Faint nebulous spots in the air, little red disks in a halo of fog, acquaint us that there are gas-lights this night in the streets of Halifax. Something new, I take it, this illumination? Carbonated hydrogen is a novelty as yet in Chebucto. But in this soft and pleasant atmosphere, I cannot but feel some regret at leaving my old quarters in the Hotel Waverley. If I feel how much there is to welcome me elsewhere, yet I do not forsake1 this queer old city—these strange, dingy2, weather-beaten streets, without reluctance3; and chiefly I feel that now I must separate from some old friends, and from some new ones too, whom I can ill spare. And if any of these should ever read this little book, I trust they will not think the less of me because of it. If the salient features of the province have sometimes appeared to me, a stranger, a trifle[Pg 259] distorted, it may be that my own stand-point is defective4. And so farewell! To-morrow I shall draw nearer homeward, by Windsor and the shores of the Gasperau, by Grand-Pré and the Basin of Minas. Candles, Henry! and books!
The marriage of La Tour to the widow of his deceased rival, for a time enabled that brave young adventurer to remain in quiet possession of the territory. But to the Catholic Court of France, a suspected although not an avowed5 Protestant, in commission, was an object of distrust. No matter what might have been his former services, indeed, his defence of Cape6 Sable7 had saved the French possessions from the encroachments of the Sterling8 patent, yet he was heretic to the true faith, and therefore defenceless in an important point against the attacks of an enemy. Such a one was La Tour le Borgne, who professed9 to be a creditor10 of D'Aulney, and pressing his suit with all the ardor11 of bigotry12 and rapacity13, easily succeeded in "obtaining a decree by which he was authorized14 to enter upon the possessions of his deceased debtor15!" But the adherents16 of Charles Etienne did not readily yield to the new adventurer. They had tasted the sweets of religious liberty, and were not disposed to come within the arbitrary yoke17 without a struggle. Disregarding the "decree," they stood[Pg 260] out manfully against the forces of Le Borgne. Again were Catholic French and Protestant French cannon18 pointed19 against each other in unhappy Acadia. But fort after fort fell beneath the new claimant's superior artillery20, until La Tour le Borgne himself was met by a counter-force of bigotry, before which his own was as chaff21 to the fanning-mill. The man of England, Oliver Cromwell, had his little claim, too, in Acadia. Against his forces both the French commanders made but ineffectual resistance. Acadia for the third time fell into the hands of the English.
Now in the history of the world there is nothing more patent than this: that persecution22 in the name of religion, is only a ring of calamities23, which ends sooner or later where it began. And this portion of its history can be cited as an example. Charles Etienne de la Tour, alienated24 by the unjust treatment of his countrymen, decided25 to accept the protection of his national enemy. As the heir of Sir Claude de la Tour, he laid claim to the Sterling grants (which it will be remembered had been ceded26 to his father by Sir William Alexander after the unsuccessful attack upon Cape Sable,) and in conjunction with two English Puritans obtained a new patent for Acadia from the Protector, under the great seal, with the title of Sir Charles La Tour.[Pg 261] Then Sir Thomas Temple (one of the partners in the Cromwell patent) purchased the interest of Charles Etienne in Acadia. Then came the restoration, and again Acadia was restored to France by Charles II. in 1668. But Sir Thomas having embarked27 all his fortune in the enterprise, was not disposed to submit to the arbitrary disposal of his property by this treaty; and therefore endeavored to evade28 its articles by making a distinction between such parts of the province as were supposed to constitute Acadia proper, and the other portions of the territory comprehended under the title of Nova Scotia. "This distinction being deemed frivolous29," Sir Thomas was ordered to obey the letter of the treaty, and accordingly the whole of Nova Scotia was delivered up to the Chevalier de Grande Fontaine. During twenty years succeeding this event, Acadia enjoyed comparative repose30, subject only to occasional visits of filibusters31. At the expiration33 of that time, a more serious invasion was meditated34. Under the command of Sir William Phipps, a native of New England, three ships, with transports and soldiers, appeared before Port Royal, and demanded an unconditional35 surrender. Although the fort was poorly garrisoned37, this was refused by Manivel, the French governor, but finally terms of capitulation were agreed upon: these were, that[Pg 262] the French troops should be allowed to retain their arms and baggage, and be carried to Quebec; that the inhabitants should be maintained in the peaceable possession of their property, and in the exercise of their religion; and that the honor of the women should be observed. Sir William agreed to the conditions, but declined signing the articles, pompously38 intimating that the "word of a general was a better security than any document whatever." The French governor, deceived by this specious39 parade of language, took the New England filibuster32 at his word, and formally surrendered the keys of the fortress40, according to the verbal contract. Again was poor Acadia the victim of her perfidious41 enemy. Sir William, disregarding the terms of the capitulation, and the "word of a general," violated the articles he had pledged his honor to maintain, disarmed42 and imprisoned43 the soldiers, sacked the churches, and gave the place up to all the ruthless cruelties and violences of a general pillage44. Not only this, the too credulous45 Governor, Manivel, was himself imprisoned, plundered46 of money and clothes, and carried off on board the conqueror's frigate47, with many of his unfortunate companions, to view the further spoliations of his countrymen. Many a peaceful Acadian village expired in flames during that coasting expedition, and to add to the miseries[Pg 263] of the defenceless Acadians, two piratical vessels48 followed in the wake of the pious49 Sir William, and set fire to the houses, slaughtered50 the cattle, hanged the inhabitants, and deliberately52 burned up one whole family, whom they had shut in a dwelling-house for that purpose.
Soon after this, Sir William was rewarded with the governorship of New England, as Argall had been with that of Virginia, nearly a century before.
Now let it be remembered that in these expeditions, very little, if any, attempt was made by the invaders53 to colonize54 or reside on the lands they were so ready to lay waste and destroy. The mind of the species "Puritan," by rigid55 discipline hardened against all frivolous amusements, and insensible to the charms of the drama, and the splendors56 of the mimic57 spectacle, with its hollow shows of buckram, tinsel, and pasteboard, seems to have been peculiarly fitted to enjoy these more substantial enterprises, which, owing to the defenceless condition of the French province, must have appeared to the rigid Dudleys and Endicotts merely as a series of light and elegant pastimes.
Scarcely had Sir William Phipps returned to Boston, when the Chevalier Villabon came from France with troops and implements59 of war. On his arrival, he found the British flag flying at Port[Pg 264] Royal, unsupported by an English garrison36. It was immediately lowered from the flag-staff, the white flag of Louis substituted, and once more Acadia was under the dominion60 of her parental61 government.
Villabon, in a series of petty skirmishes, soon recovered the rest of the territory, which was only occupied at a few points by feeble New England garrisons62, and, in conjunction with a force of Abenaqui Indians, laid siege to the fort at Pemaquid, on the Penobscot, and captured it. In this affair, as we have seen, the famous Baron63 Castine was engaged.
The capture of the fort at Pemaquid, led to a train of reprisals64, conspicuous65 in which was an actor in the theatre of events who heretofore had not appeared upon the Acadian stage. This was Col. Church, a celebrated66 bushwhacker and Indian-fighter, of memorable67 account in the King Philip war.
In order to estimate truly the condition of the respective parties, we must remember the severe iron and gunpowder68 nature of the Puritan of New England, his prejudices, his dyspepsia; his high-peaked hat and ruff; his troublesome conscience and catarrh; his natural antipathies69 to Papists and Indians, from having been scalped by one, and[Pg 265] roasted by both; his English insolence70; and his religious bias71, at once tyrannic and territorial72.
Then, on the other, we must call to view the simple Acadian peasant, Papist or Protestant, just as it happened; ignorant of the great events of the world; a mere58 offshoot of rural Normandy; without a thought of other possessions than those he might reclaim73 from the sea by his dykes74; credulous, pure-minded, patient of injuries; that like the swallow in the spring, thrice built the nest, and when again it was destroyed,
——"found the ruin wrought75,
But, not cast down, forth76 from the place it flew,
And with its mate fresh earth and grasses brought,
And built the nest anew."
Against such people, the expedition of Col. Church, fresh from the slaughter51 of Pequod wars, bent77 its merciless energies. Regardless of the facts that the people were non-resistants; that the expeditions of the French had been only feeble retaliations of great injuries; and always by levies78 from the mother country, and not from the colonists80; that Villabon, at the capture of Pemaquid, had generously saved the lives of the soldiers in the garrison from the fury of the Mic-Macs, who had just grounds of retribution for the massacres81 which had marked[Pg 266] the former inroads of these ruthless invaders; the wrath82 of the Pilgrim Fathers fell upon the unfortunate Acadians as though they had been a nation of Sepoys.[D]
One of the severest cruelties practised upon these inoffensive people, was that of requiring them to betray their friends, the Indians, under the heaviest penalties. In Acadia, the red and the white man were as brothers; no treachery, no broken faith, no[Pg 267] over-reaching policy had severed83 the slightest fibre of good fellowship on either side. But the Abenaqui race was a warlike people. At the first invasion, under Argall, the red man had seen with surprise a mere handful of white men disputing for a territory to which neither could offer a claim; so vast as to make either occupation or control by the adventurers ridiculous; and therefore, with good-natured zeal84, he had hastened to put an end to the quarrel, as though the white people had only been fractious but not irreconcilable85 kinsmen86. But as the power of New England advanced more and more in Acadia, the first generous desire of the red man had merged87 into suspicion, and finally hatred88 of the peaked hat and ruff of Plymouth. In all his dealings with the Acadians, the Indian had found only unimpeachable89 faith and honor; but with the colonist79 of Massachusetts, there had been nothing but over-reaching and treachery: intercourse90 with the first had not led to a scratch, or a single drop of blood; while on the other hand a bounty91 of "one hundred pounds was offered for each male of their tribe if over twelve years of age, if scalped; one hundred and five pounds if taken prisoner; fifty pounds for each woman and child scalped, and fifty pounds when brought in alive."
The Abenaqui tribes therefore, first, to avenge92[Pg 268] the injuries of their unresisting friends, the Acadians, and after to avenge their own, waged war upon the invaders with all the severities of an aggrieved93 and barbarous people. And, as I have said before, the severest cruelty inflicted94 upon the Acadian colonist, was to oblige him to betray his best friend and protector, the painted heathen, with whom he struck hands and plighted95 faith. To the honor of these colonists, be it said, that although they saw their long years' labor96 of dykes broken down, the sea sweeping97 over their farms, the fire rolling about their homesteads, their cattle and sheep destroyed, their effects plundered, and wanton and nameless outrages98 committed by the English and Yankee soldiery, yet in no instance did they purchase indemnity99 from these, by betraying a single Indian.
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1
forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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sable
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| n.黑貂；adj.黑色的 | |
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sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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creditor
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| n.债仅人，债主，贷方 | |
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ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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bigotry
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| n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等 | |
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rapacity
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| n.贪婪，贪心，劫掠的欲望 | |
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authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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debtor
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| n.借方，债务人 | |
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adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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chaff
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| v.取笑，嘲笑；n.谷壳 | |
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persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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calamities
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| n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事 | |
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alienated
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| adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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ceded
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| v.让给，割让，放弃( cede的过去式 ) | |
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embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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filibusters
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| n.掠夺兵( filibuster的名词复数 )；暴兵；（用冗长的发言）阻挠议事的议员；会议妨碍行为v.阻碍或延宕国会或其他立法机构通过提案( filibuster的第三人称单数 )；掠夺 | |
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filibuster
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| n.妨碍议事，阻挠；v.阻挠 | |
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expiration
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| n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物 | |
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meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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35
unconditional
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| adj.无条件的，无限制的，绝对的 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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garrisoned
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| 卫戍部队守备( garrison的过去式和过去分词 )； 派部队驻防 | |
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38
pompously
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| adv.傲慢地，盛大壮观地；大模大样 | |
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specious
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| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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perfidious
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| adj.不忠的，背信弃义的 | |
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disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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43
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pillage
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| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
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45
credulous
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| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
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plundered
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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frigate
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| n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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colonize
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| v.建立殖民地，拓殖；定居，居于 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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splendors
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| n.华丽( splendor的名词复数 )；壮丽；光辉；显赫 | |
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mimic
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| v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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parental
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| adj.父母的；父的；母的 | |
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garrisons
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| 守备部队，卫戍部队( garrison的名词复数 ) | |
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baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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reprisals
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| n.报复（行为）( reprisal的名词复数 ) | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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antipathies
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| 反感( antipathy的名词复数 )； 引起反感的事物； 憎恶的对象； （在本性、倾向等方面的）不相容 | |
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insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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bias
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| n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见 | |
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territorial
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| adj.领土的，领地的 | |
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reclaim
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| v.要求归还，收回；开垦 | |
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dykes
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| abbr.diagonal wire cutters 斜线切割机n.堤( dyke的名词复数 )；坝；堰；沟 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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levies
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| （部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队 | |
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colonist
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| n.殖民者，移民 | |
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colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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massacres
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| 大屠杀( massacre的名词复数 )； 惨败 | |
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82
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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84
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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85
irreconcilable
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| adj.（指人）难和解的，势不两立的 | |
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86
kinsmen
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| n.家属，亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
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87
merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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88
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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89
unimpeachable
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| adj.无可指责的；adv.无可怀疑地 | |
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90
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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91
bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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93
aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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plighted
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| vt.保证，约定（plight的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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96
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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97
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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98
outrages
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| 引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的第三人称单数 ) | |
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99
indemnity
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| n.赔偿，赔款，补偿金 | |
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