The smaller articles, many of which were taken from the
merchants and from such of the settlers as refused the oath, were
packed in hogsheads and sent on board the ships. Phips took no
measures to secure his conquest, though he commissioned a president
and six councillors, chosen from the inhabitants, to govern the
settlement till farther orders from the crown or from the authorities
of Massachusetts. The president was directed to constrain nobody in
the matter of religion; and he was assured of protection and support
so long as he remained "faithful to our government," that is, the
government of Massachusetts. [Footnote: _Journal of the Expedition,
etc._] The little Puritan commonwealth already gave itself airs of
sovereignty.
Phips now sent Captain Alden, who had already taken possession of
Saint-Castin's post at Penobscot, to seize upon La Heve, Chedabucto,
and other stations on the southern coast. Then, after providing for
the reduction of the settlements at the head of the Bay of Fundy, he
sailed, with the rest of the fleet, for Boston, where he arrived
triumphant on the thirtieth of May, bringing with him, as prisoners,
the French governor, fifty-nine soldiers, and the two priests, Petit
and Trouve. Massachusetts had made an easy conquest of all Acadia; a
conquest, however, which she had neither the men nor the money to
secure by sufficient garrisons.
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