currently reported and credited
in New England, that they had taught the savages to believe also the
English were the people who had crucified our Saviour. To complicate
matters again, the Chevalier de St. George (of whom there is no
recollection except that he was anonymous, both as a prince, and as a man)
sent his son, the fifth remove in stupidity, of the most stupid line of
monarchs (not even excepting the Georges) that ever wore crowns, to stir
up an insurrection among the most obtuse race of people that ever wore, or
went without, breeches. A war between France and England followed the
descent of the Pretender. A war naturally followed in the Colonies.

[E] In the treaty of Utrecht, no mention was made either of the Indians
or of their lands.

Again the ring of fire and slaughter met and ended in a treaty; the treaty
of Aix la Chapelle, by which Cape Breton was ceded to France, and Nova
Scotia, or Acadia, to England. Up to this time no attempt at colonizing
the fertile valleys of Acadia, by its captors, had been attempted. At
last, under large and favorable grants from the Crown, a colony was
established by the Hon. Edward Cornwallis, at a place now known as
Halifax. No sooner was Halifax settled, than sundry tribes of red men made
predatory visits to the borders of the new colony. Reprisals followed
reprisals, and it is not easy to say on which side lay the largest amount
of savage fury. At the same time, the Acadians remained true to the spirit
and letter of the oath they had taken. "They had relapsed," says the
chronicler, "into a sort of sullen neutrality." This was considered just
cause of offence. The oath which had satisfied Governor Phipps, did not
satisfy George II. A new oath of allegiance was tendered, by which the
Acadians were required to become loyal subjects of the English Crown, to
bear arms against their countrymen, and the Indians to whom the poor
colonists were bound by so many ties of obligation and affection. The
consciences of these simple people revolted at a requisition "so repugnant
to the feelings of human nature." Three hundred of the younger and braver
Acadians took up arms against their oppressors. This overt act was just
what was desired by the wily Puritans. Acadia, with its twenty thousand
inhabitants, was placed under the ban of having violated the oath of
neutrality in the persons of the three hundred. In vain the great body of
the people protested that this act was contrary to t