Rebirth of the French Colony 145

was jealously guarded until it should multiply suff- ciently to feed Louisburg. The older inhabitants, handicapped by a succession of crop failures, were denied rations, while all around them were widows and orphans whose misery compelled them to share what little they had. At the same time they saw their holdings threatened by the new arrivals in view of the fact that no proper survey had been made and that the refugees were being settled among them on lands that were probably theirs by right of possession or at any rate on lands that should have been pre- empted for the natural expansion of their own families. Though a number of new settlements were being created there was still enough incompetency and injustice in the distribution of the lands to cause bitter heartburnings and strife, and at the same time they missed the consolation and advice of their clergy. But the officials at a distance found ground for felicitating themselves on the numbers who had been seduced from their allegiance to the English; and, while deploring the quantity of provisions needed, counted not the cost to the Acadian exiles

who were but pawns in a heartless game of impe- rialism.