206 J. G. BOUEINOT 



previous success in beating off the Indians. Duvivier was a descendant of the La Tours ' 

 who had been, in the previous century, seigneurs of Acadie under the French régime, 

 and he confidently expected, on coming into Nova Scotia, he would find the Acadiaus at 

 Chignecto and Mines, where he lingered for some days before going on to Port Royal, 

 quite ready to supply him with men and provisions, but to his dismay the people received 

 him most coldly, and refused his overtures that they should join his expedition. His 

 peremptory and threatening manner, when he found the Acadians unwilling to aid him, 

 only helped to make his visit a thorough failure, and he was forced at last to proceed to 

 Port Eoyal with only half a dozen men or so, whom he had persuaded, or forced at 

 Chignecto to join his force. Duvivier found Mascarene more than his match, and he was 

 obliged to return to Louisbourg where he was received with cold looks and sneers for his 

 mismanagement of the expedition. On his return to France he was censured, not only for 

 breaking the king's orders at the outset, but above all for his tardiness in moving against 

 Annapolis directly after the capture of Canseau when there was a prospect of surprising 

 the garrison. Had he succeeded in taking that place, his disobedience of orders would 

 probably have been soon forgotten, and he would have received praise instead of censure. 

 Nothing wins like success. 



But all these events had their direct influence on the expedition which New England 

 sent in the spring of 1745 against Louisbourg. The prisoners who had been captured at 

 Canseau had remained until the autumn in Louisbourg, and the accounts they brought 

 back of its condition gave Shirley and others reason to believe that if an expedition was, 

 without loss of time, sent against it, there would be a fair chance of success. Not only 

 did they learn that the garrison was small but that it was discontented and a mutiny had 

 actually broken out on account of the soldiers not having received certain additions to 

 their regular pay for work on the fortifications, in accordance with the usage adopted 

 since the occupation of the fortress." The ramparts were stated to be defective in more 

 than one place, gales and other causes had delayed the arrival of the ships which arrived 

 every year with provisions and reinforcements. The ill success of Duvivier in his attack 

 on Annapolis, and the avowed reluctance of the Acadians generally at the time to assist 

 their countrymen in Cape Breton, were facts which gave additional confidence to Shirley, 

 Vaughan and many influential men who had already conceived the idea of striking a blow 

 at the French which would give the English control of the whole coast from Cape Sable 

 to the entrance of the St. Lawrence. 



When Shirley first laid his scheme before the general court of Massachusetts in secret 

 session it was rejected as foolish and chimerical in the extreme ; but no wise disconcerted 

 by this failure the politic governor immediately obtained a petition largely signed by 

 New England merchants complaining of the injuries that they had received from French 

 privateers which found a refuge at Louisbourg. This petition induced the general court 

 to reconsider the subject with the result that the project was carried by one vote. 

 Previously to this, however, Shirley had sent a communication to England asking for 



' M. Duvivivier was son of Francois du Pout Duvivier, a French officier at i'ort Royal, M'ho was married tliere 

 on the 12tli of January, 1705, to Marie, daughter of Jacques Mius, seigneur de Poubomcoup, et .inné St. Estienne 

 de la Tour, who was a daughter of Charles delà Tour. He was at that time capitaine aide-major of Isle Royal. 

 He was consequently grandson of the original La Tour, and had many relatives in Acadie. See a mémoire on 

 Acadie, lli09-1735, believed to have been drawn up by M. Duvivier, in 1731 — Murdoch's "Hist, of N. S.' 'i. 508-510. 



'' The leaders of the mutineers were severely punished on their return to France. See App. IX to thi.s work. 



