The Boys of Grand Pré School / Illustrated

by James De Mille

“The English could do nothing. There was only a handful of soldiers at Annapolis, and though they were afterwards taken better care of, yet the soldiers and the fort formed but a weak representation of the power of Britain. The French were increasing in numbers. Here in Grand Pré they were most numerous and most prosperous. They were peaceable, and happy, and industrious, and contented. As a general thing, they maintained most faithfully their position of neutrality. French agents came among them to rouse them to action, but met with no response. French missionary priests, acting as agents for the French governors of Quebec and Louisbourg, tried to stir up their patriotic ardor, but without much success. An expedition came from Louisbourg against Annapolis, but the Aca-dians did not join it. Only a few joined the invading army, and when they made an attack on Annapolis, the little English garrison was able to beat them off. No fact can speak more plainly than this in favor of the utter peacefulness of their dispositions, and their fixed determination to keep out of all difficulties. That neutrality which they professed they maintained as perfectly as it was possible for any community.

“So things went on until the year 1749, when the English government took the affairs of the long-neglected Province of Nova Scotia into their consideration, and determined to colonize it on a large scale. So they sent out a fleet with thousands of emigrants, and built the town of Halifax. This was intended to be a counterpoise to Quebec, and also an assertion of their power in the Province of Nova Scotia. Besides this place, which they made the capital, instead of Annapolis, they formed other settlements.

“But they soon found themselves cramped. The French, having been there first, had taken possession of all the most eligible lands. The places to which emigrants would most wish to go were already filled up. Annapolis, and Grand Pré, and other places were occupied; and the English who wished to settle had to go to places which were far inferior. Besides this, the English wanted every man in the country to be an active assistant,—not a neutral. All these things combined to make the question of the Acadians a very troublesome one. The very faithfulness with which they had maintained their professions of neutrality made it all the more difficult; and for some years the English settlers found themselves thus shut out from the best part of the province, and confined to those portions which could never be developed to any extent.

“You must remember that it was not the Province of Nova Scotia, but all the British colonies in America, that participated in this question. All along the Atlantic coast the provinces watched with eager interest the progress of the English settlement here. Hundreds, came to Halifax from Massachusetts and New York. They all belonged to that great English party which, on this side of the Atlantic, was carrying on a never-ending war with the French. It was a question between the French and English races, which should rule. The English were far superior as colonizers, the French as organizers. The English settlers increased and multiplied; the French kept up formidable forts and armies, and enlisted vast numbers of Indians on their side. There were a million and a half of English, but not a hundred thousand French; yet the French kept armies on foot which the English could barely equal. Besides, the French had a grand scheme by which they hoped to crush the growth of the English, and finally subdue them. They held all the valley of the St. Lawrence, and the valley of the Mississippi. They had settlements on both rivers, and their great scheme was to build a line of forts from the Mississippi to the St. Lawrence, which should act as a wall to hem in the English, and keep them within that narrow line of territory which lies along the Atlantic shore. All this alarmed the colonies. They were ready to fight against the French for this boundary line, and were determined from the very outset to recognize no barrier whatever against their progress westward. Nominal peace might be between France and England at home, but out here there was never peace. War went on all along the line of forts, and the French, with their Indians, struggled with the hardy English colonists. Between all the English colonies there was one universal sympathy; and while Nova Scotia watched the progress of her more southern sisters with intense interest, they, on their part, watched the progress of affairs in Nova Scotia with interest no less intense. All were alike struggling with one common enemy. Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, all were watching to see how Halifax would deal with the Acadians, or with Louisbourg; while Nova Scotia was waiting to see how they would deal with the Ohio forts.

“You may imagine, then, what was the feeling here when the news came of the expedition of that thick-headed and pragmatical fool General Brad-dock; of his disastrous and abominable defeat, when his army was ruined, and his own life thrown away, by a miserably inferior number of French and Indians. A panic spread everywhere, and that panic which ran through the other colonies was strong in Nova Scotia.

“Soon after, an opportunity arose to deal with the Acadians. The governor was a strong-willed, determined, and energetic man. A powerful fleet and army had assembled at Halifax. It was resolved to deal summarily with the Acadians.

“But how? That was the question. It would not do to march an army against them and expel them from their homes. They would merely fly to the woods, and when the army had left, they would come back. So it was resolved to expel them from their homes altogether.

“But how? Again the question arose. If they merely expelled them, giving them the liberty of flying anywhere, they would all go to Cape Breton, to swell the numbers of their foes. If they conveyed them away to any particular place, they might be formidable from their numbers, and find means of coming back in a body. So it was determined to carry them off from Nova Scotia, and scatter them as widely as possible over all the colonies along the Atlantic coast.

“By way of a beginning, they resolved to give the Acadians one last chance to take the oath of allegiance, though they knew that the offer was useless. So they sent for the leading men of the settlements, and brought them to Halifax. There they were told that they must take the oath, or submit to punishment. The Acadians refused, and pleaded their rights as neutrals. Their plea was rejected, and they were imprisoned.

“After this the measures which were taken were swift and summary. Before the Acadians could know what had happened, British troops appeared at each of the settlements. At Grand Pré they summoned all the inhabitants to a place of meeting. The Acadians came without suspicion. There they were all arrested. Vessels were all ready to receive them, and they were put on board. Husbands were separated from their wives, fathers from their children, never to meet again. They were all packed on board of the vessels. These vessels were nearly all small schooners, which had been chartered by the government for this business from some Boston merchants. Last year, when I was at Halifax, I saw among the Nova Scotia archives the accounts of these merchants against the government of Nova Scotia for the expenses of carrying off the Acadians. I took a copy of one or two, which I will show you some day.