CORNWALLIS AND THE ACADIANS
In Nova Scotia England was weak from the fact that no
settlements of her own people had been established there.
After thirty years of British rule Mascarene had written,
'There is no number of English inhabitants settled in
this province worth mentioning, except the five companies
here [at Annapolis] and four at Canso.' Now the restoration
to France of Cape Breton with the fortress of Louisbourg
exposed Nova Scotia to attack; and in time of war with
France the Acadians would be a source of weakness rather
than of strength. Great Britain, therefore, resolved to
try the experiment of forming in Nova Scotia a colony of
her own sons.
Thus it came to pass that a fleet of transports carrying
over twenty-five hundred colonists, counting women and
children, escorted by a sloop-of-war, cast anchor in
Chebucto Bay in July 1749. This expedition was commanded
by Edward Cornwallis, the newly appointed governor and
captain-general of Nova Scotia. He was a young officer
of thirty-six, twin-brother of the Rev. Frederick
Cornwallis, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and
uncle of the more famous Lord Cornwallis who surrendered
at Yorktown thirty-two years later. With the colonists
came many officers and disbanded soldiers; came, also,
the soldiers of the garrison which had occupied Louisbourg
before the peace; for the new settlement, named Halifax
in honour of the president of the Lords of Trade, was to
be a military stronghold, as well as a naval base, and
the seat of government for the province.
While Cornwallis and his colonists laid the foundations
of Halifax, cleared the land, formed the streets, put up
their dwellings and defences, and organized their
government, the home authorities took up the problem of
securing more settlers for Nova Scotia. Cornwallis had
been instructed to prepare for settlements at Minas, La
Heve, Whitehead, and Baie Verte, the intention being that
the newcomers should eventually absorb the Acadians living
at these places. It had been suggested to the Lords of
Trade, probably by John Dick, a merchant of Rotterdam,
that the most effective means to this end would be to
introduce a large French Protestant element into Nova
Scotia. The government thereupon gave instructions that
the land should be surveyed and plans prepared dividing
the territory into alternate Protestant and Catholic
sections. Through intercourse and intermarriage with
neighbours speaking their own tongue, it was fondly hoped
that the Acadians, in course of time, would become loyal
British subjects. The next step was to secure French
Protestant emigrants. In December 1749 the Lords of Trade
entered into a contract with John Dick to transport 'not
more than fifteen hundred foreign Protestants to Nova
Scotia.' [Footnote: Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia
A, vol. xxxv, p. 189.] Dick was a man of energy and
resource and, in business methods, somewhat in advance
of his age. He appears to have understood the value of
advertising, judging from the handbills which he circulated
in France and from his advertisements in the newspapers.
But as time passed emigrants in anything like the numbers
expected were not forthcoming. Evil reports concerning
Nova Scotia had been circulated in France, and other
difficulties arose. After many delays, however, two
hundred and eighty persons recruited by Dick arrived at
Halifax. The character of some gave rise to complaint,
and Dick was cautioned by the government. His troubles
in France crept on apace. It began to be rumoured that
the emigrants were being enrolled in the Halifax militia;
and, France being no longer a profitable field, Dick
transferred his activities to Germany. Alluring handbills
in the German tongue were circulated, and in the end a
considerable number of Teutons arrived at Halifax. Most
of these were afterwards settled at Lunenburg. The
enterprise, of course, failed of its object to neutralize
and eventually assimilate the Acadian Catholic population;
nevertheless several thousand excellent 'foreign Protestant'
settlers reached Nova Scotia through various channels.
They were given land in different parts of the province
and in time became good citizens.
Cornwallis's instructions from the British ministry
contained many clauses relating to the Acadians. Though
they had given assistance to the enemy, they should be
permitted to remain in the possession of their property.
They must, however, take the oath of allegiance 'within
three months from the date of the declaration' which the
governor was to make. Liberty of conscience should be
permitted to all. In the event of any of the inhabitants
wishing to leave the province, the governor should remind
them that the time allowed under the Treaty of Utrecht
for the removal of their property had long since expired.
The governor should take particular care that 'they do
no damage, before such their removal, to their respective
homes and plantations.' Determined efforts should be
made, not only to Anglicize, but to Protestantize the
people. Marriages between the Acadians and the English
were to be encouraged. Trade with the French settlements
was prohibited. No episcopal jurisdiction might be
exercised in the province, a mandate intended to shut
out the bishop of Quebec. Every facility was to be given
for the education of Acadian children in Protestant
schools. Those who embraced Protestantism were to be
confirmed in their lands, free from quit-rent for a period
of ten years. [Footnote: Canadian Archives Report, 1905,
Appendix C, vol. ii, p. 50.]
Armed with these instructions, Cornwallis adopted at
first a strong policy. On July 14, 1749, he issued a
proclamation containing 'the declaration of His Majesty
regarding the French inhabitants of Nova Scotia,' and
calling on the Acadians to take the oath of allegiance
within three months. At a meeting of the Council held
the same day, at which representatives of the Acadians
were present, the document was discussed. The deputies
listened with some concern to the declaration, and inquired
whether permission would be given them to sell their
lands if they decided to leave the country. The governor
replied that under the Treaty of Utrecht they had enjoyed
this privilege for one year only, and that they could
not now 'be allowed to sell or carry off anything.' The
deputies asked for time to consult the inhabitants. This
was granted, with a warning that those who 'should not
take the oath of allegiance before the 15th of October
should forfeit all their possessions and rights in the
Province.' Deputies from nine districts appeared before
the Council on July 31 and spoke for the Acadians. The
Council deliberated and decided that no priest should
officiate without a licence from the governor; that no
exemption from bearing arms in time of war could be made;
that the oath must be taken as offered; and that all who
wished to continue in the possession of their lands must
appear and take the oath before October 15, which would
be the last day allowed them. [Footnote: Public Archives,
Canada. Nova Scotia B, vol. iv, p. 14.]
A month later they presented to Cornwallis a petition
signed by one thousand inhabitants to the effect that
they had faithfully served King George, and were prepared
to renew the oath which was tendered to them by Governor
Philipps; that two years before His Majesty had promised
to maintain them in the peaceable enjoyment of their
possessions: 'And we believe, Your Excellency, that if
His Majesty had been informed of our conduct towards His
Majesty's Government, he would not propose to us an oath
which, if taken, would at any moment expose our lives to
great peril from the savage nations, who have reproached
us in a strange manner as to the oath we have taken to
His Majesty... But if Your Excellency is not disposed to
grant us what we take the liberty of asking, we are
resolved, every one of us, to leave the country.' In
reply Cornwallis reminded them that, as British subjects,
they were in the enjoyment of their religion and in
possession of their property. 'You tell me that General
Philipps granted you the reservation which you demand;
and I tell you gentlemen, that the general who granted
you such reservation did not do his duty... You have been
for more than thirty-four years past the subjects of the
King of Great Britain... Show now that you are grateful.'
[Footnote: Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia B, vol.
iv, p. 49.]
The Acadians, however, showed still a decided aversion
to an unqualified oath; and Cornwallis apparently thought
it best to recede somewhat from the high stand he had
taken. He wrote to the home government explaining that
he hesitated to carry out the terms of his proclamation
of July 14 by confiscating the property of those who did
not take the oath, on the ground that the Acadians would
not emigrate at that season of the year, and that in the
meantime he could employ them to advantage. If they
continued to prove obstinate, he would seek new instructions
to force things to a conclusion. [Footnote: Public
Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. xxxv, p. 48.] The
Acadians, used by this time to the lenity of the British
government, were probably not surprised to find, at the
meeting of the Council held on October 11, no mention of
the oath which had to be taken before the 15th of the month.
The winter passed, and still Cornwallis took no steps to
enforce his proclamation. He had his troubles; for the
French, from Quebec on the one side and from Louisbourg
on the other, were fomenting strife; and the Indians were
on the war-path. And, in February 1750, the Lords of
Trade wrote that as the French were forming new settlements
with a view to enticing the Acadians into them, any
forcible means of ejecting them should be waived for the
present. Cornwallis replied that he was anxious to leave
matters in abeyance until he ascertained what could be
done in the way of fortifying Chignecto. 'If a fort is
once built there,' he explained, 'they [the Indians] will
be driven out of the peninsula or submit. He also wished
to know what reinforcements he might expect in the spring.
Until then he would 'defer making the inhabitants take
the oath of allegiance.'
Meanwhile the Acadians were not idle on their own behalf.
In October 1749 they addressed a memorial to Des Herbiers,
the governor of Ile Royale, to be transmitted to the
French king. They complained that the new governor intended
to suppress their missionaries, [Footnote: Cornwallis
had denied the jurisdiction of the bishop of Quebec, but
had intimated that he would grant a licence to any good
priest, his objection being to missionaries such as Le
Loutre, who stirred up the Indians to commit hostilities.]
and to force them to bear arms against the Indians, with
whom they had always been on friendly terms. They therefore
prayed the king to obtain concessions from Great Britain--
the maintenance of the Quebec missionaries, the exemption
from bearing arms, or an extension of a year in which
they might withdraw with their effects. [Footnote:
Canadian Archives Report, 1905, Appendix N, vol. ii, p.
298.] Two months later they sent a petition to the Marquis
de la Jonquiere, the governor of Canada, actuated, they
said, by the love of their country and their religion.
They had refused to take the oath requiring them to bear
arms against their fellow-countrymen. They had, it is
true, appeared attached to the interests of the English,
in consequence of the oath which they had consented to
take only when exempted from bearing arms. Now that this
exemption was removed, they wished to leave Nova Scotia,
and hoped that the king would help them with vessels, as
they had been refused permission to build them. Great
offers had been made to them, but they preferred to leave.
[Footnote: Ibid., p. 301.]
In the spring of 1750, unable to obtain permission from
Cornwallis to take a restricted oath, the Acadians almost
unanimously decided to emigrate. On April 19 deputies
from several settlements in the district of Minas--the
river Canard, Grand Pre, and Pisiquid--appeared before
the Council at Halifax and asked to be allowed to leave
the province with their effects. [Footnote: Public
Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia B, vol. iv, p. 130.]
According to Cornwallis, they professed that this decision
was taken against their inclination, and that the French
had threatened them with destruction at the hands of the
Indians if they remained. [Footnote: Public Archives,
Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. xxxvii, p. 7.] On May 25 the
inhabitants of Annapolis Royal came with a like petition.
In reply to these petitions Cornwallis reminded the
inhabitants that the province was the country of their
fathers, and that they should enjoy the product of their
labours. As soon as there should be tranquillity he would
give them permission to depart, if they wished to do so;
but in the present circumstances passports could not be
granted to any one. They could not be permitted to
strengthen the hand of Great Britain's enemy.
But in spite of the prohibition, of the forts that were
built to enforce it, and of British cruisers patrolling
the coasts to prevent intercourse with the French, there
was a considerable emigration. A number of families
crossed to Ile St Jean in the summer of 1750. They were
aided by the missionaries, and supplied with vessels and
arms by the French authorities at Louisbourg. By August
1750 we know that eight hundred Acadians were settled in
Ile St Jean.