The addition of four towers between and accentuated the architectural eclecticism of the building. The landscaping around the manor house and the interior decorating were completed in Papineau found the ideal location for his manor house, on the promontory formed by Cape Bonsecours, from which his family and their guests could see the Ottawa River.
The care given to the furnishings and interior decoration reveals the high standard of living to which the residents of the manor house were accustomed. On the ground floor, where the Papineaus spent their days, there is a spacious living room where they chatted, comfortably ensconced in elegant armchairs, while sipping fine spirits or listening to the piano.
The luxurious dining room is connected to the kitchens by a dumbwaiter hidden in a fake piece of furniture so that meals were always served hot. The many family and guest bedrooms are located on the second floor, while the servants worked and lived in the basement. Behind the discussions of principles and constitutional theories, Papineau, whose interests were linked to those of the liberal professions, led the fight for the conquest of political power.
His movement, which was based on liberal ideas, was in essence primarily nationalist. It was this surface liberalism that won him the cooperation of the English radicals.
Until around , Papineau remained convinced the British institutions constituted a perfect framework for the survival and development of the French Canadian nationality. It was sufficient to model the local constitution on that of England, and allow it to evolve according to the same principles.
Moreover, the fact of belonging to the empire was a guarantee against the United States, and in general against American influence. In his mind, the good faith of Britain could not be called in question.
The opponents of the French Canadians, he thought, resided in Lower Canada. They were at times the governors, ill counselled by their entourage, but particularly the highly placed officials and the merchants.
For him, certain groups within the French Canadian nation, such as clerics and nobles, represented a danger, for they did not understand their true interests. There were also those who, for personal motives, rallied to the side in power. If he thundered against all these types of people, he never questioned the validity of the bonds that united Lower Canada to the mother country.
Already in , however, on his trip to England, he was struck by the aristocratic character of English society and the poverty of the urban masses, and began to ask himself questions. In Lower Canada too, economic and social uneasiness was spreading discontent in the rural milieux. The overcrowding in the liberal professions, and the instability of the lower bourgeoisie in country districts and towns, also suggested the need for more radical political action.
The influence of the Paris revolution of was another invitation to take a more extreme stand. Increasing social tensions were having a hardening effect in all sections of society. Papineau let himself be carried along by this prevailing mood, which worked in his favour.
It must be said that the growth of his ambitions coincided with his successes. Despite the concessions made by England, the beginning of the s saw the stepping-up of demands.
From that time on Papineau believed in the existence of a plot between the mother country herself and the internal enemies of the French Canadians, the object being the complete subjection of the latter by the implantation of an aristocratic society in Lower Canada.
The affection of the Bretons [affections bretonnes] for Ireland and the colonies has never been anything more than the love of pillaging Ireland and the colonies, which had been abandoned to exploitation by the Breton aristocracy and its creatures. In the Canadas, as in all the other colonies of England. His rejection of English institutions was only partial, and to the extent that they served his political objectives he was loyal to them. It is therefore essential for us to recognize in this source the institutions that suit us and that can never be taken from us.
From the time that we have belonged to England, we have had the right to institutions as democratic as hers. An attempt has been made to give us an aristocracy, and the system has proved not to be applicable. In Papineau declared himself a republican.
American democracy was, according to him, the reflection of a sort of state of nature peculiar to America. It is therefore in the nature of things that under a government where the influence of birth has been destroyed, where the influence of fortunes is weak.
If therefore all the changes in this part of the world have been conducive to the establishment of the democratic system, and if those states which have been the last to be established in the west are the most democratic of all, it is evident that this is an order of things special to America, and that one cannot create an aristocracy there.
At bottom Papineau, while retaining from the English constitution what served his political strategy, was to draw from the American model a theoretical justification for the radical transformation of the Legislative Council.
They would certainly not feel that their economic interests and those of the country would be in good hands if Papineau gained his ends. The idea of instituting by peaceful means a Lower Canadian republic, of which he would naturally be the president, took shape after By the practice of obstruction, and in particular by the systematic refusal to vote supplies, Papineau proposed to force the British government to bring about radical changes.
We hope, but with some unease, that the British government will give us justice. In this hope we will do nothing to hasten our separation from the mother country except to prepare the people and make them ready for an age that will be neither monarchical nor aristocratic.
This formal refusal precipitated a confrontation that rapidly took on the character of a revolutionary movement. His conduct appeared more ambiguous than ever, and he also took care to destroy the documents that he knew to be compromising.
He warned his subordinates to do likewise. After the event, he maintained the following argument: the Patriotes did not intend to revolt; the government, in order to crush them the more effectively, had forced them to defend themselves; and he himself had advised against any recourse to arms.
He also declared that he had had no connection with the Banque du Peuple, thereby admitting the justice of the accusations made against that institution. According to his interpretation, he was supposed to keep himself in a safe place in order to be able to act as a negotiator in case of a defeat. It is obvious that, taken as a whole, this explanation does not stand up against a serious examination of the facts.
During the months of April and May the Patriotes put their strategy into shape. Unanimity does not seem to have prevailed among them. If, however, these methods proved ineffective, he would then agree to the use of force.
In this contingency, armed revolt was not to take place until December, after the freeze-up. On 10 May Papineau drew up two wills. As well as having been widely known among Lower Canadian Patriotes since at least June , this plan had also been communicated to the revolutionaries of Upper Canada.
Similarly, the relationships between the Banque du Peuple, or certain elements of it, and the revolutionary movement are still less clearly established, but they seem more and more plausible. Is it not this motive, which the shareholders skilfully made known, that underlay the rapid success which came to this most patriotic establishment?
The cowardly directors of this bank, they too, will have a terrible reckoning to face on the day when payments are due, and they do not seem even to suspect it. Once the series of great assemblies in the six counties got under way, Papineau quickly lost control of a number of the revolutionary leaders, who openly preached revolt and sought to direct the movement towards a revolution of a social character, which no doubt the directors of the Banque du Peuple and Papineau scarcely desired.
For his part, Papineau, even if he recommended sticking to legal means, encouraged initiatives of a revolutionary character by what he said. This surge of agitation reached its highest point at the time of the great assembly at Saint-Charles, which on 23 Oct. Papineau went to Saint-Charles accompanied by an armed escort. This assembly truly marked a turning-point.
For the radical elements it constituted a virtual declaration of independence and the beginning of a trial of strength between them and the government.
As for Papineau, he still urged the use of peaceful means. Forgetting the revolutionary nature of several resolutions passed on that occasion, he later reproached the radicals for having prompted the government, by their behaviour, to intervene before the moment appointed for the uprising.
Indubitably he was afraid. In particular the way the liberals acted frightened him, but at the same time served his ends. His interviews with Denis-Benjamin Viger, before his forced departure from Montreal, are significant of the conflicts within the man himself. Once he got to Saint-Denis, he acted both as supreme commander, distributing generalships, and as the leader of the civil section.
Once in the United States, Papineau travelled under an assumed name. Meanwhile he had forgotten his role as a negotiator.
The months that followed marked the break between Papineau and the extreme radical elements of the movement [ see Nelson ]. The Patriote leader had met influential Americans, who were ready to back a retaliatory expedition. This plan was not adopted at the assembly of refugees held at Middlebury, Vermont, because Papineau refused to accept a declaration of independence involving the abolition of seigneurial rights, customary law, and tithes. His intransigence, more than differences over strategy, explains the profound disagreement that gradually divided the refugees.
It is possible that the religious question also counted for something in this conflict. The attitude of Jean-Philippe Boucher-Belleville , who stated around that anticlericalism was no longer justifiable, since all the parish priests had become nationalists, is significant.
Thus the gap widened more and more between the two groups. Papineau consequently kept aloof from any invasion plan, at the same time as he tried to obtain the support of the French, Russian, and American governments. His most important demands were responsibility of the executive, election of legislative councillors and control of revenue by the legislature.
The Papineau family The Papineau family tree has two main branches: the Papineau descendants and the Bourassa descendants. Louis-Joseph Papineau and Julie Bruneau had nine children. Introduction to political life — Member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for the county of Kent Chambly. Rise to political prominence — Elected Speaker of the Assembly with an annual salary of 1, pounds, beginning in Leader of the Parti patriote — Papineau emerges victorious from a long-time rivalry that began in between politicians from Quebec City and Montreal for leadership of the Parti canadien, which became the Parti patriote around March and April — Discussion and adoption in London of Lord Russell's 10 Resolutions, rejecting the grievances and reforms put forward by the Parti patriote.
April 10, — News of the adoption of the Russell Resolutions reaches Canada. May 15, — Speech by Louis-Joseph Papineau at a meeting in Saint-Laurent, where he advocates boycotting products from Great Britain and engaging in contraband. A Doric mob attacks Papineau's home and sets fire to the offices of the The Vindicator and Canadian Advertiser , a pro-patriot English newspaper.
November 23, — Battle at Saint-Denis. Warrants were issued for the arrest of Papineau and others on charges of high treason.
Papineau fled into the United States and watched the progress of the rebellion from that sanctuary. In Papineau went to Paris and remained there until the general amnesty of allowed him to return.
He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the United Province of Canada in and remained a member until , when he retired to private life. But other politicians, notably Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, had superseded him during his enforced absence, and Papineau never regained his ascendancy in the political life of the colony.
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