1838–1839
Lt.-Colonel The Hon. Clément-Charles Sabrevois de Bleury (October 28,1798 –September 15,1862) of Montreal was a soldier,seigneur,lawyer,politician,newspaper founder and noted duellist. Bleury Street in Montreal is named for him. [1] His nephews included the Prime Minister of Quebec,Sir Charles Boucher de Boucherville,and Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier,from whose house the City of Outremont takes its name.
Clément-Charles Sabrevois de Bleury was born into an old military family at William-Henry,Lower Canada,October 28,1798. He was the son of Commandant Clément-Christophe Sabrevois de Bleury (1755–1827) and Amélia Bowers,daughter of a retired British army officer at Halifax,possibly Captain Daniel Bower of Parrsborough. [2] His paternal ancestor,a younger son of Henri de Sabrevois,Sieur de Sermonville,came from Garancières-en-Beauce to New France in 1685 as a young Lieutenant of an infantry company;later made a Chevalier de Saint-Louis. [3] In 1764,his grandfather sold the family seigneuries at Sabrevois and Bleury to General Gabriel Christie for £7,300. [4] Sabrevois de Bleury grew up in Montreal at what is now known as La Maison Clément-Sabrevois de Bleury,situated on Rue Saint-Gabriel. [5]
From 1809 to 1815,he was educated in Montreal at the Collège Saint-Raphaël. He entered the legal offices of his brother-in-law,Basile-Benjamin Trottier Desrivières-Beaubien,and was called to the Bar of Montreal in 1819. He soon gained a brilliant reputation and "won over Montreal's high society by his charm,elegant manners,and refined style of living". [6] His family background and his skill in arms gained him a commission in 1825 as a Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion of Montreal militia. In 1830,he was promoted Captain in the Chasseurs Canadiens. In 1838,he was promoted Major and ten years later he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the Montreal Rifles.
In 1832,after the resignation of François-Roch de Saint-Ours,he was elected to parliament for Richelieu,supporting the Patriote movement. In his early political career he followed the lead of Louis-Joseph Papineau,but from 1835 laid his support behind the more moderate Elzéar Bédard.
Bleury served as an alderman for Montreal from 1839 until late 1844,when he was again elected to the legislature,and once again in 1847. Again,he supported the government on most issues,though he also opposed them on some. He was not a candidate in the 1847–48 elections.
On January 8,1836,he became embroiled in an altercation on the floor of the House with Charles-Ovide Perrault,the Patriote representative for Vaudreuil. The point of issue between them was who should,and who should not,be called before a committee that was looking into the sale of potash. The exchange came to an end with Bleury returning to his seat and grumbling aloud about having to conduct business 'with filth'. Perrault was angered by the insult and went to see Louis-Joseph Papineau about it. Papineau suggested,in pontifical manner,that it would be best to meet with Bleury somewhere outside the House,and let him know that the insult had been noticed.
Perrault took this to mean that he should teach the man a lesson. When next they met,in the dark of night on an icy patch of road near the Battery,he threw the first punch. What ensued was a farcical fist fight in which the combatants were unable to keep their footing on the ice as they flailed away at each other. It only ended when Perrault landed a blow which knocked Bleury down,and then,unable to retain his balance,fell on top of him. The two were finally separated by officers.
The following morning,Bleury,wanting revenge,sent a peremptory note,transmitted by Aaron Ezekiel Hart,to Perrault demanding satisfaction,and a duel was set. Bleury was quite confident,as he had already fought three duels before. [7]
They met for the duel in the woods of L'Ancienne-Lorette at three o'clock in the evening. Their seconds placed the two men 36 feet apart,loaded the pistols,then set about trying to negotiate a compromise,talking with each other,then their principals. At last a solution was worked out. The seconds negotiated a peaceful and honourable resolution of the dispute,both Perrault and Bleury apologized to each other,shook hands,and discharged their pistols into the air to end the matter. [8] They returned to their respective carriages,proceeding to a tavern for a drink before going back to Quebec. [9]
Perrault lost his life the following year at the battle of Saint-Denis on the Richelieu. On April 5 that same year,Bleury fought another duel with Ludger Duvernay,the owner of La Minerve ,which ended with Duvernay being shot in the right knee.
Clément-Charles Sabrevois de Bleury died September 15,1862,at his manor house [10] at Saint-Vincent-de-Paul,near Laval,Canada East at the age of 63. He is buried in Notre Dame Cathedral,Montreal. After his death,Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier,a nephew by marriage,bought the heavily mortgaged manor house.
Louis-Joseph Papineau,born in Montreal,Quebec,was a politician,lawyer,and the landlord of the seigneurie de la Petite-Nation. He was the leader of the reformist Patriote movement before the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838. His father was Joseph Papineau,also a politician in Quebec. Papineau was the eldest of eight children and was the grandfather of the journalist Henri Bourassa,founder of the newspaper Le Devoir.
The Lower Canada Rebellion,commonly referred to as the Patriots' Rebellion in French,is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada. Together with the simultaneous rebellion in the neighbouring colony of Upper Canada,it formed the Rebellions of 1837–38.
This section of the Timeline of Quebec history concerns the events in British North America relating to what is the present day province of Quebec,Canada between the time of the Constitutional Act of 1791 and the Act of Union 1840.
Wolfred Nelson was the mayor of Montreal,Quebec,from 1854 to 1856.
Sir Charles-Eugène-Napoléon Boucher de Boucherville was a Canadian politician and medical doctor. He twice served as the premier of Quebec.
Ludger Duvernay,born in Verchères,Quebec,was a printer by profession and published a number of newspapers including the Gazette des Trois-Rivières, the first newspaper in Lower Canada outside of Quebec City and Montreal,and also La Minerve,which supported the Parti patriote and Louis-Joseph Papineau in the years leading up to the Lower Canada Rebellion.
Le Canadien was a French language newspaper published at various times in Lower Canada,then the Province of Canada,and finally the province of Quebec,at various times in the 19th century. It went through three different publication phases,with interruptions in publishing.
Augustin-Norbert Morin was a Canadien journalist,lawyer,politician,and rebel in Lower Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in the 1830s,as a leading member of the Parti patriote. Although he participated in the Lower Canada Rebellion,the British authorities concluded his conduct did not warrant a charge of high treason. After the Rebellion,he entered politics in the Province of Canada,eventually becoming joint premier of the Province. Retiring from politics due to health concerns,Morin was appointed to the bench. He was one of the commissioners who codified the law of Lower Canada,producing the Civil Code of Lower Canada which stayed in force for over a century.
Gabriel Christie was a British Army General from Scotland,who settled in Montreal after the Seven Years' War. Following the British Conquest of New France,he invested in land and became one of the largest landowners in the British Province of Quebec.
Thomas Boutillier was a medical doctor,Patriote,and politician in Lower Canada. Elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in 1834,he was a member of the Parti patriote led by Louis-Joseph Papineau,which was challenging the British colonial government of the largely French-speaking province of Lower Canada. When the Lower Canada Rebellion broke out in 1837,he fought on the Patriote side in the Battle of Saint-Charles. Following the Patriotes' defeat,he fled to the United States. He returned to Lower Canada in 1838.
Frédéric-Auguste Quesnel,,was a lawyer,businessman and politician in Lower Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly and the Executive Council of Lower Canada. Following the union of the Canadas,he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada and later was appointed to the Legislative Council. Throughout his career he was a political moderate,seeking greater political power for French-Canadians under British rule,but also supporting the British connection generally. Condemned by the Patriotes as a vendu ("sell-out") in the Lower Canada Rebellion,in 1860 he was elected President of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montreal.
La Minerve was a newspaper founded in Montreal,Lower Canada by Augustin-Norbert Morin to promote the political goals of Louis-Joseph Papineau's Parti patriote. It was notably directed by Ludger Duvernay in its earlier years. It existed from 1826 to 1837,and again from 1842 to May 27,1899. Throughout the years,it went from being a radical paper to a conservative one.
The Colonne de la liberté was a symbol of the Patriote movement erected in Saint-Charles,Lower Canada,on October 23,1837. Its name is identical to the column that marked the history of the French Revolution. In 1982,because of the Comitédes Patriotes and the Quebec Ministry of Culture,a replica was raised on its presumed original location and still stands today.
The Patriote popular assemblies gathered supporters and leaders of the Patriote movement and the Parti patriote in 1837 Lower Canada. The assemblies,concentrated in the Montreal and Montérégie region,saw votes on resolutions and speeches of some of Lower Canada's most reputed orators.
Édouard-Raymond Fabre was a Canadian politician and bookseller,the Mayor of Montreal,Quebec between 1849 and 1851.
The following is an incomplete bibliography of the 1837-1838 insurrections in Lower Canada in the English and French languages,by publication date and document type.
Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier was Sheriff of Montreal,a Canadian officer,merchant and landowner. His home Outre-Mont gave its name to the village that subsequently became the City of Outremont. He later purchased the manor of his wife's uncle,Clément-Charles Sabrevois de Bleury.
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