the lands of the Acadians in its neighbourhood.

And during all this time England and France were
theoretically at peace. Their commissioners sat in Paris,
La Galissoniere on one side, Shirley on the other, piling
up mountains of argument as to the 'ancient boundaries'
of Acadia. All to no purpose; for neither nation could
afford to recede from its position. It was a question
for the last argument of kings. Meanwhile the officials
in the colonies anxiously waited for the decision; and
the poor Acadians, torn between the hostile camps, and
many of them now homeless, waited too.




CHAPTER VII

A LULL IN THE CONFLICT

The years 1752 and 1753 were, on the whole, years of
peace and quiet. This was largely due to changes in the
administration on both sides. At the end of 1751 the
Count de Raymond had replaced Des Herbiers as governor
of Ile Royale; in 1752 Duquesne succeeded La Jonquiere
at Quebec as governor of New France; and Peregrine Hopson
took the place of Cornwallis in the government of Nova
Scotia. Hopson adopted a policy of conciliation. When
the crew of a New England schooner in the summer of 1752
killed an Indian lad and two girls whom they had enticed