selling their lands and houses. Neither the Acadians themselves,
however, nor their new British masters were desirous that they
should leave. The Acadians were content in their old homes; and
the British did not wish them to help in building up the
neighboring French stronghold on Cape Breton. It thus happened
that the French officials could induce few of the Acadians to
migrate and the English troubled them little. Having been
resolute in acquiring Nova Scotia, Britain proceeded straightway
to neglect it. She brought in few settlers. She kept there less
than two hundred soldiers and even to these she paid so little
attention that sometimes they had no uniforms. The Acadians
prospered, multiplied, and quarreled as to the boundaries of
their lands. They rendered no military service, paid no taxes,
and had the country to themselves as completely as if there had
been no British conquest. They rarely saw a British official. If
they asked the British Governor at Annapolis to settle for them
some vexed question of rights or ownership he did so and they did
not even pay a fee.

This is not, however, the whole story. England's neglect of the
colony was France's opportunity. Perhaps the French court did not
follow closely what was going on in Acadia. The successive French
Governors of Canada at Quebec were, however, alert; and their
policy was to incite the Abenaki Indians on the New England
frontier to harass the English settlements, and to keep the
Acadians an active factor in the support of French plans. The
nature of French intrigue is best seen in the career of Sebastien
Rale. He was a highly educated Jesuit priest. It was long a
tradition among the Jesuits to send some of their best men as
missionaries among the Indians. Rale spent nearly the whole of