had prudently refrained from discussing with the Acadians
the question of the oath; but in 1726 Lawrence Armstrong,
the lieutenant-governor, resolved to take up the matter
again. In the district of Annapolis he had little trouble.
The inhabitants there consented, after some discussion,
to sign a declaration of allegiance, with a clause
exempting them from the obligation of taking up arms.
[Footnote: This oath applied only to the inhabitants of
the district of Annapolis.] But to deal with the Acadians
of Minas and of Beaubassin on Chignecto Bay proved more
difficult. Certain 'anti-monarchical traders' from Boston
and evil-intentioned French inhabitants had represented
in these districts that the governor had no authority in
the land, and no power to administer oaths. No oath would
these Acadians take but to their own Bon Roy de France.
They promised, however, to pay all the rights and dues
which the British demanded.

The death of George I in 1727, and the accession of George
II, made it necessary for the Acadians to acknowledge
the new monarch. This time the lieutenant-governor was
determined to do the business in a thorough and
comprehensive manner. He chartered a vessel at a cost of
a hundred pounds, and commissioned Ensign Wroth to proceed
from place to place at the head of a detachment of troops
proclaiming the new king and obtaining the submission of
the people. Wroth was eminently successful in proclaiming
His Majesty; but he had less success in regard to the
oath. Finding the Acadians obdurate, he promised them on
his own authority freedom in the exercise of their