236 The French in Prince Edward Island

niary aid of all our friends,” says Professor Blanch- ard, “we soon hope to see several priests, doctors, lawyers, and other Acadian professional men, set out from colleges and universities and march to the de- fence of our religion, our race and our rights.”

This attempt to improve the lot of the Acadians, who were exploited and then heartlessly abandoned by the French, and hitherto more or less ignored or neglected by the British, must command the sympa- thy and receive the assistance of all who strive after knowledge and get wisdom. But the passion and fervor with which Professor Blanchard sets forth the present condition and past history of the Acadians suggest a danger which he and his countrymen would do well to ponder. It would be very unwise in pursuit of a commendable object, the stimulation of the present generation to intellectual and cultural activity, to instil into their minds the idea of seeking revenge against the present English-speaking in- habitants of Prince Edward Island, for a wrong done by imperial rivalries in the past. Such a course would be mutually destructive, but above all disastrous to the Acadians themselves. Nor is it well in reviewing the history of their sorrows to dwell only upon the drastic steps taken by the British in 1755 and 1758, and to ignore the equally drastic measures taken by Le Loutre at Beaubassin and by La Jonquiére in the Isthmus of Chignecto, as well as the hardship and suffering of the years 1749-1758 in Isle Saint Jean and New Brunswick, due to the unwise policy and unfulfilled promises of the French. Nor should one