Massachusetts. General Court. Committee to Examine Charges for Support of French Neutrals.

During the French and Indian War, the inhabitants of the British colony of Nova Scotia known as Acadians were considered of dubious loyalty because of their French origin. Following the British capture of Fort Beauséjour from the French in the spring of 1755, orders were issued to remove these so-called French neutrals from their homes and to transport them to other British colonies, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia.

Upon the arrival of French neutrals in Massachusetts, its General Court appointed a joint committee (Resolves 1755-1756, c 186 (Nov. 7, 1755)), to direct their disposition in the province. Per St 1755-56, c 23 (Dec. 24, 1755), county courts, justices of the peace, local overseers of the poor, or selectmen were directed to employ, bind out, or support such individuals as they would any town inhabitant, but also, as would not be the case for their own indigent citizens, to submit accounts of expenses incurred thereby to the provincial secretary for reimbursement until Apr. 10, 1756.

A second joint committee was appointed per Resolves 1755-56, c 235 (Dec. 27, 1755), to oversee these arrangements until further direction was received from Nova Scotia governor Charles Lawrence or the province's own governor, William Shirley, presently commanding British forces. (A committee appointed per Resolves 1756-57, c 351 (Feb. 14, 1757) did extract a commitment from Lawrence to reimburse the province (c 386 (Feb. 19, 1757; see also Resolves 1756-57, c 521 (Apr. 16, 1757) and Resolves 1757-58, c 327 (Jan. 24, 1758)). The exiles were to remain provincial charges, and their presence in the various towns was not to render them legal inhabitants thereof. These provisions were confirmed on Jan. 16, 1756 (Resolves 1755-1756, c 239) and again on Jan. 24 (Resolves 1755-1756, c 248). St 1755-56, c 35 (Mar. 6, 1756) directed local officials to supply work tools and housing to those exiles who were willing to be self-supporting, and relief to those incapable of work, again submitting accounts to the province for reimbursement of related expenses each June 1, through June 20, 1757. (The act was renewed per St 1757-58, c 7 (June 16, 1757) until Aug. 1, 1757; see also Resolves 1756-57, c 188 (Oct. 13, 1756))

An order of Council (Leg Recs 21: 186 (May 28, 1756)) concurred with by the House appointed a joint committee to reconsider the fate of the French neutrals; its recommendation was that they be allowed to remain in the province (Resolves 1756-57, c 2 (May 28, 1756)). Whereupon a joint committee to examine charges for support of French neutrals was established per Resolves 1756-57, c 15 (May 31, 1756). It was responsible for reviewing all accounts submitted for the support of French neutrals, as well as for proposing some method of easing the charge to the province, and consisted of Council members Samuel Watts and William Brattle and House of Representative members Samuel Welles and (per Resolves 1756-57, c 32 (June 8, 1756)) Joseph Gerrish and Thomas Clapp.

As recommended by this committee, Resolves 1757-58, c 377 (Mar. 18, 1758), provided that the province was through local government to continue to provide housing, and to provide support to the sick, infirm, and aged French neutrals, but that others were to be self-supporting after Apr. 15, 1758. House members were to survey the condition and capabilities of French neutrals in their districts and report back to the General Court at the next session. These provisions were reiterated in Resolves 1758-1759, c 32 (June 14, 1758). Meantime, the 1756 committee was apparently replaced by one of councillors only (Watts, Brattle, and John Chandler), per Council order of June 8, 1758 (Exec Recs 13: 406)

Resolves 1759-60, c 415 (Apr. 19, 1760) addressed the high cost of provincial support of the French neutrals by having them apportioned to the various counties and then towns in accordance with amount of taxes paid by each locality, and making the towns responsible for their support as with any other poor (see also Resolves 1759-60, c 457 (Apr. 25, 1760), and c 477 (Apr. 26, 1760), which adopted the committee report). Resolves 1760-1761, c 118 (Aug. 15, 1760) explicitly designated French neutrals as legal inhabitants of the towns in which they were located. In placing responsibility for support of French neutrals in the hands of the towns, the General Court effectively ended the work of the committee examining charges.

From the description of Accounts, 1756-1760. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79464278