to Captain John Handfield
Instructions for Major Handfield, Commanding his Majesty's garrison of
"Sir,
Having in my Letter of the 31st of July last made you acquainted with the reasons which Induced His Majesty's Council to come to the Resolution of sending away the French Inhabitants and clearing the whole Country of such bad subjects, it only remains for me to give you the necessary orders for the putting in practice what has been so solemnly determined.
That the Inhabitants may not have it in their power to return to this Province nor to join in strengthening the French of Canada in Louisbourg; it is resolved that they shall be dispersed among his Majesty's Colonies upon the Continent of America.
For this purpose Transports are ordered to be sent from Boston to
Upon the arrival of the vessels from Boston in the Bason of
And to give you all the ease possible respecting the victualling of these transports, I have appointed Mr. George Sauls to act as agent Victualler upon this occasion and have given him particular instructions for that purpose with a copy of which he will furnish you upon his arrival at
The destination of the Inhabitants of
To be sent to
To be sent to
To be sent to
And To be sent to
When the people are embarked you will please to give the master of each vessel one of the letters of which you will receive a number signed by me of which you will address to the Governor of the Province or the Commander in Chief for the time being where they are to be put on shore and enclose therein the printed form of the Certificate to be granted to the Masters of the vessels to entitle them to their hire as agreed upon by Charter party; and with these you will give each of the Masters their sailing orders in writing to proceed according to the above destination, and upon their arrival immediately to wait upon the Governors or Commanders in Chief of the Provinces for which they are bound with the said Letters and to make all possible dispatch in debarking their passengers and obtain certificates thereof agreeable to the form aforesaid.
And you will in these orders make it a particular injunction to the said Masters to be as careful and watchful as possible during the whole course of the passage to prevent the passengers making any attempt to seize upon the vessel by allowing only a small number to be upon the decks at a time and using all other necessary precautions to prevent the bad consequence of such attempts; and that they be particularly careful that the Inhabitants carry no arms nor other offensive weapons on board with them at their embarkation. As also that they see the provisions regularly issued to the people agreeable to the allowance proportioned in Mr. George Saul's instructions.
You will use all the means proper and necessary for collecting the people together so as to get them on board. If you find that fair means will not do with them, you must proceed by the most vigorous measures possible, not only in compelling them to embark, but in depriving those who shall escape of all means of shelter or support by burning their houses and destroying everything that may afford them the means of subsistence in the country, and if you have not force sufficient to perform this service, Colonel Winslow at Mines or the Commanding Officer there will upon your application send you a proper reinforcement.
You will see by the Charter partys of the vessels taken up at
As soon as the people are shipped and the transports are ready you will acquaint the Commander of His Majesty's Ship therewith that he may take them under his convoy and put to sea without loss of time."
– Sir Charles Lawrence, Orders to Major John Handfield
2 comments:
Sadly,I know a friend of mine who is descended from the Winslow family,their ancestor being the Colonel's brother,and they were completely shocked when I told them of his role in this terrible
scheme. Lawrence was a cruel and ruthless man and Winslow and the others under him were useless puppets,who I believe didn't understand the magnamity of the situation until it was long over.
Thank you for your message. Unfortunately much of what we read in Winslow's Journal is quite shocking. I wonder if the Winslow family has read his journal. I must say though that it is thanks to his journal that we have a detailed account of the take over and subsequent deportation that took place at Grand-Pré.
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