By the treaty of Utrecht (1713) Newfoundland was acknowledged as English territory, but the French were given fishing privileges on the western and northern coasts. This led to diplomatic contentions, |Growth of the colony.| not yet ended; nevertheless settlement at once increased, and a satisfactory growth has since been maintained. In 1728, a form of civil government was for the first time established.
Loyalty to England.
During the American Revolution Newfoundland had sufficient inducement to remain loyal; since French and American competitors in the fisheries were kept out by British fleets, her merchants had a monopoly of the European markets, and were enabled to maintain high prices.
105. Nova Scotia, Acadia (1497-1755).
French and English rivalry.
First visited by the Cabots in 1497, it was not until 1604 that European colonization was attempted in Nova Scotia, under the Frenchman De Monts (page 35). In 1613, the Virginia privateer, Argall, basing his excuse on Cabot's previous discovery, swooped down on the French settlements, demolished the cabins, and expelled the inhabitants. A grant of the peninsula—called Acadia by the French, but in this document styled Nova Scotia by the king—was made by James I. to Sir William Alexander; the latter was, however, prevented by the French (1623) from carrying out his colonizing scheme. Nevertheless, several Englishmen and Scotchmen came into the country and mingled with the French, who were slowly re-populating it.
New England captures the country.
Recaptured by an English force in 1654, Nova Scotia was, thirteen years later (1667), ceded to France. But the ease of communication by water made the colony an uncomfortably close neighbor for the English colonies farther south. In 1710 the Massachusetts men captured Port Royal; and in 1713 France relinquished possession to England by the treaty of Utrecht. Again in 1745, Massachusetts volunteers captured Louisbourg on Cape Breton (§§ 111, 112).
Deportation of the Acadians.
England paid little attention to Nova Scotia until 1749, when four thousand emigrants were sent over to found Halifax. The French settlers, known as Acadians, had meanwhile become numerous, and greatly abused their privileges as neutrals by fostering and joining Indian war-parties against the New England settlers. In 1755, the Acadians were easily reduced by General Monkton, and seven thousand transported to the British provinces southward, many of them finally drifting to the French settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi.