Great Britain Acquires Nova Scotia – 2

In the year 1710 great preparations were made for the conquest of Canada and Nova Scotia.

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Time: 1710
Place: Port Royal, Nova Scotia

In the year 1710 great preparations were made for the conquest of Canada and Nova Scotia. The New York House of Assembly sent a petition to Queen Anne, praying for such assistance as would expel the French entirely from the country. Colonel Vetch is said to have inspired this application and to have submitted to the British government a plan of attack. Promises of liberal support are said to have been made, which, however, the government was tardy in affording.

The command of the New England forces was entrusted to Francis Nicholson, who was appointed Governor of New England, under Sir Edmund Andros, in 1688, being Governor of New York in 1689 and in the following year Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia. In 1692 he was transferred to the government of Maryland and in 1698 sent back to Virginia as Governor-in-Chief, at which time he held the rank of colonel in the army. Nicholson was an earnest advocate of a confederation of the British North American provinces for purposes of defense, to which the people of Virginia were popularly opposed.

Nicholson sailed from Boston on September 18, 1710, with a fleet of about thirty-six vessels, including five transports from England, conveying a considerable force, composed of troops supplied by Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, which arrived at Port Royal on September 24th. Subercase was not in a condition to resist so formidable a force; hence we find him writing to the French minister that the garrison is dispirited and praying for assistance in men and money. The strait to which he was reduced is indicated by the following passage: “I have had means,” he says, “by my industry to borrow wherewith to subsist the garrison for these two years. I have paid what I could by selling all my movables. I will give even to my last shirt but I fear that all my pains will prove useless if we are not succored during the month of March or early in April, supposing the enemy should let us rest this winter.”

But it was far from the intention of the enemy to let them rest; for three days after the dispatch of the communication in which the passage quoted occurred, Nicholson sent a summons to the Governor requiring the immediate delivery of the fort and in the event of non-compliance, expressing his resolution to reduce it by force of her majesty’s arms. No reply having been sent to the summons, Nicholson prepared to land his troops, to which Subercase offered no resistance, as he could not trust the garrison beyond the walls of the fort on account of the discontent induced by the universal conviction of their inability to oppose the English, who mustered to the number of upward of three thousand, exclusive of seamen, to which force the Governor could not oppose more than three hundred fighting men. In the meantime the garrison became disorganized and many desertions took place, when the Governor, yielding to necessity, opened a communication with Nicholson with the view to capitulation.

The articles were, in the circumstances, highly favorable to the garrison. They provided that the soldiers should march out with their arms and baggage, drums beating and colors flying; that they should be conveyed to Rochelle and that the inhabitants within three miles of Port Royal should be permitted to remain on their lands, with their corn, cattle and furniture, for two years, if so disposed, on their taking the oath of allegiance to the Queen of Great Britain. The destitute condition of the garrison was manifested by their tattered garments and absence of provisions necessary to sustain them even for a few days. In conformity with the terms of the capitulation four hundred eighty men in all were transported to Rochelle, in France. A garrison, consisting of two hundred marines and two hundred fifty New England volunteers, was left in Port Royal, under Colonel Vetch, as governor — General Nicholson returning to Boston with the fleet.

The English, sensible of the disastrous consequences resulting from the policy hitherto adopted of abandoning Port Royal after having taken repeated possession of it, had now resolved to retain it permanently. The Acadians were alarmed at the indications of permanent occupancy which they witnessed and evinced a degree of hostility which caused the Governor to adopt such measures as were calculated to convince them that they must act in virtue of their temporary allegiance to the British crown, as became faithful subjects. The restraints imposed were galling to the French and they dispatched a messenger with a letter to the Governor of Canada, referring to their general misery under British rule and praying to be furnished with the means of leaving a country where they could not enjoy absolute freedom but the letter contained no specific charges.

In the hope of regaining the fort and impressed with the importance in the mean time of intensifying Indian hostility to English rule, the Canadian Governor sent messengers to the French missionaries to exert their influence in that direction. The consequence was that parties sent out to cut wood were attacked and that travelling beyond the fort was rendered dangerous. Eighty men sent from the garrison on that service were attacked by the Indians, who killed about thirty of the party, taking the rest prisoners. Vaudreuil, the Governor of Canada, had made preparations to assist in the recapture of the fort but intelligence of a strong force being in preparation to attack Canada prevented the accomplishment of his purpose.

General Nicholson, on leaving Port Royal, went to England, for the purpose of inducing the Government to adopt measures for the thorough conquest of Canada, preparations for that end being in progress in New England. His appeal was cordially responded to and a fleet of twelve line-of-battleships, with storeships and transports and having eight regiments and a train of artillery on board, the whole commanded by Admiral Walker, left England on April 28, 1711, arriving in Boston, June 25th. If his formidable force, which consisted of sixty-eight vessels in all, having about six thousand fighting-men on board, left Boston on July 30th, arriving at Gaspé, August 18th, where wood and water were taken in. They sailed thence on the 20th.

Continued.

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