Another atrocious murder even more unpardonable than that of Weir was perpetrated {81} a few days later. On November 28 some Patriotes near St Johns captured a man by the name of Chartrand, who was enlisted in a loyal volunteer corps of the district. After a mock trial Chartrand was tied to a tree and shot by his own countrymen.



[1] According to a report twelve Patriotes lost their lives during the engagement. Among them was Charles Ovide Perrault, member of the Assembly for Vaudreuil, a young barrister of considerable promise. He seems to have been Papineau's closest follower and confidant During the last sessions of the Lower Canada legislature Perrault contributed many letters to La Minerve.



{82}

CHAPTER IX

FORCE MAJEURE

The check administered to Colonel Gore's column at St Denis, in the first engagement of the rebellion, was the only victory which fell to the rebel forces. In the meantime Lieutenant-Colonel Wetherall, with several companies of infantry, a troop of volunteer cavalry, and two field-guns, was marching on St Charles. On the evening of November 22 Major Gugy, the leader of the English party in the Assembly, had brought to Wetherall at Chambly instructions to advance down the Richelieu and attack the rebel position at St Charles in the morning. He set out accordingly at about the hour when Gore headed his forces up the river from Sorel. But, while Gore carried out his orders to the letter and reached St Denis on the morning of the 23rd, Wetherall allowed himself some latitude in interpreting his instructions. This was largely due to the advice of Gugy, if we are to believe {83} the account which Gugy has left us. 'In the first place,' it runs, 'not one of the force knew anything of the roads or people, nor do I believe that more than one spoke French.... The storm raged so fearfully, the rain poured in such torrents, and the frost set in afterwards so intensely, that ... men and horses were equally fatigued ... all so exhausted as to be unable to cope, on broken or woody ground, successfully with any resolute enemy.... I learned that we had marched without a dollar, without a loaf of bread, without a commissary, and without a spare cartridge—a pretty predicament in an enemy's country, surrounded by thousands of armed men.' It was apparent to Gugy that Sir John Colborne, in issuing his orders, had greatly underestimated the difficulty of the task he was setting for the troops. After crossing the river above the Chambly Basin, Gugy therefore induced Wetherall to halt until daylight; and, turning himself into a commissary, he billeted the men and horses in the neighbouring houses and stables.

The next day about noon the column reached St Hilaire, some seven miles from St Charles. Here Wetherall obtained information which led him to fear that Gore {84} had met with some kind of check; and he was persuaded to send back to Chambly for a reinforcement of one company which had been left in garrison there. His messenger reached Chambly at four o'clock on the morning of the 24th. Major Warde, the commandant at Chambly, at once embarked his company on a scow and dropped down the river to St Hilaire; but he arrived too late to allow of any further action that day, and it was not until the morning of the 25th that the column moved on St Charles.

Meanwhile, the rebels had been making preparations for defence. They had fortified the manor-house of Debartzch, who had fled to Montreal, and built round it a rampart of earth and tree-trunks—a rampart which, for some mysterious reason, was never completed. They appointed as commander Thomas Storrow Brown, a Montreal iron-merchant, for whose arrest a warrant had been issued and who had fled to St Charles with two or three other Patriote politicians. But Brown had no military experience, and was still suffering so severely from injuries received in the rioting in Montreal that his proper place was a home for convalescents rather than a field of battle. His appointment can only be {85} explained by the non-appearance of the local Patriote leaders. 'The chief men,' Brown testified afterwards, 'were, with two or three exceptions, absent or hiding.' It is evident that the British authorities expected to meet with the strongest opposition at St Charles, since that place had been the scene of the great demonstration earlier in the year. But, as a matter of fact, the rebel forces at St Charles were much less formidable than those at St Denis. Not only were they lacking in proper military leadership; they were also fewer in number and were, moreover, very inadequately armed. If Brown's statements are to be relied upon, there were not in the rebel camp two hundred men. 'Of ammunition,' wrote Brown, 'we had some half dozen kegs of gunpowder and a little lead, which was cast into bullets; but as the fire-arms were of every calibre, the cartridges made were too large for many, which were consequently useless. We had two small rusty field-pieces, but with neither carriages nor appointments they were as useless as two logs. There was one old musket, but not a bayonet. The fire-arms were common flintlocks, in all conditions of dilapidation, some tied together with string, and very many with {86} lock-springs so worn out that they could not be discharged.'

On the 24th Brown made a reconnaissance in the direction of St Hilaire. He destroyed a bridge over a ravine some distance to the south of St Charles, and placed above it an outpost with orders to prevent a reconstruction of the bridge. But when the British troops appeared on the morning of the 25th, this and other outlying pickets fell back without making any resistance. They probably saw that they were so outnumbered that resistance would be hopeless. On the approach of the troops Brown at first assumed an attitude of confidence. A messenger came from Wetherall, 'a respectable old habitant,' to tell the rebels that if they dispersed quietly, they would not be molested. Brown treated the message as a confession of weakness. 'I at once supposed,' he said, 'that, followed in the rear by our friends from above, they were seeking a free passage to Sorel, and determined to send a message, that if they would lay down their arms, they should pass unmolested.' This message does not seem to have reached its destination. And hardly had the engagement opened when Brown quickly changed his tune. 'To go forward {87} was useless, as I could order nothing but a retreat—without it the people commenced retiring. I tried to rally the little squads, my only hope being in keeping together the fowling-pieces we had collected, but finding, after a long trial, my strength and authority insufficient, I considered my command gone, turned my horse, and rode to ... St Denis (seven or eight miles), where ... I arrived about nightfall.'

The engagement lasted less than an hour. The rebels, or at any rate those of them who were armed, seem to have been outnumbered by the soldiers, of whom there were between three and four hundred. But the fighting was apparently brisk while it lasted. The British lost three killed and eighteen wounded. The Patriote losses are not known. The local tradition is that forty-two were killed and many more wounded. We know that thirty were taken prisoners on the field.

The defeat of the rebels at St Charles really terminated the rebellion in the country about the Richelieu. When news of the defeat spread over the countryside, the Patriote forces immediately disbanded, and their leaders sought safety in flight. Papineau and O'Callaghan, who had been at St Hyacinthe, {88} succeeded in getting across the Vermont border; but Wolfred Nelson was not so fortunate. After suffering great privations he was captured by some loyalist militia not far from the frontier, taken to Montreal, and there lodged in prison.

For some reason which it is difficult to discern, Wetherall did not march on from St Charles to effect a pacification of St Denis. On December 1, however, Colonel Gore once more set out from Sorel, and entered St Denis the same day. He found everything quiet. He recovered the howitzer and five of the wounded men he had left behind. In spite of the absence of opposition, his men took advantage of the occasion to wreak an unfair and un-British vengeance on the helpless victors of yesterday. Goaded to fury by the sight of young Weir's mangled body, they set fire to a large part of the village. Colonel Gore afterwards repudiated the charge that he had ordered the burning of the houses of the insurgents; but that defence does not absolve him from blame. It is obvious, at any rate, that he did not take adequate measures to prevent such excesses; nor was any punishment ever administered to those who applied the torch.

{89}

But the end of rebellion was not yet in sight. Two more encounters remain to be described. The first of these occurred at a place known as Moore's Corners, near the Vermont border. After the collapse at St Charles a number of Patriote refugees had gathered at the small town of Swanton, a few miles south of Missisquoi Bay, on the American side of the boundary-line. Among them were Dr Cyrile Cote and Edouard Rodier, both members of the Lower Canada Assembly; Ludger Duvernay, a member of the Assembly and editor of La Minerve; Dr Kimber, one of the ringleaders in the rescue of Demaray and Davignon; and Robert Shore Milnes Bouchette, the descendant of a French-Canadian family long conspicuous for its loyalty and its services to the state. Bouchette's grandfather had been instrumental in effecting the escape of Sir Guy Carleton from Montreal in 1775, when that place was threatened by the forces of Montgomery. The grandson's social tastes and affiliations might have led one to expect that he would have been found in the ranks of the loyalists; but the arbitrary policy of the Russell Resolutions had driven him into the arms of the extreme Patriotes. Arrested for disloyalty at the outbreak of {90} the rebellion, he had been admitted to bail and had escaped. These men, under the belief that the habitants would rise and join them, determined upon an armed invasion of Canada. Possibly they believed also that Wolfred Nelson was still holding out. Papineau, it was said, had reported that 'the victor of St Denis' was entrenched with a considerable force at St Cesaire on the Yamaska. They therefore collected arms and ammunition, sent emissaries through the parishes to the north to rouse the Patriotes, and on December 6, flying some colours which had been worked for them by the enthusiastic ladies of Swanton, they crossed the Canadian border, about two hundred strong. They had two field-pieces and a supply of muskets and ammunition for those whom they expected to join the party on Canadian soil.

Hardly had the invaders crossed the border when they encountered at Moore's Corners a body of the Missisquoi Volunteers, under the command of Captain Kemp, who were acting as escort to a convoy of arms and ammunition. Having received warning of the coming of the insurgents, Kemp had sent out messengers through the countryside to rouse the loyalist {91} population. To these as they arrived he served out the muskets in his wagons. And when the rebels appeared, about eight o'clock at night, he had a force at his disposal of at least three hundred men, all well armed.

There is reason for believing that Kemp might have succeeded in ambushing the advancing force, had not some of his men, untrained volunteers with muskets in their hands for the first time, opened fire prematurely. The rebels returned the fire, and a fusillade continued for ten or fifteen minutes. But the rebels, on perceiving that they had met a superior force, retired in great haste, leaving behind them one dead and two wounded. One of the wounded was Bouchette, who had been in command of the advance-guard. The rebels abandoned also their two field-pieces, about forty stand of arms, five kegs of gunpowder, and six boxes of ball-cartridge, as well as two standards. Among the loyalists there were no casualties whatever. Only three of the rebels were taken prisoner besides the two wounded, a fact which Kemp explained by several factors—the undisciplined state of the loyalists, the darkness of the night, the vicinity of woods, and the proximity of the boundary-line, {92} beyond which he did not allow the pursuit to go. The 'battle' of Moore's Corners was in truth an excellent farce; but there is no doubt that it prevented what might have been a more serious encounter had the rebel column reached the neighbourhood of St Johns, where many of the Patriotes were in readiness to join them.

A few days later, in a part of the province some distance removed from the Richelieu river and the Vermont border, there occurred another collision, perhaps the most formidable of the whole rebellion. This was at the village of St Eustache, in the county of Two Mountains, about eighteen miles north-west of Montreal. The county of Two Mountains had long been known as a stronghold of the extreme Patriotes. The local member, W. H. Scott, was a supporter of Papineau, and had a large and enthusiastic following. He was not, however, a leader in the troubles that ensued. The chief organizer of revolt in St Eustache and the surrounding country was a mysterious adventurer named Amury Girod, who arrived in St Eustache toward the end of November with credentials, it would seem from Papineau, assigning to him the task of superintending the Patriote cause {93} in the north. About Girod very little is known. He is variously described as having been a Swiss, an Alsatian, and a native of Louisiana. According to his own statement, he had been at one time a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry in Mexico. He was well educated, could speak fluently several languages, had a bold and plausible manner, and succeeded in imposing, not only upon the Patriote leaders, but upon the people of St Eustache. He found a capable and dauntless supporter in Dr J. O. Chenier, the young physician of the village. Chenier was one of the few leaders of the revolt whose courage challenges admiration; and it is fitting that to-day a monument, bearing the simple inscription CHENIER, should stand in the Place Viger in Montreal, among the people for whom, though misguidedly and recklessly, he laid down his life.

To St Eustache, on Sunday, November 26, came the news of Wolfred Nelson's victory at St Denis. On Monday and Tuesday bands of Patriotes went about the countryside, terrorizing and disarming the loyalists and compelling the faint-hearted to join in the rising. On Wednesday night the rebels gathered to the number of about four hundred {94} in St Eustache, and got noisily drunk (s'y enivrerent bruyamment). They then proceeded, under the command of Girod and Chenier, to the Indian mission settlement at the Lake of Two Mountains. Here they broke into the government stores and possessed themselves of some guns and ammunition. They next made themselves unwelcome to the superior of the mission, the Abbe Dufresne, and, in spite of his protestations, carried off from the mission-house a three-pounder gun. On their return to St Eustache they forcibly entered the convent which had been lately completed, though it was not yet occupied, and camped there.

The loyalists who were forced to flee from the village carried the news of these proceedings to Montreal; but Sir John Colborne was unwilling to take any steps to subdue the Patriotes of St Eustache until the insurrection on the Richelieu had been thoroughly crushed. All he did was to send a detachment of volunteers to guard the Bord a Plouffe bridge at the northern end of the island of Montreal.

On Sunday, December 3, word reached St Eustache of the defeat of the insurgents at St Charles. This had a moderating influence on many of the Patriotes. All week the Abbe {95} Paquin, parish priest of St Eustache, had been urging the insurgents to go back quietly to their homes. He now renewed his exhortations. He begged Chenier to cease his revolutionary conduct. Chenier, however, was immovable. He refused to believe that the rebels at St Charles had been dispersed, and announced his determination to die with arms in his hands rather than surrender. 'You might as well try to seize the moon with your teeth,' he exclaimed, 'as to try to shake my resolve.'

The events of the days that followed cannot be chronicled in detail. When the Abbe Paquin and his vicar Deseves sought to leave the parish, Girod and Chenier virtually placed them under arrest. The abbe did not mince matters with Chenier. 'I accuse you before God and man,' he said, 'of being the author of these misfortunes.' When some of the habitants came to him complaining that they had been forced against their will to join the rebels, he reminded them of the English proverb: 'You may lead a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink.' Unfortunately, the Abbe Paquin's good influence was counteracted by that of the Abbe Chartier, the cure of the neighbouring village of St {96} Benoit, a rare case of an ecclesiastic lending his support to the rebel movement, in direct contravention of the orders of his superiors. On several occasions the Abbe Chartier came over to St Eustache and delivered inflammatory addresses to the rebel levies.

The vicar Deseves has left us a vivid picture of the life which the rebels led. No attempt was made to drill them or to exercise discipline. Time hung heavy on their hands. He continually saw them, he says, passing through the village in knots of five or six, carrying rusty guns out of order, smoking short black pipes, and wearing blue tuques which hung half-way down their backs, clothes of etoffe du pays, and leather mittens. They helped themselves to all the strong drink they could lay their hands on, and their gait showed the influence of their potations. Their chief aim in life seemed to be to steal, to drink, to eat, to dance, and to quarrel. With regard to the morrow, they lived in a fool's paradise. They seem to have believed that the troops would not dare to come out to meet them, and that when their leaders should give the word they would advance on Montreal and take it without difficulty. Their numbers during this period showed a good deal of {97} fluctuation. Ultimately Girod succeeded in gathering about him nearly a thousand men. Not all these, however, were armed; according to Deseves a great many of them had no weapons but sticks and stones.

By December 13 Sir John Colborne was ready to move. He had provided himself with a force strong enough to crush an enemy several times more numerous than the insurgents led by Girod and Chenier. His column was composed of the 1st Royals, the 32nd regiment, the 83rd regiment, the Montreal Volunteer Rifles, Globensky and Leclerc's Volunteers, a strong force of cavalry—in all, over two thousand men, supported by eight pieces of field artillery and well supplied with provision and ammunition transport.

The troops bivouacked for the night at St Martin, and advanced on the morning of the 14th. The main body crossed the Mille Isles river on the ice about four miles to the east of St Eustache, and then moved westward along the St Rose road. A detachment of Globensky's Volunteers, however, followed the direct road to St Eustache, and came out on the south side of the river opposite the village, in full view of the rebels. Chenier, at the head of a hundred and fifty men, crossed the {98} ice, and was on the point of coming to close quarters with the volunteers when the main body of the loyalists appeared to the east. Thereupon Chenier and his men beat a hasty retreat, and made hurried preparations for defending the village. The church, the convent, the presbytery, and the house of the member of the Assembly, Scott, were all occupied and barricaded. It was about the church that the fiercest fighting took place. The artillery was brought to bear on the building; but the stout masonry resisted the battering of the cannon balls, and is still standing, dinted and scarred. Some of the Royals then got into the presbytery and set fire to it. Under cover of the smoke the rest of the regiment then doubled up the street to the church door. Gaining access through the sacristy, they lit a fire behind the altar. 'The firing from the church windows then ceased,' wrote one of the officers afterwards, 'and the rebels began running out from some low windows, apparently of a crypt or cellar. Our men formed up on one side of the church, and the 32nd and 83rd on the other. Some of the rebels ran out and fired at the troops, then threw down their arms and begged for quarter. Our officers tried to save the {99} Canadians, but the men shouted "Remember Jack Weir," and numbers of these poor deluded fellows were shot down.'

One of those shot down was Chenier. He had jumped from a window of the Blessed Virgin's chapel and was making for the cemetery. How many fell with him it is difficult to say. It was said that seventy rebels were killed, and a number of charred bodies were found afterwards in the ruins of the church. The casualties among the troops were slight, one killed and nine wounded. One of the wounded was Major Gugy, who here distinguished himself by his bravery and kind-heartedness, as he had done in the St Charles expedition. Many of the rebels escaped. A good many, indeed, had fled from the village on the first appearance of the troops. Among these were some who had played a conspicuous part in fomenting trouble. The Abbe Chartier of St Benoit, instead of waiting to administer the last rites to the dying, beat a feverish retreat and eventually escaped to the United States. The Church placed on him its interdict, and he never again set foot on Canadian soil. The behaviour of the adventurer Girod, the 'general' of the rebel force, was especially {100} reprehensible. When he had posted his men in the church and the surrounding buildings, he mounted a horse and fled toward St Benoit. At a tavern where he stopped to get a stiff draught of spirits he announced that the rebels had been victorious and that he was seeking reinforcements with which to crush the troops completely. For four days he evaded capture. Then, finding that the cordon was tightening around him, he blew out his brains with a revolver. Thus ended a life which was not without its share of romance and mystery.

On the night of the 14th the troops encamped near the desolate village of St Eustache, a large part of which had unfortunately been given over to the flames during the engagement. In the morning the column set out for St Benoit. Sir John Colborne had threatened that if a single shot were fired from St Benoit the village would be given over to fire and pillage. But when the troops arrived there they found awaiting them about two hundred and fifty men bearing white flags. All the villagers laid down their arms and made an unqualified submission. And it is a matter for profound regret that, notwithstanding this, the greater part of the village {101} was burned to the ground. Sir John Colborne has been severely censured for this occurrence, and not without reason. Nothing is more certain, of course, than that he did not order it. It seems to have been the work of the loyalist volunteers, who had without doubt suffered much at the hands of the rebels. 'The irregular troops employed,' wrote one of the British officers, 'were not to be controlled, and were in every case, I believe, the instrument of the infliction.' Far too much burning and pillaging went on, indeed, in the wake of the rebellion. 'You know,' wrote an inhabitant of St Benoit to a friend in Montreal, 'where the younger Arnoldi got his supply of butter, or where another got the guitar he carried back with him from the expedition about the neck.' And it is probable that the British officers, and perhaps Sir John Colborne himself, winked at some things which they could not officially recognize. At any rate, it is impossible to acquit Colborne of all responsibility for the unsoldierly conduct of the men under his command.

It is usual to regard the rebellion of 1837 in Lower Canada as no less a fiasco than its counterpart in Upper Canada. There is no doubt that it was hopeless from the outset. {102} It was an impromptu movement, based upon a sudden resolution rather than on a well-reasoned plan of action. Most of the leaders—Wolfred Nelson, Thomas Storrow Brown, Robert Bouchette, and Amury Girod—were strangers to the men under their command; and none of them, save Chenier, seemed disposed to fight to the last ditch. The movement at its inception fell under the official ban of the Church; and only two priests, the cures of St Charles and St Benoit, showed it any encouragement. The actual rebellion was confined to the county of Two Mountains and the valley of the Richelieu. The districts of Quebec and Three Rivers were quiet as the grave—with the exception, perhaps, of an occasional village like Montmagny, where Etienne P. Tache, afterwards a colleague of Sir John Macdonald and prime minister of Canada, was the centre of a local agitation. Yet it is easy to see that the rebellion might have been much more serious. But for the loyal attitude of the ecclesiastical authorities, and the efforts of many clear-headed parish priests like the Abbe Paquin of St Eustache, the revolutionary leaders might have been able to consummate their plans, and Sir John Colborne, with the small number of troops at {103} his disposal, might have found it difficult to keep the flag flying. The rebellion was easily snuffed out because the majority of the French-Canadian people, in obedience to the voice of their Church, set their faces against it.



{104}

CHAPTER X

THE LORD HIGH COMMISSIONER

The rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada profoundly affected public opinion in the mother country. That the first year of the reign of the young Queen Victoria should have been marred by an armed revolt in an important British colony shocked the sensibilities of Englishmen and forced the country and the government to realize that the grievances of the Canadian Reformers were more serious than they had imagined. It was clear that the old system of alternating concession and repression had broken down and that the situation demanded radical action. The Melbourne government suspended the constitution of Lower Canada for three years, and appointed the Earl of Durham as Lord High Commissioner, with very full powers, to go out to Canada to investigate the grievances and to report on a remedy.

John George Lambton, the first Earl of {105} Durham, was a wealthy and powerful Whig nobleman, of decided Liberal, if not Radical, leanings. He had taken no small part in the framing of the Reform Bill of 1832, and at one time he had been hailed by the English Radicals or Chartists as their coming leader. It was therefore expected that he would be decently sympathetic with the Reform movements in the Canadas. At the same time, Melbourne and his ministers were only too glad to ship him out of the country. There was no question of his great ability and statesmanlike outlook. But his advanced Radical views were distasteful to many of his former colleagues; and his arrogant manners, his lack of tact, and his love of pomp and circumstance made him unpopular even in his own party. The truth is that he was an excellent leader to work under, but a bad colleague to work with. The Melbourne government had first got rid of him by sending him to St Petersburg as ambassador extraordinary; and then, on his return from St Petersburg, they got him out of the way by sending him to Canada. He was at first loath to go, mainly on the ground of ill health; but at the personal intercession of the young queen he accepted the commission offered him. It was {106} an evil day for himself, but a good day for Canada, when he did so.

Durham arrived in Quebec, with an almost regal retinue, on May 28, 1838. Gosford, who had remained in Canada throughout the rebellion, had gone home at the end of February; and the administration had been taken over by Sir John Colborne, the commander-in-chief of the forces. As soon as the news of the suspension of the constitution reached Lower Canada, Sir John Colborne appointed a provisional special council of twenty-two members, half of them French and half of them English, to administer the affairs of the province until Lord Durham should arrive. The first official act of Lord Durham in the colony swept this council out of existence. 'His Excellency believes,' the members of the council were told, 'that it is as much the interest of you all, as for the advantage of his own mission, that his administrative conduct should be free from all suspicions of political influence or party feeling; that it should rest on his own undivided responsibility, and that when he quits the Province, he should leave none of its permanent residents in any way committed by the acts which his Government may have {107} found it necessary to perform, during the temporary suspension of the Constitution.' In its place he appointed a small council of five members, all but one from his own staff. The one Canadian called to this council was Dominick Daly, the provincial secretary, whom Colborne recommended as being unidentified with any political party.

The first great problem with which Lord Durham and his council had to deal was the question of the political prisoners, numbers of whom were still lying in the prisons of Montreal. Sir John Colborne had not attempted to decide what should be done with them, preferring to shift this responsibility upon Lord Durham. It would probably have been much better to have settled the matter before Lord Durham set foot in the colony, so that his mission might not have been handicapped at the outset with so thorny a problem; but it is easy to follow Colborne's reasoning. In the first place, he did not bring the prisoners to trial because no Lower-Canadian jury at that time could have been induced to convict them, a reasonable inference from the fact that the murder of Weir had gone unavenged, even as the murderers of Chartrand were to be acquitted {108} by a jury a few months later. In the second place, Colborne had not the power to deal with the prisoners summarily. Moreover, most of the rebel leaders had not been captured. The only three prisoners of much importance were Wolfred Nelson, Robert Bouchette, and Bonaventure Viger. The rest of the Patriote leaders were scattered far and wide. Chenier and Girod lay beneath the springing sod; Papineau, O'Callaghan, Storrow Brown, Robert Nelson, Cote, and Rodier were across the American border; Morin had just come out of his hiding-place in the Canadian backwoods; and LaFontaine, after vainly endeavouring, on the outbreak of rebellion, to get Gosford to call together the legislature of Lower Canada, had gone abroad. The future course of the rebels who had fled to the United States was still doubtful; there was a strong probability that they might create further disturbances. And, while the situation was still unsettled, Colborne thought it better to leave the fate of the prisoners to be decided by Durham.

Durham's instructions were to temper justice with mercy. His own instincts were apparently in favour of a complete amnesty; but he supposed it necessary to make an {109} example of some of the leaders. After earnest deliberation and consultation with his council, and especially with his chief secretary, Charles Buller, the friend and pupil of Thomas Carlyle, Durham determined to grant to the rebels a general amnesty, with only twenty-four exceptions. Eight of the men excepted were political prisoners who had been prominent in the revolt and who had confessed their guilt and had thrown themselves on the mercy of the Lord High Commissioner; the remaining sixteen were rebel leaders who had fled from the country. Durham gave orders that the eight prisoners should be transported to the Bermudas during the queen's pleasure. The sixteen refugees were forbidden to return to Canada under penalty of death without benefit of clergy.

No one can fail to see that this course was dictated by the humanest considerations. A criminal rebellion had terminated without the shedding judicially of a drop of blood. Lord Durham even took care that the eight prisoners should not be sent to a convict colony. The only criticism directed against his course in Canada was on the ground of its excessive lenity. Wolfred Nelson and Robert Bouchette had certainly suffered a milder fate {110} than that of Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews, who had been hanged in Upper Canada for rebellion. Yet when the news of Durham's action reached England, it was immediately attacked as arbitrary and unconstitutional. The assault was opened by Lord Brougham, a bitter personal enemy of Lord Durham. In the House of Lords Brougham contended that Durham had had no right to pass sentence on the rebel prisoners and refugees when they had not been brought to trial; and that he had no right to order them to be transported to, and held in, Bermuda, where his authority did not run. In this attitude he was supported by the Duke of Wellington, the leader of the Tory party. Wellington's name is one which is usually remembered with honour in the history of the British Empire; but on this occasion he did not think it beneath him to play fast and loose with the interests of Canada for the sake of a paltry party advantage. It would have been easy for him to recognize the humanity of Durham's policy, and to join with the government in legislating away any technical illegalities that may have existed in Durham's ordinance; but Wellington could not resist the temptation to embarrass the Whig {111} administration, regardless of the injury which he might be doing to the sorely tried people of Canada.

The Melbourne administration, which had sent Durham to Canada, might have been expected to stand behind him when he was attacked. Lord John Russell, indeed, rose in the House of Commons and made a thoroughgoing defence of Durham's policy as 'wise and statesmanlike.' But he alone of the ministers gave Durham loyal support. In the House of Lords Melbourne contented himself with a feeble defence of Durham and then capitulated to the Opposition. Nothing would have been easier for him than to introduce a bill making valid whatever may have been irregular in Durham's ordinance; but instead of that he disallowed the ordinance, and passed an Act of Indemnity for all those who had had a part in carrying it out. Without waiting to hear Durham's defence, or to consult with him as to the course which should be followed, the Cabinet weakly surrendered to an attack of his personal enemies. Durham was betrayed in the house of his friends.

The news of the disallowance of the ordinance first reached Durham through the columns of an American newspaper. {112} Immediately his mind was made up. Without waiting for any official notification, he sent in his resignation to the colonial secretary. He was quite satisfied himself that he had not exceeded his powers. 'Until I learn,' he wrote, 'from some one better versed in the English language that despotism means anything but such an aggregation of the supreme executive and legislative authority in a single head, as was deliberately made by Parliament in the Act which constituted my powers, I shall not blush to hear that I have exercised a despotism; I shall feel anxious only to know how well and wisely I have used, or rather exhibited an intention of using, my great powers.' But he felt that if he could expect no firm support from the Melbourne government, his usefulness was gone, and resignation was the only course open to him. He wrote, however, that he intended to remain in Canada until he had completed the inquiries he had instituted. In view of the 'lamentable want of information' with regard to Canada which existed in the Imperial parliament, he confessed that he 'would take shame to himself if he left his inquiry incomplete.'

A few days before Durham left Canada he took the unusual and, under ordinary {113} circumstances, unconstitutional course of issuing a proclamation, in which he explained the reasons for his resignation, and in effect appealed from the action of the home government to Canadian public opinion. It was this proclamation which drew down on him from The Times the nickname of 'Lord High Seditioner.' The wisdom of the proclamation was afterwards, however, vigorously defended by Charles Duller. The general unpopularity of the British government, Duller explained, was such in Canada that a little more or less could not affect it; whereas it was a matter of vital importance that the angry and suspicious colonists should find one British statesman with whom they could agree. The real justification of the proclamation lay in the magical effect which it had upon the public temper. The news that the ordinance had been disallowed, and that the whole question of the political prisoners had been once more thrown into the melting-pot, had greatly excited the public mind; and the proclamation fell like oil upon the troubled waters. 'No disorder, no increase of disaffection ensued; on the contrary, all parties in the Province expressed a revival of confidence.'

Lord Durham left Quebec on November 1, {114} 1838. 'It was a sad day and a sad departure,' wrote Buller. 'The streets were crowded. The spectators filled every window and every house-top, and, though every hat was raised as we passed, a deep silence marked the general grief for Lord Durham's departure.' Durham had been in Canada only five short months. Yet in that time he had gained a knowledge of, and an insight into, the Canadian situation such as no other governor of Canada had possessed. The permanent monument of that insight is, of course, his famous Report on the Affairs of British North America, issued by the Colonial Office in 1839. This is no place to write at length about that greatest of all documents ever published with regard to colonial affairs. This much, however, may be said. In the Report Lord Durham rightly diagnosed the evils of the body politic in Canada. He traced the rebellion to two causes, in the main: first, racial feeling; and, secondly, that 'union of representative and irresponsible government' of which he said that it was difficult to understand how any English statesman ever imagined that such a system would work. And yet one of the two chief remedies which he recommended seemed like a death sentence passed on the French in Canada. {115} This was the proposal for the legislative union of Upper and Lower Canada with the avowed object of anglicizing by absorption the French population. This suggestion certainly did not promote racial peace. The other proposal, that of granting to the Canadian people responsible government in all matters not infringing 'strictly imperial interests,' blazed the trail leading out of the swamps of pre-rebellion politics.

In one respect only is Lord Durham's Report seriously faulty: it is not fair to French Canadians. 'They cling,' wrote Durham, 'to ancient prejudices, ancient customs, and ancient laws, not from any strong sense of their beneficial effects, but with the unreasoning tenacity of an uneducated and unprogressive people.' To their racial and nationalist ambitions he was far from favourable. 'The error,' he contended, 'to which the present contest is to be attributed is the vain endeavour to preserve a French-Canadian nationality in the midst of Anglo-American colonies and states'; and he quoted with seeming approval the statement of one of the Lower Canada 'Bureaucrats' that 'Lower Canada must be English, at the expense, if necessary, of not being British.' His primary {116} object in recommending the union of the two Canadas, to place the French in a minority in the united province, was surely a mistaken policy. Fortunately, it did not become operative. Lord Elgin, a far wiser statesman, who completed Durham's work by introducing the substance of responsible government which the Report recommended, decidedly opposed anything in the nature of a gradual crusade against French-Canadian nationalism. 'I for one,' he wrote, 'am deeply convinced of the impolicy of all such attempts to denationalize the French. Generally speaking, they produce the opposite effect, causing the flame of national prejudice and animosity to burn more fiercely. But suppose them to be successful, what would be the result? You may perhaps Americanize, but, depend upon it, by methods of this description you will never Anglicize the French inhabitants of the province. Let them feel, on the other hand, that their religion, their habits, their prepossessions, their prejudices if you will, are more considered and respected here than in other portions of this vast continent, and who will venture to say that the last hand which waves the British flag on American ground may not be that of a French Canadian?'



{117}

CHAPTER XI

THE SECOND REBELLION

The frigate Inconstant, with Lord Durham on board, was not two days out from Quebec when rebellion broke out anew in Lower Canada. This second rebellion, however, was not caused by Lord Durham's departure, but was the result of a long course of agitation which had been carried on along the American border throughout the months of Lord Durham's regime.

As early as February 1838 numbers of Canadian refugees had gathered in the towns on the American side of the boundary-line in the neighbourhood of Lake Champlain. They were shown much sympathy and encouragement by the Americans, and seem to have laboured under the delusion that the American government would come to their assistance. A proclamation signed by Robert Nelson, a brother of Wolfred Nelson, declared the independence of Canada under a {118} 'provisional government' of which Robert Nelson was president and Dr Cote a member. The identity of the other members is a mystery. Papineau seems to have had some dealings with Nelson and Cote, and to have dallied with the idea of throwing in his lot with them; but he soon broke off negotiations. 'Papineau,' wrote Robert Nelson, 'has abandoned us, and this through selfish and family motives regarding the seigniories, and inveterate love of the old French bad laws.' There is reason to believe, however, that Papineau had been in communication with the authorities at Washington, and that his desertion of Robert Nelson and Cote was in reality due to his discovery that President Van Buren was not ready to depart from his attitude of neutrality.

On February 28, 1838, Robert Nelson and Cote had crossed the border with an armed force of French-Canadian refugees and three small field-pieces. Their plan had contemplated the capture of Montreal and a junction with another invading force at Three Rivers. But on finding their way barred by the Missisquoi militia, they had beat a hasty retreat to the border, without fighting; and had there been disarmed by the American {119} troops under General Wool, a brave and able officer who had fought with conspicuous gallantry at the battle of Queenston Heights in 1812.

During the summer months, however, the refugees had continued to lay plans for an insurrection in Lower Canada. Emissaries had been constantly moving among the parishes north of the New York and Vermont frontiers, promising the Patriotes arms and supplies and men from the United States. The rising was carefully planned. And when November came large bodies of disaffected habitants gathered at St Ours, St Charles, St Michel, L'Acadie, Chateauguay, and Beauharnois. They had apparently been led to expect that they would be met at some of these places by American sympathizers with arms and supplies. No such aid being found at the rendezvous, many returned to their homes. But some persevered in the movement, and made their way with packs on their backs to Napierville, a town fifteen miles north of the boundary-line, which had been designated as the rebel headquarters.

Meanwhile, Robert Nelson had moved northward to Napierville from the American side of the border with a small band of refugees. {120} Among these were two French officers, named Hindenlang and Touvrey, who had been inveigled into joining the expedition. Hindenlang, who afterwards paid for his folly with his life, has left an interesting account of what happened. He and Touvrey joined Nelson at St Albans, on the west side of Lake Champlain. With two hundred and fifty muskets, which had been placed in a boat by an American sympathizer, they dropped down the river to the Canadian border. There were five in the party—Nelson and the two French officers, the guide, and the boatman. Nelson had given Hindenlang to understand that the habitants had risen and that he would be greeted at the Canadian border by a large force of enthusiastic recruits. In this, however, he was disappointed. 'There was not a single man to receive the famous President of the Provisional Government; and it was only after a full hour's search, and much trouble, [that] the guide returned with five or six men to land the arms.' On the morning of November 4 the party arrived at Napierville. Here Hindenlang found Dr Cote already at the head of two or three hundred men. A crowd speedily gathered, and Robert Nelson was proclaimed 'President of the Republic of {121} Lower Canada.' Hindenlang and Touvrey were presented to the crowd; and to his great astonishment Hindenlang was informed that his rank in the rebel force was that of brigadier-general.

The first two or three days were spent in hastening the arrival of reinforcements and in gathering arms. By the 7th Nelson had collected a force of about twenty-five hundred men, whom Hindenlang told off in companies and divisions. Most of the rebels were armed with pitchforks and pikes. An attempt had been made two days earlier, on a Sunday, to obtain arms, ammunition, and stores from the houses of the Indians of Caughnawaga while they were at church; but a squaw in search of her cow had discovered the raiders and had given the alarm, with the result that the Indians, seizing muskets and tomahawks, had repelled the attack and taken seventy prisoners.

On November 5 Nelson sent Cote with a force of four or five hundred men south to Rouse's Point, on the boundary-line, to secure more arms and ammunition from the American sympathizers. On his way south Cote encountered a picket of a company of loyalist volunteers stationed at Lacolle, and drove it {122} in. On his return journey, however, he met with greater opposition. The company at Lacolle had been reinforced in the meantime by several companies of loyalist militia from Hemmingford. As the rebels appeared the loyalist militia attacked them; and after a brisk skirmish, which lasted from twenty to twenty-five minutes, drove them from the field. Without further ado the rebels fled across the border, leaving behind them eleven dead and a number of prisoners, as well as a six-pounder gun, a large number of muskets of the type used in the United States army, a keg of powder, a quantity of ball-cartridge, and a great many pikes. Of the provincial troops two were killed and one was severely wounded.

The defeat of Cote and his men at Lacolle meant that Nelson's line of communications with his base on the American frontier was cut. At the same time he received word that Sir John Colborne was advancing on Napierville from Laprairie with a strong force of regulars and volunteers. Under these circumstances he determined to fall back on Odelltown, just north of the border. He had with him about a thousand men, eight hundred of whom were armed with muskets. {123} He arrived at Odelltown on the morning of November 9, to find it occupied by about two hundred loyal militia, under the command of the inspecting field-officer of the district, Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor. He had no difficulty in driving in the loyalist outposts; but the village itself proved a harder nut to crack. Taylor had concentrated his little force at the Methodist church, and he controlled the road leading to it by means of the six-pounder which had been taken from the rebels three days before at Lacolle. The insurgents extended through the fields to the right and left, and opened a vigorous fire on the church from behind some barns; but many of the men seem to have kept out of range. 'The greater part of the Canadians kept out of shot,' wrote Hindenlang; 'threw themselves on their knees, with their faces buried in the snow, praying to God, and remaining as motionless as if they were so many saints, hewn in stone. Many remained in that posture as long as the fighting lasted.' The truth appears to be that many of Nelson's men had been intimidated into joining the rebel force. The engagement lasted in all about two hours and a half. The defenders of the church made several successful sallies; and just when the {124} rebels were beginning to lose heart, a company of loyalists from across the Richelieu fell on their flank and completed their discomfiture. The rebels then retreated to Napierville, under the command of Hindenlang. Robert Nelson, seeing that the day was lost, left his men in the lurch and rode for the American border. The losses of the rebels were serious; they left fifty dead on the field and carried off as many wounded. Of the loyalists, one officer and five men were killed and one officer and eight men wounded.

Later in the same day Sir John Colborne, at the head of a formidable force, entered Napierville. On his approach those rebels who were still in the village dispersed and fled to their homes. Detachments of troops were immediately sent out to disperse bands of rebels reported to be still under arms. The only encounter took place at Beauharnois, where a large body of insurgents had assembled. After a slight resistance they were driven out by two battalions of Glengarry volunteers, supported by two companies of the 71st and a detachment of Royal Engineers.

In these expeditions the British soldiers, especially the volunteers, did a good deal of burning and harrying. After the victory at {125} Beauharnois they gave to the flames a large part of the village, including the houses of some loyal citizens. In view of the intimidation and depredations to which the loyalists had been subjected by the rebels in the disaffected districts, the conduct of the men, in these regrettable acts, may be understood and partially excused. But no excuse can be offered for the attitude of the British authorities. There are well-authenticated cases of houses of 'notorious rebels' burned down by the orders of Sir James Macdonell, Colborne's second-in-command. Colborne himself acquired the nickname of 'the old Firebrand'; and, while he cannot be charged with such a mania for incendiarism as some writers have imputed to him, it does not appear that he took any effective measures to stop the arson or to punish the offenders.

The rebellion of 1838 lasted scarcely a week. It was a venture criminally hopeless. Failing important aid from the United States, the rebels had an even slighter chance of success than they had had a year before, for since that time the British regular troops in Canada had been considerably increased in number. The chief responsibility for the rebellion must be placed at the door of Robert Nelson, who at {126} the critical moment fled over the border, leaving his dupes to extricate themselves as best they could from the situation into which he had led them. As was the case in 1837, most of the leaders of the rebellion escaped from justice, leaving only the smaller fry in the hands of the authorities. Of the lesser ringleaders nearly one hundred were brought to trial. Two of the French-Canadian judges, one of them being Elzear Bedard, attempted to force the government to try the prisoners in the civil courts, where they would have the benefit of trial by jury; but Sir John Colborne suspended these judges from their functions, and brought the prisoners before a court-martial, specially convened for the purpose. Twelve of them, including the French officer Hindenlang, were condemned to death and duly executed. Most of the others were transported to the convict settlements of Australia. It is worthy of remark that none of those executed or deported had been persons of note in the political arena before 1837. On the whole, it must be confessed that these sentences showed a commendable moderation. It was thought necessary that a few examples should be made, as Lord Durham's amnesty of the previous year had evidently encouraged some {127} habitants to believe that rebellion was a venial offence. And the execution of twelve men, out of the thousands who had taken part in the revolt, cannot be said to have shown a bloodthirsty disposition on the part of the government.



{128}

CHAPTER XII

A POSTSCRIPT

The rebellion of 1837 now belongs to the dead past. The Patriotes and the 'Bureaucrats' of those days have passed away; and the present generation has forgotten, or should have forgotten, the passions which inspired them. The time has come when Canadians should take an impartial view of the events of that time, and should be willing to recognize the good and the bad on either side. It is absurd to pretend that many of the English in Lower Canada were not arrogant and brutal in their attitude toward the French Canadians, and lawless in their methods of crushing the rebellion; or that many of the Patriote leaders were not hopelessly irreconcilable before the rebellion, and during it criminally careless of the interests of the poor habitants they had misled. On the other hand, no true Canadian can fail to be proud of the spirit of loyalty which in 1837 {129} actuated not only persons of British birth, but many faithful sons and daughters of the French-Canadian Church. Nor can one fail to admire the devotion to liberty, to 'the rights of the people,' which characterized rebels like Robert Bouchette. 'When I speak of the rights of the people,' wrote Bouchette, 'I do not mean those abstract or extravagant rights for which some contend, but which are not generally compatible with an organized state of society, but I mean those cardinal rights which are inherent to British subjects, and which, as such, ought not to be denied to the inhabitants of any section of the empire, however remote.' The people of Canada to-day are able to combine loyalty and liberty as the men of that day were not; and they should never forget that in some measure they owe to the one party the continuance of Canada in the Empire, and to the other party the freedom wherewith they have been made free.



The later history of the Patriotes falls outside the scope of this little book, but a few lines may be added to trace their varying fortunes. Some of them never returned to Canada. Robert Nelson took up his abode in New York, and there practised surgery until {130} his death in 1873. E. B. O'Callaghan went to Albany, and was there employed by the legislature of New York in preparing two series of volumes entitled A Documentary History of New York and Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, volumes which are edited in so scholarly a manner, and throw such light on Canadian history, that the Canadian historian would fain forgive him for his part in the unhappy rebellion of '37.

Most of the Patriote leaders took advantage, however, of the virtual amnesty offered them in 1842 by the first LaFontaine-Baldwin administration, and returned to Canada. Many of these, as well as many of the Patriote leaders who had not been implicated in the rebellion and who had not fled the country, rose to positions of trust and prominence in the public service of Canada. Louis Hippolyte LaFontaine, after having gone abroad during the winter of 1837-38, and after having been arrested on suspicion in November 1838, entered the parliament of Canada, formed, with Robert Baldwin as his colleague, the administration which ushered in full responsible government, and was knighted by Queen Victoria. Augustin Morin, the reputed author {131} of the Ninety-Two Resolutions, who had spent the winter of 1837-38 in hiding, became the colleague of Francis Hincks in the Hincks-Morin administration. George Etienne Cartier, who had shouldered a musket at St Denis, became the lifelong colleague of Sir John Macdonald and was made a baronet by his sovereign. Dr Wolfred Nelson returned to his practice in Montreal in 1842. In 1844 he was elected member of parliament for the county of Richelieu. In 1851 he was appointed an inspector of prisons. Thomas Storrow Brown, on his return to Montreal, took up again his business in hardware, and is remembered to-day by Canadian numismatists as having been one of the first to issue a halfpenny token, which bore his name and is still sought by collectors. Robert Bouchette recovered from the serious wound he had sustained at Moore's Corners, and later became Her Majesty's commissioner of customs at Ottawa.

Papineau returned to Canada in 1845. The greater part of his period of exile he spent in Paris, where he came in touch with the 'red republicans' who later supported the revolution of 1848. He entered the Canadian parliament in 1847 and sat in it until 1854. {132} But he proved to be completely out of harmony with the new order of things under responsible government. Even with his old lieutenant LaFontaine, who had made possible his return to Canada, he had an open breach. The truth is that Papineau was born to live in opposition. That he himself realized this is clear from a laughing remark which he made when explaining his late arrival at a meeting: 'I waited to take an opposition boat.' His real importance after his return to Canada lay not in the parliamentary sphere, but in the encouragement which he gave to those radical and anti-clerical ideas that found expression in the foundation of the Institut Canadien and the formation of the Parti Rouge. In many respects the Parti Rouge was the continuation of the Patriote party of 1837. Papineau's later days were quiet and dignified. He retired to his seigneury of La Petite Nation at Montebello and devoted himself to his books. With many of his old antagonists he effected a pleasant reconciliation. Only on rare occasions did he break his silence; but on one of these, when he came to Montreal, an old silver-haired man of eighty-one years, to deliver an address before the Institut Canadien, he uttered a sentence which may be taken as {133} the apologia pro vita sua: 'You will believe me, I trust, when I say to you, I love my country.... Opinions outside may differ; but looking into my heart and my mind in all sincerity, I feel I can say that I have loved her as she should be loved.' And charity covereth a multitude of sins.



{134}

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

The story of the Lower Canada rebellion is told in detail in some of the general histories of Canada. William Kingsford, History of Canada (1887-94), is somewhat inaccurate and shows a strong bias against the Patriotes, but his narrative of the rebellion is full and interesting. F. X. Garneau, Histoire du Canada (1845-52), presents the history of the period, from the French-Canadian point of view, with sympathy and power. A work which holds the scales very evenly is Robert Christie, A History of the Late Province of Lower Canada (1848-55). Christie played a not inconspicuous part in the pre-rebellion politics, and his volumes contain a great deal of original material of first-rate importance.

Of special studies of the rebellion there are a number worthy of mention. L. O. David, Les Patriotes de 1837-38, is valuable for its complete biographies of the leaders in the movement. L. N. Carrier, Les Evenements de 1837-38 (1877), is a sketch of the rebellion written by the son of one of the Patriotes. Globensky, La Rebellion de 1837 a Saint-Eustache (1883), written by the son of an officer in the loyalist militia, contains some original materials of value. Lord Charles Beauclerk, Lithographic Views of Military Operations in Canada under Sir John Colborne, O.C.B., {135} etc. (1840), apart from the value of the illustrations, is interesting on account of the introduction, in which the author, a British army officer who served in Canada throughout the rebellion, describes the course of the military operations. The political aspect of the rebellion, from the Tory point of view, is dealt with in T. C. Haliburton, The Bubbles of Canada (1839). For a penetrating analysis of the situation which led to the rebellion see Lord Durham's Report on the Affairs of British North America.

A few biographies may be consulted with advantage. N. E. Dionne, Pierre Bedard et ses fils (1909), throws light on the earlier period; as does also Ernest Cruikshank, The Administration of Sir James Craig (Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 3rd series, vol. ii). See also A. D. DeCelles, Papineau (1904), in the 'Makers of Canada' series; and Stuart J. Reid, Life and Letters of the First Earl of Durham (1906).

The parish histories, in which the province of Quebec abounds, will be found to yield much information of a local nature with regard to the rebellion; and the same may be said of the publications of local historical societies, such as that of Missisquoi county.

An original document of primary importance is the Report of the state trials before a general court-martial held at Montreal in 1838-39; exhibiting a complete history of the late rebellion in Lower Canada (1839).



{136}

INDEX

Assembly, the language question in the, 8-12; racial conflict over form of taxation, 13-14; the struggle with Executive for full control of revenue leads to deadlock, 22-5, 27, 29-30, 53-4, 57; seeks redress in Imperial parliament, 28-32; the Ninety-Two Resolutions, 38-42; the grievance commission, 45-6, 52, 55-6; the Russell Resolutions, 57-61. See Lower Canada.

Aylmer, Lord, governor of Canada, 29, 33-4, 44, 45.

Beauharnois, Patriotes defeated at, 124-5.

Bedard, Elzear, introduces the Ninety-Two Resolutions, 38, 42; suspended as a judge, 126.

Bedard, Pierre, and French-Canadian nationalism, 11, 15, 16; his arrest and release, 17-19, 20.

Bidwell, M. S., speaker of Upper Canada Assembly, 53.

Bouchette, Robert Shore Milnes, 129; wounded at Moore's Corners, 89-90, 91, 102, 108, 131.

Bourdages, Louis, Papineau's chief lieutenant, 36.

Brougham, Lord, criticizes Durham's policy, 110.

Brown, Thomas Storrow, 38, 72, 73, 131; in command of Patriotes at St Charles, 74, 84-6, 102, 108.

Buller, Charles, secretary to Durham, 109, 113.

Bureaucrats, the, 18. See 'Chateau Clique.'

Canada. See Lower Canada.

Cartier, Sir George, 30; a follower of Papineau, 37, 131.

Catholic Church in Canada, the, 7; opposes revolutionary movement, 64-5, 102, 103.

Chartier, Abbe, encourages the rebels at St Eustache, 95-6; escapes to the United States, 99.

Chartier de Lotbiniere, on French-Canadian loyalty, 11.

'Chateau Clique,' the, 22; and the Patriotes, 25, 31.

Chenier, Dr J. O., killed at St Eustache, 93, 94, 95, 97-9, 102, 108.

Christie, Robert, expelled from the Assembly, 34, 134.

Colborne, Sir John, his letter on the situation previous to the Rebellion, 69-71; his 1837 campaign, 74-5, 83, 94, 97-101, 102; administrator of the province, 106-8; his 1838 campaign, 122, 124, 125, 126.

Cote, Dr Cyrile, 89, 108, 118, 120; defeated at Lacolle, 121-2.

Craig, Sir James, his 'Reign of Terror,' 15-20, 23.

Cuvillier, Augustin, 28-9; breaks with Papineau, 37, 42, 44.

Dalhousie, Lord, his quarrel with Papineau, 27-9.

Daly, Dominick, provincial secretary, 107.

Debartzch, D. P., breaks with Papineau, 71, 84.

Deseves, Father, 93; his picture of the rebels at St Eustache, 96-7.

Doric Club, the, 71.

Durham, Earl of, governor and Lord High Commissioner, 104-6; his humane policy fails to find support in Britain, 107-12; his appeal to Canadian public opinion, 112-13; his Report, 114-16.

Duvernay, Ludger, at Moore's Corners, 89.

Elgin, Lord, and French-Canadian nationalism, 116.

English Canadians, their conflicts with the Patriotes, 51, 64, 128.

Ermatinger, Lieutenant, defeated by Patriotes, 73-4.

Executive Council, 22, 25, 59. See 'Chateau Clique.'

French Canadians, their attitude toward the British in 1760, 2; their loyalty, 2-5, 128-9; their generous treatment, 7-8; their fight for official recognition of their language, 8-12, 50; their struggle with the 'Chateau Clique,' 22-5, 29; their fight for national identity, 26-7, 29, 115-16. See Patriotes.

French Revolution, the, and the French Canadians, 4-5.

Gipps, Sir George, on the grievance commission, 46, 55.

Girod, Amury, commands the rebels at St Eustache, 92-3, 94, 95, 103; commits suicide, 99-100, 108.

Gladstone, W. E., supports the Russell Resolutions, 60.

Glenelg, Lord, colonial secretary, 46.

Goderich, Lord, colonial secretary, 29, 30.

Gore, Colonel Charles, commands the British at St Denis, 75-7, 88.

Gosford, Lord, governor of Canada, 45-7, 49-53, 55, 57-8, 61, 64, 106.

Great Britain, and French-Canadian loyalty, 2-5; her conciliatory policy in Lower Canada, 7-8, 9, 44-6, 57-60; and the Rebellion, 104, 110-111.

Grey, Sir Charles, on the grievance commission, 45-6, 55.

Gugy, Major Conrad, 48; at St Charles, 82-3; wounded at St Eustache, 99.

Haldimand, Sir Frederick, governor of Canada, 3-4.

Head, Sir F. B., his indiscreet action, 52-3.

Hindenlang, leads Patriotes in second rebellion, 120, 121, 123, 124; executed, 126.

Kemp, Captain, defeats the Patriotes at Moore's Corners, 90-2.

Kimber, Dr, in the affair at Moore's Corners, 89.

Lacolle, rebels defeated at, 121-2.

LaFontaine, L. H., a follower of Papineau, 37, 63, 108, 130, 132.

Lartigue, Mgr, his warning to the revolutionists, 65.

Legislative Council, the, 22, 25, 31, 36, 41, 46, 53, 54, 55, 59.

Lower Canada, the conflict between French and English Canadians in, 13-15, 33, 114; the Rebellion of 1837, 69-103; the constitution suspended, 104, 106; treatment of the rebels, 108-13; Durham's investigation and Report, 114-116; the Rebellion of 1838, 117-27. See Assembly.

Macdonell, Sir James, Colborne's second-in-command, 125.

Mackenzie, W. L., and the Patriotes, 72.

Melbourne, Lord, and Durham's policy, 111.

Mondelet, Dominique, 30; expelled from the Assembly, 36.

Montreal, rioting in, 71-2.

Moore's Corners, rebels defeated at, 89-92.

Morin, A. N., a follower of Papineau, 37, 108, 130-1.

Neilson, John, supports the Patriote cause, 26-7, 28; breaks with Papineau, 36-7, 38, 42, 44.

Nelson, Robert, 108; leader of the second rebellion, 117-26, 129-30.

Nelson, Dr Wolfred, a follower of Papineau, 37, 60, 65, 66, 70, 73, 74; in command at St Denis, 74, 76, 79, 80, 88, 102, 108, 109, 131.

Ninety-Two Resolutions, the, 38-42, 44.

O'Callaghan, E. B., a follower of Papineau, 37, 73, 74, 78, 87-8, 108, 130.

O'Connell, Daniel, champions the cause of the Patriotes, 59-60.

Panet, Jean Antoine, his election as speaker of the Assembly, 9-10, 22; imprisoned, 17.

Panet, Louis, on the language question, 10.

Papineau, Louis Joseph, 21; elected speaker of the Assembly, 22, 28; opposes Union Bill in London, 26-7; his attack on Dalhousie, 27-29; defeats Goderich's financial proposal, and declines seat on Executive Council, 30; attacks Aylmer, 33-4, 47. becomes more violent and domineering in the Assembly, 34-5; his political views become revolutionary, 35-6, 42-43; his powerful following, 37-8, 44, the Ninety-Two Resolutions, 38-42; hopeless of obtaining justice from Britain, but disclaims intention of stirring up civil war, 47-8, 53; on the Russell Resolutions, 60-1; his attitude previous to the outbreak, 66-68, 70; warrant issued for his arrest, 72-3, 74; escapes to the United States, 78-9, 87-8, 90, 92, 108; holds aloof from second rebellion, 118; his return to Canada, 131-3; his personality, 21, 25-6, 30-1, 49-50, 68, 79, 132-3.

Paquin, Abbe, opposes the rebels at St Eustache, 95, 102.

Parent, Etienne, breaks with Papineau, 42, 43.

Patriotes, the, 22, 25; their struggle with the 'Chateau Clique,' 31-2, 54-5; the racial feud becomes more bitter, 33-34, 128; the Ninety-Two Resolutions, 38-42, 44-5, 52; the passing of the Russell Resolutions causes great agitation, 60-2; declare a boycott on English goods, 62-3; 'Fils de la Liberte' formed, 63, 71-2; begin to arm, 63-4, 69-71; the Montreal riot, 71-2; the first rebellion, 73-103; Lord Durham's amnesty, 108-110, 113; the second rebellion, 117-27; and afterwards, 128-33. See French Canadians.

Perrault, Charles Ovide, killed at St Denis, 78 n.

Prevost, Sir George, and the French Canadians, 20.

Quebec Act of 1774, the, 7, 9.

Quesnel, F. A., and Papineau, 34-5, 37, 42, 44, 71.

Rodier, Edouard, 62-3; at Moore's Corners, 89, 108.

Russell, Lord John, his resolutions affecting Canada, 58-59; defends Durham's policy, 111.

Ryland, Herman W., and the French Canadians, 16.

St Benoit, the burning of, 100-101.

St Charles, the Patriote meeting at, 65-6; the fight at, 74, 82-7.

St Denis, the fight at, 74-81; destroyed, 88.

St Eustache, the Patriotes defeated at, 92-100.

St Ours, the Patriote meeting at, 60-1, 70, 75.

Salaberry, Major de, his victory at Chateauguay, 5.

Sewell, John, and the French Canadians, 16.

Sherbrooke, Sir John, his policy of conciliation, 24.

Stanley, Lord, supports the Russell Resolutions, 60.

Stuart, Andrew, and Papineau, 37, 42, 44.

Tache, E. P., a follower of Papineau, 37, 102.

Taylor, Lieut.-Colonel, defends Odelltown against the rebels, 123-4.

United States, and the French Canadians, 2-3, 117-19.

Viger, Bonaventure, a Patriote leader, 73, 108.

Viger, Denis B., a follower of Papineau, 28-9, 63.

War of 1812, French-Canadian loyalty in the, 5.

Weir, Lieut., his murder at St Denis, 79-80, 88, 99.

Wellington, Duke of, and Durham's policy in Canada, 110-111.

Wetherall, Lieut.-Colonel, defeats rebels at St Charles, 75, 82, 83, 86, 88.

Wool, General, disarms force of Patriotes on the United States border, 119.



Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press



THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA

THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED

Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON



THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA

PART I

THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS

1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY By Stephen Leacock.

2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO By Stephen Leacock.

PART II

THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE

3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE By Charles W. Colby.

4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.

5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA By William Bennett Munro.

6. THE GREAT INTENDANT By Thomas Chapais.

7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR By Charles W. Colby.

PART III

THE ENGLISH INVASION

8. THE GREAT FORTRESS By William Wood.

9. THE ACADIAN EXILES By Arthur G. Doughty.

10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE By William Wood.

11. THE WINNING OF CANADA By William Wood.

PART IV

THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA

12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA By William Wood.

13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS By W. Stewart Wallace.

14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES By William Wood.

PART V

THE RED MAN IN CANADA

15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.

16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS By Louis Aubrey Wood.

17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE By Ethel T. Raymond.

PART VI

PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST

18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY By Agnes C. Laut.

19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS By Lawrence J. Burpee.

20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH By Stephen Leacock.

21. THE RED RIVER COLONY By Louis Aubrey Wood.

22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST By Agnes C. Laut.

23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL By Agnes C. Laut.

PART VII

THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM

24. THE FAMILY COMPACT By W. Stewart Wallace.

25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37 By Alfred D. DeCelles.

26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA By William Lawson Grant.

27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT By Archibald MacMechan.

PART VIII

THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY

28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION By A. H. U. Colquhoun.

29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD By Sir Joseph Pope.

30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER By Oscar D. Skelton.

PART IX

NATIONAL HIGHWAYS

31. ALL AFLOAT By William Wood.

32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS By Oscar D. Skelton.



TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY

THE END