George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 4, 15th edition.

[44] had not been clearly recognised by the few inhabit-

chap. II.} 1749.

ants, and had always been denied by the French government. It began to be insinuated,¹ that the ceded Acadia was but a part of the peninsula lying upon the sea between Cape Fourches and Cape Canso, and that therefore the descendants of the French still owed allegiance to France. The Abbe La Loutre, missionary and curate of Messagouche, now Fort Lawrence, which is within the peninsula, favored the, representation with alacrity; and, sure of influence over his people and his associate priests, he formed the plan, with the aid of La Galissoniere and the court of France, to entice the Acadians from their ancient dwelling-places, and plant them on the frontier as a barrier against the English.²

But even before the peace, Shirley, who always advocated the most extended boundary of Nova Scotia, represented to George the Second, that the inhabitants near the isthmus, being French and Catholic, should be removed into some other of his Majesty's colonies, and that Protestant settlers should occupy their lands.³ From this atrocious proposal, Newcastle, who was cruel only from frivolity, did not withhold his approbation; but Bedford, his more humane successor, restricting his plans of colonization to the undisputed British territory, sought to secure the entire obedience of the French inhabitants by intermixing with them colonists of English descent.⁴