The most memorable event of this time, which has been the subject of warm controversy between French and English historians and the theme of a most affecting poem, was the expulsion of the Acadian French from Nova Scotia. When Halifax was founded it was decided, as a matter of necessity, to bring the Acadians more entirely under the control of the English authorities. They had probably increased since the Treaty of Utrecht to at least twelve thousand souls, living for the most part in the Annapolis valley, by the Gaspereaux and Avon rivers, {232} at Grand Pre, at Mines, and at Chignecto. When they were asked to take the oath of allegiance by Governor Lawrence, they refused to do so unless it was qualified by the condition that they should not be obliged at any time to take up arms. Many years before a considerable number, if not the majority, of the same people had taken this qualified oath, although it is also claimed that no one had legal authority to make such a condition with them. Under the treaty of 1713 the Acadian French had a year to choose between leaving the country or giving their submission to the British Government and becoming its subjects. It was natural that they should have hesitated to leave the humble though comfortable homes which their own industry had made on the most fertile lands of Nova Scotia, but it is also quite certain that every obstacle was thrown in the way of their removal by the English governors. Had the British authorities adopted from the very commencement a firm and decided policy towards them, they might have given an unreserved allegiance to the British Crown and eventually become peaceable and contented inhabitants. As it was, the British Government systematically neglected the country, and left the little garrison at Annapolis for many years practically at the mercy of the Acadians, who could have often half starved them, and even captured the only English post of the least importance in the province, had they been led at any time by a man of courage and determination. It was only the watchfulness of the government of Massachusetts, who fully recognised the {233} importance of Nova Scotia in relation to New England, that retained the province in English hands during the time when English statesmen like Newcastle were even ignorant of the existence or situation of Annapolis. If French emissaries were often able to make these credulous and ignorant people believe that France would soon regain her dominion in Acadia, it was largely owing to the fact that the English showed such weakness in all their relations with the Acadians, and made no earnest or sustained effort to assert their sovereignty. At last when England decided to settle and strengthen Nova Scotia, a feeling of uneasiness was naturally created by the presence of a large and increasing population who were naturally in sympathy with the French, and had assumed an attitude quite