Social Studies 10

Canada: A People’s History

Rebellion and Reform

Companion Readings

The Economic Situation At the beginning of

the nineteenth century, the timber industry had replaced the fur trade as the economic engine of British North America.

Canada's economy depended heavily on its export trade to England.

In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte imposed a blockade on all of Europe preventing trade with England. Deprived of wood from Scandinavia, England turned instead to Canada's forests. The wood was mostly used for building ships. England had to build ships in order to pursue its war against Napoleon.

Each year, hundreds of ships loaded with oak and elm left Quebec City, the capital of Lower Canada, and Saint John, New Brunswick, heading for Great

Britain. The Royal William, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, was built in Quebec, one of the main centres for shipbuilding.

In Lower Canada, land became more and more difficult to obtain under the seigneurial regime.

The landowners, the seigneurs, demanded ever-higher rents. The shortage of new land to clear forced many peasants to abandon agriculture and look for work in the towns.

By 1830, Montreal had become the principal economic centre of the two Canadas. Its wealth was controlled by a handful of merchants and industrialists from the anglophone upper classes, men such as Peter McGill who became president of the Bank of Montreal in 1834. Rue Saint-Laurent / St. Lawrence Blvd. became an invisible barrier between rich and poor, anglophone and francophone.

In the first half of the 1800s, logging replaced the fur trade as Canada's dominant industry. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

Just before the rebellion of 1837, the economic situation became particularly difficult in Upper and Lower Canada. Harvests had been bad. Near Quebec, the situation was desperate. On January 9, 1837, a correspondent from the newspaper Le Canadien reported:

"Times are so hard that some habitants have taken to eating their own horses. Harvests have fallen short for four years now and many habitants don't have even a potato. It is certain that most of them will die of hunger, if relief is not provided to them."

In 1847, the economy of Upper and Lower Canada sustained a huge blow when England adopted a free-trade policy. England abandoned preferential tariffs, which gave raw materials from its colonies preferential access to the British market. The Great Famine was devastating Ireland. In order to help its victims, England to had to be in the position to buy food products, above all wheat, at the lowest cost.

Since they were no longer forced to pay higher prices for goods from the colonies, English industrialists and merchants hailed the move. They could now procure raw materials where they were the cheapest.

The economic future of a united Canada was uncertain: exports had slowed down and jobs were scarce. Businessmen pointed the finger at the free trade policy adopted by the British government. It wasn't until 1849 that Canada became prosperous again

Rising Population and Immigration During the first half

of the nineteenth century, the British colonies in North America experienced a strong growth in population. British North America now had about one million inhabitants. This growth was generated by a wave of immigration from the British Isles. About 30,000 immigrants landed each year in Quebec City, the capital of Lower Canada. Some of them remained in Lower Canada but the majority of the new arrivals went on to

settle in Upper Canada.

In 1830, Upper Canada had 260,000 inhabitants and the most rapid population growth. On the other hand, Lower Canada still had the larger population with around 400,000 inhabitants.

In 1832, Quebec had 28,000 inhabitants while Montreal had 27,000. Between 1815 and 1851, Montreal 's population tripled, increasing from 15,000 to 57,000 inhabitants. In Upper Canada the city of York became Toronto in 1834.

Between 1832 and 1834 its population doubled, increasing to more than 9,000 inhabitants.

Immigrants arrived from Liverpool and London in England, from Greenock in Scotland and from Dublin and Belfast in Ireland. The majority of them fled countries

that were in the grip of serious economic crises. They all hoped for a better future in North America.

A young English writer, Catharine Parr Strickland, was dazzled by the beauty of her new country. She and her husband, Thomas, were part of the thousand or so pioneers who arrived each year to clear fertile lands in the young colony. In her book, The Backwoods of Canada, she gave this description of her voyage along the St. Lawrence:

"The misty curtain is slowly drawn up, as if by invisible hand, and the wild, wooded mountains partially revealed, with their bold rocky and sweeping bays.

"At other times the vapoury volume dividing, moves along the valleys and deep ravines, like lofty pillars of smoke, or hangs in snowy draperies among the dark forest pines."

She had many hopes for her new land as well:

"Canada is the land of hope; here, everything is new, everything is moving forward; it is unlikely that sciences, agriculture or industry should ever lose ground; they must continue to progress."

Immigration also brought its misfortunes.

In 1832, a cholera epidemic killed more than 9,000 people in the colonies. In 1847, while the Great Famine was reaching its peak in Ireland, the Syria dropped anchor at Grosse Île, a quarantine island. On board were 241 Irish immigrants. During the summer of 1847, 50 people died there each day. Six men worked full time to dig graves. The death toll was tragic: more than 20,000 Irish immigrants died that year.

By 1849, British North America, United Canada (Upper and Lower Canada), Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland had 2 million inhabitants.

English author Catharine Parr Traill immigrated to Canada in May 1832 and helped develop the country's literary culture. (As portrayed by Maxim Roy in Canada: A People's History)

The Countryside of the Two Canadas Between 1810 and

1830 the majority of British immigrants settled in Upper Canada.

In 1831, the colony already had 260, 000 inhabitants and its population growth was the most rapid in British North America. But Upper Canada wasn't ready for such large numbers.

In order to reach Lake Huron the new settlers had to cross great forests and follow difficult roads:

"Much as I had seen and heard of the badness of the roads in Canada," recounted Catharine Parr Traill, "I was not prepared for such a one as we traveled along this day: indeed, it hardly deserved the name of a road

(...) - sometimes I laughed because I would not cry."

A string of villages, farms and inns linked Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe but some settlers felt isolated and forsaken in this vast country.

Robert Davis, a farmer of Irish origin, was disappointed:

"He had in most instances to make his own roads and bridges, clear his own farm, educate himself and his children. He had his bones broken by the fall of trees, his feet lacerated by the axe, and suffered almost everything except death. He waited year after year in hope of better days, expecting that the government would care less for themselves and more for the people. But every year he was disappointed."

Lower Canada remained the most populated colony. Settled now for more than two hundred years along the banks of the St. Lawrence River, its population now had around four hundred thousand inhabitants. The population growth made for a network of prosperous villages.

In the 1830s, Canadian pioneers appealed to the government to improve services such as roads. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

Receiving no help from the government, pioneers like Robert Davis were forced to build their own roads and bridges, clear the land and educate their children in early 1800s Upper Canada. (As portrayed by Andrew Simms in Canada: A People's History)

The county of Two Mountains, to the north of Montreal, and the Richelieu valley to the southeast, were good examples of this prosperity:

"Its banks, wrote Joseph Bouchette, the surveyor general of Lower Canada, "are diversified on each side by many farms and extensive settlements, in a very high state of improvement; some neat, populous, and flourishing villages, handsome churches, numerous mills of various kinds, good roads in all directions, with every other characteristic of a country inhabited by an industrious population."

The parish of Saint-Denis on the Richelieu now had three thousand inhabitants. Charles Saint-Germain owned the biggest hatmaking business in the colony.

François Gadbois sold his horse-drawn carriages in Quebec City, Montreal and even in Upper Canada. But not everyone was as prosperous.

In the surrounding countryside, peasants cultivated land that was not their own. They lived under the seigneurial regime. Year after year they had to turn over a substantial portion of their harvest to the landlord. During the 1870s and 1830s, land became more and more difficult to obtain and the rents became more and more expensive.

A Petition against the Seigneurial Regime The seigneurial

regime had been established during the era of New France, and it was intended to promote the development of agriculture and increase the population of the colony.

Upper Canada was the fastest growing colony in the British Empire in the early 1830s.

By the 1830s, Lower Canada had more than 400,000 inhabitants.

The majority of the seigneuries had been distributed along the Saint Lawrence River: near Quebec, Trois-Rivieres and Montreal (Ville Marie). At the end of the seventeenth century, other seigneuries were created along the Richelieu River, in Beauce and around Lake Champlain.

The seigneurs, whether English or French, owned the land and demanded rents from the peasants who cultivated and lived on it. At the end of the 18th century, in Lower Canada, most of the good land was taken and the seigneurs demanded higher and higher rents. Most families found this burden too

heavy to bear.

The system angered the peasants. On November 23, 1832 the habitants of the county of Two Mountains sent a petition to their elected representatives:

"(...) a great many seigneurs [...] treated these lands as if they had absolute authority over them, selling and transferring them at exorbitant prices, by means of illegal contracts, while His Majesty's 'Canadien' subjects have not, until now, been protected against these abuses."

The shortage of land forced the young habitants to clear lands in ever more remote regions or to abandon agriculture altogether and find work in the city.

Discontent was growing in the countryside of Lower Canada.

In Lower Canada, most farmers did not own their land but gave part of their harvest as payment to the landowner. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

Louis Duquet and his family had to build a new homestead after they were evicted from their farm in Lower Canada for non-payment of rent. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

The Cholera Epidemic of 1832 In June 1832, two

events stirred up political conflict in Lower Canada: the Place d'Armes by-election, which turned into a tragedy costing several lives, and the cholera epidemic.

At the beginning of June, the Carrick, a ship that had come over from Ireland, reached Quebec with a few feverish immigrants on board.

Three days later, cholera took its first victim.

The illness spread like wildfire all the way to Montreal and then to Upper Canada. It quickly became an epidemic that moved through the shanty neighbourhoods of the urban poor, which were breeding grounds for contagion. The lack of sewers and garbage collection contributed to water contamination. Soon the epidemic was out of control and hundreds died each day, mostly in the large towns.

On June 14, 1832, La Minerve newspaper verified the spread of cholera.

"14 June, 1832: Since Monday morning Montreal is in turmoil and the alarm is growing every minute. There is no longer doubt that cholera is present. We recommend that the public observe strictly the Regulations of the Board of Health."

La Minerve tried to prevent panic from spreading, advising that:

"There is no use in becoming alarmed. When the illness appears, one must see a doctor and follow his instructions. The apothecaries have the necessary remedies in stock and their prices are affordable to all pocketbooks."

In reality, doctors were overwhelmed and powerless. They thought cholera was transmitted by fumes carried through the atmosphere. To purify the air, English officers tried firing off cannons and the Sanitary Office burned tar.

Alexander Hart, a Jewish merchant from Montreal, saw death all around him:

"None of us go into town anymore. Many are moving into the country. Yesterday 34 corpses passed our house. Today, 23... not counting those in the old burial Ground and in the Catholic ground. 12 carts

Jean-Jacques Lartigue, the Bishop of Montreal, wrote to his cousin during the 1832 cholera epidemic complaining of, "...the invasion of our uncultivated land by British immigrants who threaten to drive us out of our country and reduce our "Canadien" population, year after year, by the spread of disease." (As portrayed by Benoit Girard in Canada: A People's History)

are employed by the Board of Health to carry away the dead who are interred without prayers."

By the end of 1832, the epidemic had claimed 9,000 lives, more than half of them in Lower Canada. Some Canadians held England responsible for this misfortune, citing its emigration policy for negligence, if not malevolence.

In a letter to his cousin, Jean-Jacques Lartigue, the Bishop of Montreal, spoke of the Place d'Armes by-election and the cholera epidemic:

"The other subjects that seem to me most worthy of your attention at the present time are: the murder of our "Canadiens" on May 21st, which the governor has since officially condoned; and the invasion of our uncultivated land by British immigrants who threaten to drive us out of our country and reduce our "Canadien" population, year after year, by the spread of disease."

This climate of death, fear and loathing helped kindle a political firestorm in Lower Canada.

The Colonial Regime and the "Family Compact"

In the nineteenth century, the colonial regime in Canada angered people who demanded ministerial accountability.

Men such as William Lyon Mackenzie of Upper Canada, Joseph Howe in Nova Scotia and Louis-Joseph Papineau in Lower Canada supported the right of the colonies to self-government.

At the time, the ideals of justice and freedom, which spread during the French Revolution and the American Revolution, were also fermenting in the six colonies of British North America: Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Since 1791, the inhabitants of the colonies except Newfoundland had the right to elect representatives to the

local Houses of Assembly. (London didn't give Newfoundland the privilege of electing a House of Assembly in 1832). These colonial Houses of Assembly adopted laws but had no real power.

William Lyon Mackenzie, editor of the Colonial Advocate in Upper Canada, advocated more democratic government in British North America. (As portrayed by Martin Neufeld in Canada: A People's History)

A governor appointed by London and councillors named by him controlled the decision-making process. As a result, there were constant conflicts between the representatives of the people and an unelected government. Power remained in the hands of an elite.

In 1833, William Lyon Mackenzie, a journalist, originally from Dundee in Scotland, denounced the leaders of the colony in an editorial in his newspaper, the Colonial Advocate:

"The family connection rules Upper Canada. A dozen nobodies, and a few placemen, pensioners and individuals of well-known narrow and bigoted principles: the whole of the revenue of Upper Canada are in reality at their mercy; - they are paymasters, receivers, auditors, King, Lords and Commons."

He denounced the privileged families of Canada who grew rich from the colony and controlled its destiny.

He coined the expression "Family Compact". Mackenzie used his newspaper to publish the names, income and family connections of this circle of people. The Attorney General of Upper Canada, John Beverley Robinson, bitterly criticized Mackenzie's actions and words:

"Another reptile has sprung up in a Mr. William Mackenzie (...) a conceited red-headed fellow with an apron. (...) He said that I am the most subtle advocate of arbitrary power (...) what vermin!"

But remarks from the Attorney General didn't stop Mackenzie, who continued

his virulent attacks:

"I had long seen the country in the hands of a few shrewd, crafty, covetous men, under whose management one of the most lovely and desirable sections of America remained a comparative desert. The most obvious improvements were stayed; dissention was created among classes; large estates were wrested from their owners in utter contempt of even the forms of the courts."

Joseph Howe was the son of a Loyalist but he too attacked the rules in his colony. He caused a scandal by accusing the Nova Scotian elite of stealing public money.

Joseph Howe, editor of the Novascotian, accused the Halifax elite of stealing public money. (As portrayed by Randy Hughson in Canada: A People's History)

The newspapers of British North America were small-scale operations but were able to provoke and irritate the colonial authorities. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

"In a young and poor country, where the sons of rich and favoured families alone receive education at the public expence - where the many must toil to support the extortions and exactions of a few; where the hard earnings of the people are lavished on an Aristocracy, who repay their ill timed generosity with contempt and insult; it requires no ordinary nerve in men of moderate circumstances and humble pretensions, to stand forward and boldly protest against measures which are fast working the ruin of the Province."

The leaders of the colony dragged Howe into court on the criminal charge of defamatory libel. Howe defended himself vigorously.

"I know them, as you know them - as the most negligent and imbecile, if not the most reprehensible body, that ever mismanaged a people's affairs. They may expect much from the result of this trial; but before I have done with them, I hope to convince them that they, and not I, are the real criminals here."

When Howe was acquitted by a jury, his popularity was greater than ever and, like Mackenzie, he went into politics.

"We are desirous of a change, not such as shall devide us from our brethren across the water, but which will ensure to us what they enjoy... Gentlemen, all we ask is what exists at home in England - a system of responsibility to the people."

In Lower Canada, the reformists were members of the Patriote party. Their leader's name was Louis-Joseph Papineau.

The Reformers and the Patriotes During the 1830s,

the maintenance of the colonial system and the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few families of Upper and Lower Canada's elite fuelled the people's discontent.

The Patriote Party was comprised of Lower Canada's reformers: mainly French Canadians and immigrants from Ireland, who shared a profound distrust of British power. Louis-Joseph Papineau, a seigneur and lawyer, was the leader of the Patriotes.

Their main opposition was the English Party, which was mainly supported by Lower Canadians of Scottish, English or American origin and defended the colonial government.

The reformist leaders, William Lyon Mackenzie of Upper Canada, and Joseph

Louis-Joseph Papineau was leader of the Parti Patriote, a group of Lower Canadian politicians who controlled the elected but largely powerless Legislative Assembly. (As portrayed by Alain Fournier in Canada: A People's History)

Howe of Nova Scotia, publicly criticized the ruling families. Joseph Howe went even further and accused the elite in Nova Scotia of stealing public money.

In Lower Canada, Louis-Joseph Papineau was an advocate of American-style democracy even though he had once been an admirer of the British Constitution.

He was particularly angered by the power of the unelected Legislative Council:

"It is certain that in a time not long from now, all of America must become republican. We need only to know that we live in America and to know in what condition we have lived there.

"The votes and measures adopted everyday by the Councillors may only be explained by their impassioned hatred of the "Canadiens", their insatiable lust for money and their odious selfishness."

Papineau rejected Great Britain's colonial system in its entirety:

"I do not believe it possible to be happy and to be treated fairly under the colonial system. How can a governor act justly... even one who sincerely desires to do so... when he is surrounded by such a pack of scoundrels?"

Two journalists from Montreal also criticized the Legislative Council, which was appointed by the governor. Daniel Tracey, an Irishman, was editor of The Vindicator. Ludger Duvernay, a French Canadian, published the newspaper La Minerve.

"As the present Legislative Council is perhaps our greatest nuisance", Duvernay wrote, "we ought to seize the means to rid ourselves of it and demand its abolition."

La Minerve and The Vindicator spoke for the Patriote political movement that was gathering momentum.

For publishing their criticism, they were sentenced to 40 days in jail.

Journalists Daniel Tracey and Ludger Duvernay were sentenced to 40 days in jail for defamatory libel after criticizing the colonial government. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

The Place d'Armes By-Election In April and May

1832, a by-election in Montreal set the Patriote party against the English party.

The outcome of this election was three deaths are a farther deterioration of the political climate.

The militants in the Patriote party were mostly French-Canadians and Irish immigrants, who shared a distrust of British power. Louis-Joseph Papineau was the leader of the Patriote Party.

The English Party (also known as Tories) was mostly made up of conservative businessmen of Scottish, English or American origin. Its members supported the colonial government.

During the by-election, the poll would remain open as long as voters continued to come forward. For the poll to close, one whole hour would have to pass without a single vote being. An election could go on for weeks. The Place d'Armes election lasted for 22 days.

"April 26...

It being ten o'clock in the morning, the poll has not yet been able to open due to the tumult going on outside (...)"

On May 21, the Patriote candidate took a narrow lead. Emotions were running high. A fight broke out and soldiers from the 15th regiment were called in and then opened fire in order to disperse the crowd.

Three French Canadians were mortally wounded: Casimir Chauvin, Pierre Billet and François Languedoc. The day after the shooting, the Patriote candidate was declared victorious. He won by a margin of four votes.

Louis-Joseph Papineau, greatly upset by at the death of his compatriots, wrote to the Governor, Lord Aylmer:

"My heart is filled with sadness and my letter will find you in the same state, as you will already have heard about yesterdays disastrous events that caused bloodshed in

In the spring of1832, violence broke out between supporters of the Parti Patriote and the English Party during a hotly contested by-election. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

Three French-Canadians were killed by gunfire from British troops in 1832 after fighting broke out between political rivals in Montreal.

our streets. The troops sent to protect His Majesty's subjects fired upon them. Canada has never before been afflicted with such miseries."

The 92 Resolutions In Quebec, the

capital of Lower Canada, the Patriote Party had enjoyed a majority in the House of Assembly for the last 15 years.

However, the reforms it proposed were rarely accepted by the British government. The Patriote politicians demanded more power for the elected Assembly and insisted that the Legislative Council be elected by the people.

In 1834, the Patriotes took their cause directly to London with the "92 Resolutions." This list was made up of all the grievances and claims of the Patriotes in Lower Canada. They demanded that the budget be controlled by the Assembly. They wanted the same powers, privileges and immunities as the British Parliament. Furthermore,

the Resolutions contained veiled threats of Lower Canada's independence and annexation to the United States.

"Resolved, that this House is no wise disposed to admit the excellence of the present Constitution of Canada..."

Louis-Joseph Papineau, leader of the Patriote Party, remained cautious:

"We will not cease our demands for full political rights and power. And though we feel uneasy, we hope that the British government will at last grant us justice. In this hope, we shall do nothing to hasten our separation from the mother country, unless it be to prepare and lead the people towards that day, which will know neither monarchy nor aristocracy.">

He hoped that the British government would finally grant the colony full autonomy:

"(..). and considers it inappropriate and inaccurate that His Majesty's Secretary of State of the colonial office should claim that he conferred the institutions of Great Britain on the two Canadas."

The Patriotes' protests and their landslide victory in the 1834 election brought a backlash from the English Party. John Molson, one of the most powerful businessmen in Montreal, issued a warning to

In 1834, the Patriotes drew up a list of political grievances, called the 92 Resolutions, and sent it to the government in London. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

the Patriotes:

"Recent events have roused us to a sense of impending danger (...) the French party may yet be taught, that the majority upon which they count for success, will, in the hour of trial, prove a weak defence against the awakened energies of an insulted and oppressed people."

Julie, Papineau's wife, spent long months in Montreal while her husband was involved in parliamentary work in Quebec. She was wary of the English Party:

"I harbour no idle fears but I can appreciate for what they truly are the rage and the hatred that this party bears towards us, and I see that our position is a lamentable one. They seek to prevail at all costs or trample us and if we do not have the energy to escape from their power they will certainly find ways of doing us harm."

The Seventh Report on Grievances In 1835, William

Lyon Mackenzie was now mayor of the new municipality of Toronto and member of the Upper Canada House of Assembly. He and the other Upper Canadian reformers made their protests known to the British government in a 500-page document called the Seventh Report of Grievances. As the Patriotes did in Lower Canada, this report called the whole colonial system into question:

"One great excellence of the English constitution consists in the limits it imposes on the will of a king, by requiring responsible men to give effect to it. In Upper Canada no such responsibility can exist. The lieutenant-governor and the British ministry hold in their hands the whole patronage of the province; they hold the sole domination of the country, and leave the representative branch of the legislature powerless and dependent."

Joseph Howe was elected to the legislature in 1836 in Nova Scotia. In Halifax, political tension was mounting.

"I am approaching now the root of all our evils," wrote Howe in the Nova Scotian on February 23, 1837, "... that gross and palpable defect in our local Government... Compared with the British Parliament, this House has absolutely no power."

Howe also drew up a list of demands for political change. But he remained a moderate reformer; his Loyalist roots prevented him from going as far as Papineau and Mackenzie. He did not wish for a complete breaking of ties with Great Britain.

"I know that I shall hear the cries of republicanism and danger to the constitution... But the idea of republicanism, of independence, of severance from the Mother Country, never crosses my mind... I wish to live and die a British subject - but not a Briton only in name."

Three years later, the British government refused all change and rejected the Ninety-Two Resolutions. The British government believed that accepting the demands of the Patriotes would mean the end of its colonial hold over British North America.

Papineau's Speech at Saint-Charles

In 1837, the Patriote Party and its leader, Louis-Joseph Papineau spread revolutionary ideas and appealed to the people to join them.

After three years of deliberation, the British government rejected the 92 Resolutions. Many people joined in the protest and numerous public demonstrations were organized in the colony.

The protest movement reached its climax at the Six Counties Assembly in October 1837. More than five thousand people gathered at Saint-Charles in the Richelieu Valley to hear Louis-Joseph Papineau speak:

"Fellow citizens! Brothers of a common affliction! All of you, whatever origin language or religion you (may) be... To

whom equitable laws and the rights of man are dear...

"We enjoin you now to adopt, thru (a) systematic organisation in your parishes and in your respective townships, an attitude which alone can win respect for yourselves and success for your demands."

Papineau urged the Patriotes to elect their own judges and militia officers to replace those who remained loyal to the British Crown.

In 1837, the Patriotes started to organize public rallies in open defiance of the government Lower Canada. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

However, he harboured no illusions. He knew that, without help from the American republic and progressives in London that he and the Patriotes could not prevail:

"Assemble now!.... and elect your own justices' of the peace... as have done your reformist brothers from Two Mountains, to protect the people from the vengeance of the enemy."

For the radicals, Papineau had not gone far enough. Some English Canadians, such as Dr. Wolfred Nelson, an English Canadian who supported the Patriote cause, and called for armed insurrection.

He was born into an English protestant family from Sorel, had married a French Canadian and raised his children in a French-speaking, Catholic environment.

Dr. Nelson called on Canadians to join the Patriotes in armed insurrection:

"Well I believe that the moment has come to melt down our tin plates and tin spoons and forge them into bullets."

Cyrille-Hector Côté, a doctor from Napierville, was of the same opinion:

"I also believe that the time for speeches has passed, it is lead that we

must now send to our enemies."

While the Patriotes were meeting in Saint-Charles, a severe warning was echoing through the streets of Montreal. Peter McGill, President of the Bank of Montreal, spoke to a crowd of four thousand people gathered on the Place d'Armes.

"We must admit their constitutional right to meet and discuss (...), and to petition and remonstrate (...), if they feel or fancy themselves aggrieved; but any and all of them who overstep the bounds prescribed by the laws in doing so, who outrage the feelings of loyal and well disposed peaceable citizens by overt acts verging on rebellion, ought to be made to understand, that such conduct can be no longer tolerated with impunity."

The Bishop of Montreal, Jean-Jacques Lartigue, believed the Patriotes capable of repeating all the excesses of the French Revolution. In a pastoral letter of October 24, 1837, he issued a warning to the Patriotes:

(As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

Cyrille-Hector Côté, a doctor from Napierville, spoke at a Saint-Charles rally in 1837, "I also believe the time for speeches has passed, it is lead [bullets] that we must now send to our enemies." (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

"Have you ever given serious thought to the horrors of civil war? Have you ever imagined the streams of blood flooding your streets and countrysides, and the spectacle of the innocent caught up with the guilty in the same awful web of disaster? Have you considered that almost without exception, every popular revolution is a bloodthirsty act?

Unrest in Upper Canada In the autumn of

1837, while anger was brewing in Lower Canada and the Patriotes were encouraging people to rise up and rebel, unrest was also spreading in Upper Canada.

William Lyon Mackenzie, a member of the Upper Canada House of Assembly and Mayor of Toronto, gave up all his expectations of Great Britain.

London had rejected the Patriotes' demands, in the form of the 92 Resolutions.

Mackenzie saw the events of Lower Canada as a portent of what would happen in his own colony:

"People of Upper Canada.... Canadians... Fellow colonists.... Behold the oppressors! In order to enslave a free People encamp soldiers all over their country! (...) If the British Kingdom can tax the People of Lower Canada against their will, they will do so with you when you

dare to be free."

For several weeks, Mackenzie travelled through the countryside north of Toronto, mobilized dissatisfied people who for years had been asking in vain for schools, roads, and bridges.

"Oh, men of Upper Canada, would you murder a free people! Before you do so pause, and consider the world has its eyes on you -- history will mark your conduct -- beware lest they condemn.

"Oh who would not have it said of him that, as an Upper Canadian, ...

In 1837, William Lyon Mackenzie traveled around the Upper Canada countryside to mobilize support for political reform. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

he died in the cause of freedom! To die fighting for freedom is truly glorious. Who would live and die a slave?"

Mackenzie organized more than a dozen public meetings. He wanted to show the British government and the "Family Compact", the political and economical elite of the colony, that people wanted reform. Mackenzie supported the Patriote cause in Lower Canada. The protest movement gathered momentum in Upper Canada. Mackenzie's supporters began training with weapons. These activities did not go unnoticed.

John Macaulay, the surveyor general of Upper Canada, wrote to his mother:

"In the rear of the Town the disaffected meet in squads with arms and are drilling and I have no doubt they are in correspondence with the Lower Canadian Malcontents - The time may not be far distant when our muskets may again (bear) requisition - not in foreign, but civil war - The Papineau and Mackenzie faction seem almost infuriated and I do not see how matters can end but in a resort to arms."

Despite the popular unrest, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Francis Bond Head, wanted to show that he had the situation under control and sent all his troops to Lower Canada, which was considered the real threat. By the late autumn of 1837, not one professional soldier remained in Toronto.

William Lyon Mackenzie's supporters began to train with weapons as they moved closer to open rebellion in 1837. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

Violence in Lower Canada's Countryside Beginning in

October 1837, violence broke out in Lower Canada's countryside.

In the county of Two Mountains and in the Richelieu Valley, Patriotes harassed local officials who refused to join them.

At the same time, the unrest was spreading in Upper Canada.

The spreading violence preoccupied the British military commander in North America, General John Colborne, a veteran of the Napoleonic wars. On November 12, 1837, he wrote to the Governor General of Canada, Archibald Acheson, the Earl of Gosford:

"(The) revolutionists are running over a large section of the country armed and menacing every individual who hesitates to join them. (...) If we neglect to profit by the offers from the Upper Province and those of the inhabitants of Montreal to assist by raising corps, while we permit the declared revolutionists to arm quietly, we shall lose the Province."

In Montreal, the arrival of soldiers from the neighbouring colonies heightened the tension.

The Patriote leaders retreated to their strongholds: Saint-Benoît and Saint-Eustache in the county of Two Mountains, or Saint-Denis and Saint-Charles in the Richelieu Valley.

Among them was Louis-Joseph Papineau.

Arrest warrants for high treason were issued against them all by the authorities. General Colborne wanted to capture the leaders of the revolt:

"The civil authorities (...) have called for the military to assist them in apprehending these persons (...). It is of the greatest importance to drag the leaders of the revolt from their meeting places."

General Colborne ordered troops into the Richelieu Valley.

intimidated local officials who refused to join their cause. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

General John Colborne commanded the British forces during the 1837 rebellion. (As portrayed by Dennis St. John in Canada: A People's History)

He wanted to strike first, before the insurgents could mount a serious milita

The Battle of Saint-Denis The first gunshots

of rebellion were fired on November 23, 1837 at Saint-Denis, in the Richelieu Valley.

Three hundred English soldiers confronted eight hundred Patriotes. About a hundred of the rebels took up positions in front of the Saint-Germain house on the main road to Sorel. Louis-Joseph Papineau and the other Patriote leaders placed Saint-Denis' fate in the hands of Dr. Wolfred Nelson. From a Sorel English family and married to a French Canadian, Nelson was one of the most radical Patriotes.

Daniel Lysons was a lieutenant in the First Regiment of Foot, the Royal Scots. They had a reputation for being one of the toughest units in the British Army:

"It soon became evident that the rebels were on the alert; the church bells were heard in the distance ringing the alarm, and parties of skirmishers appeared on our left flank."

Wolfred Nelson recounted:

"I told my companions that their lives were sought after, and that they must sell them as dearly as they could; to be steady, take good aim, lose no powder and all attend to their duty, their self-preservation."

The battle went on for six hours.

Patriote leaders retreated to their strongholds in Saint Benoit, Saint Eustache and along the Richeliau River in fall 1837.

On November 23, 1837, 300 British soldiers confronted 800 Patriotes at St. Denis at the start of the armed rebellion. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

But musket fire was not highly accurate, and so there were relatively few victims. Philippe Napoléon Pacaud, a notary, was in the thick of the action:

"I don't know how many I killed, but I fired without remorse. It was not so much from a sentiment of insults and injustices, but the old instinct of traditional hatred of the races that awoke in us; we were fighting despotism, but it was above all the English that we loved to aim at."

The stubborn resistance took the English by surprise, and their ammunition was running low.

Finally, Colonel Charles Gore ordered his men to retreat.

Twelve soldiers and 13 Patriotes were dead.

Louis-Joseph Papineau was not at Saint-Denis to celebrate the victory. Some said that Wolfred Nelson ordered him to leave the village for his own safety. Others accused him of fleeing the battlefield. While his men were celebrating, Nelson reflected on the consequences of this battle.

"We have now passed the Rubicon - our very lives are at stake - there is no alternative; even a mean, cringing submission will scarcely protect us from

every kind of ignominy, insult and injury, worse to bear than death itself, if, indeed, this event do not befall us at once. We see, now, but the painful necessity of taking up arms in good earnest, and manfully awaiting the occurrences which our attitude may provoke."

General John Colborne was shaken by the Patriote victory. He wrote to the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, Sir Francis Bond Head:

The Patriote rebels surprised the British with a stubborn resistance at the Battle of St. Denis on November 23, 1837. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

After six hours of fighting, British soldiers retreated from St. Denis leaving 12 soldiers and 13 Patriotes dead. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

"The Civil War has now commenced in this Province. I entreat you, therefore, to call out the Militia of Upper Canada and endeavour to send to Montreal as many corps as may be inclined to volunteer their services at this critical period."

All eyes were now turned to Lower Canada. The battle of Saint-Denis was only the first in a series of bloody confrontations. Rebellion would spread all the way to Upper Canada. Hundreds of men would fall on the battlefields. Women and children would be dragged into misfortune and despair.

The Battle of Saint-Charles In the autumn of

1837, armed conflict erupted in Lower Canada after decades of political struggle.

In November, at Saint-Denis in the Richelieu Valley, the Patriotes won an unexpected victory. At the same time, encouraged by this news, rebels in Upper Canada decided to march on Toronto. On November 25th, 1837, the British army was determined to crush the Patriote resistance. The fate of the rebellion in Lower Canada would be decided at Saint-Charles, in the Richelieu Valley.

Two hundred and fifty Patriotes took up position behind a barricade they had thrown up around the seigneurial manor house. Colonel Wetherall was prepared for the attack with his 425 soldiers from Fort Chambly.

British troops killed 150 Patriotes and dealt a severe blow to the Lower Canada rebels at the Battle of Saint Charles in the Richelieu Valley on November 25, 1837. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

Jean-Philippe Boucher-Belleville, a journalist and teacher, was one of the rebels. In his Diary of aPatriote, he wrote:

"We were on the defensive, there was no doubt about it, and for us the whole question came down to this: were we to yield up our property, our women and children, to a horde of barbarians, without so much as a struggle? To barbarians who had come, not to obey the law, but to plunder us by fire and sword and fill their own pockets?Much as in St.

Denis, most of our brave blue-hatted Patriotes showed a zeal and courage that could only bring us victory. Even the women cast bullets and made cartridges; the elderly and children wanted to share in the dangers of combat."

The painter, Charles Beauclerk, was one of the officers in command of the British soldiers at Saint-Charles.

"Colonel Wetherall hoped that a display of his force would induce some defection among the infatuated people; but, unfortunately for the sake of humanity, it was far otherwise. This gave rise to an order for the three centre companies, to fix bayonets and charge the works."

Covered by their comrades' fire, the Royal Scots, one of Britain's fiercest regiments, closed ranks and advanced on the barricade. The opposing forces were not equally matched. Most of the Patriotes, who were badly equipped and inexperienced, surrendered. But others refused to admit defeat.

The Battle of Saint-Charles ended in a bloodbath. One hundred and fifty Patriotes were killed in combat but only seven British soldiers.

Louis-Joseph Papineau, Wolfred Nelson, Jean-Philippe Boucher-Belleville and hundreds of Patriotes fled the Richelieu Valley to seek refuge in the United States. Some were captured and ended up in the Prison of Montreal.

The Battle of Yonge Street Encouraged by the

news of the Patriote victory at Saint-Denis in the Richelieu Valley, rebels in Upper Canada decided to prepare their attack at the beginning of December 1837.

William Lyon Mackenzie, a member of the Upper Canadian Legislative Assembly and Mayor of Toronto, was convinced the time was ripe to march on Toronto.

Jean-Philippe Boucher-Belleville was one of the 250 Patriote rebels at the Battle of Saint-Charles. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

In the absence of British troops, who hade all been dispatched to Lower Canada, he hoped to seize power and form a provisional government in Upper Canada.

Most of Mackenzie's followers were disaffected farmers. He summoned them to Montgomery's Tavern, a few miles north of Toronto. On December 4th, only 150 men had answered Mackenzie's call. They were tired, famished and poorly organized.

A rebel recounted:

"Little Mac conducted himself like a crazy man all the time we were at Montgomery's. He went about storming and screaming like a lunatic, and many of us felt certain he was not in his right senses."

Mackenzie and his second-in-command, Samuel Lount, a surveyor and blacksmith, were unable to agree when exactly they should march on Toronto.

They decided to sleep on it. The next day, Mackenzie and Lount decided to act. Twenty militiamen, loyal to the British crown, were waiting for them along Yonge Street. Mackenzie gave this account of what happened next:

"Colonel Lount and those in the front fired - and instead of stepping to one side to make room for those behind to fire, fell flat on their faces. The next rank did the same thing. Many of the country people, when they saw the riflemen in front falling down and heard the firing, they imagined that those who fell were killed by the enemy's fire, and took to their heels. This was almost too much for the human patience. The city would have been ours in an hour, probably without firing a shot. But 800 ran, and unfortunately the wrong way."

Two days later, another confrontation took place. This time it was Mackenzie's men who were waiting along Yonge Street to confront the advancing militia. Half the rebels had firearms; the rest only had pikes and cudgels.

The clash was brief. The rebels dropped their weapons in front of the soldiers and fled. Militiamen and volunteers ransacked Montgomery's tavern and set it on fire.

Mackenzie, along with some of his comrades, made his way to the United States to seek refuge. But others were not so lucky. Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews were hanged in front of the Toronto jail four months later.

The rebellion in Upper Canada lasted less than a week.

On December 4, 1837, 150 men assembled at Montgomery's Tavern, just north of Toronto, to plan an armed revolt against British authorities. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

The Battle of Saint-Eustache and its Aftermath

After the battles of Saint-Charles and Saint-Denis, there remained only one rebel stronghold in Lower Canada: the county of Two Mountains, to the north-west of Montreal. On December 14 1837, General John Colborne led an expedition to the village of Saint-Eustache.

A young woman, Émélie Berthelot, watched his arrival.

"At ten o'clock in the morning, on a Thursday... a cold, clear beautiful day... the English troops marched down the King's Road, fifteen hundred strong, infantry, artillery, cavalry, the officers in full dress regalia. (...) The entire parade filed by at a leisurely pace, with a kind of defiance."

For most of the Patriotes, resistance against such a force seemed impossible. They retreated.

One of the Patriote leaders, Dr. Jean-Olivier Chénier, was determined to fight back. He and a few dozen men occupied the village church.

General Colborne ordered his artillery to fire on the Patriote stronghold. The parish priest, Jacques Paquin, who was opposed to the rebellion, witnessed the cannonade.

"All the cannons began firing together, battering the church with astonishing rapidity. The masonry was extremely solid and resisted a tremendous number of cannonballs as they were fired off, one after the other."

The church held out against the cannon fire for two hours. At dusk, General Colborne ordered a detachment of the Royal Scots to dislodge the Patriotes from their fortress at all costs. Lieutenant Lysons was among them.

"We got round to the back of the church and found a small door leading into the sacristy which we battered in (...). We then turned to our left and went into the main body of the church (...) here the rebels began firing down our heads. We could not get up to them for the staircases were broken down, so Ormsby lighted a fire behind the altar and got his men out."

Before leaving the church, the soldiers set fire to the altar cloth. The Patriotes feared being roasted alive and so one by one had to flee.

Patriote rebels and British troops fought in a church in the village of Saint-Eustache on December 14, 1837. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

Father Paquin witnessed the last moments of the battle.

"Realizing that all hope was lost, Dr. Chenier saw that he could no longer defend himself from inside the church, for it had completely succumbed to the flames. He gathered up several of his men and jumped out of the windows with them, on the convent side. He was trying to escape, but he could not get out of the cemetery, and was soon struck by a bullet and collapsed. He died almost immediately."

Seventy Patriotes and 3 soldiers died.

In the days that followed, soldiers and volunteers terrorized the county of Two Mountains. Saint-Eustache and Saint-Benoît were looted and burned. In Saint-Joachim, Sainte-Scholastique and Sainte-Thérèse, the army burned the houses of the rebellion's leaders.

Some of the rebels tried to make it to the American border. But hundreds were taken prisoner. Dr. Wolfred Nelson and the journalist Jean-Philippe Boucher-Belleville were among them.

Louis-Joseph Papineau, exiled in the United States, wrote to his wife Julie, who had taken refuge in Saint-Hyacinthe with their children:

"My dear and cherished wife - In my (...) flight I escaped so many and such close dangers, felt such tormenting anguish at the sight of the misfortunes of my country, my family, my friends (...) I sometimes think, in spite of the immense disasters suffered, that Providence will one day shine on us, liberating our unfortunate country, and uniting our family once again."

Julie replied to him:

When your letter arrived telling us that our future is as uncertain as the present (...) I was utterly disheartened. Now that martial law has been reinstated and the troops to be deployed throughout the countryside have arrived, I am terribly afraid that we are to have our share of troubles, just as we had for a good part of the winter."

The Frères Chasseurs (Hunters' Lodge) After the battles of

Saint-Charles, Saint-Denis and Saint-Eustache in the autumn of 1837, the Patriotes seemed to have been dispersed forever.

But the beginning of 1838, some radical Patriotes formed a secret society called the Frères Chasseurs (also known as Hunters' Lodge).

The Frères Chasseurs were preparing a new insurrection when a new Governor General, John George Lambton, first Earl of Durham, was sent to Canada to investigate the causes of the rebellion.

The organization recruited members in Lower Canada and among exiled Patriotes in the United States. But Louis-Joseph Papineau dissociated himself from the group. He believed that the United States would refuse to back a new uprising, and he concluded that a second rebellion would end in failure.

Robert Nelson, a respected Montreal surgeon, led the Frères Chasseurs.

He was the brother of Wolfred, who had participated in the battles of Saint-Charles and Saint-Denis and who had been imprisoned in 1837. With him was Chevalier de Lorimier, an idealistic notary who yearned to take up the fight once again.

The Frères Chasseurs hoped for broad support. Recruits had to take an oath:

"I solemnly swear, freely and before almighty God, to observe the secret and mysterious signs of the Hunters' Lodge, to obey all the rules and regulations the Society may establish. I commit to this unreservedly, failing which I consent to my property being destroyed and my own neck severed to the bone."

Joseph Séné was one of the recruits.

"(I was told) that the Americans would come... with arms and that they would also be supported by men from other countries, who would all rise up in unison, and that with these forces we would attack at the same time in different places, that the present government would be overthrown and that another based on the government of the United States would be established."

In the autumn of 1838, the Frères Chasseurs sparked a second rebellion in Lower Canada. Another faction of the society organized raids along the American border including at Fort Malden, Fighting Island, the Thousand Islands, Short Hills and Prescott.

Lower Canadian rebels called the "Frères Chasseurs" swore to give their lives for freedom before a second rebellion in autumn 1838. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

The Second Rebellion and its Reprisals In the autumn of

1838, while a group of Patriotes, the Frères Chasseurs, sparked a second rebellion in Lower Canada.

One of the the Frères Chasseurs' first targets was the manor house of the seigneury at Beauharnois. Inside were the seigneur's son, Edward Ellice, and his wife Jane, who saw her captors as French revolutionaries:

"My sister and I were left seated en chemise de nuit and robe de chambre, in the midst of five or six of the most ruffian looking men I ever saw except in my dreams of Robespierre and without a single being to give us either advice or assistance."

The second revolution was quickly defeated. Julie Papineau, who had joined her husband in the United

States, wrote to her son, Amédée:

"You say you do not understand why the country has not risen up en masse? After all, the people were told that they would be provided with arms and money and a that a great army would come from the States: they were told... a thousand tales."

The whole region south of Montreal paid a high price for the second uprising. A thousand Glengarry Highlanders, militiamen from Upper Canada, burned and pillaged everything in their path.

A Montreal Herald journalist described the reprisals.

"What an awful sight!...All the country back of Laprairie presented the frightful spectacle of a vast expanse of livid flame (...) It is sad to reflect on the terrible consequences of the revolt, of the irreparable ruin of so great a number of human beings, whether innocent or guilty. Nevertheless the supremacy of the laws must be maintained inviolate, the integrity of the Empire respected, and peace and prosperity assured to the English, even at the expense of the whole Canadian people."

Jane Ellice also witnessed to the devastation:

"The Glengarries boast is "No fear of our being forgotten, for we've left a trail six miles broad all thro' the country." They seem to be a wild set of men. One of them told me that the houses they had spared in coming down the country, they would surely burn in going back."

Lower Canada rebel Chevalier de Lorimier wrote, "Long live independence," a few hours before his execution for high treason after the 1837-38 rebellion. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

Hundreds of rebels were convicted of high treason. In Upper Canada, 17 men were executed. In Lower Canada, 12 men died on the gallows. Chevalier de Lorimier, an idealistic notary, was one of them. Before being executed, he wrote these words:

"I have only a few hours left to live but I wish to share this precious time between my religious duties and those I owe my compatriots; for them I die the inglorious death of the common murderer, for them I leave behind my young children and my wife who have no means of support, and for them I die crying: Long live freedom! Long live independence!

More than 140 prisoners from Upper and Lower Canada were deported.

Lord Durham's Mission In the spring of

1838, a new Governor General arrived in Quebec, John George Lambton, first Earl of Durham. His orders were to investigate the causes of the rebellion. He was an aristocrat, a liberal and a reformer. He was charged with a delicate mission:

"I beg you to consider me as a friend and arbitrator - ready at all times to listen to your wishes, complaints, and grievances, and fully determined to act with the strictest impartiality."

Lord Durham's first task was to decide the fate of the Patriotes languishing in prison.

On Queen Victoria's coronation day, 150 prisoners were freed. In exchange, eight leaders pleaded guilty, and were exiled to Bermuda.

Among them was Wolfred Nelson who was preparing to leave the land of his birth:

"We belong to our country and we will willingly sacrifice ourselves on the altar of her liberties. We have revolted neither against the person of Her Majesty, nor against her government, but against a vicious colonial administration."

Patriote leaders who had taken refuge in the United States were banished for life by Lord Durham. In a letter to Queen Victoria, Lord Durham prided himself on having restored peace to the colony:

"Not one drop of blood has been shed. The guilty have received justice, the misguided mercy; but at the same time, security is afforded to the loyal and peaceable subjects of this hitherto distracted province."

But Lord Durham's mission ended abruptly. In the autumn of 1838, the British government disavowed him. Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister, criticized him for exceeding his powers by sentencing the Patriote leaders into exile without trial. He promptly resigned and returned to England.

"I little expected the reward I have received from home, - disavowal and condemnation. In these circumstances I have no business here - My authority is gone - all that rests is military power, that can be better wielded by a soldier, and Sir John Colborne will, no doubt, do it efficiently," wrote Lord Durham.

As Lord Durham set sail for England, a second rebellion broke out in Lower Canada. This uprising was organized by the Frères Chasseurs, a group of radical Patriotes. Their first victories were fleeting. In less than a week the rebellion was snuffed out.

1839 - Lord Durham's Report By 1839, the

rebellions were over but Upper and Lower Canada were plunged into a period of despair and bitterness. More than two hundred Patriotes and Upper Canadian rebels had died on the battlefield while others had been hanged or sent into exile. The forces of reform were decisively defeated and the economy took a turn for the worse. Poor harvests reduced numerous many farmers to poverty.

Upon his return to London in 1838, John George Lambton, the Earl of Durham tabled his report, which outlined the conclusions he had drawn during his stay in the British colonies of North America. Lord Durham paid particular attention to the relations between the English and the "Canadiens" of Lower Canada. In his opinion, it was necessary to give the elected assembly more power.

"It is not by weakening but in strengthening the influence of the people on their government," he wrote, "that it will be possible, in my view, to bring about concord where discord has so long reigned, and to introduce a hitherto unknown regularity and vigor into the administration of the provinces."

He proposed that the Governor choose his advisers - in effect, his cabinet - from among men who enjoyed the confidence of the Assembly. In this respect, Durham seemed to agree with the reformists Louis-Joseph Papineau, of Lower Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie, of Upper Canada and Joseph Howe, in Nova Scotia.

Durham realized there was another, more serious problem, in the case of Lower Canada.

"I expected to find a conflict between the government and the people: instead, I found two warring nations within a single State; I found a struggle, not of principles, but of races. And I realized that it would be pointless to try to improve the laws or institutions without succeeding in extinguishing the mortal hatred which now divides the inhabitants of Lower Canada into two hostile groups: French and English."

To solve the problem, Durham proposed to unite Upper and Lower Canada, as the English party had previously suggested. By uniting the two Canadas, the English would become dominant and the French Canadians would become a minority. He thought that French Canadians, whom he described as a people "without history and without literature", would gradually abandon their identity.

"The language, the laws and the character of the North American continent are English, and every other race than the English race is in a state of inferiority. It is in order to release them from this inferiority that I wish to give the Canadians our English character."

Despite Lord Durham's recommendations, the British government refused to give the colonists more power. The British ministers worried that colonial autonomy would lead to the disintegration of the British Empire. Nevertheless, the uniting of the two Canadas was an opportunity to solve the French problem once and for all.

In Halifax in 1840, Joseph Howe, who had been a member of the Assembly for four years, was in favour of Lord Durham's reforms and wrote to the British Colonial Minister in London to support them. Howe was deeply disappointed when the government refused to reform the colonial parliamentary system.

"We must hasten," wrote Howe, "to bring to the colonies the principle of self-government, a government accountable to the people. It is the only straightforward and certain solution capable of curing a deep rooted and far-reaching affliction."

The Reform Alliance In 1840, the British

government decided to unite Upper and Lower Canada.

However, it refused to reform the colonial parliamentary system, as recommended by Lord Durham, the former Governor General of the colonies of British North America.

Robert Baldwin, a lawyer from one of Toronto's richest families, now tried to pick up the pieces of the reform project.

He sent a letter to Louis-Hyppolite La Fontaine who, since the exile of most of the Patriote leaders, had become one of the most influential politicians in Lower Canada. La Fontaine had risen from modest origins in Boucherville to become a respected lawyer and politician.

Baldwin proposed an alliance between the Upper Canadian reformers and the Lower Canadian Patriotes. Together, they would command a reform majority in the new House of Assembly when the two Canadas were united.

"There is, and must be no question of races.

In 1840, Robert Baldwin proposed that the Lower Canadian Patriotes join Upper Canadian reformers to form a reform majority in the Legislative Assembly of United Canada. (As portrayed by Ted Atherton in Canada: A People's History)

It were madness on one side, and guilt, deep guilt on both to make such a question. The Reformers of Upper Canada are ready to make every allowance for the unfortunate state of things and are resolved, as I believe them to be, to unite with their Lower Canadian Brethren cordially as friends, and to afford every assistance in obtaining justice."

La Fontaine saw the Union of the Canadas as a despotic and unjust act, as far as Lower Canada was concerned. But Baldwin's letter gave him hope.

"It is in the interest of the reformers of both provinces to come together in the legislature, in a spirit of peace, union, friendship and fraternity. United action is needed now more than ever."

In an open letter to voters at Terrebonne on August 28 1840, La Fontaine declared:

"I have no doubt that the advocates of reform in Upper Canada feel the need, as we do, [to join forces] and that, in the first sitting of the legislature, they will show us some unequivocal evidence of this, which I hope will be the sign of a lasting and mutual bond of trust."

In February 1841, United Canada's new constitution came into effect. Kingston was chosen as capital. In the new House of Assembly, the two former provinces had the same number of representatives; a system designed to reduce the political clout of French Canadians.

The reform alliance underwent a baptism of fire in the first election after the defeat of the Rebellions.

French Canadian Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine gave a boost to the reform movement when he was elected to the Assembly for a Toronto riding. (As portrayed by Robert Daviau in Canada: A People's History)

1841 - The First Election after the Act of Union

In February 1841, United Canada's new constitution came into effect.

Upper Canada became West Canada and Lower Canada was known as East Canada. Even though Lower Canada had approximately 200,000 more inhabitants than Upper Canada, the two former provinces had the same number of members in the new Legislative Assembly. The system was designed to reduce the political clout of French Canadians and to facilitate their assimilation. English became the official language of the legislature and Kingston was chosen as capital.

The British government refused to reform the colonial parliamentary system to make it more democratic. As

it stood, the Governor General and councillors that the British government appointed still held almost all the power.

During the election of 1841, Lord Sydenham, the Governor General, supported the Conservative cause: in Lower Canada he modified electoral constituencies and set up polling offices as far as possible from villages that had a majority French Canadian population.

During the election, there was widespread violence and even death. The army would only intervene to defend candidates from the English Party.

Louis-Hyppolite La Fontaine was seeking re-election in Terrebonne, a county he represented before the Rebellions. In his riding, the polling office had been placed at the entrance to New Glasgow, a village that was mostly English. When La Fontaine and his supporters showed up to vote, a mob was waiting. To avoid bloodshed, La Fontaine was forced to withdraw:

"And so I informed the reporting officer that in order to avoid bloodshed and the massacre of great numbers, I was withdrawing from the contest."

Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine withdrew from a Lower Canadian election when confronted by a mob near the only polling place in a mostly English village. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

In 1841, the Act of Union united Upper and Lower Canada into one colony - Kingston the capital - with one governor, one elected assembly and one language, English.

Without La Fontaine in the House of Assembly, the reform alliance was in danger. Robert Baldwin asked his father, who was running as a candidate in a Toronto riding, to withdraw and to let La Fontaine run in his place:

"I think it would be very desirable that you should even tho' you may have already accepted the nomination for North York suggest to them the expediency of accepting your retirement and of returning Mr. La Fontaine, if he will accept the nomination instead of you. I am satisfied that nothing could be done at this conjuncture that would have a better effect upon the state of parties in the House than his return just now for North York."

William Baldwin accepted his son's proposition. The francophone candidate won the election in the Upper Canadian riding of North York. In 1849, La Fontaine returned the favour to Robert Baldwin, who was elected in the riding of Rimouski, in the Lower Saint Lawrence.

These gestures of goodwill strengthened the alliance between reformers from both Canadas and the personal friendship of the two men.

In the years to come, Baldwin and La Fontaine together led the battle for a government run by the people's elected representatives.

And La Fontaine could rely on Baldwin's support to restore the French language in Parliament.

A Responsible Government Once the British

Empire adopted a policy of free trade, there was less reason to control the internal politics of its most developed colonies. The Great Famine that was devastating Ireland forced England to adopt this measure. In order to come to the aid of its victims, England had to be in the position to buy food products, above all wheat, at the least cost. This measure was hailed by the merchants and the English industrialists. They could now procure raw materials where they were the cheapest.

For more than 50 years, the people of Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island had the right to elect representatives to the their House of Assembly Newfoundland was not granted this privilege until 1832. But the elected representatives had very little power. The Governor, appointed by the British government, selected his advisers and none of them came from the House of Assembly.

In November 1847, Lord Grey, Secretary of State for the Colonies, declared to John Harvey, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia:

"It is neither possible nor desirable, to govern any of the British provinces of North America in opposition to the opinion of its inhabitants."

In 1848, the British government finally granted British North America's reformers what they had been after for years: the power to govern themselves. Henceforth, even though they were appointed by London, the Colonial governors were obliged to choose members of the Executive Council from those elected to the House of Assembly.

Nova Scotia became the first colony of the British Empire to obtain responsible government.

The Reformers' Victory At the beginning of

1848, Joseph Howe's reform party won the elections in Nova Scotia and took power, forming the first colonial government within the British Empire to be popularly elected. Henceforth, the party that held the majority in the Assembly would lead the colony. Howe became Premier:

"It will be our pride to make Nova Scotia a Normal School for the rest of the Colonies," wrote Joseph Howe, "showing them how representative Institutions may be worked, so as to insure internal tranquility, and advancement, in subordination to the paramount interest and authority of the Empire."

A few weeks earlier, in December 1847, United Canada was in the middle of an election. The reformers, led by Baldwin and La Fontaine, were victorious there as well.

La Fontaine wrote:

"...the goal of the union of the two provinces was the destruction of the French Canadians.

Since then, things have changed. The author of this measure was mistaken. He wanted to lay low a whole category of citizens. But today the facts show that everyone is on an equal footing."

It was a great victory for Robert Baldwin. While addressing voters in the riding of York, he declared:

"The Province has passed through a long and arduous struggle for the establishment of a system of government founded on the broad basis of British Constitutional principles. Your favour, and the confidence of a large portion of the people of my country, placed me in a position in which I was called upon to perform no unimportant part in

French Canadian Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine gave a boost to the reform movement when he was elected to the Assembly for a Toronto riding. (As portrayed by Robert Daviau in Canada: A People's History)

the great battle of the constitution. The battle has been fought. The victory has been achieved."

Louis-Joseph Papineau received amnesty in 1845 and returned to Canada. The former leader of the Patriotes was elected in the county of Saint-Maurice in the 1848 election, and called for repeal of the Union. But times had changed. He did not find many supporters for his views, apart from the young radicals of the newspaper L'Avenir. His former allies had moved over to support La Fontaine. Wolfred Nelson, the hero of Saint-Denis, accused his former leader of cowardly flight from the battlefield in 1837. Newspapers circulated rumors in the hopes of discrediting Papineau. He abandoned public life and withdrew to his manor at Montebello. By now, almost all the Patriotes and Upper Canadian rebels had been granted amnesty. In 1849, William Lyon Mackenzie was the last to request and obtain amnesty.

The Rebellion Losses Bill: the First Test In 1848, United

Canada's Parliament was now located in Montreal.

The Baldwin-La Fontaine reform government introduced a bill that would put self-government to its first, crucial test.

It proposed paying compensation to Lower Canadians whose property had been destroyed during the Rebellions. All those who could prove their losses, and had not been convicted of sedition, would be compensated.

In the spring, the new Governor General, Lord Elgin, a skillful diplomat from a powerful Scottish family, was faced with a difficult decision. If he did not accept the Rebellion Losses Bill, he would undermine the foundation of

responsible government. If he did approve the bill, then he would antagonize a good part of the English population of Lower Canada, who saw it as a measure to reward traitors:

"A good deal of excitement and bad feeling has been stirred (...) The opposition leaders who are very low in the World at the moment, have taken advantage of the circumstance to work upon the feelings of the old loyalists as opposed to Rebels, of British as opposed to French, and of Upper Canada as opposed to Lower, and thus to provoke from various parts of the Province the expression of not very temperate or measured discontent."

Lord Elgin finally decided to accept the bill.

Self-government was put to a crucial test in 1849 when politician Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine proposed paying compensation to Lower Canadians whose property was destroyed during the Rebellions. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

As he left Parliament, an angry mob awaited him.

Many of the English in Montreal felt betrayed by the governor and by England.

On April 25 1849, the Montreal Gazette issued a call to arms:

"The Disgrace of Great Britain accomplished! Canada Sold and Given Away! (...) The End has begun. Anglo-Saxons you must live for the future. Your blood and your race will now be supreme (...)

A Mass Meeting will be held on the Place d'Armes this evening at 8 o'clock.

To the struggle, now is your time."

That evening, the crowd marched in fury on Parliament. The rioters broke down the doors and set fire to the building, which housed both the Parliament and the parliamentary library

Governor General Elgin approved the controversial Rebellion Losses Bill proposed by political reformers in 1849. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

1849 - The Burning of Parliament That evening, the

crowd marched in fury on Parliament.

The rioters broke down the doors and set fire to the building, which housed both Parliament and the parliamentary library.

"Last evening around 8 o'clock, while Parliament was in session," wrote William Rufus Seaver, a Congregationalist pastor who witnessed the riot, "a rabble (for that is the only name to call it, even if it was made up of some of our finest citizens) surrounded the building and started ransacking it by smashing in the windows, etc. Soon the doors were broken down, and a strapping young

man dashed forward to the Speaker's Chair and shouted: "I hereby dissolve Parliament!" This was a signal, and immediately in front of the deputies and many spectators, they lit the gas mains in a dozen places and the building was engulfed in flames.

"The furious mob grabbed the golden mace, the sacred symbol of Royalty, and carried it into the street yelling scornfully and disdainfully all the while.

The deputies barely escaped death and the splendid building which contained rare paintings, all the province's archives since the beginnings of the colony, all the laws of Parliament, this library which alone was worth some 100,000 pounds sterling, was totally destroyed. The magnificent portrait of the Queen, which you must surely remember, was thrown into the street and torn apart. Everything was lost, nothing could be saved, all that remained was a pile of smoking ruins...

"This quarrel is a war between races. The British do not accept answering to a Canadian government and nobody can foresee the end of hostilities. Will this mean the extermination of the Canadian race? God only knows. We are living in troubled times and more blood will flow than ever during the rebellion of 1837."

Joseph Howe, the Premier of Nova Scotia, was shocked to learn what had happened in Montreal. He condemned the rioters:

An angry mob confronted Governor General Elgin after he approved The Rebellion Losses Bill in 1849. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

Opponents of reform burned down the Parliament buildings in Montreal in 1849. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

"We hear a great deal about anglifying the French-Canadians; and a union of the Provinces is sometimes advocated with a view to swamping and controlling that portion of the population which, being of French origin, still preserve their ancient religion, manners and language. (...) If the process of anglifying is to include any species of injustice to that large body of British subjects, who already form at least one-half of the population of United Canada, to such a design, no matter in what form pressed or by whom entertained, we will be no parties."

The burning of Parliament was a last, desperate act by the opponents of reform. These men, with their privileged connections to England, were now terribly weakened. By signing the Rebellion Losses Bill, Lord Elgin had confirmed that the colonists could make their own decisions from now on. Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hyppolite La Fontaine had shown that Canada's future depended on collaboration between the English and the French.

The End of an Era In 1849, two and a

half million people lived in the colonies of British North America.

Thousands of immigrants from the British Isles were settled in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Upper and Lower Canada.

Peace and prosperity had returned. Harvests were good and sawmills were selling their wood to the United States. Industries used hydraulic energy in shipyards and in foundries. In Canada, new canals linked the Saint Lawrence to the Great Lakes.

The granting of self-government granted the colonies much greater autonomy in relation to the British government.

Robert Baldwin, the reformer from Upper Canada, retired from public life in 1851. He was only 47, but the parliamentary battles he had led for a decade had completely exhausted him. He died eight years later.

Louis-Hyppolite La Fontaine left politics only a few months after his friend Baldwin. He was also tired and ill. He died at the age of 56.

After his return from exile, William Lyon Mackenzie was elected to the Parliament of the Province of Canada.