230 ‘The French in Prince Edward Island

the English. If chased out of Acadia their flocks would be without a shepherd or worse still might be gathered into the English fold. On the other hand if they were timid on behalf of the French they were promptly reprimanded and threatened with disgrace. Even the Abbé Girard who had taken the oath of allegiance to the English was criticized for his deli- eacy, because his conscience which allowed him to withdraw to Isle Saint Jean did not allow him to take an anti-English stand in Cobequid before his departure.*°

But by some strange defect of logic the mission- aries to the Indians were not supposed to be bound by any scruples whatever. Perhaps they were pro- tected by their mobility, although in availing them- selves of it, they departed from their policy of keep- ing the Indians in permanent villages and dragged their Micmac allies about in the wake of the refugees who had crossed the Missaguash. The temperament of the missionaries also had something to do with it. Le Loutre in particular, encouraged by the officials at Ile Royale, and not cautioned to be outwardly neutral by the Bishop of Quebec, flung himself into the fray with abandon. Supplied with presents by Bigot, Desherbiers, and Prevost, he hounded the In- dians against the new English settlers at Halifax in the interests of the state and of religion, and forget- ting the spirit of religion he said, “I shall do my best to make it appear to the English that this design originates with the Indians, and that I had nothing

15 Can. Arch. Report, 1905, Vol. II, App. N, p. 348.