PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 19 meats must have been of a very temporary nature, and there is no record of them. Of ] 4he destruction of the deer and of the forests, there seems no room for doubt THE BRITISH OCCUPATION. The troubles of the French settlers of the Island of St. John's culminated with its oc¬ cupation by the British. Their compatriots had already: been expelled from Nova Scotia , many of them having sought a refuge in the Island. Instructions were given to expel the settlers from St. John's Island, and great numbers were sent away. Some found their way to Quebec , where they were but coldly received, part were sent to the English colo¬ nies further south. Many more sought their motherland. Some of these never reached their haven, and to those who did, we are told by Mr. Stewart , accorded a poor welcome, and blamed them much "for their obstinate hostility to the British govern¬ ment." A good many families, hpwever, con¬ cealed themselves in the woods until the storm had passed, and thus avoided deporta¬ tion, and were afterward allowed to remain. This was more particularly the case with those who were settled in or about Malpeque . Their remoteness from the central settle- ) ments stood them in good stead in this re- ; spect, as they were not in view of the authori- tties and thus were enabled to avoid the de- ] porting force. Their lot was indeed a hard one. Our t sympathy must go forth for these poor, mis- j guided people. At this time little is to be ^gained by discussing their expulsion. Such :a measure would not be thought of in our (day, but we can not judge the middle of the (eighteenth century by twentieth century mdes. That the authorities in Nova Scotia had some reason for stern measures, is evi¬ dent to an unprejudiced student of the period from the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), and who considers the circumstances and conditions of that time. That even these conditions jus¬ tified' the appalling treatment meted out to these unhappy people, will not be asserted. It is inconceivable that a more humane policy would not have accomplished the purpose de¬ sired, namely, to make them peaceable and loyal subjects of the British crown. The ex¬ pulsion furnishes a very gloomy page in the history of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island , a page over which it is not a pleasure to linger. That these people were unwise, goes without saying; that they were ignorant was inseparable from their then surroundings; they had doubtless their faults; their conduct towards their new rul- . ers was not that of wise men, or men of the world. The penalty they paid infinitely out¬ weighed their offence. And yet we wonder at the treatment they received when they went back to their own kin. The spirit, after all, which actuated the poor French settlers was the same spirit which, not so long after¬ wards, impelled a far more enlightened, edu¬ cated and wealthy class of men to abandon their homes in New England , when the re¬ volting colonies had achieved their independ¬ ence, and seek homes in these more north¬ ern lands, where they could still be under their old flag. Love of the empire, in which he had been born and spent his life, was what sent the United Empire Loyalist , a wanderer, from his home. It was the same deep-rooted loyalty to his race and his King that influ¬ enced the poor settler in Nova Scotia and the Island of St. John's. The one left a country where he had long been a dweller, but which had become to him a foreign land, to seek a new home in old Canada , Nova Scotia , New