history to enter into a narrative of all the details connected with the military operations of 1755, a full account of which would fill a considerable volume.

Of the four expeditions referred to in a former article (230), the first under Braddock was disastrously unsuccessful. That against Niagara, undertaken by General Shirley of Massachusetts, was also abortive, chiefly in consequence of Braddock's failure. The other two expeditions proved more fortunate to their projectors, although that which was directed against the French in Acadia was the only one which can be said to have entirely accomplished its purpose. Beginning with this last-named undertaking, the events of which transpired first in the order of time, the leading incidents are recorded in the following article:

233. The Government of Massachusetts* furnished six or seven hundred troops of their militia, and a sufficient number of small transports, for service in Nova Scotia, and to act in conjunction with the forces already there. Two or three frigates also entered the Bay of Fundy to co-operate in the proceedings about to take place. LieutenantGovernor Laurence appointed Colonel Moncton to command the forces at his disposal, with a portion of which the latter moved upon the isthmus, at the extreme end of the Bay of Fundy, for the purpose of capturing the French forts. Other troops were sent to Port Royal and Grandpré, under Colonel Winslow and Captain Murray, for objects which will appear in the sequel.

Forts Beausejour,† Gaspareaux, and a third small one

* At this period Nova Scotia was governed by a Lieutenant-Governor, subordinate to the authorities of Massachusetts.

The commandant at Beausejour was M. Vergor Duchambon, accused of being concerned in the mismanagement and peculation of which mention has been made on a former page. He was a son of the commandant who capitulated at Louisbourg in 1745. This Vergor Duchambon was under

at Bay Verte, surrendered to the English with scarcely a show of resistance. The entire isthmus thus fell into the hands of the English colonists.

The first objects of the expedition having been attained, the next step was to deal with the Acadians, who, to the number of about eight thousand, inhabited the peninsula and the isthmus. Although by the Treaty of Utrecht Nova Scotia had become an acknowledged possession of Great Britain, yet its French and Roman Catholic inhabitants had generally refused to swear allegiance to the King of England. They were naturally disaffected towards the British Government. The Abbé Loutre, and their other missionaries, were alleged to have exercised an undue influence, and to have made every possible exertion, secretly and openly, in the way of preventing the Acadians from remaining good British subjects. Moreover, many who had taken the oath had broken it, acted with their countrymen against the British, revolted on occasions, or been found in arms on the French side. The resolute English colonial authorities of that day could perceive no way of rendering the Acadians contented subjects.

At the same time it has been alleged by many writers that, upon the whole, the Acadians were an inoffensive and peaceable people, remarkable for honesty, sobriety, and simplicity of character and habits, as well as tolerably successful in industrial pursuits, and the cultivation of their lands. Their own Government had, by treaty, severed their

the influence of the Intendant Bigot, who had procured for him his appointment from Vaudreuil. He is also said to have been the same officer who subsequently, on the night of September 12, 1759, was in command of the French picket near the spot where General Wolfe effected a landing preparatory to scaling the heights of Abraham.

Vergor Duchambon is spoken of by French writers as a mere creature of Bigot, and unworthy of the important command he held at Beausejour.

connection with France when Nova Scotia was ceded, merely stipulating in their behalf that they should be allowed to continue in the free exercise of their religion. But, as alleged by some, their rights in this respect had been regarded with disfavour by their new rulers, and occasionally trespassed upon, with accompanying harsh treatment.

At the time of which we now write, the English authorities -felt themselves to be in a dilemma, from which they saw no escape except by means which will ever excite in all honourable minds the deepest sympathy for the unfortunate Acadians. They could not treat the whole people as rebels, for the great majority had remained quiet in their settlements. They could not transport them to France or to England, as they knew not the trades and callings by which to procure subsistence in those countries. They were colonists and descendants of colonists, fitted only for colonial life. But, in the highly excited state of feeling by which the people of the two mother countries were now animated against each other, with the prospect of a desperate struggle for supremacy in North America, those who were now the arbiters of the destinies of the Acadians recoiled from the idea of leaving so many thousands to live and increase in their present settlements, hostile to British interests, and to become hereafter, possibly, a compact nation of adversaries within their own borders.

In the face of these and other considerations, the quality of mercy towards the Acadians was less regarded than the views which were entertained by the English colonists respecting their own material interests for the present and the future. At the isthmus, at Grandpré, Port-Royal, and other places most thickly occupied, the military officers, acting under the orders of the colonial authorities, and with

the sanction of the British Government, notified the unhappy Acadians that their habitations, animals and other property, excepting money and movables, were confiscated to the King's use. They themselves, with their families, were to be removed from the country, and dispersed amongst the other British North American possessions. At appointed times, in the following autumn, transports were anchored off different parts of the coast to receive the victims of these calamitous proceedings, and to carry them off into exile in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Georgia. The embarkations were often brought about by force. The old and young, the men, the women, and children, were marched to the beach in separate bodies and placed on board. In many instances members of the same family were forcibly separated from each other, never to meet again. The degree of individual suffering occasioned by the deplorable proceedings may be left to the imagination, but cannot be described. Many made their escape to the forests. In some places, the fugitives having nothing to subsist upon, and no prospect of support or shelter during the ensuing winter, except that of returning by stealth to their deserted lands and habitations, the officers, to cut off all dependence on those sources, caused everything to be destroyed, so that the former owners might be compelled to return and yield themselves. Some took refuge amongst the Indians-some made their escape into Canada.

It has been computed that between three and four thousand Acadians were thus deprived of their property and removed into exile.*

*

See Archives of Nova Scotia; also Transactions of the Quebec Literary and Historical Society for 1870-71, Paper read by Dr Anderson.

66

Scarcely had the Anglo-American troops discharged the lamentable duties which had been assigned to them, when the soldiers were struck

Although the embarkation of so many people, under such painful circumstances, could not but be attended with great disorder, the Acadians themselves, for the most part, offered no resistance to the military, and but few lives were sacrificed. In the villages near Port-Royal several hundred houses were burnt by the soldiers in the sight of their former occupants. These, collected in detached bodies and surrounded by guards, viewed the destruction of their homes with looks betokening despair or resignation, according to the varieties of their dispositions, none making any effort to stay the hands which applied the torches. When, however, a place of worship was approached with the purpose of consigning it to the flames, a rush was made, on one occasion, upon the soldiers, and twenty-nine of these were killed or wounded in the conflict which ensued.

with horror at their situation. Standing surrounded by rich and wellcultivated fields, they found themselves, nevertheless, in the midst of profound solitude. They beheld no enemy to attack, no friend to succour. Volumes of smoke ascending from the sites of the burnt habitations marked the spots where, a few days before, happy families dwelt. Domestic animals, as if seeking the return of their masters, gathered and moved uneasily around the smoking ruins. During the long nights the watchdogs howled among these scenes of desolation, and uttered plaintive sounds, as if to recall their ancient protectors and the roofs under which they had been sheltered."-Ferland, vol. ii. p. 520.

"There is not an example in modern times of chastisement inflicted upon a peaceable and inoffensive people with so much calculation, barbarity, and sang-froid as the one in question."-Dussieux, cited from Garneau, by whom, however, the actual facts have been exaggerated.

A number of Acadians made their way to the neighbourhood of Mirimachi, where they were afterwards succoured by means of ships with provisions sent out from France for them to Quebec. When the vessels carrying a part of the supplies from Quebec returned from Mirimachi, they brought with them many Acadian families. There they fell under the tender mercies of Varin, and other creatures of the Intendant Bigot, who kept back the bread intended for them, and gave them, instead of beef, horse-flesh. These nefarious practices occasioned the death of many of the unhappy Acadians at Quebec through want and misery.

See also the Appendix to this volume.