Down North and Up Along 
who claim that her forbearance with the Aca- 
dians was not wholly philanthropic. Her 
American child was none too submissive ; 
and she may well have feared that if the dis- 
tractions of war were removed, the too-fast- 
growing infant might undertake to break away 
from its mother's apron-strings. 
So it is a New England man whom we see 
coming to execute sentence upon the Aca- 
dians. The weighers of events tell us that mat- 
ters grew worse and worse, that the Acadians 
became more and more insolent and insubor- 
dinate under the guidance of their priests and 
actuated by belief in the final triumph of the 
French. 
Finally the Acadians were sternly com- 
manded to take the oath of allegiance without 
alteration, as other British subjects took it, and 
they refused. They were given time to con- 
sider, but the power to consider did not lie 
with them. Le Loutre considered for them, 
and threatened to turn his Indians upon them 
if they complied. They knew this would be 
no vain threat, for his cruel hand had already 
been felt in different parts of the country. 
Moreover, to comply was to lose their souls. 
