124 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



The difficulty experienced in collecting these rents, which were re- 

 garded by the Government as a mark of submission, doubtless had its 

 influence when the question of the expulsion of the Acadians was de- 

 bated. 



The settlement of the country was threatened by war with France in 

 1744, and upon the fall of Louisburg in 1745, the English Government 

 determined that the security of their colonies and the reduction of the 

 French power in Canada, could be effected only by having a stronghold 

 near the mouth of the St. Lawrence. 



On the conclusion of the war with France in 1748, the provincial 

 authorities took up the question of colonization. Eeports were sub- 

 mitted by Goreham and by Morris (the latter afterwards Chief Surveyor 

 of Crown Lands) favouring settlements by New Englanders, and point- 

 ing out suitable localities. The home authorities, however, decided to 

 make a headquarters settlement at Halifax, to send out English colonists, 

 and to make London, not Boston, the basis of the province. This was 

 done the following year. 



The French Acadians refusing to take the oath of allegiance were 

 expelled in 1755. War with France in 1754, followed in 1756 by the 

 Seven Years War retarded the growth of the colony, and hindered the 

 scheme of settling the Acadian lands in 1756. 



The lands of the Acadians were the only cultivated districts after 

 the occupation of Nova Scotia by civilization since 1605. The extent of 

 the settlement was officially stated by the Government of Kova Scotia to 

 amount to 100,000 acres of intervale and dyked land, and to an equal 

 amount of cleared upland. Presumably, from the information available, 

 the total amount of cleared land did not exceed 125,000 acres, as the 

 Acadians do not appear to have been numerous enough to have been 

 forced to the severe labour of clearing the forests. 



Many of the French after the lapse of years returned and received 

 grants at Clare, Pubnico and other parts of the province. 



It will be seen that the French occupation of Nova Scotia did not 

 leave any question of mineral titles. 



The settlement of Halifax was followed in 1753 by the planting of a 

 German colony at Lunenburg. 



In October, 1758, a proclamation was made, throwing open the aban- 

 doned lands of the Acadians. Numerous enquiries were addressed to 

 the provincial agents in New England towns, which led to a second pro- 

 clamation giving fuller details of the conditions of the settlement. As 

 before, in 1748, the English Government did not approve of this scheme 

 of colonization, as it forestalled arrangements contemplated for sending 

 out settlers from England. The English, however, engaged in a tierce 



