Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/270

 Nova Scotia was claimed as an English possession. The little colony of Port Royal did not prosper, and in 1614 an English expedition from Virginia took the fort, destroyed it, and then sailed away. At that time the province was called Acadia, and included the present provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but in 1624 it was given by England to Sir William Alexander, and he named it Nova Scotia. Between 1624 and 1713 Port Royal changed ownership many times, belonging alternately to the English and the French until the treaty of Utrecht, when it passed finally into the possession of the English.

At this time its name was changed to Annapolis, in honor of the English Queen Anne. Not only Port Royal, but all Acadia was by this treaty given to the English. English settlers slowly found their way to the Province, and the city of Halifax was founded in 1749. But the French inhabitants and the Micmac Indians were not satisfied with the change of ownership, and plots against British rule were entered into between the French inside and the French outside the Province. All efforts to get the Acadians to take the oath of allegiance to the British king failed, and as the English settlements in the Province were in constant danger of attacks from the neighboring French and their Indian allies, it was decided to remove the Acadians from their homes and carry them to a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. This severe sentence was carried out in 1755. The sad story of the Expulsion of the Acadians is told in the beautiful and pathetic poem “Evangeline,” by Longfellow. The constant fear of attacks from the French was removed when, in 1758, the strong fortress of Louisburg, in Cape Breton, was captured by Wolfe. The conquest of Canada and the Peace of Paris followed, and Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Prince Edward Island were surrendered to the British. Until 1784, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton formed one Province. Then New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton became separate Provinces, but the last named was.again joined to Nova Scotia in 1819. A Constitution was given to Nova Scotia in 1758, so that it had representative institutions many years before Lower Canada. It was to be governed by a joint Executive and Legislative Council, appointed by the Crown, and by an Assembly elected by the people. This form of Government did not succeed