Brunswick and Maine to which the name Acadia had for a century been applied. The French built a fort on the Missequash River near the New Brunswick frontier. The English built Fort Lawrence to offset it. In 1755, though peace had been confirmed between the mother countries seven years before, troops from Boston set out from Fort Lawrence and captured the French garrison at Beauséjour. During the assault the Neutrals of Chignecto were forced to give assistance to the French, and for this, all the Acadians were placed under suspicion of treachery. Though pressed to do so they still refused, each one, to take an oath which should involve their having to fight against either the French or the English. At the same time they were the prey of bigoted ecclesiastics to whom their untutored minds turned for instruction, and among whom the Government had out-spoken enemies.
In the early part of 1755 came the peremptory demand of Governor Lawrence that the Acadians of every district should surrender their weapons to the commandants of neighbouring forts. Says one Canadian writer, "For forty years they had been treated by England with a patience which had long ceased to be a virtue. . . . They refused to take the oath of allegiance, which they were legally bound to do, or to allow themselves to be considered otherwise than enemies. Allied with the Indians, and disguised as Indians, some of their
