Not necessarily intolerance

To the Editor:

In his column of Sept. 18, Ed Coleman attributes an Act of 1758 to suppress Poperey to religious intolerance. It’s clear, from the wording of the quoted passage, that Catholic Church officials and/or the activities of these officials were considered to be undesirable by the Protestant authorities.

To grasp possible reasons for this attitude, one must rewind time 249 years back to the context of 1758. It was a time of war between England and France.

But even in times of peace, Catholic officials in the Atlantic region acted as agents for the French military. Consider, for example, a letter written by Abbie Le Loutre to the minister of marine in France July 29, 1749 (The Atlantic Region to Confederation: A History, eds. P. A. Buckner and J. G. Reid, 1994).

This letter says, in part, 'As we cannot openly oppose the English ventures, I think... (we should)... incite the Indians to continue warring on the English; my plan is to persuade the

Indians to send word to the English that they will not permit new settlements to be made in Acadia...'.

Is there any reason to suppose that Catholic officials would be less active, as agents for the French military, in a time of war ?

Even with this fragment of context in mind, the attitude of the Protestant authorities seems prudent.

In addition, the historical tendency of Catholics to persecute Protestants, as described in H. Eells (Europe Since 1500, 1935) may have added an element of unease.

And memories of the nearly successful attempt to expel all English from Newfoundland in 1696-97 by attacking the isolated settlements with a force of French, Acadian, Micmac and Abenakis, in which more than 100 English were killed, many more captured and almost 500 deported to England or France (p. 84, The Atlantic Region to Confederation: A History, eds. P. A. Buckner and J. G. Reid, 1994) would still have been fresh.

The Newfoundland and European experiences were warnings that the Protestant colonies in North America might be obliterated, if they were to become vulnerable. So prudence, coupled with a desire to win the war and protect the English Colonies, probably ranked higher than mean-spirited religious intolerance.

Shortly after the war ended in 1763, a mere five years after the act of 1758, Acadians were invited to return to the region. Strange behavior for a government allegedly afflicted with religious intolerance.

Yours truly

David H. Webster

Kentville