s had been sent him for the winter. He hoped that Father
Germain, then at Quebec, would return without delay to his Indian
mission and act in concert with Boishebert. The marquis summarises his
reasons for wishing to maintain the post on the River St. John as
follows:--

"1. As long as I hold this river and have a detachment of troops
there I retain some hold upon Acadia for the King, and the English
cannot say that they have forced the French to abandon it.

2. I am assured of the fidelity of the Acadians and the Indians,
who otherwise might think themselves abandoned and might yield to
the English.

3. Mon. de Boishebert will rally the Acadians from far and near
and will try to unite them and their families in one body. These
Acadians, so reunited, will be compelled for their own security
actively to resist the enemy if he presents himself.

4. Mon. de Boishebert will in like manner be engaged rallying the
savages and forming of them a body equally important, and by
corresponding with M. Manach, the missionary at Miramichi, will be
able, in case of necessity, to unite the savages of that mission
to his own in opposing the advance of the enemy.

5. He will be able constantly to have spies at Beausejour and
Halifax, and to take some prisoners who will inform him of the
situation and strength of the English.

6. He will be able to organize parties of Acadians and savages to
harras the enemy continually and hinder his obtaining firewood for
the garrison at Beausejour (Fort Cumberland).

7. By holding the River St. John I can at all times have news from
Louisbourg."

The Marquis adds that even if France failed to establish her claim to
the territory north of the Bay of Fundy and should be forced to
abandon it he hoped, by the aid of Boishebert and the missionaries, to
withdraw the Acadians and their Indian allies to Canada. The Acadians
north of the isthmus he estimated were about two thousand (perhaps
3,000 would have been nearer the truth) of whom seven hundred were
capable of bearing arms. "It would be vexatious," adds the Marquis,
"if they should pass to the English."

After Boishebert was forced to retire from the mouth of the River St.
John he established himself at a "detroit," or "narrows," up the
river, where he constructed a small battery, two guns of a calibre of
2L., and twelve swivel guns. The following summer he entertained no
fears as to his security.