The Acadians 
So they refused, trusting, no doubt, to Eng- 
land's past clemency to overlook their conduct 
once more. 
But this was not to be. Hard pressed by 
the French in different directions and doubt- 
less fearful of losing Acadia, — and all that 
that implied, — England determined finally to 
rid herself very effectually of the troublesome 
peasants. 
It was John Winslow, a descendant of the 
early governors of Plymouth Colony, who 
sailed from Boston one day with a shipful of 
New England volunteers to undertake the 
reduction of the unruly Acadians. The Aca- 
dians themselves had no suspicion of what was 
pending. They were the victims alike of 
friend and foe, for two thousand of them had 
already been cajoled or driven from their homes 
across the frontier to French lands, and this 
had not been done by the English, but by 
their own countrymen, the French, who wanted 
their services. Thus removed from their Aca- 
dian homes, all domestic ties broken, they were 
far more willing openly to fight the English. 
Winslow helped to reduce the French fort 
at the head of the Cumberland Basin, which 
89 
