450 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



the Memoriel of Wee whos names is heer Unto signed Humbly pray that 

 your Excelency Will Be pleasid to Give to us Land joyning to Carrecut Village 

 to Begin at the Loerend of Ollever Lashear Mash and so to run Up a Long Said 

 Marsh for Eight famelys, as Wee Would Wish to forme a french Village as We 

 are Assurid of a Chaplin as Soon as their is a few Moar famelys Settelid their 

 and Wee as in Duty Bound shall Ever pray. 



(Signatures) Joseph tareyo, John Batist tareyo, peter tareyo, Victoar 

 tareyo, francis tareyo, Domeneck penet, peter penet Juner, francis Corme. 1 



This memorial is dated at Sugar Island, June 30, 1786. The 

 memorialists were assured by the Governor in Council that they 

 might "go and sit down and report their situation." Accordingly 

 they went and "sat down" beside a colony of thirty-four French 

 families on the south side of Caraquet Bay where, on the 25th of April, 

 1787, they received from government a grant of 2,757 acres. 



Those of the Acadians who remained at their old locations above 

 Fredericton, in the course of time became so largely identified with the 

 surrounding English speaking people as to lose their national charac- 

 teristics. To-day they do not understand the language of their 

 ancestors and have intermarried to some extent with the English. 

 For some years they had neither resident missionary nor schools. 

 The lack of these refining and christianizing agencies proved detri- 

 mental to their manners and their morals, but lately there has been a 

 marked advance in their condition. 



Both the religious and national instincts of the Acadians are 

 strong. When the proposal to removal from Sainte Anne was first 

 mooted by Louis Mercure, in his interview with General Haldimand 

 in 1783, he stated that many of his countrymen wished to emigrate 

 into the province of Quebec for the sake of enjoying their religion 

 with more liberty and less difficulty in procuring priests. Doubtless 

 the coming of a multitude of English speaking people among them, 

 more especially the disbanded troops, was unwelcome. They wished 

 to live undisturbed and to retain the customs, language and religion 

 of their ancestors. A combination of circumstances led to their 

 resolve to establish themselves elsewhere. They were not driven forth 

 by the provincial authorities and they might have remained on their 

 locations had they wished to do so. It is not unlikely, in that event, 

 that they would, in the course of time, have become so intermingled 

 with the English that they would ultimately have become one people. 

 This would have involved the loss of their mother tongue and some 

 of their national characteristics. Their priests feared that it might 

 also have interfered with their religious faith. Whether it would have 



1 This memorial seems to have been written by some illiterate English Settler, 

 probably one of the disbanded soldiers. The Acadians had long been deprived of 

 every educational advantage; at this time few could read or write. 



