CONFERENCES WITH RESPECT TO NOVA SCOTIA BROKE UP.

While the powers on the continent of Europe were thus employed in strengthening their respective interests, and concerting measures for preventing any interruption of the general tranquillity, matters were fast ripening to a fresh rupture between the subjects of Great Britain and France, in different parts of North America. We have already observed that commissaries had been appointed, and conferences opened at Paris, to determine the disputes between the two crowns, relating to the boundaries of Nova Scotia; and we took notice in general of the little arts of evasion practised by the French commissaries, to darken and perplex the dispute, and elude the pretensions of his Britannic majesty. They persisted in employing these arts of chicanery and cavil with such perseverance, that the negotiation proved abortive, the conferences broke up, and every thing seemed to portend approaching hostilities. But, before we proceed to a detail of the incidents which were the immediate forerunners of the war, we will endeavour to convey a just idea of the dispute concerning Nova Scotia; which, we apprehend, is but imperfectly understood, though of the utmost importance to the interest of Great Britain.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760