rland
found themselves undecided as to their future course. Their
inclination--a very natural one--seems to have been to return to the
fields they had abandoned, but the Abbe Le Loutre urged them to remain
under French rule as the only way of enjoying unmolested the
privileges of their religion. For their encouragement and protection
Fort Beausejour was erected.

In the month of January, 1754, Lieut.-Governor Lawrence informed the
Lords of Trade that the French were hard at work making settlements on
the St. John and were offering great inducements to the Acadians of
the peninsula to join them. He could not prevent some families from
going, but the greater part were too much attached to their lands to
leave them. In the opinion of Lawrence it was absolutely necessary,
for the development and control of Acadia as an English colony, that
the forts of Beausejour and the mouth of the River St. John should be
destroyed, and the French driven from the settlements they were
establishing north of the Bay of Fundy. Although the Indians had
committed no hostilities for two years, he believed no dependence
could be placed on their quietude so long as the French were allowed
to exercise their disturbing influence among them.

Lawrence now began to consult with the Governor of Massachusetts, Sir
William Shirley, about the removal of the Acadians from Chignecto and
the River St. John. He proposed that two thousand troops should be
raised in New England, which with the regular troops already in Nova
Scotia would be sufficient for the business, the command of the
expedition to be given to Colonel Robert Monckton. It was intended the
expedition should sail from Boston about the 20th of April, but it was
delayed more than a month awaiting the arrival of arms from England,
and it was not until early in June that it arrived at Chignecto. To
aid the expedition Captain Rous[32] was sent with a small squadron to
the Bay of Fundy. The details of the seige of Fort Beausejour need not
here be given, suffice it to say that after four days' bombardment the
Sieur de Vergor was obliged, on the 16th June, to surrender to Colonel
Monckton.

[32] Capt. John Rous in his early career commanded a Boston
privateer. Having distinguished himself in several minor
expeditions, he commanded the Massachusetts galley "Shirley,"
of 24 guns, at the first seige of Louisbourg, and bore the
news of the surrender to England, where