204 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
at the time vacant or occupied by pagans, but the country in question 
being then occupied by the French, temporarily dispossessed by vio- 
lence, the charter was void and in consequence the name of Nova 
Scotia, which could become real only by this right, never had any ex- 
istence, it was a fanciful name, that is to say one which was borne by 
nothing ; (par conséquent, le nom de nouvelle Ecosse, qui ne pouvoit 
devenir réel que par cette concession, n’a eu alors aucune existence ; 
cétoit un nom en Pair, c’est-à-dire, qui ne portoit sur rien). To 
the allegation that the King of France in 1651 confirmed to LaTour 
rights granted him by Alexander, thus giving recognition to Nova 
Scotia, they point out correctly that the English commissioners are here 
in error! As to the use of “Acadia commonly called Nova Scotia” in 
Cromwell’s order of 1656, they s1y that it was an act of little 
authority which could rot be contradicted and that the English 
occupation was then unjust and hence could not give a legitimate 
existence to the name. The use of the name by the English ‘was 
only an artifice to substitute an English for a French name, so 
as to seem to give an English right to the country. As to the 
French ambassador’s letter of 1665 in which he speaks of the 
coasts of Acadia or Nova Scotia, they point out correctly that the word 
Nova Scotia does not occur in that document. All documents go to 
show that France possessed this country under other designations, and 
never used the name Nova Scotia until the Treaty of Utrecht. As to 
the evidence as to the existence of a Nova Scotia taken from the Treaty 
of Utrecht, “The English commissioners confound, throughout their 
memoir, the ideal Nova Scotia of 1621 with the Nova Scotia of the 
Treaty of Utrecht, and both of them with Acadie without distinction 
of ancient limits, in order to extend thereby their pretensions to every- 
thing, in whatsoever period, which can be desiguated by the name of 
Nova Scotia or by that of Acadia” (Les Commissaires Anglois con- 
fondent, dans tout le cours de leur Mémoire, la nouvelle Ecosse idealé 
de 1621, avec la nouvelle Ecosse du Traité d’Utrecht, & l’une et l’autre 
avec l’Acadie, sans distinctions de limites anciennes, afin d’étendre par- 
là leurs prétentions à tout ce qui a pu, en quelque temps que ce soit, 
être désigné par le nom de nouvelle Ecosse, ou par celui d’Acadie). 
Since Nova Scotia had its existence only by the Treaty of Utrecht it 
follows that there has been ceded to England the Nova Scotia, not 
according to the extent that it might previously have had in idea and 
imagination (non suivant l’étendue qu’elle pouvoit avoir auparavant 
en idée & en imagination) but in the extent the treaty gave. There 
was ceded to England the Nova Scotia of the Treaty of Utrecht, not 
1 See earlier, page 201. 

