A Half Century of Conflict Volume I Part 12

The Treaty of Utrecht secured freedom of wors.h.i.+p to the Acadians under certain conditions. These were that they should accept the sovereignty of the British Crown, and that they and their pastors should keep within the limits of British law.[209] Even supposing that by swearing allegiance to Queen Anne the Acadians had acquired the freedom of wors.h.i.+p which the treaty gave them on condition of their becoming British subjects, it would have been an abuse of this freedom to use it for subverting the power that had granted it. Yet this is what the missionaries did. They were not only priests of the Roman Church, they were also agents of the King of France; and from first to last they labored against the British government in the country that France had ceded to the British Crown. So confident were they, and with so much reason, of the weakness of their opponents that they openly avowed that their object was to keep the Acadians faithful to King Louis. When two of their number, Saint-Poncy and Chevereaux, were summoned before the Council at Annapolis, they answered, with great contempt, "We are here on the business of the King of France." They were ordered to leave Acadia. One of them stopped among the Indians at Cape Sable; the other, in defiance of the Council, was sent back to Annapolis by the Governor of Isle Royale.[210] Apparently he was again ordered away; for four years later the French governor, in expectation of speedy war, sent him to Chignecto with orders secretly to prepare the Acadians for an attack on Annapolis.[211]

The political work of the missionaries began with the cession of the colony, and continued with increasing activity till 1755, kindling the impotent wrath of the British officials, and drawing forth the bitter complaints of every successive governor. For this world and the next, the priests were fathers of their flocks, generally commanding their attachment, and always their obedience. Except in questions of disputed boundaries, where the Council alone could settle the t.i.tle, the ecclesiastics took the place of judges and courts of justice, enforcing their decisions by refusal of the sacraments.[212] They often treated the British officials with open scorn. Governor Armstrong writes to the Lords of Trade: "Without some particular directions as to the insolent behavior of those priests, the people will never be brought to obedience, being by them incited to daily acts of rebellion." Another governor complains that they tell the Acadians of the dest.i.tution of the soldiers and the ruinous state of the fort, and a.s.sure them that the Pretender will soon be King of England, and that Acadia will then return to France.[213] "The bearer, Captain Bennett," writes Armstrong, "can further tell your Grace of the disposition of the French inhabitants of this province, and of the conduct of their missionary priests, who instil hatred into both Indians and French against the English."[214] As to the Indians, Governor Philipps declares that their priests hear a general confession from them twice a year, and give them absolution on condition of always being enemies of the English.[215] The condition was easy, thanks to the neglect of the British government, which took no pains to conciliate the Micmacs, while the French governor of Isle Royale corresponded secretly with them and made them yearly presents.

In 1720 Philipps advised the recall of the French priests, and the sending of others in their place, as the only means of making British subjects of the Acadians,[216] who at that time, having constantly refused the oath of allegiance, were not ent.i.tled, under the treaty, to the exercise of their religion. Governor Armstrong wrote sixteen years after: "By some of the above papers your Grace will be informed how high the French government carries its pretensions over its priests'

obedience; and how to prevent the evil consequences I know not, unless we could have missionaries from places independent of that Crown."[217]

He expresses a well-grounded doubt whether the home government will be at the trouble and expense of such a change, though he adds that there is not a missionary among either Acadians or Indians who is not in the pay of France.[218] Gaulin, missionary of the Micmacs, received a "gratification" of fifteen hundred livres, besides an annual allowance of five hundred, and is described in the order granting it as a "brave man, capable even of leading these savages on an expedition."[219] In 1726 he was brought before the Council at Annapolis charged with incendiary conduct among both Indians and Acadians; but on asking pardon and promising nevermore to busy himself with affairs of government, he was allowed to remain in the province, and even to act as cure of the Mines.[220] No evidence appears that the British authorities ever molested a priest, except when detected in practices alien to his proper functions and injurious to the government. On one occasion when two cures were vacant, one through sedition and the other apparently through illness or death, Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong requested the governor of Isle Royale to send two priests "of known probity" to fill them.[221]

Who were answerable for the anomalous state of affairs in the province,--the _imperium in imperio_ where the inner power waxed and strengthened every day, and the outer relatively pined and dwindled? It was not mainly the Crown of France nor its agents, secular or clerical.

Their action under the circ.u.mstances, though sometimes inexcusable, was natural, and might have been foreseen. Nor was it the Council at Annapolis, who had little power either for good or evil. It was mainly the neglect and apathy of the British ministers, who seemed careless as to whether they kept Acadia or lost it, apparently thinking it not worth their notice.

About the middle of the century they wakened from their lethargy, and warned by the signs of the times, sent troops and settlers into the province at the eleventh hour. France and her agents took alarm, and redoubled their efforts to keep their hold on a country which they had begun to regard as theirs already. The settlement of the English at Halifax startled the French into those courses of intrigue and violence which were the immediate cause of the removal of the Acadians in 1755.

At the earlier period which we are now considering, the storm was still remote. The English made no attempt either to settle the province or to secure it by sufficient garrisons; they merely tried to bind the inhabitants by an oath of allegiance which the weakness of the government would constantly tempt them to break. When George I. came to the throne, Deputy-Governor Caulfield tried to induce the inhabitants to swear allegiance to the new monarch. The Acadians asked advice of Saint-Ovide, governor at Louisbourg, who sent them elaborate directions how to answer the English demand and remain at the same time faithful children of France. Neither Caulfield nor his successor could carry their point. The Treaty of Utrecht, as we have seen, gave the Acadians a year in which to choose between remaining in the province and becoming British subjects, or leaving it as subjects of the King of France. The year had long ago expired, and most of them were still in Acadia, unwilling to leave it, yet refusing to own King George. In 1720 General Richard Philipps, the governor of the province, set himself to the task of getting the oath taken, while the missionaries and the French officers at Isle Royale strenuously opposed his efforts. He issued a proclamation ordering the Acadians to swear allegiance to the King of England or leave the country, without their property, within four months. In great alarm, they appealed to their priests, and begged the Recollet, Pere Justinien, cure of Mines, to ask advice and help from Saint-Ovide, successor of Costebelle at Louisbourg, protesting that they would abandon all rather than renounce their religion and their King.[222] At the same time they prepared for a general emigration by way of the isthmus and Baye Verte, where it would have been impossible to stop them.[223]

Without the influence of their spiritual and temporal advisers, to whom they turned in all their troubles, it is clear that the Acadians would have taken the oath and remained in tranquil enjoyment of their homes; but it was then thought important to French interests that they should remove either to Isle Royale or to Isle St. Jean, now Prince Edward's Island. Hence no means were spared to prevent them from becoming British subjects, if only in name; even the Micmacs were enlisted in the good work, and induced to threaten them with their enmity if they should fail in allegiance to King Louis. Philipps feared that the Acadians would rise in arms if he insisted on the harsh requirements of his proclamation; in which case his position would have been difficult, as they now outnumbered his garrison about five to one. Therefore he extended indefinitely the term of four months, that he had fixed for their final choice, and continued to urge and persuade, without gaining a step towards the desired result. In vain he begged for aid from the British authorities. They would do nothing for him, but merely observed that while the French officers and priests had such influence over the Acadians, they would never be good subjects, and so had better be put out of the country.[224] This was easier said than done; for at this very time there were signs that the Acadians and the Micmacs would unite to put out the English garrison.[225]

Philipps was succeeded by a deputy-governor, Lieutenant-Colonel Armstrong,--a person of ardent impulses and unstable disposition. He applied himself with great zeal and apparent confidence to accomplis.h.i.+ng the task in which his princ.i.p.al had failed. In fact, he succeeded in 1726 in persuading the inhabitants about Annapolis to take the oath, with a proviso that they should not be called upon for military service; but the main body of the Acadians stiffly refused. In the next year he sent Ensign Wroth to Mines, Chignecto, and neighboring settlements to renew the attempt on occasion of the accession of George II. The envoy's instructions left much to his discretion or his indiscretion, and he came back with the signatures, or crosses, of the inhabitants attached to an oath so clogged with conditions that it left them free to return to their French allegiance whenever they chose.

Philipps now came back to Acadia to resume his difficult task. And here a surprise meets us. He reported a complete success. The Acadians, as he declared, swore allegiance without reserve to King George; but he does not tell us how they were brought to do so. Compulsion was out of the question. They could have cut to pieces any part of the paltry English garrison that might venture outside the ditches of Annapolis, or they might have left Acadia, with all their goods and chattels, with no possibility of stopping them. The taking of the oath was therefore a voluntary act.

But what was the oath? The words reported by Philipps were as follows: "I promise and swear sincerely, on the faith of a Christian, that I will be entirely faithful, and will truly obey his Majesty King George the Second, whom I recognize as sovereign lord of Acadia or Nova Scotia. So help me G.o.d." To this the Acadians affixed their crosses, or, in exceptional cases, their names. Recently, however, evidence has appeared that, so far at least as regards the Acadians on and near Mines Basin, the effect of the oath was qualified by a promise on the part of Philipps that they should not be required to take up arms against either French or Indians,--they on their part promising never to take up arms against the English. This statement is made by Gaudalie, cure of the parish of Mines, and Noiville, priest at Pigiquid, or Pisiquid, now Windsor.[226] In fact, the English never had the folly to call on the Acadians to fight for them; and the greater part of this peace-loving people were true to their promise not to take arms against the English, though a considerable number of them did so, especially at the beginning of the Seven Years' War. It was to this promise, whether kept or broken, that they owed their name of Neutral French.

From first to last, the Acadians remained in a child-like dependence on their spiritual and temporal guides. Not one of their number stands out prominently from among the rest. They seem to have been totally devoid of natural leaders, and, unhappily for themselves, left their fate in the hands of others. Yet they were fully aware of their numerical strength, and had repeatedly declared, in a manner that the English officers called insolent, that they would neither leave the country nor swear allegiance to King George. The truth probably is that those who governed them had become convinced that this simple population, which increased rapidly, and could always be kept French at heart, might be made more useful to France in Acadia than out of it, and that it was needless further to oppose the taking of an oath which would leave them in quiet possession of their farms without making any change in their feelings, and probably none in their actions. By force of natural increase Acadia would in time become the seat of a large population ardently French and ardently Catholic; and while officials in France sometimes complained of the reluctance of the Acadians to move to Isle Royale, those who directed them in their own country seem to have become willing that they should stay where they were, and place themselves in such relations with the English as should leave them free to increase and multiply undisturbed. Deceived by the long apathy of the British government, French officials did not foresee that a time would come when it would bestir itself to make Acadia English in fact as well as in name.[227]

FOOTNOTES:

[185] _Offres de la France; Demandes de l'Angleterre et Reponses de la France, in Memorials of the English and French Commissaries concerning the Limits of Acadia._

[186] _Memoire du Roy a ses Plenipotentiaires, 20 Mars, 1712._

[187] _Precis de ce qui s'est pa.s.se pendant la Negotiation de la Paix d'Utrecht au Sujet de l'Acadie; Juillet, 1711-Mai, 1712._

[188] _Memoire du Roy, 20 Avril, 1712._

[189] _Memoire sur l'Isle du Cap Breton_, 1709.

[190] _Le Roy a Costebelle, 29 Septembre, 1713._

[191] _Recens.e.m.e.nt des Habitans de Plaisance et Iles de St. Pierre, rendus a Louisbourg avec leurs Femmes et Enfans, 5 Novembre, 1714._

[192] _Costebelle au Ministre, 19 Juillet, 1713._

[193] _Felix Pain a Costebelle, 23 Septembre, 1713._

[194] Vetch was styled "General and Commander-in-chief of all his Majesty's troops in these parts, and Governor of the fort of Annapolis Royal, country of l'Accady and Nova Scotia." Hence he was the first English governor of Nova Scotia after its conquest in 1710. He was appointed a second time in 1715, Nicholson having served in the interim.

[195] _Narrative of Paul Mascarene_, addressed to Nicholson. According to French accounts, a pestilence at Annapolis had carried off three fourths of the garrison. _Gaulin a ----, 5 Septembre, 1711_; _Cahouet au Ministre, 20 Juillet, 1711_. In reality a little more than one hundred had died.

[196] Pa.s.sages from Vetch's letters, in Patterson, _Memoir of Vetch_.

[197] _Vetch to the Earl of Dartmouth, 22 January, 1711_; _Memorial of Council of War at Annapolis, 14 October, 1710_.

[198] Costebelle, _Instruction au Capitaine de la Ronde_, 1714.

[199] _ecrit des Habitants d'Annapolis Royale, 25 Aoust, 1714_; _Memoire de La Ronde Denys, 30 Aoust, 1714_.

[200] In 1711, however, the missionary Felix Pain says, "The English have treated the Acadians with much humanity."--_Pere Felix a ----, 8 Septembre, 1711._

[201] This was the oath taken after the capitulation, which bound those who took it to allegiance so long as they remained in the province.

[202] "As he used to curse and Damm Governor Vetch and all his friends, he is now served himself in the same manner."--_Adams to Steele, 24 January, 1715._

[203] For a great number of extracts from doc.u.ments on this subject see a paper by Abbe Casgrain in _Canada Francais_, i. 411-414; also the doc.u.mentary supplement of the same publication.

[204] _La Ronde Denys au Ministre, 3 Decembre, 1715._

[205] _Costebelle au Ministre, 15 Janvier, 1715._

[206] _Governor Mascarene to the Secretary of State, 1 December, 1743._ At this time there was also a blockhouse at Canseau, where a few soldiers were stationed. These were then the only British posts in the province. In May, 1727, Philipps wrote to the Lords of Trade: "Everything there [at Annapolis] is wearing the face of ruin and decay,"

and the ramparts are "lying level with the ground in breaches sufficiently wide for fifty men to enter abreast."

[207] _Philipps to Secretary Craggs, 26 September, 1720._

[208] _Selections from the Public Doc.u.ments of Nova Scotia, 18, note._

[209] "Those who are willing to remain there [in Acadia] and to be subject to the kingdom of Great Britain, are to enjoy the free exercise of their religion according to the usage of the Church of Home, as far as the laws of Great Britain do allow the same."--_Treaty of Utrecht, 14th article._

[210] _Minutes of Council, 18 May, 1736._ _Governor Armstrong to the Secretary of State, 22 November, 1736._

[211] _Minutes of Council, 18 September, 1740_, in _Nova Scotia Archives_.

[212] _Governor Mascarene to Pere des Enclaves, 29 June, 1741._

[213] _Deputy-Governor Doucette to the Secretary of State, 5 November, 1717._

[214] _Governor Armstrong to the Secretary of State, 30 April, 1727._

[215] _Governor Philipps to Secretary Craggs, 26 September, 1720._

[216] _Ibid., 26 May, 1720._

[217] _Armstrong to the Secretary of State, 22 November, 1736._ The dismissal of French priests and the subst.i.tution of others was again recommended some time after.

[218] The motives for paying priests for instructing the people of a province ceded to England are given in a report of the French Marine Council. The Acadians "ne pourront jamais conserver un veritable attachement a la religion et _a leur legitime souverain_ sans le secours d'un missionnaire" (_Deliberations du Conseil de Marine, 23 Mai, 1719_, in _Le Canada-Francais_). The Intendant Begon highly commends the efforts of the missionaries to keep the Acadians in the French interest (_Begon au Ministre, 25 Septembre, 1715_), and Vaudreuil praises their zeal in the same cause (_Vaudreuil au Ministre, 31 Octobre, 1717_).

[219] _Deliberations du Conseil de Marine, 3 Mai, 1718._

[220] _Record of Council at Annapolis, 11 and 24 October, 1726._