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THE IMPACT OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ON LOWER CANADA, 1789-1795 PDF

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO THE IMPACT OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ON LOWER CANADA, 1789-95 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BY HOWARD A. VERNON CHICAGO, ILLINOIS DECEMBER, I 95I Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE Studies on the e ffe c ts of the French R evolution upon areas outside of France should prove of in te re s t to h is to ria n s fo r some time to come. Perhaps th is d is s e rta tio n is a p a rtia l fu lfillm e n t of the p red ic tio n made by Frederick von Gentz, P russian p u b lic is t and diplom at, who in 179^- sta te d : "The French R evolution is of such magnitude th a t p o s te rity w ill eag erly in q u ire how contem poraries of every country thought and f e l t about i t , how they argued and how \ they a c te d ." This observation would p a rtic u la rly apply to those regions uiiich were s e ttle d by Frenchmen and s t i l l possess larg e G allic populatio ns. An area im portant in th is re sp e c t is th a t p a rt of Canada form erly c a lle d New France by the French, and la te r Quebec (1763**91)> Lower Canada (I79I - 18I4.O), and Canada-East (I8J4.O-67) by the B ritis h , Today th is p a rt of Canada bears the name of the Province of Quebec. At the outbreak of the Revolution in France, the French of B ritish North America had already been sep arated p o litic a lly from th e ir mother country fo r tw enty-3ix y e ars. Yet tie s to the homeland had scarcely been severed during the course of th a t q u a rte r- century. Moreover, c u ltu ra l, so c ia l and in te lle c tu a l cu rren ts flow ­ ing from revo lu tio n ary France continued to reach French-Canadians fo r many years a fte r 1789* ^■Quoted in G. P. Gooch, Studies in Modern H istory (London, 1951), p. 2 . i i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The question of French rev o lu tio n ary influence on Canada, however, has not held the a tte n tio n of more than a handful of Canadian h is to ria n s and men of lite r a tu r e . Their in te r e s t in the su b ject has been d esu lto ry , i f not almost casu al. Nor have general h is to rie s of Canada given much a tte n tio n to th is fa c e t of the Canadian p a st which concerns so large and im portant an elem ent in the n atio n . Some few sch o lars, however, have done some spade-work on the to pic w ithin th e la s t six ty years. But most of the work by these in d iv id u als has been markedly narrow in scope. In 1891? Douglas Brymner, Dominion a rc h iv is t, published 2 sev eral documents re la tin g to French republican designs on Canada, Perhaps th is work po inted the way fo r research undertaken by N arcisse Dionne, lib r a r ia n of the Canadian Parliam ent, in the e arly years of th is cen tu ry . At th a t time he published h is E c c le sia stiq u e s e t les R oyalistes franqais refu g le s au Canada,^ Yet only one asp ect of the problem was considered by M. Dionne, and even th is was analyzed inadequately, A large se ctio n devoted to biographies o f French p r ie s ts who s e ttle d in Canada during the course o f the R evolution follow s a b r ie f h isto ry of French refugees in Canada. His bibliography In d ica te s th a t he u tiliz e d documents in the Dominion and Ontario archives, memoirs, and sev eral second- works. But because the study is larg e ly lim ite d to r e lig io u s mat­ te r s , M. Dionne n eg lected to examine a number of other documents to be found i n the Public Archives of Canada, Douglas Brymner (ed .), Report on Canadian Archives-1891 (Ottawa, 1892), pp. 57"85* ^Quebec, 1905* i i i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The subject lay dormant u n til 1911. In th at year, M. Benjamin S u ite, French-Canadian lo c a l h is to ria n and l it t e r a te u r undertook to p resen t another side of the same question.^- Though he must have examined many papers in the Dominion archives, his account of French In trig u e s in Canada during the e ra of the Revo­ lu tio n i s concerned almost e n tire ly w ith p o litic a l ev ents. Suite furtherm ore seems to have su ffered from the in a b ility to organize m aterial compactly, and from the tendency to re p e a t. But M. Suite brought the su b ject to the a tte n tio n of o th er scholars of h is day, and perhaps opened the way f o r la te r re se a rc h . He concluded, in the course of his paper, th a t the questio n m ight w ell deserve a c, volume. J The study of the French Revolution and i t s re la tio n to Canada was n o t resumed fo r alm ost th ree decades. I t was only in 1939 th at Professor R. Flenley, of the Department of H istory of the U niversity of Toronto, published a sh o rt essay on the r e l a ­ tio n sh ip of rev o lu tio n ary France to French Canada.^ This is a readable, scholarly treatm ent of the su b je c t, but Mr. F lenley , lik e those who preceded him, made use of much of the same source m a te ria l. None who has worked on th is su b je c t, moreover, has attem pted to u n ite a l l of i t s various asp ects in to one essay. N either have many students ventured any in te rp re ta tio n of the ^Benjamin S u ite, "Les P ro jets de 1793 & l8 lO ,M Royal S ociety of Canada, Proceedings and T ran sactio n s, 3h S e r., V (1911) 19 67 - • h b l d . , p. 19. c R. F lenley, " The French R evolution and French Canada,” in R. F lenley (ed .), Essays in Canadian H isto ry (Toronto, 1939)» pp. I}-5-67 ‘ iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. events under co n sid eratio n , nor have they w ritte n in an expository manner. Most of the m a te ria l heretofore drawn from arch iv al and o ther sources has sim ply been s e t down in n a rra tiv e or a n n a lis tic fashion . A new study of so im portant a q u estio n would s t i l l seem to be ap p ro p riate. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research involved in the p rep a ratio n of th is d is s e r ta ­ tio n has req u ired the co-operation and good serv ices of many people. Not a l l of these can he mentioned here, but sp e cia l ap­ p re c ia tio n is due c e rta in in d iv id u als. My most sincere thanks must go to P rofessor Louis G ott- schalk, of the Department of H istory of the U niversity of Chicago, who has supervised the d is s e rta tio n throughout. W ithout his high order of p a tien c e, kindness and c r i t i c a l a b ility , the work would have been more d if f ic u lt and h alf as ably done. Thanks must also be expressed to Dr. David C. B otting, la te ly of the U niversity of Chicago, who has read and c ritic iz e d numerous p o rtio n s of the e n tire work. To Mr. David H. Stevens and Mr. John M arshall, and to the Humanities D ivision of the R ockefeller Foundation I owe su b sta n tia l aid , which enabled me by means of a fellow ship to carry out r e ­ search which would have otherw ise been d if f ic u lt, i f n o t impos­ s ib le . Simple thanks f o r such help is in s u f f ic ie n t to convey adequately my deep g ra titu d e to them. Acknowledgments must also be made to o f f ic ia ls of the Public Archives of Canada in Ottawa, who have been h e lp fu l and generous in a ll resp ec ts. I am e sp ec ially g ra te fu l to Major Gustave L anctot, form er deputy m in iste r of archives, fo r encouragement and advice, as well as to Miss Norah Story and Mr. Norman Fee, of the E nglish a rc h iv is t s ta f f . M. Lucien B rault and M ile. J u lie tte v i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Bourque, of the French D ivision of the A rchives, were also h e lp fu l and w illin g to f a c i l i t a t e a l l phases of the research . I should also lik e to express thanks to M. Lusignan, of the L ibrary of Par­ liam ent, fo r placing a t my disp osal e arly newspapers and other p rin te d m a te ria ls c Kindness was also shown me by Abbe”” Arthur Maheux, P rofes­ sor of H istory a t Laval U niversity, Quebec C ity, and by Jean-C harles Falardeau, o f the Sociology Department of the same u n iv e rsity . Abbe^ Jean-M arie Beauchemin, a rc h iv is t of the Archbishop’s Palace, Quebec C ity, was esp ecially generous in allowing me to use manu­ s c rip ts in h is possession, as was also Canon A. R. K elly, a rc h iv is t of the Anglican Archives of the Province of Quebec. F in a lly , I should like to express my thanks fo r advice and h elp fu l suggestions to P rofessors R. G. T ro tter and A. R. M. Lower, both of the Department o f H istory, Queens Uni­ v e rs ity , Kingston, O ntario; to P rofessor A* L. Burt, of the De­ partm ent of H istory, U n iv ersity of M innesota; to P rofessors B art­ l e t t Brebner and Alan Nevins, both of the Department of H istory, Columbia U niv ersity , and also to Mr. Mason Wade, of Windsor, Vermont. To a l l who served as generous sources of aid , I s h a ll always fe e l deeply indebted. Ottawa Dominion Day, 195° v ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OP CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter I. GENERAL SATISFACTION WITH EARLY BRITISH RULE, 1 7 6 3 - 8 5 ............................................................................... 3 II. POSSIBLE SOURCES AND CHANNELS OF DISCONTENT, 1771+-89 28 I I I . THE EARLY GENERALLY FAVORABLE REACTION, I 789- 9I . i|4 IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN UNFAVORABLE REACTION, 1792-93 75 V. FRENCH AGENTS AND REPRESSIVE LEGISLATION, 1793-54 95 VI. REFUGEES FROM FRANCE, 1793-95...................................................... V II. LOYALIST ASSOCIATIONS AND THE WANE OF FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY INFLUENCE, 1794-95 .......................................... 1 5° V III. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS ...................................................... 158 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................................. 163 v lii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION The author of th is d is s e rta tio n has attem pted to make an in te g ra te d study of the to p ic under co n sid eratio n . In th is a t ­ tem pt, he has examined the question in the b ro ad est sense, and has u n ited a ll of its a s p e c ts --c u ltu ra l, re lig io u s and p o litic a l-~ in to one essay. The su b ject, moreover, seems to divide i t s e l f in to three g reat dixdLsions. I t is the au th o r’s b e lie f th a t a discussion of news from Prance, the fa c to r of mass communication, deserves f i r s t considera­ tio n in the p resen t study. This fa c to r was of paramount importance in moulding the clim ate of opinion in Lower Canada. Although news from Prance was generally favorable to the French Revolution u n til e a rly 1792, the la s t three years of the p erio d under exam ination w itnessed an almost complete re v e rsa l in the tone of Canadian news which concerned the R evolution. Consequently, by e a rly 1795 (when the f i r s t refugees arriv e d in Lower Canada), Canadian view points toward French developments had already become q uite strongly a n ti- rev o lu tio n a ry . Into a m ilieu which was becoming more and more a n tip a th e tic to the Revolution, French refugee c le ric s and some r o y a lis ts were welcomed. They in turn were doubtless s ig n ific a n t In in creasin g the disapproval w ith which Canadians now regarded the R evolution. A th ird group which, about the same tim e, produced an impact upon Canadians were the French agents In the province. In an area strongly c le r ic a l, a u th o rita ria n and In creasingly a n ti- 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

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