They rendered no military service, paid no taxes,
and had the country to themselves as completely as if there had
been no British conquest. They rarely saw a British official. If
they asked the British Governor at Annapolis to settle for them
some vexed question of rights or ownership he did so and they did
not even pay a fee.
This is not, however, the whole story. England's neglect of the
colony was France's opportunity. Perhaps the French court did not
follow closely what was going on in Acadia. The successive French
Governors of Canada at Quebec were, however, alert; and their
policy was to incite the Abenaki Indians on the New England
frontier to harass the English settlements, and to keep the
Acadians an active factor in the support of French plans. The
nature of French intrigue is best seen in the career of Sebastien
Rale. He was a highly educated Jesuit priest. It was long a
tradition among the Jesuits to send some of their best men as
missionaries among the Indians. Rale spent nearly the whole of
his life with the Abenakis at the mission station of Norridgewock
on the Kennebec River.
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