183.] and he was obliged
in the meantime to quarter them in houses at Grand Pre.
There remained also the task of destroying the villages
to prevent their occupation by stragglers, in accordance
with Lawrence's orders. Finally, on December 13, transports
were provided for the unhappy remnant of the prisoners;
and seven days later the last vessels left port. The
cruel task was done. In all, over six thousand persons
had been forcibly deported, while the rest of the population
had been driven to the wilderness and their homes laid
waste. Some wandered to the Isle St Jean and others to
New Brunswick and Canada. The land of the Acadians was
a solitude.
And so, sorrow-framed, the story of the expulsion draws
to its close. Hardly had the deplorable work ended, when
England made with Frederick of Prussia the treaty which
formally inaugurated her Seven Years' War with France.
For Lawrence, perhaps, this was a fortunate circumstance.
The day of mutual concessions had passed; and an act
which a few months before might have been denounced as
unwarrantable might now, in the heat of a mighty contest,
be regarded as a patriotic service.
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