Evidently the Indians had retained the practices of their forefathers as regards their treatment of captives, for Pote’s experience at Aukpaque was just about on a par with that of Gyles at Medoctec rather more than half a century before. But it is only just to remember that this was a time of war and (as Murdoch well points out) Indian laws of war permitted not only surprises, stratagems and duplicity, but the destruction and torture of their captives. These practices being in harmony with the ideas and customs inherited from their ancestors did not readily disappear even under the influence of Christianity. And yet it is well to remember that the Indians often spared the lives of their captives and even used them kindly and however much we may condemn them for their cruelty on many occasions we must not forget that there were other occasions where men of our own race forget for a season the rules of their religion and the laws of humanity.

Captain Pote’s unhappy experience at Aukpaque caused him to feel no regret when the Huron Indians took their departure with their captives the next day. They had now come to the “beginning of the swift water” and their progress became more laborious. The party included twenty-three persons. One of the prisoners, an Indian of Gorham’s Rangers, taken on Goat Island at Annapolis, Pote says

As they ascended the river the party encountered occasional rapids which caused some delay, particularly the Meductic rapids below the mouth of the Pokiok, where they were obliged to land and carry their baggage over clefts of rocks, fallen trees and other obstacles. The Indians told Pote they would shortly arrive at another Indian village and he asked, with some anxiety, if the Indians there would use them in the same manner as those at Aukpaque. This question led to an immediate consultation among the Hurons, and, Pote says,

“I observed they Looked with a Verey Serious Countenance on me; when I Saw a Convenient oppertunity I spoke to this affect, Gentlemen You are all Verey Sensible, of ye Ill Usage we met with at ye other Village, which I have Reason to believe, was Intierly Contrary to any of Your Inclinations or permission, and as you Call your Selves Christians, and men of honor, I hope you’l Use your prisoners accordingly, But I think it is Verey Contrary to ye Nature of a Christian, to abuse men In ye manner we was at ye other Village, and I am Verey Sensible there is no Christian Nation yt Suffers their prisoners to be abused after they have Given them quarters, In ye manner we have been; the Indians Looked verey Serious, and approved of what I said, and Talked amongst themselves in Indian, and my master told me when we arrived to ye Indian Village I must mind to keep Clost by him.”

On the second morning after they left Aukpaque, the party drew nigh Medoctec, passing as they proceeded, several small spots where the Indians had made improvements and planted corn, beans, etc. Pote says:—

“We arrived to ye Indian village about Noon, as soon as Squaws, saw us coming In Sight of their Village, and heard ye Cohoops, which Signified ye Number of Prisoners, all ye Squaws In their Village, prepared themselves with Large Rods of Briars, and Nettles &c., and met us at their Landing, Singing and Dancing and Yelling, and making such a hellish Noise, yt I Expected we Should meet with a worse Reception at this place that we had at ye other. I was Verey Carefull to observe my masters Instructions, yt he had Given me ye Day before, and warned ye Rest to do Likewise.”

The first canoe that landed was that of the captain of the Hurons who had in his canoe but one prisoner, an Indian of Capt. Gorham’s Company. This unfortunate fellow was not careful to keep by his master, and in consequence

“Ye Squaws Gathered themselves Round him, and Caught him by ye hair, as many as could get hold of him, and halled him down to ye Ground, and pound his head against ye Ground, ye Rest with Rods dancing Round him, and wipted him over ye head and Legs, to Such a degree, that I thought they would have killed him In ye Spot, or halled him in ye watter and Drounded him, they was So Eager to have a Stroak at him Each of them, that they halled him Some one way and Some another, Some times Down towards ye water by ye hair of ye head, as fast as they could Run, then ye other party would have ye Better and Run with him another way, my master spoke to ye other Indians, and told ym to take ye fellow out of their hands, for he believed they would Certainly murther him, In a Verey Short time.”

The squaws advanced towards Pote, but his master spoke something in Indian in a very harsh manner that caused them to relinquish their purpose. The prisoners and their Indian masters were conducted to the camp of the captain of the village who, at their request, sent to relieve the poor Mohawk from the abuse of the squaws, and he was brought to them more dead than alive. At this place Pote met a soldier that had been with him on the schooner “Montague” when she was captured who told him how the Indians had abused him at his arrival. Captain Pote did not entirely escape the attentions of the “sauvagesses,” witness the following entry in his journal:—

“Thursday ye 11th. This Day we Remained In ye Indian Village called Medocatike, I observed ye Squaws could not by any means Content themselves without having their Dance. they Continued Teasing my master to Such a Degree, to have ye Liberty to Dance Round me, that he Consented they might if they would Promis to not abuse me, they Desired none of ye Rest, but me was all they aimed at for what Reason I cannot Tell. When my masters had Given ym Liberty, which was Done in my absence, there Came Into ye Camp, two Large Strong Squaws, and as I was Setting by one of my masters, they Caught hold of my armes with all their Strength, and Said Something in Indian, yt I Supposed was to tell me to Come out of ye Camp, and halld me of my Seat. I Strugled with ym and cleard my Self of their hold, and Set down by my master; they Came upon me again Verey Vigorously, and as I was Striving with them, my master ordered me to Go, and told me they would not hurt me. At this I was obliged to Surrender and whent with ym, they Led me out of ye Camp, Dancing and Singing after their manner, and Carried me to one of their Camps where there was a Company of them Gathered for their frolick, they made me Set down on a Bears Skin in ye Middle of one of their Camps, and Gave me a pipe and Tobacoe, and Danced Round me till the Sweat Trickled Down their faces, Verey plentyfully, I Seeing one Squaw that was Verey Big with Child, Dancing and foaming at ye mouth and Sweating, to Such a degree yt I Could not forbear Smilling, which one of ye old Squaws Saw, and Gave me two or three twitches by ye hair, otherwise I Escaped without any Punishment from them at the time.”

The following day the Hurons resumed their journey and in due time arrived at Quebec. At times the party suffered from lack of food, though fish were usually abundant, and on one occasion they caught in a small cove, a few miles below the mouth of the Tobique, as many as fifty-four salmon in the course of a few hours.

Having considered, at greater length than was originally intended, the adventures of Captain Pote, we may speak of other individuals and incidents which figure in King George’s War.

Paul Mascarene, who so gallantly and successfully defended Annapolis Royal against the French and Indians, was born in the south of France in 1684. His father was a Huguenot, and at the revocation of the edict of Nantes was obliged to abandon his native country. Young Mascarene was early thrown upon his own resources. At the age of 12 he made his way to Geneva, where he was educated. Afterwards he went to England, became a British subject and entered the army. He was present at the taking of Port Royal by General Nicholson and, after serving with credit in various capacities, was appointed Lieut.-Governor of Nova Scotia in 1740. He eventually rose to the rank of a major general in the English army.

Mascarene preserved his love for his native tongue and was always disposed to deal kindly with the Acadians. Two very interesting letters written by him in French to Madame Francoise Bellisle Robichaux have been preserved. This lady came of rather remarkable ancestry. She was the granddaughter of the Baron de St. Cactin, and had as her great-grandsires on the one hand the celebrated Charles la Tour, and on the other the famous Penobscot chieftain Madockawando.

In view of the fact that the Belleisle family lived for a considerable time on the St. John river, where their name is preserved in that of Belleisle Bay, it may be well to trace the lineage in fuller detail.

Annapolis Royal, Oct. 13, 1744.

Madame,—When I learned that your father, in the hope of recovering his seigneurial rights, had sided with those who came to attack this fort, I confess I was of opinion that the whole family participated in his feelings; and the more so, as your brother was with the first party of savages who came here last summer. I am agreeably surprised, however, and very glad to see by your letter that you did not share in those sentiments, and that you have remained true to the obligations which bind you to the government of the King of Great Britain, I am unwilling that the esteem which I have entertained for you should be in any manner lessened.

With respect to the protection which you ask for your establishment on the river St. John, it is out of my power to grant it. We cannot protect those who trade with our declared enemies. Therefore you must resolve to remain on this [the English] side during the continuance of the present troubles, and to have no intercourse with the other. Should you come and see us here, you will find me disposed to give you all the assistance that you can reasonably expect.

Be assured that I am, Madam,

Your friend and servant,

P. MASCARENE.

The next glimpse we get of the name of Belleisle on the River St. John is in connection with a notable treaty made with the Indians in 1749. In the summer of that year, peace having been proclaimed with France, Capt. Edward How went to the St. John river in the warship “Albany,” and had several interviews with the Indian chiefs, who agreed to send deputies to Halifax to wait upon Governor Cornwallis and renew their submission to the King of England. Accordingly on the 12th of August, Francois Arodowish, Simon Sactawino, and Jean Baptiste Madounhook, deputies from the chiefs of the St. John river, and Joannes Pedousaghtigh, chief of Chignecto, with their attendants, arrived at Halifax to pay their respects to the new governor, and to agree upon “articles of a lasting peace.”

Two days after their arrival the Indians were received on board the man-of-war “Beaufort” by Cornwallis and his entire council. The delegates announced that they were from Aukpaque, Medoctec, Passamaquoddy and Chignecto, and that their respective chiefs were Francois de Salle of Octpagh, Noellobig of Medoctec, Neptune Abbadouallete of Passamaquoddy and Joannes Pedousaghtigh of Chignecto. They brought with them a copy of the treaty made with their tribes in 1728 and expressed a desire to renew it. After the usual negotiations the treaty was engrossed on parchment and signed by the Indians, each man appending to his signature his private mark or “totem.” Eleven members of the council also signed the treaty as witnesses.

A few days later the Indians returned with Capt. How to the St. John river, where the treaty was duly ratified, and thirteen chiefs signed the following declaration:—

“The Articles of Peace concluded at Chebuckto the Fifteenth of August, 1749, with His Excellency Edward Cornwallis Esq’r, Capt. General Governor and Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty’s Province of Nova Scotia or Acadie, and signed by our Deputies, having been communicated to us by Edward How Esq’r, one of His Majesty’s Council for said Province, and faithfully interpreted to us by Madame De Bellisle Inhabitant of this River nominated by us for that purpose. We the Chiefs and Captains of the River St. Johns and places adjacent do for ourselves and our different Tribes confirm and ratify the same to all intents and purposes.

“Given under our hands at the River St. Johns this fourth day of September, 1749.”

At first glance it would seem that the interpreter, Madame Belleisle, must have been Anastasie St. Castin, wife of Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle, but as she was then more than sixty years of age it is possible the interpreter may have been her daughter, Francoise Belleisle Robichaux. That the latter had a position of some influence with the Indians is shown by the fact that when the chiefs of the River St. John went to Halifax in 1768 (nearly twenty years later) they complained that the ornaments of their church “were taken by Francoise Belleisle Robicheau and carried to Canada by her, and that she refused to give them up.” The natural presumption is that the ornaments were intrusted to her care by the missionary, Germain, when he left the mission of Ste. Anne, and that she took them with her for safe keeping.

The English colonial authorities congratulated Cornwallis on the treaty made with the Indians. “We are glad to find,” say they, “that the Indians of the St. John river have so willingly submitted to His Majesty’s government and renewed their treaty, and as they are the most powerful tribe in those parts, we hope their example may either awe or influence other inferior tribes to the like compliance.”

Cornwallis in reply said, “I intend if possible to keep up a good understanding with the St. John Indians, a warlike people, tho’ treaties with Indians are nothing, nothing but force will prevail.”

Alexandre le Borgne de Belleisle was living on the River St. John as late at least as 1754 and was regarded by the Nova Scotia authorities as “a very good man.” The site of his residence is indicated on Charles Morris’ map of 1765 and there can be little doubt that a settlement of four houses in the same vicinity, marked “Robicheau” in the Morris map of 1758, was the place of residence of Frances Belleisle Robichaux.

The name Nid d’Aigle, or “The Eagle’s Nest,” is applied to this locality in Bellin’s map of 1744, D’Anville’s map of 1755 marks at the same place “Etabliss’t Francois,” or French Settlement. The place is nearly opposite Evandale, the site of the well known summer hotel of John O. Vanwart. Here the St. John river is quite narrow, only about a five minutes paddle across. The British government during the war of 1812 built at Nid d’Aigle, or “Worden’s,” a fortification consisting of an earthwork, or “half-moon battery,” with magazine in rear and a block-house at the crest of the hill still farther to the rear, the ruins of which are frequently visited by tourists. The situation commands an extensive and beautiful view of the river, both up and down, and no better post of defence could be chosen, since the narrowness of the channel would render it well nigh impossible for an enemy to creep past either by day or night without detection. There is some reason to believe that the French commander, Boishebert, established a fortified post of observation here in 1756.

It is altogether probable that the name “Nid d’Aigle” was given to the place by the sieur de Belleisle or some member of his family, and one could wish that it might be restored either in its original form, or in its Saxon equivalent, “The Eagle’s Nest.”

The policy of the French in employing their Indian allies to deter the English from any advance towards the St. John region was attended with such success that the infant colony of Nova Scotia was kept in a constant state of alarm by the threats and unfriendly attitude of the Micmacs and Maliseets. There were, however, occasional periods in which there were no actual hostilities, and it may be said that the peace made at Boston in 1725, and ratified by the St. John river tribe in May, 1728, was fairly observed by the Indians until war was declared between England and France in 1744.

During this war the St. John river was much used as a means of communication between Quebec and the French settlements of Acadia, smart young Indians with light birch canoes being employed to carry express messages, and on various occasions large parties of French and Indians travelled by this route from the St. Lawrence to the Bay of Fundy. The Indian villages of Medoctec and Aukpaque afforded convenient stopping places.

In the year 1746 a great war party, including the Abenakis of Quebec as well as their kinsmen of the upper St. John, arrived at Aukpaque. Thence they took their way in company with the missionary Germain to Chignecto. They had choice of two routes of travel, one by way of the Kennebecasis and Anagance to the Petitcodiac, the other by way of the Washademoak lake and the Canaan to the same river. As the war proceeded the Maliseets actively supported their old allies the French. Some of them took part in the midwinter night attack, under Coulon de Villiers, on Colonel Noble’s post at Grand Pre. The English on this occasion were taken utterly by surprise; Noble himself fell fighting in his shirt, and his entire party were killed, wounded or made prisoners. From the military point of view this was one of the most brilliant exploits in the annals of Acadia, and, what is better, the victors behaved with great humanity to the vanquished.

The missionaries le Loutre and Germain were naturally very desirous of seeing French supremacy restored in Acadia and the latter proposed an expedition against Annapolis. With that end in view he proceeded to Quebec and returned with a supply of powder, lead and ball for his Maliseet warriors. However, in October, 1748, the peace of Aix la Chapelle put a stop to open hostilities.

Immediately after the declaration of peace, Captain Gorham, with his rangers and a detachment of auxiliaries, proceeded in two ships to the River St. John and ordered the French inhabitants to send deputies to Annapolis to give an account of their conduct during the war.

Count de la Galissonniere strongly protested against Gorham’s interference with the Acadians on the St. John, which he described as “a river situated on the Continent of Canada, and much on this side of the Kennebec, where by common consent the bounds of New England have been placed.” This utterance of the French governor marks another stage in the controversy concerning the limits of Acadia. He stoutly contended that Gorham and all other British officers must be forbidden to interfere with the French on the St. John river, or to engage them to make submissions contrary to the allegiance due to the King of France “who,” he says, “is their master as well as mine, and has not ceded this territory by any treaty.”

The governors of Massachusetts and of Nova Scotia replied at some length to the communication of Count de la Galissonniere, claiming the territory in dispute for the king of Great Britain, and showing that the French living on the St. John had some years before taken the oath of allegiance to the English monarch.

The Acadians on the St. John, whose allegiance was in dispute, were a mere handful of settlers. The Abbe le Loutre wrote in 1748: “There are fifteen or twenty French families on this river, the rest of the inhabitants are savages called Marichites (Maliseets) who have for their missionary the Jesuit father Germain.” His statement as to the number of Acadian settlers is corroborated by Mascarene, who notified the British authorities that thirty leagues up the river were seated twenty families of French inhabitants, sprung originally from the Nova Scotia side of the bay, most of them since his memory, who, many years ago, came to Annapolis and took the oath of fidelity. He adds, “the whole river up to its head, with all the northern coast of the Bay of Fundy, was always reckoned dependent on this government.”

Both Mascarene and Shirley strongly urged upon the British ministry the necessity of settling the limits of Acadia, and a little later commissioners were appointed, two on each side, to determine the matter. They spent four fruitless years over the question, and it remained undecided until settled by the arbitrament of the sword. Shirley was one of the commissioners, as was also the Marquis de la Galissonniere, and it is not to be wondered at that with two such determined men on opposite sides and differing so widely in their views, there should have been no solution of the difficulty.

The period now under consideration is really a very extraordinary one. Ostensibly it was a time of peace. By the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 England gave back Cape Breton (or Isle Royale) to France and France restored Madras to England, but there remained no clear understanding as to the boundaries between the possessions of the rival powers in America.

So far as the French and English colonies were concerned the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle scarcely deserved the name of a truce. It was merely a breathing time in which preparations were being made for the final struggle. The treaty was so indefinite that a vast amount of territory was claimed by both parties. The English were naturally the most aggressive for the population of the English colonies was 1,200,000 while Canada had but 60,000 people.

Ostensibly there was peace from the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle until war was declared between the rival powers in 1756. But in the meantime there was a collision between them on the Ohio river, where the French built Fort Duquesne on the site now occupied by Pittsburg. The governors of the English colonies held a conference and decided on rather a startling programme for a time of peace. Gen. Braddock was to march on Fort Duquesne and drive the French from the Ohio valley; Shirley, of Massachusetts, was to lead an expedition against Niagara; William Johnson, was to take Crown Point and secure control of Lake Champlain; while, in Acadia, Colonel Monckton was to attack the French position at Fort Beausejour. In every instance the English were the aggressors but they justified their action on the ground that the places to be attacked were on British territory. This the French as emphatically denied. Braddock’s attempt resulted in a most disastrous failure, Shirley’s expedition was abandoned, William Johnson won a brilliant victory at Lake George and Colonel Monckton captured Beausejour.

The course of events on the River St. John and in other parts of Acadia harmonizes with the general situation of affairs in America at this time.

As the period under consideration is one of which comparatively little has been written, it may be well to make use of the information contained in the voluminous correspondence of the French ministers and their subordinates in America.

Both sides began to consider the advisability of taking forcible possession of the disputed territory, but the French were the first to take action. In June, 1749, Mascarene reported two French officers with twenty or thirty men from Canada and a number of Indians had come to erect a fort and make a settlement at the mouth of the river, and that two vessels with stores and materials were coming to them from Quebec. On receipt of this information, Cornwallis, who had just arrived at Halifax, sent Captain Rous in the sloop “Albany” to St. John to ascertain what works were in course of erection by the French, and to demand the authority for their action. He also issued a proclamation in French prohibiting the Acadians from making a settlement on the St. John.

When the “Albany” arrived no one was found at the old fort and for some time no inhabitants, either French or Indian, were seen. At last a French schooner entered the harbor, laden with provisions. Captain Rous took her, but offered to release her provided the master would go up the river and bring down the French officers. The master accordingly went up the river in a canoe, and the next day a French officer with thirty men and 150 Indians came down and took position, with their colors flying, at a point on the shore within musket shot of the “Albany.” The commander of the French was Pierre Boishebert. He had fixed his headquarters ten miles up the river at the place now known as Woodman’s Point, just above the mouth of the Nerepis, where in Governor Villebon’s time there had been an Indian fortress.

Captain Rous ordered the French to strike their colors; their commander demurred, and asked to be allowed to march back with his colors flying, promising to return the next day without them. Rous ordered the colors to be struck immediately, which being done, the officers were invited on board the “Albany.” They showed their instructions from the governor of Canada, Count de la Galissonniere, by which it appeared they had at first been ordered to establish a fortified post, but afterwards the order had been countermanded and they were required merely to prevent the English from establishing themselves till the right of possession should be settled between the two crowns.

The letter of Captain Rous to Boishebert, upon the arrival of the former at St. John harbor, is rather quaint reading. The original is in French.

In the subsequent interview with the savages, Father Germain and Captain Edward How acted as interpreters, and the missionary wrote an account of the interview to the governor of Quebec, in which he mentions the fact that Cornwallis, the governor of Nova Scotia, claimed jurisdiction over the St. John river region and beyond it to Passamaquoddy, deeming it a part of Acadia according to its ancient limits. Boishebert, in his letter to the Count de la Galissonniere, says that one of the best reasons the English had for laying claim to the territory north of the Bay of Fundy was that the commission of Subercase, the last French governor who resided at Annapolis Royal, fixed his jurisdiction as far west as the River Kennebec. In the spirit of a true soldier, Boishebert wishes that war might speedily recommence, and that France might be more fortunate as to the conquest of Acadia than in the last war. Meanwhile he had arranged with Capt. Rous to remain undisturbed on the River St. John until the next spring, on the understanding that he was to erect no fortification.

The St. John Indians having made peace with the governor of Nova Scotia at Halifax, it was decided that a present of 1,000 bushels of corn should be sent “to confirm their allegiance”; and it seems their allegiance needed confirmation, for a little later Father Germain warned Captain How that an Indian attack was impending. Nor was it by any means a false alarm, for on the 8th of December about 300 Micmacs and Maliseets surprised and captured an English officer and eighteen men and attacked the fort at Minas.

Father Germain evidently was a warrior priest and had used his powers of observation to some purpose; he strongly recommended the erection of a fort for the defence of the river at the narrows (“detroit”) about a league and a half above where the river enters the sea. The English, he says, could not pass it with 600 men if there were but 60 or 80 men to oppose them.

It is not necessary for us to criticize too harshly the policy of the French governor and his subordinates, but we need not be surprised that in the end it provoked resentment on the part of the governors of Nova Scotia and Massachusetts and was one of the causes of the Acadian expulsion. That it was in a measure successful is proved by the reply of Lawrence a few years later to the suggestion of the Lords of Trade, who had been urging upon him the importance of making settlements: “What can I do to encourage people to settle on frontier lands, where they run the risk of having their throats cut by inveterate enemies, who easily effect their escape from their knowledge of every creek and corner?”

Boishebert, prevented from immediately establishing a fortified post, seems to have moved freely up and down the river. At one time he writes from “Menacouche” at the mouth of the river, at another from “Ecoubac”—the Indian village of Aukpaque—at another he is at “Medoctec,” the upper Indian village. He organized the few Acadians on the river into a militia corps, the officers of which were commissioned by Count de la Galissonniere.

Meanwhile the Abbe Le Loutre was employing his energies to get the Acadians to leave their lands in the Nova Scotian peninsula and repair to the St. John river and other places north of the isthmus. To such a proceeding Cornwallis objected and Le Loutre then wrote to the French authorities an earnest letter in behalf of the Acadians, in which he says, “Justice pleads for them and as France is the resource of the unfortunate, I hope, Monseigneur, that you will try to take under your protection this forsaken people and obtain for them through his majesty liberty to depart from Acadia and the means to settle upon French soil and to transport their effects to the River St. John or some other territory that the authorities of Canada may take possession of.”

On the 16th of October, as the brigantine and schooner were entering the Bay of Fundy, Captain Vergor noticed, at 11 in the morning, an English frigate, which put on all sail and came after him. A quarter of an hour afterwards the frigate fired a cannon shot and displayed her flag. Vergor immediately hoisted his own flag and responded with a cannon shot, continuing on his way. The English frigate continued the chase and a half hour later fired a second shot followed by a third, which went through the little top-mast of the St. Francis. Vergor then made preparations for the combat, the frigate continuing to approach and firing four cannon shots at his sails. When within speaking distance Vergor called through his trumpet that he was in command of a ship of the King of France carrying provisions and munitions to the troops of his majesty. The English captain in reply ordered him to lay to or he would sink him. Vergor repeated his announcement in English, but, for answer the frigate discharged a volley of all her guns damaging the ship and killing two of his men. He in turn now fell upon the frigate, discharging all his guns and musketry. The fight lasted nearly five hours, at the expiration of which the St. Francis was so crippled by the loss of her mainmast and injuries to her sails and rigging that Vergor was obliged to surrender. His long boat having been rendered unserviceable, the English captain sent his own to convey him on board. Vergor found the frigate to be the Albany, of 14 guns and 28 swivel guns and a crew of 120 men, commanded by Captain Rous. The Albany did not pursue the schooner, which proceeded to St. John, but sailed for Halifax with her prize, where she arrived three days later.

Vergor was sent on shore and confined to a room in the house of Governor Cornwallis. The governor treated him courteously, heard his version of the affair and called a council meeting the next day to inquire into the circumstances of the case.

Cornwallis evidently felt the difficulties of his position very keenly. Halifax was yet in its infancy and in a comparatively defenceless state; Louisbourg and Quebec were supporting the French on the St. John and he had neither the men nor the money to oppose their proceedings. It seems, too, that he had been called to account for the large expenditure he had made in Nova Scotia. In his letters to the Lords of Trade he expresses himself as distracted between his desire to lessen expenses and his fears of losing the province. He was doubtful if, with the forces at his disposal, he could prevent the French from fortifying St. John and Beausejour, and he observes, with some irritation, that it has been said, “What has he to contend with? Three or four hundred Indians: it is a time of peace and no other enemy to fear.” So far from this being an adequate representation of the situation, he claimed the facts were that the French had taken possession of all Nova Scotia north of the Bay of Fundy, and had obliged many of the Acadians of the peninsula to remove thither and swear allegiance to the king of France; that the governor of Canada, through his emissary le Loutre, had offered a premium for every prisoner, head, or scalp of an Englishman; that the French had sent a ship of thirty-six guns and 300 men to the Bay of Fundy and had not only incited the Indians to hostilities but had behaved as if there were open war.

This fort stood in Carleton opposite Navy Island on the point at the foot of King street, still called “Old Fort.” The Marquis la Jonquiere says the terraces of the fort were about twenty-five feet high outside and twelve inside and the defences were such as would enable the garrison to withstand a lively attack.

It was intended to place four cannons of 8 L. to cannonade any ships that might attack it. The chief difficulty of the situation was the scarcity of water. The fort was quite indispensable for if the French were to abandon the lower part of the St. John river the English would immediately take possession. The savages were instructed to annoy the English on all occasions and to plunder any of their ships that landed on their shores. The Marquis even went so far as to suggest that some of the Acadians, dressed and painted like the savages, should join in the attacks upon the English in order that the savages might act with greater courage. He says he cannot avoid consenting to what the savages do in keeping the English busy and frustrating their advance since the French were restrained from open hostilities by the peace. “I beg you to be assured, Monseigneur,” the Marquis continues, “that I will manage everything so as not to compromise myself and that I will not give up an inch of land that belongs to the king. It is time the limits should be settled and that we should know positively what we are to hold, so as to put an end to all hostilities and to avoid the immense expense that is occasioned.”