so far from Halifax as to be in a great measure out of the protection of the English Government, which was not our case ; we were separated from them by sixty miles of uncultivated land, and had no other connection with them than what is usual with neighbors at such a distance ; and we can truly say, we looked on their defection from Your Majesty’s interest with great pain and anxiety. Nevertheless, not long before our being made prisoners, the house in which we kept our contracts, records, deeds, etc., was invested with an armed force, and all our papers violently carried away, none of which have to this day been returned us, whereby we are in a great measure deprived of means of making our innocence and the justness of our complaints appear in their true light.
Upon our sending a remonstrance to the Governor and Council, of the violence that had been offered us by the seizure of our papers, and the groundless fears the Government appeared to be under on our account, by their taking away our arms, no answer was returned to us ; but those who had signed the remonstrance, and some time after sixty more, in all about eighty of our elders, were summoned to appear before the Governor in Council, which they immediately complied with ; and it was required of them that they should take the oath of allegiance without the exemption which, during a course of nearly fifty years, has been granted to us and to our fathers, of not being obliged to bear arms, and which was the principal condition upon which our ancestors agreed to remain in Nova Scotia, when the rest of the inhabitants evacuated the country ; which, as it was contrary to our inclination and judgment, we thought ourselves engaged in duty absolutely to refuse. Nevertheless, we freely offered, and would gladly have renewed our oath of fidelity, but this was not accepted, and we were all immediately made prisoners, and were told by the Governor, that our estates, both real and personal, were forfeited for Your Majesty’s use. As to those who remained at home, they were summoned to appear before the commanders in the forts, which we showing some fear to comply with, on account of the seizure of our papers, and imprisonment of so many of our elders, we had the greatest assurance given us, that there was no other design but to make us renew our former oath of fidelity ; yet, as soon as we were within the fort, the same judgment was passed on us as had been passed on our brethren at Halifax, and we were also made prisoners.
Thus, notwithstanding the solemn grants made to our fathers by General Philipps, and the declaration made by Governor Shirley and M. Mascarene in Your Majesty’s name, that it was Your Majesty’s resolution to protect and maintain all such of us as should continue in their duty and allegiance to Your Majesty, in the quiet and peaceable possession of their settlements, and the enjoyment of all their rights and privileges as Your Majesty’s subjects ; we found ourselves at once deprived of our liberties, without any judicial process, or even without any accusers appearing against us, and this solely grounded on mistaken jealousies and false suspicions that we are inclinable to take part with
