120 The French in Prince Edward Island 
     
    
   
   
    
     But no occasion arose for the use of these muni- 
     
     tions against the English. As the war dragged on 
     
     Isle Saint Jean again dropped into the background. 
     
     De Ramezay ultimately failed to take Annapolis, 
     
     though he surprised Colonel Noble at Grand Pré, or 
     
     even to threaten Louisburg; and the English re- 
     
     mained in peaceable possession of both Ile Royale 
     
     and Isle Saint Jean until the Treaty of Aix-la-Cha- 
     
     pelle in 1748.’ Then, to the utter disgust of the New 
     
     Englanders, Louisburg and its dependencies were 
     
     returned to the French, in exchange for Madras on 
     
     the other side of the world. For the inhabitants of 
     
     both islands this was a fateful decision, for it en- 
     
     couraged them to believe that they could still be an 
     
     asylum for the Acadians and that one day Acadia, 
     
     too, would rejoice in the return of the French flag. 
     
     But as the experiences of the war had convinced the 
     
     English that they had much to fear and little to hope 
     
     from Acadian professions of neutrality, they now set 
     
     their faces to the task of anglicizing Acadia and in 
     
     doing so they hastened toward another war in which 
     
     neither the lack of transports nor the expense with- 
     
     held them from their purpose of “extirpating the 
     
     French from North America.” 
     
    

    
     7 According to Shirley to Newcastle, April 29, 1747, 150 Aca- 
     
    
   
   
    
     dians assisted de Ramezay in his attack upon Noble at Grand 
     
     Pré,