436 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



The instances quoted suffice to show that there was not a little 

 disputation over the question of possession of lands, not only between 

 the Loyalists and Acadians but also between the Loyalists and the 

 older English settlers. The situation was complicated by the 

 fact that the lands in dispute were in some instances included in 

 the grant of the township of Sunbury made in 1765 to Thomas Fal- 

 coner and his associates. These lands, not having been declared 

 forfeit by the court of escheats, the provincial authorities were not in 

 a position to give a title to any applicant. As an example of this — 

 on July 1, 1788, Jean Martin, Simon Martin and Joseph Martin, 

 Acadians of the Lower French Village, submitted a memorial to the 

 Governor in Council asking to be confirmed in possession of the lands 

 they occupied and specifying their disputes with John Easty and Peter 

 Parlée as to their boundaries. The answer they received was, "The 

 land is not escheated." 



While the documentary evidence extant shows that there was a 

 good deal of bickering over the question of the rightful ownership 

 of the lands, there is nothing to warrant the statement of the Abbé 

 Casgrain that the settlement above Saint Anne became un ' enfer 

 inhabitable to the little colony of Acadians who had settled there. 

 That the place was not "uninhabitable" is indicated by the fact 

 that, in spite of the inducements held out to them to remove, members 

 of the Acadian families Gaudin, Mazerolle, Roy, Bourgoin, Martin 

 and Cyr remained on their old locations, where there are living to day 

 more than four hundred of their descendants. 



However the majority of the Acadians did not like their neigh- 

 bours and of their own initiative set on foot a movement to establish 

 themselves elsewhere. To say that they fled to Madawaska or to 

 the eastern parts of the province is untrue. Louis and Michel Mer- 

 cure, the Martins, Joseph Daigle, Pierre Duperré and others who had 

 been employed as couriers between Fort Howe and Quebec had in 

 the course of their journeyings become familiar with the fertile inter- 

 vales of the Madawaska region. The first step in the way of settle- 

 ment there is seen in a letter of Haldimand to Parr which was written, 

 be it remembered, before the disbanded troops had made any attempt 

 at settlement above St. Anne. 



Quebec, 27 Nov. 1783. 

 Sir, — Mercure the Acadian, who came lately into this province as a guide 

 to Mr. Bliss, having informed me that many of his countrymen wished to emi- 

 grate into this province for the sake of enjoying their religion with more liberty 

 and less difficulty in procuring priests, I have thought proper to communicate 

 the idea to your Excellency that in case you should approve of the measure we 

 should mutually assist in taking steps to carry it into execution. My plan 

 is to grant them finds at the Great Falls on the River St. Johns, which in time 



