BANNER OF PATRIOTES

FLIES

. By ALAIN PATRIE
Foee the REAL — When in Que-
Bt ten Q began its campaign
fp o ae misguided ef-

Ds 8e societ
: ttn Some of their wae
i nite names such as the
ee or the “Wolf-
ee OUP: : Chenier and
Se total riddles to a
Peaking T of the English-
Population. For the

{\" Fre
Symborgnadians the names
€d the wretched cruel-

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ona one Resor of British
On Nglish ina-

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Again, collusion and
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Nglish-speaking in

Ou ee ith events seething
% and political activity
' Pitch, this small sy-
5 Mebec’s history in
Presentey of the “Patriotes”
Worke for the edification
TS across Canada:
ii ae and thirty-three
é Q chee a vents occurred in
| orig “ Ch were to forever
tye toda ct Canadians and
Winge 2 Y as the ghostly
) 1837 < Severed nerve.
be 4 ghastly year,
relentless poverty,
and unrestrained op-
the English. The
eceevance was the
18ion to refuse Que-
€nt or any con-

Hot

LOUIS JOSEPH PAPINEAU
trol over: local revenue. Britain
exercised her imperial preroga-
tive and told the colony she
could not even have an elected
legislature. At the head of a to-
tally impotent assembly, Louis-
Joseph Papineau openly talked
of revolution.

Montreal became a city of
conflict. Hundreds of fervent
French - Canadians organized
themselves, as the Americans of
1776 had, into the “Fils de la
Liberté” (Sons of Liberty), rea-
dy to throw off the chains of
colonialism. Opposing them
were the English know-nothing
groups, prepared to dominate
and organized into jingoistic
para-military groups. A riot
flared in downtown Montreal
and orders were issued to arrest
Papineau, even though he had
already fled to the United States.

At St. Denis, 30 miles south-
east of Montreal, some 800 Pat-
riotes led by Dr. Wolfred Nelson
had managed to rout some thou-

‘sands of British soldiers. One

week later the soldiers returned
and burned down every house
in the village.

Seventeen miles to the north
of Montreal, in a village called
St. Eustache, some 400 more
French-Canadians under the
leadership of Dr. J. O. Chenier
declared themselves against the
English and took up arms.

In Montreal Sir John Colborne
organized an army which
marched on the village. It was
November, snow lay on the

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N. 1837,

Warmest thanks and admiration are due from the
Nagou Esq Sal Canada to the Honorable. Louis Joseph
thei, da “ Speaker of the House of Assembly of Lower
iS compatriots in and out of the Legislature, for
tm, manly and noble independence, in favor of
m Patriot, liberty; and for their present devoted, honor-
ENt toy; Ic OPPosition to the attempt of the British gov-
tq ee their Constitution without their consent, sub-
we the nd privileges of their local Parliament, and
Y Coercive measures into a disgraceful aban-
Just and reasonable wishes.
: usa le of ¢ Reformers: of Upper Canada are called upon
Ces. €eling, interest and duty, to make common
fellow-citizens of Lower Canada, whose suc-
Tess eo doubtless be in time visited upon us,
0 e = whose grievances would be the best guaran-
teeg ehder thi ©Ss of our own.
lan; to 'S Cooperation the more effectual, we earnestly
Nite 1... OUr fellow citizens that they exert themselves to
Sal associations; that public meetings be held
€ Province; and that a convention of delegates
Assembled at Toronto, to take into considera-
Condition of Upper Canada, with authority to
on Beha ePoint commissioners to meet ot
SIf of Lower Canada and any of the other colo-
Suitable powers as a Congress, to seek an
iste i or the grievances of the colonists.
"Ati CITY OF TORONTO

hers to be

AGAIN IN QUEBEC

ground but the days were still
bright and sunny. Colborne split
his army of 4,000 men into two
columns on his approach. The
Patriotes could hardly maintain
themselves and, after a brief
flurry of fighting, fled. Some, in-
cluding Dr. Chenier, retreated
to the church where they were
subsequently surrounded.

Fired up by their easy vic-
tory, the soldiers put torches to
the old church. Some of the re-
bels surrendered, others burnt
to death. Dr, Chenier died as
he leapt from the burning belfry
high above the ground.

The regular British soldiers
and volunteers unleashed their
venomous and uncontrolled hat-
red against the French-Cana-
dians. While hundreds raced
across the frozen fields, south-
ward to the United States and
refuge, the army set the town
ablaze. Colborne’s forces spread
out to the countryside, looting,
burning, stealing. One paper re-
ported at the time, “In a radius
of 15 miles there was not a
building which was not sacked,
pillaged by the vandals. Loyal-
ists or rebels, friends or ene-
mies, families partial or neutral,
old people and children were
victims of gangs who knew no
humanity.” :

Meanwhile the Catholic church
claimed that Colborne was in
St. Eustache to protect loyal
subjects. The Bishop issued or-
ders to’ refuse sacraments or
Catholic funerals to the dead
Patriotes. The action of the
church so shocked the partici-
pants in the struggle that
Papineau from exile wrote to his
wife on the subject. He mused
upon the possibility of the Cana-
dian church having to pay the
same penalty of the French
church in the revolution of 1789.

Under the repression of Col-
borne, Quebec saw the suspen-
sion of the constitution, procla-
mation of martial law, removal
of habeas corpus and the sever-
est expression of law and order.

Literally hundreds of citizens
fled to the U.S. Fearful for their
freedom or their lives all the
men of letters, the intellectuals,
the leaders of the rebellion, left
the country. Dr. Ed O’Callaghan
the editor of the “Vindicator,”
an English rebel journal, fled.
The owner of the journal, and
organizer of the “Fils de la Li-
berté,” fled. Jean-Joseph Girou-
ard in St. Benoit escaped from
Colborne with 500 English
pounds on his head. He hid on
a poor farmer’s land. When he
heard that Chenier had been
killed in St. Eustache, Girouard
ordered the farmer to deliver
him up and collect the reward.

Dr. Wolfred Nelson, Papineau’s
lieutenant, known as “the red
wolf,” was captured in Decem-
ber and conducted to prison in
Montreal. They marched him
through the streets, between
rows of jeering English who
spat on him, and flung snow-
balls.

The summer of 1838 saw the
arrival of Durham, sent by the
British to impose a solution on
the colony. His concepts were
such as to recognize the fact in
his own words that there are,
“two nations warring in the
bosom of a single state.” His
solution was less than perfect.
It was his int I
the French-Canadian nation. Not
in a violent manner, but with

ention to eliminate .

SS

Cw Seppeny se

BATTLE OF ST. EUSTACHE, 1837

legalisms, education and the
sheer weight of numbers he in-
tended to submerge the French-
Canadians.

He exiled 24 of the prisoners.
His demagogy was unlimited and
his real efforts at solution were
few. He increased the police
force in Quebec. He bribed some
newspapers, dismissed the as-
sembly and appointed English
to a new council of thirteen. He
named Adam Thom, a notorious
French hater, to the highest
municipal post in Montreal.

His intention was to “raise
French society to the level of
British civilization and freedom.”

Five months later Durham
summarily left for England and
Colborne replaced him.

A few weeks later 400 Pat-
riotes precipitated another re-
bellion in Montreal in spite of
Colborne’s heavy-handed repres-
sion. Twelve hundred French-
Canadians led by Wolfred Nel-
son’s. brother, Robert Nelson,
crossed the border at Napier-
ville south of Montreal: and de-
clared Quebec a republic.

Colborne retaliated by shut-
ting down every French lang-
uage newspaper. He arrested
hundreds and led his troops into
Laprairie with bagpipes playing,
“The Campbells Are Coming.”

It is difficult to describe the
carnage he wrought. Suffice it
to say that generations of
French-Canadians continue to
harbor hatreds that were hand-
ed down by ancestors who saw
and felt the English savagery.
A newspaper wrote of that

event, “The entire countryside
behind Laprairie revealed a
prospect of horror, a_ vast
blanket of livid flame curtained
the night. Not a single. rebel
home_ remained _ standing.”
Homes in ashes, farmers mas-
sacred, women, children, old
people delivered to the mercy
of crazed soldiers.

The British made Colborne a
peer.

In Montreal, immediately fac-
ing the court house and in the
centre of the square, a wooden
scaffold was erected. Then the
trials of the political prisoners
proceeded — 108 Patriotes were
tried. A few weeks before
Christmas 1838, 12 men were
hung publicly from the gibbet.
They ranged in ages from 18 to
50 years. They were from varied
backgrounds: students, farmers,
school teachers and even nota-
ries.

It is said the cruelest sentence
of all was that which exiled 58
French-Canadians to Australia
as permanently exiled convicts.

They were men who had never
travelled beyond two hundred
miles from home. Australia must
have seemed the very end of
earth.

They were to be sent to a
penal colony where they had to
work in chain gangs, tied to
push carts, were regularly flog-
ged before meals and reviled as
French-speaking devils. Fifty-
eight farmers, workers and poor
laborers.

The rebellions were over for
a time.

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