Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the importance of Isle de Saint Jean increased as an im; 
     
     portant source of supplies for the huge new French colonial bastion at Louisburg. 
     
     By the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Nova Scotia became a possession of Great Britain 
     
     and was later divided into Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Prior to 1720, Isle de 
     
    
   
   
    
     Saint Jean could boast of only nineteen families. 
     
    
   
   
    
     During the War of Austrian Succession which had commenced in 1744, the 
     
     British and the Americans from New England in 1745 captured the French fortress 
     
     at Louisburg and Isle de Saint Jean from the French forces. However, by the Treaty 
     
     of Aix-la—Chapelle in 1748, Isle de Saint Jean and Louisburg were returned to 
     
     France, but Great Britain retained the mainland of Nova Scotia. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In the ceded territory, the inhabitants, being Roman Catholic, remained loyal 
     
     to France. Great Britain sought to change the political complexion of the country by 
     
     bringing in Protestant colonists. The Acadians in Nova Scotia refused to be 
     
     assimilated by this means and finally, in 1755, were forcibly deported into the 
     
    
   
   
    
     English colonies to the south, now the United States. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In 1758, two years after the Seven Years’ War had started, Louisburg was again 
     
     taken by British forces, for the last time. During the same year of 1758, all the 
     
     Acadians on Isle de Saint Jean were removed from the Island by the British with the 
     
     exception of about thirty Acadian families living mostly in the area around Malpe— 
     
     que who escaped. As part of the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the British 
     
     assumed control over Isle de Saint Jean which then became known as St. John’s 
     
     Island. This name persisted, except for a brief interlude in 1780 when it was changed 
     
     to New Ireland, until 1799 when the island became Prince Edward Island in honor of 
     
     Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the Commander of the British troops in Halifax. 
     
    
   
   
    
     While the British appeared to take little interest in the new little colony, Samuel 
     
    
   
   
    
     Holland was appointed as the surveyer to divide the Island into lots, counties and 
     
     towns during 1764-65. When Holland finished his labors, the British Government, 
     
    
   
   
    
     in an official lottery, distributed the lots in 1767 to men who had aided in the 
     
     imperial cause of the British in its tremendous military struggle with the French. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Settlers were thus invited to take possession of the lands and homes vacated by 
     
     the Acadians, liberty of conscience being guaranteed. Those people who flocked in 
     
     from Great Britain were largely Protestants, and many of them were Methodists or 
     
    
   
   
    
     Presbyterians who naturally applied to the countries from which they came to send 
     
     them ministers of their faith. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Alexis Charles De Tocqueville, the great French historian and political theorist, 
     
     (1805-1859) travelled to the New World in an attempt to discover what forces were 
     
     keeping such a variety of settlers together despite their wide differences in religion, 
     
     social customs, race, language, and motivation. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Upon his return to France, De Tocqueville, who was considered the greatest 
     
     political thinker since Montesquieu, set forth his conclusions in the book, De La 
     
     Democratic en Amerique, in 1835. De Tocqueville concluded that although 
     
     democracy equalized social classes and fostered wider political participation, it also 
     
     tended to destroy traditional institutions that could protect individuals from 
     
    
   
   
    
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