In his base and tyrannous invasion of Port Royal.
Before his attack on this quiet, peaceful station, he had shown greatest
treachery at Somes Sound, Mt. Desert, where he stole Saussaye's
commission and cast adrift in an open boat fifteen of the colonists.
Poutrincourt's son, Biencourt, was now Governor of Acadia, and stationed
at Port Royal. He endeavored to make terms with Argall, and offered to
divide with him the proceeds of the fur trade and the mines; but this
was refused, and the settlement broken up, some of the unfortunate
Frenchmen joining Champlain at Quebec, some scattering into the woods
among the Indians, while others were carried to England and from thence
demanded by the French ambassador. Thus, after only a little more than
eight years from the time of settlement, the colony was entirely broken
up.
En passant: A friend of ours, who with his family passed a summer in New
Hampshire, "at the roots of the White Mountains", as someone expressed
it, surprised an old farmer by asking the names of hills in sight from
that particular locality. The reply was, "I dono, and I dono as I care;
but you city folks, when you come here, are allers askin' questions." We
conclude that we are liable to be classed in a similar category; and, in
fact, the Dabbler when sketching one day is asked, "Ain't some of your
party writing a book?" The interrogator's mind is set at rest by being
answered that the reason we have become animated notes of interrogation
is because we are interested in the history of the old town; but it is
fearful to think for what that innocent lad is responsible: putting
notions in people's heads, and causing this volume to be inflicted on a
suffering world!
To return to our subject. The olive branch was not yet to be the emblem
of this spot, now so peaceful, for a colony of Scotch people were next
routed (1628), and the place left in ruins, when a season of quiet
ensued; but this was virtually the commencement of the French and
English wars in North America, continuing, with slight intermissions,
until the treaty of 1763, by which France gave up her possessions in
America.
In 1634 Port Royal fell into French hands again, when Claude de Razilly
was Governor, and here for a short time lived La Tour, one of his
lieutenants, who kept up such bitter feuds with D'Aulnay, who held like
position to his own, and whose story Whittier relates in his poem, "St.
John, 1647".
Madatae de la Tour must have been one of the earliest advocates of
women's rights, as she so bravely held the fort of St. John in her
husband's absence.
"'But what of my lady?'
Cried Charles of Estienne
On the shot-crumbled turret
Thy lady was seen
Half veiled in the smoke cloud
Her hand grasped thy pennon,
While her dark tresses swayed
In the hot breath of cannon,
Of its sturdy defenders,
Thy lady alone
Saw the cross-blazoned banner
Float over St John.
Alas for thy lady!
No service from thee
Is needed by her
Whom the Lord hath set free:
Nine days, in stern silence,
Her thralldom she bore,
But the tenth morning came
And Death opened her door'"
Hannay says she was "the first and greatest of Acadian heroines, - a
woman whose name is as proudly enshrined in the history of this land as
that of any sceptered queen in European story."
For a long series of years this post of Port Royal was the bone of
contention between the French and English; the fort, being held for a
time by one power, then by the other, representing the shuttle-cock when
these contending nations battled at her doors. In 1654 the place was
held by the French under Le Borgne. An attack by the English was
successful, though the French were well garrisoned and provisioned.
In De Razilly's time La Tour, who might have been satisfied with his
possessions at St. John, assailed it; then English pirates took the
fishing fleet (1684); next Sir William Phipps captured and pillaged the
fort in 1690. Shortly after this, pirates from the West Indies plundered
the place; and in 1691 it again fell into the hands of the French under
De Villebon. It was still to undergo two sieges in 1707, when, under
Subercase, the besiegers were repulsed; and in 1710 seven ships with
English marines bombarded the fort for several days. The garrison at
last, being in starving condition, were forced to yield; and the victors
christened the place Annapolis Royal, in honor of their sovereign then
reigning in Great Britain.
The subjugation of this part of "New France" made Nova Scotia an English
province; and for a time this realm might have answered to the
description of Rasselas's Happy Valley; the thrifty, honest people
relieved from "wars and rumors of wars", and taking up the quiet,
contented routine of every-day life.
"Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way."
But in 1744 the reign of siege and terror began again, and the town was
destroyed by bombardment and incendiary fires, when, for nearly three
months, Laloutre and Duvivier besieged the fort. The garrison, augmented
by troops from Louisburg, and assisted by provisions and men from
Boston, finally repulsed their assailants. The next year there was
another assault under De Ramezay, which was unsuccessful; and after the
dispersion of the Acadians (1755), the much-fought-over place was
allowed to remain in quiet until 1781, when two American ships-of-war
sailed up the river at night. Their forces, taking the fort by surprise,
robbed the houses, after imprisoning the people in the old block-house.
Since that time the English have retained possession of this much
disputed territory; the fort has been unarmed and unoccupied (by
military force) since 1850, when the Rifle Brigade were stationed here;
but the tedium of garrison life proving still more irksome here, and
desertions being frequent, the fort was abandoned as a military post.
