chapter 10._
ALSO IN: _J. G. Palfrey, History of New England, book 5, chapter 11 (volume 5)._
_W. Kingsford, History of Canada, book 11, chapters 3 and 6 (volume 3)._
See, also, CANADA: A. D. 1750-1753; and ENGLAND: A. D. 1754-1755.
NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1755. Frustrated naval expedition of the French.
See CANADA: A. D. 1755 (JUNE).
NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1755. The removal of the Acadians and their dispersion in exile.
"The campaign of the year 1755, which had opened in Nova Scotia with so much success, and which promised a glorious termination, disappointed the expectations and awakened the fears of the Colonists. The melancholy and total defeat of the army under General Braddock, while on his march against Fort du Quesnè, threw a gloom over the British Provinces. Niagara and Crown-point were not only unsubdued, but it was evident that Governor Shirley would have to abandon, for this year at least, the attempt; while Louisburg was reinforced, the savages let loose upon the defenceless settlements of the English, and the tide of war seemed ready to roll back upon the invaders. Amidst this general panic, Governor Lawrence and his Council, aided by Admirals Boscawen and Moystyn, assembled to consider the necessary measures that were to be adopted towards the Acadians, whose character and situation were so peculiar as to distinguish them from every other people who had suffered under the scourge of war. … It was finally determined, at this consultation, to remove and disperse this whole people among the British Colonies; where they could not unite in any offensive measures, and where they might be naturalized to the Government and Country. The execution of this unusual and general sentence was allotted chiefly to the New England Forces, the Commander of which [Colonel Winslow], from the humanity and firmness of his character, was well qualified to carry it into effect. It was, without doubt, as he himself declared, disagreeable to his natural make and temper; and his principles of implicit obedience as a soldier were put to a severe test by this ungrateful kind of duty; which required an ungenerous, cunning, and subtle severity. … They were kept entirely ignorant of their destiny until the moment of their captivity, and were overawed, or allured, to labour at the gathering in of their harvest, which was secretly allotted to the use of their conquerors."
_T. C. Haliburton, Account of Nova Scotia, volume 1, pages 170-175._
"Winslow prepared for the embarkation. The Acadian prisoners and their families were divided into groups answering to their several villages, in order that those of the same village might, as far as possible, go in the same vessel. It was also provided that the members of each family should remain together; and notice was given them to hold themselves in readiness. 'But even now,' he writes. 'I could not persuade the people I was in earnest.' Their doubts were soon ended. The first embarkation took place on the 8th of October [1755]. … When all, or nearly all, had been sent off from the various points of departure, such of the houses and barns as remained standing were burned, in obedience to the orders of Lawrence, that those who had escaped might be forced to come in and surrender themselves. The whole number removed from the province, men, women, and children, was a little above 6,000. Many remained behind; and while some of these withdrew to Canada, Isle St. Jean, and other distant retreats, the rest lurked in the woods, or returned to their old haunts, whence they waged for several years a guerilla warfare against the English. Yet their strength was broken, and they were no longer a danger to the province. Of their exiled countrymen, one party overpowered the crew of the vessel that carried them, ran her ashore at the mouth of the St. John, and escaped. The rest were distributed among the colonies from Massachusetts to Georgia, the master of each transport having been provided with a letter from Lawrence addressed to the Governor of the province to which he was bound, and desiring him to receive the unwelcome strangers. The provincials were vexed at the burden imposed upon them; and though the Acadians were not in general ill-treated, their lot was a hard one. Still more so was that of those among them who escaped to Canada. … 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. … In one particular the authors of the deportation were disappointed in its results. {2389} 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. … New England humanitarianism, melting into sentimentality at a tale of woe, has been unjust to its own. Whatever judgment may be passed on the cruel measure of wholesale expatriation, it was not put in execution till every resource of patience and persuasion had been tried in vain."
_F. Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, volume 1, chapter 8._
"The removal of the French Acadians from their homes was one of the saddest episodes in modern history, and no one now will attempt to justify it; but it should be added that the genius of our great poet [Longfellow in 'Evangeline'] has thrown a somewhat false and distorted light over the character of the victims. They were not the peaceful and simple-hearted people they are commonly supposed to have been; and their houses, as we learn from contemporary evidence, were by no means the picturesque, vine-clad, and strongly built cottages described by the poet. The people were notably quarrelsome among themselves, and to the last degree superstitious. They were wholly under the influence of priests appointed by the French bishops. … Even in periods when France and England were at peace, the French Acadians were a source of perpetual danger to the English colonists. Their claim to a qualified allegiance was one which no nation then or now could sanction. But all this does not justify their expulsion in the manner in which it was executed."
_C. C. Smith, The Wars on the Seaboard (Narrative and Critical History of America, volume 5, chapter 7)._
"We defy all past history to produce a parallel case, in which an unarmed and peaceable people have suffered to such an extent as did the French Neutrals of Acadia at the hands of the New England troops."
_P. H. Smith, Acadia, page 216._
ALSO IN: _W. B. Reed, The Acadian Exiles in Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Historical Society Memoirs, volume 6, pages 283-316)._
NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1763. Cession by France to England confirmed in the Treaty of Paris.
See SEVEN YEARS WAR: THE TREATIES.
NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1763. Cape Breton added to the government.
See CANADA: A. D. 1763-1774.
NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1782-1784. Influx of Refugee Loyalists from the United States.
See TORIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1820-1837. The Family Compact.
See CANADA: A. D. 1820-1837.
NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1854-1866. The Reciprocity Treaty with the United States.
See TARIFF LEGISLATION (UNITED STATES AND CANADA): A. D. 1854-1866.
NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1867. Embraced in the Confederation of the Dominion of Canada.
See CANADA: A. D. 1867.
NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1871. The Treaty of Washington.
See ALABAMA CLAIMS: A. D. 1871.
NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1877-1888. The Halifax Fishery Award. Termination of the Fishery Articles of the Treaty of Washington. Renewed Fishery disputes.
See FISHERIES, NORTH AMERICAN: A. D. 1877-1888.
----------NOVA SCOTIA: End--------
NOVANTÆ, The.
A tribe which, in Roman times, occupied the modern counties of Kirkcudbright and Wigtown, Scotland.
See BRITAIN: CELTIC TRIBES.
NOVARA, Battle of (1513).
See ITALY: A. D. 1510-1513.
NOVARA, Battle of (1821).
See ITALY: A. D. 1820-1821.
NOVARA, Battle of (1849).
See ITALY: A. D. 1848-1849.
NOVELS OF JUSTINIAN.
See CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS.
NOVEMBER FIFTH.
See Guy FAWKES' DAY.
----------NOVGOROD: Start--------
NOVGOROD: Origin.
See RUSSIA. RUSSIANS: A. D. 862.
NOVGOROD: 11th Century. Rise of the Commonwealth.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1054-1237.
NOVGOROD: A. D. 1237-1478. Prosperity and greatness of the city as a commercial republic.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1237-1480.
NOVGOROD: 14-15th Centuries. In the Hanseatic League.
See HANSA TOWNS.
----------NOVGOROD: End--------
NOVI, Battle of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (APRIL-SEPTEMBER).
NOVIOMAGUS. Modern Nimeguen.
See BATAVIANS.
NOYADES.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1793-1794 (OCTOBER-APRIL).
NOYON, Treaty of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1516-1517.
NUBIANS, The.
See AFRICA: THE INHABITING RACES.
NUITHONES, The.
See AVIONES.
----------NULLIFICATION: Start--------
NULLIFICATION: First assertion of the doctrine in the United States of America.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1798.
NULLIFICATION: Doctrine and Ordinance in South Carolina.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1828-1833.
----------NULLIFICATION: End--------
NUMANTIAN WAR, The.
"In 143 B. C. the Celtiberians again appeared in the field [resisting the Romans in Spain]; and when, on the death of Viriathus, D. Junius Brutus had pushed the legions to the Atlantic in 137 B. C., and practically subdued Lusitania, the dying spirit of Spanish independence still held out in the Celtiberian fortress city of Numantia. Perched on a precipitous hill by the banks of the upper Douro, occupied only by eight thousand men, this little place defied the power of Rome as long as Troy defied the Greeks. … In 137 B. C. the consul, C. Hostilius Mancinus, was actually hemmed in by a sortie of the garrison, and forced to surrender. He granted conditions of peace to obtain his liberty; but the senate would not ratify them, though the young quæstor, Tiberius Gracchus, who had put his hand to the treaty, pleaded for faith and honour. Mancinus, stripped and with manacles on his hands, was handed over to the Numantines, who, like the Samnite Pontius, after the Caudine Forks, refused to accept him. In 134 B. C. the patience of the Romans was exhausted; Scipio was sent. … The mighty destroyer of Carthage drew circumvallations five miles in length around the stubborn rock, and waited for the result. The Virgilian picture of the fall of Troy is not more moving than are the brave and ghastly facts of the fall of Numantia. The market-place was turned into a funeral pyre for the gaunt, famine-stricken citizens to leap upon. … When the surrender was made only a handful of men marched out."
_R. F. Horton, History of the Romans,