They are not all reduced to this extremity but
nearly all are in want."[103] Mortality among them was great, and would
have been greater but for rations supplied by the French Government.
[Footnote 99: _Memoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760_.]
[Footnote 100: _Bonaventure a Desherbiers, 26 Juin, 1751_.]
[Footnote 101: _Prevost au Ministre, 25 Nov. 1750_.]
[Footnote 102: _Bonaventure, ut supra_.]
[Footnote 103: _Girard a (Bonaventure?), 27 Oct. 1753_.]
During these proceedings, the English Governor, Cornwallis, seems to
have justified the character of good temper given him by Horace Walpole.
His attitude towards the Acadians remained on the whole patient and
conciliatory. "My friends," he replied to a deputation of them asking a
general permission to leave the province, "I am not ignorant of the fact
that every means has been used to alienate the hearts of the French
subjects of His Britannic Majesty. Great advantages have been promised
you elsewhere, and you have been made to imagine that your religion was
in danger. Threats even have been resorted to in order to induce you to
remove to French territory. The savages are made use of to molest you;
they are to cut the throats of all who remain in their native country,
attached to their own interests and faithful to the Government. You know
that certain officers and missionaries, who came from Canada last
autumn, have been the cause of all our trouble during the winter.
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