As the period under consideration is one of which comparatively little has been written, it may be well to make use of the information contained in the voluminous correspondence of the French ministers and their subordinates in America. Early in the summer of 1749 the Count de la Galissonniere sent the Sieur de Boishebert to the lower part of the River St. John with a small detachment to secure the French inhabitants against the threats of Capt. Gorham, who had been sent by the Governor of Nova Scotia to make the inhabitants renew the oath of allegiance to the English sovereign, which de la Galissonniere says "they ought never to have taken." The Count expresses his views on the situation with terseness and vigor: "The River St. John is not the only place the English wish to invade. They claim the entire coast, from that river to Beaubassin, and from Canso to Gaspe, in order to render themselves sovereigns of all the territory of the Abenakis, Catholics and subjects of the king, a nation that has never acknowledged nor wishes to acknowledge their domination and which is the most faithful to us in Canada. If we abandon to England this land, which comprises more than 180 leagues of seacoast, that is to say almost as much as from Bayonne to Dunkirk, we must renounce all communication by land from Canada with Acadia and Isle Royal, together with the means of succoring the one and retaking the other." The Count further argues that to renounce the territory in dispute will deprive the Acadians of all hope of a place of refuge on French soil and reduce them to despair, and he apprehends that the English, having no reason to care for them, will suffer them to have no missionaries and will destroy at their leisure their religion. "It is very easy," he adds, "to hinder the English establishing themselves on these lands. They will have to proceed through the woods and along narrow rivers, and as long as the French are masters of the Abenakis and the Acadians are provided with arms and supplies from France the English will not expose themselves to their attacks." Both sides began to consider the advisability of taking forcible possession of the disputed territory, but the French were the first to take action. In June, 1749, Mascarene reported two French officers with twenty or thirty men from Canada and a number of Indians had come to erect a fort and make a settlement at the mouth of the river, and that two vessels with stores and materials were coming to them from Quebec. On receipt of this information, Cornwallis, who had just arrived at Halifax, sent Captain Rous in the sloop "Albany" to St. John to ascertain what works were in course of erection by the French, and to demand the authority for their action. He also issued a proclamation in French prohibiting the Acadians from making a settlement on the St. John.