08 Oct A refugee in the service of Empire: The life and lessons of Paul Mascarene
The life of Paul Mascarene demonstrates the importance of religious diasporas in building the British imperial state. A Huguenot refugee who became a military officer in Nova Scotia, he attempted to make the empire a force for international Protestantism, even trying to settle some of his fellow Huguenots in the colony. When that plan failed, he became an ambassador to Acadian Catholics, using his French experience to try to build a Protestant empire that tolerated some degree of diversity. He did not succeed in saving the Acadians from expulsion but he showed a path forward for future imperial leaders.