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

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

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200 ACADIAN CONFLICTS. [1747.La Corne called a council <strong>of</strong> war, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>view <strong>of</strong>the scarcity <strong>of</strong> food <strong>and</strong> other reasons it was resolvedto return to Beaubass<strong>in</strong>. Many <strong>of</strong> the French hadfallen ill. Some <strong>of</strong> the sick <strong>and</strong> wounded were leftat Gr<strong>and</strong> Prd, otherswere required to supply means <strong>of</strong>at Cobequid, <strong>and</strong> the Acadianscarry<strong>in</strong>g the rest.Coulon's party left Gr<strong>and</strong> Pre on the twenty-third<strong>of</strong> February, <strong>and</strong> on the eighth <strong>of</strong> March reachedBeaubass<strong>in</strong>. 1Ramesay did not fail to use the success at Gr<strong>and</strong>Pr^ to <strong>in</strong>fluence the m<strong>in</strong>ds <strong>of</strong> the Acadians. He senta circular letter to the <strong>in</strong>habitants <strong>of</strong> the variousdistricts, <strong>and</strong> especially to those <strong>of</strong> M<strong>in</strong>es, <strong>in</strong> which1 The dates are <strong>of</strong> the new style, which the French had adopted,while the English still clung to the old style.By far the best account <strong>of</strong> this French victory at M<strong>in</strong>es is that<strong>of</strong> Beaujeu, <strong>in</strong> his Journal de la Campagne du Detachement de Canadaa I'Acadie et aux M<strong>in</strong>es en 1746-47. It is preserved <strong>in</strong> the Archivesde la Mar<strong>in</strong>e et des Colonies, <strong>and</strong> is pr<strong>in</strong>ted <strong>in</strong> the documentarysupplement <strong>of</strong> Le Canada Frangais, Vol. II. It supplies the means<strong>of</strong> correct<strong>in</strong>g many errors <strong>and</strong> much confusion <strong>in</strong> some recent accounts<strong>of</strong> the affair. The report <strong>of</strong> Chevalier de la Corne, alsopr<strong>in</strong>ted <strong>in</strong> Le Canada Frangais, though much shorter, is necessaryto a clear underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the matter. Letters <strong>of</strong> Lusignan filsto the m<strong>in</strong>ister Maurepas, 10 October, 1747, <strong>of</strong> Bishop Pontbri<strong>and</strong>(to Maurepas?), 10 July, 1747, <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> Lusignan pere to Maurepas,10 October, 1747, give some additional <strong>in</strong>cidents. The pr<strong>in</strong>cipaldocument on the English side is tlie report <strong>of</strong> Capta<strong>in</strong> Benjam<strong>in</strong>Goldthwait, who succeeded Noble <strong>in</strong> comm<strong>and</strong>. A copy <strong>of</strong> theorig<strong>in</strong>al, <strong>in</strong> the Public Record Office, is before me. The substance <strong>of</strong>it is correctly given <strong>in</strong> The Boston Post Boy <strong>of</strong> 2 March, 1747, <strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong> N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg. x. 108. Various letters from Mascarene<strong>and</strong> Shirley (Public Record Office) conta<strong>in</strong> accounts derived fromreturned <strong>of</strong>ficers <strong>and</strong> soldiers. The Notice <strong>of</strong> Colonel Arthur Noble,by "William Goold {Collections Ma<strong>in</strong>e Historical Soc, 1881), mayalso be consulted.

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