The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-09-14

ieoso sno coAnmano OF the army 20 General
Abercrombie until Lord Loudoun should arrive.
The receipt of these dispatches obliged him to
remain IN New York until September on pri-
vate business, as well as to arrange the fnan-
ciai affairs of the army. In the mean time, to-
wards the close of July, portion of the little
feet Of coasting vessels which had sailed from
the South, reached Massachusetts,, and put into
harbor on Cape Cod, and Lieut. Governor
Phips wrote to Lawrence on July 23d, before the
receipt Of his letter of July lst stating that, a
few days before, he had quite unexpectedly re-
ceived information that seven boats, containing
nearly hundred French Neutrals, had coast
ed along the shore from Georgia or South Car
DINA, and had reached harbor in the south.
ern part of the Province; that he had ordered
their persons and boats TO be seized, and three
or four of their number to be sent to Boston for
examination. AS soon as Lawrence's letter
reached Boston, Phips wrote again, enclosing a
copy of his former letter, and stating that he
had caused the Nentrals whom he had seized
to be detained in Massachusetts, and " what
appeared pretty extraordinary, was, that the
people had been furnished with O passport
from the Governors of Georgia, South CARROLL
nasand New York; He asked that Lawrence
sho0k provide Immediately for their rnainse-
nance, for Massachusetts, was sufficiently bur
dened Lawrence does not appear to have
troubled himself to make any such provision
as Phips requested, and, as usual, a committee
was appointed " to consider what ought to be
done with these people," and, in accordance
with its report, they were ordered to be sent to
join the others among the towns They had
been brought to Boston by the sheriff of Barn
stable county, soon after their seizure, and
were confined in the Suffolk Jail, to await their
distribution. The failure of this expedition
appears to have discouraged the others, and no
similar attempt to return to Acadie was ever
again made.
Henceforward, for long time, little change
took place in the condition of the Neutrals /;
but, though other things more Immediately en-
gagged the public mind, Acadie and the Acadi-
ans never passed wholly out of sight Many
gentlemen of distinction, in political and social
life, became deeply interested in their fortunes;
among them, Thomas Hutchinson, then o
member of the Council. Still, the strong preiu-
dices which they encountered on their arrival
never wore away. The towns found in them
never-failing causes Of complaint towns on
the seashore constantly petitioning that those
among them might be sent to the country
towns, for fear that they might escape; and the
country towns complaining that they had re-
ceived more than their proportion, and praying
for new distribution.
Shirley sailed for England in the fall of 1856
and Phips became acting Governor again
Mr.. Phips died on April 4sh, 1857, and the
Council administered affairs until summer ;
when Thomas Pownall, formerly Lieutenant
Governor of New Jersey, came, commissioned
by the King as Shirley's successor Governor
Pownall landed at Halifax on July oh, and al
most his first act, after proceeding to Boston,
was to take measures for supplying Admiral
Holburn's feet In which he had come to Amer
lea, with sailors The campaign of this year
had been signaliEed by several French success
es, and, Immediately after the arrival of the
news of the loss of Fort William Henry, which
surrendered to Montcalm On August 9th,
was issued, commanding the
sheriffs to keep a strict watch upon the Neu-
trail French, for many of them were suspected
of being in correspondence with the enemy.
The G6vernor was authorized to impress them.
st his discretion, for service On board Holburn's
and a committee reported to the
Council in favor of sending to Great Britain all
who should not be thus disposed Of but this
latter project appears to have soon fallen to the
ground The Neutrals in Massachusetts, at
this time could not have numbered much less
than fifteen hundred for, in addition to the
original thousand, and to those who had been
detained on their expedition from the Southern
Colonies, many others had found their way into
the Provnce-some seeking for relatives or
friends, others coming subsequently from Nova
Scotia Many French prisoners Of war must
also have been in Massachusetts,; for, two
months previously, there had been discussion
10 the General Court about providing for those
of them who were brought in by private ships
of war; The alarm which the presence of the
Neutrals excited sometimes appears very ride
ulous. The good people of Charlestown, for
sent in long, carefully written petit
ton, representing that there was powder
house in their town, with no guard about it,
and that they were in constant danger OF being
blown up; and praying, to avert any such dis
aster, that some thirty or forty Neutrais might
be removed from among them into the country.
The town officers of Marblehead, the year be-
fore, had made similar request, stating that
thirty seven Neutrals were encamped IN tents
on Marblehead Neck, and, as war then existed,
there was no knowing what damage they
might do to the town. But we suspect that
the petitioners in these cases, as in many 9TH
ers, not being able to get rid of their Neutrals
in any other way, were driven to these expedi-
ents TO do so.
The campaign of 1883, though marked by
the defeat of General Abercrombie before tt
conderogs, was on the whole not disastrous
to the British, who captured Frontenac, Du
Quesne, and Louisburg. The campaign of
1859, after the capture of Ticonderogs, Crown
Point, and Niagara, resulted in the taking of
Quebec and Montreal. During the summer,
while the army lay before Quebec, General
Wolfe wrote to Governor Pownall, informing
him that correspondence was carried on be-
tween the Neutrals in Massachusetts and the
French, and that several of them had escaped
to Canada On account of this information,
the towns were ordered to send in lists of the
Neutrals among them, and to mention particu-
larly all who were suspected of correspondence
with the enemy, and also all who had left their
towns under any pretext; but this order was
never fully obeyed.
After Canada was subdued, the Neutrals
were allowed greater liberty; the strict watch
which had been kept upon them was relaxed,
and they were permitted, under certain restric-
tions, to travel about and to change their pla-
ces of residence from one town 20 another;
the towns to which they were originally as
signed being nevertheless obliged to be respon-
sible for the support of any of those, thus re-
moving, who should fail to support themselves.
A committee was also appointed, to make new
and equitable divisions OF them, one member
being assigned to each county, to oversee the
distribution there Measures were taken to
make them legal inhabitants of the Province
q privilege which they had never received be-
fore-and on August 5th, 1850, an act passed
that they be deemed and sdjudged legal In
habitants of the towns and districts to which
they may have been assigned" During the
winter of 1857, an effort had been made to OBJ
&c W
the Neutrals occasioned but all the satisfac-
ton which wes obtained from Governor Law
renee was the expression Of his opinion, that,
on application to the Government in England,
full recompense would be given, and promise
that be would do everything In hle power TO