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A Deep Sense Of Wrong: The Treason, Trials and Transportation to New South Wales of Lower Canadian Rebels after the 1838 Rebellion

1995

by Beverley Boissery, Independant Scholar. Published with Dundurn Press 1995.

In 1839, 58 men left Montreal for the penal colony of New South Wales. They were unimportant men outside their own parishes, ordinary people caught up in political events. Civilians, they were tried by court martial.Convicted of treason, their properties forfeited to the crown, they and their families paid a heavy price for rebellion. As convicts in Australia, they were the lowest of the low. But during their years there, they came to be respected by Sydney’s citizens. They are the only convicts sent to Australia who kept daily records of their experiences in 1840’s Sydney. A Deep Sense of Wrong shows the degradation of prison life and the triumph of the human spirit over overwhelming odds. Although the book offers serious analysis of the legal manipulations in the court martial, it is written for the non-expert who is interested in treason law or Quebec or Australian history.

Reviews of A Deep Sense Of Wrong: The Treason, Trials and Transportation to New South Wales of Lower Canadian Rebels after the 1838 Rebellion

Beverley Boissery’s retelling of this dramatic, perhaps even tragic tale of revenge and exile is effective and largely convincing.  Roger Hall, The Globe and Mail, February 17, 1996, p. C17.
Until now, the story of the exiled patriotes had never been fully told. A new book titled A Deep Sense of Wrong fills a surprising void.  Mark Abley, The Gazette (Montreal), February 12, 1996, p. A1.
A Deep Sense of Wrong is an intriguing account of an obscure episode which links two of the oldest members of the Commonwealth, as well as being a tribute to the hardihood and integrity of those simple souls who survived their clash with an alien authority. No facile read, this, but well worth the effort. David Wadham, Queensland Regional Chronicle, June 4, 1996.

Reviews have also appeared in the following publications:

  • Thomas D. Isern, American Review of Canadian Studies, Vol 28, 1998, p. 549.
  • Stephen Kenny, Canadian Historical Review, Vol 79, 1998, p. 156.
  • Jamie Benidickson, Ottawa Law Review, Vol 28, 1997, p. 460.
  • Gerry Turcotte, Law Text Culture, Vol 3, 1996, p. 261.
  • Mark Abley, Canadian Press NewsWire, 20 February 1996.
  • Mark Abley, Kingston Whig-Standard, 2 March 1996, p. 4.
  • Mark Abley, The Windsor Star, 29 February 1996, p. D12.
  • William Christian, The Toronto Star, 3 February 1996, p. L12.
  • B.M. Gough, Choice, Vol 30, 1996, p. 1710.
  • John Kalbfleisch, The Gazette (Montreal), 15 April 1996, p. A4.
  • Joseph Leydon, Canadian Book Review Annual, 1995, p. 271.
  • Stewart Muir, The Vancouver Sun, 13 April 1996, p. D16.
  • Chris Raible, The Beaver, Vol 76, 1996, p. 46.

Beverley Boissery

Beverley Boissery is a independent historian and an author. She has written eleven books ranging from academic history to young adult fiction. In the 1960s she worked as an elementary school teacher and then went back to school in the 1970s to earn her Bachelor’s degree and Doctorate. She has been a scholar-in-residence at Regent… Read more »

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Contents:

Contents

ILLUSTRATIONS following 158
LIST OF TABLES iv
LIST OF FIGURES iv
FOREWORD vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
PREFACE xi

Part One: Background to Rebellion

1 The First Blow, Autumn 1837: They ‘Wanted Reform,
and Not Revolution’ 3
2 ‘’To Overthrow Her Majesty’s Government’ 24

Part Two: Treasons and Trials

3 Fiasco in Chateauguay 47
4 Napierville – ‘To Conquer or Die’ 70
5 From Euphoria to Defeat in Beauharnois 94
6 ‘Damn You, and Your Queen, and Your Government’:
Mayhem in Laprairie – Caution in Terrebonne 117
7 Abuses, Numbers, and Processes 137

Part Three: Transportation and Life in New South Wales

8 ‘Taking a Trip on a Government Ship’ 161
9 Sydney – ‘Until Yesterday a Byword of Reproach’ 188
10 Longbottom Stockade: ‘In French Long Fond …
a Pretty Enough Place’ 205
11 ‘Land of a Thousand Sorrows’ 232

Part Four: The Conclusions

12 Aftermath 257
13 ‘There Must Always Be Victims’ 276

APPENDICES
A Biographical Notes on the Men Transported
to New South Wales 293
B Montreal Star Interview with François-Maurice Lepailleur 298

ABBREVIATIONS 303
NOTES 304
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 353
INDEX 363

TABLES

5.1 Estimated Property Damage and Destruction 111
7.1 Statistical Breakdown of the Executed Canadiens 152
7.2 Estimated Property Damage in 1839 Dollars from
Fire, Destruction and Pillage, in Certain
Rebellious Counties 157

FIGURES

1.1 Montreal and the Lower Richelieu Valley 8
1.2 Seigneuries in the Lower Richelieu Valley
Known to Have Charged Rents of Eight Sols
per Arpent or More 10
1.3 Seigneuries in the Lower Richelieu Valley
in Which an Above Average Number of
Writs of Execution Were Issued, 1837-42 12
1.4 Seigneuries in the Lower Richelieu Valley
with the Highest Levels of Subdivision 13
2.1 Nelson’s Plan of Attack, 1838 37
4.1 The Battle of Lacolle, 1838 79
8.1 Prieur’s Plan of the Buffalo 177
10.1 Convict Camp at Longbottom, c. 1841 211
11.1 Main Areas of the Canadiens’ Activity While
on Ticket-of-Leave 241