on, then
governor of Acadia, permitted the emigrants to sell their lands and
houses.

The missionary Felix Pain had reported, as we have seen, that they were,
in general, disposed to remain where they were; on which Costebelle, who
now commanded at Louisbourg, sent two officers, La Ronde Denys and
Pensens, with instructions to set the priests at work to persuade their
flocks to move.[198] La Ronde Denys and his colleague repaired to
Annapolis, where they promised the inhabitants vessels for their
removal, provisions for a year, and freedom from all taxation for ten
years. Then, having been well prepared in advance, the heads of families
were formed in a circle, and in presence of the English governor, the
two French officers, and the priests Justinien, Bonaventure, and Gaulin,
they all signed, chiefly with crosses, a paper to the effect that they
would live and die subjects of the King of France.[199] A few embarked
at once for Isle Royale in the vessel "Marie-Joseph," and the rest were
to follow within the year.

This result was due partly to the promises of La Ronde Denys, and still
more to a pastoral letter from the Bishop of Quebec, supporting the
assurances of the missionaries that the heretics would rob them of the
ministrations of the Church. This was not all. The Acadians about
Annapolis had been alienated by the conduct of the English authorities,
which was not conciliating, and on the part of the governor was
sometimes outrageous.[200] Yet those of the _banlieue_ had no right to
complain, since they had made themselves liable to the penalties of
treason by first taking an oath of allegiance to Queen Anne, and then
breaking it by trying to seize her fort.[201]

Governor Nicholson, like his predecessor, was resolved to keep the
Acadians in the province if he could. This personage, able, energetic,
perverse, headstrong, and unscrupulous, conducted himself, even towards
the English officers and soldiers, in a manner that seems unaccountable,
and that kindled their utmost indignation.[202] Towards the Acadians his
behavior was still worse. As Costebelle did not keep his promise to send
vessels to bring them to Isle Royale, they built small ones for
themselves, and the French authorities at Louisbourg sent them the
necessary rigging. Nicholson ordered it back, forbade the sale of their
lands and houses,--a needless stretch of power, as there was nobody to
buy,--and would not let them sell even their personal effe