Dans un Petit Village

On Monday, December 24, 1838, (Christmas Eve), Etienne Parent, the editor of Le Canadien, one of the most popular and political French language newspapers in Lower Canada wrote an inflammatory editorial to protest the treatment of patriotes who participated in the uprising in Lower Canada. It was an denunciation of the John Colborne's (the governor of Lower Canada) arbitrary measures. After the rebellion in Lower Canada was put down in 1837 the British government suspended the constitution that was created in 1791, dissolved the Legislative Assembly and created the the Special Council which effectively became the government of Lower Canada. The Special Council had all of the authority of the Legislative assembly. Their mandate was to re-establish peace and order in Lower Canada. Since there was no political process in Lower Canada, no elections or elected assembly, the Special Council could do whatever they wanted without having to worry about the wishes of the local population. ...

La maison Étienne Parent is the last of the historical Parent family homes that we visited on our walk around historical Beauport. There were other houses that we could have visited but there was no more time. Besides, it is a reason to visit Beauport again some time in the future. It is a bit misleading to call this house, 'la maison Étienne Parent'. Yes, it is true that Étienne Parent was born in this house but he was such a remarkable student and his intelligence was readily apparent to his family that he was sent to the college of Nicolet for his secondary education. Nicolet college was one of the schools in Quebec at that time. Other than returning to his parents home during summer vacations to work on the family farm , Étienne never lived in this house again. Étienne Parent was without a doubt the most remarkable member of our family, if not one of the most remarkable men during 19th Century Quebec. He was a lawyer, a journalist, a philosopher, a politician but...