It is now known as the Annapolis Valley, a
fertile region dotted by the homesteads of a happy and contented
people. These people, however, are not French in race nor do they
live under a French Government. When on the 24th of September,
1710, the fleet from Boston entered the basin, and in doing so
lost a ship and more than a score of men through the destructive
current, the decisive moment had come for all that region. Fate
had decreed that the land should not remain French but should
become English.
Port Royal was at that time a typical French community of the New
World. The village consisted of some poor houses made of logs or
planks, a wooden church, and, lying apart, a fort defended by
earthworks. The Governor, Subercase, was a brave French officer.
He ruled the little community with a despotism tempered only by
indignant protests to the King from those whom he ruled when his
views and theirs did not coincide. The peasants in the village
counted for nothing. Connected with the small garrison there were
ladies and gentlemen who had no light opinion of their own
importance and were so peppery that Subercase wished he had a
madhouse in which to confine some of them.
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