and that a provision vessel had been boarded by French and Indians in
the Bay of Fundy and carried up the River Petitcodiac." The five men
were ambushed and killed in Upper Point de Bute, near a bridge that
crossed a ravine on the farm now owned by Amos Trueman.

Up to this time the government of Nova Scotia was vested in a governor
and council. This year, 1758, it was decided by the Home Government to
allow the Province a Legislative Assembly. The Assembly was to consist
of twenty-two members, twelve to be elected by the Province at large,
four for the township of Halifax, four for the township of Lunenburg,
one for Dartmouth, one for Lawrencetown, one for Annapolis, and one for
Cumberland. Fifty qualified electors would constitute a township. The
township elections were to continue during two days, and those for the
Province four days.

The Assembly met for the first time on October 2nd, 1758. Nineteen
members were present. This makes the Legislature of Halifax the oldest
in the Dominion of Canada. This year, also, Governor Lawrence issued
his first proclamation inviting the New Englanders to come to Nova
Scotia and settle on the vacated Acadian farms.

This proclamation created a great deal of interest and inquiry, and
finally led to a considerable number of New England farmers settling in
different parts of the Province, Chignecto getting a good share of
them. The first proclamation had, however, to be supplemented by a
second, in which full liberty of conscience and the right to worship as
they pleased was secured to Protestants of all denominations. This
guarantee was not included in Lawrence's first invitation to the New
Englanders, and the descendants of the Puritans had not read in vain
the history of the sacrifices made by their forefathers to worship in