Scotia after the articles signed at Utrecht had given the territory to Great Britain in 1713, purposely evaded their pledges, connived with the French of Cape Breton and Canada, and hearkened to the treasonable admonition of priests to spy upon and betray their masters. French and Acadian authors present the Neutrals as a people of integrity, desirous of peace, and possessed of tragic and unparalleled forbearance under conditions which would have roused another race to revolution and blood-shed.
The traveller's attitude toward the story of the exiles will largely depend upon the historical documents to which he has had recourse. If one has had access to recent revelations that have been gleaned from records hitherto suppressed or neglected, his sympathies will go without reserve to the simple folk whose industry and devotion to church and home were proverbial, and who, according to authentic accounts, would have evaded trouble by withdrawing from English territory to French had they been permitted to depart with their cattle and their household goods untrammelled by harsh stipulations.
They wished to secure themselves against the necessity of bearing arms against the French with whom the English were almost constantly at war. They agreed to submit themselves to the representatives of the British Sovereign and "to do no hostile act against the right of His Majesty while
