a place of refuge
on French soil and reduce them to despair, and he apprehends that the
English, having no reason to care for them, will suffer them to have
no missionaries and will destroy at their leisure their religion. "It
is very easy," he adds, "to hinder the English establishing themselves
on these lands. They will have to proceed through the woods and along
narrow rivers, and as long as the French are masters of the Abenakis
and the Acadians are provided with arms and supplies from France the
English will not expose themselves to their attacks."

Both sides began to consider the advisability of taking forcible
possession of the disputed territory, but the French were the first to
take action. In June, 1749, Mascarene reported two French officers
with twenty or thirty men from Canada and a number of Indians had come
to erect a fort and make a settlement at the mouth of the river, and
that two vessels with stores and materials were coming to them from
Quebec. On receipt of this information, Cornwallis, who had just
arrived at Halifax, sent Captain Rous in the sloop "Albany" to St.
John to ascertain what works were in course of erection by the French,
and to demand the authority for their action. He also issued a
proclamation in French prohibiting the Acadians from making a
settlement on the St. John.

When the "Albany" arrived no one was found at the old fort and for
some time no inhabitants, either French or Indian, were seen. At last
a French schooner entered the harbor, laden with provisions. Captain
Rous took her, but offered to release her provided the master would go
up the river and bring down the French officers. The master
accordingly went up the river in a canoe, and the next day a French
officer with thirty men and 150 Indians came down and took position,
with their colors flying, at a point on the shore within musket shot
of the "Albany." The commander of the French was Pierre Boishebert. He
had fixed his headquarters ten miles up the river at the place now
known as Woodman's Point, just above the mouth of the Nerepis, where
in Governor Villebon's time there had been an Indian fortress.

Captain Rous ordered the French to strike their colors; their
commander demurred, and asked to be allowed to march back with his
colors flying, promising to return the next day without them. Rous
ordered the colors to be struck immediately, which being done, the
officers were invited on board the "Albany." They sho