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Daniel N. Paul

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In early 1755 the Acadian Deputies were summoned to Halifax by Governor Lawrence and ordered to swear an oath of allegiance to the British Crown. This they refused to do. contending. as they had with Cornwallis in 1749. that if they did so the French would set the Indians against them and they would be massacred. The English lost no time in responding. Colonel Robert Monckton rounded up the Acadians in Chignecto. while Colonel John Winslow or- dered those at Minas to assemble at Grand Pré. They were loaded into the holds of ships and scattered to the four corners of the world. Families were separated, never t0 see one another again. and untold numbers died in transport.

The Mi'kmaq faithfully stuck by their Acadian allies to the bitter end. Some of the Acadians tried to escape and were aided and protected by the Mi’kmaq t0 the best of their ability. The Mi'kmaq also joined forces with them t0 drive back the British. as was reported by the French Governor:

"The British burned the Village. including the Church at Chipoudy and was responded to thus. Mr. Boishebert, at the head of 125 Indians and Acadians. overtook them at the River Pelkoudiak. attacked and fought them for three hours. and drove them vigorously back t0 their vessels. The English had 42 killed and 45 wounded. Mr. Gorham, a very active English Ofﬁcer, was among the number of the wounded. We Iost l lndian. and had three others wounded.”

Many Acadians went into hiding among the Mi'kmaq and remained with them until the British and French ended their hostilities in 1763. A group of several hundred were hidden by the Mi'kmaq in the area known today as Kejimkujik National Park. The Expulsion order was almost universal. Even individuals who had sworn allegiance to the British Crown and been promised the right to live peacefully in their ancestral homes were included. Professor Jeffery Plank. University ofCincinnati, states:

Everyone involved understood the conﬂict I0 be a race won... During the I750s the politics of Nova Scotia centcred on issues of national identin A! various limes during the decade. the British engaged in combat with several diffèrent peoples who inhabired, or passed through. Nova Scotia: The Micmac, the French... and the Acadians... The British govemors of Nova Scotia generally believed that thcy were surrounded b_v enemies, that the Acadians, the Micnzac and the French would soon ﬁnd a way m cooperate and over- rhrow British rule. One of the principle (sic) aimx of Brin‘xh policy, therefore, was to keep these peoplc separatcd. ro isolate rhe Micmac, the Acadianx. and the Frcnch. 72)

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achieve this goal of segregation, the colonial aurhorities adopted rwo draconian policies. In 1749 the governor began offerng bounties for the scalps of Micmac men. women and children. The aim of this program was t0 eliminate the Micmac population on the peninsula of Nova Scotia, bv dearh or forced emigration. In I755 the British adopted a dtﬂerent but related strategy: it deported the Acadians. and relocated [hem in safer colonies [o Ihe west. Viewed in the abstract. these two programs. Io pay for the deaths of the Micmac and t0 relocate and absorb the Acadians, represented very simple thinking. The colonial authorities who endorsed these programs placed the inhabitants of Nova Scotia into nm categories, Europeans and savages, and treated them accordingly.

In retrospect. I don't believe that the Mi'kmaq and Aca- dians could have ever escaped their fate. The paranoia and racism harboured by the British would never have permitted it. Today, the Acadians have in hand a half-hearted apology from the Crown for the horrors committed against their ancestors. However. the Crown stubbornly refuses to apo- logize for the horrors committed against the Mi'kmaq by Governors Edward Cornwallis and Charles Lawrence. Cornwallis, as the record witnesses, attempted Genocide, yet he is still wider honoured. A blot on this society that no decent human being can ever defend. (1M

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We are upon a great and noble Scheme of sending the neutral French out of this Province. who have always been secret Enemies, and have encouraged our Savages t0 cut out throats. If we effect their Expulsion. it will be one of the greatest Things that ever the English did in America; for by all accounts. that Part ofthe Country they possess is as good Land as any in the “lorld : in case therefore we could get some good English Farmers in their Room. this Province would abound wîth all kinds of Provisions.

— news dispatchﬁ‘om Nom Scotia.

printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette, Sept. 4th. 1755