Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-05-13

the Lords Of Trade: As they possess
/ the best and largest tracts of land in
the Province, 1t cannot be settled Thy
+, the English) while they remain.
u cannot help thinking that it would
be much better they were away" To
which the Lords replied: AS Mr..
Shirley Governor of Massachusetts,
has limited, in letter to the Earl Of
Halifax, that there is probability of
getting considerable numbers of New
England people to settle, consult him
] about it but the idea of an
I English settlement seems to lis absurd,
but upon superstition that the French
/ are destroyed and the French driven
out. When the last act Of the horri-
Bile tragedy was drawing to a close
Lawrence confessed that ''as soon as
the French were gone he would do
his best to encourage people to come
from the continent to settle their lands,
and thus strike off the great expense
of victualling the troops. This" he
continued, 'is one of the happy effects
| proposed to myself from driving the
French off the Isthmus.
| Here is clear proof that at least a
year before the repatriation the auth
/ critics In London, Halifax, and Boston
were celebrating in cold blood how
( they could accomplish the expulsion
of the Acadians, with the express pur-
/ pose of giving their lands to Eng
1 lish settlers and of increasing the
i Golfers of the royal exchequer.
| A favorable opportunity to ''dislodge
I the French from their entertainments"
| was all that was wanted in order to
! put into execution this Ubiquitous pur-
pose, and such occurred in the mem
orable year 1855. Before the first Of
July Beau-Sejour, Bale Verter and st.
John, a line of forts aSsertive Of
French dominion over the territory be-
tween the st. Croix and st. Lawrence
rivers, had fallen into the hands Of the
! New England general, Colonel None
{ ton. The expedition was authorized
/ by New England, and paid for with
English gold. The men were muster
ed in Massachusetts, and were com
manded by their own officers. The
| victorious arms of the Puritans had
now added vast country to British
possessions. Then the English were
masters of the sea, were undisputed
/ lords of the country, and could exer-
else clemency without apprehension"
writes Bancroft. The Acadians were
completely defenceless, having given
up their guns and boats, and COVER
ed before their masters, excepting for
! bearance"
| Yet on pretense of fear-and oh.
when tyrants can do what they
please they fear everything; ON pre-
tence of insecurity arising from i'm
aginary enemies and dangers, the
High Mighty Council of Halifax met,
and, after mature elaboration, unan-
lmously agreed that, as the Chief
/ Justice had pronounced the Neutrals
confirmed rebels, they had now col
lectively and without exception" be-
come ''Popish recusants." Their pres
! ence in the land could be tolerated
no longer, for, after the departure of
the fleet and troops, the province
! would not be in a condition to drive
them out" and such a juncture as
the present might never occur"
Though the verdict had been pro-
nounced that they must be uprooted
/ from the soil on which their children
were born, and in which six genera
lions of their ancestors were buried,
yet they could not be permitted to go
where inclination prompted; for, like
| the shepherds of Mantua, the mem
DRY of their fruitful fields and still
more fruitful flocks" may exasperate
! the feelings of the poverty stricken
! exiles, and impel them to return in
wrath to ayenge their wrongs upon
/ the intruders. State necessity demand
ed (and the plague take such State
policy that ''all should be taken by
/ force and scattered among the English
/ provinces, from New Hampshire to
! Georgia.
II condign punishment had been In
fiicted on the few irresponsible men
who were taken in arms against the
! English, history could not raise the
voice of complaint, but no civilized
/ government can defend and no prin-
ciple of justice sanctions, the verdict
of the Halifax Council which involved
the robbery and determination of
whole people of misconduct of a few
without trial by any Of the forms of
! judicature, or without any specific az
cusation of treason. Nay, more; dur
ing the whole course of English rule
in Acadia not single individual was
ever brought to trial for reasonable
acts or words, and this, together with
the arguments we have adduced in ia.
vor of the character and fidelity OF
the Acadians, lends us to the conclu-
sion that their ruin was based upon
the false and malicious accusations OF
! official hypocrites, who, with eyes
ever turned obsequiously to the
Throne, would trample upon all the
laws Of justice and humanity for "one
smile OF favor"
Even the barbarous manner In which
the sentence was executed would pre-
clude belief in the probability of hon
est reasons to justify it When the
condemnation was pronounced not
shadow of suspicion crossed the minds
of the victims, and not a whisper gave
any intelligence OF the determination
OF the captors. Profound secrecy was
the order. The homes of the Acadian
farmers were, as usual, the abodes of
mirth, gayety, and happiness. aud
their harvest fields still rang with the
merry sounds of cheerful labor. The
hunters waited till the last sheaf was
stored into bursting granaries," ana
then a mysterious order was sent to
the various settlements commandinc
the male population of each to assem-
Bile at a certain hour on the same day.
The men and boys who dwelt by the