140 'The French in Prince Edward Island

the younger Gautier they gave another reason, say- ing that to die of hunger at home or in Isle Saint Jean was much the same thing.” Consequently they remained to swell the lists of 1753-1755. At the same time the inhabitants on the Isthmus were being taken severely in hand by the French and were to find that the title neutral French, however useful as a catch phrase in Acadia, was not to be relied upon on French soil, for, owing to the fact that some of the Acadians did not wish to bear arms in 1751, de la Jonquiére issued a proclamation that all those who within eight days did not take the oath of allegiance to the French King and enroll themselves in the mili- tia would be declared rebels and chased from their lands.” This proclamation should be remembered by the Acadians, if not as an extenuating circumstance of the Expulsion, at any rate as interesting parallel reading. The French allowed only eight days to de- cide without debate, and the possibility of bearing arms was immediate. The French were in a state of war of their own making and might be engaged in actual hostilities at any moment; whereas bearing arms with the English would have been a remote con- tingency as it was only a guarantee of neutrality of the heart that they wished, knowing that such a state would in itself be sufficient to deter the French from invasion. As a matter of fact this severity of the French led some of the Acadians who had migrated

20 C11 IV, Vol. 30, pp. 17-22. 21 Jan. Arch. Report, 1905, Vol. II, App. N, p. 840.