, the coast was pretty thoroughly
patrolled at this period. One of the most famous French
corsairs of the period was Robineau, who, after taking

■ii

■ft

.. 'SI

m^mmmtmrnm

246

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

many English prizes, was, in 1 694, driven into the harbor
of St. John by an English ship, and forced to burn his
vessel. Another famous privateer was Baptiste, Captain
of the corvette La Bonne, which vessel was captured in
1695, in Musquash harbor, after a severe fight, by an
English war vess(!l ; a third was Franyois Guyon, who
was connected with two of the d'Amours by marriage, and
who was also captured in fhc Spring of 1696. These and
other French privateers did very effectual work in driving
English fishermen and traders from the coast.

The management of the Indians was a raattter which
caused Villebon constant anxiety ; indeed, at that period,
had it not been for the efforts of the priests, it is doubtful
if they could have been kept faithful to the French. The
English were prepared to trade with them on much more
advantageous terms than the French had ever done, and
the Fren(;h private traders, such as the d'Amours, while
they debauched the Indians with brandy, undersold the
Company. The excessive prices cliarged by this Corpora-
tion for their goods kept the Indians so miserably poor
that they could scarcely supply themselves with ammuni-
tion and sufficient clothing. When the Indians found
that the English would trade with them on terms so much
more favorable, it greatly cooled their regard for the
French. It was expecting too much of human nature that
they would consent to spill their best blood and keep their
families in constant danger for the sake of a people, who
were daily over-reaching them in trade.

It therefore became necessary for Villebon to put a
stop to the extortionat } conduct of the Company, and to
arrange a tariff for the sale of beaver, and the purchase of
goods that would satisfy the Indians. In June, 1695, a
grand gathering of the savages was held at Fort Nashwaak

HISTOEY OF ACADIA.

247

for the purpose of arranging this important matter. They
came from the Kennebec and Penobscot, and from the two
great settlements of the St. John, Medoctec and Mada-
waska, to be entertained by Villebon, and to have "a great
talic" with him about their grievances. There were
fourteen chiefs in all — among them Matakando, of Penob-
scot, who had become the chief of the St. John river tribe,
and Taxous, the adopted brother of Villebon. There, too,
was Thury, the missionary priest, the friend and adviser of
the Indians, to interpret between Villebon and his guests.
Villebon enterbiined them for three davs. First came
tiie giving of presents, an important and somewhat difficult
matter to manage satisfactorily, and when that was over a
great council was held. The chiefs proved to be severe
sticklers for ceremony, and they were a long time deciding
who should speak first. At length it was agreed that the
chiefs of the Kennebec should do so, and their orator com-
menced a harangue, which is thus reported by Villebon : —
"It is a long time since we anxiously desired to assemble
as we now do, but the disfcince of our settlements, and the
fear of exposing our families to our enemies during our
absence has caused us to defer our assembling together
until the present time. We know that you have been
vexed at the parleys we have had with the English, and
that you feared we would make peace with them, but we
assure you that we never entered into such parleys without
informing Count Frontenac, and receiving his approval.
\Ve, from Kennebec, are too far removed from you to give
you information of what was going on, but tiiose from
Penobscot could have done so. The reason which forced us
to seek the English arose from our necessities, for we were
in want of everything, and grieved to see our families desti-
tute. But it will depend only upon yourself whether we

ill

\h '-M

t. '

248

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

shall have the same rojisons in future, and therefore you
must tell U8 at what price the goods will be sold upon this
river, and when you have settled the ])riee with us, we
promise you to cease all parleys M'ith the English, and to
prevent our young men from having any intercourse with
them. You know already from the first savages that came
from oui' quarter that we talked with the English at Pe-
ma(|uid a few days ago, and brought them seven prisoners
of tiieir nation, in order to get ours, who are in Boston.
They have |)romised to give them up to us at the end of
this month at Femaquid. If they fail to do so, we shall
no longer give them any quarter, but shall consider our
prisoners as dead."

Villebon replied to this speech by telling them that if
he had been grieved at their conferences with the English,
it was not because he susjiecled that they would speak of
peace with thein, after all the treachery of which they had
been guilty, but he feared that, under the pretext of trade,
the English night take them unprepared and give them
no quarter. lie had heard from the Frenchmen who came
from Boston that thi'-^ was their intention, and if thev had
deferred the blow at tiiat time, it was bec^uise they wished
to collect together a larger number of savages. Pie then
spoke of the tariff of goods which was to be in force while
the war lasted, and went on to impress the chiefs with the
obligations they were under to continue their attacks upon
the English. The tariff of goods was then arranged, and
was very satisfactory to tiie savages ; the conference broke
up, and Villebon had all the chiefs to sup with him that
evening. Early next day they took the route homeward,
more resolute tiian ever to continue the war. The confer-
ence which had been arranged at Pemaquid at the end of
June, for an exchange of prisoners, only deepened the

li:.H;.:j

ifi

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

249

rcrfentniGiits of the; Indiiui.s. They attended ))unctually,
but found that the English Commissioners refused to treat
until the English ])risoners whom the Indians had were
produced. The ehiefs thought this an unfair condition,
for they said, " You have not brought Boraaseen, Robin,
Doney and our friends, who are your prisoners. We'll talk
no more." And so without further parley they departed.
From that time until the end of the year the savages
continued to prowl around the forts and kill all who ven-
tured beyond tlu'ir limits. So closely were the forts
watched, that ten men were killed or wounded within
cannon shot of Pemaquid. The Indians, however, although
reinfoiced by Micmacs from the Peninsula, and by the
tribes of Richibucto and St. John, attempted no important
operation that year. Those Indians also went to Cape
Sable, and did good service to the French by capturing
• 'd dri^'ing away English lishermen from that coast.
Ucs Isles, Villebon's brother, led a party of savages to
Penobscot in October, but the weather became cold, and
the Indians could not be persuaded to keep on tlie war
path. Accordingly, they returned home without accom-
plishing anything, but promised to meet the French again
in the Spring.

Villebon had, at this period, in his mind a scheme no
less daring than the cajjture of Boston, which he conceived
might be taken by a simultaneous attack by such land and
sea fw-ces as the French could bring against it. This plan
was, however, exchanged for one less bold and more
feasible, the reduction of the fort at Pemaquid, which was
a constant source of annoyance to the savages. Arrange-
ments were made during the winter in Acadia and at
Quebec to effect this object. Villieu and Montigny arrived
from Quebec in November, and wintered at Fort Nash-

'■•■' I

:-:t]

250

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

waak. Villebon had also with him such useful aides as
Neuvillette and Des Isles.

During the winter the English were guilty of an act of
treacherous folly, which more than justified all that
Villebon had said as to their real intentions towards the
Indians, and which greatly exasperated the latter. Stough-
ton, the Governor of Massachusetts, sent a message to tiie
Indians, telling them to bring in their prisoners for ex-
change. Some of the tribes returned a haughty refusal,
but the Penobscot tribe were extremely anxious to get back
five of their number who were confined in Boston ; so, in
February, 1696, they went to Pemaquid with five English
prisoners to effect an exchange. Captain Chubb, the com-
mander of Pemaquid, received them with much show of
kindness, and induced them to give up the five English
prisoners, promising to send to Boston at once for those
they desired in return. He even promised to make them
some presents, and the savages w-ere so charmed with the
good treatment they were receiving, that they had almost
concluded to " bury the hatchet." Chubb proposed a con-
ference within sight of the fort, and it was agreed ^hat nine
of the English and nine Indians should meet without arms
at the })lace selected. The Indian party consisted of three
chiefs — Taxous, Egeremet, Abcnquid and six others ; the
English, of Chubb and eight of his garrison, who had come
with pistols concealed in their bosoms. The Indians had
partaken rather freely of Chubb's liquor, which had been
lavishly bestowed, and being somewhat intoxicated did not
observe that a {)arty of English soldiers had suiTounded
them at some little distance. When everything was ready,
Chubb gave the signal. Egeremet, Abcnquid and another
Indian were instantly killed, the bold and athletic Taxous
was seized by four English, who endeavored to bind him ;

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

251

but another powerful Indian seizing at this moment a
musket from one of the soldiers, bayoneted three of Taxous*
assailants, and enabled the chief to escape. Another
Indian, after killing three English, was shot down. Four
Indians were killed in this affray, and three made prison-
ers, Taxous and the savage who rescued him alone escaped.
It is unnecessary to enlarge upon the character of this
scandalous transaction, further than to observe that it was
a crime not only against the Indians, but also against the
English settlers, who in the end were the greatest sufferers
by all such treacherous acts. By the light of our present
knowledge of the influences which worked upon the
Indians, nothing is more clear than that an honest and just
course of policy towards them after the close of King
Philip's war, would have made them friends of the
English, to whom they were well disposed by reason of
the advantages they derived from their trade. But such
inexcusable crimes against faith and honesty Jis those of
AValdron and Chubb, made it impossible for the Indians
to believe that the English would keep any truce with
them ; for those instances of English treachery were told
at the camp fires of every tribe from Cape Breton to Lake
Superior, and they were repaid in kind in after years.

In June, 1696, the tribes of Acadia began to assemble
for the intended expedition against Pcmaquid. Many
went direct to Penobscot, while others, including the
Micmacs from Richibucto and Mines, met Villebon at the
mouth of the St. John, where two French war vessels,
under the command of d'Iberville and Bonaventure, were
coming from Quebec to meet them. Villebon had to wait
nearly a month there with his Indian allies before the
vessels arrived, and would have had hard work to keep
them together but for the presence of two English war

ill •->»!. ' *

I . ■ ■■■«' ' ''t

252

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

vessels — the Sorling and Newport — whose crews nuidc
several attem})ts to land. D'Iberville's vessels left (^nebec
in June, and after calling at Cape Breton, where they took
on board thirty Indians, proceeded to St. John. There
they encountered the two p]nglish vessels, and after a shar])
engagement, the Newport, of twenty-four guns, Avas cap-
tured, the Sorling and her tender escaping in the fog. At
8t. .lohn, the I'rofond and Envieux took on board fifty
more Micmacs and father Simon, the Rocollet Missionary
of the St. fJohn. At Penobscot, where they arrived
August 7th, they found Villieu and Montigny widi
twenty-five Canadians, Thury, St. Castin and three
hundred savages waiting for them. On the 14th August
the whole party commenced the investment of Fort
William Henry, at Pemaquid, by land and sea.

This fortress, which had been erected at an enormous
cost, and was believed to be very strong, mounted fifteen
cannon, and was manned by ninety-five soldiers, under the
command of Captain Chubb. D'Iberville immediately
summoned Chubb to surrender, but he replied grandilo-
quently : " I will not give up the fort, though the sea be
covered Avitli French vessels and the land with wild
Indians." This was an excellent answer, provided it had
been followed uj) by corresponding deeds. But almost as
soon as he had given it utterance, Chubb found his courage
leaving him. The French and Indians surrounded the
fort that night, after plying it for some time with musketry,
and long before daylight next morning d'Iberville had
landed cannon and mortars. These were placed in battery
before noon, and early in the afternoon they commenced to
fire. Two or three shells fell into the fort, and produced
much consternation among the garrison, in the midst of
which a letter was received from St. Castin, informing

HISTORY OF AC'ADIA.

253

Cluibl) tluit if he did not surrender without tui iissault, he
must exjieot no mercy from the Fndians, Avho were so
exasperated at his former treaelierous <;on(hiet that they
would give no (|uarter. Chubb at once decided to give up
the fort, only stipulating that he and his men shonld have
their lives spared, and be taken to Boston and exchanged.
To enable iiim to keep this compact, d' Iberville fonnd it
necessary to remove them all to an island near the fort, and
j)lace them under a guard, for the Indians Avcre so incensed
amiinst them that their lives were not safe. Their rage
was not lessened by the discovery of one of the Indians,
captured in February, lying half starved in the fort, and
so heavily ironed that it took father Baudouin two hours
hard work to set him free. Thus fell Fort William
Heiny, the strongest forti'ess in New England, almost
without resistance, owing to the incapacity and cowardice
of its connnander.

The French and Indians lost no time in demolishing the
fort, blowing down its walls with gunpowder and burning
its buildings. When the work of destruction was over, the
French sailed away in triumph. D' Iberville, after sending
Chubb and his garrison to Boston, sailed for Newfoundland
to engage in an expedition for the reduction of that island.
Villieu, whose share in the capture of Pemaquid was not
inconsiderable, was so unfortimate as to be captured with
his detachment of Canadians, by an English squadron of
tliree ships, which reached Penobscot just in time to see the
Fr(!nch leave it.

A few days later an expedition started from Boston
to strike a blow against the French and avenge the fall of
Pemaquid. Church was commissioned by the Governor of
Massachusetts to command a force of English and Indians
against the French. He received his commission in August,

' ffi

: ■' ,^

wfiil

'■y-h

h»' I ■<.■

' .f.

254

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

on the very day that the French left Penobscot to invest
Fort William Henry; but the expedition was considerably
hastened by the tidings of the fall of that fort. Church
had about five hundred men, including some Indians,
embarked in open sloops and whale boats, which were the
most convenient vessels for ranging the coast. After visit-
ing the Penobscot, where he killed four or five Indians and
wa.sted their corn-fields, he sjiiled for Chignecto at the head
of the Bay of Fundy. The whole population of the settle-
ment three years before was only one Inindred and twenty-
six, of whom but seventeen were male heads of families.
It is not probable that at the time of Church's visit there
were twenty-five men capable of bearing arms in the settle-
ment. To meet this handful of peasants. Church landed
four hundred men. Of course there was no resistance, but
one of the inhabitants named Bourgeois took a paper to
Church, showing that when Phips visited Acadia, the
inhabitants of Chignecto had taken the oath of allegiance
to the British Crown, and were considered to be under its
protection. The production of this document prevented
Church from allowing the inhabitants to be murdered by
his soldiers, but he permitted unlimited plunder, and most
of the people, fearing their throats would be cut, fled in
terror to the woods. After a stay of nine days at Chignecto,
in the course of which he and his men burnt down all the
buildings, including the chapel, and killed most of the
cattle in mere wantonness, he gathered up his booty and
returned down the Bay.

He landed some of his men at the mouth of the St. John,
where Villebon had a small guard of observation under the
command of an ensign named Chevalier. The French
soldiers retired to the woods when the English landed, and
Chevalier sent a messenger to Villebon to inform him of

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

265

their presence. On returning to the mouth of the river
the French fell into an ambuscade which had been made
by Church's Indians, Chevalier being killed, and his two
soldiers made prisoners. The latter revealed to Church
that twelve cannon were buried in the sand near the old
fort, and they were dug up and seized by the English.
Church thought this was glory enough for one expedition,
so instead of going up the river to atttick Villebon's fort,
ho embarked his men to return to Boston. At the St.
Croix, however, he met three Massachusetts vessels with
two hundred additional men under Colonel Hawthorne,
who being senior to Church, deprived him of the command
which he had disgraced. Church acquired some reputation
in King Philip's war, but in his Eastern expeditions he
always took care to be absent when there was any serious
lighting to be done.

Hawthorne turned the expedition back, and announced
his intention of besieging Villebon's fort on the St. John.
Tiiat officer had, however, been already warned of his
danger, and the attack, which might have succeeded if
attempted a month before, was now doomed to failure.
Villcbon had one hundred men with him in his Nashwaak
fort, and its position was such that it was not easily
assailed. He warned the inhabitants below the fort to
come in, and sent to Aukpaque, where father Simon had a
mission, for as many of his warriors as he could muster,
and that zealous ecclesiastic brought thirty-six warriors
with him into the fort on the 14th October. On the 16th
Villcbon heard that the English were in force below
Jeniseg, and on the evening of the 17th, knowing the
enemy to be near, he addreased the garrison in stirring
terms, and encouraged them to resist to the last. The
same night Ren6 and Mathieu d'Amours, and Baptiste, the

' '" '* liffl!

M-i\

tHttl

-^ II

•■'4

.. -1)

';^^

■■

■ •><

nffli

^■■1

'■■i

>' ' .'

25(5

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

|ij'

' ■ !■

{)rivate('r, ciiine into the; i'ort with ten otlier Frencliiiu'ii,
and were assigned the task of openitiiifjf with the Indians.
Next niorninjj; tlie Knf>;lish made their appearance in three
armed sloops, and etfeetcd a landing on tlie south side of
the Nashwaak j^iver, oj>|)ositc! the fort. They at once
eomnien<'((l the erection of a battery, and had two guns
mounted, and a littk' later a tiiird of larger ealihre. A
lively cannonade then coninicneed, wliich was only ended
by the approach of night. Villebon prevented the English
from lighting fires that night by discharges of grape, and
they suffered much from cold. Next day the cannonade
wa-s renewed, but one of the Knglish guns was dismounted
after a short time, and the others had to be abandoned.
That night the English lighted fires over a large extent of
ground, and then broke uj) camj) and retreated down the
river. On the morning of the 20th their eam[) was found
deserted, and a small party, under Neuvillette, which was
detached to follow them, found them endjarked some
leagues below the fort, and going down the river with a
fair wind. No one has ever been able to explain why the
English force made such a ])oor attem])t, but it is said there
Avere disscntions between Church and Hawthorne, which
marred the harmony of the expedition. The French list
of killed and wounded amounted to but three in all; the
English lost twenty-five men, of whom eight were killed.
This ended the operations of 1696, which had been
wholly favorable to the French. Villebon, however, felt
that he had run much risk of capture, and that the
strengthening of his fort by a new line of palisades was
necessary. A large part of the winter was spent in cutting
palisades for the fort and placing them in position, for
until this was done, the French commander did not feel
secure from attack.

I Hi • ■ !

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

257

In tlie f'()ll()wiii<i|; siirmiicr the Iiidiiiiis were ix^ix'm on tl>e
war ])atlj, and lar<j;o bunds wont from Minos and the River
St. John to Penohseot. They were ac(!oni|)anied by their
priests, St. Cosnie, Simon and (yhanibault, and likewise by
Porteneuf and Ren6 d'Amonrs. Their or(h.>rs were to burn
and destroy, and to give no (|uarter. Although they at-
tempted no great ei lierprise, they annoyed the English
settlements greatly. At Kittery they killed Major Frost,
who was eon(!erned in Waldron's treaehery. They also
killed a number of people in the vicinity of Wells, and
they had a severe skirmish near Pemaquid with the force
of Major Marsh, who, with five hundred men, was ranging
the eastern coasts. The English lost twenty- five in this
affair, and the Indians seven. This was probably the last
blood shed by the Indians of Acadia during tlie war, for a
treaty of peace between France and P^ngland was signed at
Ryswick in September, 1697, and the Indians, no longer
openly assisted by the Fren(!h, were forced to make peace
with the people of New England in .January, 161)9,

Not long after Villebon had established himself at
Nashwaak, he had represented to his government the
necessity for the erection of a fort at the mouth of the St.
John, as u more convenient j)lace for supplying the settlers
with goods, and also because it would give the French
privateers and war vessels a secure place of shelter in case
of attack. The Minister looked upon the project with
favor, and as early as 1696, some measures ^rcre taken
towards rebuilding the old fort, which was a work with
four bastions, and which needed little else than that new
palisades should be erected and the ditches deepened.
During 1697 no work was done, but in the following year
the reconstruction of the fort went on with great vigor, and
in the Autumn of that year the garrison was removed from
Q

" A

^■s

,.11

i.''

■■■■if'

1- (■•

(■'l,^

It-) ..

i '-f ' ' :

:•;: ■■ :

w- ■

, ■ M ■ '- .■

]■ i • 'i;

1 II flu

Bi^

258

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Naslnvaak and taken to Fort Jvatour, wliich had heon
abandoned for so many yearn.

France and Knjj;Iand now beinf;^ at peace, Villebon had
no warlike enterprises to engaj^e his attention. Ills ener-
gies were chiefly directed to kee[)ing tlie EngHsh fishennon
off the coast, and confining the ambitious c()h)ny of Massa-
chusetts within its proper bounds. Villebon claimed the
Kennebec as the boundary of Acadia, and threatened to
seize all vessels fishing or trading to the eastward of it.
But those under his command gave him almost as much
trouble as foreigners, for Belleislc and Abraham d'lOntre-
mont, who had married daughters of La Tour, claimed to
be Seigniors at Port Royal, and granted fishing licenses to
English vessels at fifty livres a vessel. These were not
Villebon's only troubles. During his term of office, and
especially the latter part of it, he seems to have been on
very bad terms with some of his officers, especially with
Des Goutins, the Judge. Their letters to the Minister were
filled with complaints and accusations against him ; but
fortunately it is not necessary to believe them all, for it
is certain that many of the charges made against those in
authority in Acadia must have been slanders. The French
government disregarded the quarrels among its subordi-
nate officers in Canada and Acadia; too much harmony was
evidently not thought desirable, as that would have pre-
vented the officers from watching each other.

In 1700, it was decided by the French government to
abandon the forts on the St. John, on the ground that
its harbor was too small, and that the difficulties of naviga-
tion made a permanent establishment there inadvisable.
Fontenu, the engineer who made the report on which this
action was baaed, had been sent out by the King to examine
into the affairs of Acadia, and he must have seen it with

IIIHTOKY OF ACADIA.

259

visable.

lich this

examine

it with

(airions eyes. It wns the fate of France in its s( henjcs of
eoionization to conunit a series of stupendous blunders, but
the {greatest of all wius, perhaps, the abandoiunent of the
largest riwr and ujost fertile; territory in Acadia, on such
shallow pretences. The harbor, ^vhich d'lberville alleged
would not hold three vessels, has many a day since seen
morc! tonnage anchored on its bosom at one time tiuin the
government of h' ranee sent out to Acadia in any frfty years
that it possessed the (country. Hut it is of little moment
now to comment on the folly of the French in abandoning
the St. John, for it was inevitable that this riv<!r and the
whole of Acadia would fall into the possession of the Eng-
lish whenever they chose to make an effort to take it.

The order went forth to remove the garrison and estab-
lishment to Port Royal, but before it could be carried out
Villebon died. He was the most capable commander,
probably, that the French ever had in Acadia — great both
in peace and war, and wholly devoted to the interests of
France. His influence over the Indians was powerful, for
he was one of those grandly made men, whom barbarous
peoples look upon as their natural chiefs. Men in these
days, will find it difficult to excuse the cruel acts which he
permitted the Indians to commit, such as the torturing and
maiming of prisoners on his orders to give no quarter to
the enemy. These are serious blots on the character of a
man otherwise admirable, who deserved well of his country
and his King. Yet, after making allowance for such
faults — which after all were rather the faults of the age
than of the man — it must be admitted that Villebon de-
serves to take a high place among the sons of New France.

■I

^1 .. :

CPIAPTER XV.

THE CAPTUKE OF TORT ROYAL.

The death of Villcbon left Villicu in the temporary
comniaod of Acadia. He caused the fort at Nashwaiik to
be demolished, and continued the re-building of that at
Port Royal. Like his predecessor, he endeavoured to put
a stop to trading with the English, and falling in that, he
urged upon the home government that St. Castin and the
missionaries— who were accused of being engaged in this
trade — should be sent back to France.

In June, 1701, Villieu was relieved of his command by
the arrival of M. de Brouillan, who came to tu^sume the
government of Acadia. Brouillan had been governor of
Placentia, where ho had the misfortune to meet with the
gay and witty La Hontan, who ha^ pilloried him and
handed him down to the contempt of posterity in his book
of "Voyages." JJrouillan was both brave and diligent,
but he had a bad temper and was deficient in judgment.
In Newfoundland he acted the part of a cruel and vindic-
tive tyrant, antl in Acadia he added to the bad reputation
which he had acquired in his former government.

Brouillan commenced his administration \n Acadia
with a great show of zeal and activity. His first exploit
was the demolition of the fort at the mouth of the Ht. John
lliver, which had just been completed. He razed it to the
ground, tore down the buildings, and removed the guns to
Port Royal. He desired to have a fort built at La Have,
and thought it should lie the principal place in the Prov-
ince, and he recommended that the fort at Port Royal

€m-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

261

•slioiild be built of stone. He advocated the erection of a
redoubt at the entrance of Port Royal Basin for the accom-
niodation of a jruard to give notice of an enemy's ap|)roacli.
He was also anxious to have the whole eastern coast of
the Province granted into seignories, and did not forj^et
t^ name two which he M'anted for himself. In fact,
Brouillan's whole term of office was a succession of retjuests
and complaints, which must iiave greatly wearied the French
Secretary of State, who had to read his letters.

More important events were now at hand than even the
complaints and recommendations of an Acadian Governor,
who boasted of his Gascon blood. James II., the de-
throned King of England, died at Wt. Germain in Septem-
ber, 1701, and before he expired received the promise of
Louis XIV. that he would recognize his son, the Prince of
Wales, as King of England. Diplomatic relations between
France and England were immediately suspended ; but iu
March, 1702, William III. died before war had been
formally declared. The formal declaration of war was
issued by the government of Queen Anne on the 15th
May. Then commenced the war of the S[)anish succession,
in which England, Holland, Savoy, Austria, Prussia and
Portugal were arrayed against France, Spain and Bavaria.
By Englishmen, this war is chiefly remend>ered bv the
victories of Marlborough, and the original causes of the
quarrel have become merely of antiquarian interest.

The Indians had been at peace with the people of New
England since January 1699, and the latter were extremely
anxious to avoid another Indian war, which seemed almast
a necessary accompaniment of the renewal of hostilities
with France. Accordingly, in June, 1703, Governor Dud-
ley of Massachusetts met the Eastern Indians at Falmouth,
foi the purpose of having a conference Avith them and

.v4}i

-^m

" 'f'^

;.i^'

•, »iM

,-m

262

IirSTOKY OF ACADIA.

f
■..■■ r

ill"

confirming tlioni in their pacific conduct. The result of
this meeting was so satisfactory that the English were
flattered by the hope that, whatever they might have to
fear from the French, the Indians would remain neutral.

All th&se ho^xis ])roved to be illusive. Vaudreuil, the
Governor-General of New France, exerted all his influence
to prevent the Indians from becoming reconciled to the
English, and the fact that all the Abenaquis tribes had not
taken part in this conference, aided him to break up the
wnnpact. The Indians of Saco, Kennebec and Penobscot
had alone joined in it, and neither the tribes of the St. John
and St. Croix, nor the Micmacs, had been represented or
(wnsulted in the negotiations. He was aided also by an
outrage which a party of Englishmen committed at Penob-
scot in plundering the residence of St. Castin. This trans-
action was skilfullv used as a lever to detach the Penobscot
tribes from the English alliance.

In August, a body of five hundred Indians and French
divided into several parties, and luider French leaders, fell
upon the Eastern settlements of Xew England. Wells,
Saco, Soiirborough, Casco, and three or four other places in
Maine, were attacked sinudtaneously, and the destruction
of ])ropertv and loss of life were very great. At Casco, the
leader was Beaubassin, the son of La Valliere, and the fort
there would have been captured but for the timely arrival
of Captain Southwick with an armed sliij). About one
hundred and fifty-five English were killed or taken in these
several attacks, which alarmed the whole frontier settle-
ments from Casco to the Connecticut River.

This was but the beginning of the dftstruction. The
Indians thronged the Eastern seaboard o/ New England
like wolves, ready to kill any unarmed parties of white men,
or capture any weakly manned vessel they could find.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

263

Terror and confusion filled all the settlements. Militia men
were gathered in haste and sent to drive back the wily
savages. The Legislatures of Massachusetts and New
Hampshire offered a bounty of twenty pounds for every
Indian prisoner under ten years of age, and twice that sum
for every older prisoner, or for his scalp. As scalps were
much more easily taken care of than prisoners, it was but
reasonable to expect that under a premium list so arranged
the number of prisoners would be few ; but even these
liberal terms failed to yield many scalps. It then occurred
to the authorities of Massachusetts that to retaliate on the
French settlements might prove, in the end, the easiest way
of protecting their own.

Accordingly, in May 1 704 an expedition against Acadia
was fitted out at Boston and placed under the command of
Benjamin Church,' now raised to the rauk of a Colonel.
He was furnished with a force of five hundred and fifty
men, besides officers, and provided with fourteen transports,
thirty-six whale boats and a shallop, and he was convoyed
from Boston by three war vessels of forty-two, thirty-two
and twelve guns respectively. At Penobscot he killed and
took several French and Indians, among the captives being
a daughter of St. Castin and her children. At Passama-
quoddy he took, some French settlers prisoners, and killed
others who had made no resistance. When he reached the
Bay of Fundy he sent his war vessels to Port Royal, while
he went farther up the Bay and engaged in the more con-
genial task of })lundering and destroying the French settle-
ments at Mines. At this place he caused the dykes to be
cut, L*o as to destroy the marsh lands, burnt down the
dwelliigs of the inhabitants, and captured as many prisoners
as he could secure. Then he returned to Port Royal, where
the fleet had, in the meim time, been lying, but without

- -w

■J'

k. '

■■'•ii '■

264

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

inakin<^ any serious approach to capture it. '^I'lie l)arl)arou8
C'hurcli, Avho had no stomach for real lightiu}:;, ^vhiIc so
much more was to be obtained by tlie phmderinj^ of un-
armed peasants, contrived to get the oflicers of the expechtion
to sign a paper to the eilect that it wouhl not be prudent to
attack that place. When this was done he hastened away
to ('hignecto, which he had so mercilessly visited eight
years before. There he l)urnt twenty houses, killetl one
hundred and twenty horned cattle, destroyed and Avasted
the settlement, and did the unfortunate settlers all the dam-
age in his j)()wer. Then he returned to Boston to receive
the thanks of the Legislature of Massachusetts for liis emi-
nent services.

Brouillan went to France in December, 1704, to recruit
his health, and Bonaventure, who had been captain of one
of the King's shij)s, and afterwards lieutenant for the King
in A(^adia, was left in command at Port Royal. Much of
Brouillan's time in France seems to have been employed in
writing letters to the Minister to justify his own conduct
while in Acadia, and in making accusations against others.
It was an unprofitable employment, for he was destined
never to see Acadia again. He died at sea off Chebucto in
September, 1705, on board the war ship Profond. His
body was committed to the deep, but his heart was carried
to Port Royal for burial, where it was interred with mili-
tary honors. The hatred which this Jiian seems to have
excited among those who had dealings with him in Acadia
was so intense, that it followed him to the very grave.
Des Goutins, writing to the Minister after his death, says
that " the public were unable to conceal their joy at his loss."

The garrison of Port Royal at this time consisted of one
hundred and eighty-five men, and while some of them were
invalids, others had been guilty of acts of insubordination.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

265

Bontiventuro had groat difficulty in ])reventing them from
killing the cattle of" the inhabitants, or stealing their effects.
J,>esertions were very frequent among the soldiers, and tliis
was attributed to the irregular jK-riods at which the provi-
sion ships arrived, leaving the men without their usual
supply of food. Some of the provisions supj)lied were of
bad (juality, and this also had a bad effect on discipline.
The fortifications, too, were in a bad state, owing to some
original imperfection in their mode of construction, and,
although a large amount of money had been expended on
them, they were far from being secure from attack.

In 1706, M. de Subcrcase was ap{)ointed Governor of
Acadia, and arrived at Port Royal. He was a man of
great capacity, of amiable manners, and was as much be-
loved as Brouillan had been detested. Although Bona-
venture had expected the appointm(>nt, he, nevertliekiss,
siij)])orted Subercase most loyally, and for the first time for
nearly twenty years, something like harmony reigned in the
colony.

The ponderous volumes which contain the correspond-
ence from Acadia at that period, and from which most of
the history of the colony has necessarily to be derived,
afford a curious illustration of the condition of a small
community, isolated from the rest of the Avorld, outside of
the great movements of the age, and whose main business
seems to have been to ])lot against ant! slander each other.
The Fren(!h minister, who had charge of Acadian affairs,
received letters from all sort^ of people in the colony, gov-
ernors, judges, officers, priests and private citizens, and
there is scarcely one of these letters from the time of Men-
neval to the time of Suberciise, \yhich is not filled with
complaints of the conduct of others. One of tlie most
comnion complaints against the governors of Acadia was

■K

•1
1 '

i ?

I? I

266

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

that they traded Kecrctly with the English. Menneval,
Villebon, and Brouillan were all accused of this, although
probably falsely. lu the ease of Villebon and Brouillan,
tyrannical and arbitrary conduct were added to the list
of charges brought against them, and many other accusa-
tions were preferred, some of which must certainly apj)ear
to a modern reader frivolous and absurd. Des Ooutins,
who filled the office of Judge in the colony, was one of
the princi})al accusers of others, and in his turn had a
double share of aa'usations preferred against him. The
complaints of his bad (sonduct extend from Menneval's time
to that of Subercase, but still he was not removed from
office, and the last mentioned governor gave it as his delib-
erate opinion that he had been grossly slandered. Bona-
venture figures for several years in the correspondence,
most unenviably in connection with a liason which he had
formed with the widow of Mathieu d' Amours, and in other
ways the reverse of complimentary ; yet Subercase states,
that — except in being a little too fond of gallantry — he was
an estimable person. But no class of men in Acadia had
more charges preferred against them than the priests. All
the governors, even Suberciise, who accused no one else, had
something to say against them. They were accused of
rapacity, of insolence, of disobedience to the civil authority,
of engaging in illicit trade, and of raising cabals in the
colony. No doubt a false zeal frequently led them to
mingle in temporal afiairs with which they had no concern,
but every one will desire to believe that their conduct was
generally exemplary, and that they had the real interests of
their people at heart.

At this period there was great activity among the priva-
teers, both French and English, and the number of prisoners
on each side became burthensome. Frequent voyages were

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

267

made between Boston and Port Royal for the exchange of
prisoners, and from the small number sometimes returned, it
was thought that the exchange of prisoners was frequently
made a pretext for carrying on unlawful trade with the
enemy. Even Governor Dudley of Massachusetts did not
wholly escape censure, for he was accused of being impli-
cated in this trade, but the Legislature declared him inno-
cent. Others were not so fortunate, and bills of pains and
penalties were ])assed for the punishment of those who
were supposed to be guilty, but they were very properly
disallowed by the English government, as being an inter-
ference with the ordinary course of justice.

Governor Dudley now determined to show his zeal for
the interests of New England, by making an attemi)t to
capture Port Royal, and all Acadia with it. In the Spring
of 1707 he induced Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and
Rhode Island to raise two regiments of militia, and gave
command of them to Colonels Hilton and Wainwright.
Colonel March, who had won some reputation in frontier
service against the Indians, was given the chief command,
and the transports which carried the force to Acadia v.ere
convoyed by two ships of war. They reached Port Royal
on the Gth June, and the alarm was carried to the fort by
a guard which Subercase had stationed at the entrance.
The Governor af Acadia was taken by surprise, and was
very ill prepared for an attack, but he concealed his fears,
and inspired his people with a confidence which he scarcely
shared. He sent out messengers to order the inhabitants
into the fort, and as fast as they arrived he embodied them
into skirmishing parties and sent them to the right and left,
so as -to retard the approach of the enemy. It was a for-
tunate circumstance for Subercase that sixty soldiers from
Canada had arrived at the fort a short time before the

'■"^M

-isil

268

HISTORY OF ACMT)IA.

Eugliish inadc tlioir appeuninco, and that St. Castin, the
soil of tho old baron, was there to eomniand the Indians
and the inhabitants. For, althongh the Enjijlish had Umdcd
iij)\vards ol" one thousand men to invest the plaee, they were
so well met at all points that Marc^h beeaine diseoiiraged,
and findinj^ he was makin<i; no progress, abandoned tho
seige after it had lasted I'or eleven days. The only exploits
of his army had been the burning of some houses and the
killing of some eattle about the fort. IMarch stated that
his officers and men refused to assault the j)lace, a state-
ment which, if true, spoke very little for their courage or
discipline, or for the (pialities of their commander.

March wrote from Canso of the failure of the expedition,
which had already been announced to Governor Dudley by
straggling parties of troops M'hich had reached Boston.
There, nothing but the caj)ture of Port Royal had been
anticipated, and preparations had even been made for
celebrating the event, so that the dissapointment at March's
want of success was very great. • Governor Dudley was
determined that another attempt should be made before so
fine a body of troops was permitted to disperse. He gave
strict orders to allow none of the soldiers to land from the
transports, on pain of death ; and, sending Colonel March
one hundred recruits and some who had disbanded them-
selves in Boston, with three Commissioners to supervise
the conduct of the expedition, he ordered him back to Port
Royal.

This bold stroke might have insured tlie capture of the
place had the spirits of the leaders of the expedition been as
high as that of Governor Dudley, for the French were far
from anticipating a second visit. But March was sick and
declined the command, and Wainwright, the next senior
officer who v/as appointed to it, does not appear to have

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

2(J9

had any (nialilications for tlio ])ositi()n. The second seij^o
began on the 20th Anj:;u.st and lasted until the end of tlu^
month, hut tiie Kuf^lish were repulsed at all points, and if
their oonunander's letters are to he believed, redueed to a
very niiserablo condition. It would be tedious to enumerate
the petty skirmishes wiiieh <listin<>;uished this unsuccessful
aflair, which reflected so little credit on the New P]ngland
troops. Tiie French seem never to have been really pressed
by their besiegers, for the losses on both sides were too
small to have involved mueli hard fighting. The French
only admitted a loss in the second seige of three men killed
and wounded, so we must put down Charlevoix accounts
of desperate hand to hand fighting as largely fabulous.
On the 1st September the New England troops embarked,
and sailed away from Port Royal, where they had met with
such a mortifying want of success.

During this year tlie Indians, incited by the French,
continued their attacks on the English frontier settlements,
and killed a number of persons. But beyond the terror
which tiiese marauding expeditions occasioned, they had no
effect whatever on the war, except to make the P^nglish
more resolute than ever to capture Port Royal, where the
Indians received the arms and ammunition with which
they carried on these attacks.

France was at this time waging war with much ill suc-
cesss in Euro})e ; her treasury was so exhausted, and the
nation so impoverished, that she had neither men nor money
to spare for Acadia. No doubt this was why the King's
ships, which arrived at Port Royal after the siege, brought
no merchandise either for the use of the iuiiabitants or the
Indians. The latter were only to be kept faithful by con-
stant presents, and even the inhabitants were not always so
loyal as was to be desired. Their loyalty to France won-

i ^

ili

■ i'

:il«

270

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

(lerfully iiuToasod under th(! English rrgiino, wlion it wits
no longer their duty to pnustice it. Befori; that they were
frequently supine enough when the French King's interests
were involved. Many ol' the inhabitants had, however,
suffered severely during the siege, in the loss of their cattle,
dwellings and goods, and some of them were even reduced
to a condition of great misery in consequciuje. Suhercaso
liad promised these peoj)le that, they would be rewarded for
their efforts to rej)el the enemy, and that the goods they
liad lost by the siege would be paid for by the King. Yet
the negligence or j)overty of the French government put it
out of his power to keep these promises.

Notwithstanding these discouragements, the Governor
continued to strengthen himself at Port Royal, and the
capture of a prize laden with valuable goods by one of the
men-of-war, enabled him in some measure to keep faith
with the Indians and inhabitants. He employed the crew
of the Venus to aid in repairing tlu; works of the fort, as
well as the soldiers of the garrison, and such of the inhabi-
tants as he could induce to engage in the task. During
the whole summer of 1 708 he thus employed two hundred
and fifty extra hands, and greatly improved the defences
of the place, finishing the barracks, erecting a bomb proof
magazine, and building a chapel and quarters for some of
the officers. He was anxious to fortify La Have also, and
to fit out more vessels to cruise against the English ; but
want of money prevented his wishes from being carried
out. Failing to obtain sufficient war vessels to answer his
demands, he encouraged the fitting out of privateers, and
they captured many English prizes, which were of much
service in meeting the wants of the colony. During this
year he was greatly disturbed by rumors of invasion, but
all proved false, for although the English meditated u

iriSTOIlY or ACADIA.

nuK'li
ig this

271

descent upon the plaee, they were not then prepared to
engage in it.

During that year, liowever, Captain X'^ctoh, who had
been f'recpiently to Acadia on trading voyages, went to
England to represent the condition of the French colonies,
and to solicit aid I'or their reduction. He returned to New
England in 1700, with the jjroniise that a fleet would bo
sent out in the Spring to aid the colonists in an ex[)edition
against Quebec, and bearing to them the commands of Her
Majesty that they should enlist men I'or that purpose. The
arrangement was that a sijuadron of ships was to be at
Boston in May, and that five regiments of regular troops
were to be sent out from England, to be Joined by twelve
hundred men, who were to be enlisted in Massachusetts,
New Hanij)shire and Rhotle Island, and this force wjis to
attiick Quebec. Fifteen hundred men were to be enlisted
by the Colonies south of Rhode Islai.d, and they were to
march by way of the lakes to attack Montreal. In America
everything was prepared for the enterprise, the sorthern
contingent, under General Nicholson, advanced to the place
of rendezvous on the shores of Lake Champlain, while the
New England forces were lussenibled ^t the appointed time,
and awaited but the order to embark. But the promised
English fleet did not appear. It had been got ready, and
the British troops were on the point of embarking, when
the exigencies of the war, which England was maintaining
in Europe, diverted the troops to another destination. The
disappointment of the colonists was great, for the expense
of the proposed expedition had been heavy, and the finances
of several of the colonies were so low, that they had to issue
bills of credit to defray the cost which tliey had incurred.
Tills did not prevent the colonists from making another
attempt to interest the Mother Country in the invasion of

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-S)

1.0

I.I

;miim iim

;• IM |||||22
t° lllll 2.0

1.8

1.25 1.4

1.6

^ 6" —

►

/}.

'e:

S^J

^^<^

'>,

Photographic

Sciences

Corporation

12 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, NY. 14580

(716) 872-4503

£?

c^-

272

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

New France. A Congress of governors and delegates from
the legislatures met at Rhode Island in the Autumn of
1709, and resolved to send home agents to assist Colonel
Nicholson, who was then in J]ngland representing the state
of the country and soliciting a new expedition against
Canada in the Spring. The British ministry then thought
the invasion of Canada too great an enterprise to be under-
taken, especially as the go\ernor, Vaudreuil, had been
warned of the previous expedition, and had made great
preparations to defend himself against invasion. It was
thought that the weak state of Port Royal and its proximity
to Boston, made its capture a much more feasible enterprise
than that of Quebec, and the smaller undertaking was
therefore resolved upon.

Nicholson returned to New England in July 1710, with
several war ships, and preparations were immediately made
for the expedition against Port Royal, which was to be
under liis command. It was ready to sail in Septeml^er,
and on the 24th of that month was before Port Royal.
Considering the weakness of that place, it was scarcely pos-
sible that Nicholson could fail, with the force at his disposal.
His fleet consisted of six frigates and a bomb vessel, and
his land forces were on board of thirty transports, all of
which arrived safely at Port Royal except one, which was
driven ashore at the entrance of the basin and lost, with
twenty-six men. Nicholson's troops consisted of a regiment
of royal marines from England under Colonel Redding,
and four regiments of New England troops, commissioned
by the Queen, and armed at her cost. His adjutant-general
was Samuel Vetch, who had been promoted by the Queen
to the rank of Colonel. The four Colonels of the New
England land forces were Hobby and Tailer of Massachu-
setts, Whiting of Connecticut, and Walton of New Hamp-

■m.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

273

shire. The land forces were estimated by the French at
3,500 men ; but as some of the regiments were quite weak,
this was probably an overestimate. But, after all deduc-
tions had been made, it was much more than sufficient to
accomplish the work with which it was charged.

No man knew better than Sul)ercase the extreme weak-
ness of his garrison, and the bad condition of his fort to
stand a siege. He had less than three hun<lred men,
yet he seems to have thought at first that the soldiers he
had would stand by him, and that the inhabitants were
also well disposed. But the harvest had been bad, and
provisions were scarce among the Acadians. For two
years the French government had left him on his own
resources, and he was without money to purchase pro-
visions, even if they had been abundant about Port Royal,
while his credit was exhausted. Under these circumstances,
and with a fort ill supplied with the very necessaries of
life, at a season when they should have been most abund-
ant, the soldiers naturally looke<l with despairing eyes on
their prospects for the coming winter. Three-fourths of
the soldiers at Port Royal were natives of Paris, M'ho had
l)een sent abroad by their parents in consequence of their
bad conduct, and severe military virtue was not to be
expected among such men. Almost lus soon as the English
forces appeared at Port Royal, they began to murmur and
to say that they had been abandoned by their native coun-
try. Desertions rapidly followed, and would have been
much more numerous, had not Subercase taken the precau-
tion to remove the canoes in which the soldiers usually
escaped. The evil effects of this want of confidence in his
garrison became more apparent when the English landed,
for Subercase was neither in a position to attempt to
oppose their landing, nor to obstruct their movements, as

" ■ 'i1

i':'

274

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

«:j^.,^

he feared to send out any detachments of his men, lest
they should desert to the enemy in a body.

Although part of Nicholson's fleet had been lying at
the entrance of Port Royal Basin since the 24th September,
he did not summon Suberciise to surrender until October
3rd, and his vessels did not go u\) to the fort until the 5th.
On the 6th the English troops were landed, and on the fol-
lowing day, under cover of the attack of a b)mb- vessel,
they succeeded in conveying a quantity of cannon and am-
munition past the fort in boats. The English continued to
work at their trenches, although continually cannonaded
by the French, until the evening of the 10th, when they
began to fire bombs, two of which fell into the fort, doing
some damage. The same night fifty of the inhabitants and
several soldiers deserted, and on the following day the
remaining inhabitants presented a j)etition to Subercase,
asking him to surrender. He paid no attention to this
request, but on the following day, when he found tiiat the
soldiers were as much demoralized by the English fire as
the inhabitants, he resolved to summon a council of his
officers to consult as to what should be done. A council of
war never fights, and the advice Subercase received from
this one was that it was necessary to surrender. Subercase
accordingly sent one of his officers to General Nicholson to
propose a capitulation, and the latter authorized Colonel
Redding to go to the fort and treat with Subercase as to
the terms. These were finally arranged, after considerable
debate, and on the 13th October the capitulation was
signed. Three days later the garrison — two hundred and
fifty-eight in number — miserably clad, and bearing all the
marks of privatibn and distress, marched out of the fort
with their arms and baggage, drums beating, and colors
flying, according to the terms of the capitulation. The

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

275

French flag was hauled down, which had floated there as
the emblem of authority for more than one hundred years,
but which was never more destined to wave above that for-
tress, so dear to the hearts of the people of Aeadia.

The soldiers of the garrison, under the terms of the capi-
tulation, were sent in English vessels to France. Suber-
case sent the Baron St. Castin* to convey the tidings of the
fall of the fort to Vaudreuil, Governor of New France.
He was acc()mj)anied by Major Ijivingston, who was the
bearer of a letter from Nicholson to the French Governor,
in which he stated that all the inhabitants of Acadia,
except those within cannon shot of the fort, were residing
there on suiferance, and that he would make reprisab on
them if the barbarities practiced i)y the savages on the
frontiers of New England were not discontinued. Vau-
dreuil returned a haughty answer, in which he stated that
any retaliatory measures which might be adopted by the
J]nglish would be amply avenged by the French, denying
at the same time that the French treated their captives
with inhumanity, or were accountable for the behavior of
the Indians. He added that a truce, or even a neutrality,
might have long before terminated the miseries of the war,
had the English desired it. Nicholson did not venture to
carry his proposals of retaliation into effect.

The work of the expedition being done, it returned to
Boston. Colonel Vetch was left in charge of the new
conquest, which was re-named Annapolis Royal, in honor
cf the reigning Sovereign, Queen Anne. A force of two
hundred marines and two hundred and fifty New England

*Thi8 was St. CR8tiu, the younger, the Baron's half brucd son. St. Castin, the
elder, went to France about the year 1701, and must have died soon afterwards, as
Subercase, writing in 1708 of his son's efforts to prove his legitimacy, so thht he
could obtain hib father's estate, uses expressions which show that St. Castin must
tlien have been dead for several years.

'%i

.. ,

'■^

K'IffI

HII ' f|!ll '

^^^H ' {. if*'

^Ht ' i kA

HI |l t IB

■pl ^

^Hiiii''

■

^^M

1 1

■ I

1 '< ''' ' 1

^1 ^1

1 i^'-'<' 1

'1 1, il

i 1 il

;';[ HI

l°(i in

;;|M

IB^H

H^H

i!'l' III

1 1 ''Vf' HI

III

fl^^^H

t' ff i

^' III'

ii' lla^ '

i ' f il '

1 Hlj

§Im

IR^i

III

l|l|j'

276

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

troops was detailed to garrison the place, which had been
so cheaply won and so iniprovidently lost. The cost of
the expedition to New P^ngland was £23,000, which was
afterwards repaid by the British Parliament. The English
loss in men did not exceed fifteen, besides those who were
drowned in the wrecked transport. The French loss was
smaller, but it was hunger and insubordination, and not
fighting, which reduced Port Royal, which thenceforth
vanishes from Acadian history.

The success of the expedition against Acadia encouraged
Nicholson to attempt one on a larger scale against Canada.
He went to England to solicit the aid of the government,
and an armament was got ready proportioned to the
magnitude of the enterprise. Nicholson returned to Boston
in June, 1711, for the purpose of hurrying forward the
preparations of the colonies, and later in the same month
the British fleet, under Sir Hovenden Walker, arrived. It
brought seven veteran regiments of the Duke of Marl-
borough's army and a battalion of marines under the
command of Brigadier General Hill. The forces of New
York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, to the number of
four thousand, including nearly one thousand Indians,
were collected at Albany, and, late in August, under the
command of General Nicholson, marched towards Canada.
The New England troops were embarked with the regu-
lars, and sailed for the river St. I^awrence on the last day
of July. The fleet consisted of sixty-eight vessels, and the
troops they carried numbered six thousand four hundred
and sixty-three, a force quite sufficient to have subdued
Canada. But the unskilfulness of the pilots caused eight
or nine of the transports to be driven ashore on the north
shore of the St. Lawrence, and nearly a thousand men were
drowned. This disaster caused Admiral Walker to re-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

277

linquish his design, and he bore away for Cape Breton,
and thence sailed directly for England. General Nicholson
waited at Lake George for news of the fleet, and learning
that it had miscarried, retreated to Albany. So, French
domination in Canada had a respite from the great danger
which had menaced it, and even the Acadians began to
believe that they might succeed in driving the intrusive
English from the country.

The Acadians about Annapolis had, indeed, shown great
impatience of the presence of the English, and only a
month after the capture of the place, they sent Ren6
d' Amours to the Governor of Canada, asking his assistance
to enable them to withdraw themselves from the country.
They complained that Colonel Vetch treated them harshly
and kept them in a condition ot servitude. These repre-
sentations, and the statement that the Acadian Indians
were growing cool in their attachment to the French
alliance, caused Vaudreuil to send two trusty agents to
Acadia, who were required to visit all the settlements,
assure the inhabitants of his assistance in expelling the
English, and exhort them to patience. Letters were also
sent to the priests, pointing out to them the necessity of
their keeping the Indians in an attitude of hostility to the
English. But, as it was evident that some secular jwrson
having authority over the Indians, and at the same time
in good understanding with the French, should be ap-
pointed t'> manage them, the Baron St. Castin, the younger,
was entrusted with a commission for the regulation of
Indian affairs, and made commandant of Penobscot and
lieutenant of the troops in the country.

At this time the French Secretary of State, whose ne-
glect of Acadia was the main cause of the capture of Port
Royal, began to evince a laudai)le anxiety to effect its

:-M

278

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

li i\

restoration. In a letter written to M. de Bcauharnois he
expresses his great desire to reconquer Acadia before the
English should have an opportunity of establishing them-
selves there, and his belief that the enterprise could be
easily accomplished by the sending of a detachment from
Canada during the winter. In the same comnmnication
lie re(picsts his correspondent to put himself in connnuui-
cation with Bonaventure, Du Vivier and Subercase, and
to advise as to the most certain and rapid means of success.
Unfortunately, Vaudreuil was himself expecting an attack,
and could therefore spare no Canadians to recaj)ture Acadia,
and the French treasury was at so low an ebb that no war
vessels could be fitted out to co-operate in an attack on the
English in Acadia. Louis XIV., in his quest for glory,
had reduced his country to a condition of bankruptcy, and
his colonies were left to shift for themselves, for he could
send neither men nor money for their defence.

Under these adverse circumstances, the Acadians might
have been dis])osed to remain quiet had it not been for the
conduct of the Indiays, who were now wholly under the
control of St. Castin. He had sent forty of his Penobscot
Indians to Annapolis to collect the savages in that vicinity
and incite them to insurrection. Excuses for an outbreak
were not wanting, and the circumstances of the garrison
were such as to encourage an attack. The New England
troops, unaccustomed to the close confinement of the fort,
became the prey of disease, great numbers of them died,
while others, longing for a life of freedom in the forest, so
far forgot their honor and their flag as to desert. The
garrison was thus left in a state of great weakness, and the
fortifications were also much out of repair. Colonel Vetch
had gone to Boston to take part in Nicholson's expedition
to Canada, leaving Sir Charles Hobby in command, when

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

279

the threatened outbreak took place. The English com-
mandant was engaged in repairing the fortifications, and
required the inhabitants to supply timber for that i)urpose.
The Indians opposed themselves to the furnishing of tim-
ber to the English, and induced the A(!adians to refuse to
comply with the Governor's demands. The latter resolved
to punish both French and Indians for their disobedience,
and sent a detachment of sixty men under Captain Pigeon
to seize some of the Indians and inhabitants who were up
the river. These troops fell into an ambusaide of Indians,
and thirty of them were killed, and the rest made prisoners.
This success was the signal for a general rising of the
inhabitants and Indians, and the garrison being greatly
weakened by the loss of so many men, they were able to
invest the place and keep it in a state of siege for several
weeks. The inhabitants within cannon shot of Port Royal
sent word to the Commandant that they considered he
had violated the terms of the capitulation, to their preju-
dice, and that they i-egarded themselves absolved from the
oath which they had taken not to bear arms. They then
withdrew from their dwellings and joine<l the rest of the
French in blockading the garrison. Gaulin, a missionary
priest, who took an active part in inciting this revolt, wrote
to Costabelle, governor of Placentia, for arms and ammu-
nition, and afterwards proceeded there himself to obtain an
experienced officer to conduct the siege. Costabelle sent a
large quantity of ammunition to the insurgents in a priva-
teer, and intended to send L'Hermite, an engineer officer,
to conduct the siege, but before this could be done, Anna-
polis had been relieved by a reinforcement of two hundred
men from Boston, and the Acadians were compelled to
disperse. The privateer with the ammunition was also
captured on the coast, and St. Castin — who had been most

■' :;J

,•-. 1

280

MISTOKY OF ACADIA.

active in this Indian rising — was pressed ho hard by a force
under Cohinel Waldron, that he hud to fly from Penobscot
and regain Quebec by a j)erihius journey througii the
wilderneas.

Both Enghmd and France were by this time weary of
the war, whitOi liad lasted with but one intermission for
twenty years. Secret negotiations had been going on for
some time through subordinate agents — M6nager, member
of the Board of Trade for France, and the poet Prior for
England — when, on the 29th June, 1712, the general con-
ferences of the powers which had been engaged in the war,
were opened at Utrecht. After more than a year had been
spent in propositions and counter-propositions, on the 11th
April, 1713, a treaty of peace was concluded, to which
France, Great Britain, Savoy, Portugal, Prussia and Hol-
land were parties. Whether this treaty was a prudent one
or not on the part of England, may be an interesting
question for speculative statesmen, but it does not much
concern the present generation. The territorial questions
which it was supposed to have settled had afterwards to be
referred to the arbitrament of the sword. But for the time
at least it gave, or was supposed to give, all Acadia to
England, for its twelfth article declared that "all Nova
Scotia, or Acadia, comprehended within its ancient boun-
dries, as also the City of Port Royal, now called Annapolis,"
were yielded and made over to the Queen of Great Britain
and to her Crown for ever. No one doubted at the time
this treaty was made that its terms were explicit enough,
or thought that there would be any difficulty in determining
what really were the ancient limits of Acadia. But in the
course of time the limits of Acadia became a great national
question, and led to differences of opinion which could
never be reconciled, so widely were they apart. For, while

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

281

England claimed that Acadia included all the territory
east of a line from the mouth of the Kennebec to Quebec,
including the whole south shore of the St. Lawrence, Gaspd,
the Island of St. John, and Cape Breton, the French con-
tended that Acadia only included the southern half of the
jKjninsula of the present Province of Nova Scotia. But
these are matters which will be treated more fully in their
proper place.

■- r <«i

CHAPTER XVI.

THE ACADIAN I'KOl'LE.

Thk larger part of the written hintory of every country
is taken up with accounts of changes of administration,
wars with foreign nations, and [)ersonal details of the lives
of its rulers. It is l)ut seldom that we get a glimpse of the
common people, upon whose prosperity the fabric of
national greatness nmst mainly rest, for most historians
seem to regard it as Ixnicath the dignity of history to invite
us to enter into the homes of the masses, to witnc&s theij*
daily life, and listen to the opinions which pass current
among them. But in treating of the History of Acadia it
is impossible to leave out of sight the origin and character
of its people, whose fidelity to a lost cause overwhelmed
them with misfortunes. In the preceding portion of this
history they occupy but a secondary place, being oversha-
dowed in importance by the representatives of the French
Government, the great Seigniors, and the Companies, who
monopolized the trade of Acadia. In the portion which is
to follow they will take th.e leading position in the story, —
a position due to them as the real upholders of French
influence in Acadia after the King of France had aban-
doned them to their fate.

The people of Acadia are mainly the descendants of the
colonists who were brought out to La Have and Port
Royal by Isaac de Razilly and Charnisay between the
years 1633 and 1638. The former brought out some forty
families of colonists, and the latter twenty families, most
of whom appear to have remained in Acadia, and commenced

; ' ■■ :

HISTOKY OF ACADIA.

283

the cultivation of the soil. These colonists came from Ilo-
chellc, Suintonge luul Poitou, so that they were drawn trotn
a very limited area on the west coast of France, covered by
the nuxlern departments of Vendee and Charente Infer-
rieure. This eirciunstance had some influence on their
mode of settling the lands of Acadia, for they came from a
country of marshes, where the sea was kept out by artifi{!ial
dikes, and they found in Aaidia similar marshes, which
they dealt with in the same way that they had i>cen accus-
tomed to practice in France. The uplands they almost
wholly neglected, so much so that in 1734 Governor
Philipps wrote to the Lords of Trade that in almost a
century they had not cleared more than three hundred acres
of forest lands. After making considerable allowance for
exaggeration in this statem^'nt, it may be accepted as a fact
that the Acadians at a ti.ne when their population was
quite large had made scarcely any impression on the forests
of Acadia. They found the cultivation of the marsh lands
more profitable, and therefore they are not to be blamed for
directing their energies to reclaiming them.

Charnisay seems to have set the example of diking the
marshes at Port Royal, and Denys, whose book was pub-
lished in 1G72, is authority for the statement that these
diked lands produced wheat in great abundance. Diercville,
who visited Acadia in 1699-1700, tells his readers that the
^cadians stopped the current of the sea by erecting large
dikes which they called " Aboieai; <." Their method was
to plant five or six rows of large trees in the places vvhere
the sea enters the marshes, and between each row to lay
down other trees lengthwise on top of each other, and fill
up the vacant spaces with clay, so well l)eaten down that the
tide could not pass through it. In the middle they adjusted
a flood-gate in such a way as to allow the water from the

](!

284

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

marsh to flow out at low tide without permitting the sea
water to flow in. He adds that these works were very
expensive and demanded much labor, but the abundant
harvest obtained the second year repaid them for their out-
lay. As the marshf were owned by many persons, they
worked at the erecli. of dikes in concert. Diereville's
account of the method of diking marsh lands pursued by
the Acadians two hundred years ago might very well
answer for a description of the same ojMiration as practised
at the present day in this modern Acadia.

Up to the year 1671 most of the Acadian families re-slded
at Port Royal. The first census of Acadia was taken in
that year, and it gives us a good view of the progress which
had been made in the thirty-five or more years since these
people had come to the countr}-. In all Acadia there were
but four hundred and forty-one people, but, omitting sol-
diers and fishermen, the total of actual settlers in the colony
was reduced to four hundred and one, comprising seventy-
four families, of which sixty-eight, numbering three hun-
dred and sixty-three souls, were at Port Royal. The
people at Port Royal had four hundred and seventeen
arpents of land under cultivation, and had harvested five
hundred and twenty-fiv( barriques and fifty-seven minots
of grain, — an amount which may be roughly stated to
rep'^esent four thousand three hundred bushels. The Port
Royal people had eight hundred and twenty-nine horned
cattle, and three hundred and ninety-nine sheep, so that as
a farming conununity they were fairly well oiF. The sur-
names of the families at Port Royal were Aucoin; Babin,
Belliveau, Baiols, Belou, Bertrand, Blanchard, Boudrot,
Bourc, Bourgeois, Breau, Brun, Con meaux, Cormi6, Cor-
poron, Daigle, Doucet, Dugast, De F oret, Gaudet, Gaute-
rot, Girrouard, Gougeon, Grange, Guillebaut, Hubert,

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

285

Kue&sy, Labathc, Lananx, Landry, Lebland, Martin,
Melauson, Morin, Pclerin, Peti|)a,'<, Poiri6, Pitre, Richard,
Rinibaut, Robichaut, Scavoye, Sire, Terriau, Thib&ideau,
Trahan, Vincent, — or forty-seven names in all. The other
Acadian names of" that census were Mius or D'Entremont
at Pubnico, Lalloue at Cape Negro, and Poulet at Rivi6re
ail Rochelois.

The next census of Acadia of which we have full par-
ticulars was taken in 1686, and in the fifteen years that
had elapsed since the former census, the population had
more than doubletl. A considerable portion of this in-
crease was due to immigration, Grand-fontaine having
brought out sixty persons in 1671, of whom five were
females. Most of these iramigrantfe had gone to Port
Royal, which had increased its population to ninety-five
families, numbering five hundred and ninety-two persons.
Notwithstanding this large increase, there was less land
under cultivation than at the previous census, and the
number of horned cattle had also decreased by nearly two
hundred. This may be taken as an indication that the
people of Port Royal were at that time devoting themselves
more to fishing and other pursuits than merely to agricul-
ture. In the interval between the two enumerations, two
important settlements had been founded by colonists from
Port Ro^al — that of Chignecto, which at the census of
1686 contained seventeen families, numbering one hundred
and twenty-seven persons, and Mines, which had ten fami-
lies and fifty -seven persons. The people of Chignecto had
four hundred and twenty-six arpents of land under culti-
vation, a larger area than was cultivated at Port Royal,
and they possessed two hundred and thirty-six horned
cattle and one hundred and eleven sheep. At Mines thdre

'.'1
V

■;i'

'i' m

286

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

(•I

were eighty-three arpents under cultivation, and the settlers
had ninety horned cattle and twenty-one sheep.

This census gives us nearly fifty new names not found
in the census of 1671. At Port Royal there were Arse-
nault, ]Barilost, Bastcrache, Eenoit, Brossard, Leblanc,
Leborgne, Brien, Colson, Como, Douaron, Dugas, Fardel,
Garault, Guillaunie, (ioho, Godet, Godin, Henry, LaVoye,
Lort, Leuron, Margery, Peltiet, Prijoan, Ivcprince, Le-
jxirriere, Toan and Tourangeau, none of which had been
in Acadia at the previous census. All the other settle-
ments contained persons who had evidently rea(^hed Acadia
after the census of 1671. At Chignecto the new names
were Mirande, Labarre, Mignault, Cochin, Cottard, Mer-
cier, Laval le, Lagasse, and Blon. At Mines were Laboue,
La Roche, Pinet and Rivet. At La Have were Provost,
Labal, Vesin, Lejeune, Michel and (aourdeaux.

In addition to these new names of settlers, there were at
this time in Acadia a number of persons whose families did
not become permanent residents of the country. At Pen-
obscot, the Baron St. Castin resided with his family and
servants. At Chignecto, La Valli^re had an extensive
establishment, and cultivated sixty arpents of land. At
Miramichi resided Richard Denys, a son of Nicholas Denys,
then in France. At Nepisiquit was p]naud, who had mar-
ried an Indian woman. On the River St. John resided
Martin D'Aprendistigu6, a son-in-law of La Tour, his wife
Jeanne, then sixty years old, and his daughter Chariane. On
this river also resided three of the d'Amours family, Louis,
Mathieu, and Ren6, the first two being married. Mathieu
d'Amours resided at Freneuse, on the cast side of the St.
John, opposite the Oromocto; Louis had his residence at
Jemseg.

None of the La Tour family appear in the census of

-i;

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

287

1671, but in 1686 Jacques La Tour, the oldest son of La
Tour by his second marriage, was living at Cape Sable,
and was married to Marie Melanyon, jjrobably a daughter
of the La Verdure who appeal's as a M'itnoss in his father's ^
marriage contract. Charles La Tour was also at Ca^ie
Sable at this time, but was unmarried. At the same place
were his sistei-s, Anne and Marguerite, married to two of
the D'Entremont family, Jacques and Abraham Mius.
The oldest sister, Mari^, was at Port Royal, and was the
wife of Alexander LeBorgne, better known as M. de Belle-
isle. All of La Tour's children by his second marriage, were
therefore in Acadia in 1686. None of the name are now
left in either of the Provinces which formed Acadia.
Jacques La Tour's only son retired to the French domin-
ions after the English occupation of the country, as did also
Charles La Tour, who died some time prior to 1782.

The next census of which we have details was taken in
1693, the population of all Acadia being then one thousand
and nine, of which five hundred j)ersons, divided into
eighty-eight families, resided at Port Royal. The popula-
tion of the Province had increased in seven years by one
hundred and twenty-four, which is probably about what
the natural rate of increase should have been, but Port
Royal had lost ninety-two of its population. Chignecto
also had reduced its population from one hundred and
twenty-seven to one hundred and nineteen. These losses
are easily accounted for. The progress of the Chignecto
colony had been retarded by the seigniorial claims of La
Valli6re, who claimed the whole of that fine territory.
Port Royal had ceased to be the seat of government, which
was then administered by Villebon at* Fort Nashwaak, and
its |)eople had gone in large numbers to Mines, which after-
wards became the mast flourishing settlement in Acadia.

•'■;

. ■•<

■it 1^ ' ' ■ . ■

288

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Mines had in 1G93 a population of two hundred and ninety-
beven persons, who had three hundred and sixty arpents of
land under eultivation, and possessed four hundred and
sixty-one horned cattle, three liundreci and ninety sheep,
and three hundred and fourteen swine. Port Jioyal also,
though it had lost in population, had gained in other
respects, for it had thirteen hundred and fifteen arpents of
land under cultivation, and possessed eight hundred and
seventy-eight horned cattle, twelve hundred and forty
sheep, and seven hundred and four swine. Chignecto had
one hundred and fifty-seven acres of land under cultivation,
and owned tl- ,« hundred and nine horned cattle, two
hundred and eighty sheep, and one hundred and forty-six
swine. The other settlements at this period were insignifi-
cant. At Cape Sable there were thirty persons, at Port
Razoir twenty, at River St. John twenty, and twenty at
Penobscot.

A partial census taken in 1695 gives us details of the
settlements on the St. John river, which then contained ten
families, numbering forty-nine persons. There were one
hundred and sixty-six acres of land under cultivation and
seventy-three in pasture. The crop of the year was one
hundred and thirty bushels of wheat, three hundred and
seventy of corn, thirty of oats, and one hundred and seventy
of peas. The live stock consisted of thirty-eight horned
cattle and one hundred and sixteen swine. In 1698 there
was another partial census of Acadia, when Port Royal
had five hundred and seventy-three inhabitants, and Chig-
necto one hundred and seventy-five. Port Royal had
twelve hundred and seventy-five arpents of cultivated land,
fifteen hundred and etghty-four fruit trees, nine hundred
and eighty-two horned cattle, and eleven hundred and
thirty-six sheep. Chignecto had been sacked by Church

■ J

as one
and
cventy
orned
there
Royal
Chig-
had
J land,
ndred
id and
hurch

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

289

two years before, but still it had held its ground pretty
well. It had two hundred and ninety-eight arpents under
culture, three hundred and fifty-two horned cattle, and one
hundred and seventy-eight sheep. Church had boasted
that in 1696 he left their "cattle, sheep, hogs and dogs
lying dead," but as the only live stock which had dimin-
ished were the sheep, he must have wreaked his vengeance
mainly on them.

In 1701 there was another census of Acadia, which shows
Port Royal with its population reduced to four hundred
and fifty-six persons, and a still greater reduction in its
live stock and cultivated acreage. Mines, however, had
increased its population to four hundred and ninety, and
Chignecto had a population of one hundred and eighty-
eight. In 1703 Port Royal had a population of four
hiuidred and eighty five, and Chignecto two hundred and
forty-five ; but the population of Minos had fallen to four
hundred and twenty-seven ; and in this census Cobequid
appears for the first time with a population of eighty-seven
souls. Evidently this settlement had been included in
previous enumerations of Mines, or there had been a large
emigration from Mines to Cobequid in the interval.

In 1714 a census of Port Royal and Mines was taken by
Felix Pain, a missionary priest, and is preserved in the
archives of Paris. By that census it appears that Port
Royal, including the Banlieu, the Cape and the residences
close to the fort, contained eight hundred and ninety-five
French inhabitants. Mines, under which designation were
included the residents on the rivers Gaspereaux, Piziquid,
Habitants and Canards, had eight hundred and seventy-
eight inhabitants. Many new names appear in this census,
showing that some immigrants had come to Acadia f^om
Canada, or from France, and that many soldiers of the gar-
s

' ■■■ M

-J

i.|:

290

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

rison liad settled in the country, married and founded
families. The names in this census list which are not to
be found in the lists either for 1671 or 1686, are Abraham,
Alain, Barnabe, Beaumont, Beaupre, Bernard, Blondin,
Bonappetit, Baguette, Babet, Bourg, Brer,u, Bodart, Boutin,
Boucher, Boisseau, Brasseau, Cadet, Carne, Champagne,
Clemenceau, Cosse, Chauvet, D'Amboise, Debert, Dubois,
D'Aroes, Emmaiuiel, I'Etoile, Gentil, Gouselle, Jean,
Jasmin, Labaune, Langlois, I^a Libert<!', Laurier, La Ro-
sette, Lafont, La Montagne, Ijavergne, Le Bascjue,
L^sperance, Le Breton, Lemarquis, Lionnais, Maillard,
Moire, Mouton, Nantois, Oliver, Paris, Parisien, Perrine,
Potier, Raimond, Rieul, Roy, Samson, Savary, Sellan,
Surette, Saunier, St. Louis, St. Scenne, Toussaint, Villate,
Voyer, Yvon. Here we have sixty-nine names of families
which must have come to Acadia subsequent to the census
of 1686. It is possible that some of these names are not
new, but are merely the old names spelled differently, such
as Bourg, which may be merely Bourc, with the final letter
changed. But after making allowance for such alterations,
the fact remains that at least half of the one hundred and
twenty names of families residing at Port Royal and Mines
in 1714 did not exist in Acadia prior to 1686. Indeed
the development of new names in Acadia was quite
remarkable, for in 1730, after the English had been in pos-
session of the country for twenty years, among the
signatures to the oath of allegiance are several names not
to be found in any previous census.

Having in the foregoing pages gone over the progressive
stages in the growth of the Acadian settlements with some
degree of minuteness, the result may be summed up in a
few words — that the Acadian people are descended in the
first place from some sixty families, brought from Rochelle

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

291

and its vicinity between 1633 and 1638, from sixty other
individnal. brought also from Rocliello in 1671, and from
sixty or neventy others, most of tiicm disbanded sohliers,
mainly from Paris, who settled in the conntrv between
1686 and 1710. A few settlers from Canada, such as the
d'Amours, came to Acadia at various times, but they
nearly all went back again, so that the Canadian element
had little or no influence on the Acadian population. The
Acadians were, therefore, a homogeneous people to a greater
<legree than almost any other race that can be named.
Very few women came out from France after the first im-
migrations prior to 1638, so that, although new families
were founded, the mothers were in most cases Acadians of
the original stock, and so the unity of race wits preserved.
(Jirand-fontaine brought out four girls and one woman
among his sixty immigrants of 1671, and these seem to
have been the only females brought to Acadia by the
French Government. A further proof of this fact is
furnished by the remarkable se^ircity of marriageable
women in Acadia at all times. By the census of 1686, it
appears that there were three hundred and forty-two
unmarried males in Acadia and only two hundred and
forty-five unmarried females. These figures include the
children of every age, and even after deducting twenty-five
unmarried fishermen at Chedabucto and Miramichi, indi-
cate a positive dearth of unmarried young women at the
settlements. The census of 1693 shows three hundred and
eighty-three unmarried males and only two hundred and
seventy-five unmarried females. Fortunately in this census
the ages are given. There were two men between thirty-
one and forty unmarried, but no single women of that age.
There were fourteen unmarried men between twenty-one
and thirty, but only four unmarried women of the same

ifi

■ ■ i >

■i

-i;

292

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

age. There were forty-seven youths between sixteen and
twenty, but only seventeen girls of corresponding ages. There
were seventy-seven liys between eleven and fifteen, and
fifty-five girls of the sa le age; there were two hundred and
fifteen boys of ten years and under, and one hundred and
eighty girls of the same age. Thus, while the normal pro-
portion of boys to girls was as one hundred and nineteen to
one hundred up to the age of ten years, in consequence of
early marriages among the girls, the proportion changed
between eleven and fifteen to one hundred and sixty-nine
boys to one hundred girls, and between the ages of sixteen
and twenty to two hundred and seventy-six boys to one
hundred girls. It is, therefore, clear that about twenty
per cent, of the Acadian girls were married before they had
reached their sixteenth year, and that scarcely any were
left unmarried at twenty. This excess of males continued
as long as Acadia was a French Province. In 1698, in
the two settleraente of Port Royal and Chignecto, the
unmarried males exceeded the unmarried females by sixty-
eight in a total population of seven hundred and forty-
eight. In 1701, at Port Royal, Chignecto and Mines the
unmarried males numbered four hundred and seven, and
the unmarried females three hundred and fifty-one. In
1703, the numbers were four hundred and forty-eight
males to three hundred and ninety-two females, and in"
1714, at Port Royal and Mines, there were six hundred
and sixteen unmarried males and only five hundred and
sixty-three unmarried females. An attempt has been made
to disprove the scarcity of women in Acadia by citing
the case of Marie Sal6, an old maid, who was living at Port
Royal in 1686. This venerable female was then eighty-
six years of age, and was not in Acadia at all when the
census of 1671 was taken. She must have passed her

•t

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

293

three-score years and ten before she came to tlic country,
and therefore her case proves nothing, except that none of
the Acadians desired to marry a woman old enough to be
a great-grandmother.

Probably it was the scarcity of white women that caused
some of the Acadians to marry Indian females. M. Ra-
meau, the talented author of " La France an Colonies,"
has been fiercely attacked for ascribing the great friend-
ship which existed between the Acadians and the Indians
to these marriages. Nevertheless, that such unions took
place is susceptible of as clear proof as any fact in Aca-
dian history. There are four undoubted marriages of
Acadians to Indian women recorded in the official census
returns prepared for the information of the French gov-
ernment, three of which »vere fruitful. The marriages in
question are those of St. Castin at Penobscot, Pierre Martin
at Port Royal, and Martin Lejeune at La Have. A most
absurd attempt has recently been made by a descendant of
the Acadians to get rid of the issue of these three mar-
riages by driving St. Castin's children off among the
Indians, sending Martin and his family to La Rochelle or
Louisburg in 1710, and conveying Lejeune and his progeny
to some unknown and unnamed region whence they could
never return to defile the pure blood of the Acadians.
Unfortunately the facts are against such a disposal of
these families. The sons of St. Castin by his Indian wife
did not remain in Acadia and found families; but two of
his daughters married in Acadia in 1707. Anastasia St.
Castin became the wife of Alexander Le Borgne, son of
M. de Belleisle, and grandson of Charles La Tour. He
appears to have gone to reside among the Indians, but he
returned to Port Royal, and was residing there in 1734
and up to the time of the invasion of Annapolis in

■■4
'■I

■;■*

294

IIISTOKY OF ACADIA.

1744. Frances, his daughter, married an inhabitant named
Robicheau, Ixitween 1741 and 1744, and her descendants
rtre now doubtless in Acadia. Belleisle himself, or his
eldest son, was living on the St. John river in 1754.
Therese St. Castin, who married Philip I)'P]ntremont, also
rcmaincHl in the l*rovince. The fact that these marriages
took place shows that such alliances were not regarded
as disgraceful, for both the bridegrooms had the l)est
blood in Acadia in their veins — both were grandsons of
La Tour. And scarce as young women were in Acadia,
the fact that Anselme St. Castin, the young Baron, was a
half-breed, did not prevent him from marrying one of the
best born maidens in the Province, for Charlotte, daughter
of Louis d'Amours, became his wife.

The name of Pierre Martin appears in the census of
1771. He was then forty years of age. His wife was a
squaw, Anne Oxihnoroudh, and he had four children,
the eldest of wliom was ten years of age. In the census of
1714, four years after Port Royal was taken, and after all
the inhabitants who left the Province in consequents of the
English occupation had departed, the name of Pierre
Martin figures in the list of inhabitants of Port Royal.
There is also Pierre Martin, the younger, evidently one of
the half-breed sons, who has no less than eleven children^
eight sons and three daughters, suggesting frightful
thoughts as to the capacity of the Martins for spreading
Indian bloml among the Acadians. The Martins continued
to increa.se and flourish, notwithstanding the English occu-
pation. The oath of allegiance of 1730 was signed by
no less than seven Martins then residing at Annapolis,
viz., Batist, Pierre, Charles, Etienne, Michell, and two
Martins named Ren6. It is a little singular that the third
signature to this oath should have been that of Pierre

■■»s

HISTORY OF ACAMA.

295

Martin, no doubt a direct descendant of the original
Pierre.

In the census of 1686 the name of Martin Lojeune
occurs. He resided at La Have; his wife was an Indian
woman, and they had two children. The La Have colony
was broken up in 1690 by the P^nglish, and the inhabit-
ants sought homes in other parts of the Province. Fugi-
tives from Ija Have would naturally make their way to
Port lloyal or Mines, either being within three days
journey of La Have. In fact, one of the sources of the
Ija Have can be tra(!ed to the same chain of lakes which
feed the Gaspereaux flowing into the IJasin of Mines.
Accordingly, among the inhabitants of Mines residing on
the Piziquid river in 1714, were two men named Lejeune,
one with a wife and one son, the other with a wife, three
sons and three daughters. To strengthen the supposition
that these Lejeunes were from La Have, it may be stated
that a man named Michel was a resident of lia Have in
1686, and that in 1714 a Michel uas residing at Piziquid,
near the licjeuues. On the other hand, it is just poasible
that Lejeune did not leave the neighborhood of La Have,
notwithstanding the attack of the English. There was a
man named Lejeune living at Petite River, a short distiince
west of La Have, in 1745, and he had the honor of being
mentioned in a letter written by Governor Beauharnois to
the Count de Maurepas. It is, therefore, pretty clear that
the descendants of Lejeune, of La Have, and his Indian
wife are still in Acadia.

It is abundantly clear, however, that three marriages
between Acadians and Indian women two centuries ago
could have no influence whatever, after eight generations,
on a race as numerous as the Acadians. These marriages,
therefore, became matters rather of antiquarian interest

■i

296

IIISrOllY OF ACADIA.

than as hearing on the; ori<j;in of the Acatliun |)C()|)lc
Whether there were other marriages of a siniihir eharaeter
prior to 1714, is a matter whi<^h it is, |)(!rhapH, not worth
whi' to incjuire into, for the eensus of that year Hnpplies no
information on the subjeet. Coh)n('l Veteh, in a letter
written to the Lonls of Trade in tliat year, states tliat Aea-
(lians had intermarried with the Indians, and to this and
to their Ix-ing of one religion he ascribes the infhience
which the French had over the latter. Vetch had an
<tj)j)(>rtnnity of knowing the trnth with resj)eet to this if he
choijc to tell it, for he had traded with the Aeadians l)efore
Port Uoyal fell, and had prior to the time he wrote been
for some time commander at that place. A minute of
council written by Paul Mascerene, then Jiieutenant-
Governor, in January 174o, supplies another interesting
(contribution to the literature of this subject. This minute
states that a letter was laid before the Council from the
inhabitants of Grand Pre, Hive* C'anard, and Piziquid,
stating that they had been informed that several armed
vessels had arrived from New England, that they had
pressed several of the inhabitants of Anna])olis to serve as
pilots to go against the Indians, and that they had heard
they were " coming u]) the Bay to do the same, and to
destroy all the inhabitants that had any Indian blood in
them and scalp them." They then went on to say, that
as there were " a great number of Mulattoes amongst them
who had taken the oath, and who were allied to the greatest
families, it ha<l caused a terrible alarm." Tiiey therefore
prayed for the protection of the I^ieutenant-Governor. The
minute then goes on to relate that the three inhabitants
who were chosen by the three districts named to bring this
letter were called in and assured by Mascerene of his pro-
tection, and told also that " in regard to the notion that tlie

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

297

inhuhitantH had amongst them that all who had any Indian
blood in thorn wore to he treated as enemies, it was a very
great njistake, sinee if that had been the design of the New
England armed vessels, it might very well he snpposed
that the inhabitants of this (Annapolis) river, many of
whom have Indian blotKl in thenj, and some even wlio live
within reaeh of the eannon, would not be suffered to live
jteaceably as they do." This miiuile would seem to show
that it was rather a matter of notoriety that there were
Acadians with Indian blood in them at (Jrand PrC", Pizi-
quid, Jiiver Canard and Anna])olis, in the year 174r).

La, Mothe Cadillae, who lived in Acadia for several
years, writing in 1()})3, gives a description of the Acadians
of that day, which shows that in the earlier days of the
colony marriages with the Indians could not have been
conunon. He says: "The natives of the country are well
made, of good figure, and well proportioned. They are
robust, and can stand much fatigue. T/iey f/enerally have
light hair." This certainly is not a description of a people
who had Indian blood in their veins, and where the Aca-
dians of the present day have preserved this type, we may
conclude that the few marriages Avith Indians, which are
recorded, have made no impression upon the race. Al-
though tlic Acadians are a darker people than the majority
of their ancestors were, that fact proves nothing with regard
to the j)urity of their blood. Different mcxles of living
and differences of food are jwtent influences in changing
the complexions of a people. The Anglo-Saxon in America
loses the flaxen hair and ruddy complexion, which marked
his ancestors, without exciting any suspicion of being of
mixed blood. The per centage of Indian blood in the
veins of the Acadians is too small to be worthy of being

]

^ 11

1
■^1

i*s.^ri

lilj

298

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

taken into account, and in modern times marriages between
Acadians and Indians have been exceedingly rare.

The world is indebted to the Abb6 Raynal for tliat
picture of the mode of life and character of the Acadians,
which was accepted so long without question, and which
served to make their misfortunes appear so cruel and unde-
served. It represents them as a people without quarrels,
without litigation and without poverty, "where every mis-
fortune was relieved before it could be felt, without
ostentation on the one hand, and without meanness on the
other." Whatever little differences arose from time to
time among them were amicably adjusted by their elders.
" They wore," says Raynal, " a society of brethren, every in-
dividual of which was equally ready to give and to receive
what he thought the common right of mankind. So
perfect a harmony naturally prevented all those connexions
of gallantry, which are often so fatal to the peace of
families. This evil was prevented by eiirly marriages, so
that no one passed his youth in a state of celibacy." We
are also told by the same auth "ity that " their habitations,
which were constru(!ted of wood, were extremely convenient
and furnished as neatly as substantial farmers' houses in
Euroix;."

This is but a part of the elaborate and highly colored
description which Raynal has given of the Acadians. It
was written for the purpose of drawing a sharp contrast
between the condition of the Acadians and that of the
miserable peasantry of France, who before the Revolution
were reduced almost to the condition of slaves. So long as
the picture of the Acadian peasants was made sufficiently
striking to point the contrast, Raynal cared nothing for its
truth. Indeed, such a condition of things as he imagined
in Acadia, never existed anywhere, and never can exist so

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

299

long as Imman passions and hunmn motives remain un-
changed. There is no reason to believe that the Acadians
differed materially in character from any other peasant
class of their race. They were intensely patriotic, much
more so than the |)easant of their metropolitan state, and
this, no doubt, was largely due to the influence of their
j)riests, who were always wedded to the interests of France.
But there was another cause for this feeling. Their ances-
tors had left France when she was great and powerful
under the master hand of Richelieu, when the memory of
the first and greatest of its Bourbon kings was still fresh
and glorious. A century passed away, and France had
become debauched and ruined by the follies and vices of
her kings, yet to the Acadian she was still the France of
his forefathers, and he could not understand why the rela-
tions between the nations should so change, that England
should acquire the ascendant in America.

The Acadians, living as they did remote from the cen-
tres of thought, escaped the malign influence of that form
of scepticism which passed for philosophy in the eighteenth
century. They accepted without question the teachings of
their ecclesiastics, and were largely guided by them in the
conduct of their affairs. The influence of the priests was,
no doubt, generally employed for proper and beneficial
purposes, but when they became political emissaries, their
influence became evil and even ruinous to the Acadian
people. Still, apart from that, the aspects in which they
})resented themselves in their relations to the people was
sometimes very different from what they should have been.
The French Governors of Acadia were constantly complain-
ing that the priests sought to rule the people, and infringed
on the civil authority. These complaints began with
Grand-fontaine in 1671, and continued as long as the

n:r

300

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

French had Governors in the country. The ecclesiastics
were accustomed to defy the authority of the French Gov-
ernors just as they sought to defy the authority of the
English Governors in later times. Some of the jiriosts
were accused of very unclerical conduct both by the French
commandants arl other officers connected with the admin-
istration of affairs. There was scarcely one of the jiriosts
in the larger settlements who was not accused of engaging
in illicit trade with the English. In Menneval's time the
priests' houses at Port Royal were said by Des Goutins to be
the receptacles of smuggled goods. Charges of a graver
character were preferred against them. Trouve, one of the
priests at Pore Royal, is charged with putting improper
questions to several women at the confessional. These
women went to Des Goutins, the Judge, asking him to
receive their complaints ag;inst Trouv6, and stating that
this priest, by the questions he asked, wished to awaken in
their minds wrong feelings towards their husbands. Des
Goutins adds: "Some scandal of this kind occurred in the
case of a young lady of quality, who, tired out and annoyed
by questions of this sort, rose and left the confessional,
saying that she would not come again and confess to him.
The said Trouv6 was seen to come out very much excited
and scolding, and he went immediately to perform mass."
He must have been in an excellent frame of mind for
this solemn duty. This same Trouv6 was also charged
with refusing to receive the confession of Dominick Gar-
reau, Sergeant Royal, when on his death-bed, because
Garreau refused to resign his office. Jeoffry, another
priest, was accused of refusing to bury the son of one of
the settlers. In consequence of this last difficulty, a num-
ber of the settlers refused to pay their tithes, and the

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

301

111 mass.

priests had to go to law to obtain the twenty-sixth part of
the produce, which they claimed.

St. Cosrae, the priest at Mines, was charged with very
nnbecon>ing conduct in 1694. The wife of Pierre Theriot,
the principal colonist there, had been accused by a man
named Le Baume, Theriot's servant, of being too intimate
with Jean Theriot, who was a nephew of Pierre and lived at
his house. Le Baume was brought up on a charge of slan-
der before the Judges at Port Royal, who gave sentence
against him and condemned him to make a public apology
to the parties'he had slandered, and to pay the costs of the
Buit. This sentence was carried out, but the priest, instead
of acquiescing in it and rejoicing in the vindication of an
innocent woman, pronounced sentence of excommunication
against her on three successive Sundays, and on the fourth
expelled her from the church, reiterating the disproved
charges which had been made against her. A community
where such things could happen must have diiFered con-
siderably from that depicted by Abb6 Raynal.

The Acadians themselves were frequently spoken of in
terms far from flattering by the writers of the despatches
to the Minister. Perrot, writing in 1686, says that many
of them did nothing but hunt and wander away from their
superiors, under pretence of owning grants that they did
not improve. If we are to believe this authority, the in-
habitants neglected their land in order to go hunting, and
that some of them led dissolute lives with the savage
women. At this period, he states that there were many
lawsuits and much disorder in the colony. The orders sent
to Menneval by the King relative to the government of the
country are not such orders as a monarch would be likely
to send with reference to a people who were above reproach.
The King, it would seem, had been informed that there

I Ml

•fl

ft' '

!,.■■"

I : .

i.'i

ifl

mSTOKY OF ACADIA.

were continual divisions among the settlers, and that bush-
ranging was the only occupation of part of them. He had
been informed also that many of them Mere leading dissolute
lives with savage women, and this Menneval wius instructed
to prevent. It might perhaps be j)resumed by those who
wished to give the Acadians the benefit of every doubt,
that these instructions ap|)lied to St. Castin, the d'Anioure,
Enaud, and one or two other Seigniors, who, although then
residents of Acadia, were certainly not Acadians in the
ordinarv meaning of the term. But this view of the sub-
ject is entirely disproved by what follows, for the letter
of instructions goes on to say — " What His Majesty has
explained concerning his plans for the prevention of licen-
tiousness and ranging the woods, which forms the only
employment of those living in five or six of the old and
principal settlements, and to compel those who are there to
cultivate the ground and fish, apj)lies also to the Sieur de
St. Castin." This addition shows clearly that the King,
Avhen referring to the prevailing licentiousness, was speak-
ing of the inhabitants in general, and not merely of a few
lawless men of rank.

The united testimony of all the Governors of the Prov-
ince — French and English — goes to show the litigious
disposition of the Acadians. As they had no commerce
worth naming, and very little barter of any kind, they had
very few subjects to go to law about ; but such as they had
they eagerly took advantage of. The most fertile causes of
litigation with them were disputes as to the boundaries of
their grants, and they pursued these quarrels sometimes
with such zest as to carry appeals to the Council at Quebec,
which was harder to reach than Australia is at the present
day. The English Courts in Nova Scotia would not enter-
tain their civil causes, because to have undertaken to

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

303

adjudicate upon the boundaries of their lands would have
involved the admission that they were entitled to hold
tiiem. But this did not i)revent them from (juarreling.
Governor Lawrence, writing in December, 1753, to the
Lords of Trade, says : " The French inhabitants are
tolerably quiet as to government matters, but extremely
litigious among themselves." This scarcely agrees with
the Abbe Raynal's account of the Acadians. At the very
time when he represents them as having no difterences
among themselves but what were amicably adjusted by
their elders, they were clamorous to have their causes tried
before the English Courts.

The gentle and peaa^ful character of the Acadians has
been much insisted on, and given as a reason against their
forcible removal from the Province. The people within
reach of the guns of Port Royal were tolerably obedient,
but in the settlements where there was no military force to
coerce them, they exhibited very different traits. When
Governor Brouillon visited Mines in 1701, he found the
people extremely independent, not acknowledging royal or
judicial authority. The judgments of the Judge at Port
Royal they entirely disregarded, and Bonaventure had to
use considerable pressure to bring them to order. Nor was
their patriotism at that time very strong. They expressed
their fears to Brouillon that the Province was about to be
put under the control of a Company, and declared that in
that case they would do nothing for its defence, but would
rather belong to the English. This testimony of a French
Governor as to the disposition of the people of Mines
agrees precisely with that of Paul Mascerene, a French
Huguenot in the British service, who wrote to the Lords
of Trade in 1720 as follows: "The inhabitants of this
place " * * * " are less tractable and subject to command.

■I

-i

'.'^irl

■ m]-

:W'

304

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

All the orders sent to them, if not suiting to their humors,
are scoffed and laughed at, and they put themselves upon
the footing of obeying no government." (jovcrnor Arm-
strong, writing of the Acadians in 1731, says: " It will be
a difficult matter to bring these people to any reasonable
terms of obedience'to His Majesty's government, or even to
any manner of good order and decency among themselves;
for though they are a litigious sort of people, and so ill-
natured to one another as daily to encroach upon their
neighbors' properties, which occasions continual complaints,
yet they all unanimously agree in opposing every order of
government, though never so conducive to their own
interests."

This may be regarded as the account of an enemy of the
Acadians, and therefore colored by prejudice. But it is
somewhat unfortunate that very unflattering accounts of
their condition and character have been written by men
of their own race. Costabelle, the Governor of Pla(!cntia,
writing to the French Minister in regard to the proposed
removal of the Acadians to Cape Breton for the purpose
of strengthening that colony, says that the Acadians are
half Indians in disposition, and that they could never
be relied on. "Without money," he says, "one can expect
nothing from the good will of the people, who will be
always more disposed to go back into foreign territory on
the smallest discontent, than to be subjected to the nation
from which they draw their origin, which they have for
the most part forgotten." And in 1745, Beauharnois,
Governor of Canada, in a letter to Count De Maurepas,
says of the Acadians : " The Acadians have not extended
their plantations since they have come under English do-
minion ; their houses are wretched wooden boxes, without
conveniences and without ornaments, and scarcely contain-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

305

ing the most necessary furniture. But they are extremely
covetous of specie. Since the settlement of Isle Royale,
they have drawn from Louisbourg — by means of their
trade in cattle and all the other provisions — almost all the
specie the King annually sent out. It never makes its
appearance again; they are particularly careful to con-
ceal it."

These extracts from the letters of contemporaries of the
Acadians, French and English, are not given for the purpose
of showing that the Acadians were worse than other people
in point of morality, but merely to prove that they were
not so much better than their neighbors as to be above the
laws which apply to ordinary mortals. The enemies of
British power have industriously labore<l to invest the Aca-
dians with a certain halo of sanctity, so that their expulsion
in 1755 might be made to apj)ear an awful and inexcusable
crime. The readers of this book, as they trace the course
of events from the fall of Port Royal to the capture of
Beausojour, will have an opportunity of judging for them-
selves as to the morality or necessity of that extreme
exercise of power. If they have a turn for historical
comparisons, they may wish to measure it with the treat-
ment of the Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes by Louis XIV. But the act must not be judged by
any parallel supplied by that cruel and vain-glorious King.
One evil deed does not excuse another, and the enforced
exile of the Acndians must be justified or condemned on its
own merits. It is a subject in regard to which a modern
writer can well afford to deal impartially, for there is no
reason that national prejudices should warp our judgment
of events which happened a century and a quarter ago.

The modern Acadians arq, no doubt on the whole, a
better people than their ancestor, less violent in their ani-

T t

I *■

iii

'■>;>■

306

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

mosities, and less visionary as to the glory of the nation
from which they sprung. Indeed a modern Acadian would
find it difficult to find in the France of the present day any
of the lineament" of the old France from which his fore-
fathers c"ame, and for which they cherished such a deep
affection. Here alone has been preserved with fidelity the
type of the French peasant of two centuries and a half ago.
Here again a portion of old France survives under happier
conditions and with better hopes, preserving the picturesque
and homelike as{)e{!ts of the Mother Land without those
drawbacks which made the French peasant of ancient
times little better than a slave. Nearly one hundred thou-
sand of the descendants of the ancient Acadians now people
the Maritime Provinces of Canada, a loyal, frugal, indus-
trious and contented peasantry, a people of strong religious
convictions, and of high moral character. Instead of being
an element of political weakness, as their ancestors were,
they form one of the bulwarks of the state, and there is no
race of men in the Dominion whose loyalty is more to be
depended on. And they have beyond all other races in
Canada tiiat strong element of patriotic feeling — the love of
the soil upon which they were born. This is still to them
the Acadia of their fathers; the land well beloved and
without a peer, and they are j)roud to call this spot of earth
their home. Long may the Acadians flourish and increase
in a land which their forefathers subdued, and which they
hold so dear.

ft
y.i

CHAPTER XVII,

THE ENGLISH AT ANNAPOLIS.

The treaty of Utrecht, by which Acadia was given to
England, also ceded Newfoundland wholly to that power,
but France retained the Island of Cape Breton and the
other Islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, including, of
course, the Island of St. John, now known as Prince Ed-
ward Island. The way was thus left clear for France to
erect new and powerful establishment on the very borders
of Acadia, and to retain for herself the rich fisheries of the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the practical control of the
whole of the coasts washed by that mighty sea. That was
what France immediately proceeded to do. The French
garrison, withdrawn from Placentia, was removed to Cape
Breton, which was re-named Isle Royale, and there on the
shores of English Harbor began the erection of a great for-
tress, from which France might look forth and defy her
enemies, the widely-famed and potent Louisbourg.

It was evident from the first that the French intended to
interpret the cession of Acadia in as restricted a sense as
possible, and that it was their aim to neutralize the power
of England in the colony, by confining it within the
narrowest limits. The inhabitants numbered some two
thousand five hundred at the time of the treaty of Utrecht,
divided into three principal settlements at Port Royal,
Mines and Chignecto. The priests at these settlements
during the whole period from the treaty of Utrecht to the
expulsion of the Acadians were, with scarcely an exception,
agents of the French Government, in their pay, and resolute

"if

,a!

"(i'i

\V\.

308

IIISTOUY OF ACADIA.

fii'i;

1 ;;

;' ;

opponentH of EngliKli rule. Tlu; j)rcs('iioc of a powerful
French estjiblishment ut Lonishurg, and their constant
coinnmnications with Canada, gave to the politi(!al teach-
ings of those })riest8 a moral influence, which went liir
towards making the Acadians continue faithful to Franw;.
They were tiiught to l)elieve that they might remain in
Acadia, in an Jittitude of scarcely concealed hostility to the
English Government, and hold their lands and possessions
as neutrals, on the condition that they should not take up
arms either for the French or English. In other words,
they were to enjoy all the advantages of British rule, and
have all the privileges of British subjects, without Ixiing
liable to any of the drawbacks which such an allegiance
implied.

When Port Koyal was taken, a certain number of the
French inhabitants, such as lived within a league of the
fort, were by the terms of the capitulation, permitted to
remain u{)on their estates, with their corn, cattle and fur-
niture, for two years, on taking the oath of allegiance. No
provision whatever was made for the other residents of
Acadia. By the fourteenth article of the treaty of Utrecht,
it wa.s stipulated " that the subjects of the King of France
may have liberty to remove themselves within a year to
any other place, with all their movable effects. But those
who are willing to remain, and to be subject to the King
of Great Britain, are to enjoy the free exercise of their
religion according to tlie usages of the church of Rome, as
far as the laws of Great Britain do allow the same."

On the 23rd June, 1713, nearly three months after the
treaty of Utrecht was signed, Queen Anne wrote to Nich-
olson, the Governor of Nova Scotia, as follows : " Whereas
our good brother, the Most Christian King, hath, at our
desire, released from imprisonment on board his galleys,

* -

■fl

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

;}()})

Kuch of his Kubje(?tH as were detained there on aeeoiint of
their professinf^ the Protestant relijfion. \Vv, \mu*f willing
to show by sonic mark of onr favor towards his siihjeeta
how kind we take his eomi)lianee therein, have therefore
thought fit hereby to signify our will and pleasure to you,
that you permit such of them as have any lands or tene-
ments in the pla(;cs under your government in Aeadia and
Newfoundland, that have been or are to be yielded to us by
virtue of the late Treaty of Peaee, and are willing to eon-
tinue our subjeets, to retain and enjoy their said lands and
tenements without any molestation, as fully and freely as
other of our subjects do or may possess their lands or
estates, or to sell the same if they shall rather choose to
remove elsewhere. And for so doing this shall be your
warrant."

The status of the Acadians in 1714 can be easily gath-
ered from the article of the treaty and the royal letter
above quoted. They wcw, entitled to sell their property,
real and personal, and remove from the Province if they
so desired, or if they chose to remain in the Province, they
might do so, and were to be permitted to reside upon their
lands and enjoy their property as fully and freely as other
subjects of the British Crown, and likewise the free exer-
cise of their religion. But the language of both treaty and
letter shows that it was as British subjects only these privi-
leges were to be enjoyed. It was never contem{)lated that
the Acadians should establish themselves in the country a
colony of enemies of British power, ready at all times to
obstruct the authority of the government, and to make the
possession of Acadia by England merely nominal. A letter
from father Felix Pain, missionary at Mines, to Costabelle,
written in September, 1713, shows clearly enough what
were the views of the Acadians at that jjcriod. Father

310

HISTORY OK ACADIA.

Felix roportH them jih saying: " Wt; shall answer for our-
selves and for the al>MfM^.t, that we will never take the oath
of fidelity to the Queen of (Jreat IJritjiin, to the prejudice
of what we owe to our King, to our (;ountry, and to our
religion." In this same letter they declined to remove to
Cape Breton, as was desired by some of the French au-
thorities, but gave Costabelle to understand that while they
remained in Acadia, they would be faithful and devoted
subjects to the King of France.

Queen Anne died in August, 1714, and in January,
1715, Messrs. Capoon and Button were commissioned by
Governor Nicholson to proceed in the sloop of war Caul-
field to Mines, Chignecto, River St. John, Passamaquoddy
and Penobscot, to proclaim King George, and to tender
and administer the oaths of allegiance to the French in-
habitants. The French nifuscd to take the oaths, and
some of the people of Mines made the pretence that they
intended to withdraw from the colony. Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor Caulfield — to whom Messrs. Capoon and Button made
their rei)()rt — wrote to Secretary of State Stanhope for
instructions how he should proceed. A year later the
people of Mines notified Caulfield that they intended to
remain in the country, and at this period it would seem
that most of the few French inhabitants who actually left
the Province had returned. Caulfield then summoned the
inhabitants of Annapolis, and tendered them the oath of
allegiance, but with no better success than his deputies
had mot at Mines and Chignecto. His successor as
Lieutenant-Governor, Doucette, in the autumn of 1717
summoned the people of Annapolis to sign a declaration
acknowledging the King of Great Britain to be sole
King of Acadia, declaring him their Sovereign King,
and promising to obey him as his true and lawful sub-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

311

jects. The French of AnnapoIiH sent in a written iinHwer
to this request, stating that they were ready to comply
with the demand as soon as the King had provided them
with some means of shelter from the savage tribes ; hut
unless they wore protected from these savages, they could
not take the oath demanded. They, however, expressed
their readiness to take an oath that they would tiike up
arms neither against the King of England nor against
Franco, nor against any of their subjectij or allies.

This statement, that they feared the Indians, was of
course a mere pretext, for the loyalty of the savages to the
French Government was something that required to be
constantly stimulated by presents, and the Micmacs were
not so learned in oaths as to be able to make nice distinc-
tions between an oath of neutrality and one of fidelity.
And if the inhabitants of Annapolis, who had an English
garrison to defend them, could assume such an attitude,
what measure of protection was likely to satisfy the inhabi-
tiuits of Chignecto and Mines, who had no soldiers near
them?

(loneral Phillips, who became Governor of Nova Scotia
in 1717, and who arrived in the Province early in 1720,
had no more success than his predecessors in persuading
the Acadians to take the oaths. Every refusal on their
part only served to make them more bold in defying the
British authorities. The third day after his arrival at An-
napolis, Governor Phillips was visited by father Justinian
Diu'and, the {>riest of the settlement, attended by one
lumdred and fifty young men, his object evidently being to
impress the Governor with the force he could command.
On being asked to tjdje the oaths, these people refused,
through their })riest, in the sjime terms which they had
before employed, alleging their fear of the Indians, and

■*:'"? I

I IS

;j';i[:

itu-

t" ^r •

f*.

?: *: ■

312

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

stating that in Governor Nicholson's time they liad bound
themselves to remain subjects of France, and to retire to
(Jape Breton. A procjlamation, vvliich the Governor sent
to the various settlements, demanding that the inhabitants
should take the oaths, only drew I'orth another refusal,
father Justininn in the meanwhile being desj)atehed to Lou-
isbourg with a letter, asking the assistance of M. St. Ovide
de Brouillan, the Governor of that' j)laee. In this letter
they say : " We have up to the present time j)reserved the
purest sentiments of fidelity to our invincible monarch.
The time h.i^ come when we need his royal protection and
assistance."

The British Government, and those who administered
their affairs in Acadia, undoubtedly exhibited great lenity,
not to say weakness, in dealing with these people, who na-
turally became possessed of the idea that they might safely
defy British power. The garrison at Annapolis was weak,
and there was no British force in any other part of the
Province to keep them in awe. They held themselves in
readiness to take up arms against the English the moment
war was declared between the two Crowns, and to restore
Acadia to France. But as there was a peace of thirty
years duration between France and England after the
treaty of Utrecht, there was no opportunity of carrying this
plan into effect.

Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, however, continued to
keep the Acadians on the alert by means of his agents, and
the Indians were incited to acts of hostility against the
English, both in Acadia and Maine. The first difficulty
occurred at Canso in 1720, by a ])arty of Indians assailing
the English fishermen there. The Indians attacked the
fishermen in their beds, killed three or four of them, and
robbed tliem of everything. A number of French fishing

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

313

tni, and
fishing

vessels from Cape Breton came next night, and took away
the fish and ]n*oj)erty belonging to the English, but the
master of a sloop, who chancctl to arrive the following
morning, pursued the Fnnioh v^essels, and captured six or
seven of them, recovering the property they contained.
The Indians were incited to this attack by the French of
Cape Breton, who were annoyed at one of their vessels
being seized at Canso by a British war vessel for illegal
fishing. Eleven of the Indians engaged in the robbery at
Canso returned home by way of Mines, and there found
a New England trading slooj) belonging to Mr. John
Alden. This vessel they plundered under the very eyes
of the French in':?bit.irits, who made no effort whatever to
( .event them. Governor Phillips, in his indignation at
these outrages, v rote to Secretary Craggs that it would be
more for tlie pvofit and honor of the Crown to give back
the country to the French than to be contented with the
name only of government, while the French made it sub-
servient to the support of their settlement at Cape Breton,
which could scarcely subsist without the grain and cattle
carried there from Mines. One immediate result of the
Canso outrage was the sending of a company of soldiers
there, under Major Armstrong, to take possession of a .^mall
fort, which the fishermen had erected. Very strong re-
monstrrinces were addressed by the Governor to the people
of Mines regarding their conduct in permitting Alden's
ves'sei '/y b^ r!)bbed, and they finally promised to make good
the daroage.

It was at this period that the plan of having deputies
elected annually to represcni the French inhabitants was
adopted at the suggestion of Governor Phillips. These
deputies were ele(!ted every 10th of October, and their
duties were to act on behalf of tiie people in communicating

]■ 'is

.- i

■S

' i-i

' . -11

314

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

with the Governor, and to publish the orders of the latter.
The number of deputies varied from four to eight in each
settlement. They were invested with no judicial powers,
but were often appointed arbitrators for the decision of
small cases. The Government of the Province then con-
sisted of the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, and a
number of Councillors, most of them officials or connected
with the garrison. This was substantially the form of
government which existed up to the year 1758, when the first
Assembly of the Province of Nova Scotia was convened.
Indeed the fewness of the English settlers and the hostile
attitude assumed by those of French origin rendered any
more elaborate system of administration impossible.

Governor Phillips, Avho had accurate information with
regard to the attempts of the French to incite the savages
to hostilities, endeavored to counteract these schemes by a
policy of friendship towards them. He had nine of the
principal chiefs of the St. John Indians brought over to
Annapolis, where they were handsomely entertained, and
had presents distributed among them. They went home
apparently pleased with their reception. Phillips also
encouraged the Indians of the Penin&ula to visit him fre-
quently, and never permitted them to depart without
presents. No doubt, if they had been left t() themselves,
they would have continued at peace with the English, but
it was not to the interest of France that this should be.
And they had a most powerful means of influencing these
children of nature, in the missionary priests who had spent
their lives among the Indiuiis, learning their language, and
teaching them the doctrines of their religion. The Indians
had indeed some reason to be disquietetl, for the progress of
the English settlements east of the Kennebec filled them
with apprehensions. Unfortunately the English had not

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

315

been always so just in their dealings with them that they
could rely entirely on their forbearance. The Indians
claimed their territorial rights in the lands over which the
English settlements were spreading; the French encouraged
them in this claim, alleging that they had never surrendered
this territory to the English. While these questions were
in controversy the Massachusetts authorities were guilty of
an act which did not tend to allay the distrust of the
Indians. This was nothing less than an attempt to seize
the person of father Ralle, the Jesuit missionary at Nor-
ridgewock. He, whether justly or not, was blamed for
inciting the Indians to acts of hostility, and was therefore
peculiarly obnoxious to the English. In December 1721
a party of armed men was sent under Colonel Wastbrook
to Norridgewock to capture this priest. They arrived at
the Indian village where he lived, without being discovered,
but before they could surround his house he escaped to the
woods, leaving his books and papere behind him. The
English alleged that these papers contained his correspond-
ence with the Governor of Canada, and implicated Ralle
in the attempts to stir up the Indians to vvar. This attempt
to take Ralle, and the sqjzure of the young baron St. Castin
who was taken to Boston about the same time, deejily ex-
asperated the Indians and caused them to decline another
conference with the English. They were resolved upon
war, and accordingly in the summer of 1722 a war com-
menced, in which all the Indian tribes from Cape Canso to
the Kennebec were involved. The Frencsh could not openly
take part in the war, but such encouragement and assist-
ance as they could give the Indians secretly they freely
supplied.

The first blow was struck in June, when a ]3arty of sixty
Indians captured nine families at Merry Meeting Bay, but

■M

^nffp^

i,, < i.,i

316

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

let all go except five men, who were retained as a compen-
sation for four hostages held by the English. At Da-
mariseove, six Indians attacked a fishing vessel commanded
by lieutenant Tilton, but got the worst of the encounter,
for three of them were killed by the fishermen. They next
attempted to surprise the fort at the River St. George, but
failed, and in revenge, burnt a sloop and took several
prisoners. They renewed their attempt on this fort a few
weeks later, and tried to undermine it, but a heavy rain
caused the sides of their trenches to fall in on them, and
they gave up the attempt. Their next exploit was the
capture of Mr. Newton, the collector at Annapolis, John
Adams, son of one of the Council of the Province, and
Captain Blin, a Boston trader. They were going in a
vessel from Annapolis to Boston, and touched at Passama-
quoddy for water. On going ashore they were surprised
by a party of Indians, with whom were some French, and
made prisoners. The Indians were preparing to attack
the vessel when thos'" on board out the cable, hoisted sail
and put to sea, where no canoe could follow them.

This attack was speedily followed by others. A number
of trading vessels were taken in the Bay of Fundy, and no
less than eighteen in the various harbors on the Atlantic
coast of the Peninsula, including a sloop which Governor
Phillips had sent with bread for the garrison of Annapolis.
The capture of this vessel seemsi to have emboldened the
Indians to attempt to starve out Annp" ^lis, but this attempt
was frustrated by the Governor, wno sent several armed
vessels from Canso with food for the beleagured fortress.
Douccl:t, who was in command there, succeeded in captur-
ing twenty-two Indians, and the rest fled. They were
next heard of on the coast near Caiiso, cruising on the
fishing banks with the vessels they had captured, and

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

317

lumber
and no
Atlantic
jvernor
apolis.

C'd tllG

ttempt
armed
)rtress.
captur-
were
on tlie
d, and

compelling their prisoners to servo as mariners. They
threatened to attack Canso in fonie, and there was much
consternation among the owners of valuable fishing estab-
lishments; but fortunately Governor Phillips was there,
and he succeeded in fitting ojit two armed sloops, placing
an officer and a detachment of soldiers on board of each.
These two vassels did such effective service, that in three
weeks they re-took all the vessels and prisoners except four.
Phillips states that many Indians were killed, among
others four chiefs who had been with him but a month
before receiving the King's presents and assuring him of
their intention to live at peace with the English, All the
Indians captured agreed in stating that they had been
incited to go to war by the French Governors. This check
relieved the Province from any further attacks during that
year.

In Maine, however, they continued active. The fort at
Casco neck was threatened, and one man found outside of
it killed. The settlement at Brunswick was destroyed, but
the party engaged in this operation was followed by Captain
John Harmon, of Kennebec, with a company of thirty-four
men, and fifteen of the Indians killed, as they slept by their
camp fires. Georgetown was attacked in September by four
or five hundred Micmacs and Abenaquis, but it was too
well guarded, and the Indians retired, after killing fifty
head of cattle and burning twenty-six houses.

In February, 1723, Colonel Westbrook, with two
hundred and thirty men, ascended the Penobscot, and de-
stroyad a fort which the Indians had there, including the
chapel and priest's residence. As the savages had deserted
it, no great lustre attached to the enterprise. During this
year about thirty persons were killed or captured in Maine,
in various attacks, but the Indians nowhere appeared

^:K

818

HISTORY OF A€AD1A.

in great force. In Acadia they did but little damage, and
many of the chiefs professed a willingness to make peace.
The only bloodshed recorded for the year in the Province
was the killing of a man named Watkins, who was on a
fishing voyage to Casco, and who, together with two other
men, a woman and child, were attacked and slaughtered by
the savages.

In 1724 the war wa.s resumed with renewed fury. The
Indians commenced their depredations in March, by attack-
ing a man at Cape Porpoise. In April they shot a man
who was working in his field at Black Point, and carried
off his two sons. They captured a sloop at Kennebunk,
and put the whole crew to death. They then killed three
men in a saw mill up that river. In May they killed two
men at Berwick, and scalped a man named Stone, who
afterwards recovered and lived to old age, a maimed and
crippled proof of Indian ferocity. The same month Cap-
tain Josiah Winslow and sixteen men fell into an
ambuscade on the St. George River, and, after a desperate
resistance, were all killed. Winslow was a great-grandson
of Governor Edward Winslow, of the Plymouth Colony,
and a brother of General John Winslow, who, in 1755,
removed the Acadians from the Province. In June, a party
of Indians consisting of thirty Malicites and fifty Micmacs,
gathered at Isle Haut, with a view to attack either Anna-
polis or Canso. From there they proceeded to Mines,
where two English trading vessels were at anchor, but they
were on the alert, and the Indians did not venture to
attack them. They were so much divided in opinio*! as to
which was the best place to attack, that they separated,
some of the Micmacs going home, while the Malicites and
twenty-six of the Micmacs went to attack Annapolis. In
a few days they appeared before it, and repulsed a party

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

319

from the fort that sallied out to drive them away, killing
and scalping a sergeant and private of the garrison, and
wounding four others. In revenge for this, one of the
Indians, who had been captured at Annapolis by Doucett
two years before, was shot and scal|)ed by order of the
Council, on the very spot where the sergeant had been
killed. This was simply a wanton murder, and quite in
keeping with the mingled weakness and ferocity which
occasionally distinguished the administration of the Prov-
ince at that period. Father Charlemagne, the priest of
Annapolis, had been at Mines when this war party gathered
there, and could have easily warned the Annapolis garrison
of the intended attack upon them, which was, indeed,
publicly talked of at Mines. As he had failed to do
so, and had evidently endeavored to prevent intelligence
of the attack from reaching the English, he was put into
custody and sent to Louisbourg. Father Isadore, the
priest of Piziquid, who liad sent a warning to Annapolis,
although it arrived too late, was thanked and highly com-
mended, and made Cur6 of Mines. This will serve to show
that the priests differed widely from each other in senti-
ment and conduct towards the English. Isidore, unfortu-
nately, was not allowed to remain at Mines, being obliged
to give place to Gaudin, who was very far from being a
friend of the English.

While the English in Acadia pursued a purely defensive
policy, they were actively aggressive further to the west-
ward. Father Ralle was an object of intense hatred to the
people of New England, and an expedition was planned for
the destruction of his village at Norrigdewock. Two hun-
dred and eight men, attended ,/ three Mohawk Indians,
ascended the river late in August, and having obtained
accurate information as to the condition of the place, made

■,'t

-li

'■'•-'■'^^l

' "1

■ ''if !

-';Im

' 'i^it^

:f;»|

320

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

I-

i
i

•(■•■■

hut!

ij!'

I „ ^■:'

a fierce and sudden attack upon it. The Indians, entirely
taken by surprise, made scarcely any resistance ; all who
cx)uld escape, fled, and those who could not were shot down
without mercy. Father Ralle. who was in his wigwam,
was killed, scalped, and his remains barbarously misused.
The killing of this old man, who wjis sixty-seven years of
age and very feeble, was a despicable and cowardly act,
utterly unworthy of the civilization which New P^ngland
boasted. But some allowance should perhaps be made for
men who had seen their homes ravaged, and their wives
and children murdered, and who believed Ralle to be the
cause of these atrocities. The destruction of Norridgewcok
was a blow from which the Kennebec Indians never recov-
ered, for the number of slain was large, and included Mog,
Bomaseen, and manv of their most noted warriors. Ralle,
their missionary, who had been with them for twenty-six
years, was greatly beloved by the tribe. He was a man of
good family and of rare attainments^ an excellent classical
scholar, and familiar with several Indian languages. He
was buried by the Indians on the site of the altar of his
church, which had been robbed of its sacred vessels and
ornaments, and burnt by the English. In recent years, a
monument has been erected to his memory on the spot
where he fell.

The death of Ralle caused great rejoicing in Massachu-
setts, and when Harmon, who was senior in command,
carried the scalps of his victims to Boston — this string of
bloody trophies, including the scalps of several women and
of an aged priest — he was received as if he had been some
great general fresh from the field of victory. A certain
Captain John Lovewell, emulous of Harmon's fame as a
taker of scalps, and his patriotism fired by the large bounty
offered by Massachusetts for that kind of article, gathered

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

321

Bachu-
mand,
ring of
len and
n some
certain
(16 as a
bounty
atliered

a band of thirty volunteers in December 1724, and com-
menced scalp-hunting on the borders of New Hampshire,
killing one Indian, for whose scalp the company received
£100. He started again in February 1725 with forty
men, and at Salmon Falls River surprised ten Indians
asleep by their camp fire, and killed them all, their
scalps netting him and his companions £1000. Hero he
should have paused and not trusted too much to fortune,
but the prospect of gain and glory opened to him, induced
him to make a third venture, which ended in the loss of
his own scalp. He and thirty-four of his men fell into an
Indian ambuscade on Saco River and more than half of
them were killed, Lovewell himself being among the slain.
Fortunately for New England and for Nova Scotia the
Indians were growing tired of the war, and were disjiosed
to treat for peace. A preliminary conference was held at
St. George's fort in July, at which the Indians displayed a
pacific disposition, and in November four of the principal
Sagamores of the country, Loron, Arexus, Franyois Xavier,
and Meganumba, representing the tribes of the Penobscot,
Norridgewock, St. John and Cape Sable, met in Boston to
negotiate a treaty of peace. After discussions which lasted

than a month an agreement was arrived at, the
Indians engaging to abstain from further hostilities, and to
give up their prisoners. They acknowledged the sovereignty
of King George to the Province of Nova Scotia or Acadia.
This treaty was ratified at Annapolis by the chiefs of Cape
Sable and St. John, and at Falmouth in the following
August, where it was signed by twenty-six chiefs, Paul
Mascarene being present to represent Nova Scotia. Thus,
liapi)ily, closed a conflict which was extremely dangerous to
the weak English colony in Nova Scotia, and which would
u

''■&

-3

'■'^ -v^li

''■1

'.,i Si

■'■''11

^^'Mi

322

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

!. ■,

iiif

have been fatal but for the fact tlmt the French were
obliged to preserve the apjjearance of neutrality.

At this time Canada experienced two severe losses in
the death of Governor Vaudreuil and in the drowning of
a ship load of passengers bound for Quebec. The Cha-
meau, a sixty gun ship, was driven on the rocks near
Louisbourg in a fearful August gale, and every soul on
board perished. Among her passengers were Chazel the
new Intendant, Louvigny the Governor of Three Rivers,
and many officers, ecclesiastics and colonists.

Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong, having got the Indian
war off his hands, began to devote himself anew to the task
of inducing the Acadians to take the oath of allegiance.
He succeeded better than his predecessors hatl done, for in
the Autumn of 1726, the deputies and inhabitants of An-
napolis River took u qualified oath of allegiance, with a
clause not requiring them to take up arms. But at Minos
and Chignecto the inhabitants still persisted in their refusal
to take any oath, and sent back an insolent answer. They
would take no oath, they said, but to " our good King
of France," a reply which iiad far from a soothing
effect upon Armstrong's tem})er, which was none of the
best. To punish them for their insolence it was resolved
by the Council that no vessel should be permitted to trade
with the inhabitants of Chignecto and Mines until they
took the oath required.

George T. died in 1727, and his death was known at
Annapolis in September. This rendered it necessary to
require the inhabitants of Annapolis to take the oath of
allegiance again. They were therefore ordered to assemble
for that purpose ; but, instead of doing so, they sent in a
written answer refusing to take the oath except on certain
conditions, which were deemed by the Council insolent.

, 'f "^^

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

323

This was the moro .siiigviliir us they had tnken the oath the
previous year, and Artn.strong asserts in his letters to the
Secretary of State that their refusal was entirely due to
the deputies, who, instead of pei'suading them to take the
oath, frightened them from it, by representing it ay
extremely binding. Three of the deputies, Landry, Bour-
geois and Ri(!]iar(ls, were put in prison for tiiei'* share in
this refusal, and the foiu'th, Abraham Rourg, in (jonsidera-
tion of his advanced ag<', was j)ernutted to leave, the Pro-
vince, which, however, he seems not to have done. An
ensign named Wroth was sent to Mines and Chigneeto in
a vessel with a com{)any of soldiers to jjroclaim King
•George II., and administer the oaths of allegianco to the
people there; butjie granted such concessions to the in-
habitants as were regarded as unwarrantable and dishon-
orable by the Council, and his ])roccedings were treated as
null and void. The embargo v.ith respect to trade which
had rested on these places for more than a year, was,
however, removed.

The return of Governor Phillips to the Province in the
Summer of 1729 gave an entirely new turn to affairs. The
French inhabitants gave him a joyful welcome when he
arrived at Annapolis, and in a short time he induced all the
male inhabitants from sixteen years of age and upwards to
take the oath of allegiance, without any condition. as to not
bearing arms. In the course of the following .Sp'ring he
visited Chigneeto, Mines and the other French settlements,
and administered the oath of allegiance to all the inhabi-
tants, so that in November 1730 he was able to write to
tlie Lords of Trade that there were " not more than five or
six scattering families on the eastern coast to (iomplete the
submission of the whole Province." Phillips regarded this
achievement with considerable complacency, although he

.'1'

H
I

■■im 1

1 1 -i

i.?

Iff

**^l

i^^-,^^

324

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

candidly cxprossed liis holier that it did not insure the j)eaco
of the oountry longer tluui the union between the two
Crowns lasted. The Acadians afterwards maintained that
when they took this oath of allegiance, it was with the un-
der.standing that ii elause was to he inserted, relieving them
from beariiig arms. The stutxjment was prohably aeeurate,
for that wius the jjosition they always assumed, hut the
matter seems to have heen lost sight of, and so for the time
the question of oaths, which had heen such a fertile cause
of discord in the Province, appeared to he set at rest.

The question of the seigniorial rights of the grantees of
the King of France at this time came into prominence.
The three largest settlements in Acadia were all on the ter-
ritories of seigniors, that of Chignecto heing on lands
granted to La Vallifire, while Mines and Port Royal were
on lands held hy the La Tour family and their branches.
Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong, who now — in the absence
of Governor Phillips, who had returned to P^ngland —
administered the Government, was perplexed hy the con-
flicting claims of the seigniors, who now made their
appearance, and demanded to he put in possession of their
property. He was instru(!ted by the Lords of Trade to
recognize the rights of those who had remained in the
country after the treaty of Utrecht, but not of those who
had then gone to France, and afterwards returned to
Acadia. Among the seigniors then in Acadia was Belle-
isle, grandson of Elmmanuel Le Borgne and of Charles La
Tour. The seigniors of the La Tour family got into liti-
gation on the subject of their titles, Madame Belleisle
(Marie La Tour) and her son being ranged on one side, and
Mrs. Agatha Campbell and the D'Entremonts representa-
tives of Jacques, Anne and Marguerite La Tour, on the
other. Charles La Tour, the younger, having retired to

ii - . . ' : " li

^^'"

■t '

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

326

Franco, seems to liavc taken no part in these lawsuits.
Finally, about the year 17.'i2, Mrs. Caniplx-ll,* who seein3
to have had a good deal of her grandfather's cleverness,
succeeded in buying out the other claimants, and sold the
seigniorial rights of the La Tour family to the Crown for
three thousan<l guineas. The Provincial (iovernment
appointed })ersons to collect these rents at Mines, Chignecto
and Annapolis, but the amount realized fro'n them was
small, even when calculated in New England money, whicli
was not worth more than a fourth of its nominal value in
sterling.

The Indians, although they had made })eacc, were guilty
of occasional acts of robbery, which were usually distivowed
by the tribes, and which were probably committed by law-
less vagabonds, who bore the same relation to other savages
that modern criminals bear to the masses of the people.
Occasionally a trading sloop was robbed by these strollers,
but it was rarely that any violence was done to the persons
plundered. Of a different character was the attack made
on a vessel sent to the St. John for a load of limestone for
Annapolis. The Indians opposed the landing of the people,
pretending that the land and quarries belonged to Mieni,
antl should be paid for ; they also boarded the vessel and
took a quantity of clothes and provisions which they found
on board. This affair became the subject of remonstrance,
and induced the Annapolis authorities to cultivate closer
relations with tlie Indians of the St. John.

Very soon after the treaty of Utrecht, claims had been
made on behalf of France that the St. John and the terri-
tory north of the Bay of Fundy had not been ceded to

♦Agatha La Tour, oldest daughter of Jacques La Tour, who was the oldest son of
Charles La Tour by Madame Charnisay, was married in 1714 to Lieutcnaut Edward
Bradstreet, of the Annapolis garrison. On his death.she married Ensign James
Campbell.

i:'-.'

;*;.►,,;■; y.

326

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

England, and did not form a part of Acadia. As early as
1718, Governor Vaudreull wrote to the Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor at Annapolis : " I request you also not to permit
your English vessels to go into the River St. John, which
is always of the French dominion." The same statement
was made in letters written to some of the French inhabit-
ants in Acadia by the French Governors, any who desired
to remove to the St. John being told that they might have
lots of land on applying to father Lejard, the Jesuit mis-
sionary there. About the year 1730, a number of French
families went to settle there, and a census taken in 1733
for the government of France, gives the number of inhab-
itants on the St. John as one hundred and eleven, divided
into twenty families. Fifteen of these families, consisting
of eighty-two souls, resided *'au dessous du village d^
Ecoupay " (Aukpaque), probably on the site of the present
city of Frcdericton. Two families lived at Freneuse, and
three at the mouth of the River St. John. In 1736 two
of the inhabitants who visited Annapolis gave the Lieu-
tenant-Governor a list of the people settled at St. John,
which comprised seventy-seven persons, divided into fifteen
families. There is reason to believe tJiat only those at the
mouth of the river are included ii« this enumeration. The
names are Bellefontaine, Bergeron, Roy, Duga::, Pair and
Robert, some of which do not occur in any previous Aca-
dian census list. These people made their submission to
the English Crown that year. But as there was no force
there to sustain its authority, the submission was merely
nominal, and the St. John river afterwards became a place
of refuge for hosts of political exiles from the rest of
Acadia.

The relations of the inhabitants of Acadia to the govern-
ment from 1730 down to the close of Governor Armstrong's

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

327

administration, although niarke(i by several petty quarrels,
had ou the whole been tolerably harmonious. The Indians
had indeed prevented the erection of a garrison house at
Mines, and were believed by the Lieutenant-Governor to
have been instigated by the French to that act. Some of
the French had refused to pay their rents, and there were
occasional instances of disobedience to English authority.
The priests occasionally proved difficult to deal with, and
some of them liad been ordered out of the Province in con-
sequence of disobedience. But on the whole, considering
the peculiar views held by the Acadians as to their rights,
considering also that nearly all their trade was with the
French at Louisbourg, and bearing in mind that their
priests were in the pay of the Frencii government, and
under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Quebec, it is re-
markable how small were the grounds of difference which
existed between the Acadians and the Provincial govern-
ment when Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong died in 1739.
Perhaps if a man less peevish in temper, and less disposed
to take a serious view of trifling difficulties, had been at
the head of affiiirs, the differences between the Acadians
and the Government might have been greatly decreased ;
for there is reason to fear that for some time prior to the
melancholy event which ended his career, the Lieutenant-
Governor Wc^s not in a proper mental condition to admin-
ister the affairs of the government. He died by his own
hand in December 1739 under the influence of an insane
melancholy which had long affected his health and impaired
his judgment.

Paul Mascerene, who succeded to the lieutenant-gover-
norship in 1740, was a very different sort of person. He
was a French Huguenot, and with his parents was driven
out of his native country by the events which followed the

^^i'^

/.!:•

V- mi

328

HISTOKY OF ACADIA.

revocation of the Edict of Nantes. His wliole life was
spent in the military service of England, and he proved
himself a most efficient officer, rising by his merit, unaided
by patronage, to the rank of Major General. He assumed
the administration of aifairs in Acadia at a time when
serious difficulties and dangers were imminent, and showed
his capacity by the manner in which he discharged the
duties of his position. It was well that at such a crisis in
the history of the country the reins of government were in
strong hands.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE CAPTURE OF LOIIISBOURG,

The long peace between France and England, which had
been maintained for thirty years, was now about to be
broken. Frederick the Great, of Prussia, the most unprin-
cipled of modern kings, had ascended the throne, and, like
the royal brigand that he was, seized Silesia, then a Prov-
ince of the Austrian empire. Europe was plunged into
another war, in which France and England were ranged on
opposite sides, France supporting Frederick, while England
came to the rescue of Maria Theresa with sword and purse.
Frederick, in the meantime, j^atched up a peace with the
latter, and left his allies to their fate, France, as d'Argenson
wrote at the time, " with her armies in the middle of Ger-
many, beaten and famine-stricken." In June, 1743, the
British and French crossed swords at the battle of Det-
tingen, and another was added to the long list of British
victories. In the following March, France and England
mutually declared war against each other, and the bloody
drama, in which they had so often taken part, was renewed
both in Europe and America.

The French in Louisbourg had for a long time been pre-
paring for the event, and were not slow to take advantage
of it. The state of Acadia was such as to invite atttack,
there being only two garrisoned places in the Province,
Annapolis and Canso, and the garrisons in both extremely
weak. In 1735, M. Du Vivier, a great-grandson of
Charles La Tour, prepared an elaborate Memoir upon

U''

in-

^;1

' If:

: i'

III ?^

330

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Acadia, and offered with a very small force to restore it to
France. In this paper he disclos«s the methods which
were employed to keep the Province in a state of disquiet,
how the missionaries were "incessant" in keeping the in-
habitants loyal to France, and how even the most influential
of the people, on whom the English blindly relied, were
secretly their enemies. If Du Vivier's statements are to be
believed, the D'Entremonts, his grandfather and his uncle —
at a time when the English at Annapolis believed them to
be wholly passive — were engaged in secretly stirring up the
other inhabitants to acts of hostility. Du Vivier's Memoir,
disclosing, as it did, the weakness of English rule in the
Province, and the forces which could be used to destroy it,
no doubt made a strong impression on the French authori-
ties, to whom it was addressed, and it was but natural that
he should be selected to command any expedition for the
reduction of Acadia.

The news of the declaration of war reached Louisbourg
in April, six weeks before it was known in Boston, and
although Duquesnel, the Governor, had received general
orders to stiuid on the defensive until he was reinforced,
the weakness of the Acadian garrisons and the zeal of Du
Vivier caused him to disobey his orders. Du Vivier had
undertaken to recapture Acadia with but one hundred
men. Duquesnel gave him three hundred, besides several
armed vessels, and told him to make good his promise.
With this force he immediately sailed for Canso, which he
reached on the 11th May, and where he was joined by two
hundred Indians, who had received early notice to ren-
dezvous there. Canso was incapable of making any defence.
Although there had been a garrison stationed there for
several years, the soldiers had no better defence than a
block-house, built of timber, which the fishermen had

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

331

erected a long time before. The commander and his
garrison of eighty men, therefore surrendered, the con-
ditions being that they should l)e taken to Louisbourg, and
at the expiration of a year sent either to Boston or to
England. Du Vivier then took possession of the place,
burnt down the block-house and buildings, and sent his
prisoners and plunder back to Louisbourg.

Had Du Vivier, after ttiking Canso, marched imme-
diately to Annapolis, it must have fallen, almost without
resistance. The fort was in a most ruinous condition.
Being originally built of sandy earth, it was liable to wear
away after heavy rains, or in thaws after frost. An order
had been given to rebuild it in brick and stone, but the
workmen had done little more, in the two summers they
had been employed, than to prepare the material. It
had only about one hundred and fifty men in garrison,
and there chanced to be an unusually large number of
women, wives of the officers and soldiers, at Annapolis.
Their presence would have materially impaired the defenc*)
of the fort. But Du Vivier delayed at I^ouisbourg to make
more elaborate preparations for capturing Annapolis, and
in the meantime Mascerenc was warned of his danger.
On the 1 8th of May a sudden panic seized the lower town,
where the families of several officers and soldiers were
quartered, and they commenced removing their goods into
the fort. This panic was due to a rumor that Morpin, a
famous commander of a privateer in the former war, was
up the river with five hundred French and Indians. Mas-
cerene could not discover the author of this report, and next
day all were assured that it was false ; yet the impre&sion
which it made could not be effaced. Soon after this the
Massachusetts galley arrived from Boston with the chief
engineer of the fortifications, and brought them the intelli-

•■ ■ ■ ij

'it

'' I

'.iAinii!iiii9MflW

t : _-

FflPfpf

332

HISTOKY OF ACADIA.

f-.^ ?'

.■)". ■■;

gence that a Boston newspajxir liad published tlie statement
that Avar had been declared against France, although the
Government had received no official information on the
subject. This caused several of the officers to resolve to
send their families to Boston, and the galley took as many
on board as she could conveniently carry. Two other ves-
sels were freighted with part of the remainder, yet even
then more than seventy women and children were left, who
could not be sent to a place of safety until late in the year.

As there was no possibility of making the new work of
the fort serviceable in case of an immediate attack, Masce-
rene urged the engineer to direct all his energies to the
work of repairing the old fortifications. The assistance of
the French inhabitants was c?illed for and they responded
with alacrity, not only geting the necessary timber, but
working at the repairs on the fort itself. They continued
at this labor cheerfully until a i)arty of Indians made their
appearance, and then they all withdrew to their dwellings.

The Indians, three hundred in number, and consisting
both of Malicitesand Micmacs, emerged from the forest on
the 1st July. They were under the guidance of two or
three white men, one of their leaders being young Belleisle,
who himself had Indian blood in his veins, being the son
of Anastatia St. Castin. Belleisle had been active in inciting
the Indians to war in the hope that by expelling the Eng-
lish he would obtain the restoration of the seigniorial rights
of his family. With these savages was a man whose name
fills a large place in our Acadian annals, La Loutre, a
missionary priest, who had been officiating among the
Indians about the Basin of Mines. He was probably the
most dangerous and determined enemy to British power
that ever came to Acadia. A considerable portion of this
band of Indians had been with Du Vivier at Canso, and

'■5« I

HISTORY 01<^ ACADIA.

333

it Avas agreed that they shoukl rendezvous at Mines and
wait until Du Vivier's force arrived there, hut tiie impa-
tience of Bclleislc to win the glory of the caj)ture of .Vnna-
])oIis for hiniself and leave his cousin Du Vivier nothing,
caused a premature attack, and spoiled the whole plan.

No force of Indians that ever was gathered has ever
shown itself capable of making a sustained assault upon a
fort armed with cannon and bravely defended. Belleisle's
jiarty proved no exception to this imiversal rule. The
Indians in their first onset killed two men who were strag-
gling in the gardens, and came near capturin"' a party of
officers and men who were engaged in pulling down a
house ,on the Governor's grounds. The Indian.s then got
under cover of some barns at the foot of the glacis, and
kept up a steady fire of musketry upon the fort until they
were dislodged by its cannon. They then set fire to some
houses in the lower town, a quarter of a mile from the fort,
which placed the block-house there — which was held by
a sergeant and a guard — in danger of being burnt. The
guard withdrew from their dangerous station, but Mr.
How and a party of workmen, Avith a detachment of
soldiers, dropped down the river in the ordnance tender,
and, supported by her cannon, drove off the Indians, re-
placed the guard, and tore down the houses and fences
which threatened the block-house with destruction. They
then pulled down all the houses that obstructed the fire of
the fort, and the Indians, not being able to approach Avithia
the distance of a mile, gave no further trouble, except by
stealing some sheep and cattle. On the 5th July, the
Massachusetts galley arrived with seventy auxiliaries,
which Governor Shirley had promptly sent to strengthen
the garrison. The Indians immediately became disgusted
with the siege, and the very same day marched off towards

¥'■

334

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Mines. The vessel was despatched baclv to Boston imme-
diately, and soon returned with forty additional men.
These, with the seventy already in Annajiolis, the soldiers
— of whom one hundred were serviceable — and the work-
men who had come to rebuild the fort, most of whom had
volunteered for service, formed a very res})ectable force,
and Masccrene, by the exercise of great dilligence, suc-
ceeded in armiug and equipping them (juite respectably.

In the meantime Du Vivier was making his way to-
wards Annapolis with two hundred scldiei's. Instead of
coming direct by sea, the vessels which carried him from
Louisbourg had landed his little army at Bale Verte, from
which it had marched to Chignecto. There he expected to
receive substantial assistance and sympathy, but altliough
some of the inhabitants joined his standard, the majority
were disposed to act cautiously, and the requisitions he
made upon them were not responded to with any degree of
cheerfulness. From Chignecto he proceeded to Mines where
he found the Indians encamped, in extremely low spirits,
and in very bad humor over their repulse. Here he issued
peremptory orders to the inhabitants for supplies, and
created a most unfavorable impression on their minds. Any
who refused to comply with his demands were to be handed
over to the tender mercies of the savages. Notwithstantling
this threat he found the people of Mines very unwilling to
give him any assistance, and his bright hopes of a sponta-
neous rising of the Acadian people against British power
vanished before the chilling reality. A new generation had
grown up in Acadia who knew nothing of war, and who
were not disposed to welcome those who would bring it to
their doors.

Du Vivier, who had now some four hundred and fifty
Indians with him, took the route for Annapolis, which he

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

.335

did not reach until tlie latter part of August. Having no
artillery, lie was obliged to resort to night attacks, his men
keeping up a continual lire upon the parapets and wearying
the garrison with constant alarms. After this had gone on
for several days, Du Vivicr sent in a flag of truce by his
brother, and a letter stating that he expected three war ves-
sels of seventy, sixty and forty guns, and a transport with
two hundred and fifty more men and a supply of cannon,
mortars and implements of war. He sought to persuade
Mascerene to sign a capitulation conditioned on the arrival
of this armament, but the brave conmiander steadily re-
fused, although s(mie of his officers, who hud a great dread
of becoming prisoners of war, gave countenance to the pro-
posal. Mascerene succeeded in persuading them that the
Frenchman's only object was to sow dissensions among
them, and the spirits of his men being high, all negotiations
were broken off. Du Vivier then renewed his night attacks
and kept them up for about three weeks, but they daily
grew more contemptible, and resulted in scarcely any loss
to the garrison. A very timely reinforcement then arrived
from Boston. An armed brigantine and sloop brought fifty
Indian Hangers, whom Shirley thought would prove ser-
viceable for skirmishing purposes. A few days after they
came, one of them was captured, and he told Du Vivier
that he heard Mascerene say he intended to pay him a
visit at his camp. The French commander concluded not
to wait for his visit, but immediately broke up camp and
started with his force in the midst of a heavy rain for
Mines. There he proposed to remain for the winter with
his soldiers, but the inhabitants sent in such a strongly
worded remonstrance against this plan, that he was con-
strained to withdraw. At Chignecto '~n found the people
equally averse to his remaining with tliem for the winter,

'■i !

* If'-' "■'^'

336

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

v'--\

tind he was finally obliged to return to Loui.sbourg; to meet
the rc})roaches of liis Commander for his bad management
of the campaign.

Du Vivier had not been gone many days when a large
French frigate, an armed brigantinc and a slooj) appeared
in the Basin. This was a portion of the sea force intended
to assist in the reduction of the fort. Finding the land
force gone, the Captain of this s(juadron concluded not to
make any attack, and sailed away. In these o|)erations,
the French were extremely unfortunate. Had Du Vivier
persevered a little longer until the sijuadron arrived, Anna-
polis must have fallen. \s it Avas, jNIascerene breathed
freely, for he felt that the greutest danger a' as past, and
resolved that another year would not find him so unprepared.
But while he and his soldiers and auxiliaries deserve all
credit for their bravery, vigilance and good conduct during
the siege, no small share of Masccrenc's success in defend-
ing Annapolis was due to the attitude of the Aeadians, who
with a few exce])tions, gave no willing aid to the invaders.
The Deputies of Mines wrote to the French Commander,
" We live under a mild and tranquil government, and have
all good reason to be faithful to it." Mascerene manfully
acknowledges how much he owed to this conduct on their
part, for in a letter to Governor Shirley he says, " To the
breaking up of the French measures, the timely succor
received from the Governor of Massachusetts, and our
French inhabitants refusing to take up arms against us, we
owe our safety." Had they only been permitted to ])re-
serve this attitude, what a sea of difficulties they would
have escaped !

Mascerene diligently employed the remainder of the
Autumn and the Winter in strengthening the defences of
his fort, and before Spring he had greatly improved its con-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

337

dition. Rumors reached liirn from time to time of anotlier
attack, and in March he learned that an officier, named
Marin, and a number of Canadians had spent the winter at
Chijinecto, and were coming to Annapolis in the Spring.
In May, Marin arrived at Mines with three hundred troops,
chiefly Canadians, who had been sent from Louisbourg, and
three hundred Indians, which had been collected by the
diligence of La Loutre, their missionary. Some of the
people of Annapolis, it seems, had been informed of Marin's
movements, and a clandestine correspondence with Mines
had been maintained by means of two boys — Charles Ray-
mond and Peter Landry — who had made three journeys
between the two places during tiie Winter and Spring.
Marin presently made his appearance at Annapolis with his
motley force, and :-,pent three weeks in making feeble night
attacks, which ])roduced no impression on its defences. He
captured two Boston trading vessels and burnt some houses,
but beyond that accomplished nothing. Possibly he might
have remained longer making requisitions on the inhabi-
tants and threatening the direst vengeance on the disobe-
dient, but at this juncture he received a very ])eremptory
summons to return to Louisbourg, which was then in great
peril.

Louisbourg, after thirty years of labor and a vast expen-
diture of money, had grown to be a mighty fortress, a
constant menace to New England, and the rallying place
of a swarm of privateers which in time of war preyed upon
English connnerce. The name "the Dunkirk of America,"
which it rereivcd from the people of Massachusetts, well
illustrates the hate and suspicion with which it was viewed,
and the disfavor with which its growth was regarded. Its
gloomy walls, behind which the Jesuit, the gay soldier of
France, and the savage of the Acadian woods found shelter,

t
J

-HfJ

338

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

were looked upon by the descendants of the Puritans as the
bulwarks of a })owor which they dreaded and a religion
which tiiey abhorred. Louisboiirg was indeed a potent
fortress for this continent and for that age. Tlic town
which was more than two miles in circuit, was surrounded
by a rampart of stone from thirty to thirty-six feet high,
and the ditch in front of it was eighty feet wide. There
were six biustions and three batteries (containing embrasures
for one hundred and forty-(iigiit cannon and six mortars.
On an island at the entrancie of the harbor was |)lanted a
battery of thirty twenty -eight pounders, and at the bottom
of the harbor, op{)ositt! to the entrance, was the grand or
royal battery of twenty-eight forty-two poiuiders. The
entrance of the town on the laud side was at the west gate
over a draw-bridge, near which was a circular battery
mounting sixteen twenty-four jiouuders. Such was Loiiis-
bourg when Governor Shirley conceived the bold project
of capturing it with an army of rustics from Massachusetts,
New Hampshire and Connecticut.

Shirley had written to the British ministry in the autumn
of 1744, asking assistance for the defence of Nova Scotia
and the capture of Louisbourg. In January 1 745, before
there was time for liim to receive any answer from Eng-
land, he placed his plan for the reduction of Louisbourg
before the General Court, the meml)crs having previously
taken an oath of secrecy. The scheme appeared so visionary
to most of the members that it was at first rejected, but at
that moment a petition arrived from the merchants of
Boston, Salem and Marblehead, complaining of the great
injuries they suffered from the French privateers whicli
harbored at Louisbourg, and this enabled Shirley to have
his proposal reconsidered, and finally carried by a majority
of one vote. Circular letters were immediately despatched

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

339

to all the EngHsli eolonioH, rrqueHtiiig their aHsistance, but
all excused thetnselveH from takiujij part i.i so (lespcfrate an
enterprise, except Connecticut, New Main|)shire and Rhode
Island. The latter State, unfortunately, missed its share in
the fjflory of the affair by the tardy arrival of the three
hundred soldiers, which it had undertaken to contribute.

Four thousand and seventy trooj)s were enlisted and
assembled in Boston early in Manth, of which Massachu-
setts furnished three thousand two hundred and fifty men,
(,'onne(;tlcut live hundred and sixteen, and New llamj)-
ehiro three hundred and four. The naval force for the
expedition consisted of thirteen armed vessels, furnished by
the foiir colonies, and mounting in all two hundred cannon.
Shirley sent to Commodore VV^arren, tlu; conniiander of the
fleet on the station, askinjj; hiiu to assist in *he proposed
enterprise, but he declined to do s'> without special orders
from Entjjiand. His refusal, whic^li reached JJoston as the
expedition was preparing to sail, was made known by Shir-
ley to General Pcj)perell, the commander-in-chief, and to
Brigadier-CiciKiral Waldo, and to them alone. It was a
severe disappointment, but neither of the three brave men,
who knew the secret, dreamed of making it the (iause of
postponing the expedition for a single hour. Indeed, the
affair had been niaugnrated in a manner so extraordinary,
and rested so mu<;h on fortune for its success, iJiat the
absence of the ordinary conditions on whidi success might
be supposed to depend, scarcely excited remark.

General Peppcrell, who was at the head of this extraor-
dinary crusade, instciid of being a battle scarred veteran,
was a merchant of Kittery, who had never witnessed any
more serious warlike enterprises than a few skirmishes with
the Indians. He had never seen anything of civilized
warfare, and had never heard a cannon fired in anger.

.<]

•' * 1

'\m

■ .. '-iV

■M

■ ■fiuii-

i'SH|

:.''!f
, ."ij

. i

!!iiB

340

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

If.

Most of those under him were equally inexperienced, but
there was no lack of courage nor of enthusiasm, and both
were required, for the task which they had undertaken
was one from which brave men might well liave shrunk,
considering the inadequate means at their command. The
expedition set sail from Boston late in March, freighted
with the hopes of New England and blessed by its prayers.
From every pulpit rose the supplication that the God of
battles would go forth with this host of His chosen people,
and point their way to victory.

Fortune smiled on them from the start. They arrived at
Canso, which was the place of rendezvous, early in April,
and found the whole coast of Cape Breton surrounded by
a barrier of floating ice. It was certain that no news of
their enterprise could have reached Louisbourg. While
waiting at Canso they built a block-house to replace the
one destroyed by Du Vivier, and i)laced in it a garrison
of eighty men. One of their vessels captured a ricldy
laden brigantine from Martinique, which was thus early
bound for Louisbourg. A few days later, four war vessels
were descried far out at sea, but apparently making towards
Canso. There was great excitement and some alarm, and
the vessels in the harbor were got ready for action.
Who could the strangers be? What *if they were a
French squadron bound for Louisbourg? These and
other questions were speedily set at rest as they drew
near, and the broad pennant of Commodore Warren wa.s
seen flying from the Superb, the flagship of the squadron.
Warren, soon after he despatched his letter of refusal, had
received orders from England to proceed to the assistance
of the expedition, and learning from a fisherman that it
had left Boston, made all haste to join it at Canso. After
a conference with Pepperell, it was arranged that Warren

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

341

•j

should cruise in front of Louisbourg, and intercept all
vessels going there. There he was joined in the course of
a few weeks by six more war ships, so that he had quite a
powerful fleet under his command.

Louisbourg was thus cut off from all sucqor before its
garrison or inhabitants dreamed of danger. Two sloops
were despatched to Bale Verte to intercept any vessels
going from that place with supplies, and to make the sur-
prise of Louisbourg complete, the fort at St. Peter's was
seized and its occupants held as prisoners. These measures
were so effectual that, when on the 30th April the New
England flotilla arrived in Gabarus Bay, they were so
entirely unexpected, that the alarm and confusion were
extreme. Cannon were fired, bells were rung, and officers
and soldiers ran hither and thither in the greatest dismay.

As the English threatened to land, an officer named
Boulardierc was detached with one hundred and fifty
soldiers to prevent them, but Pepperell deceived him by
a clever ruse, and landed a detachment higher up the Bay,
which drove the French party into Louisbourg. Tliat day
the English landed about two thousand men, and on the
following day the remainder and a large quantity of stores.
Colonel Vaughan, of New Hampshire, marched round the
harbor in the night with four hundred trooops to the rear
of the grand battery north of the city, and setting fire to
the storehouses behind it, which were filled with pitch and
tar, frightened its garrison out of it. This battery was
immediately occupied, and its thirty cannon turned on
the town with deadly effect. Then commenced the landing
of cannon from the ships, which took a whole fortnight,
and was effected with incredible labor, the men dragging
the heavy guns on sledges over the rough ground and
through a morass to their camp. Du Chambon, the Gov-

' ^ < ■ 1 '

''1

hi'm<¥''^ ■'■■■

.,^

rr-::^

RS.;

342

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

ernor, was summoned to surrender, but returned a hauglity
refusal, and the New Englanders directed their energies to
the erection of batteries to demolish the landward defences
of the place. An unsuccessful night attack was made on
the island battery, but a safer plan of silencing it was de-
vised by the erection of a battery on Light House Point,
which enfiladed the Islan, battery, and made it almost
untenable. The Vigilant, a sixty-four gun siiip, laden
with stores for Louisbouig, had been tiaptured by the
English fleet, and Peppcrell, by means of a flag of truce,
had this information conveyed to the French Governor.
The knowledge of this misfortune, the weak and mutinous
condition of his garrison, and the firm hold that the be-
siegers had acquired of the outworks essential to the
succt;,-sful defence of the place, disposed Du Chambon to
surrender; and finally, on the 15th June, the terms of a
capitulation were agreed upon, and on the 1 7th, the flag of
England floated over Louisbourg, after a siege of forty-
nine days, which, on the part of tiie besiegers, had been
conducted with a degree of courage, enter[)rise and activity
which" left nothing to be desired. The garrison, numbering
six hundred regulars and thirteen hundred militia, with the
crew of the Vigilant and many of the inhabitants, num-
bering in all upwards of four thousand persons, were sent
back to France. A swift sailing schooner carried the news
to Boston of the glorious triumph which the sons of New
England luid won. Then such joy was seen on tiie facts
of all ranks as can only be witnessed in a free State among
a people who have escaped a great danger and won a noble
victory. And well might they rejoice, for the capture of
Louisbourg was one of the most wonderful achievements
that is recorded in the world's history. Even the victors
thems(!lves rejoiced with trembling as they saw the amazing

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

343

strength of its defences, and the deadly peril they would
have had to brave had an assault been demanded of them.
That a band of untrained artizans and husbandmen, com-
manded by a merchant, should capture a fortress that it
had taken thirty years to build, and which was defended
by veteran troops, was something so wonderful that the
news of the event was received in Europe with incredulous
surprise. Had such a deed of arras been done in Greece
two thousand years ago, the people of England would have
made it the theme of innumerable commentaries, the details
of the achievement would have been taught to the children
in the schools generation after generation, great statesmen
would have written pamphlets on the subject, and great
j)oets would have wedded it to immortal verse. But as
the people who won this triumph were not Greeks nor
Romans, but only colonists, the affair was but the talk of
a day and then di^ 'h1 out of sight. Most of the books
that are called Jiistories of England ignore it altogether.
And even the descendants of the captors of Louisbourg
have been too busy celebrating later triumphs to remember
Pepperell and his band of heroes, whose daring was only
equalled by their success.

-■M

-m

•■'i

■:'4

III

i\t

CHAPTER XIX.

THE CAPITULATION AT GRAND PRE.

Marin, who was recalled by Du Chambon from Anna-
polis to go to the relief of Louisbourg, was chased near
Cape Sable by three New Englaj^d cruisers, and forced to
land, and did not reach Cape Breton until I^ouisbourg had
fallen. He returned to Quebec to console the Governor of
Canada for the loss of that place, by informing him that all
the inhabitants of Acadia, with the exception of a very
small portion, desired to return under the French dominion,
and that they would not hesitate to take up arms as soon
as they saw themselves at liberty to do so. He said that
"the day he left Annapolis all the inhabitants were over-
powered with grief. This arose from their apprehension
of remaining at the disposition of the enemy, of losing
their property, and being deprived of their mission-
aries." It was resolved by the Governor of Canada to
make another attempt to drive the English from Acadia.

Meanwhile Mascercne was engaged in disciplining the
Acadian deputies and some of the inhabitants for the aid
and comfort which they had given to the enemy. Some of
them probably had acted under duress, but in the case of
others there seems to have been a great deal of alacrity
and readiness to help Marin and his associates. In other
respects the Acadians about this time began to show them-
selves unfriendly to the British authorities. They had
been long accustomed to supply Louisbourg with provi-
sions, sending some four hundred head of cattle every year
to that place for the use of the garrison, and large quanti-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

345

#■'

' ■■"?

"■''•:|

ties of produce. This trade had been declared illegal at the
beginning of the war, but still it went on. But when the
English captured Louisboiirg the Acadians refused to send
supplies to it, and the Commissariat authorities were put to
great inconvenience. These acts show the hostile spirit
that wSs beginning to actuate the Acadians, for the trade
was an advantageous one to them.

The year 1746 was one of great projects both on the part
of England and France, none of which turned out accord-
ing to the expectations of their originators. Governor
Shirley, whose energy was extreme, was resolved on nothing
less than the conquest of Canada, and probably if he had
been seconded heartily bv the British Government, the
achievements of thirteen years later would have been antici-
pated. More than eight thousand men were enlisted in
the New England States, and in New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, but the fleet from
England, which was to co-operate with them, did not arrive,
and the troops were finally disbanded in the autumn of the
following year. The French were equally resolute to re-
cover what they had lost. A great fleet was got ready at
Brest to attack Jiouisbourg, vVnnapolis and Boston, and a
large body of Canadian Kangors was collected at Quebec
to be reinfortred by a large number of Indians, and to
co-operate with the fleet in its operations in Acadia. This
detachment was under the command of an officer named
Ramezay, who arrived at Chignecto in June with six hun-
dred Canadians, and was joined there by three hundred
Malicites, under Lieutenant St. Pierre, and a large body of
Micmacs, under Marin. Two French frigates from Brest
were then lying in Chebouctou (Halifax) Harbor awaiting
the arrival of the fleet. They had been sent out in advance
to communicate with Ramezay's forces, and to keep them

■ii^---'--

\h:n

'■ f ■',

346

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

on the alert. In the meantime the latter did not consider
his force strong enough to attack Annapolis. While he
waited for the Brest fleet the Governor of Canada had been
alarmed at the rumors of invasion from New England,
and sent word for him to return. He had started to return
to Quebec, when late in September he was overtaken by a
messenger, who arrested his march with the thrilling intel-
ligence that the Brest fleet was in Chebouctou Harbor.

The French fleet was indeed there, but in a sorry plight.
When it left Brest on the 22nd June it formed by far the
most powerful armament that had ever essayed to cross the
Atlantic. It consisted of seventv sail, of which eleven were
ships of the line, twenty frigates, Ave sloops and brigs, and
thirty-four transports, tenders and fireships, — manned by
more than ten thousand sailors, and carrying a land army
of u[)wards of three thousand men. It was under the com-
mand of the Duke d'Anville, and his orders were to cap-
ture and dismantle Louisbourg, to take Annapolis, and tt>
attack and burn JJoston. The approach of this fleet was
viewed with great alarm by tiie people of New England,
and the militia were gathereil in haste from the inland
towns and held in readiness fo'' an attack. These precau-
tions proved to be needless. Soon after it left the coast of
France the fleet was scattered by a tempest; fou" shi[is of
the line and a transport were disabled and forced to put
back. When d'Anville reached Chebouctou on the 10th
of September he had but three ships of the line and a few
transports.- A terrible mortality prevailed among his men,
and on the 16tli he himself sickened and died. Four more
ships of the line, with the Vice-Admiral d'Estournelle,
arrived the same day, but Conflans, who was expected with
four ships from the West Indies, had not been heard of;
in fact, he had arrived at Chebouctou in August, and not

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

347

men,
more

niello,
witii

•d of;

(I not

finding d'Anville there, had returned to France. A coun-
cil of war was held, at which the Vice-Admiral advocated
the abandonment of the expedition, seeing that so many of
the vessels were missing and that twenty-five hundred men
liad already died of fever. Jonqui6re, the newly appointed
Governor of Canada, who was on board, vehemently op-
posed this proposal, saying that Annapolis at least could
be taken. Most of the officers were with JoiKpiiore in this
view, and the Vice-Admiral finding himself overrukd,
committed suicide. This left Jonqui6re at the head of the
expedition, and he, after allowing the men to remain some
time ashore to recruit, re-embarked them, and on the 13th
October set sail for Annapolis. Tiiere were still forty-tv;o
vessels left, of which thirty were ships, but the strength of
the land forces had dwindled away to one thousand efficient
men. Still, it was thought that Annapolis must surely
fall ; and to insure the safe arrival of every vessel, a large
number of the French inhabitants who were familiar with
Annapolis Basin, had come over from Mines to pilot the
ships. But the hand of destiny was uyion this fleet. Off
Cape Sable another tempest arose and damaged the ships,
and news was received that there was a strong English fleet
at Louisbourg, and a squadron in Annapolis Basin. It was
unanimously agreed to abandon the attack on Annapolis,
the Acadian pilots were landed, and the fleet bore back to
France. Thus ignobly ended an enterprise which, accord-
ing to all human calculations, should have accomplished at
least the reduction of I^ouisbourg and Annapolis, and which
perhaps might have done much more towards weakening
the power of England in America, if well conducted and
favored by fortune. The people of New England were so
sensible of their (iscape from a great peril that they attri-
buted their deliverance to nothing less than the direct

■"'Sill

'hi

81 1. > *Kff^^^mi^^m

t»*',^' ,'' ■

348

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

interposition of Divine Providence. In every ehurch and
by every fire-side, venerable ministers and pious maidens
read with exulting voices Deborah and Barak's song of
triumph and thanksgiving: " They fought from heaven ;
the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The river
of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river
Kishon. C) my soul, thou has trodden down strength."

Ramezay, who had been recalled by the arrival of the
fleet at Chebucto, arrived in front of jAnnapolis with seven
hundred Canadians and Indians late in Sej)tember. Ma.s-
cerenc's garrison was, however, too strong to be attacked,
and in October, when he learned that the fleet had returned
to France, he withdrew his force to Mines and afterwards
to Chignecto, where he proposed to spend the winter. His
presence there alarmed Masccrene, who was in constant
communication with Governor Shirley, and lie represented
, to the latter the necessity of having at least a thousand
more men in the Province to overawe the Acadians and
check the attacks of the detachments from Canada. Shirley
accordingly enlisted five hundred troops in Massachusetts,
and des])atched them to Mascerene in December. They
were intended to occupy Mines during the winter, but it
was too late in the season to get into the Basin of Mines,
and therefore they had to land on the south shore of the
Bay of Fundy and march on foot to their destination to
the south of the River Gaspereaux. There they were quar-
tered in tlie houses of the inhabitants in February, when
an attack was made upon them which was most fatal in its
results.

Ramezay, who was resting at Chignecto, was informed
by a messenger from Mines of the arrival of the English
and of the manner in which they had disposed themselves.
He saw at once that their scatttered condition and the care-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

349

Icssness of their guard offered an admirable opportunity for
cutting them off. To do so would involve a winter march
of great difficulty through a wilderness, but it was in such
enterprises as this that the Canadian coureur de bois was
most at home. So the adventure was resolved upon.
Ramezay was himself disabled and inc{ij)able of making
such a journey, but he found a worthy substitute in De
Villiers, the same officer that forced George Washington to
capitulate at Fort Necessity in 1754. He received the
command of the detachment, and he had with him such
able lieutenants as Lusignant and La Corne. On the 23rd
January 1747 he set out from Chignecto with three hun-
dred and fifty Canadians and sixty Indians on his arduous
journey. By the ordinary route in summer the distance
between Chignecto and Grand Pr6 would not exceed seventy
miles, but at that season the Basin of Mines could not be
navigated by canoes, so that he was obliged to make a long
detour around its shores, and to cross the many rivers on
his route, above the influence of the tide. It takes now but
a few hours to pass by rail from the Misseguash to the
Gaspereaux. De Villiers and his band thought they had
done well to accomplish the distance in eighteen days.

While the Canadians on their snow shoes were pressing
on in defiance of cold and storm, dragging their food
behind them on sledges, through the weary passes of the
Cobequid mountains, and along the banks of the Shuben-
acadie, the English were resting in fancied security. Some
of the inhabitants told them that the French were coming,
but they ridiculed the idea, and made no change in their
arrangements, so that when they were attacked in the early
morning of the 10th February, they were utterly taken by
surprise. De Villiers had been joined by a numbisr of
Acadians at Piziquid, and was informed by them of the

:-1

ii-^ ^-

;]v: ' :'

)
!

J *:f
M

^'^

i t ." " ■

350

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

exact position of the English. They were quartered in
twenty-four houses, from wliieh the inhahitants had pru-
dently retired, when whispers of the coming of the French
were first heard. De Villiers resolved to attack ten of
them, in which the principal officers lodged, with such an
overpowering force that failure would be impossible; and
liaving thus disposed of the leaders of the English, he
judged that the others would be obliged to yield. Fortune
favored him in his perilous undertnlcing. A terrific snow
storm had been raging for a day and night, and while there
was four feet of snow on the ground the air was still thick
with the fast falling flakes. As the French, divided into
ten detachments, approached the ten houses singled out for
attack, the blinding storm prevented the English sentries
from discovering them until it was too late. They had
barely time to give the alarm when the French were upon
them, and they were bayoneted where they stood. The
English officers and soldiers thus suddenly attacked leaped
from their beds and made a desperate resistance. But the
struggle was very unequal, for most of them were undressed,
many were unarmed, and tiiey were outnumbered by the
enemy. Colonel Noble, who commanded the English, was
killed fighting in his shirt, and with him fell four other
officers and seventy non-commissioned officers and soldiers.
Sixty of the English were wounded and sixty-nine were
made prisoners. The French only lost seven killed, and
fourteen woundod, so uneciual were the conditions of the
struggle, but De Villiers and- Lusignant were among the
latter.

The English who remained wore in an extremely difficult
position. They were outnumbered by the French and
Indians; they were cut off from their store of provisions;
their principal officers were captured, and they were with-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

351

out snow-shcMis, so that they could not travc^l. The snow
in fact imprisoned them more etfectually than a whole army
could have done. They, however, made a desperate at-
tempt to retrieve their fortunes, and tried to fight their way
to their stores and vessel, hut the snow defeated their
eiforts. At noon a suspension of arms was aj^reed on, and
finally a capitulation was arranji;ed between Captain Gold-
thwaite, on behalf of the En<;lish, and La Corno,. who liad
taken command of the Frencth. The terms were, that the
English were to de{>art for Ainiapolis within forty-eight
hours, with their arms and six days provisions, and not to
bear arms at Mines, Cobccjuid, or Chignecto for six months.
The ])risoners taken were to remain prisoners of war, and
the English wounded were to be <!onveyed to River Can-
ards, and lodged there until they were in a condition to be
removed to Annapolis. Among the wounded prisoners
was Mr. How, of the Council, who had gone to Mines as
Commissary General. He was released on parole, and
afterwards exchanged for a French officier.

The people of Grand Pre liaving thus got rid of the
English, informed tiie French officers that they were very
short of provisions, and on their representations they de-
cided to return to Chignecto, taking their prisoners with
them. They had achieved a great triumph, which was
only rendered possible by the extreme negligence of the
English commander ; but that does not detract from the
merits of the Frencli, for men who take all tlie chances in
war should not be robbed of their laurels when they suc-
ceed. The moral influence of this victory was powerful
on the minds of the Aeadians, who saw a strong English
detachment defeated and compelled to surrender to a less
numerous body of French and Indians, without, perhaps,
considering too closely the causes which brought about

':;i

■mi

E«-/;,

■■•:i;

I' >■

t'^

.1 ■'

I;:^<-'-

-r!-iv ■-:■■■-

i -.

1 ,- ;

•)^.';v ■.

362

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

BUcli an (H'oiirrciicc. It was tliorefon! a ini'Hfortune in every
way that sncli a cliaricc should have hcfallcn tlu; Kiij>;Ii,sli,
for it was prohaMy otic, of the causes which lured the A(^a-
dian.s t(» their ruin.

In May of this year a terrible misfortune liappened the
Frenitli, which deprived them of any hope of roeoveriiiji^
cither Jjouisbonr^ or Aniiaj)olis. .loncpiiere set sail from
Rochelle with six line of battle ships and a numl)er of
transports, bound for ("ariiida, in company with a frij>;ate
and six large merchantmen!!, bound I'or the East Iiidies.
The!'e wei'e thirty-iMght sail 'u\ all, and Aehnirals A!isfii!
and WariXMi followed then! with thii'teen line of battle
ships and two frigates, and brought them to action off CajXi
Finisterre. The action was very niiequal, and the English
won a complete victory, capturing the six line of battle
ships, the six East Indianiei! and many of the transports.
The frigate was the only war vessel which escaped to tell
how the Fi'ench flag had been driven from the seas. Jon-
quiere, who was thus baulked in his second attempt to get
to his seat of government, said, as he gave up his sword to
Anson, "Sir, you have conquered the Invincible, and
Glory follows you," pointing to the two ships of that name
which had been captured. Anson had done more than
that ; he had broken the naval power of France.

One of the residts of the aid and comfort which De Vil-
liers had received from the Acadians was a proclamation,
proscribing as guilty of treason twelve of the French in-
habitants. The men who were thus declared outlaws were
Louis Gantier and his sons Joseph and Pierre, Amand
Bugeau, Joseph Le Blanc, Charles and Francis Raymond,
Charles and Phillips Le Roy, Joseph Brossard, Pierre
Guidry and Louis Hebert. A reward of fifty pounds ster-
ling was offered for the capture of each of these persons.

i^ llH

1 llH

iMm

1^1

IPH

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

353

every
i Aca-

3(1 the

vering
I IVoin
her of
fVi^iitc
Imlios.
Anson

battle
iV Cape
h^nj^lish
f battle
nsports.
I to tell
,. Jon-
t to get
word to
and
it name

re than

DeVil-
mation,
nch in-
ivs were
Amand
ymond,
Pierre
ds ster-
lersons.

Mascerono wrote in severe t(>rnis to the De])Uties of Mines
in Anjfust, 1748, aceusintr them of eontempt of orders and
disrespeet to His Majesty. It appears from his letter that
they had opposed tlie publieation of the proclamation al)ove
referred to, and thrown the packet, wliich contained a
du|)lieate of it for Chij«;neeto, into the fire. It appears also
that they were then hariioring and concealing:; those whom
the j)ro(!lamation proscribed. He a(!(!uses them also of
receiving and cnlertaininjj; deserters from the Annajjolis
garrison, and fui!iishin<i; both them and the Jndianswith
arms. He implored them not to sufier snch proceedings
amongst them, and added, ** Let me, therefore, prevail on
you, if you liave any love for yourselves, or regard for your
posterity, to recollect my repeated advice, and avoid these
mischiefs which that banditti, thruiigh hope of assistance
from France, are endeavoring to draw you into." This
was sound advice, and it would have been well for the
Acadians if they had been endowed with sutHcient iirmncss
to follow it.

The detachment of Canadians was withdrawn from
Chignecto in the Spring and Summer of 1747, and no ope-
rations of any im[)()rtancc were undertaken from that time
until the end of the war. Marin w'as indeed sent down
from Quebec in the Sununer of 1748 with forty Canadians,
under orders to collect a party of Indians, harrass the
English, and prevent them from forming any new settle-
ments; but beyond burning some firewood and capturing a
few non-combatants, he accomplished nothing. The truth
was that the power of France to achieve the re-conquest of
Louisbourg and Acadia had departed. She had neither
money nor ships sufficient for such extensive enterprises.

The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which was signed on the
18th October, 1748, brought the war, to a close. By it

h'W'^i '^

ml :',.. ]

WW' . '

354

HISTOKY OF ACADIA.

France and England mutually restored the conquests they
had inade during the war, and under this arrangement
England had to cede the Island of Cape Breton and the
fortress of Louisbourg to France. The people of New
England were chagrined to see this stronghold, which had
been such a menace to them, and which they had so bravely
captured, given up, as if it was a worthless prize. To
restore Louisbourg was, indeed, an act of extreme folly,
considering how aggressive the French had become in
America, and that the peace was not likely to be lasting.
The peace — to use the words of Lord Macaulay — was "as
regards Europe nothing but a truce; it was not even a truce
in other quarters of the globe."

CHAPTER XX.

LA LOUTRE AND IIIH WORK.

The English, after a possession of Acudia which lasted
nearly forty years, had not succeeded in founding a single
English settlement, or adding to the English speaking
})opulation of the Province. The French Acadians, on
the other hand, had gone on increasing and spreading
themselves over the land. They were strong and for-
midable, not only by reason of their number, but because
of their knowledge of wood-craft, of the management of
canoes, and of many other accomplishments which are
essential to those who would live in a forest country, and
which were almost indispensable qualifications for soldiers
in such a land as Acadia. All that the English had to
show for their thirty-nine years occupation of the country
Were the fortifications of Annapolis and a ruined fishing
station at Canso. All the substantial gains of that time
belonged to France, for the Acadians were nearly three
tim :, as numerous as they were when Port Royal fell, and
they were quite as devoted to the interests of France as
their fathers had been. Acadia in 1749 was as much a
French colony as it had been forty years before. The only
diiference was that the English were at the expense of
maintaining a garrison instead of the French, and that they
sometimes issued orders to the inhabitants which the latter
very seldom chose to obey.

Many schemes had been devised for the purpose of
giving Acadia an English population, but none of them
had come to anything. One of the best was, i)erhaps, that

iff'

f*'V;''--'

"'i -

(■ ■

356

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

of Governor Shirley, who pro])oscd to scatter English set-
tlers among the Frencli in all the principal settlements in
sufficient numbers to maintain something like a balance of
power. This, no d(/ubt, Avas cpiite feasible, and had the
right kind of settlers been obtained — hardy pioneers from
the borders of New England — the problem which so
greatly perplexed successive Governors of Nova Scotia
Avould have been solved, and the Acadians kept (piiet, or
their influence at least neutralized. In 1749 a })lan of a
simpler character, but less likely to be immediately effect-
ive, was adopted. This was to bring settlers from England
to a portion of the coast not already occupied, and to found
a town and establish a strong English colony. General
Philipps, although he had not been in the country for many
years, was still Governor of the Province, the government
being administered by the Lieutenant-Governor of the fort
of Annapolis. The commission of Philipps was now re-
voked, and the Hon. Edward Cornwallis was aj)pointed
Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of Nova Scotia.
He arrived in the Province in the summer of 1749, and
established at Chebouctou, a colony of some two thousand
five hundred persons, many of them disbanded officers,
soldiers and sailors. A town arose as if by magic on the
soil which had been covered by a dense forest a few weeks
before, and to it Cornwallis gave the name of Halifax, out
of compliment to the Lord then at the head of the Board
of Trade. Here the .government of the Province was re-
organized, fortifications erected, and the beginnings made
of the large military and naval establishments which have
grown up on the shores of the old Chebouctou.

At the very first Council lield in Halifax, which was on
the 14tli July, three French deputies appeared to pay their
respects. These were Jean Melan5on from Canard River,

HISTOKY OF ACADIA.

357

sand

their
Liver,

Claude LeBlanc from Grand Pr6, and Philip Melanyon
from Piziquid. They were pi'esented with a declaration,
which Governor Cornwallis had previously prepared, defin-
ing the rights and duties of the Acadian people. In this
declaration it was stated that the many indulgences which
the King and his royal predecessors had shown to the
inhabitants had not met with a dutiful return ; hut, on the
contrary, that several of them had openly abetted, or pri-
vately assisted. His Majesty's enemies. "Yet His Majesty,
being desirous of showing further 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 graciously
pleased to allow that the said inhabitants shall continue in
the free exercise of their religion, as far as the laws of Great
Britain do allow the same, as also the peaceable possession of
such lands as are under their cultivation, provided that the
said inhabitants do within three months from the date of
this d-^claration take the oaths of allegiance appointed to be
taken by the laws of Great Britain, and likewise submit to
such rules and orders as may hereafter be thought proper
to be made for the maintaining and supporting of His
Majesty's Government ; and provided likewise that they do
give all possible countenance and assistance to such persons
as His Majesty shall think proper to settle in this Prov-
ince." A fortnight later ten deputies, representing the
settlements of Annapolis, Grand Prfi, River Canard, Pizi-
quid, Cobequid, Chignecto and Shepody arrived in Halifax,
and delivered a written answer to the Governor's declara-
tion, asking that they be permitted to have priests and the
public exercise of their religion, and demanding an exemp-
tion from bearing arms in case of war, even should the
Province be attacked.

In response to this the Governor issued a second declara-

■ U

.1 •

f!t?5:

i)-;.

358

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

JJiliLSi^Lli'

tion, granting the Aaidians priests and the free and public
exercise of their religion, provided that no priest should
presume to officiate without having obtained the }>erraission
of the Governor and taken the oath of allegiance. The
declaration stilted that the King was not willing that any of
his subjects, possessing habitations and lands in the Prov-
ince, should be exempted from an entire allegiance, or from
the natural obligation to defend themselves. Accordingly,
it was stated that all must take the oath of allegiance before
the 26th October, and that officers would attend at the
several settlements to administer it. The deputies, on
liearing this second declaration read to them, inquired if
any that desired to leave the Province would have leave to
sell their lands and effiicts, and were told that if they
retired, they must leave their cffiscts behind them, the year
allowed them for that purpose by the treaty of Utrecht
having long expired. They were also warned that if they
did not take the oath of allegiance before the 26th Octo-
ber, they should forfeit all their possessions and rights in
the Province. This declaration was issued on the 1st
August, and on the 6th September the Acadian deputies
returned with an answer in writing, signed by upwards of
one thousand persons. In this they stated that " the inhabi-
tants in general over the whole extent of the country have
resolved not to take the oath ;" but they oifered to take the
old oath, taken in 1730, with an exemption against bearing
arms. They added that if the Governor was not disposed
to grant them this, they were resolved, one and all, to leave
the country. Governor Cornwallis replied to this, by
telling them that by the treaty of Utrecht all who remained
in Acadia became subjects of the Crown of England, and
that they were on the same footing as other Catholic sub-
jects. They therefore deceived themselves if they supposed

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

359

that it lay with them Avhether they would be subjeet
to the King or not. He told them, also, that it was only
out of pity for their situation and their inexperience in the
affairs of government that he condescended to reason with
them ; "otherwise, the question would not be of reasoning,
but of commanding and being obeyed." He reproached
them for not having given a better return for the privileges
they had enjoyed for the past thirty-five years, and ended
by enjoining them to act as good subjects, and to do all in
their power to assist the new colony. There the question
rested, for that year Cornwallis took no steps to deprive
them of their property, or compel them to leave the country,
but simply wrote home for instructions as to what course
he should pursue towards them the following Spring.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Canada had already antici-
pated the movements of the English at Halifax by sending
an officer named Boishebert and thirty men to the St. John
River in tiie Spring, to take possession of the territory at
its mouth and prevent any P^nglish from settling there.
They occupied a little fort on the northern bank of the
Nerepis, at its junction with the St. John, wiiich had been
erected by the Indians in Villebon's time. La Corne was
also sent from Quebec with a stronger detachment of
soldiers and Canadians to Shediac to hold Cliignecto and
prevent any English from settling in that vicinity. These
measures were consistent with the claim which France was
making, that the territory north of the Isthmus of Cliig-
necto was not part of Acadia, and therefore not ceded to
England by the treaty of Utrecht. In July, Cornwallis
sent Captain Rous in the Albany to the St. John to order
the French away. He found that Boishebert and one
hundred and fifty Indians gathered there under the
French flag, and in explanation of his presence he showed

it'

360

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

orders from the (Jrovernor of Canada, ordering him to pre-
vent tlie Engli.sli from .settling at St. John. The same
vesrfel brought back to Halifax Chiefs and Deputies of the
St. John Kiver, Passamaquoddy and Chigneeto tribes of
Indians to renew the treaty of peace and submission made
in 1726. They renewed the treaty and made great pro-
fessions of friendship, whicii La Loutre t(jok care that they
did not k<'ep.

In September, Ca])tain Handfield was detached from
Annapolis, with one hundred men, to occupy Mines, and
he establisiied himself and erected a block-house at Grand
Prfe. 'I'his a(!t was looked upon with great disfavor by
the French emissaries in the Province, and the Indians
■were excited to ads of hostility, almost before the ink of
their treaty was dry. Tlieir first attack was at Canso,
where they took twenty Englishmen ])risoners, most of
whom had come there in a vessel from ]Joston to cut hay.
They were taken to Louisbourg, .'aid afterwards released
by the French Governor Desherbiers. The next attack
was made at Chigneeto, where the Indians endeavored to
surprise two trading vessels belonging to Messrs. Daniel
and Winniett. Three English were killed, but the Indians
lost seven men and were beaten off. In October the In-
dians attacked six men who were cutting timber for a saw
mill near Halifax, killing four of them and cajituring one.
This act called forth a proclamation from the Government,
offering a reward of ten guineas for the capture of each
Micmac Indian, or for his scalp. In December three hun-
dred Micmacs and St. John Indians suddenly appeared at
Mines, and captured lieutenant Hamilton and eighteen
men, whom they surprised outside the fort. They prowled
about the fort itself for seven days and made several at-
tempts upon it, but were foiled and obliged to retire.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

361

Eleven of the Frencli inhabitants of Piziquid assisted them
in tlieir assault on the fort, and an attempt was made to
arrest them, but they abandoned their dwellings and fled
to Chignecto, which had become the ])lace of refuge for all
the outlaws of tiie Peninsula. They cjirried with them three
Englishmen wlio had ventiux'd to settle among them. The
author and instigator of all these attacks was mcU known
to Governor Cornwallis to be La Loutrc, the missionary to
the Micmacs, who held the office of Vicar-General of Aca-
dia under the Bishoj) of Quebec. This priest came to the
Province as early as 1740, and it was not long before he
commenced to plot against the English. He was in close
and constant conumuiication with the French Governors of
Canada for many years, and was the prime mover in all the
schemes for the subvei'sion of English authority up to the
fall of Beausejour. Indeed his spiritual functions seems to
have been made entirely subservient to his political mis-
sion, and there is excellent evidence to show that the 15ishop
of Quebec was very far from approving of his conduct.
Perhaps there is a standpoint from which La Loutre's acts
can be justified, but the Acadian peoj)le will scarcely be
able to feel nnich atfection for the memory of a man who
brought such misfortunes on their fathers. It may have
been pure patriotism which moved him in all his schemes,
but many ascribed his conduct to personal vanity. Nor
was he so single-minded as not to have an eye to temporal
advantages, for M. Francpiet states that, in 1751, La
Loutre kept a shop at Bale Verte on his own private
account. Tiie plan which he pursued consistently from
first to last with the Acadians, was to threaten them with
the vengeance of the savages if they submitted to the
English, and to refuse the sacraments to all who would
not obey his commands. It was by such threats as these

r' ■' •

i-''-:^

r--^.

1 .M .I-:

\ ^M

I ',>

l.Ui.,-

362

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

that he induced the inhabitants of Cliignecto to take the
oath of allegiance to the King of France in 1749, and that
he afterwards caused so mnny of them to withdraw from
the Peninsula. Cornwall is thought that if he could capture
this arch j)lotter, he would be doing the Acadians a service
and materially lightening the cares of his government.
He went so far as to commission Captain Sylvanus Cobb
to enlist a party to ciipture La Loutre ; but the affair be-
came advertised in Boston, owing to the stupidity of the
agents who had it in charge, and the plan was abandoned.

In January, 1750, La Loutre was at Cobequid with a
party of Indians, and at the church door, in the presence
of both priests, he forbade the inhabitants to pass the River
Shubenacadie on pain of death. This menace was intended
to prevent them from having any further communication
with the English at Halifax, and especially to prevent any
of the inhabitants of Cobequid from going to Halifax to
work, which some of them had done. Thirty Indians
remained at Cobequid all winter, and some of the inhabi-
tants were in league with them, for they captured and sent
to Cliignecto a messenger that Cornwall is had sent to
Gerard, the priest. The Governor was indignant at iiis
messenger not returning, and at the presence of the Indians;
and in February Captain Bartalo was sent to Cobequid
with one hundred men to surprise the Indians, and bring
Gerard and the deputies to Halifax to answer for their
conduct. Bartalo returned in March without the Indians,
who had taken their departure, but he brought the priests
and deputies, and they were detained for a time. Gerard
finally took the oath of allegiance, and was sent to officiate
at Mines.

The lawless conduct of some of the inhabitants of Pizi-
quid induced Cornwallis to send a detiichment there in

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

:^6.3

March, under the command of Captain John Gorham.
After an engagement with the Indians on the St. Croix, in
which he and some of his men were wounded, lie established
himself on an eminence between the Piziquid and St.
Croix, and commenced the erection of Fort Edward, which
from that time became one of the regular garrison stations
of the Province. In April, Cornwallis and his Council
resolved to erect a block-house at Chignccto, wliich was the
focus of most of the intrigues which were hatched against
English authority. Major I^awrence was entrusted with
this work, and furnished with four hundred men, nearly
half of whom were regulars. He marched to Mines, and
there took shipping to Chignccto, which he reached on the
1st May. There, on the southern side of the Misscguash,
which the French pretended to be tlie boiuidary of Acadia,
was a large village named Beaubassin, consisting of one
hundred and forty houses. The inhabitants were rich
and prosi)erous, for the territory upon which it stood, and
the surrounding marshes, formed, and still forms, one of
the most fertile regions in Acadia. The French had early
notice that the English were coming, and the wily La
Loutre persuaded tiie inhabitants of this populous settle-
ment, numbering more than a thousand souls, to abandon
their dwellings, and, witii their cattle and household effects,
to cross the Misseguash, and come under the protection of
the French troops on its northern bank. Then, to make the
step irrevocable, he ordered his Indians to set fire to the
village, and it was totally destroyed, not even the chajiel
being spared. The statement that such an act of wanton
devastation was committed on the French inhabitants by
the orders of a priest of their country and their faith, would
be incredible, were it not well authenticated. More than a
thousand persons were embraced in this forced emigration.

lll|!ih,,:(il

r^r^

II- ■

1'^ ■ !y;?^.- (

364

HI8T0RY OF ACADIA.

and the number was increased later in the year, as La
Loutre's fuhninatiouH and threats took effect. About
eight hiuidred A(!adians were residing at Port hi Joie, the
site of Charlottetown, P. E. I., in August 1750, and were
being fed on rations furnished from (Quebec. Tlient they
lived miserably, like Indians in the woods, and suffered
many hardshijjs. A large mimber of them remained on
the isthnuis, scattered at various points between BaieVerte
and the head of the Bay of Fundy. For several years
these poor refugees, flattered by hopes that were destined
never to be realized, lived in voluntary exile in sight of the
fields that had been their own, and to which they might
have had liberty to return, on ejnbraeing the easy condi-
tions which they were ottered. Yet they were restrained
by the influence of a wicked priest, who had a band of
savages, which he em{)loyed to coerce them.

The French were now gathered in great force north of
the Misseguash, there being a considerable body of regulars,
a larger body of Canadians, several hundred Indians, and
many able-bodied Acadian inhabitants. La Corne sent
word to Lawrence that he intended to hold the north bank
of the Misseguash as French territory until the boundary
question was settled by the two Crowns, and the scope of
Lawrence's orders did not embrace any instructions to drive
La Corne away. As the removal of the French inhabi-
tants had made the erection of a block-house unnecessary,
and as he had not the means for the construction of a regu-
lar fort, Lawrence resolved to take his force back to Mines
until measures were jjerfected for the larger enterprise
which the changed attitude of the French had rendered
necessary.

La Loutre, by means of his agents in the various settle-
ments, had been unremitting in his efforts to induce the

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

.']r)5

Inhabitiints to withdraw from the istliimis, and from under
Enfi;lish rule. In A])ril, deputies arrived at IFalifax from
River Canard, Grand Pre and Pizi(|uid, askin<r for leave
to evacuate the Province, and to carry olf their eflects.
They also announced their determination not to sow their
fields. Cornwallis replied in a most kind and conciliatory
strain, ile said —

''I am not ignorant of the fact that since my arrival in
the Provin(!C every means has been employed to alienate
the hearts of the French subjects of His Hritannic Majesty.
I know that <>;reat advantages have been j)romised you
elsewhere, and that you have been made to imagine that
your religion was in danger. Threats even have been
resorted to, in order to induce you to remove into French
territory. The savages are made use of to molest you.
The savages are to cut the throats of those who persist \n
remaining in their native country, attached to their own
interests, and faithful to the Government. By the manner
in Mhich this scheme has been carried out, you yourselves
will judge of the character of the directors, and of their
designs. You will judge whether those deserve your con-
fidence, who sacrifice their own honor, tlie honor of their
Sovereign, and of their nation, to lead yon to your ruin.
You know that certain officers and missionaries, who came
from Canada to Chigneeto last Autumn, have been the
cause of all our troubles during the winter. Their entrance
into this Province and their stay here are directly contrary
to the treaties which exist between the two Crowns. Their
conduct has been liorribie, without honor, })robity or con-
science, and such as they dare not acknowledge themselves.
They are doing everything by underhand dealings, and by
means of the savages, whom they will disown in the end.
It was these, gentlemen, who induced the savages of the

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

I.I

'" IIIIM IIIIM
- IIIIM |||m

• ''° 12.0

1.8

Q-

(/x

1.25 1.4

1.6

^ 6" —

►

<9>

'c>l

■<^1

V> c^^

Photographic

Sciences
Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, NY. 14580

(716) 872-4503

366

HISTOEY OF ACADIA.

River St. John to unite with the Miomacs the clay after a
solemn treaty. They induced the Micmaas to commence
their outrages, and furnished them with everything neces-
sary for their war. Finally, since the peace, they have
been engaged in intrigues and enterprises, for which an
honest man would have blushed, even during the war.
These same, gentlemen, are doing their best to cause you to
leave the country, and to transfer yourselves to French ter-
ritory. They have endeavored to give you very false ideas,
which you would not fail to declare to us. Their aim is to
embroil you with the Government." Cornwallis concluded
by telling the deputies that they were the subjects of Great
Britain, and not of France; that it was ridiculous for them
to say that they would not sow their fields; that no one
could possess lands or houses in the I'rovince, who refused
to take the oath of allegiance, and those who left the Prov-
ince would not be permitted to take their effects with them.

Five weeks later, deputies from Annapolis, Grand Prft,
River Canard and Piziquid, came with petitions from the
inhabitants, asking |)erraission to leave the Province.
Cornwallis replied, that as soon as tranquillity was re-
established he would furnish those who wished to leave the
Province with passports. In the meantime, considering
that the moment they crossed the Misseguash they would
be compelled to take up arms against the English, he
declined to grant them permission to depart at that time.
There was something almost touching in the terms in which
the Governor expreased his regret at the determination of
the Acadians to withdraw from under English rule. He
thus expressed himself —

" My friends, the moment that you declared your desire
to leave and submit yourselves to another government, our
determination was to hinder nobody from following what

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

367

he imagined to be his interest. We know that a forced
service is worth nothing, and that a subject compelled to
be so against his will, is not very far from being an enemy.
We frankly confess, however, that your determination to
leave us gives us pain. We are well aware of your industry
and your temperance, and that you are not addicted to any
vice or debauchery. This Province is your country ; you
and your fatiiers have cultivated it ; naturally you ought
yourselves to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Such was the
desire of the King, our master. You know that we have
followed his orders. You know that we have done every-
thing to secure to you not only the occupation of your
lands, but the ownership of them for ever. We have given
you also every possible assurance of the enjoyment of your
religion, and the free and public exercise of the Roman
Catholic faith. When we arrived here we expected that
nothing would give you so much pleasure, as the determi-
nation of His Majesty to settle this Province. Certainly
nothing more advantageous to you could take place. You
possess the only cultivated lands in the Province; they
produce grain and nourish cattle sufficient for the whole
colony. It is you that would have had all the advantages
for a long time. In short, we flattered ourselves that we
would make you the happiest people in the world. We
are sorry to find in our government persons whom it is
impossible to please, and upon whom our declarations have
produced nothing but discontent, jealousies and murmur-
ings. We must not complain of all the inhabitants. We
know very well that there are ill disposed, interested and
mischievous jjersons among you who corrupt the others.
Your inexperience and your ignorance of the aifairs of gov-
ernment, and your habit of following the counsels of those
who have not your real interests at heart, make it an easy

'n\

'■■ft'

^^>i

368

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

matter to seduce you." This may be the language of
tyranny and oppression, but it sounds wonderfully like the
tone of gentle and kindly remonstrance. Unfortunately,
the Acadians were not permitted by their advisers to
believe in the sincerity of anything whicJi an English
Governor might say. It was the policy of the agents of
the French King to fill them with distrust, and to compel
them to witlidraw from their lands and submit to all the
privations which sich a course involved.

The estjiblishment of a Fort at Chignecto was the next
object which engaged the attention of Cornwallis and his
Council. Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence arrived at the
Istiimus in September 1750, with a strong force, consisting
of the 48th regiment and three hundred men of the 45th
regiment. The Indians and some of the French inhabit-
ants were rash enough to attempt to oppose the landing of
this formidable body of troops, but they were driven off'
after a sharp skirmish, in which the English lost about
twenty killed and wounded. On an elevation, a short dis-
tance south of the Misseguash, Lawrence commenced the
erection of a picketed fort, with block-houses, which was
named after himself. Here a garrison of six hundretl men
was maintained until the fall of Beausdjour. The two
Crowns were supposed to be at peace when Fort Lawrence
was erected, but on that border land there was something
very nearly akin to war.

in, '

■■'■1

■ . M

CHAPTER XXI.

THE FALL OF BEAUSEJOUIi.

On the northern bank of the Missegiiash, less than
a mile from that river, which now forms the boundary of
two Provinces, the Intercolonial Railway winds round a
remarkable hill, whi(!h, rising suddenly from the marsh,
runs back in a high narrow ridge towards the north east.
The traveller, as he gazes listlessly at the landscape, sud-
denly has his attention fixed by the sight of a ruined
magazine and the ramparts and embrasures of an ancient
fortress, and turns to his guide-book to discover what tiiis
may be. These wasting battlements, whi(!h now seem so
out of |)lace in the midst of a peaceful pastoral scene, have
a sadder history than almost any other j)ie<!e of gror.nd in
Acadia, for tlioy represent the last eifort of France to
hold on to a portion of that Province, which was once all
her own, which she seemed to value so little when its pos-
session was secure, yet which she fought so hard to save.
This ruin is all that remains of the once potent and dreaded
Beausdjour.

The erection of Beaus6jour was commenced in 1750 by
La Corne, and it was scarcely completed when it passed out
of the poissession of the French five years later. It was a
fort of five bastiojs, capable of accommodating eight hun-
dred men, and provided with casemates. It mounted thirty
guns. In connexion with Beaus^jour, the French con-
structed a complete system of defence for the northern
portion of Amdia. At Baic Verte they had a small fort,
which they named Fort Gaspereaux. It was cloee to the

I Hill''. "I'll;

' '''i' "''^ Ttiii

■.::i|

: ' '1! I

■ liill

i^'. m

370

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

'.fe

sea shore, on the iiortliern side of the Bay, and was used as
a dep6t for goods coming to Beaus^jour, from Louisbourg
and Quebec. It mounted six guns, and had a garrison of
from fifteen to thirty men. At Pont a Buot there was a
block-house garrisoned by thirty men, and there were
guards at Shepody, Shediac, and one or two other points.
At the River St. John there was a detachment of seventy
or eighty men, basides Indians. This line of posts formed
a continuous chain from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the
St. John, and Beausejour could at any time be reinforce<l,
either by way of the Gulf or from the Iliver St. John,
without the English at Annapolis or Halifax having any
notice of it. At Beausfijour, I^a Loutre made his head-
quarters, and issued his edicts to the Acadians, who
trembled at his frown. He had the Indians under as
complete control as it was possible for these wayward
people to be kept; yet even he found them sometimes
difficult to manage. In a letter written to Bigot, the In-
tendant of Canada, in August 1 750, La Loutre says : " If
all our savages were Frenchmen, we should not be em-
barrassed ; but the wretches get tired, and will perhaps
leave us in our greatest need." This sentence throws
a flood of light on the crooked policy of the agents of
France, and shivers to atoms the pretence that the Indians
of themselves would have attacked the Acadians if they
had taken the oath of allegiance to England. It was only
when persuaded to it by such men as La Loutre, that the
savages made even a pretence of threatening the Acadians.
The pressure placed upon the latter all came from men of
their own race.

To preserve his influence with the savages, La Loutre
was prepared to go all lengths. Among the gentlemen of
the garrison of Fort Lawrence was Captain Edward How,

outre

men of

How,

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

371

a person well acquainted with the Indiana, and who had
been employed in several negotiations to which they were
parties. He was sent to Chignecto by Governor Corn-
wallis in consequence of his familiarity with the country
and its people, not without the hope that he might persuade
the savages to abandon La Loutre and the French interest.
The unscrupulous priest soon discovered his mission, and
marked him for destruction. How had been accustomed
to meet French officers at the Misseguash with Hags of
truce when there was any communication to be made
between one fort and the other. La Loutre, taking advan-
tage of this circumstance, dressed up an Indian named
Cope like a French officer, and sent him down to the river
with a white flag. This signal brought How down to the
Misseguash to meet the pretended French officer, and when
he got within range, a party of Indians which lay con-
cealed behind the dike rose, and firing a volley, shot him
dead. The indignation of Cornwallis at this outrage was
extreme. In a letter to the Duke of Bedford, he charac-
terized it as " an instance of treachery and barbarity not
to be paralleled in history." It has been paralleled since,
but we have to go to the subjects of that dagger -haunted
tyrant, the Russian Czar, to find another case as flagrant.
La Loutre kept his Indians busy intercepting the mes-
sengers of the Governor and cutting communication between
Halifax and the various garrisoned posts. Dartmouth,
which was much exposed, was attacked by them in the
Spring of 1761, and a number of persons killed and
scalped. These attacks seem to have been made in mere
wantonness, for it was not to be supposed that a settlement
as strong as that around Chebucto harbor would be se-
riously injured by such efforts. One effect < the danger
from the Indians was, however, to prevent solitary settlers

■I

■n

' ll

;:i|

372

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

from going into the forest after the approved An^lo-Saxon
fashion, and there making homes for themselves.

In August of this year Franquct, an engineer officer
sent by tlie French Government to re|)ort on the forts in
Acadia and the Island of St. John and suggest measunis
for their improvement, visited Beausftjour, and instructed
St. Ours, the conmiander, as to the proper mode of making
it defensible. There were then one hundred and forty-two
Acadian refugees living at Baie Verte, and eleven hundred
and eleven at Beaus5jour atid in its vicinity.* Most of
these j>eople were from the villages immediately south of
the Misseguash, although some of them had come from
Mines and Cobequid. Some of these poor peo{)le became
very ill satisfied with their position as de])endents on the
bounty of the French government, and a.sked permission of
the government at Halifax to return to their lands. They
always received the same answer, that they might go buiik
to their lands and cultivate them as before, provided they
were willing to take the following oath of allegiance:
" Je promets et jure sincfirement que Je serai fid6le, et que
Je porterai une loyaute parfaite vers Sa Majest6 le Roi
George Second."

There was no time up to the capture of Beausdjour
when these "deserted inhabitants," as they were termed,

* Franquct gives a list of the villages these people had come from. I preserve
the spoiling he adopts, but the placu's will be readily recognized.

ToUl No. of
PerioDS.

Villages of Acadls.

Menoudv,

River Heberts

Mankanc River,

Kampanc River

Wescnkok,

La Butte,...

Les Planches,

Reaubassin,

Mines, Cobequid and other places,

Hen.

Women.

Children.

114

104

.39

:»2

128

107

178

171

762

169

112

142

115

190

156

1111

K'i

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

373

might not have returned to their lands on complying
with this condition, and they were also promised by the
Government the free exercise of their religion, a sufficient
number of priests, and all the other privileges granted by
the treaty of Utnuiht. All La Loutre's jjower was freely
used to prevent them from returning to the territory under
the English flag. He caused them to demand conditions
that he knew could not be granted, and that were even
insulting in their character, and therefore calculated to
bring all negotiations to an end. In his sermons he told
them that if they returned to the English they would be
allowed neither [jriests nor sacraments, but "would die like
miserable wretches." To prevent, as far as possible, any
further communications between them and the Englisii, he
succeeded in sending a large number of them to the St.
John River, and many of them to the Island of St. John,
with a view to their settling there. Still, after all these
emigrations, eighty families were living under the guns of
Beaus5jour in 1754. In that year they sent two deputies
to tiie Governor of Canada, asking permission to return to
their lands, but tjiese messeiigers of a ])eople, who had
sacrificed everything for their loyalty, were very badly
received, and treated almost as if they had been criminals.
In the portions of Acadia not claimed by the French,
the attitude of the inhabitiints continued unfriendly to the
English government. Cornwallis left the Province in
1752, and was succeeded by Governor Hopson, but he had
no better success in tranquilizing the inhabitants than his
predecessors. It was the policy of I-.a Loutre to keep the
Acadians hostile to the English, and, as most of the
missionary priests were in sympathy with him, he had
abundant success in that direction. His ability to annoy
and harass the , English was very great, for the garrisons

■M

i ."

:-|i

■'m

fli

'■'f^'liS

IffilB

■P

!■■

374

III8T0KY OF ACADIA.

in the various settlements were dependent to a large extent
on the good will of the people. Governor Hohson, with a
view to r(!ni()ve all oauses of complaint, issued stringent
orders to the (jonmianders of the forts at Mines and Pizi-
quid to make no requisitions on the inhabitants, and if
they refused supplies, not to redress themselves by military
force, but to lay the case before the Governor and wait his
orders. The provisions and fuel furnished by the inhabit-
ants were to be paid for according to a free agreement
between buyer and seller, and not at a fixed price. This
piece of lenity had no effect whatever in improving the dis-
position of the Acadians, but gave La Luutre's agents an
opportunity to create difficulties for the English which they
did not fail to embrace. The Acadians cwised to bring any
supplies to the English forts, carrying all their surplus
provisions to the French establishments at Beaus^jour and
St. John, and finally at the instance of Daudin, one of the
priests, the inhabitants of Piziquid refused to furnish any
wood to the garrison at that place. It became necessary to
issiu; peremptory orders to the people to supply the wood
required, and Daudin, who had acted most insolently in the
matter, threatening the P]nglish with the direst vengeance,
was carried off to Halifax a prisoner, and not permitted to
return to his charge until he had made a very humble sub-
mission, and promised to amend his conduct.

At this time it also became necessary to pass a stringent
order in Council forbidding the exportation of grain from
the Province without a permission in writing signed by the
Lieutenant-Governor. This was done for the purjiose of
preventing the French inhabitants from supplying grain to
the Indians and French on the north side of the Bay of
Fundy, and also in the hope that the supply of grain for
the Halifax market might thereby be increased.

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

376

One of the evils produced by the contempt for autliority
which di.stinguished the French inhubitants was that the
German settlers who had been brought to the Province in
1753, and who were settled at liUnenburg showed a dispo-
sition to rebel, and soldiers had to Ixj sent among them
before they could be (piieted. Some of these Germans went
off among the French and gave them their countenance in
their lolwUious attitude towards the government. It was
evident that some vigorous measures nuist be taken if
Acadia was to be saved to England, for the authority of
the government was not respected in those places where
there was no armed force to maintain it. This was very
plainly demonstrated in the autunm of 1754, when about
three hundred inhabitants went to Beans6jour, in spite of
the orders of the government, to work on the aboteau
which La Loutre was erecting. These men were offered
work by the government at Halifax, and the certainty of
good wages, but they chose lo run all the risks which their
disobedience entailed, and to go without passes rather than
to work for the English.

England and France were now on the verge of a war
which was destined to end in the humiliation of the latter
power, and the loss of the greater part of her possessions in
America. The attempt made to settle the limits of Acadia
by means of a commission had failed, as it was evident it
must do from the first, considering how conflicting were
the claims of the two powers. Governor Shirley, who had
been the English Commissioner, was now returned home,
and was revolving in his active brain many schemes for the
destruction of the power of France in Acadia and Cape
Breton. He had in Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence, who, in
the absence of Governor Hopson, had become Lieutenant-
Governor of Nova Scotia, an active and energetic assistant,

■ 11

376

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

and one wIioho fiiimicsH was to 1)C dopoiidod upon. Tt was
well that such a man had the coiiunand in Nova Scotia at
tlii.s time, for the dilHcnlties of the position were f;r(>at, and
not likely to bo lessened so loiig us ii passive policy was
pursued.

In November lliA Lawrence wrote to Shirley statin};
that he had reason to l)elieve the Fi"ench were eontemplat-
inu; aji:<;n'ssive movements at Chigneeto as soon as they had
repaired the fortifications of Jjouisbourg, and suggesting
that it was high time some effort was made to drivi; them
from the north side of the Jiay of Fnndy. Lieutenant-
Colonel Monckton. who earrietl this letter to Shirley, was
directed to consult with him as to the enlisting of two
thousand men for an exj)edition against Heausejour and the
Kiver St. John in the Spring, and the greatest seerety was
enjttined on all concerned, for it was considered almost
essential to the success of the enterprise; that the French
should have no warning of the intended attack. Shirley
had already been corresponding with Sir Thomas Robin-
son, the Secretary of State, with regard to the matter, and
the latter had informed him that it was the desire of the
Government that he and Lawrence should act in concert.
Shirley scjircely needed such an order, for he was filled with
:<eal for the destruction of French [)ower in America, and
ready to co-operate in any enterprise to that end. He
entered heartily into Lawrence's plans, and the succc&s of
the expedition was largely due to the forethought and care
with which he had prepare<l it.

On the 23rd of May, 1755, the expedition set sail from
Boston with a fair wind. It consisted of about two
thousand men, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Monckton, with Lieutenant-Colonels Winslow and Scott
under him. After calling at Annapolis, and being joined

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

377

by three l(Uii(lre<l rcpilurs of Wiirburtoir.s regiment and a
small train of artillery, they y;ot to Chigneoto on the 2n(l
June, and on the followinj^ day all the troops were landed
and canipeil around Fort Lawrence. Vergor, who was
then in coininand of Heans^jonr, at onee sent an order for
all the Acadians, capable of bearinj; arms, to come into the
fort. The order was pretty j^enerally obeyed, althouf^h the
inhabitants deni...ided that, as a justification for bearing
arms, he should threaten them with punishment in case of
their refusal. Vergor pretended to the inhabitants that he
could defend the fort successfully against the English, but,
although it was well supi)lied with annnunition and ])ro-
visious, its defences were in an iucom|)lete state. La
Lontre had k(>|»t so many of the inhabitants working on the
aboteau, for which he had received a large grant in Franc-e,
that the fort had been neglected. Vergor and his artillery
officer Fiedmoiit, however, endeavored to make up for lost
time, and i)Iaced a large party of Acadians and soldiers at
the work of com])leting its defences. Its armament then
consisted of twenty-one cannon and a mortar, and it was
manned by one hundred and sixty-five officers and sohliers
of the r(!gulars, in addition to several hundred Acadians,
so that there was no lack of men.

Beaus(Y)()ur could not be assailed from the front, so
Monckton proceeded to take measures to enable him to
a+ts 'k it from the rear. On the 4th June the English
troops made an attack in force on Pont a Buot, a post on
the Misseguash, several miles to the ea.stward of Beausftjour.
Here there was a block-house and a strong breastwork of
timber, which the French defended for an hour, and then
abandoned in a panic, setting fire to the block-house, leav-
ing the P^nglish to lay their bridge, and cross the river
unmolested. Before night they liad established themselves

• 1

L^ '■

378

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

'<*!'

«|-':

on the northern side of the Misseguash, half a league from
Beaus^jour. As they retired, the French set fire to all the
houses between Pont a Buot and the fort, and before night
the whole of them, to the number of sixty, were burnt to
the ground Even the church did not escape the flames.
The next day the English were busy making a bridge over
the river sufficient to transport their heavy guns, and in
cutting a road through the woods northward to the high
ground behind the fort. This work proved tedious, and it
was not until the 13th that they succeeded in getting any
of their cannon in position north of the fort. The French
in the meantime had been very busy strengthening its
defences, and had made very satisfactory progress. Two or
three slight skirmishes had taken place between small
parties, but no sortie of importance had been made. A
considerable number of Indians — both Malicites and Mic-
macs — had come Vergor's assistance, and they had effected
the capture of an English officer, named Hay, while going
from Fort Lavvrencc to the English camp at daybreak.

The English, having succeeded in getting their artillery
over the hill behind the fort, opened trenches within seven
hundred feet of it, and conmienced firing small shells on
the morning of the 13th. On the 14th the firing continued,
but without much effect. That day Vergor received bad
news from Louisbourg. He had l^en led to hope for
assistance from that place, and in fact had given the Aca-
dians to understand that he expected twelve hundred
soldiers from I^ouisbourg to relieve Beaus6jour. Now
Drucourt, <^he Governor of Isle Royale, wrote to him that
he could se ul him no help, as ho was himself threatened
by an English squadron. Vergor told his officers of this
depressing answer, and enjoine<l them to conceal it from the
Acadians, but it leaked out, nevertheless, and produced a

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

379

most demoralizing effect. That night a number of the
Acadians escaped from the fort, and on the following
morning those that remained asked Vergor's ])ermission to
retire, which they could easily have done, as the place >va8
not invested. Vergor, however, refused their request.
That day the English commenced firing fifteen-inch shells,
two of which fell into the fort, and did a good deal of
damage. On the 16th the mortar practice continued with
most disastrous results to the besieged. A fifteen-inch shell
rolled into one of the casemates, where the English prisoner,
Mr. Hay, and a number of French officers were at break-
fast. Mr. Hay and three of the French were killed, and
two others wounded. This affair produced such a panic
among both soldiers and Acadians, that Vergor came to
the conclusion that it was impossible to hold out any
longer. La Loutre and one or two others were opposed to
a surrender, but Vergor sent an officer to Monckton to ask
for a suspension of hostilities, with a view to a capitulation.
The same afternoon the t(>rms of surrender were agreed
upon, and in the evening the English entered the fort.

The terms of capitulation granted by Monckton were —
that the garrison should go out of the fort with their arms,
and be sent by sea to liouisbourg, and that they were not
to bear arms in America for the space of six months. The
Acadians, who had been forced to take uj) arms, on pain
of death, were to be pardoned.

All day, while the negotiations for the surrender were
going on, the French officers were engaged in drinking and
plundering, and great confusion ])revailed in the fort. In
the evening, Vergor gave a supper, at which offioers of both
nations were present ; but there was one well known xace
absent from the board. The Abb6 La Loutre seeing no
clause in the terms of capitulation that would cover his

■■■15

L'-'-i

:•>■!;?

; >l

*i«

380

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

case, had withdrawn from the fort just before tlie English
entered it. His career, as an agitator and political incen-
diary, was ended. The result of all his schemes had been
simply his own ruin and that of the cause for which he
had labored. As in his disguise, and concealed by the
shadows of evening, he wended his way towards the north-
ern wilderness, an outcast and a fugitive, it may possibly
liave occurred to him that his political mission was a mis-
take ; that he would have done better had lie taken the
advice of his Bishop, and attended to the proper duties of
his office as a missionary })riest. True, the latter position
gave less sco])e for ambition than the role of a political
agent ; but it was infinitely safer, and much more likely
to yield a grateful return. La Loutre had abundant
op]wrtunities, during the remaining years of his life, to
meditate u|)on the ingratitude of man and the vanity of
earthly ambition. When he got to Quebec, after a fatigu-
ing journey through the wilderness, he met with a cold
rece])tion from the Governor, and was bitterly reproachtKl
by his Bishop for his nnclerical conduct. He was glad to
get away from a place where his services were so little
appreciated, so in August he embarked for France, but the
vessel was captured by the English, and lie was kept a
prisoner in Elizabeth Castle in the Island of Jersey until
the end of the war. When he emerged from behind the
massive walls of his prison, eiglit years had passed over his
head, and the empire of France in North America had
departed for ever.

Monekton sent Colonel Winslow to Bale Verte with
three liundred men to demand the surrend^j* of Fort Gas-
pereaux, and it was given up on the same terms that had
been granted to Vergor. Both garrisons were promptly for-
warded to Louisbourg. About three hundred Acadians

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

381

Avere found in Fort Beaus^joiir when it was surrendered,
and a number of others came in afterwards and yielded
lip their arms. They were offered a free pardon for
their past misconduct, provided they would consent to
take the oath of allegiance ; but they all refused to do so.
They did not know then, {)erhaps, that the more than forty
years of forbearaiuje which the English goverimient had
exercised towards the Acadians had nearly come to an end,
or they might have reached a different determination.

Monckton changed the name of Beaus5jour to Fort
Cumberland, in honor of tlie Royal Duke, who won the
victory at CuUoden. Pie placed a garrison in it, and then
despatched Captain Rous, who was in command of the
naval part of the exjuxlition, to the St. John River with
three twenty-gun ships and a sloop to drive the French
from that place, if practicab!*^. As soon as Rous sailed
into St. John Harbor, the French burst their cannon, blew
up their magazine, set the woodwork of the fort on fire,
and fled up river. The commandant had already been
informed of the fall of Beaus^jour, and was therefore aware
of the uselessness of trying to make good his defence. The
Halifax Council resolved to permit this fort to remain just
as the French had left it, without attempting to place a
garrison there.

The Acadian ex[>edition of 1755 was but one of four
planned by the English in that year, and it was the only
one that proved completely successful. The other three
enterprises were an attack on Fort du Quesne by British
regulars, under General Braddock, an attempt on the fort
at Niagara by Colonial regulars and Indians under Gov-
ernor Shirley, and an expedition against Crown Point, to
be carried out by militia from the northern colonies.
Braddock advanced with a large force to within a few miles

4 1

■'■'i

382

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

of the place he was to attack, and in his arrogant self-
sufficiency refused to take any of those precautions against
surprise, which exporionce in forest warfare had shown to
be necessarv. The result might have been easily foreseen.
His troops were attacked in the dense forest by a large
body of French and Indians, thrown into confusion and
defeated, l^raddock was killed, and the expedition aban-
doned. The Niagara expeflition was delayed in starting,
and got no further than (Oswego, where a garrison was left,
but no attempt was made upon Niagara that year. The
expedition against Crown Point, although it inflicted a
bloody defeat on the French under Dieskau, which almost
balanced Braddock's disaster, did not attain the object for
which it was placed in the field. In Acadia, alone, the
French had been completely defeated, for, although Boishe-
bert, who commanded on the St. John River, still remained
at the head of a few men, he was unable to hold his ground
anywhere against the English, and was scarcely in a better
position than the fugitive Acadians, who had escaped
to him from the Peninsula.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE EXPULSION OP THE ACADfANS.

The event for which the vear 1755 will be ever memo-
rable in the history of this Continent was not the capture
of Beausejour, nor the defeat of Braddock. These were
results which occurred in the ordinary course of warfare,
and which grew naturally out of the struggle which Eng-
land and Fi'ance were waging in America. Our interest in
them is merely the interest of patriotism ; we feel no
sympathy for the individual soldier who lays down his life
for his country, for it is the business of the soldier to fight
and to die, and to some a death on the field of battle,
which is lighted by the sun of victory, seems the happiest
death of rll. The event which gives the year 1755 a sad
pre-eminence over its fellows — the expulsion of the Aca-
dians — wao an occurrence of a very different character. The
sufferers were men who were, or ought to have been, non-
combatants, and in the common ruin which overtook them
their wives and children were involved. .The breaking up
of their domestic hearths, their severance from their
property, the privations they endured when driven among
strangers, and the numberless ills which overtook them as
the result of their first misfortune, have an interest for the
people of every nation, for they appeal to our common
humanity. It seems at the first view of the case an outrage
on that humanity and a grievous wrong that such an occur-
rence as tlie expulsion of the Acadians should have taken
place merely from political motives. The misfortunes and
sufferings of the Acadians stand out prominently, and

i •'..'18 II

; '|.i{i'i:ui|

' -'f liii

•'1
""■ li

':■ ii'l

' ■'''■|1

•1 ■ til

vii

|iWBH^^^H

384

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

Ila

appeal to every eye; a great {)oet has sung of their sorrows;
innumerable writers of books have referred to their exi)u!-
sion in terms of condemnation ; and so the matt(!r has
grown until it came to be almost a settled opinion that the
expulsion of the Acadians was something whieh <'ould not
be justified, and of whieh its authors should have been
ashamed. That is the view whieh one historian of Nova
Scotia gives of the affair. Perhaps those who examine the
whole matter impartially, in the light of all the tiiets, will
come to the conclusion that it would have been a real
cause for shame had the Aciidians been permitted longer to
misuse the clemency of the government, to plot against
British power, and to obstruct the settlement of the Prov-
ince by loyal subjects.

One statement has been very industriously circulated by
French writers with a view to throw odium on the trans-
action. They say that the Acadians were expelled *' be-
cause the greedy English colonists looked upon their fair
farms with covetous eyes," and that the ggvernment was
influenced by these persons. A more flagrant untruth never
was told. The anxiety of the government that the Acadians
should remain on their lands and become good subjects was
extreme. To effect these objects the government consented
to humiliations and concessions which only increased the
arrogance of the Acadians. Even after the fall of Beau-
s^jour they might have remained on their lands without
molestation, if they had but consented to take an uncon-
ditional oath of allegiance to the British Crown. And as
an absolute proof that no greedy English colonists were
driving them out of the Province for the purpose of
occupying their lands, it should be remembered that none
of the lands of the Acadians were settled by the English
until several years after the French were expelled, and not

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

385

until most of the lands had gone back to a state of nature
in consequence of the breaking of the dikes. It was not
until 1759 that the lands of the Piziquid were re-settled,
nor until 1761 that the marshes of the St. Croix were
re-occupied. Five years elapsed after the expulsion of the
Acadians before tl e noble diked lands of Grand Pr6 were
occupied by English settlers, and the lands of Annapolis
were not occupied by the English until nine or ten years
after the French had left them.

I have said that the English Government was extremely
anxious that the French should remain in Acadia. That
was natural, because nearly the whole cost of maintaining
the civil and military establishments in Acadia fell on the
British people. From motives of economy, if for no other
reason, it was considered highly desirable that the Aca-
dians should remain on their lands, in order that they
might supply the garrisons with provisions at a fair pri(!e,
and so reduce the cost of maintaining them. It was also
felt that the French, if thev could be induced to become
loyal subjects, would be a great source of strength to the
colony from their knowledge of wood-craft and from their
friendly relations with the Indians. It was, therefore, on
no pretext that this desire to keep the Acadians in the
Province — which is attested by more than forty years of
forbearat\pe — was succeeded by a determination to remove
them from it. Grave and weighty reasons existed for
taking so extreme a step, and on the sufficiency of these
reasons its justification must depend. It must be remem-
bered that in 1755 England was entering on a great war
with France, which, although it ended disastrously for the
latter power, certainly commenced with the balance of
advantage in her favor. In such a death-struggle it was
evident that there was no room for half-way measures, and

;■' 'Am

386

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

■;!■<*:„■ » ■

that a weak policy would tilniost certainly be fatal to
British power. Ever since tiie treaty of Utrecht, a period
of more than forty years, the Acadians had lived on their
lands without complying with the terms on which they
were to be permitted to retain them, which was to become
British subjects. Although the soil upon which they lived
was British territory, they claimed to be regarded as
" Neutrals," not liable to be called upon to bear arms
cither for or against the English. Their neutrality, how-
ever, did not prevent them from aiding the French to the
utmost of their power and throwing evci^ possible embar-
rassment in the way of the English. It did not prevent
many of them from joining with the Indians in attacks on
the garrison at Annapolis and on other En 'ish fortified
posts in Acadia. It did not prevent them I'om carrying
their cattle and grain to Louisbourg, Beausejour and the
River St. John, instead of to Halifax and Annapolis, when
England and France were at war. It did not prevent
them from maintaining a constant correspondence with the
enemies of England, or from acting the part of spies on the
English, and keeping Vergor at Beausejour informed of the
exact state of their garrisons from time to time. It did
not prevent them from being on friendly terms with the
savages, who beset the English so closely that an English
settler could scarcely venture beyond his barn, or an Eng-
lish soldier beyond musket shot of his fort for fear of
being killed and sc-alped.

Yet these French Acadians had not been badly treated
by the English, according to the lights of that age. At a
time when the natural-born subjects of the French King
were sent to the galleys because they were Protestants,
French Catholics in Acadia under a Protestant Govern-
ment were enjoying the fullest and freest exercise of their

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

387

religion. It was not until it was (li.scovorcd t'iMt .some of
the Fiench priests were aeting the part of political iigenta
of the King of France, that any attempt was made to
restrain them, and then all that was required of them was
to take the oath of allegiance. At a time when the j)eas-
unts of France were tjronnd down to the earth hv excessive
taxation, and reduced to the most extreme state of niiserv
by ini(juitous and oppressive imposts, the French in Acadia,
imtaxed and umnolested, were growing opulent. The evils
which afliicted their brethren in France they luul never
even heard of; the only tribute they were required to pay
was the small voluntary tithe for the maintenance of their
own clergy. What reason then had the Acadians for acting
in such a spirit of hostility towards the English who had
been so lenient in their conduct towards them? The only
thing that ciin l)e said in mitigation of their eondu(!t is that
they were badly advised ; they listened to the counsels of
those who had other interests than theirs at heart, and so
invoked the ruin which finally overwhelmed them. It
■was in accordance with the directions of these advisers
that, in 1750, the inhabitants of Chignecto, south of the
Misseguash, to the ntind)er of more than a thousand souls,
emigrated in a body from their lands and abandoned their
dwellings and barns, which the savages burnt as soon as
they had evacuated them. This forced emigration, in
which the English certainly had no hand, meets with
nothing but commendation from those French writers who
blamt the English most severely for the forced emigration
of 1755; yet it exposed the Acadians to almost the same t
evils which the latter brought upon them. Here is the
pathetic story which a French Acadian, Augustin Doucet,
writes from the Island of St. John to a friend at Quebec,

\''

lii

388

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

i$'i

after ho hud hoen forc-cd by his own countrymen to abandon
his dwollinjij in A('a<lia. lie sayn: —

'* I was iscttlod in Acudia. I liave four little children.
I was living contented on my land. But this did not last
long, for \v(! have been obliged to leave i." our goods and
fly from under the dominion of the English. The King
obliges himself to transj)ort aifl maintain us luitil news is
received from France. W Acadia does not return to the
French, I hope to take my little family with me to Ca-
nada. I assure you that we are in a poor situation, for we
are like Indians in the woods."

Such was the condition into which numbers of the Aca-
dians were forceil by the officers and agents of their own
King, (jrarneau tells us that more than three thousand
Acadians passed into the Island of St. John and the north-
ern shores of the Bay of Fundy from the Acadian Penin-
Bula at this time, and Governor Lawrence, after the fall of
BeausOjour, estimated the number of Acadians north of the
Misseguash at fourteen hundred men capable of bearing
arms. This estimate, if correct, would raise the total
number of French inhabitants, who were driven from their
homes south of the Misseguash by the orders of the French
Government, to nearly seven thousand souls, or more than
double the number removed by the English in 1755. If it
was cruel of the English to forcibly remove the inhabi-
tants of Mines and Annapolis, because they would not
take the oath of allegiance, what shall we say of the eon-
duct of the French, who permitted their agents to
^entice away seven thousand Ac^idians from comfortable
homes, to become outcasts and wanderers in the wilder-
ness, exposed for years to all the hardships of savage life?

The presence, north of the Misseguash, of fourteen hun-
dred Acadians, rendered desperate by their misfortunes,

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

389

led by a Fren(!h rej^ular officer, and reinforce! by a largo
band of Indians, attbrdt'd grojind for the most serious
alarm. The inliabitiints of the settlementH about Mines
and Annapolis were known to be in a(!tive sympathy and
corresj)ondence with these "deserted French inhabitants,"
as they were termed. With consummate hypocrisy these
"deserted" Frenchmen, who had claimed and prol'essed to
be neutrals, got themselves enrolled for the defence of
Beaus^j()ur, under threatening orders, which they them-
selves invited. With equal hypocrisy the French of
Mines and Annapolis approached the English Governor
■with honeyed words, while they were plotting in secret
with the enemies of English power. With so many con-
cealed enemies in the heart of the Province, and so large a
numl>er of open enemies on its borders, the position of the
English colonists was far from secure. And surely they
deserved some consideration at the hands of their own
Oovernment, and some measure of protection against those
who sought to destroy them.

During the Spring and Summer of 1755 a demand was
made on the Acadians to deliver up their guns to the Eng-
lish commandants of the respective forts. This demand was
pretty generally complied with, but the Acadians were
very ill satisfied with it, and a number of the inhabitants
of Mines, Piziquid and the River Canard sent in a petition
early in July, asking permission to retain their guns, and
demanding the removal of the restriction, which had been
made some time before, forbidding the transporting of
provisions from one river to the other. This petition was
sent in by Captain Murray, the commanding officer at
Fort Edward, who accompanied it with the statement that
for some time before the presentation of the memorial the
inhabitants had been more submissive than usual, but at

i':,

m^\

390

IIIHTOHY OF ACJADIA.

itH delivery tliey treated liini with great insolence. This
led him to thiniv that they had Home ])rivute information
with rel'erene(! to the movements of the French, which
the (jovernment did not possess. About that time reports
were (•iirrent that a French fleet was in the JJay of Fundy,
and this was sufficient to account I'or the conduct of tho
})eople. It was always observed that any news of French
Kuecjcsscs, or any prospect of French assistance, brought out
tho Acadians in their true colors as the bitter enemies of
English power.

Tlu! memorial was signed by twenty-five persons, and
Lawrence and his Council iunnediatcly sent orders for
those who had signed it to come to Halifax. Fifteen of
them appeared before the (.'ounciil on the 8rd July, and
"were severely reprimanded for subst;ribing and presenting
so impertinent a paper; but to (piote the linguage of the
IMinute of Council: "In comj)assion to their weakness
and ignorance of the nature of our constitution, especially
in matters of government, and as the memorialists had
presented a subsequent one, and had shown an appearance
of concern for their past behavior therein, and had pre-
sented themselves before the Council with great subniission
and repentance, the Council informed them they were still
ready to treat them with lenity. And, in order to show
them the falsity, as well as impudence of the contents of
their memorial, it was ordered to lie read paragraph by
l)aragra[)h, and the truth of the several allegations in it
minutely discussed."

liieutenant-Governor Lawrence then read over the me-
morial, paragraph by paragraph, and made comments on
each. As these comments contain substantially the case
of the English Government in Nova Scotia against the
Acadians, it is better, even at the risk of being somewhat

ni8TOKY OF ACADIA.

391

tedious, to {j^i'vo it nlniost entire. The first parnpraph of
the Ac'iuliaii nicmorial was: —

" We are afTected by the proceedingH of the Government
towards us."

In reply to this, Tiawrenee observed : that they had
always Ikhui treated l)y the (Government with the greatest
lenity and tenderness. They had enjoye<l more privileges
than English suhjeets, and had been in(lulge<l in thu free
exercise of their religion. They had at all times full
Iib(!rty to consult their priests; they had been protv.c*ted in
their trade and fishery, and had been for many years j)er-
mittwl to possess their lands, whieh were part of the best
soil of the Province, although they ha<l not complied with
the terms on which the lands were granted, by taking the
oath of allegiance to the Crown. Lawreiice then asked
them to name a single instance in which any privilege was
denied to them, or any hardship ever imposed on them by
the (ioverriment. The Aeadians were only able to reply
by acknowle<lging the justice and lenity of the govern-
ment towards them.

The next paragra})h of the memorial was : —
** We desire that our past conduct may be considered."
This paragraph was read to the deputies, and in answer
to it Lawrence said that their past conduct was considered,
and that the Government were sorry to have occasion to
say that their conduct had lx;en undutiful and very un-
grateful for the lenity shown to them. They had given
no return of loyalty to the Crown or respect to His
Majesty's Government in the Province. They had dis-
covered a constant disposition to assist His Majesty's
enemies and distress his subjects. They had not only fur-
nishetl the enemy with provisions and ammunition, but
had refused to supply the inhabitants or Government with

"i ,

392

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

■:'!:■;

[-.■ » '^ '■.'■

m--u

provisions, and when tliey did supply them, they had
exac^ted tliree times the priee for them that the same articles
were sold for in other markets. They had been indolent
and idle on their lands, had neglected husbandry and the
cultivation of the soil, and had been of no use to the
Province either in husbandry, trade or fishery, but had
been rather an obstruction to the King's intentions in the
settlement. The deputies were then asked whether they
could mention a single instance in which they had been
of service to the Government, but were unable to make any
reply.

The next paragraph was : " It seems that Your Excsel-
lency is doubtful of the sincerity of those who have
promised fidelity, but we have been so far from breaking
our oath, that we have kept »<■ in spite of terrifying menaces
from another power."

Lawrence told them that this paragraph argued a con-
sciousness in them of insincerity and want of attachment to
the 'nterests of the Government. lie said they had often
pretended that the Indians would annoy them if they did
not assist them, and now by takinj^ away their arms the
Government put it out of the power of the Indians to
threaten or force them to their assistance. He told them,
also, that they had assisted the King's enemies, and ap-
peared only too ready to join with another power contrary
to their allegiance to His Majesty.

The next paragraph was then read to them. It ran as
follows : " We are now in the same disposition, the purest
and sincerest, to prove in every circumstance fidelity to His
Majesty in the same manner as we have <lone, provided that
His Majesty will leave us the same liberties which he has
granted to us."

Lawrence told them that it was to be hoped they would

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

393

thereafter gi%'e proofs of a more sincere and pure disposition
of mind in the practice of fidelity to His Majesty, and
that they would forbear to act in the manner they had
done in obstructing the settlement of the Province by
assisting the Indians and French to the distress and annoy-
ance of many of His Majesty's subjects, and to the loss of
the lives of several of the English inhabitants. He told
them that it was not the language of British subjects to
talk of terms with the Crown about their fidelity and alle-
giance, and that it was insolent to insert a proviso that they
would prove their fidelity, provided that the King would
give them liberties. He told them likewise that all His
Majesty's subjects were protected in the enjoyment of every
liberty while they continued loyal and faithful to the
Crown, and that when they become false and disloyal, they
forfeited that protection. That they in particular, although
they had acted so insincerely on every opportunity, had
been left in the full enjoyment of their religion, liberty and
property, with an indulgence beyond what would have
been allowed to any British subject, who could presume, as
they had done, to join in the measures of another jwwer.
In answer to the paragraph asking for the restoration v»f
their guns in order to defend their cattle from wild ani-
mals, they were told that when they brought in their arms
to Captain Murray none of them pretended that they
wanted them foi' their defence against wild animals, and
that they had another motive for presuming to demand
their arms as part of their goods and their right. That
they had flattered themselves they would be supported in
their insolence to the Government, there being a report that
some French ships of war were in the Bay of Fundy.
This daring attempt plainly disdoocd the falsehood of their
professions of fidelity to the King, and their readiness

ill!

' 'it

mill

394

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

upon every intimation of force or assistance from France
to insult His Majesty's Government and to join with his
enemies, contrary to their oath of fidelity.

The next paragraph was then read to the Deputies. It
was in the following terms : —

" Besides, the arms we carry are a feeble surety for our
fidelity. It is not the gnu that an inhabitant possesses
that will lead him to revolt, nor the depriving him of that
gun that will make him more faithful, but his conscience
alone ought to engage him to maintain his oath."

This piece of philosophy did not commend itself to
Governor I^awrence as being appropriate to the occasion.
He asked the deputies what excuse they could make for
their presumption in treating the Government with such
indignity and contempt as to expound to them the nature
of fidelity, and to prescribe what would be t;.e security
proper to bo relied on by the Government for their sincerity.
He told them that if they were sincere in their duty to the
Crown they would not be so anxious for their arms when
it was the pleasure of the King's Government to demand
them for His Majesty's service. Lawrence then informed
them that a very fair opportunity then presented itself to
them to manifest the reality of their obedience to the Gov-
ernment by immediately faiking the oath of allegiance in
the usual form before the Council.

The Acadian Deputies replied to this proposal by saying
that they had not come prepared to take the oath. They
were then told that during the previous six years the same
proposal had been often made to them, and as often evaded
under various frivolous pretences ; that they had often been
informed that some time or other the oath must be taken,
and that no doubt they knew the sentiments of the other
inhabitants upon the matter, and had fully considered and

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

395

determined what course they would themselves pursue. The
Deputies requested liberty to return home and consult with
the other inhabitants, as they desired either to refuse or
accept the oath in a body, and could not determiue which
to do until they had consulted the others.

. Lawrence told them that he could not permit them to
return home for any such purpose, but that they were ex-
pected to declare upon the spot what course they would
take. They then desired permission to retire for an hour
to consult among themselves, and this was granted. When
the time had expirwl, they returned with the answer that
they could not consent to take the oath o;' allegiance with-
out consulting the whole body of inhabitants; but that
they were ready to take a qualified oath, as they had done
before. Governor Lawrence told them that no qualified
oath of allegiance would be accepted, but that they must
stand on the same footing in that respect as the rest of His
Majesty's subjects. He then gave them until ten o'clock
next day to come to a final resolution whether they would
take the unqualified oath of allegiance or not.

Next day the Acadian Deputies attended before the
Council and announced their determination nr': to take the
oath. They were then informed that as they had refused
to take the oath, as directed by law, and thereby sufficiently
evinced the nature of their feelings towards the Government,
the Council could no longer look upon them as subjects
of His Britannic Majesty, but as subjects of the King of
France, and as such they would thereafter be treated. They
"were then ordered to withdraw.

The Council then resolved that the French inhabitants
should be ordered to send new Deputies to Halifax with
their decision, whether they would take the oath of alle-
giance or not, and that none who refused to take tlie oath

I' r'S'it

;HiM

liltlilil^

396

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

should be afterwards permitted to do so, but that "effectual
measures ought to be taken to remove all such recusants
out of the Province."

The Deputies were then called in again, and informed of
this resolution, and, finding that matters were beginning
to have a serious look, they offered to take the oath, but
were informed tiiat, as there was no reason to believe that
their proposed compliance proceeded from an honest mind,
and as it could only be regarded as the effect of compulsion
and force, it could not be permitted. They were then
ordered into confinement on George's Island.

This occurred on the 14th July; on the 14th a letter
was sent by Lawrence to Vice Admiral J3oscawen and
Rear- Admiral Mostyn, inviting them to consult with hira
at a meeting of the Council, which was to be held next
day. The Admirals attended the Council agreeably to this
invitation, and Lawrence laid before them the recent pro-
ceedings of the Council in regard to the French inhabitants,
and desired their opinion and advice. Both Admirals
approved of the proceedings that had been taken, and gave
it as their opinion that it was then the most proper time to
oblige the French inhabitants to take the oath of alle-
giance, or to quit the country.

On the 25th July another meeting of Council was held,
and the memorial of the French inhabitants of Annapolis
Eiver was received and read. It stated that they had
nothing to reproach themselves with on the subject of the
fidelity they owed His Majesty's Government, and that
several of them had risked their lives to give information
to the Government concerning the enemy. It stated that
tliey had selected thirty men to proceed to Halifax with
their memorial, who were charged strictly " to contract no

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

397

new oath." This was signed by two hundred and seven of
the inhabitants.

The Deputies sent with this memorial were then called
in and asked what they had to say. They declared that
they appeared on behalf of themselves and of all the other
inhabitants of Annapolis River. They said that they could
not take any oath different from what they had formerly
taken, which was with a reserve that they should not be
obliged to take up arms, and that if it was the King's in-
tention to force them to quit their lands, they hoped that
they would be allowed a convenient time for their
departure.

The Council having heard their answer, questioned them
in regard to the information which they pretended to have
given the Government, and asked them to name a single
instance in which any advantage had accrued to the Gov-
ernment from it. They were unable to make any reply to
this request, and then Lawrence proceeded to show them
that they had always omitted to give timely intelligence
when they had it in their po\yer, and when it might have
saved the lives of many of His Majesty's subjects. He told
them that they had always secretly aided the Indians, and
that many of them had even appeared openly in arms
against British authority. He further informed them that
they must then resolve either to take the oath of allegiance
without any reserve or else to quit their lands, for affairs
were then at such a crisis in America that no delay could
be admitted; that the Fren(;h had obliged the English
to take up arms against their encroachments, and therefore
if the Acadians were not willing to become British subjects,
to all intents and purposes, they could not be permitted to
remain in the country.

In reply to this the Acadian Deputies declared that they

:.V.

398

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

were detorniiiietl, one iind all, rather to (juit their lands
than to take any other oath than that which they had taken
before. Lawrence told them that . hey onght very serionsly
to consider the consequences of their refusal ; that if they
once refused the oath, tiiey would lever afterwards be
permitted to take it, but would cerjainly lose their pos-
sessions. He said the Council were unwilling to hurry
them into a determination upon an affair of so much
consequence to them, and therefore that they would be
allowed until the following Monday to reconsider the mat-
ter and form their resolution, and that tiien their final
answer would be expected.

Monday the 28th July came round in due course, — a
memorable day indeed for the Acadian people. The
Council met at the Governor's house, and besides Lieuten-
ant-Governor Lawrence, the members of Council present
were Benjamin Green, John Collier, William Cotterell,
John Rous and Jonatiian Belcher. Admirals Boscawen
and Mostyn were also present. The Annapolis Deputies
were in attendance accordipg to appointment, and also
deputies from Piziquid, Mines and River Canard, who had
arrived with memorials from the inhabitants of these dis-
tricts.

The memorial of the inhabitants of Piziquid was first
read, and stated that having tiiken the oatii of fidelity to
•His Britannic Majesty in the time of Governor Phillips,
with all the circumstances and reservations granted in the
name of the King, they were "all resolved with one con-
!L it and voice to take no other oath." The inhabitants of
Mines and River Canard couched their refusal in somewhat
different language. They stated that they had taken the
oath of fidelity to the King of Great Britain, and added,
" we will never prove so fickle as to take an oath which

IIISTOKY OF ACADIA.

-399

changes ever so little the conditloiiH and the privileges
obtained for us by our Sovereigns and our lathers in the
past."

The Deputies of Pizlquid, Mines, River Canard and the
adjacent settlements, were then called upon by the Council
to take the unconditional oath of allegiance, and they most
peremptorily and positively refused. The Annapolis Depu-
ties, who had been before the Council before, were likewise
called upon to take the oath, and they also refused. They
had been already warned of the conseipiences which their
refusal would entail upon them, — they were the victims of
no snap-judgment. The stej) which they deliberately took
on that memorable day in refusing the terms offered them
by the Government, they must have well considered, unless
indeed they supposed tliat the threats of the Government
had no meaning. On the one side was the full enjoyment
of their lands, the free exercise of their religion, and the
protection of the British flag, coupled with the condition
that they would become British subjects ; on the other side
was exile and poverty. They chose the latter, and having
done so, there seems to be no reason why they or their
advocates should complain of the misfortunes which were
the necessary result of their deliberate choice.

But the question arises, — Had the Government a right to
impose such terms upon them ? Their right to do so surely
is as clear as the right of a Government to defend a country
against an enemy. The claims to neutrality put forward
by the Acadiaus were wholly inconsistent with British
supremacy in Acadia, even had their neutrality been real,
instead of being fictitious. But when this pretended neu-
trality was made a cover for the most hostile acts, it became
intolerable, and the Government had no other course open
to them but to insist that they should either become loyal

-fir >■

ili

400

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

British Kubjccts or quit the com ry. No less was due to
those loyal British subjects wlio i; -i come to Acadia to find
homes for themselves and families, and who were hindered
in the settlement of th(! country by the Acadians and their
Indian allies. Doubtless the sorrows of a famished Aca-
dian family furnish an admirable theme for a ])oet who
desires to appeal to the sympathetic feelings of our nature;
but the nuirdered British settlers, slain in mere wantonness
by the Indians, at the instigation of the French, also had
claims upon humanity. The sad feature of the expulsion
of the Acadians is that it brought sorrow and misfortune
upon their wives and children, who certainly had not been
guilty of any [)olitieal offence; but that is a feature not
peculiar to their case. Almost every man whose crimes
bring him within the grasp of justice, has innocent relations
who suffer for his fault. Yet 1 have never heard that
given as a reason why the guilty should go unpunished.

The determination to remove the Acadians having been
taken, it only remained to make such arrangements as
seemed necessary to carry out the object effectually. The
Council decided that, in order to prevent them from return-
ing and again molesting the English settlers, they should be
distributed amongst the colonies from Massachusetts to
Virginia. On the 31st July, Governor Lawrence wrote to
Colonel Monckton, stating the determination of the Gov-
ernment witii reference to the Acadians, and informing him
that as those about the Isthmus had been found in arms,
and were therefore entitled to no favor from the Govern-
ment, it was determined to begin with them first. He was
informed that orders had been given to send a sufficient
number of transports up the Bay to take the Acadians of
that district on board. Monckton was ordeil to keep the
measure secret until he could get the men into his power,

4^ .. tt-Vli,®.

inSTOKY (W ACADIA.

401

so that lie could ilotain tluin until the traiis|)(»rts arrived.
He was direetcd to secure their shallopH, boats and canoes,
and to see that none of their cattle was driven away, they
beini!; forfeited to the Crown. Ih; was told that the iidiah-
itants were not to l)e allowe(j to carrv awav anvthinji; hut
their ready money and household furniture, lie likewise

reeen

ved explii'it directions as to the supply ol" provi

isiona
for tlic inhabitants while on the voyage.

l^ieutenaut-Colonel Winslow, who was connuandini^ the
troops at Mines, received instructions relative to tiie remov-
al of the Acadians in that district, dated the lltii Au<i;ust.
He was told to collect the inhabitants together, and place
them on board the transports, <»f which then; would be; a
numix !• sullicient to traiisi)ort two thousan<l jiersons, five
hundred of whom were to be sent to North Carolina, one
thousand to Virujinia, and five iuuidred to Maryland.
After the people were shipped, he was ordered to march
overland to Annapolis with a stronj^ detachment to assist
Major Handlield in removing the inhabitants of that river.
Handfield's instructions were similar to those of Winslow,
and he was informed that vessels sufHcaent to transport one
thousand persons would be sent to Annaj)olis. Of these,
three hundred were to be sent to Philadelphia, two hundred
to New Yor'-, three hundred to Connecticut, and two hun-
dred to Boston. Each master of a transport was furnished
by Governor Ijawrencie with a circular letter to the Gov-
ernor of the colony to which he was destined. This circu-
lar letter contained Governor Lawrence's justification for
the extreme step which he was taking in removing a whole
people from their homes, and therefore 1 give it entire. It
was as follows : —

" The success which has attended His Majesty's arms in
driving the French from the encroachments tliey had made
z

,.!:!"

■'\

' «*

402

rilSTOKY OF ACADIA.

in this Province, prcHented nie with a favorable opportu-
nity of reducing the French inhabitants of this colony to
a proper obedience to His Majesty's government, or forcing
them to quit the country. These inhabitants were per-
mitted to remain in quiet })ossession of their lands upon
condition they would take the oath of allegiance to the
King within one year after the treaty of Utrecht, by which
this Province was ceded to Great ]3ritain. With this con-
dition they have ever refused to comply, without having
at the same time from the Governor an assurance in
writing that they should not be called upon to bear arms
in defence of the Province, and with this General Phillips
did comply, of which step His Majesty disapproved; and
the inhabitants pretending therefrom to be in a state of
neutrality between His Majesty and his enemies, have con-
tinually furnished the French and Indians with intelli-
gence, quarters, provisions and assistance in annoying the
Government, and while one part have abetted the French
encroachments by their treachery, the other have counte-
nanced them by open rebellion, and three hundred of them
were actually found in arms in the French fort at Beaus6-
jour when it surrendered.

" Notwithstanding all their former bad behavior, as His
Majesty was pleased to allow me to extend still further his
royal grace to such as would return to their duty, I offered
such of them as had not been openly in arms against us a
continuance of the possession of their lands, if they would
take the oath of allegiance unqualified with any reservation
whatsoever ; but this they have most audaciously as well
as unanimously refused, and if they would presume to do
this when there is a large fleet of ships of war in the harbor
and a considerable land force in the Province, what ntight
we not expect from them when the approaching whiter

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

403

tlcprivca ii,s c»f' the former, and wlieii the troo[)s, which arc
only hired from New I'^)f2;hind occasionally and for a small
time, have returned home?

"As by this behavior the inhabitants have forfeited all
title to their lands and any further favor from the Govern-
ment, 1 called together His Majesty's Council, at which the
Hon. Vice-Admiral IJoscawen and Rear-Admiral Mostyn
assisted, to consider by what means we could with the
greatest security and effect rid ourselves of a set of people
who would forever have been an obstruction to the inten-
tion of settling this colony, and that it was now, from their
refusal of the oath, absolutely incumbent on us to remove.

" As their nuirri)ers amount to near seven thousand per-
sons, the driving them oif, with leave to go whither they
pleased, would 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 are able to
bear arms must have been immediately employed in annoy-
ing this and the neighboring colonies. To prevent such an
inconvenience it was judged a necessary and the only prac-
ticable measure to divide them among the colonies, where
they may be of some use, as most of them are healthy,
strong people ; and as they cannot easily collect themselves
together again, it will be out of their power to do any mis-
chief, and they may become profitable and, it is possible, in
time, faithful subjects.

"As this step was indispensably necessary to the security
of this colony, upon whose preservation from French
encroachments the prosperity of North America is esteemed
in a great measure dependent, I have not the least reason
to doubt of your Excellency's concurrence, and that you
will receive the inhabitants I now send, and dispose of

i
^

i.ii

ClI

404

JIlSTOIiY OF ACADIA.

.'V M

tlu'in ill Hucli ninnncr as may liost answer our (l(si};ii in
preventing (heir reunion."

The \S()rl< ol" removing' the Aeadians met with no suec csh
at C'iiigu(!eto, where the |)o|)uhition was lar^cfand eompara-
tively warlike. IJoishehert, after heinjr driven from the
St. John, had betaken liiniself to Shediae, and from there
he direc^ted tiie movements of the Aeadians of the Jsthmus.
When the En<:;lish tried to eolh'et tlie inhabitants lor (he
])nr|)ose of removinj;' tiiem, they found that (hey liad (led
(o tlie sheher of the woods, and when (hey at(em|)te(l (o
follow tiiem, they were nut by the most determined resist-
ance. On the 2ud Septendier, Major Frye was sent with
two hunih'ed men from the garrison at Fort Cumberland to
burn the villages of Shepody, I'etiteodiae and Memrameook.
At Shepody they burnt one hundred and eighty-one l)uild-
iiigs, but found no inhabit4intf<, (>xeept (wenty-three women
and children, whom they sent on board tlu; vessel tiiey had
with them. 'I'hey sailed up the Petitcodiac River on the
following day and burnt the buildings on both sides of it
for miles. At lengtli the vessel was brought to anchor,
and fifty men were sent on shore to burn the chapel and
some other buildings near it, when suddenly they were
attacked by three hundred French and Indians under
Boishebert, and compelled to retreat with a loss of twenty-
three men killed and wounded, including Dr. Mar{;h, who
Avas killed, and Lieutenant Billings dangerously wounded.
Boishebert was found to be too strong to be attacked even
with the aid of the main body of troops under Major Frye,
so the party had to return to Fort Cumberland, after hav-
ing destroyed in all two hundred and fifty-three buildings
and a large quantity of wheat and flax.

At Mines, Lieutenant-Colonel Winslow succeeded in
accomplishing his unpleasant duty without resistance. On

IIIHTOUY OF ACADIA.

405

.■ii

the 2 11(1 ScptciuluT ho issued an onle'* to the iiihiihitiiiits of
the (listrictH oC (Jrantl Pre, Mines, River Cjinartl and
vi(!iiiity, eoininandiiij:; all the males t'roni ten years n|>wardH
to attend at the ehurcli in (Jrand Prft on tlu? followin}!;
Friday, the 5th Septeniher, to hear what His Majesty hud
anthori/iMJ him to eomnuinieate to th(;m. The inhabitants
attended in obedience to this summons to the nnmher of
upwards of four hundnnl, and were informed by Wii.. .o\v
that, in eouseciuenee of their disobedience, (heir lands and
tenements, cattle, live stock and all their ell'ects, (!xeept
their money and household j^oods, were forfeiti'd to the
Crown, and ihey themselves were to be removed from the
Province. He told them, however, that he would take in
the vessels with them as large a portion of their household
clfects as could be carried, and that families would not be
separated, but conveyed in the same vessel. Finally, he
told them that they should remain prisoners at tlie ehiu'ch
until the time cami; for them to embark. At Pizicpiid,
Captain Murray (iolleeted the male inhabitants in the same
way to the number of nearly two hundred, and kept them
in confinement. Considering the situation in which they
were placed, they manifested but little emotion, and otf'cn.'d
no resistance worthy of the name. The task of getting so
many families together, and embarking them with their
household effects, proved tedious, but finally it was accom-
plished, and the inhabitants of Mines and I'iziquid, to the
number of more tlum nineteen hundred persons, were got
on board the transports, and carried away from their homes
in Acadia to lands of which they knew nothing, and where
their presence was not desired.

At Annapolis many families took the alarm when the
transports arrived, and fled to the woods for safety, and
ranch difficulty was experienced in collecting them.

II' ' 11

'i; ■ '.

;li:r'd

!|rn

'i^ii

406

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

»i» >>'

li-.,..

Hunger finally compelled most of them to surrender them-
selves, and upwards of eleven hundred were placed on
board the vessels and sent away. One vessel with two
hundred and twenty-six Acadians on board was seized by
them in the Bay of Fundy, and taken into St. John, and
the passengers she carried were not afterwards recaptured.
The total number removed from Acadia in 175fj was
somewhat in excess of three thousand souls. Some of them
were taken to Massachusetts, some to Pennsylvania, some
to Virginia, some to Marylard, to North and South Caro-
lina, and some even to the British West Indies. Wherever
they were taken they became for the time a public charge
on the colony, and were the occasion of much correspond-
ence between the Governments which were obliged to
maintain them, and that of Nova Scotia. Many of those
who went to Georgia and South Carolina hired small
vessels, and set out to return to Acadia, and the Governors
of these colonies were very glad to facilitate their move-
ments northward by giving them passes to voyage along
their coasts. Several hundred ^f those who landed in
Virginia were sent by the Government of that colony ta
England, where they remained for seven years, finally
taking the oath of allegiance, and many of them returning
to Acadia. A number of these people went from Virginia
to the French West Indies, where they died in large num-
bers. The great bulk of the Acadians, however^ finally
succeeded in returning to the land of their birth. Some
got back in the course of a few months, others did sot suc-
ceed in returning until many years had elapsed, )«.t rhey
succeeded, nevertheless, and the ultimate loss of population
by their enforced emigration in 1755 was much less than
would be supposed.

A work of no less authority than the Census of Canada

HISTORY OF ACADiA.

407

has put forth some very inexcusable statements relative to
the loss of populationby the enforced emigration of the Aca-
dians. According to it the Acadian population was reduced
by 10,000 between 1755 and 1771, "without taking intO
account the absorption by death of a number of victims equal
to the whole of the births." The Acadian population in
the Peninsula is put down at 13,000 in 1749, and the total
Acjidian population, including Isle Royale, St. John Island
and the northern portion of Acadia, is given at 16,000. In
1755, before the expulsion of the Acadians, the Acadian
population is given at 18,500, of which 8,200 were in the
Peninsula, 3,000 in Isle Royale, 3,500 in St. John Island,
3,500 in the district of Shediac, 500 on the shores of the
Gulf, and 200 on St. John River. The absurdity of this
statement lies in the fact that there could not possibly have
been more than 8,000 Acadians, descendants of those who
acquired rights under the Treaty of Utrecht, in the year
1755. In 1714 the two settlements of Mines and Annapo-
lis contained but 1,773 persons ; and the population of
Chignecto, which had but 245 inhabitants in 1703, could
not have swelled the total population of Acadia in 1714 to
more than 2,500. All the authorities admit that the nor-
mal rate of increase among the Acadian populatior was
2*5 per annum. This would give a population of less
than 8,000 souls in 1755, and that agrees pretty closely
with the estimate of Governor Lawrence. The population
of Isle Royale, which came direct from France, and mainly
returned to France after the fall of Louisbourg, has no
right to be counted as part of the population of Acadia,
nor are its movements to be considered as connected with
those of the Acadian people. Assuming that there were
between 8,000 and 9,000 Aaidians in the Province and in
the Island of St. John in the beginning of 1755, at least

I' \

408

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

5,000 of tliose were inhabitants who liad been enticed away
by tile French from tlie settlements in tlie Peninsula or
from Chignecto, or vvlio iiad originally resided north of the
Mivsseguasii. Of the remainder, about o,()00 were forcibly
removed by the English, but at least two-thirds of them
eventually returned to Acadia.

r:v

CHAPTER XXIII.

THK SEVEN YEARS WAR.

The Aciulians of the Peninsula no lonsjer remained to
disquiet the Government at Halifax, but those of the main
land, now grown to be a numerous and powerful body,
were more resolute than ever not to submit to English
authority. Boishebert, who was entrusted by the (irov-
ernor of Canada with the work of keeping the Aeadians
and Indians in a state of active hostility to the English,
did his work well, and gave Governor Lawrence no
end of anxiety and trouble. When the latter sent a
deta(^hment to the River St. John to attcMiipt to re-
capture the transport which had been carried there by
some of the Aeadians, the French very deliberately burnt
the vessel and iired on the party that went to r(>cover her.
The attempt of a detachment from Fort Cumberland to
surprise Ijoishebert at Shediac was e(]ually unfortunate,
and resulted in a repulse. iVn armed trading schooner,
with provisions for the garrion of Annapolis, which put
into Passamaq noddy, was ca])tured by the Indians there,
an artillery ollii'cr of that garrison being one of her pas-
sengers. Even Annapolis was not considered secure from
attack, and to make matters worse, the New England
troops who had been enlisted for the capture of lieausejour,
were clamoring for the.'r discharge, their term having
expired.

The Aeadians at Cape Sable and Port Latour, who
had not been removed the previous year, had proved very
troublesome, and Major Prebble was sent in April to cap-

410

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

ture as many of them as he could catch and take them to
Boston. This measure rendered Annapolis in a manner
secure ; but a few days later bad news arrived at Halifax
from Bale Verte. The fort there, which had been re-
named Fort Monckton, was beset by the Indians, and
thirty men who had gone out of it to bring in wood, were
attacked and nine of them scalped. Lieutenant-Colonel
Scott reinforced the garrison from Fort Cumberland, but
even the latter was so closely watched, that soldiers who
ventured any distance from the fort alone were almost
certain to be carried oif. To check this sort of warfare a
company of Rangers was formed to hunt down the Indians,
and a reward of thirty pounds was offered by the Govern-
ment for every male Indian prisoner above the age of
sixteen, or twenty-five pounds for his scalp. Twenty-five
pounds was -also offered for every Indian woman or child
brought in alive. The killing of several private English
settlers at this time by the Micmacs made it necessary for
the Government to offer such high rewards for their
capture or destruction.

During the summer of this year the Acadians to the
number of thirty-five hundred had retired to the Mira-
michi, and they forwarded a memorial to Vaudreuil, the
Governor of Canada, begging him to send them provisions
and arms. In this document they boast greatly of their
loyalty to the King of France, and attribute all their
misfortune ^ to their attachment to that monarch. They
endeavor to excuse themselves for the lack of military
qualities which they displayed at Beaus5jour, but announce
their strong desire to avenge themselves on the English.
Singularly enough they express a want of confidence in the
Mioinaos ...nd in their missionary, Manach. The former
they characterize as thieves and idlers, and they leave a

;f:k^^

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

411

very strong impression that they regarded the latter as a
rcCjie. It would have been a shameful thing for the Gov-
ernor of Canada to have disregarded this prayer, nor was
it disregarded, for the Aeadians at Miramichi and Bale
Chaleur were kept supplied with provisions from Quebec
until the end of the war. They became, in fact, in a large
measure, a part of the combatant force with which France
was striving to defend her American possessions from the
English. One of them named Bro'^^-rd fitted out a cap-
tured trading vessel as a privateer, and took several English
vessels in the Bay of Fundy. A strong party continued
to watch Fort Monckton at Baie Verte, and the losses
incurred in keeping up that post became so serious that in
the autumn of 1756 the English abandoned and burnt it.

Meanwhile, the war in other portions of America was
going against the English. Shirley, who was Commander-
in-Chief of the forces, and whose zeal, activity and know-
ledge would have been of the greatest service, was removed
from the Governorship of Massachusetts in consequence of
the partizan representations of a faction in New York, and
greatly to the disgust of the people of New England, who
knew his worth. He was succeeded as Commander-in-
Chief in America by the Earl of Loudon, one of those
titled incapables who have cost England so dear in wasted
treasure, and in the blood of her sons. Loudon was de-
scribed to Dr. Franklin as like St. George on the signs,
"always on horseback, but never riding forward." He
was wholly without decision of character, and entirely defi-
cient in the requisites of a military leader.

While the British armies in America were under such
a man, Montcalm, one of the best and bravest officers of
France, had arrived in Canada; with him came Levis,
Bouganville and Bourlamaque, all officers of great ability,

412

HISTOKY OF ACADIA.

;.-*;

i'ii

?>5"v

Jih' ''

and worthy to serve under such a leader. The French soon
be<:;an to display much activity, while the En<>;lish remained
almost wholly inactive. Montcalm's principal achievement
in 175G was the capt^^re of Oswego, which he attacked in
Aujjjust with three thousand men. It was defended by
Colonel Mercer and eighteen hundred men, but, although
well suj)plied with provisions and heavily armed, it only
held out a few days. A large amount of booty fell into
the hands of the French ; and to conciliate the Indians, to
whom they had been a great annoyance, the fortifications
of Oswego were destroyed. Thus the English lost their
hold on I^ake Ontario, and likewise, to a large extent, their
influence with the Indians, who were always ready to side
with the strongest j)arty. The consecpiences of the fall of
Oswego were widely felt, and while the French were filled
with joy and hope, the English Avere so much de|)ressed
that many began to despair of the ultimate success of the
operations against Canada.

The military operations of 1757 were still more disas-
trous to the English than tiiose of the previous year.
Possibly, if Montcalm's advice had been followed, Acadia
would have again ])assed into the hands of France, for he
strongly advocated a diversion in Acadia with a squadron,
a corps of French regulars, and two thousand five hundred
Canadians. His j)lans were, however, overruled, and
those of Vaudreuil for the reduction of Fort Edward and
Fort William Henry adopted. In January a conference
of Colonial Governors was held in New York, at the call
of Lord I^oudon. It was decided to stand on the defensive
merely on the Candian frontier during the next campaign,
but to make an effort to capture Louisbourg, with the aid
of a powerful fleet, six regiments of regulars, and a contin-
gent of Colonial troops. On the 30th June, Loudon arrived

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

413

■■|

at Halifax iroiii >.'cv' York with a licet of transports laden
with tr()oj)s, an<l a few days later vVdiniral Ii()ll)()rne eaiue
in with eleven ships of the line and six thousand soldiers.
De la Mothe was at that time Iviny; in Jx)uishonr<r witii a
powerful Freneh fleet, and Lou<lon did not deem it prudent
to attiU'U tlie place, which, aecordinji; to the talcs of
deserters, wtus strontrly <i;arrisoned. The whole summer
was spent in useless councils of war, and the enterprise
against Louisl)()ur<>; was finally abandoned; J^oudon
returned to New York, and Hoi borne cruised with fifteen
ships of the line in the vicinity of Louisbourg until late in
September, when his fleet was scattered l)y a tempest, and
one of his vessels driven ashore and lost on the Island of
Cape Breton, most of her crew falling into tiie hands of the
French.

While Loudon was in Halifax, iMontcalm took advan-
tage of his absence to attack Fort William Hciny on Lake
George with a force of eight thousand men and a powerful
train of artillery. The place was defended by Colonel
Munroe and twenty-five hundred men, j)art in the fort and
part in an intrenched camp. It fell at'ter a siege of six
days, — General Webb, who had four thousand men at Fort
Edward, being unable or unwilling to send any aid to the
beleagured garrison. By the terms of surrender, the garrison
were to return to the English colonies, not to serve again
duringthe war. These terms were shamefully broken. The
English, instead of being escorted in safety to Fort Edward,
were attacked by the Indians as soon as they left the fort,
and indiscriminately slaughtered, the French making no
attempt to prevent the massacre. Six hundred escaped,
half naked, and found their way to Fort Edward. Five
hundred fled back to Fort William Henry, from which
they were afterwards forwarded to Fort Edward by Mont-

III

414

HIST

1^ ACADIA.

Wt.'ilj' '

«m

Bail' ■

calm. Two hundred wei«j carried oft' by the Indians into
captivity, and more than twelve hundred, including one
hundred women, were murdered on the spot. Montcalm
made a great pretence of regret at this occurrence, but it is
not }>robable that he was sincere, for he had six thousand
white troops at his command, and could easily have
prevented the massacre. This deplorable event, however,
haJone good eft'eet; it stimulated the Englisli to still
greater efforts, and made them more resolute than l)efore
to compass the destruction of French power in America.

From this period the I'cign of incapacity in America may
be said to have ceased. Notwithstanding one or two
reverses, England continued steadily to gain ground from
the beginning of 1758, and the French in America only
sought to conduct a defensive war. The elder Pitt, the
greatest Avar minister that ever England had, was now at
the head of affairs, and by his vigor and spirit was inspir-
ing every branch of the military and naval services with an
enthusiasm equal to his own. Every soldier and every
sailor was taught to feel that the honor of his country was
in his keeping, and that he was expected to preserve and
maintain it.

The capture of Louisbourg was the first object essayed
by Pitt, and he selected men for that enterprise that he
knew would not repeat the tactics of Loudon and Holborne.
The command of the land forces was given to General
Jeffrey Amherst, a man of singular ability, bravery and
discretion, whose fame has been somewhat eclipsed by that
of the hero of Quebec, but whose services to his country
cannot be too highly estimated. Under him were three
able Brigadiers, Wolfe, Lawrence and Whitmore, the land
forces amounting to twelve thousand men. The fleet was
under the command of Admiral Boscawen, an officer of

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

416

distinguished courage, and consisted of twenty-three ships
of tlie line and eighteen frigate^. The fleet which, in-
cluding transports, numbered one hundred and fifty-seven
sail, left Halifax on the 28th May, 1758, and a part of it
arrived in Gabarus Bay, near Louisbourg, on the 2nd June.
The surf and fog made it impossible to effect a landing
until the 8th June. The French, who had fortified the
line of coast, made a stout resistance, but the heroism of
Wolfe, and the courage of the .soldiers whom he led, broke
their line of defence and seized the key of the position, so
that they were obliged to retreat.

A landing having been effected, the operations of the
siege were carried on with great vigor. The French aban-
doned the Royal battery at the head of the harbor and the
Light House battery which lay opposite Louisbourg, and
General Wolfe took possession of the latter battery on the
12th with twelve hundred men. There he mounted guns
from which he destroyed the shipping in the harbor and
silenced the Island batterv. Meanwhile, approaches were
made and batteries erected against Louisbourg on the land
side. The city was surrounded by a girdle of fire, and day
by day the fortifications crumbled away. Of the five war
vessels in the harbor, three were destroyed by the fire of
the besiegers, and on the night of the 25th July a detach-
ment from the fleet, under the command of Captains
Laforey and Balfour, entered the harbor of Louisbourg,
burnt one of the remaining war-ships and towed out the
other. Next day articles of capitulation were signed, and
on the 27th July Louisbourg was surrendered. The capitu-
lation included the whole Island of Cape Breton and the
Island of St. John.

The garrison, consisting of three thousand and thirty-one
soldiers and two thousand six hundred and six sailors,

41()

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

were H'lit to KngUind as jn-isoners ol" wiir. A (Ictacliiiioiit
was sent to take possession of the Island of St. .jolin,
where the inhabitants, to the nninher of four th(»usan<l one
hun(h'e(i, submitted and surrendered their arms. Of the
two thousand four iiinuh'ed inhabitants of Oape Briton,
one thousand seven liun(hvd \v(!re sent to France at tiusir
own request. The rest remained on th(^ Island and sid)nut-
ted to 10n<i;lish rule. 'I'he Aeadians soon felt the loss of
their |)roteetor, Louisbour;i'. A s(juadron was sent to
Miramiehi and to Gaspe to destroy tlie settlements tluy had
made there, and returned, after inflietinii; as nuK h daniag'e
a.s po.«sible upon them. Colonel Monekton was sent with a
detaeiimentof theColonial J Iit;hlanders and Colonel Howe's
light inl'antry to the St. John River t(» drive the French
from th(! fort at its mouth. The fort, which had only two
small cannon in position, was carried by assaidt on the
land side, and a good many of the Frencjj killed. The
remainder escaped U|) the river in boats and canoes, and the
Province slooj) Ulysses, which attempted to chase them,
got carried into the Falls, and was wrecked. The French
made their way to St. Anne's, tiie site of the present city of
Fredericton. A strong English garrison was placed in the
fort at St. John, which now received the name of Fort
Frederick.

While success thus attended the enterprises of the Eng-
lish in Cape IJreton and Acadia, the war was conducted
with varied fortune on the Canadian border. Major Gen-
eral Abercrombie, who had succeeded the incapable Loudon
as Commander-in-Chief, made an attempt on Fort Ticonde-
roga. He had fifteen thousand men under his command,
while Montcalm, who defended it, had but four thousand j
but the latter were very strongly posted behind a line of
works, and the British commander made uo attempt to

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

417

resort to stratcp^y. After sacrificing two thousand of liia
best troops in a hopeless assault, he retired to his camp on
Lake George. To balan(te this disaster, tl>e British could
show two successes — tiie capture of Fort Duquesne by an
army imder General Forbes, and the taking of Fort Fron-
tenac on the St. Lawrence by a force under Colonel Brad-
street. Fort Duquesne, which was burnt by the retiring
French, was re-named Pittsburgh by Forbes, in honor of
England's great War Minister. Fort Frontenae was also
destroyed by Bradstreet, and, like Fort Duquesne, it has
since become the site of a city, Kingston, once the capit ' of
Upper Canada.

The year 1759, the most memorable in the history of
Canada, opened with great preparations for the complete
conquest of the French dominions in America. The
financial strain was already beginning to tell on France,
and while her means for the defence of her great colony
were cri{)pled, England responded freely to the demands of
Pitt for men and money to carry on the war. It Avas
resolved to make one supreme effort to plant the flag of
England on the ramparts of Quebec, which had so long
defied all attsick, and where so many enterprises against
British power had been planned. Abercromby was
removed from the (thief conmiand, and replaced by General
Amherst, whose conduct at the siege of Louisbonrg had
won him the thanks of Parliament. The plan of operations
which he arranged was thought to be such as could scarcely
fail of success. A fleet and army, under General Wolfe,
were to ascend the St. Lawrence to Quebec, and besiege
that stronghold. An army, under Amherst himself, was
to force its way down Lake Champlain, and go by the
Richelieu and St. Lawrence to Quebec to effect a junction
with Wolfe's army. General Prideaux, with an ariny of

418

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

regulars, Provinciiils and Indians, was to capture Fort
Niagara, and, descending Lake Ontario and the St. Law-
rence, take Montreal, and, leaving a garrison there, join
Amherst and Wolfe under the walls of (Quebec. A fourth
corps, under Colonel Stanwlx, was to clear the shores of
Lake Ontario of the enemy.

These great preparations called forth corresponding
efforts on the part of the French in Canada. The whole
available force of the colony was end)odied Into militia
battalions, and all the male Inhabitants, capable of bearing
arms, were brought into the field. The French, oc(!upying
a safe interior line of comnuuiication by the St. Lawrence,
awaited with anxiety, but yet not without confidence, the
approach of enemies that they had often before baffled.

Genera] Prideaux, who had a mixed force of regulars,
Provincials and Indians, the latter under Sir William
Johnson, advanced to Oswego, where he left a strong de-
tachment, and early in July reached Fort Niagara and
commenced to besiege it. Prideaux was killed in the
trenches a few days later, and Johnson assumed com-
mand of the army. On the 24th July he defeated a
relieving force which the French had gathered from the
garrisons to the westward, and next day Fort Niagara was
surrendered.

Amherst, who had an army of twelve thousand men
and a considerable artillery, moved with caution towards
Lake Champlain. The French, unable to detect any
weakness in his dispositions, and having no force capable
of making a successful resistance, evacuated Ticonderoga
and Crown Point, as he advanced, and retreated to Isle-
Aux-Noix. Amherst spent two months in strengthening
these places, and in building two vessels, to enable him to
attack the armed craft which the French had on Lake
Champlain, and when his preparations for a further advance

III8T0KY OF ACADIA.

419

men
rards

were completed, the lateness of the season and the unfavor-
able state of the weather eompelled him to j)ut his army
into winter ouarters. He had gained substantial advan-
tages, although his |)rogress had l)een slow, but his inability
to reaeh the St. Lawrence that season had i)laeed on Wolfe
the whole burthen of the campaign. Wolfe's force, which
was to have been reinforced by two other armies, had to
undertake the siege of Quebec alone.

Tlie French liave been trying for more than a hundred
years to explain why Ciuebec was taken, but they have
succeeded very iii.lifferently in their self-imposed task.
Although Admiral Saunders had a powerful fleet, Wolfe's
land force wan far too weak for the operation he had under-
taken. He had but seven thousand soldiers and one thou-
sand marines, while Montcalm had more than thirteen
thousand men, regulars and Canadians, behind the in-
trenchments which protected the ancient capital. Fortu-
nately, Wolfe was not the man to enter into nice calculations
or comparisons between his own inadequate force and that
of the enemy, and his Brigadiers Monckton, Townshend and
Murray, were men of like spirit with himself. When, (m
the morning of the 13th September, he carried a little army
of five thousand mc" up the precipitous heiglits above
the St. Lawrence to the Plains of Abraham, he virtually
achieved the conquest of Canada. He staked all upon ihe
venture, — his reputation, the existence of his army, and the
honor of his country j but he won, for his genius and dar-
ing carried him to victory. Montcalm, distrusting the
strength of his defences, resolved to drive the English from
the heights before they had time to establish themselves,
and marched out against them. In the battle which fol-
lowed, both leaders fell, Wolfe dying literally in the arms
of victory, and Montcalm lingering but long enough to be
aware of the ruin of the cause for which lie fought. Five

420

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

III

«;i =

J'iH

days later, Quebec surrendered, and the British flag waved
over it for the first time for one hundred and twenty-seven
years. The same flag waves over it still in defiance of the
efforts of all England's foes, and there never was a time
when it seemed less likely to be replaced by any other
national banner. England's empire in Canada no longer
depends on the strength of her battalions, or the might of
her fleets. In all the vast region between Halifax and the
shores of the Pacific there is not a single British soldier, nor
a single cannon or fortress over which England claims
control, yet her influence in her great colony was never so
powerful before. The people of Canada, whether of French
or English origin, are animated by the same sentiments of
loyalty, and British interests are as secure in their keeping
as in that of the people of the Metropolitan State. Such
are the legitimate fruits of freedom and justice.

Quebec was surrendered to the British on the 18th Sep-
tember, 1759; a year later, 8th September, 1760, Montreal
was also given up, and thus Canada finally passed under
British rule. It forms no part of my plan to relate the
details of the operations which led to this result, which,
indeed, would require a volume to do them justice. The
French Canadian still tells with pride of the gallant efforts
of Levis to make headway against British power, after
France had abandoned Canada to its fate, of his victory at
Ste. Foy, and the courage with which he struggled against
adverse fortune. All men delight in the recital of heroic
deeds. But no courage could have saved Canada to
France, for that country was at the end of her resources,
and was reaping the fruits of a century's disregard of the
interests of her subjects. East and west she was l)eing
stripped of her colonies. All the fruits of the counige,
ability and devotion of her sons were falling into the hands
of England.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE TREATY OF PARIS.

I if I

BoisiiEBERT, who had been at the head of the French
and Indians in Northern Acadia for several years, was in
1758 engaged In defensive operations near Louisbourg,
and in tiie foHowing year assisted in the defence of Qaebec.
His absence did not prevent the French and Indians from
continuing to annoy and harass the English settlements,
and even to fit out privateers for the purpose of capturing
English vessels. In 1759, they captured no less than
seventeen vessels on the coast, and murdered many persons.
Five soldiers were killed and scalped near Fort Cumber-
land, five settlers were killed near Halifax, three were
k'illed at the St. John River, and several near Annapolis.
These are but samples of many similar outrages committed
at this time. A party of Acadians and Indians invested
the fort at Piziquid for several days, a number of the
German settlers at Lunenburg were wantonly murdered by
them about the same time, and a party of committee men
from New England, who went to Cape Sable to view the
land, were fired on by one hundred French and Indians.
The gentle-mannered Acadians had certainly no quarrel
with the German settlers, however much they may have
hated the English, yet they killed them all the same. The
Cape Sable attack caused the Government to send a vessel
there to remove the inhabitants, and they were taken,
to the number of one hundred and fifty-one, and conveyed
to Halifax, from which they were shipped to England.

When Quebec fell, the source of supply on which the
Acadians had relied was cut ofij and they began to feel the

422

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

at*

1} -J

pinch of hunger. Many of the inhabitants residing near
Quebec had been very prompt to take the oath of
allegiancc/and a large number of tlie French inhabitants of
the ujiper St. John went to Quebec and took the oath. In
November, about two hundred of these people and two
priests came down the River St. John to Colonel Arbuth-
not, who commanded at Fort Frederick, and presented a
paper signed by Captain Cramahe, Deputy Judge Advo-
cate, at Quebec, stating that they had taken the oath of
allegiance, and that in consequence of their having done so
Brigadier Monckton had given them liberty to return to
their habitations. The Council, to whom the matter was
referred, decided that, as it was evident the certificates had
been granted on the supposition that the St. John was
some river of that name in Canada, they should not be per-
mitted to remain on their lands there, as that would be an
acknowledgment of the French claim that the St. John was
a dependency of Canada. They were ordered to be
removed to Halifax, with a view to being ultimately sent
to England.

In the course of the same month, Alexander BrUsard,
Simon Martin, Jean Bass and Joseph Brusard arrived at
Fort Cuniberland, under a flag of truce, as deputies for
one hundred and ninety Acadians, men, women and child-
ren, residing at Petitcodiac and Memramcook, to surrender
themselves to the Government. They informed Colonel
Frye, the commandant, that they had not sufficient pro-
visions to last them until Spring, and begged to be allowed
some to keep them from starving. Frye agreed to keep
one-third of them until Spring, and gave them permission
to occupy the vacant houses in their settlements, from which
the inhabitants had fled. Two days later, Peter Suretz,
and John and Michael Burk arrived with a flag of truce
as deputies for soven hundred inhabitants of Miraraichi,

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

423

Richibucto and Biictouche. They -were also sliort of pro-
visions, and Frye agreed to provide for two hundred and
thirty of them during; the inclement season. These ])eople
had no less than twelve vessels, which were taken from
the English during the summer. All these inhabitants
were ordered to rendezvous at Fort Cumberland and Bale
Verte in the Spring, when they were to be informed of the
disposition that was to be made of them. The Council
agreed to ratify what they had done, to accept the sub-
mission of these people, and to supply them with provisions.
Yet these Acadians, now so submissive, had been among
the most deadly enemies of the English, and had taken
part in every enterprise that was calculated to annoy and
distress them.

A large number of these Acadians submitted in the
Spring, agreeably to their promise, and were sent to Hali-
fax; but the majority of them still remained outside the
pale of J'^nglish influence. They were not without hojx; of
the recapture of Quebec, and therefore not dis])osc(d to
yield until the last chance of success had been tried. Those
of them who dwelt on the shores of the Bay (Jhaleur were
fated soon to be taught in a practical way how hopeless
was the contest in which France was engaged.

In the Spring ul' ] TOO the French Government attempt-
ed to send supi)lies lo the relief of Levis, who was still
holding Montreal. A number of store ships were de-
spatched to Canada under the protection of a strong convoy,
but when the French reached the St. Lawrence, they
learned that an EngilHli fleet had already gone up that
river. Tiiis induced the Frencii Admiral to take shelter
in the Baie Chaieur, and he commenced erecting batteries
on its shores. Commodore Byron, who was in command
of a s(piadron at Loiiisbourg, heard of the presence of the
French and hastened to dispossess them. He took with.

424

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

hitn the Fame, seventy-four, his own ship, the Dorsetshire,
Achilles, Scarborough, and Repulse. He captured one of
the French ships, La Catherine, in Gasp6 Bay, and another
near Caraquet. On entering the Ilestigouche River, Byron
discovered the rest of the fleet, consisting of Le Marchault
(thirty-two), L'Esperance (thirty), Le Bienfaisant (twenty-
two), and Le Marquis de Marloze (eighteen), besides
twenty-two schooners, sloops and small privateers. On
observing the approach of the English, the French squad-
ron made all sail up river, and anchored under the batteries
at Petit Rochelle, on the Quebec side, a little below the
modern village of Campbellton. The batteries offered
but a feeble resistance, and on being silenred a naval
engagement took place, in which the French armed vessels
were all destroyed or captured. The town of Petit Ro-
chelle, which consisted of two hundred houses, and the two
batteries near it, were reduced to ruins. Some of the
French unarmed vessels which es(!aped during the engage-
ment were taken by another British squadron off Port
Daniel. This naval battle took place on the 8th July,
1760, just two months before the surrender of Montreal.

This year the fortifications of Louisbourg were ordered to
be destroyed, and the material and munitions of war stored
there were removed to Halifax. That visible sign of French
power was thus obliterated and rendered incapable of ever
again becoming a menace to the English. The enormous
sums which it had cost the French Government, and the
blood and treasure which the English had expended in its
capture had yielded no better return than a lieap of ruins.

Governor Lawrence, who had administered the affairs of
Acadia for six years, died in October, 1760. His death
was a serious loss to the Province, for his strong, resolute
character was an excellent guarantee of its safety in any
emergency that might arise. By his death the administra-

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

425

tion of the Government devolved upon Jonathan Belcher,
the senior member of the Council. At this time the atti-
tude of the Acadians was a great cause of concern to the
Council. A large number of them had surrenderal, and
were living about Halifax and other settlements, working
for the English inhabitants at good wages, but they were
no more submissive than they had been in the days of
French ascendancy, and at every rumor of French success
in any part of the world their insolence became alarming.
A large number of them were still at large in the Penin-
sula, living in places not readily accessible, and a still larger
niimber resided on the River St. John, the Bay Chaleur,
Miramichi and the other rivers flowing into the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. They lived mainly by hunting and fishing.
The Acadians at the Bale Chaleur fitted out privateers, and
committed many depredations on Engli8h vessels in the
Gulf and River St. Lawrence. Belcher, to check them,
sent a detachment to the Gulf, under the command of Cap-
tjiin Roderick McKenzie, of Montgomery's Highlanders,
in two small vessels. He surprised their settlement on the
Bay Chaleur in October, 1761, and captured seven hundred
and eighty-seven persons — men, women and children. He
brought away three hundred and thirty-five of them to
Halifax, and the remainder promised to come in when
called on. Belcher soon learned that he had gained but
little by the removal of those profoundly disaffected and
turbulent |)eople.

France was stricken down and well nigh destroyed ; but
in Europe a gleam of hope appeared. George II. wjis
dead, and his successor, George III., a tyrant of mean
capacity and worse education, had resolved on the destruc-
tion of the great war minister who had carried the country
to such a height of glory. Pitt was a great man, the idol
of the people, and therefore the small-minded King hated

426

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

him with all the forc« of his petty and malignant nature.
He succeeded in compelling him to resign, but England
paid a fearful price in after years for the sacrifice. That
price included the loss of her English Colonies in America,
and a legacy of hate from what has become the most pow-
erful branch of the Anglo-Saxon race ; innumerable wars,
which laid on the country the burthen of an enormous
indebtedness ; and, worse than all, a return to the despotic
methods of ancient times, the suppression of freedom of
speech, the passage of iniquitous repressive laws, and a
thousand other evils which have only been wholly removed
during the present century.

Pitt's resignation was forced in October, 1761. It arose
out of a difference between him and Newcastle, who was
supported by the King, with regard to the proposals for a
peace made by France, which was using the new compact
with Spain as a means of demanding better terms from
England. Pitt rejected these overtures, and proposed to his
colleagues to anticipate the attack of Spain by the seif.ure
of her treasure fleet from the Indies, by the occupation of
the Isthnms of Panama, and by attacking the Sj)anish Do-
minions in the New World. Unable to carry those vigor-
ous measures in the Cabinet, Pitt resigned, and Newcastle,
who had been used merely as a cat's-paw for the humilia-
tion of Pitt, was soon afterwards driven from office. The
Marquis of Bute, a Scotch adventurer, with the abilities of
a gentleman usher, became Prime Minister of England.

The foresight of Pitt was vindicated by a declaration of
war against Englai d by Spain three weeks after his retire-
ment. Fortunately for the country the impulse of conquest
which England had received from Pitt's vigorous hand,
was not easily stayed. War was declared against Spain,
and before the year had passed, Cuba was in the hands of

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

427

the English, the Philippines were seized, and Spain was
humiliated and beaten.

The alliance of Spain with France gave the Aeadians a
fresh opportunity of dis|)laying their desire for the humilia-
tion of England ; and the English settlers, for whom they
worked, «oon began to experience their insolence. They
told them that they would soon regain possession of their
lands, and cut the throats of all the English in the Prov-
ince. In June, a French detachment seized St. John's, N.
F., which was very weakly guarded, and this petty triumph
filled the Aeadians with so rnuch elation and the English
in Acadi*' with such alarm, that many of the latter left
the Province altogether. The people of King's County
marched the Aeadians of their district into Halifax under
a guard, and consigned them to the care of the Military
authorities. Nothiu": less than a general rising of the
Aeadians was expected.

Under the pressure of this alarm the Council met on the
26th July, and resolved that it was absolutely necessary for
the public safety to remove the Aeadians in Halifax and
its vicinity from the Province. Several communications
on the subject of their removal had during the previous
year passed between Lieutenant-Governor Belcher and
General Amherst, the latter being strongly opposed to the
measure, because he believed the Aeadians could be made
useful to the Province, and that, Canada being conquered,
there was nothing tnore to be feared from their animositv.
Now, however, tlie Government of Nova Scotia were reso-
lute to get rid of them ; so, in August, all the Aeadians
about Halifax Avere put on board a fleet of transports and
sent to Boston. Unfortunately for tiio success of this plan,
the authorities of Massachusetts had not been consulted
with respect to it, and the Legislature of that Province

llj

! rib t'l

428

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

''I

I'm''

?•

passed a resolution requesting the Governor not to permit
the Acadians to land. After lying for some time in Boston
harbor, the transports were obliged to return to Halifax
with their unwelcome freight.

In this emergency Lieutenant-Governor Belcher applied
to the Lords of Trade in England for sympathy and
advice, but by the time his letter reached them the war
was over, and their Lordships informed him that however
expedient the removal of the Acadians might have been at
a time when the enterprises of the enemy threatened danger
to the Province, now that hostilities had ceased, it waa
neither necessary nor politic to remove them. The Aca-
dians therefore remained, receiving provisions from the
Government on the military list, in proportion to their age
and the number in each family. They supplied themselves
with clothing by the wages they got for their work. But
Governor Montague Wilmot states in a letter tc/ Lord
Halifax that they were far from being an industrious or
laborious i)eople, and that the price they demanded for
their labor was so high, and their day's work so much less
than that of the settlers, that few persons could afford to
employ them.

The preliminaries of peace had been signed at Fontaine-
bleau on the rJrd November, 1762, between England,
France and Spain, and a definitive treaty was concluded in
Paris on the 10th February, 1763. Considering the straits
to which France was reduced by the war, the treaty was
much less advantageous to England than it would have
been had Pitt been at the head of affairs. But so far as
North America was concerned, it could scarcely have been
more sweeping in its terms, for there France yielded every-
thing, except the petty Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon.
Canada, Acadia, and all their dependencies, as well as the
Island of Cape Breton and all the other Islands in the Gulf

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

429

and River St. Lawrence, were given up to England.
Louisiana was ceded to Spain in exehange for Florida and
the Bay of Pensacola, wliich the S[)aniard.s ceded to Great
Britain to recover Cuba and the Philippines. Of all the
va'^t Ein[)irc which France had founded in Americji, noth-
ing remained.

In the latter part of 1763, a correspondence took place
between the British and French Governments relative to
the Aeadians. It arose out of an attempt which was said
to have been made by one Rochette, a clerk to the Duke
of Nivernois, to induce the Aeadians to return to France.
The attempt was repudiated, and the French Government
informed that of England that they did not pretend in
any degree to interfere on behalf of the Aeadians, but
entirely acquiesced in the right of the King of England to
dispose of tiiem as he pleased. Even this did not dampen
the loyalty of the Aeadians. In a memorial of 12th May,
1764, which was presented to the Governor by Belonis Roy
and seventv-five other heads of families, thev declared that
they acknowledged no other Sovereign but the King of
France, and beggt^d the Government to send them to
France or to some French colony. Of course, this modest
request was refused.

The Governor of St. Pierre and the Governor-General of
the French Leeward Islands in the West Indies circulated
papers among the Aeadians for the purpose of persuading
them to emigrate to these French colonies. A large
number of Aeadians went to St. Pierre in the Spring of
1764, built up a town, and established an important fishery,
and towards the close of that year upwards of six hundred
embarked for the French West Indies. The Government
made no attempt to prevent them from emigrating,
f -though at this period measures had been perfected for
seonring their continued residence in the Province. These

ill

430

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

measures, which were suggested by the Earl of Halifax,
and which were sanctioned by the Government in Octol)er
agreeably to instructions from England, seem to have been
both wise and just. The Acadians, on taking tiie oath of
allegiance, were to receive fifty acres of land for each head
of a family, and ten acres more for each member of his
household. Fourteen different j)laces were selected for
their settlement, the object of this arrangement being that
their strength might be scattered, so that they could not
again combine for any atttack on the P^nglish. The Aca-
dians frustrated this well-meant effort to benefit them and
tranquilize the Province, by peremptorily refusing to take
the oath required, and soon afterwards commenced to
emigrate to the West Indies, as already stated.

It was not until the year 1767 that these obstinate people
commenced to yield to the force of events, and consented to
take the oath of allegiance as British subjects. The Aca-
dians of the River St. John, who were hemmed in by a
powerful English colony, were the first to make their sub-
mission, and their example was speedily followed by the
people of other districts. The Acadians, who had emi-
grated to St. Pierre and Miquelon, soon became disgusted
with French rule, and during the year 1767 began to
arrive by hundreds on the eastern coast of Nova Scotia,
from which they spread themselves all over the Province.
They were ready enough to take the oath of allegiance,
which they had before refused, for the cherished illusions
of their youth had been rudely dispelled, and the contrast
which they drew between the easy rule of the British
colony and the tyrannical system of the French Governors
was very unflattering to the latter. The Acadians every-
where listened to their story, and profited by their experi-
ence. They were now as eager to take the oath as the • had
before been determined in refusing it, and the Governor of

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

431

the Province, Michael Francklin, met them in a liberal and
kindly spirit, so as to remove from their Hiibmission any
appearance of humiliation. They received grants of lands
as fast as they took the oath at the rate of eighty acres to
each head of a family, and forty acres to eacii additional
member of it. By the end of 1768 nearly all had submit-
ted to the Government, and from that time they gave no
reason for any complaints of their want of loyalty. Sir
John VV^ent worth. Governor of Nova Scotia, writing in
1796, was able to state that the Acadlans in feeling
were "wholly British subjects, and entirely changed from
their former sentiments," and that they were then " among
the most faithful and happy subjects of His Majesty."
They had been faithful to the King of France while any
hope remained of the restoration of his rule over them;
when they transferred their allegiance to the King of Eng-
land, they were no less faithful to their new Sovereign, for
loyalty is a characteristic of the race.

The fidelity of the Acadians to their King, great as it
was, was not greater than their attachment to their native
land. They struggled hard to keep Acadia a part of the
dominions of France, but, having failed, most of them re-
garded it is a lesser evil to dwell under a foreign flag rather
than to part fi'om their beloved Acadia. Their banishment
in 1755 was almost immediately followed by the return of
a large number of those who had been forcibly removed
from Acadia, and twenty years later Acadians were still
coming back to the land of their birth. Even many
of those who went to France finally returned to Acadia.

With the treaty of Paris and the submission of the
French inhabitants, the History of Acadia ends. The
results of the discoveries of Champlain, the labors of Pou-
trincourt, the struggles of Charnisay and La Tour, and the
efforts of a succession of able commandants and Governors

432

HISTORY OF ACADIA.

»»■■

Tt.^

were all lost to France when the reluctant hand of Do
Choiseul signed the treaty of Paris. Lost, too, was the
allegiance of a |)eople who in fidelity liave never been
surpassed — whose devotion to a fallen (lause was carried to
the verge of folly. Even the name of Acadia disappeared
from the maps of the world, and in the dash and clamor
of greater wars, the strife of which it had been the scene
passed out of memory. Acadia as a feeble English colony,
although once countetl a prize worthy the efforts of Heets
and armies, became of small moment in the titanic struggles
that were going on in both hemispheres during a half
century after its final surrender to England. Yet through
all these evil years a new i\cadia was growing up, which,
now in its vigorous youth, gives promise of greater things
in the future than ever entered into the dreams of the
pioneer settlers of this land. Here the descendants of the
two great races who fought so long for Empire in America,
toil amicably side by side for the advancement of thciir
common country. Here new hoj)es and aspirations have
supplanted the dreiams of conquest, and the triumphs of
peace are counted of more value than the trophies of war.
Yet, while we rejoice in the present, we cannot afford to
disregard the past, nor should we omit to pay our tribute
of respect to the memory of those who here bore " the
burthen and heat of the day," and braved the savage
forces of nature long centuries ago.

,;%

INDEX.

Acadia, probiibly viHited by Cortc-
real, 7 ; viHileu by Cartier, 1 1 ; his
praiseH of its aoil, 12 ; vinited by
De Monts, 64-5, et sea. ; trading
compariieH in, 109 ; given up to
France, 123; seized by English,
198 : restored to France, 209 ; sur-
rendered to England, 280; limits
of, 375; final surrender to Eng-
land, 428.

Acadians, attack Annapolis, 279 ;
origin of, 282 ; method of diking,
283; numbers, 284-5; names of,
285-0, 281, 290; preponderance
of males, 29I«C; marriage with
Indians, 293-6; Cadillac'saccount
of them, 297 ; Abbe Kaynal, 298 ;
under priestly rule, 299 ; accusa-
tions against, 301 ; litigious dis-
position, disregard fif civil au-
thority, 303 ; Co'stabelle's account
of them , 304 ; good character of
the modern Acadians, 305-6 ;
their numbers, 307 ; their status,
309 ; refuse to take the oatli of
allegiance, 310-11; under French
influence, 312; their deputies,
313 ; take the oath from Gover-
nor Phillips, SJ3 ; unfriendly to
English, 344 ; become numerous,
355 , again refuse the oaths, 357,
358 ; menaced by LaLoutre, 362;
abandon Beaubassin, 363 ; aid in
defence of Beausfijoir, 377 ; their
faithlessness, 386 ; ordered to de-
liver up arms, 389 ; refuse oath
of allegiance, 397-99; removal
from the Province, 405-6 ; their
number, 408; hostility of, 410,411;

nuiny of them surrender, 422-25;
at Halifax, 427; remove to St.
Pierie, 429; take the oath of al-
legiance and receive grants of
land, 430; their loyalty, 431.

Alexander, Sir William, receives a
grant of Acadia, 111; project for
its settlement, 112; meets Claude
La Tour, 117; his grant to the
La Tours, 118; colony at Port
Royal, 120, 123, 126.

Amherst, (Jcneral, captures Louis-
bourg, 414-15 ; at Isle-aux-Nois,
418.

AndroH, Governor of New P^ngJand,
225 ; seizes Penobscot, 226.

Annapolis, attacked by Acadians,
279 ; Phillips, Governor at, 311 ;
invested by Indians, 316, 332 ;
besieged by DuVivier, 335; by
Marin, 337 ; by Raniezay, 348 ;
seat of gover n ment removed from,
356.

Argal, Samuel, destroys St. Saveur
colony, 101 ; destroys Port Royal,
102 ; conference with Biencourt,>
103.

Armouchoquois, Indian tribe at Sa-
co, 43; war with Micmacs, 87.

Armstrong, Lieutenant-Governor,
322-23; his suicide, 327.

Aubrey, lost in the woods, 66 ; dis-
covered by Champdore, 73.

Aukpaque, Indian village on the
St. John, 265.

Baronets of Nova Scotia, 112.
Beaubassin, son of La Vallidre, hia
piratical conduct, 220.

; \\

434

INDEX.

m-'^

■if

mi"

Beausf'jour, erected, 370; Khelters
'deserted inhabitants,' 372 ; inea-
Rures taken to reduce it, 376 ;
caj)tiired by P]n<^lish, 379 ; named
Fort Cumberland, 381.

Belcher, Lieut. -Governor, 425.

Belleisle (see Le Borgne), his seig-
norial claims, 325; his son attacks
Annapolis, 332.

Bergier, establishes shore fishing
company, 217; complaints of La
Vallifire, 218; appointed Lieu-
tenant for the King under Per-
rot, 219; robbed by La ValliiSre,
220.

Berwick, attacked by Ilertel, 230.

Biard, Pierre, Jesuit father, 91 ;
quarrels with Biencourt, 94, 90 ;
goes to iSt. Saveur, 100; at Port
Royal with Argal, 102.

Biencourt, son of Poutrincourt, 91,
92 ; in command of Port Royal,
93 ; (piarreis with the Jesuits, 94,
96; visits Chignecto, 97 ; his col-
ony destroyed by Argal, 102 ; re-
mains in Acadia, 104; death, 114.

Bigot, Jesuit missionary, 242.

Boishebert, at St. John River, 359;
at Chignecto, 404; at Quebec,
420.

Bonaventure, naval commander,
237, 240, 245 ; commandant in
Acadia, 264 ; charges against him,
266.

Breedon, Capt., Governor of Aca-
dia, 203.

Bruillon, (jovernor of Acadia, his
character, 260-61 ; goes to France,
264 ; dies at sea, 264.

Byron, (yominodorc, defeats French
in Restigouche, 424.

c. ■

Cabot, John, 3; discovers North

America, 4 ; kuighted, 5.

Cabot, Hebiwtian, h; first voyage to

|. America, 4 ; sect.r.d voyage, 5, 6.

A Campbell, Mrs. Agatha, seigniorial

claims, 324-25.

Canada, origin of its name, 1 5 ; Car-

tier's voyage to, 20 ; Roberval's
colony, 23.

Canso, captured by Du Vivier, 331.

Caf)e of Good Hope, discovered by
Diaz, 6.

Cartier, J acques, first voyage to Am-
erica, 10; visits Acadia, 11; at
Gasp6, 13 ; second voyage, 45 ; at
Quebec, 16; at M(.ntreal, 18;
winters at Quebec, 19 ; returns to
l"' ranee, 20; third voyage, 22;
deserts Roberval, 23,

Caulfield, Lieut.-Governor, tenders
oath of allegiance to Acadians,
311.

Central America, ruined cities of,
31.

Chaleur Bay, visited by Cartier, 12.

Chedabucto, fishing establishment
at, 217, 233.

Chignecto, visited by Biencourt, 97 ;
settlement founded, 213 ; La Val-
lierc's farm there, 219; ravaged
by Church, 254, 264 ; a principal
settlement of Acadia, 307 ; inha-
bitants abandon villages south of
Misseguash,36S; English fort at,
368 ; inhabitants resist removal,
404.

Chubb, Capt., commander at Pema-
quid, his.treachery, 250; surren-
ders Pemaquid, 253.

Church, Benjamin, 228, 238, 254 ;
his expedition against Port Roy-
al, 263 ; destroys Chignecto, 264.

Columbus, discovery of America. 1.

Company of New France, 113, 125,
127, 137; dissolved by Louis
XIV, 205.

Copan, ruins of, 33.

(Jope,an Indian, murders How, 371.

Cornwallis, Hon. Edward, Gover-
nor of Nova Scotia, 356 ; founds
Halifax, 356 : the Acadians, 357,
358, 359, 362, 363 ; his speech to
the Acadians, 365-66.
Chambly, commandant in Acadia,
213; attacked by Dutch, 214;
leaves Acadia, 216.
Champdore, in Acadia, 69; discov-
ers Aubrey, 73,

INDEX.

435

Champlain, Siimuel de, first voyage
to the St. Lawrence, 61 ; accom-
panicH De Monts to Acadia, 63 ;
winters at St. Croix Island, 75 ;
at Port Royal, 84 ; founds Que-
bec, 110.

Charles I. of England, confirms Sir
W.Alexander's grant, 112; re-
stores Acadia to France, 123.

Charles II. of England, 25; orders
Temple to surrender Acadia, 207,
208.

Charnisay, D'Aulnay, 126; at Pe-
nobscot, 132, 140; quarrels with
La Tour, 141, 145, 148, 151 ; at-
tacks fort Latour, 155 ; beaten off,
160 ; his hatred of Lady La Tour,
162 ; treaty with Massachusetts,
167 ; his anger, 168 ; defeated by
Lady La Tour, 170; massacres
garrison of Fort Latour, 172;
in France, 180 ; treatv at Boston,
184; favored by King, 186; at-
tacks Denys, 187 ; drowned, 187 ;
his bad reputation, 188.

Charnisay, Madame, married to La
Tour, 191.

Chauvin, voyage to Tadoussac, 60.

Cortereal, Oaspar de, voyages to
America, 7.

Couriers de bois, 220; prohibited
223.

Cumberland, Fort (see Baustjour),
381.

Crownc, John, dramatist, born in
Acadia, 201.

Crowne, William, grantee of Aca-

' dia, 200-1.

D'Amcrs, the, their grants in Aca-
dia, 220 ; at Fort Nashwaak, 255.

Daniel, Capt., 116, 117.

lyAnville, Due de, fate of his fleet,
346-47.

De Chaste, 60.

De La Roche, liis colony on Sable
Island, 26.

De Monts, 61 ; voyage to Acadia,
64 ; winters at St. Croix Island,

75 ; second voyage to Acadia, 81;
at Quebec, 110.

D'Entremont, Procureur dii Roi,
removed, 224.

Denys, Nicholas, 126, 128, 187, 193.

Des Goutins, Judge of Port Royal,
224; quarrels with Menneval,
228 ; consults with Villebon, 235;
quarrels with Villebon, 258; ha-
tred of Brouillan, 264, 266.

De Villiers, his expediticm to Grand
Pre, 349 ; attacks English detach-
ment, 3-')0; cjiptures them, 351.

Diaz, Bartholomew, 6.

D'Iberville, 230, 240; captures Pe-
raaquid, 252.

Donnacona, Indian King, 16 ; taken
to France, 20.

Du Bourg Morillon, comes to Aca-
dia, 207 ; at Boston, 208.

Du Breuil, Procureur du Roi, 22*.

Dudley, Governor of Mitssachusetts,
his attempt on Port Roval, 267.

Du Thet, Gilbert, Jesuit father, 95 ;
killed at St. Saveur, 101.

Du Vivier, great grandson of La
Tour, 328 ; captures Canso, 331 ;
attempt on Annapolis, 335.

£.

Endicot, John, 159; Governor of

Massachusetts, 163.
English colonization, 100, 106, 107,

110.

Fishing Company of Acadia, 217, ,
221, 244, 246.

Flesche, Joss^, missionarv in Aca- ■
dia. 90.

Francis I. of France, patron of Ver-
azzano, 8 ; schemes of coloniza-
tion, 8 ; sends Cartier to America,
10.

Franquet, M., engineer ofllicer, 362;
visits Acadia, 372.

Frontenac, Governor of New France
218, 229.

Frye, Major, defeated by Boishe-

436

INDEX.

bert, 404 ; Acadiiins submit to,
422.
Fundy, Bav of, visited by De Monts,
66.

Gaspe, Cartier erects a cross at, 13.

Gasj)ereaiix Fort, at Baie Verte,
3(i9 ; taken, 380 ; re-named Fort
Monckton, 410.

Gibbons, Edward, 157-68, 175.

Gilbert, 8ir Humplirey, voyage to
America, 24 ; lost at sea, 25.

Gorges, Sir Fernando, 106, 108, 109.

Gorges, Thomas, 158.

Grand-fontaine, Chevalier, in com-
mand in Acadia, 209 ; takes cen-
sus of Province, 210 ; recalled to
France, 213.

Grand Pre, English attacked at,
340.

Guercheville, Madame de, 92; her
religious zeal, 94 ; establishes a
colony at Mount Desert, 100.

Gyles, John, his account of the In-
dians, 47 ; taken at Pemaquid,
227.

II.

Halifax, founded, 356.

Hanfield, Capt., occupies Mines,

360.
Hawkins, Thomas, 157, 160-61.
Hawthorne, Colonel, supersedes

Church, 254 ; attacks Fort Nash-

waak, 256.
Henry IV. of France, patron of De

la Roche, 26 ;. grants patents to

PontgravS, 60 ; patent to De

Monts, 62 ; interest in Acadia,

88; assassinated, 91.
Henry VII. of England, 2 ; sends

the Cabots to America, 3, 4, 6.
Henry VIII. of England, patron of

Thome, 10.
Hochelaga, site of Montreal, visited

by Cartier, 18.
Hopson, Governor of Nova Scotia,

373.

Hore, voyage to the St. Lawrence,
20.

How, Edward, Capt., taken prison-
er at Mines, 351 , murdered by
Indiana, 371.

Indians of Acadia (See Micmacs
and Malicites), described by Car-
tier, 13; number of, 43 ; mode of
living, 45 ; habitaticms and food,
46 ; fciists, 48 ; as warriors, 49 ;
weapons, 51 ; torture of prisoners,
53 ; religion, 54 ; funerals, 55 ;
superstitions, 56 ; diseases, 57 ;
converted to Christianity, 90;
at war with the English, 226,
destroy Dover, 227 ; attack Fal-
mouth, 230; at Wells, 237; at
Pemaquid, 240; attack Dover,
243 ; stricken by plague, 244 ;
capture Pemaquid, 252; end of
the war, 257 ; renew the war, 262;
assist in attack on Annapolis,
279 ; new war with English, 315;
attack Annapolis, 332-34; their
hostility, 360; controlled by La
Loutre, 362; attack Dartmouth,
371; at Beausejoir, 378; beset
fort Monckton, 410.

James I. of England grants Acadia
to Sir Wm. Alexander, 111.

Jemseg, fort at, erected by Temple,
203; surrendered to Grand-fon-
taine, 209 ; destroyed by Dutch,
214; occupied by Villebon, 237 ;
abandoned, 240.

Jesuits, sail for Acadia with Brien-
court, 92; quarrels with Brien-
court, 94, 96 ; colony at St. Sav-
eur, 100 ; colony destroyed, 101.

Jonquiere, Governor of Canada,
347 ; his fleet defeated, 352.

Kirk, Sir David, 115; takes Que-
bec, 116; Govern'r of Newfound-
land, 177.

INDEX.

437

Labrador, discovered, 7.

La Come, sent from Quebec to hold
Chignecto, 359; erects BeausS-
joir, 369.

La Have, settled by DeRazilly, 127;
French colonists at, 128; remov-
al of colonists to Port Koyal, 141 ;
burnt by Le Borj,'ne, 194 ; taken
by English, 202, 233.

La Loutrc, Abbe, missionary, 332 ;
collects the Indians, 337 ; his
character, 3(31 ; influences the In-
dians, 302, 370, 371, 374, 375;
opposed to surrender Beuscjour,
379 ; escapes to (Juebec, 380.

La Saussaye, establishes St. Saveur
colony, 100.

La Tour, Ciiarles de La, 104, 114;
his fort near (Jape Sable, 115,
117 ; grant from Alexander, 118;
defends his fort against English,
119; at Machias, 131; grant of
St. John, 137 ; his fort at St.John,
142; diflerences with Cliarnisay,
144, 146; ordered to France, 147;
commission revolted, 148; sends
for aid to Rochelle, 149 ; goes to
Boston, 156; obtains aid in New
England, 157; defeats Gharni-
eay, 160; in Boston, 163; his fort
taken, 172; goes to Newfound-
land, 177 ; at Quebec, 178 ; re-
stored to his governorship, 179 ;
returns to Acadia, 190 ; marries
Madame Charnisay, 191 ; Le
Borgne's designs against him,
195 ; fort taken by the English,
197 ; receives grant of Acadia
from Cromwell, 200 ; death, 206.

La Tour, Claude deLa, 114-15, 117;
grant from Alexander, 118; at-
tacks his son's fort, 119; at Port
Royal, 120; at Cape Sable, 122 ;
at Penobsoot, 130.

La Tour, Lady de La, 114, 143;
goes to France, 162; escapes to
England, 163; in Boston, 165;
defends her fort against Charni-
sav, 170-71 ; her heroism, 172 ;
death, 173.

Latour, Fort, 123, 138, 142, 155,
170, 171 ; taken by Charnisay,
172 ; mortgaged, 175 ; taken by
the English, 197 ; restored to the
French, 209 ; a ruin, 210 ; rebuilt
by Villebon, 257 ; re-occupied,
258 ; abandoned and demolished,
260.

La Valliere, commandant in Aca-
dia, 216 ; permits EnglisJi to fish
and trade, 217 ; appointment can-
celled, 218 ; attacks Bergier, 220.

La Verdure, 193; surrenders Port
Royal, 198.

Lawrence, Col., sent to Chignecto,
363 ; establishes fort there, 368 ;
Licut.-Governor, 375 ; and the
Acadians, 390-92 ; removes the
Acadians, 400, 406 ; death, 424.

Lawrence, Fort, established at Chig-
necto, 368.

Le Borgne, Alexander, Sieur de
Belleisle, comes to Acadia, 207 ;
at Port Royal, 208 ; lawless con-
duct, 212 ; Seignior of Mines, 222.

Le Borgne, P]mm:inuel, creditor of
Charnisay, 152; arrives in Aca-
dia, 193 ; beaten at Port Royal,
197.

Le Borgne, Emmanuei, Jr., captur-
ed at La Have, 203.

Lescarbot, 70; visits Acadia, 81;
his diligence, 83.

Leverett, Capt. John, commander
of Port Royal, 198.

Lous XIII., 91 ; aids Company of
New France, 113, 145; Letter to
La Tour, 145, 147 ; death, 156.

Louis XIV. King of France, 185;
commission to La Tour, 189; in-
terest in Acadian affairs, 224.

Louisbourg, 307 ; its great strength,
337 ; captured by New England-
ers, 342 ; restored to France, 354 ;
taken by the English, 415; de-
molished, 424.

Machias, English driven from, 131.
Malicites, of Acadia, 43 (see In-
dians).

438

INDEX.

Marie, M., comraissioner of Cluvr-
nisay, 1G6-G7, 182.

Marin, his attack on Annapolis,
.337 ; recalled to Louisbourg, 344;
joins Itaniezay, 345 ; heads party
of Indians, 353.

Marot, Capt., 121-22. j

Martin, Abraham, Heights of Ab- ;
raham named after him, 147. I

Maacerene, Paul, Lieut. -Governor,
327-28 ; defends Annapolis, 332, 1
334-36, 348 ; his advice to the !
Acadians, 353.

Masse, P'nemond, Jesuit father, 91 ;
at the St. John, 03 ; quarrels with
Biencourt, 94, 96 ; leaves Port
Koyal, 99.

Matakando, Chief of Penobscot In-
dians, 215; at Falmouth, 230;
at Quebec, 240 ; nuide ( ;hief of
St. Juiin Iliver, 247.

Manarin, Cardinal, treatv with En-
gland, 199.

Membertou, Micmac Chief, 85 ;
quarrel about his place of burial,
94.

Menneval, M. De, appointed Gov-
ernor of Acadia, 222 ; directions
from the King, 223; quarrels
with des Cliuitens, 228; surrenders
Port Koyal, 233.

Meulles, M.De, Intendant of Cana-
da, visits Acadia, 222.

Mexicans, traditions of origin, 39.

Mexico, its ancient civilization, 36.

Micmacs of Acadia, 43 ; at Port
Royal, 79; friendship of, 85 ; (see
Indians.)

Mines, settlement established, 213;
population in 1086, 222.

Miramichi, visited by Cartier, 11 ;
Acadians at, 410.

Miscou, mission at, 109 ; re-estab-
lished, 138.

Monckton, Col., takes Beausfijour,
377 ; occupies St. John, 416.

Musquodoboit, 211.

Nashwaak, fort erected by Villebon,

240; attacked by the English,
256; abandoned, 257 ; demolish-
ed, 260.

Nelson, John, nephew of Sir T.
Temple, 225; prisoner at Que-
bec, 240.

Newfoundland, discovered by Ca-
bot, 4 ; Ba.sque and Breton fish-
ermen at, 8 ; visited by Cartier,
1 1 ; Roberval at, 22 ; visited by
Gilbert, 25.

North West Passage, attempted by
Cabot, 5.

Ouygoudy, Indian name of .St. John,
69.

Palentpie, ruins of, 33.

Pemaquid, English at, 149, 225;
fort taken by Indians, 227 ; Fort
William Henry built, 239 ; D'lb-
erville at, 240; captured and de-
molished, 253.

Pennoniac, Micmac Chief, 55.

Penobscot, or Pentagoet, La Tour's
fort there, 114; English trading
house plundered, 129 ; seized by
Charnisav, 132 ; Charnisay at,
140 ; Temple at, 202 ; Grand-
fontaine occupies fort, 210 ; taken
by Dutch, 214-15 ; settled by St.
Ca.stin, 215; seized !>v Andros,
226 ; ravaged by Church, 263.

Pepperell, Gen'l, 339 ; commands
expedition against Louisbourg,
340.

Perrot, M., Governor of Acadia,
218 ; his character, 21 9 ; jealousy
ofSt.Caatin, 221 ; imprisons him,
222 ; ordered to return to France,
222 ; robbed, 233 , at Port Roy-
al, 235 ; captured by pirates, 23i5.

Peruvians, traditions of their ori-
gin, 38.

Phillips, General, Governor of No-
va Scotia, 311-13; tries to con-
ciliate the Indians, 314 ; returns

INDEX.

439

to Acadia, 323; Acadians take
the oath from him, 323.

Phips, .Sir William, 231 ; captures
Port Royal, 232; unsuccessful
attack on Quebec, 236; builds
fort William Henry at Pema-
quid, 239.

Piracy, in Acadia, 218, 235.

Pitt, William, his measures to cap-
ture Canada, 414.

Pontgrave, 60; sails for Acadia, 64;
returns to Acadia, 76; voyages
south, 79.

Porteneuf, his attack on Falmouth,
231.

Port Latour, La Tour's fort there,
115.

Port Royal, named by Champlain,
67 ; colony settled at, 78 ; rejoic-
ings at, 83; abandoned, 87; re-
settled by Poutrincourt, 90 ; de-
stroyed by Argal, 102; Sir Wil-
liam Alexander's colony, 120;
123; restored to France, 126;
colonists sent to, 141; Charnisay
at, 160,180; taken by English, 198;
restored to France, 209; taken
by Phips, 233; captured by pi-
rates, 235; re-occupied by Bruil-
lon, 261 ; menaced by Church,
263 ; attacked by Colonel March,
267 ; by Wainvvright, 269 ; cap-
tured by Nicholson, 274; name
changed to Annapolis Royal, 275.

Portuguese, their discoveries, 6.

Poutrincourt, Jean de, sails for
Acadia, 63 ; at Port Royal, 68 ;
second voyage to Acadia, 81 ; his
voyage southward, 82 ; third visit
to Acadia, 90; return to France,
93; death, 104.
Pring, Capt., his voyage, 107.

Quebec, site visited by Cartier, 16;
founded by Champlain, 110;
taken by Kirk, 116; restored to
France, 121 ; attacked by Phips,
236; captured by Wolfe, 419,
420.

Ralle, father, Jesuit missionary,

315; murdered by the English,

320.
Ramezay, commands expedition

against Annapolis, 345, 348.
Razilly, Claude de, 137, 140.
Razilly, Isaac de, comes to Acadia,

125 ; settles colonists at La Have,

127 ; dies, 138.
Recollet missionaries in Acadia,

109, 138.
Richelieu, Cardinal, founds Com-
pany of New France, 113, 145;

death, 156.
Roberval, expedition to Canada, 21,

deserted by Cartier, 23.
Rochette, La Tour's lieutenant, 149,

150-51, 153.
Rossignol, Port, named by De

Monts, 65.

IS.

Sable Island, De la Roche's colo-
nists, 26 ; shipwrecks there, 134,
135; killing cattle in, 136.

Sacardie, engineer officer, 234 ; tak-
en by pirates, 235.

St. Castin, Baron de, accountof him,
215, imprisoned by Perrot, 223;
censured in the King's letter,
224; damages of his residence,
225; robbed by Andros, 226;
with the Indians at Falmouth,
230; attempt to capture him,
239 ; at Pemaquid, 252 ; death.
275.

St. Castin, Anselrae, Baron, 268;
goes to Quebec, 275; attacks An-
napolis, 278 ; his marriage, 294.

St. Croix Island, French colony
at, 72; sufferings of colonists, 75;
abandoned, 76.

St. John River, named by Cham-
plain, 69 ; father Masse's mission
there, 93 ; La Tour's fort erected,
123 ; Villebon at, 237 ; claimed
as French territory, 326.

St. Saveur, Jesuit colony establish-

440

INDEX.

ed there, 100 ; destroyed bv Ar-
gal, 101.

Sedgwick, Major, captured Port
Royal, 197.

Shirley, Will'm, Governor of Mas-
sachusettH, 333 ; sends help to
Annapolis, 335 ; organizes attack
on Louisbourg, 339 ; projects con-
quest of Canada, 345 ; for settling
Acadia, 356 ; for reducing Beau-
sfijour, 376 ; at Oswego, 382 ; re-
moved, 411.

Simon, father, missionary, on St.
John River, 255, 257.

Soulanges, D'mai-som, Sieurde, 212,
captured by Dutch, 214; Com-
mandant in Acadia, 216 ; death,
216.

Stadacona, Indian town on site of
Quebec, 16.

Stewart, Lord James, in Cape Bre-
ton, 116-17.

SubercaBC, M. de, Governor of Ace-
dia, 265; repulses the English,
267-69 ; his diligence and ener-
gy, 270; weakness of his garrison,
273; surrenders Port Royal, 274.

Talon, Intendant of Canada, 211.

Temple, Sir Thomas, grant of Aca-
dia, 200 ; made Governor, 201 ;
at Penobscot, 202 ; troubles in
England, 203; interview with
Charlea II., refuses to give up
Acadia, 207, 208 ; surrenders it to
Grand-fontaine, 209.

Thorne, Thomas, voyage to Gulf
of St. Lawrence^ 10.

ThurV) father, priest at Penobscot,
228, 237, 242, 243.

Uxmal, ruins of, 34.

Vendonie, Duke de, arrangement
with Mauame Chamisay, 191.

Verazzano, John, 9 ; voyage to Am-
erica, 9.

Verger, commander of Beausfejour,
surrenders it, 379.

Vetch, Col., 271-72; in command
of Annapolis, 275, 296.

Villebon, at Port Royal, 234 ; col-
lects the Indians, 235 ; appointed
command in Acadia, 236 ; at Jem-
seg, 237 ; organizes the Indians
against the English, 238; atNash-
waak, 240 ; incites the Indians,
242; his diary, 245; treaty with
Indians, 247 ; proposes to capture
Boston, 249; attacked by Eng-
lish, 255 ; removes to fort Latour,
258 ; death and character, 259.

Villieu, officer of marines, 242 ;
leads the Indians, 243, 252 ; de-
molishes fort Nashwaak, 260.

Vines, Richard, 108.

Waldron, Major, killed by Indians
at Dover, 227.

Weymouth, Capt., his voyage, 106.

Williams, Roger, 165.

Winslow, Lieut.-Col., at reduction
of Bousfijour, 376, 380 ; removes
the Acadians from Mines, 401,
404.

Winthrop, Governor of Massachu-
setts, 129, 150, 151; meets La
Tour, 155, 156, 184.

Wolfe, General, at Louisbour |, 415;
death at Quebec, 419.

ir,

lid

Di-
ed
ra-
ms
3h-
ns,
ith
lire
iig-

12;
de-

ans

106.

tion
ives
401,

3hu-
La

415;