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

178 ACADIAN CONFLICTS. [1746, 1747.— and thus bind them to the British by strong ties ofinterest. Newcastle thought the plan good, butwrote that its execution must be deferred to a futureday. Three years later it was partly carried intoeffect by the foundation of Halifax ; but at that timethe disaffection of the Acadians had so increased,and the hope of regaining the province for Francehad risen so high, that this partial and tardy assertionof British authority only spurred the Frenchagents to redoubled efforts to draw the inhabitantsfrom the allegiance they had sworn to the Crown ofEngland.Shirley had also other plans in view for turningthe Acadians into good British subjects. He proposed,as a measure of prime necessity, to excludeFrench priests from the province. The free exerciseof their religion had been insured toby the Treaty of Utrecht, and on thisthe inhabitantspoint the Englishauthorities had given no just cause of complaint.A priest had occasionally been warned, suspended,or removed; but without a singleexception, so faras appears, tliis was in consequence of conduct whichtended toexcite disaffection, and which would haveincurred equal or greater penalties in the case of alayman. 1 The sentence was directed, not against1 There was afterwards sharp correspondence between Shirleyand the governor of Canada touching the Acadian priests. Thus,Sliirley writes :" I can't avoid now, Sir, expressing great surpriseat the other parts of your letter, whereby you take upon you tocall Mr. Mascarene to account for expelling the missionary fromMinas for being guilty of such treasonable practices within His