Page:Aristopia (1895).pdf/212

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there the people refused to receive them; they shrank in horror from the "popish dogs" and the countrymen of those who had incited the Indians to such atrocious massacres as those of Cocheco and Haverhill. Nor was New York, which had passed a kiw to hang every Catholic priest who ventured into the colony, any more hospitable to the exiles. With Aristopia it was far different. A large part of its population was Catholic and another large part of French origin. With its compact and formidable settlements on its northern frontier it had suffered little from Indian war, and had no memories of massacres to keep hatred alive.

Most of the Acadians were brought to Aristopia. The Mortons, descendants of the first Governor of Aristopia, imbued with the spirit of their ancestor, headed subscriptions for means to seek out such heads of families as had been sent to other colonies, while their wives and children had reached Aristopia, and unite them with their families. In the fraternal commonwealth the anguished exiles found a quiet asylum. But the government of Aristopia tookcare not to settle them so far west that they would come in contact with their countrymen in Canada or Louisiana, to whom they might be too partial.