t is not necessary for us to criticize too harshly the policy of the
French governor and his subordinates, but we need not be surprised
that in the end it provoked resentment on the part of the governors of
Nova Scotia and Massachusetts and was one of the causes of the Acadian
expulsion. That it was in a measure successful is proved by the reply
of Lawrence a few years later to the suggestion of the Lords of Trade,
who had been urging upon him the importance of making settlements:
"What can I do to encourage people to settle on frontier lands, where
they run the risk of having their throats cut by inveterate enemies,
who easily effect their escape from their knowledge of every creek and
corner?"

Boishebert, prevented from immediately establishing a fortified post,
seems to have moved freely up and down the river. At one time he
writes from "Menacouche" at the mouth of the river, at another
from "Ecoubac"--the Indian village of Aukpaque--at another he is at
"Medoctec," the upper Indian village. He organized the few Acadians
on the river into a militia corps, the officers of which were
commissioned by Count de la Galissonniere.

Meanwhile the Abbe Le Loutre was employing his energies to get the
Acadians to leave their lands in the Nova Scotian peninsula and repair
to the St. John river and other places north of the isthmus. To such a
proceeding Cornwallis objected and Le Loutre then wrote to the French
authorities an earnest letter in behalf of the Acadians, in which he
says, "Justice pleads for them and as France is the resource of the
unfortunate, I hope, Monseigneur, that you will try to take under your
protection this forsaken people and obtain for them through his
majesty liberty to depart from Acadia and the means to settle upon
French soil and to transport their effects to the River St. John or
some other territory that the authorities of Canada may take
possession of."

The French still cherished the project of establishing a fortified
post at the mouth of the St. John and, as they had opportunity, sent
thither munitions of war and garrison supplies. In the summer of the
year 1750, the British warship "Hound," Capt. Dove, was ordered to
proceed to St. John in quest of a brigantine laden with provisions
and stores from Quebec, and said to have on board 100 French
soldiers. Before the arrival of the "Hound," however, Capt. Cobb in
the provincial sloop "York" got to St. John, where he found the
brigantine anchor