of the year another page in the history of Nova Scotia
had been turned. Raymond, the governor of Ile Royale,
gave place to D'Ailleboust. Hopson was compelled to return
to England on leave of absence through failing eyesight,
and Charles Lawrence reigned in his stead.




CHAPTER VIII

THE LAWRENCE REGIME

The policy both of France and of England towards the
Acadians was based upon political expediency rather than
upon any definite or well-conceived plan for the development
of the country. The inhabitants, born to serve rather
than to command, had honestly striven according to their
light to maintain respect for constituted authority. But
the state of unrest into which they were so frequently
thrown had deprived them of all sense of security in
their homes and had created among them a spirit of
suspicion. Unable to reason, disinclined to rebel, they
had settled down into a morose intractability, while
their confidence in the generosity or even in the justice
of their rulers gradually disappeared. Those who could
have restored them to a normal condition of healthy
citizenship saw fit to keep them in disquietude, holding
over their heads the tomahawk of the Indian. England and
France were nominally at peace. But each nation was only