[RAYMOND] NOVA SCOTIA UNDER ENGLISH RULE 57 
Minas Basin and the Bay of Chignecto. Although professing neutrality, 
the Acadians naturally sympathized with their mother country in her 
prolonged struggle with England. They repeatedly declined the oath 
of allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain and were known to be un- 
friendly to British rule. Their removal from the province had been 
discussed by the authorities of Nova Scotia and New England on several 
occasions. It was, however, the opinion of William Shirley, the Gover- 
nor of Massachusetts, that their removal at this juncture would be 
attended with very hazardous consequences and that it should be 
avoided if possible. ' 
First Proposals Concerning the Introduction of English Settlers 
into Nova Scotia. 
The scheme for the establishment of a settlement of English people 
at Chebucto originated with the people of Massachusetts, by whom 
Nova Scotia was regarded in the light of a ward. The establishment 
of such a colony, well fortified and garrisoned, it seemed to them, would 
be invaluable for offensive and defensive operations in Acadia, to say 
nothing of the commercial advantages that would naturally follow, 
of which the shrewd New Englanders were not unmindful. 
Shirley believed that the frontiers of New England were never 
safe so long as French power dominated Acadia, and as the French 
were strongly established in Cape Breton he was alive to the necessity 
of planting English settlers in Nova Scotia in order to make it in point 
of fact, and not merely in name, an English colony. In his letter to 
the Secretary of State (the Duke of Bedford), dated February 18, 1749, 
he expresses his preference for New England settlers as being familiar 
with the cultivation of new lands, staunch Protestants and of rooted 
allegiance to the British Crown. He recommends New England troops 
for the garrisons and expresses his conviction that if spirited exertions 
are made the province will in ten years have an English-speaking 
population large enough for self-government. 
Although so little had yet been accomplished, the idea of intro- 
ducing English settlers had frequently been considered on both sides 
of the Atlantic. Shortly before the capture of Port Royal in 1710, 
the royal instructions for raising troops in New England for the expedi- 
tion under Nicholson contained these words: ‘“ You shall assure them 
(the New Englanders), in our name, that such of them as contribute 
to the reduction of Port Royal, and any of the country and places 
adjacent belonging to the enemy, shall have a preference both with 
regard to the soil and trade of the country, when reduced, to any 

‘ Murdoch, History of Nova Scotia, Vol. II, p. 130. 
