Rebirth of the French Colony 129

and this comprised, according to their claims, not only Ile Royale and Isle Saint Jean but the territory from Bay Verte to Gaspé, including the River St. John, which Cornwallis had been specifically in- structed to appropriate. The question of the limits of Acadia had dragged on since the Treaty of Utrecht and as it proved was not to be settled until the Treaty of Paris. In the meantime the confusion enabled the French to take temporary possession of the Isthmus of Chignecto and to foster settlement at Chipody, Petitcodiac, Memramcook, Shediac, Co- cagne, and to control the St. John Valley by troops from Canada in alliance with the Indians.

A memorandum read before the King of France on August 29, 1749, shows both the excitement among the French in regard to the founding of Halifax, and the means which they proposed to adopt to hamper the British in their attempts to settle Acadia and anglicize the Acadians. The writer points out that the English would multiply under the protection of a garrison; that the Aca- dians, who had always retained the desire and the hope of returning under the dominion of France, would be compelled to renounce both, and to sub- mit themselves seriously and for all time to the English, while the French would no longer have any effective means of retaking the country ; that Aca- dia would become dangerous to Canada and to Ile Royale in particular, since, in addition to the forces that would be formed among the colonists, English men-of-war would have a base both against Ile Roy-