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

179 Pages·09.6 MB·English

by  VERNON, HOWARD A JR

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
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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 .
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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
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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*
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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 ‘
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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
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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
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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°
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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
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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-
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