The following year, on Friday, 20 April 1750, Charles Lawrence with a fleet of seven warships, decided to make an incursion into the Basin of Chignecto in order to assess the state of the place and the reaction of the Habitants. He had with him Charles Leblanc of Grand Pré and Mr. Landry, the deputy of the Basin of Mines, who Lawrence forced to come aboard in order to have him try to convince the Habitants of the region to co-operate with the English. But the expedition was a failure.
In order to assure docility of his "guests", Lawrence had ordered Captain Handfield, who was still commander of the Grand Pré's fort, to place in custody Mrs. Landry and her children. Some hostages! The adventure ended with the return of the ships on April 26 and the release of the hostages
In 1752 John returned to Annapolis, where there was neither a chaplain for the garrison nor a clergyman in the county, it was the duty of the military commander to perform the marriages. Accordingly, on August 15, 1752,Governor Hopson appointed John Handfield, Justice of the Peace for the Province, with full power and authority to officiate at the marriage of his own daughter, Mary, to Lieutenant John Hamilton, who had just been released by ransom after his capture at Grand Pré in 1749.
During November of 1753, the Council of the Province informed Captain Handfield that the administration of the public affairs had been taken over by The Honourable Charles Lawrence. The confirmation of this nomination was sent from Whitehall, England, on 04 April 1754 and received in Halifax 13 June 1754. After that date, things happened quickly.
August 1 Lawrence informed the Lords of the Commerce and the Colonies that he
was going to deport the Acadians.
July 13, 1755, the Deputies of the French Habitants of the Annapolis valley,
in compliance with an order of Lawrence, arrived at the Fort with a petition
signed by 207 Habitants and surrendered their firearms to Major Handfield, who
they called: "Our very worthy commander". This phrase of the petition
has great significance, as we will see later.
July 31, only 18 days after the Habitants turned in their weapons, and without
having received any approval from London, Lawrence wrote to each military governor
of the various counties of Acadia explaining the reasons for his motive and
decision. On 11 August 1755, the deportation order was given.
Lawrence's orders to Major Handfield began:
Instructions for Major Handfield, Commanding his Majesty's garrison of Annapolis Royal relative to the transportation of the Inhabitants of the districts of Annapolis River and other French Inhabitants out of the Province of Nova Scotia.
A computer enhanced copy of the deportation order's first page appears in the box below. The complete text is shown in Appendix 3.
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