wed their
instructions from the governor of Canada, Count de la Galissonniere,
by which it appeared they had at first been ordered to establish a
fortified post, but afterwards the order had been countermanded and
they were required merely to prevent the English from establishing
themselves till the right of possession should be settled between the
two crowns.

The letter of Captain Rous to Boishebert, upon the arrival of the
former at St. John harbor, is rather quaint reading. The original is
in French.

From the River St. John, 3 July, 1749.

Sir,--I am directed by the King, my master, to look into and
examine the various ports, harbors and rivers of His Majesty's
province of Nova Scotia, and am now here for that intent. Being
informed that you are upon this river with a detachment of
soldiers of the King of France. I should be pleased to know by
what authority and with what intention your are engaged in a
similar procedure. It would afford me much pleasure if I could
have the honor of a personal interview in order to convince you of
the rights of the King, my master.

I shall be delighted to see some of the Indian chiefs in order to
inform them of the peace and of the harmony that prevails between
the two crowns, also to confer with them.

Until I shall have the honor, as I hope, of seeing you,

I am very truly, etc.

In the subsequent interview with the savages, Father Germain and
Captain Edward How acted as interpreters, and the missionary wrote an
account of the interview to the governor of Quebec, in which he
mentions the fact that Cornwallis, the governor of Nova Scotia,
claimed jurisdiction over the St. John river region and beyond it to
Passamaquoddy, deeming it a part of Acadia according to its ancient
limits. Boishebert, in his letter to the Count de la Galissonniere,
says that one of the best reasons the English had for laying claim to
the territory north of the Bay of Fundy was that the commission of
Subercase, the last French governor who resided at Annapolis Royal,
fixed his jurisdiction as far west as the River Kennebec. In the
spirit of a true soldier, Boishebert wishes that war might speedily
recommence, and that France might be more fortunate as to the conquest
of Acadia than in the last war. Meanwhile he had arranged with Capt.
Rous to remain undisturbed on the River St. John until the next
spring, on the understanding that he was to erect no fortification.