ith such
perseverance, that the negotiation proved abortive, the conferences
broke up, and every thing seemed to portend approaching hostilities.
But, before we proceed to a detail of the incidents which were the
immediate forerunners of the war, we will endeavour to convey a just
idea of the dispute concerning Nova Scotia; which, we apprehend, is but
imperfectly understood, though of the utmost importance to the interest
of Great Britain.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

DESCRIPTION OF NOVA SCOTIA.

Nova Scotia, called by the French Acadia, lies between the forty-fourth
and fiftieth degrees of north latitude, having New England and the
Atlantic ocean to the south and south-west, and the river and gulph of
St. Lawrence to the north and north-east. The winter, which continues
near seven months in this country, is intensely cold; and without the
intervention of any thing that can be called spring, it is immediately
succeeded by a summer, the heat of which is almost insupportable, but of
no long continuance. The soil in general is thin and barren, though some
parts of it are said to be equal to the best land in England. The whole
country is covered with a perpetual fog, even after the summer has
commenced. It was first possessed by the French, before they made any
establishment in Canada; who, by dint of industry and indefatigable
perseverance, in struggling with the many difficulties they necessarily
laboured under in the infancy of this settlement, subsisted tolerably
well, and increased considerably, with very little assistance from
Europe; whilst we, even now, should lose the immense expense we have
already been at to settle a colony there, and should see all our
endeavours to that end defeated, if the support of the royal hand was
withdrawn but for a moment. This country, by the possession of which an
enemy would be enabled greatly to annoy all our other colonies, and, if
in the hands of the French, would be of singular service both to their
fishery and their sugar islands, has frequently changed hands from the
French to the English, and from the English back again to the French,
till our right to it was finally settled by the twelfth article of the
treaty of Utrecht, by which all the country included within the ancient
limits of what was called Nova Scotia or Acadia, was ceded to the
English. This article was confirmed by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle,
but, for want of ascertaining distinctly what were the bounds in