Anticipant les grandes lignes du Rapport du comité exécutif de l’Association constitutionnelle, le Herald conclut de la « rébellion de la Chambre d’assemblée » de 1837 :
«Though individual punishment can be inflicted only for individual crimes, yet the collective punishment of collective offences is not incompatible either with human or with divine laws» (Herald Abstract, 15 décembre 1837).
Et ce n’est pas sans la satisfaction du devoir accompli, qu’en avril 1838 le journal de la rue Saint-Gabriel, porte-parole exclusif comme on sait du Doric Club, prononcera la mort de la défunte Chambre d’assemblée :
«The House of Assembly of Lower Canada, that was, was composed of 88 members ; of this number there have been at least 21, (we count from memory, says L’ami du Peuple,) known as rebels. Of these 21, only one is not alive, (and he was killed at St. Denis, running away,) – the rest are either fugitives, or in prison. Of the remainder, we should like to know how many would be out of prison or residing in the province, "if every man had his due." But as Judge Rolland says, if you punish all the rebels, you will have to punish the whole country. 21, however, show tolerably well as a “minority of a minority.” The following are their names, but our cotemporary says there are others whose names he does not recollect » (Kadwell, avril 1838).

1. Louis Joseph Papineau
2. C. S. Cherrier
3. L. M. Viger
4. Dr. Dorion
5. L. Lacoste
6. P. Amiot
7. W. H. Scott
8. A. B. Papineau
9. J. J. Girouard
10. J. Drolet
11. L. Duvernay
12. E. Knight
13. Proulx
14. Hébert
15. L. H. Lafontaine
16. O. Perreault
17. E. E. Rodier
18. C. O. Cote
19. Rob. Nelson
20. A. N. Morin
21. E. B. O’Callaghan

Piste intéressante, que l’on a négligé de suivre en raison de l’aura qui entoure toujours le chef patriote dans la mémoire et l’imagination collective, les éditorialistes du Montreal Herald ne voient pas exactement du même œil le clivage que l’on discerne d’habitude dans le parti patriote, à partir de 1835, entre l’aile modérée profitant des largesses de Londres et une autre supposément plus « extrémiste », bien que celle-ci, à partir de l’automne 1837, se voit débordée à son tour par les éléments les plus radicaux. Ils discernent, en effet, une alliance objective entre les deux branches, de sorte que les réformistes de tous poils, à l’exception du Conseil législatif, occupent de fait presque tout le terrain politique – chaque victoire obtenue par ceux installés aux postes de commande étant versée au bénéfice de ceux qui militent dans l’opposition.
Le Herald en veut pour preuve, rappelle un éditorial du 1er février 1838, le banquet de la Saint-Jean de juin 1835 présidé par Denis-Benjamin Viger où se trouvait tout le gratin de « la Grande Nation Canadienne » : Papineau, Debartzsch, Duvernay, de Bleury, Leblanc de Marconnay, monsieur le maire Jacques Viger, P. Dunn, etc. Or, fait notable, bien plus que les insurgés ayant pris les armes, le Herald craignait comme la peste ces patriotes recyclés représentant la voie médiane que tentait d’établir la politique de conciliation – en particulier le double conseiller Debartzsch, qu’il à voue aux gémonies après l’éclatement de la guerre civile :
« […] what are we to think of a government, which cherishes in its bosom the very viper, that has stung it ? Let our gallant citizens, who are now arming for the contest and preparing to hazard their lives for the government, demand with one voice the expulsion of the untamed monster from that government’s councils. – Every Englishman in the province owes the proprietor, publisher and editor of the bloodthirsty Echo du Pays a debt of vengeance for having stopt short in his carrer of treason on this side of the scaffold. If a simultaneous effort is not made to cast off the savage incubus, our miserable rulers will heap still richer rewards on this double traitor besides. Vigorous action on this head can alone save the country from the clutches of the creeping, dastardly, interested neutrals of both races, and shield the brave men, who are now ready to shed their blood in the public cause, from the damning imputation of political partisanship.» (Herald Abstract, 25 novembre 1837).
Debartzsch entendait entraîner et former notamment des paysans de la vallée du Richelieu en cas d’attaque américaine ; il avait même mis sur pied, apprend-on dans un numéro de juillet 1838, la Compagnie Volontaire Canadienne de Saint-Charles. Un examen approfondi de ces patriotes modérés devrait aussi nous amener à questionner le sort de la compagnie de carabiniers de Sabrevois de Bleury, de même que le sort des magistrats modérés (Louis Guy, W. B. Donegani, J. Quesnel, O. Berthelet, etc.) et des miliciens francophones restés fidèles au gouvernement. Gosford comptait toujours sur eux en vue de former une « force policière auxiliaire », un corps que le Herald couvrira de ses sarcasmes dans les années à venir en le désignant de l’expression infamante « Gosford Guards ». C’est à eux que fait allusion un éditorial particulièrement ulcéré écrit peu après la reculade de l’armée à Saint-Denis :
« Who will now talk of conciliation ? Who so infatuated, so insane, as to advocate appeals to the French Canadians for the maintenance of good order, submission to the laws, and loyalty to the Empire ? It is true the French magistrates did so, but they are not of us ! – The name of D. B. Viger was at the head of the list, he the proprietor of the very press which has fulminated against Britons, the British Government and British institutions, until the present crisis has been produced, - he who is the author of the inflammatory counsels to the French population conveyed through that press ; - he who is known to all of us to be as much a rebel as any who are in arms at St. Denis or St. Charles ; - his name was at the head of the list of magistrates who advised their deluded fellow countrymen [concitoyens induits en erreur] to cease from rebellious acts ! – Infamous and insulting impertinence. – His countrymen are not deluded ! they are not Britons, they are Frenchmen ! their hostility to England is ingrained ; they are our enemies ! - let them be treated as such, - let every man found in arms, be destroyed, and every house and village from which a shot is fired, be committed to the flames » (Herald Abstract, 25 novembre 1837).
Leur cas revient encore à la surface dans l’édition suivante :
« Another remedy is likely to be recommended to your Lordship, namely to call out and arm the militia. In other words, traitors, who are more to be dreaded and infinitely more to be scorned than the cattle-stealers of St. Charles, may gravely advise your Lordship to put arms into the hands of the bitterest enemies of England » (Herald Abstract, 2 décembre 1837).
Conclusion
Dans son édition hebdomadaire de fin d’année, le Herald redouble de sarcasmes à propos de l’image idyllique que le gouverneur s’était faite de la masse des paysans canadiens-français :
« [...] he will do all in his power to persuade the Government that his former descriptions of the habitants are still true and that they are all he has ever represented them, ignorant but loyal and moral and religious. In proof of their loyalty he can advert to their being in arms against the Queen ; in proof of their morality, he can give a list of the robberies they have committed on loyal old country farmers ; and in proof of their religious feeling, he can tell how they imprisoned their loyal clergy, and converted the altars of the God they profess to serve, into fortresses and strongholds to secure their plunder and defend themselves from the strong arm of the law » (Herald Abstract, 30 décembre 1837).

Une dernière touche doit être apportée à l’image de ces insurgés patriotes dans le miroir des torys montréalais. Ce n’est pas en termes de vainqueurs/vaincus qu’il convient d’apprécier la valeur de ceux qui, parmi les supporteurs les plus résolus du parti de la majorité au Québec, ont sacrifié leur vie et méritent, à ce titre, d’être rappelés à notre mémoire, mais plutôt en termes de courage face à la perspective de mort violente. On en trouve le pendant exact dans le camp ennemi. La devise des membres assermentés du Doric Club, la police secrète clandestine de Colborne, était en effet « Do-or-Die » (cf., Robert Bruce’s March to Bannockburn). Un éditorial d’avril 1838 en provenance de l’État-major en fait foi à sa façon :
« It was thought last October that our amiable and smooth-mannered Enfants-du-Sol would not fight ; the merest drum boy would have turned up his military nose at an army of “toques bleues”, yet those amiable people have shewn a very fair development of the combative bump. If a few roving phrenologists had been employed by his dear, departed Excellency, last summer, perhaps we would have had no rebellion after all : his Excellency might have brought the three regiments from the Lower Provinces in November, and their presence might have "tee-totally" disarranged the plans of the "Provisional-Government". Yes we have found out that the "toques bleues" will not only fight, but that they are quite hot for it » (Kadwell, Université McGill, s.d., 1838).
Dans son livre posthume, Sydney Bellingham, un magistrat tory modéré, va même encore plus loin. Il relate avec sobriété, plus de cinquante ans après son engagement, comment les compagnies détachées par Colborne sous le commandement de Wetherall étaient vouées à un massacre certain si l’ordre de retraite avait atteint son destinataire. On peut même conjecturer la déroute des Redcoats si, au lieu de livrer bataille, Brown avait eu la présence d’esprit simplement d’esquiver le coup en coupant les bases de ravitaillement de l’armée à Saint-Hilaire :
« We heard subsequently that Sir John Colborne, commander-in-chief, had, after the news of Colonel’s Gore’s repulse, sent twelve despatches, by different routes, by confidential messengers, recalling Colonel Wetherall ; but none one of those despatches had reached the Colonel. If any had come to hand, and a retreat had been ordered, the force under Colonel Wetherall must have been overwhelmed and annihilated. To attempt to traverse thirty miles of hostile country late in November, with demoralized and retreating troops, would have insured disaster and the insurrection would have burst out wherever a chance of success presented itself » (1901, Recollections, 16).
À sa manière, il rend hommage à la bravoure des habitans en raison même de leur inexpérience, du défaut de formation et des moyens de fortune dont ils disposasient à Saint-Charles :
[…] They [the rebels] received the soldiers with a few bayonets, old muskets, old fowling pieces, pikes, and long poles, and fought with wonderful courage as long as there was hope, but the English bayonets cowed them and made short work of them. […] Had they been under even ordinary command, their fate might have been more cheering. The armed rebels appeared to be fighting without organization, and without a commander of ordinary savoir faire. It was notorious that if they had a general, he kept himself in safe quarters, so that he “might run away to fight another day.” […] No French-Canadian man was to be seen, either in the houses, in the stables, or in the barns. Women and children were left to do their own chores and to feed and care fo their cattle. The dead bodies of the unfortunates who fought for their runaway and heartless leaders, were to be seen in all directions, some of them were lying at full length on their backs, with their arms stretched out, others were to be seen with their knees in their mouths, and their hands and arms tightly pressed upon them, showing that they must have struggled with death and expired in the utmost pain and agony. Such is war in one of its most hideous phases. All were frozen stiff. No patriot was there to lend a helping hand to house or gather together until a dishonored grave was prepared for them, apart from consecrated ground (1901, 18 ;21).
C’est à la bravoure de ces « habitans » qu’un toast est porté au nom du « peuple du Vermont », dans un banquet organisé à Montpelier, en juin 1838, en vue d’honorer Robert Nelson et C.-O.-C. Côté « in token of the estimation in which their private characters, as well as the noble part they have taken in the cause of civil liberty in Canada » :
The Martyrs of St. Denis, St. Charles and St. Eustache – May every drop of blood there shed, like the sown teeth of the fabled dragon, spring up an armed man to avenge the wrongs of his country. (16 juin 1838).
Quand à savoir si les maux et l’injustice contre lesquels ils se sont battus avec courage ont été réparés, je reste de ceux qui sont persuadés que seules la sortie des mailles de la tutelle fédérale et l’accession du Québec à l’indépendance politique en constituent le remède. À nous de choisir nos armes.
François Deschamps
N.B. Toutes les citations du Herald Abstract proviennent de la bobine archivée de ce journal à la Bibliothèque nationale.