partly from this source that the hostile designs of the French became
known to the authorities of Halifax, and more especially the proceedings
of "Moses," by which name Pichon always designated Le Loutre, because he
pretended to have led the Acadians from the land of bondage.[249]

[Footnote 249: Pichon, called also Tyrrell from the name of his mother,
was author of _Genuine Letters and Memoirs relating to Cape Breton_,--a
book of some value. His papers are preserved at Halifax, and some of
them are printed in the _Public Documents of Nova Scotia_.]

These exiles, who cannot be called self-exiled, in view of the
outrageous means used to force most of them from their homes, were in a
deplorable condition. They lived in constant dread of Le Loutre, backed
by Vergor and his soldiers. The savage missionary, bad as he was, had in
him an ingredient of honest fanaticism, both national and religious;
though hatred of the English held a large share in it. He would gladly,
if he could, have forced the Acadians into a permanent settlement on the
French side of the line, not out of love for them, but in the interest
of the cause with which he had identified his own ambition. His efforts
had failed. There was not land enough for their subsistence and that of
the older settlers; and the suffering emigrants pined more and more for
their deserted farms. Thither he was resolved that they should not
return. "If you go," he told them, "you will have neither priests nor
sacraments, but will die like miserable wretches."[250] The assertion
was false. Priests and sacraments had never been denied them. It is
true that Daudin, priest of Pisiquid, had lately been sent to Halifax
for using insolent language to the commandant, threatening him with an
insurrection of the inhabitants, and exciting them to sedition; but on
his promise to change conduct, he was sent back to his parishioners.[251]
Vergor sustained Le Loutre, and threatened to put in irons any of the
exiles who talked of going back to the English. Some of them bethought
themselves of an appeal to Duquesne, and drew up a petition asking leave
to return home. Le Loutre told the signers that if they did not efface
their marks from the paper they should have neither sacraments in this
life nor heaven in the next. He nevertheless allowed two of them to go
to Quebec as deputies, writing at the same time to the Governor, that
his mind might be duly prepared. Duquesne replied: "I think that the