A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

174 ACADIAN CONFLICTS. [1746.Canadians, who looked on them as inferiors.Theirpleasures were those of the humblest and simplestpeasants; they were contented with their lot, andasked only to be let alone. Their intercourse wasunceremonious to such a point that they never addressedeach other, or, it is said, even strangers, asmonsieur. They had the social equality which canexist only in the humblest conditions of society, andpresented the phenomenon of a primitive little democracy,hatched under the wing of an absolutemonarchy. Each was as good as his neighbor; theyhad no natural leaders, nor any to advise or guidethem, except the missionary priest, who in everycase was expected by his superiors to influence themin the interest of France, and who, in fact, constantlydid so.While one observer represents themas living in a state of primeval innocence, anotherdescribes both men and women as extremely foul ofspeech ;from which he draws inferences unfavorableto their domestic morals, ^ which, nevertheless, werecommendable. As is usual with a well-fed and unambitiouspeasantry, they were very prolific,and aresaid to have doubled their number every sixteenyears. In 1748 they counted in the peninsula ofNova Scotia between twelve and thirteen thousandsouls.2 The English rule had been of the lightest,— so light that it could scarcely be felt; and this was1 Journal de Franquet, Part 11.2 Description de I'Acadie, avec le Norn des Paroisses et le Nomhredes Habitants, 1748.