Le Canadien
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Le Canadien was a French language newspaper published in Lower Canada from November 13, 1806 to March 14, 1810. Its motto was: Nos institutions, notre langue et nos droits (Our institutions, our language, our rights). It was released every Saturday and the yearly subscription was of 10 chelins or shillings.
The newspaper was founded in Quebec City by lawyer Pierre-Stanislas Bédard and associates François Blanchet, Jean-Antoine Panet, Jean-Thomas Taschereau and Jean-Louis Borgia. All were members of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec at the time. The editor was Jean-Antoine Bouthillier.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "Le Canadien" was a Catholic organ. Pierre-Stanislas Bédard was an admirer of the institutions of Great Britain because, as he wrote in "Le Canadien" on November 4, 1809, they allowed an apprenticeship to liberty, whereas under the monarchy of the ancien régime in France "the people counted for nothing, or less than nothing. A governor would have considered he was demeaning himself if he had let anyone contradict him in the slightest." Further, Pierre-Stanislas Bédard wrote "We now enjoy a constitution under which everyone has his place, and in which a man is something. The people have their rights; the powers of a governor are laid down and he knows them; those in high places cannot go beyond the limits that the law sets on their authority. . . . Such a carefully determined balance exists between the people's rights and his that if he exceeds the limits the constitution has assigned him . . . the people have a sure and fair means of stopping him in his course."
The newspaper became the voice of the Parti canadien in their campaign for reforms against the English party and the government of Governor James Craig to obtain more control of their own affairs in the Colony.
At the time, tensions esclated between Britain, and hence her colonies, and were exacerbated by the actions of France who had been the ally behind the Americans during the American Revolutionary War. The implemention of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte's "Continental System," that began in November 1806 with his issuance of the Berlin Decree, was designed to destroy British trade, particularly the re-export of goods from Canada and other British colonies to Europe. In March of 1807, Bonaparte's Milan Decree ordered the confiscation of any ship that stopped at a British port before sailing into French territorial waters. Neutral countries, the most important of which was the United States, had to risk detention by the British Navy or confiscation in Napoleon's ports. The U.S. Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807 that placed an embargo on trade to both countries which did the most damage to Britain and caused economic harm to her Canadian colony. As a result, a great deal of apprehension arose over the international crisis and the writings in Le canadien were extreme enough that Governor General of Canada, James Henry Craig came to believe that the writings were seditious and accused the newspapers backers of being ready to play into the hands of both France and the United States.
On March 17, 1810 Charles Lefrançois, the printer of Le Canadien was arrested for treasoness writings and his presses seized. Two days later those responsible for the newspaper, Pierre-Stanislas Bédard, François Blanchet, and Jean-Thomas Taschereau, were also arrested and held on charges of carrying on treasonable activities. All were released a few months later with the exception of Pierre-Stanislas Bédard whom the Governor had decided to take to trial. The Parliament in Britain was unhappy with the manner in which Governor Craig had handled matters and as a result, Pierre-Stanislas Bédard was released in March of 1811 and Craig was replaced by the French-speaking George Prevost. While in prison, Bédard was nominated as member of parliament in the Surrey riding and elected at the general elections of March 27, 1810. However, the lack of support from certain party members caused a rift and Bédard later declared: "Mr. Papineau and Mr. Viger are no real friends of mine."
The newspaper was republished a few times, with intermissions. Le Canadien disappeared on February 11, 1893 in the hands of its new French Canadian owner, Israël Tarte.
See also
External link
- Chronologie de l'histoire du Québec (http://pages.infinit.net/histoire/) (in French)