Having received news of Armstrong's suicide (December 8th, 1739) Mascarene arrived at Annapolis Royal during March of 1740, to take what he thought was his rightful position as president of the council; but, others felt they had a better right since Mascarene had been absent from his post at Annapolis much of the time. Letters were sent off to London by Mascarene's enemies, Cosby and another by the name of Adams. The situation was considerably relieved with Cosby's death in 1742, and with that event Mascarene became the senior military officer at the fort and was recognized as the administrator and commander in chief of the Province of Nova Scotia, a position he held until the arrival of Edward Cornwallis in 1749.

It was only with this ascendency in power do we see Mascarence's real work unfold in Nova Scotia. Obviously in was worthwhile to have an English leader who could speak French fluently; but this, in his dealings with the Acadians, was not Mascarence's main strength. He had a fine sense of what the difference might be for the Acadians once the English gained the full military control of North America; a necessary and therefore an inevitable event as far as the civil and military leaders in North America were concerned. He attempted to show to the simple Acadians, through example, the virtues of English justice over that of the French. The Acadians, while never in wide open revolt, were never converted to a state of English loyalty, this due mostly to the early English fumbling, mainly in the person of Philipps (he early on accepted a conditional allegiance and the French felt that was all that they ever need do). However, Mascarene, a classically educated man, by persuasion and by conciliation, did much to ensure the neutrality of the French inhabitants. Mascarene "revealed the gentleness, reasonableness, and patience, which military men can seldom afford to practise. He was the antithesis of Armstrong." However, Mascarene did not succeed in getting the Acadians to give absolute loyalty to the English crown; nor did any one who followed in Mascarene's footsteps; nor, it is doubtful, that, in the circumstances, that anyone could have done so.

For a final word on Mascarene and his character I return to the earlier stated fact that he was a Huguenot. This meant he was French and thus could more easily communicate with his subjects, the Acadians. It meant, too, that as a Huguenot, Mascarene knew and understood what it meant for a people to be persecuted by those who are in power. But, above all, being a Huguenot, to a considerable extent, defined his character:

"Whatever may have been the temper which the Huguenots displayed when they were driven from France by persecution, they certainly carried with them something far more valuable than rage. They carried with them their virtue, piety, industry, and valour, which proved the source of wealth, spirit, freedom, and character, in all those countries - Holland, Prussia, England, and America - in which these noble exiles took refuge."3

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^[2] According to Akins Mascarene left a son and a daughter. Akins also writes (Selections From The Public Documents, fn at pp. 108-9.) that Judge Foster Hutchinson of Halifax and General W. Handfield Snelling were grandsons of Mascarene; by the mid 19th century they had died.

^[3] Samuel Smiles, The Huguenots in France.