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Paul Mascarene, born Jean-Paul, military officer, colonial administrator (b in Languedoc, France 1684/85; d at Boston, Mass 22 Jan 1760). A Huguenot émigré, Mascarene served throughout New England and Atlantic Canada 1710-40 as a military engineer and fluent negotiator with the Acadians and Indians.
He was one of the first (1720) to analyse Great Britain's weakness in Nova Scotia, recommending a stronger military presence and unqualified loyalty from the Acadians. Mascarene became interim colonial administrator 1739, governor 1744, and successfully held Annapolis Royal against repeated French attacks 1744-46. He attributed his victory to the military support sent by Governor William Shirley of Massachusetts, and to his own policy of extracting neutrality rather than loyalty from the truculent Acadians, a tactic he vigorously defended as politically expedient. Mascarene returned to New England in 1751 and eventually settled in Boston.
