News and Reflections: A Historical Sketch of the Acadians on the Magdalen Islands Published in the 1820s -- February 5, 2022

"The descendants of the French, who settled in the colonies now possessed by Great Britain, are distinguished by the appellations of Acadian and Canadians. The former were principally settled during the French government in Nova Scotia, then called Acadia : the latter in Canada. The Acadians are now to be found (as before mentioned) in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton, always by themselves in distinct settlements. They are averse from settling among other people; and I have not been able to discover more than four instances of their intermarrying with strangers. They profess the Roman Catholic faith, and observe the most rigid adherence to all the forms of their Church. Their general character is honest and inoffensive. Religiously tenacious of their dress, and all the habits of their forefathers, they have no ambition to rise in the world above the condition in which they have lived since their first settling in America. The dread of being exposed to the derision of the rest, for attempting to imitate the English inhabitants, is one, if not the principal cause that prevents individuals among them who would willingly alter their dress and habits, from doing so.

Sources: Historical and descriptive sketches of the maritime colonies of British America: by J. McGregor 1828, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green Microform in English p. 194. WorldCat. https://www.worldcat.org/title/historical-and-descriptive-sketches-of-the-maritime-colonies-of-british-america/oclc/719996326  Also published on page 1 of the Vermont Aurora, from Vergennes, Vermont, on April 30, 1829.