Sir George-Itenne Cartier, Co-Prime minister of the province of canada and sir john A. Macdonald’s Senior Partner in confederation, was a classically education of french canada’s noblesse d’épée (“Nobility of the Sword”), a lawyer, and a monarchist. And yet as a young man he took an active part in the rebellion of 1837 against the lower canada authorities.
That seems like a paradox – but it’s not if one understands the history of French canadians.
With a few notable exceptions, French Canada’s Leaders – Seven The Rebels – well Loyal to the Crown. They served in the militia and upheld the British constitution.
Even Louis-Joseph Papineau, the best-known 1837 Radical, a captain during 1812. OCRACY After the French or American Manner, “Wrote Quebec Historian Fernand ouellet. Papineau “remained an ardent monarchist” until he went down some republican rabbit holes.
Even The Famous Ninety-Two Resolutions of the Lower Canada Assembly (1834), of which papineau was the longtime speaker, begin with a clear profession of loyalty. French Canadians Were “His Majesty’s Loyal Subjects” who had “
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What Most of the French-Canadian Elite Wanted a Republic But a more Democratic Copy of the Westminster System-WHICHE CITY-WHICH CONTHDE of Quebec was- re- established.
“Mr. Papineau and his friends sought no more than to carry out the principles of the Constitution which had been given to the Country by England, and to which the honor of England was pledged”—namely, to protect the rights of French Canadians. That is what the rebl leader edmund bailey o’claghan, born in irland, told the English immigrant and journalist, Stewart derbishire.
Remember, the Pivotal Event of all Canadian History in 1760. similate them .
As literacy expanded under the British, who in the 1790s encouraged the immigration of 50 highly educated refugee priests from France, the classical colleges they founded or improved were churning out 200 to 300 graduates a year by the 1830s. This was “a new order of men,” who breathed in the spirit of politics – la likeed it.
George cartier was one. Born in 1814 in the four generation of cartiers who prospered as grain merchants around St. Antoine and ST. Denis and served as Militia officials against the Americans in 1775 and 1812, He was backed “George” after King George III, The king Falsly demonized by American propaganda. (It is good reason that a portrait of him traditionally hangs in the Canadian senate foyer.)
Sir george -etienne cartier in 1871. Public domain
Home from School in 1830, George Watched His Father, Take Command of the 5th Batalion, Lieuenant o Commanded. George Became a lawyer and in 1834, Secretary of the ST. Jean Baptistest Society, formed to uphold the rights inherited from the 1760s.
That was necessary because a kind of American invasion was occupuring through legal immigration. Hundreds, and eventually thousands, of traders and speculators from the thirteen colonies, and to a Lesser extent from Great britain, settled in quagan and before to form a local engine-seamaking elite. They were bitterly resentful of the “defeated” Majority, but by the 1840s Half of Montreal was English-Speaking. Despite many of them having come from America, they claimed a Higher Loyalty to the crown.
They came to dominate the legislative council (the senate of queebc) and other appointed positions to the extent that they were called the “Chateau Clique.” And short-smsdedly, they blocked members of the growing Canadien Meritocracy from Holding Senior Positions.
“Study constantly. … Read the political history of your country, “sir louis-hyppolite lafontaine told cartier, his young protégé, accepting to Alastair Sweeny’s Biography of Cartier. “The survival of our nation depends above the Youth of Canada.”
Somehow Canadians, Both English and French, Gave up Studying their history.
As Cartier’s Mentors, Including Lafontaine and Newspaper Publisher Luddger Duvernay, Grow Frustrated With This “Idiotic Nouveau Riche” and the “Stupid Nobility,” they have more radical. If the “Parti Canadien” Renamed ITSELF the “Parti Patrote” in 1826 It was because they were pushed hard.
“We have always conservatives,” wrote joseph Cauchon, Editor of the Journal de Queebc, in 1852, “Because we have been able to preserve and protect what we ‘fountain and spoliating oligating oligating oligating oligarachy. …
The rebellion of 1837 was thus in some ways an aberration. Important to note is some of the patrote leders was in fact irish, like o’calghan, not only french canadian. Thomas StOROW BROWN, For Example, Was a Unitarian from New Brunswick and of the American descent.
Indeed, Journalist Stewart Derbishire Concluded It In Fact English Provocateurs, so-collected “monTreal volunteers” had triggered the Violence in order to force a reckoning with the hated “French.”
The Anglo-Montrelers Continued to Commit Atrocities after The ceasefire, when they burned 297 Buildings “including two churches, a convent, twelve granaries.” In the village of ST-Benoit, “Where no resistance at all was found
Cartier was active in a rebel standoff at st. Denis and it was reported by le populaire newspaper that “He was found dead by his father … Frozen to death while fleeing arrest.” In fact, with a bounty on his head, Cartier hid with his brother at a friend’s sugar bush, then fled to the United States.
He Quickly Relented, Applying In 1838 to Return Peacefully to Lower Canada.
Cartier then rebuilt his reputation and eventually became a senior cabinet minister in Lower Canada, the Province of Canada (of which he was prime minister from 1858 to 1862, with Macdonald as deputy premier), and the Dominion of Canada.
“It is necessary to be anti-yankee,” Cartier said, “In order to build up the northern power.”
A Healthy Caution Towards The United States were a hallmark of cartier’s Philosophy. QuebC Conservative Reformer Joseph Cauchon, Backed Confederation to Annexation (Advocated By Some In The 1840s) Cause in Population Size, It Was Better To Be. “One in 100 . “
Many Quebec Sovereigntists Today Consider Men Like Cartier As “Vendus” (sellouts). But in reality, they were true to their history and traditions. They were realists and got the best deal possible for Quebec, backed by the crown.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Epoch times.
