26 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
England settlers, but that all that could be done in the present troubled 
state of public affairs was to publish the terms upon which those so 
disposed might settle there and the protection they would receive from 
any enemy that might be disposed to molest them. 
The number of Acadians residing in the territories now comprising 
the maritime provinces of Canada did not at the time of the expulsion 
exceed ten thousand, of whom between six and seven thousand were 
expatriated in 1755, and at least a thousand more at a later period. 
From the districts of Annapolis, Minas, Canard and Pisiquid the depor- 
tation was complete, a few stray fugitives only excepted. At Cobequid 
the inhabitants had timely warning of impending danger and most of 
them effected their escape. They probably sought an asylum at Isle 
Royale and on the Island of St. Jean. A few hundreds were deported 
from Chignecto, including those taken at the surrender of Fort Beau- 
séjour, and the rest driven from their lands. 
In the course of the next few years a large number, who had eluded 
the measures taken for their deportation, were driven from their retreats. 
In October, 1758, a little colony was removed from the district of Cape 
Sable by Major Robert Morris. At the close of the next year more than 
two hundred refugees on the River St. John surrendered to Colonel 
Arbuthnot and were sent to Halifax. About the same time a still larger 
number, from the’ Miramichi district, many of them on the verge of 
starvation, surrendered to Colonel Frye at Fort Cumberland. In 
October, 1761, Captain Roderick McKenzie, of Montgomery’s High- 
landers, surprised and captured 787 people (men, women and children) 
at Nipisiguit on the Bay of Chaleur, of whom 355 were sent to Halifax. 
As late as the year 1764 more than a thousand unfortunate Aca- 
dians were still detained at Halifax in a state of semi-captivity; but 
before the end of the year seven hundred were allowed to sail away to 
the French West Indies, where most of them perished miserably of 
fever. Sad, indeed, is the story of the hapless Acadians. Few of those 
who were deported ever saw again the fertile meadows their hands had 
tilled. Their lands “lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.” 
! See Transactions of the Royal Society for 1910, Section II, p. 84. 
* Winslow wrote to Governor Lawrence from his camp at Grand Pré, September 
29th, 1755:—“T have advice from Capt. Lewis of the 25th instant, that the Inhabit- 
tants of Cobequid have entirely Deserted that Country and they (the troops) began 
to Burn and lay waste on the 23rd and Intended to Finish as this Day.” [Collections 
N. 8. Hist. Soc., Vol. ITI, p. 155.] 
* Dr. Hannay’s statement (Hist. of Acadia, p. 406) that “the great bulk of the 
Acadians finally succeeded in returning to the land of their birth” is clearly a mistake, 
and was so admitted by him in conversation with the writer of this paper on more 
than one occasion. The subject is ably treated by Dr. D. Allison. See Collections 
Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. VII, pp. 19-59. 
