20 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 
     
    
   
   
    
     in general over the whole extent of the country had resolved 
     
     not to take the oath.” To this the Governor replied that by 
     
     the treaty of Utrecht, all who remained in Acadia became 
     
     subjects of the Crown of England, and that they were deceiving 
     
     themselves if they supposed that it lay with them whether they 
     
     would be subjects to the King or not. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Meanwhile, on the 3rd july, 1755, fifteen deputies from the 
     
     Acadian settlements appeared before Governor Lawrence at 
     
     Halifax; he advised them that a very fair opportunity presented 
     
     itself for them to manifest the reality of their obedience to the 
     
     Government by taking the oath of allegiance, to which they 
     
     replied that they did not come prepared for that. Already 
     
     warned of the consequence which their refusal to take the oath 
     
     of allegiance would entail upon them, which meant on the one‘ 
     
     side the full enjoyment of their lands, the free exercise of their 
     
     religion, and on the other forfeiture of property and exile, 
     
     they choose the latter, and having done so, there seems no 
     
     reason why they or their advocates should complain of the 
     
     misfortunes which were the results of their deliberate choice. 
     
     The Government, said Lawrence, in his reply to the deputies, 
     
     have been more lenient to your people than even the settlers 
     
     themselves could expect. The determination to remove them 
     
     was then taken, and arrangements were made as seemed neces- 
     
     sary, so as to prevent them from again molesting the English 
     
     in colonizing the Province. Thus their persistence—of some 
     
     forty years—had led them blindly but surely to the summit of 
     
     a mighty precipice, as it were, and they were placed on board 
     
     of various transport vessels for conveyance to different parts of 
     
     the continent. The total number so removed was somewhat 
     
     in excess of three thousand. Of these some were 
     
     sent to Boston, others to New York, Pennsylvania. Virginia, 
     
     Maryland, the Carolines, and some to the British West Indies. 
     
     They were allowed to carry with them their ready money and 
     
     household furniture, all other property being confiscated. Of 
     
     those who landed in the far off south many returned in the course 
     
     of a few months, others after some years,—-thus the great bulk 
     
     of the exiles succeeded in reaching the land of their birth and 
     
     re-settled in the country. 
     
    
   
   
    
     At Chignecto, where the settlers were most numerous, the 
     
     work of removmg the inhabitants met with no success. When 
     
     the authoritles tried to collect them together it was found that