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Mr. Landry’s Reply to Mr. Piers
[Free Press, Dec. 16, 1898.]
In reply to Mr. Piers’ letter, which appeared in last issue of the Free Press, asking us to cite the passages to which we took exception in his article on “D’Anville’s Expedition,” published in the September number of “Supplementary Reading in Canadian History,” and to which we editorially referred in our issue of November 4, we would refer him to page 72-“Ramesay with a force of nearly seven hundred men had been sent from Canada under orders to co-operate with d’Anville, and his presence in the country tended to embolden the Acadians, whose animosity to the English had been stimulated to the utmost by LeLoutre and his emmisaries" (The italics are ours.) Also, on page 74.—“Finally, in sheer desperation,the crew demanded of Mr. Destrahoudal, the captain, that five British prisoners should be butchered and their flesh given to the starving seamen.”
We have never yet met any proof that the Acadiens of Grand Pré and Port Royal were influenced by Le Loutre, or “emboldened” to make any hostile movements, or commit any breach of their oath against the English, for the Acadiens did nothing to justify those fears.
As to the story of d’Anville’s ill-fated expedition, that his men wanted to kill the English prisoners for food, is new to us.
V. A. LANDRY.