134 THEISLAND ACADIANS

command respect. According to the young writer, it was in the interest of the Acadians on the Island to rally behind the French-Canadians under a central government that would be more understanding with regard to Francophones. “Why, he wrote, would we not go where our old grievances will be redressed and where we would find justice and equality?” (TR)

We have quoted many times articles that appeared in the Moniteur Acadien. It would be impossible to overemphasize the importance of this newspaper, founded in 1867, as a voice for Acadians. Indeed, most of the Acadian elite on the Island subscribed to this first news- paper. Members of the elite regularly contributed articles and letters related to the important political debates of the moment and to specific Acadian issues. They discussed in particular the lack of Acadian representatives in government, the importance of political unity, and the scarcity of Acadians in the public service.

POLITICAL PATRONAGE

One very political question that the Acadians were brandishing at this time, in the English as well as the French press, was their representation in the civil service. Already for many years these posi- tions, paid out of the public Treasury, were distributed after elections to the supporters of the party in power. For a long time, lack of education had prevented Acadians from occupying their share of these positions. After 1860, however, this was no longer a problem since the number of Acadians with the necessary education was constantly increasing. In 1870, an Acadian from Tignish complained openly that public offices were granted almost exclusively to Englishmen in the Acadian parishes”.

The subject of public offices came up again after the coalition government was formed in 1870. The Acadians expected to be re- warded by the new government that their two members had helped form. As usual, the appointments took a long time. One Acadian did not hesitate in exposing in the press the grievances that were annoying Acadians of all political persuasions:

Now sir, when the present Government was formed, I was under the impression that from the support it got from our Acadian Representatives that we would