at
led to a renewal of the war a little later.

The Sieur de Vergor and the crew of the St. Francis were sent to
Louisbourg, and the brigantine retained at Halifax as a prize on the
ground that she was engaged in furnishing warlike munitions to the
Indian enemy and interfering with British rights on the River St.
John.

Cornwallis evidently felt the difficulties of his position very
keenly. Halifax was yet in its infancy and in a comparatively
defenceless state; Louisbourg and Quebec were supporting the French on
the St. John and he had neither the men nor the money to oppose their
proceedings. It seems, too, that he had been called to account for the
large expenditure he had made in Nova Scotia. In his letters to the
Lords of Trade he expresses himself as distracted between his desire
to lessen expenses and his fears of losing the province. He was
doubtful if, with the forces at his disposal, he could prevent the
French from fortifying St. John and Beausejour, and he observes, with
some irritation, that it has been said, "What has he to contend with?
Three or four hundred Indians: it is a time of peace and no other
enemy to fear." So far from this being an adequate representation of
the situation, he claimed the facts were that the French had taken
possession of all Nova Scotia north of the Bay of Fundy, and had
obliged many of the Acadians of the peninsula to remove thither and
swear allegiance to the king of France; that the governor of Canada,
through his emissary le Loutre, had offered a premium for every
prisoner, head, or scalp of an Englishman; that the French had sent a
ship of thirty-six guns and 300 men to the Bay of Fundy and had not
only incited the Indians to hostilities but had behaved as if there
were open war.

The French at Quebec, in view of the difficulty of keeping in touch
with their posts on the north side of the Bay of Fundy, endeavored to
improve the route of communication via the River St. John. During the
previous war they had made a road from Riviere du Loup to Lake
Temisquata, but the woods were growing up again and deep holes began
to render it impracticable. Bigot, the intendant, therefore spent
600 or 700 livres in improving it, and in consequence couriers were
able to come to Quebec in ten or twelve days from Shediac, and in
eight from the River St. John. For the convenience of travelers
three magazines of supplies were established, one at Riviere du Loup,
one at Temisquata and one