[RAYMOND] NOVA SCOTIA UNDER ENGLISH RULE 65 
reduction of Port Royal by Nicholson in 1710. The general conclu- 
sion embodied in the report was “that if not utter enemies, they cannot 
be accounted other than unprofitable inhabitants” and, ‘upon the 
whole it is most humbly submitted whether the said French inhabitants 
may not be transported out of the province of Nova Scotia, and be 
replaced by good Protestant subjects.” ! Though opportunity did not 
come for the execution of this policy until ten years later, there can 
be little doubt that it remained latent in the minds of the authorities 
of Nova Scotia. The idea certainly did not originate with Governor 
Lawrence, as has been commonly supposed. 
The state of affairs in Nova Scotia during the next few years was 
extremely critical, although the capture of Louisbourg by Warren 
and Pepperrell in 1745 afforded a measure of relief. Mascarene claimed 
that if the French plans had proved successful while they held Louis- 
bourg, they would have gained possession of Acadia, thereby adding 
to their strength several thousands of men fit to bear arms, not to men- 
tion their Indian allies, and that in less than a year they might have 
overrun New England. Possibly he exaggerated the danger; but his 
statement serves to explain the keen interest which the people of New 
England began to take in the affairs of Nova Scotia. Had Louisbourg 
not been restored to France by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the 
project of the expulsion of the Acadians might never again have been 
heard of. 
The difficulties which the governors of Nova Scotia had to face were 
chiefly due to the neglect, or apathy, of the British ministers, who 
seemed careless as to whether they kept possession of Acadia or lost it. 
At the outset the Acadian problem was of minor importance. It might 
easily have been solved if the English government had followed the 
advice of Governor Vetch, which was that the Acadians who would 
not take the oath of allegiance should be removed to Martinique, or 
some other French colony, and their places supplied with settlers from 
England or Ireland. The Acadians were at that time a mere handful 
of people, and if removed, as suggested by Vetch, would have been 
placed in not uncongenial surroundings. But years had elapsed; 
no English colonists had appeared, nor was there the smallest sign that 
the Home Government would trouble itself to attract any. Meanwhile 

! See Canadian Archives for 1894, p.110. In connection with the repeated 
references to “Protestant subjects,” it is to be noted that after the English Revo- 
lution, religion and polities were very closely interwoven in regard to the relations 
existing between England and France. Protestantism seemed to be as closely 
identified with the administration of British affairs in America as Roman Catholicism 
was with the national policy of France. 
Sec. II., 1910. 5. 
