56 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
board and anon a leading cause of strife on the bloody battlefield. 
The issue was at length decided in favour of the English by the stern 
arbitrament of the sword. The peninsula of Nova Scotia having been 
conceded to the English, it became the aim of the French to prevent 
them from obtaining any foothold north of the Bay of Fundy. The 
Governor of Quebec, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, wrote to the English 
governor at Annapolis Royal in 1718, strongly objecting to any English 
vessels entering the River St. John, which he claimed as one of the 
rivers of Canada and entirely within the French dominion. He en- 
couraged the Acadians to withdraw from the peninsula, promising 
them lands on the River St. John on application to the missionary 
Loyard, who was empowered to grant them. As a consequence some 
of the Acadians removed thither. 
Not until the capture of Quebec in 1759 was there any really well 
considered effort to introduce English-speaking inhabitants in con- 
siderable numbers, although the province had for nearly half a century 
been regarded as a British possession. It will be necessary, before 
proceeding to speak of the efforts of Alexander McNutt and his 
contemporaries to further the colonization of Nova Scotia in the days 
of Governor Lawrence, to consider the course of events under 
Lawrence’s predecessors. 
The restoration of all Acadia to France was narrowly averted at 
the time of the peace negotiations at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. How- 
ever, the Nova Scotia peninsula remained in possession of Great Britain. 
To the chagrin of the people of New England, Cape Breton was restored 
to France, and the re-establishment of the old stronghold of Louis- 
bourg proved a menace to the security of the adjoining British colonies. 
The territory to the north of the Bay of Fundy was claimed by each of 
the rival nations and was a bone of contention for the next ten years. 
Whether the restoration of Louisbourg to France by the treaty of 
Aix-la-Chapelle was an act of prudence or of folly on the part of the rulers 
of Great Britain is a matter that we need not here discuss. The re- 
establishment of French power in the ancient stronghold, however, 
led the Lords of Trade and Plantations to establish an important British 
post at Chebucto to serve as a counterpoise. This post was named 
Halifax, as a compliment to the Hon. George Dunk Montague, Earl of 
Halifax, the president of the Lords of Trade. 
Up to this period no real progress had been made by the English 
in the colonization of Nova Scotia. The governor had hitherto resided 
at Annapolis Royal, with a garrison of two or three hundred soldiers 
and a handful of dependants. The French population of the peninsula 
was much greater and comprised several thousands of Acadian peas- 
ants, scattered along the valley of the Annapolis river, the shores of 
