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    By 1830, the population on the French Shore had increased considerably. Here is an extract from a letter written by a French naval officer to the Governor of St. Pierre, which I borrow from Charles de la Morandière: In Bay St. George (a little further to the north) he wrote, there is a population of some 2,000 souls, which can be divided into four parts, to wit: 400 English, 1,200 Acadians, French and Indians 400. The most industrious of these are undoubtedly the first and the last. The other two are lazy wretches who live from hand to mouth. Although work is a vital necessity for them, hunger alone impels them to it.

    According to de la Morandière, other reports drawn up between 1830 and 1850 bear witness to the alleged laziness of the French element in the region. He clearly distinguishes between the Acadians on the one hand and the French from France on the other. The former " ...were drawn to this land by the absence of law and order . There are no taxes, no police, no laws there! The St. John's government took not the least interest in the people under its administration in the region, to which it sent its representative at long intervals only."

    As for the French, known pejoratively as "Jacotars," "...these were in general fishermen wanting to avoid military service, and who were more than happy to live in a land where police were virtually unknown. There were, however, a few good individuals among these Frenchmen; they were the fishermen left to winter there by the merchants, in order to protect their establishments." But contrary to what happened on the peninsula, where the French found French-speaking spouses with whom they could establish homes, the Bay St. George French most frequently ended up with English wives; assimilation, always dangerous for the area's French speakers, make its insidious effects felt early on.