|
a ACADIAN REBIRTH article
Cultures
of Acadiana |
Lafayette (la) Daily Advertiser, April 27, 1999
Verret urged Acadians to try settlement at Natchez
by Jim Bradshaw
Nicholas Verret, commandant of the Acadian Coast in St. James Parish, was sent by Spanish authorities with the Acadians who were going to Natchez, and he was told to persuade them to stay there.
He reported on his trip to the Gov. Antonio de Ulloa, giving some of the reasons why the Acadians did not want to stay at Fort San Luis de Natchez.
Upon receipt of (Ulloa's) letter, I immediately boarded one of the boats under command of Mister Piernas, commandant at Fort San Luis de Natchez, pursuant to your orders. Your instructional were to accompany the Acadians to their destination, and, during the voyage, to point out to them the great advantages afforded by settlement in this colony.
I have executed your orders, Sir to the best of my ability. I hope that the commandant will render an account of my activities in this matter.
Upon my arrival at Natchez. I took the Acadians on a surveying tour of the land. May I say that I found the land quite suitable for settlement. Nevertheless, the Acadians either through prejudice or obstinacy, refuse to remain here. They all agree that the land is suitable, but too isolated. Their wives and their children would be exposed to Indian harassment, and they themselves would live in constant fear. This would, of course, seriously hamper their settlement there. The other people and I did not fall to point out to them that their so-called fears were unwarranted. I even stated that the king's intentions as well as your own were to facilitate in every way possible their establishment in this colony. In return for their full cooperation. they would always enjoy preferred status among the peoples of the colony. However, all my arguments and everything I deemed appropriate to tell them regarding this matter has been to no avail.
I believe. Sir, that I have done everything possible in this instance. I have repeatedly used every means possible to convince them, yet could not dissuade them.