Another memorial
was presented by the inhabitants of Minas. They refused
to take a new oath; and thereupon their deputies were
ordered to be imprisoned.
There was now, the Council considered, only one course
left open for it to pursue. Nothing remained but to
consider the means which should be taken to send the
inhabitants out of the province, and distribute them
among the several colonies on the continent.
'I am determined,' Lawrence had written, 'to bring the
inhabitants to a compliance, or rid the province of such
perfidious subjects.' [Footnote: Lawrence to Lords of
Trade, July 18, 1755.] He was now about to fulfil his
promise.
CHAPTER IX
THE EXPULSION
The imprisonment of the deputies, on George's Island at
Halifax, naturally agitated the minds of the simple
Acadians. In the ripening fields and in the villages
might be seen groups discussing the fate of their
companions. But, though they may have feared further
punitive acts at the hands of the British, they were
totally unprepared for the approaching catastrophe, and
did not for a moment dream that they were to be cast out
of their homes, deprived of all they held dear in the
land of their nativity, and sent adrift as wanderers and
exiles.
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