National Independence based upon civil and religious liberty, finally prevailed over sectional prejudice and intolerance. The loyalist pastor was a far better republican than his radical inquisitors.
[Since the paper upon Lancaster and the Acadiens was published in The Bay State Monthly for April, I have been favored with the perusal of Captain Abijah Willard's "Orderly Book," through the courtesy of its possessor, Robert Willard, m.d., of Boston, who found it among the historical collections of his father, Joseph Willard, Esq. The volume contains, besides other interesting matter, a concise diary of experiences during the military expedition of 1755 in Nova Scotia; from which it appears that the Lancaster company was prominently engaged in the capture of Forts Lawrence and Beau Séjour. Captain Willard, though not at Grand Pré, was placed in command of a detachment which carried desolation through the villages to the westward of the Bay of Minas; and the diary affords evidence that this warfare against the defenceless peasantry was revolting to that gallant officer; and that, while obedient to his positive orders, he tempered the cruelty of military necessity with his own humanity.
The full names of his subalterns, not given in the list from General Winslow's Journal, are found to be
"Joshua Willard, Lieutenant, Moses Haskell, „ Caleb Willard, Ensign."
Of the Lancaster men, Sergeant James Houghton died, and William Hudson was killed, in Nova Scotia.
The diary is well worthy of being printed complete. h.s.n.]
LOUIS ANSART.
By Clara Clayton.
One of the notable citizens of Revolutionary times was Colonel Louis Ansart. He was a native of France, and came to America in 1776, while our country was engaged in war with England. He brought with him credentials from high officials in his native country, and was immediately appointed colonel of artillery and inspector-general of the foundries, and engaged in casting cannon in Massachusetts. Colonel Ansart understood the art to great perfection; and it is said that some of his cannon and mortars are still serviceable and valuable. Foundries were then in operation in Bridgewater and Titicut, of which he had charge until the close of the Revolutionary War.
Colonel Ansart was an educated man—a graduate of a college in France—and of a good family. It is said that he conversed well in seven different languages.
His father purchased him a commission of lieutenant at the age of fourteen years; and he was employed in military service by his native country and the United States, and held a commission until the close of the Revolutionary War, when he purchased a farm in Dracut and resided there until his death. He returned to France three times after he first came to this country,
