Capture of Louisburg—New deportations—Four thousand Acadians of Prince Edward Island are deported to England and France—One or two vessels founder—Three hundred Acadians perish in one shipwreck.

Without Winslow’s manuscript we should know next to nothing of tlie circumstances that accompanied the wholesale deportation effectuated at Grand Pre, Annapolis, Pigiguit and Beausejour in the autumn of 1755. Of late years Brown’s manuscript has thrown a new light on the question, but there still remain, besides this lirst deportation, important facts that have not even been touched by any historian. The general impression is that the acts of the deportation and the rigor exercised against the Acadians were limited to the events of 1755. This is a grave error. As we shall see, the deportations of this year were only the beginning of a systematic and pitiless persecution which continued long after the peace of 1768.

There still remained, as I stated at the end of the preceding chapter, 10,000 Acadians, who took refuge on St. John Hiver, on the shores of the Gulf, and in Prince Edward Island. What was their fate? About 1,500, or perhaps 2,000, betook themselves to Quebec, by way of the St. Lawrence, between 1756 and 1758; some hundreds ascended the St. John River in 1759 and 1760, and settled in the district of Three Rivers. Those who adopted this course, however painful may have been the voyage and their settlement in a country which suffered from want and from the exactions of Intendant Bigot, were, nevertheless, the most fortunate of all the Acadian population. Soon after their arrival they were able to settle on lands of their own, and, by dint of work and perseverance, to create new homesteads in the fertile domains of Becancour, St. Jacques Achigan, L’Acadie, etc. Their number was, however, dreadfully reduced by sickness, since at Quebec alone 500 died of small-pox on their arrival.

Parkman, with his usual good faith, has sought to show that the Jot of those who took refuge in Canada was by far the most wretched. He says that Intendant Bigot, to favor a friend, confided to him the care of nourishing a certain number of these refugees at so much a head, and that the latter so stinted them of necessary nourishment that several perished of hunger and wretchedness, and thereupon he veils his face, exclaiming : What a country! What morals! The particular fact he relates is, I think, exact; but what is not so is to insinuate that the majority of the refugees were welcomed in the same heartless fashion. I know beyond a doubt that the religious authorities and the entire population came to their assistance with most praiseworthy eagerness. But Parkman is right in what concerns Bigot and his accomplices. For its misfortune France was traversing one of those periods which, while withering the patriotism and the civic virtues of the directing classes, was hurrying it into humiliations that would drag it down from its high station and warp its destiny. But the saturnalia that ran riot around the throne, and had penetrated into the administration and into the army, had not yet spoiled the body of the nation; and, as a consoling proof of this, there still remained a deep sentiment of honor sufficiently pronounced to bring Bigot and his accomplices to trial before the whole French people, and to inflict upon them an ignominious condemnation.

While stigmatizing Bigot’s conduct, as I myself unhesitatingly do, Parkman is inexcusable in that he argues from the particular to the general and blames the entire Canadian people. I have been careful not to imitate him, not to attribute to the 'whole English nation the crimes of Lawrence and his crew. Parkman would have done better to have kept a little of his indignation for the horrible deeds that were done at Halifax against a whole people, for Lawrence, who had acted thus only to enrich himself at the expense of the live stock of the Acadians, for his counsellors, who were to appropriate their lands. If there is a stigma to be affixed to men of Bigot’s stamp, there is another to be affixed to those writers who falsify history. Ma\ the reader forgive the severe terms my indignation suggests. I have made ample allowances for the weaknesses of all the personages who have figured in the course of this work. But to appreciate rightly the motives that actuate me in this case, one must have been, like myself, in a position to detect the methods of him whom I characterize so severely.

There still remained in 1758 about 8,000 Acadians in the maritime provinces, nearly 5,500 of whom were in Prince Edward Island. The first important settlements in this island began only in 1749, when Beausejour was founded. Le Loutre, as we have seen, had set fire to the dwellings of the inhabitants of Beaubassin, so as to force them to take refuge with the French and leave a wilderness around tlie fort which the English purposed constructing on the south side of the little river, Missagouetche. The half of this populous district was thus depopulated against the will of the inhabitants. The greater number of these passed immediately into Prince Edward Island, where they began anew as best they could the quiet existence that had just been so suddenly interrupted. Furthermore, after the events of 1755, their number increased considerably by the addition of those who escaped the deportation.

Until 1758 they were able to lead their former tranquil life without molestation, for they were protected by France, which still held possession of Isle Koyale (Cape Breton'), and kept a garrison at Fort Lajoie in Prince Edward Island. The capture of Louisburg and the surrender of these two islands was going to furnish Lawrence with the opportunity he was waiting for.

Hardly had Louisburg been evacuated when Boscawen (Heart of Oahi) appeared with a fleet of transports to carry off all the population. Prayers, supplications, nothing could touch the heart of this valiant patriot. Had these men committed any act of hostility, which would anyhow have been justifiable, since they had once more become French subjects and had dwelt nine years in French territory? No. Had they presented themselves before him armed for the purpose of resisting him? No. But what of that ? To Boscawen, no less than to Lawrence, these were questions of no importance. From the outset it had been decided that not a single Acadian should remain m the country, not one of their dwellings, not a single vestige of what might recall the places they had so cherished, not a name to remind future generations that this country had been 18 colonized and inhabited for more than a century by another people. Does not the criminal efface, if he can, all reminders of his crime

Boscawen’s official report puts the population of the island at 4,100; but, without entering- into explanations that support my estimate, I have reason to believe that his was much too low, and this can be explained by the departures at the news of the fall of Louisburg and before his arrival in the island. This settlement was of recent date; and yet, says Boscawen, “almost all the beef and wheat supplied to Quebec since the war has been drawn from this place. They have above 10,000 horned cattle, and many of the inhabitants told me they each harvested 1,200 bushels of wheat a year."

Boscawen does not take into account the horses, sheep, pigs, etc. This number of 10,000 horned cattle tends to confirm my reckoning of the cattle that Lawrence had at his disposal in the peninsula; for it must be borne in mind that over half of this population was composed of those who escaped the deportation of 1755 by running away to elude the soldiers who were pursuing them. They had to pass near Fort Monckton on Bay Verte, so that they must have brought away with them only a few effects and the most indispensable utensils. Besides, as Boscawen says, Prince Edward Island during the two preceding years was the place that supplied with beef and wheat Canada, which was suffering from dearth. Lawrence, who had had at his disposal 40,000 head of cattle, apart from the horses, etc., speaks only vaguely thereof to the Lords of Trade and as of an insignificant quantity which he would distribute to the colonists who could winter the cattle. The difference between the two men must have been that the one acted in good faith, without interested motives, and that the other depreciated the importance of the cattle, in order the better to throw the government oft' the scent. Neither had any pity, hut Boscawen may have had some conscience and certain principles of honor.

Three or four thousand of these unfortunate Acadians were thrown pell-mell into the holds of ships hastily collected, without any regard to their destination or their condition, and were consigned to England.

What was their fate? We know not, or rather we can merely form more or less satisfactory conjectures. Their destination was probably England and not France, since the war between the two nations was at the height of its intensity. However, from statistics collected in England after the peace by M. de la Kochette, we have reason to think that many of them were transported directly to France. We know that M. de Villejoint, who commanded at Fort Lajoie before the surrender of the island, was able to take away with him 700, whom he put ashore at La Rochelle, in France. On the other hand we know that, on Dec. 26th, 1758, one of these vessels, containing 173 persons, was driven by a storm into the port of Boulogue-sur-Mer. Moreover, it is almost certain that two other ships foundered at sea during the passage. One of these shipwrecks is related as follows by a certain Captain File, commander of the ship “Achilles” towards the end of the last century:

“Captain Nichols,” says he, “commander of a transport coming from Yarmouth, was employed by the Governor of Nova Scotia to remove from Prince Edward island three hundred Acadians with their families. Before setting sail he represented to the government agent that it was impossible that his ship in its actual condition could arrive without danger in England, especially at such an advanced period of the season. In spite of his representations, he was obliged to receive them on board and undertake the voyage. Having arrived at a hundred leagues from the coast of England, the ship leaked so much that in spite of all the efforts of the crew it became impossible to prevent it from foundering. A few minutes before it sank, the captain sent for the missionary who was on board, and told him that the only means of saving the life of a small number was to have the passengers consent to let the captain and sailors seize on the boats. The missionary delivered an exhortation to the Acadians, gave them absolution and induced them to submit to their unhappy lot. A single Frenchman embarked in one of the boats; but his wife having reproached him for thus abandoning her with her children, he returned on board. A few moments later the ship went down with all its passengers. The boats, after having braved a thousand dangers, arrived in one of the ports of the west of England.”

This story outvies in dramatic sadness and in heroism all that the poets and tragedians have invented. When we reflect on the natural clinging to life in spite of all adversities and afflictions ; when we think of the indescribable bewilderment that upsets the mind at the sight of a certain and immediate death, we remain astounded at an act of heroism surpassing our conceptions. These poor people must have passed through the relining crucible of ineffable sufferings ere they could reach such heights of Christian charity as would enable them to face death with so much equanimity, to listen to, weigh and accept a proposal that cut off their last human hope.

How touching and sublime to see this priest, with his eyes turned heavenward, exhorting the unfortunate people to accept death in order to give life to their persecutors! I cannot dispel from my mind the thought that there were perhaps amongst them cherished relatives of my ancestors, whose fate caused bitter mourning for long years. Oh Lawrence! Lawrence! How many tears you have caused to flow! What unspeakable anguish you are the author of! What mattered to him the representations of Nichols about the unseaworthiness of his ship? It would be lost, and there would be an end of it. The master would be only the better served.