" "A citizen of
Quebec," he says farther on, "was in debt to one of the partners of the
Great Company [_Government officials leagued for plunder_]. He had no
means of paying. They gave him a great number of Acadians to board and
lodge. He starved them with hunger and cold, got out of them what money
they had, and paid the extortioner. _Quel pays! Quels moeurs_!"[288]
[Footnote 286: _Lettre commune de Drucour et Prevost au Ministre, 6
Avril, 1756. Vaudreuil au Ministre, 1 Juin, 1756_.]
[Footnote 287: Hutchinson, _Hist. Mass._, III. 42, _note_.]
[Footnote 288: Bougainville, _Journal, 1756-1758_. His statements are
sustained by _Memoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760_.]
Many of the exiles eventually reached Louisiana, where their descendants
now form a numerous and distinct population. Some, after incredible
hardship, made their way back to Acadia, where, after the peace, they
remained unmolested, and, with those who had escaped seizure, became the
progenitors of the present Acadians, now settled in various parts of the
British maritime provinces, notably at Madawaska, on the upper St. John,
and at Clare, in Nova Scotia. Others were sent from Virginia to England;
and others again, after the complete conquest of the country, found
refuge in France.
In one particular the authors of the deportation were disappointed in
its results. They had hoped to substitute a loyal population for a
disaffected one; but they failed for some time to find settlers for the
vacated lands.
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