The Acadians.

Mouth of the Madawaska. July.

At the junction of the rivers Madawaska and St. John, and extending for some miles down the latter, is a settlement of about three hundred Acadians. How these people came by the name they bear, I do not exactly understand; but of their history I remember the following particulars. In the year 1755, during the existence of the Colonial difficulties between England and France, there existed, in a remote section of Nova Scotia, about fifteen thousand Acadians. Aristocratic French blood flowed in their veins, and they were a peaceful and industrious race of husbandmen. Even after the Government of England had become established in Canada, they cherished a secret attachment for the laws of their native country. But this was only a feeling; and they continued in the peaceful cultivation of their lands. In process of time, however, three titled Englishmen, named Lawrence, Boscawen, and Mostyn, held a council, and formed the hard-hearted determination of driving this people from their homes, and scattering them to the four quarters of the globe. Playing the part of friends, this brotherhood of conquerors and heroes sent word to the Acadians, that they must all meet at a certain place on business which deeply concerned their welfare.

Not dreaming of their impending fate, the poor Acadians met at the appointed place, and were there informed of the fact, that their houses and lands were forfeited, and that they must leave the country, to become wanderers in strange and distant lands. They sued for mercy, but the iron yoke of a Christian nation was laid more heavily upon their necks, in answer to that prayer, and they were driven from home and country; and as they sailed from shore, or entered the wilderness, they saw in the distance, ascending to heaven, the smoke of all that they had loved and lost. Those who survived, found an asylum in the United States, and in the more remote portions of the British Empire; and when, after the war, they were invited to return to their early home, only thirteen hundred were known to be in existence. It is a remnant of this very people who, with their descendants, are now the owners of the Madawaska settlement; and it is in an Acadian dwelling that I am now penning this paper.

But, owing to their many misfortunes (I would speak in charity), the Acadians have degenerated into a more ignorant and miserable people than are the Canadian French, whom they closely resemble in their appearance and customs. They believe the people of Canada to be a nation of knaves, and the people of Canada know them to be a half savage community. Worshipping a miserable priesthood is their principal business; drinking and cheating their neighbours, their principal amusement. They live by tilling the soil; and are content, if they can barely make the provision of one year take them to the entrance of another. They are, at the same time, passionate lovers of money, and have brought the science of fleecing strangers to perfection. Some of them, by a life of meanness, have succeeded in accumulating a respectable property; but all the money they obtain is systematically hoarded. It is reported of the principal man of this place, that he has in his house, at the present moment, the sum of 10,000 dollars, in silver and gold; and yet this man’s children are as ignorant of the alphabet as the cattle upon the hills. But, with all their ignorance, the Acadians are a happy people; but it is the happiness of a mere animal nature.

The scenery of this place, which does not seem to possess a name, is most agreeable, but its attractive features are of an architectural nature. The first is a block-house, and the second a Catholic church.

The block-house occupies the summit of a commanding and rocky knoll, and was built at a cost of nearly five thousand dollars, for the purpose of defending this portion of New Brunswick, during the existence of the late Boundary difficulty. The edifice is built of stone and timber, and may be described as a square box, placed upon another and a larger one, in a triangular fashion; the width may be thirty feet, and height one hundred and fifty. It is well supplied with port-holes; entered by a wooden flight of stairs, and covered with a tin roof. It contains two stories, besides a well-filled magazine. It is abundantly supplied with guns and cannon, and almost every variety of shot, shells, and balls. It was once occupied by three military companies, (about all that it could possibly hold) but the only human being who now has anything to do with it is a worthy man who officiates as keeper.