[RAYMOND] NOVA SCOTIA UNDER ENGLISH RULE 73 
means encouraging. From the head of the Bay of Fundy to Annapolis 
Royal, a stretch of one hundred and fifty miles, not an English settler 
was to be found; nor was there one on the eastern shores of New 
Brunswick or upon the valley of the Saint John. The French and 
Indians were the only inhabitants, for no man of English nationality 
had ventured, or was permitted, to settle amongst them. Cornwallis 
had proposed to settle a body of “Foreign Protestants” at Minas, but 
his successor, Hopson, asked that no more settlers of that description 
should be sent, for if those already arrived were settled among the 
French the latter would leave. This, Hopson said, they had no inten- 
tion of doing, nor did he wish them to go. 
Under the administration of Cornwallis the hold of the English 
upon the Nova Scotian peninsula was strengthened very considerably. 
The building of the town of Halifax at Chebucto, the presence of several 
regiments of British troops and the establishment of fortified posts at 
Grand Pré, Piziquid and Chignecto, gave to the few English settlers a 
sense of security they had not before enjoyed. Colonel Charles Law- 
rence commanded an expedition which established a post at Chignecto 
and in an encounter there with Chevalier la Corne displayed much 
personal bravery. Lawrence was considered by Cornwallis to be a 
man of good sense and ability and of honour and veracity. 
British Ministry at length begins to further the settlement of Nova Scotia. 
The importance of planting settlements in different parts of Nova 
Scotia is referred to in the royal instructions issued to Governor 
Cornwallis when he came out from England in 1749, so that from 
this period onward the colonization of Nova Scotia may be regarded 
as forming a part of the policy of the Lords of Trade. 
Colonel Hopson succeeded Cornwallis in 1752. During his short 
tenure of office he tried to get on amicably with the Acadians, express- 
ing to the Lords of Trade his fears that ill consequences would follow 
any attempt to compel them to take an unqualified oath of allegiance. 
The Lords of Trade decided to leave the matter in his hands, adding, 
in their reply, the following words, which are important in the light 
of after events:—“ We must, however, recommend it to you to enforce 
this measure when the circumstances of the Province are such that it 
may be done with safety, leaving it to you to determine the time and 
manner of doing it, who being on the spot are a much better judge of 
it than we can be.” 
Colonel Lawrence succeeded Hopson as Governor in 1753. He 
was a man of an entirely different type and his policy quite the reverse 
of that of his predecessor. Whatever may be said as to the humanity 
or inhumanity of his dealings with the Acadians, there can be no question 
