Nova Scotia A, vol. xxxv, p. 48.] The
Acadians, used by this time to the lenity of the British
government, were probably not surprised to find, at the
meeting of the Council held on October 11, no mention of
the oath which had to be taken before the 15th of the month.
The winter passed, and still Cornwallis took no steps to
enforce his proclamation. He had his troubles; for the
French, from Quebec on the one side and from Louisbourg
on the other, were fomenting strife; and the Indians were
on the war-path. And, in February 1750, the Lords of
Trade wrote that as the French were forming new settlements
with a view to enticing the Acadians into them, any
forcible means of ejecting them should be waived for the
present. Cornwallis replied that he was anxious to leave
matters in abeyance until he ascertained what could be
done in the way of fortifying Chignecto. 'If a fort is
once built there,' he explained, 'they [the Indians] will
be driven out of the peninsula or submit. He also wished
to know what reinforcements he might expect in the spring.
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