“The number of Persons indicted in Montreal for the above offences amounted in all to nineteen, of which four for High Treason have not yet been tried. Thirteen were tried and of that number eleven were convicted and received Judgment. The remaining Two absconded.
“The number of persons indicted at Quebec for the above offences amounted to twenty-four, of which twenty-three were convicted and received punishment.”
It is needless to review these cases. As, however, the name of McLean stands out in this sedition, he must be noticed. This man was not arrested till May 10, 1797, although information of his seditionary mission work on the borders of Canada and the United States was in the hands of the authorities in December, 1796. On July 7th he was tried and found guilty and executed on the 21st. On various occasions he had been known to be in Montreal planting sedition. He was in close touch with Ira Allen, of Vermont, who had been on board the “Olive Branch” from Ostend with 20,000 stand of arms. He tried to explain that these were purchased for the Vermont militia. But there is no doubt that they were furnished by the Directory in Paris for the army of the Lower Canadians in an expedition in which McLean was to be interested. Among McLean’s papers was found one from Adet confirming this.
The attempts of the French on Canada already mentioned under the dates of 1796 and 1797 seemed never to have entirely relaxed. In 1801 Lieutenant-Governor Milnes became warned that persons were plotting for the subversion of Canada and that a society of “a parcel of Americans” had been formed in Montreal, proceeding on the principles of Jacobinism and Illuminism, having one Rogers as leader, it being supposed that he was the only one who knew the real objects of the society, which had increased from six to sixty-one members. Six were arrested and held for trial but Rogers escaped. Attorney-General Sewell made a report of his investigation. Rogers was a New England schoolmaster who had settled a short time before at Carillon, forty miles west of Montreal. The society formed by him was composed “of sundry individuals of desperate fortunes,” and among them were many of the persons concerned in McLane’s (sic) conspiracy, particularly Ira Allen and Stephen Thorn, who were lately arrived from France. The pretext on which Rogers founded his society was to search for treasure. The depositions accompanying Sewell’s report implicate Ira Allen and his Vermont marauders as bent on plundering Canada. In this regard Montreal was especially aimed at. The trouble died down somewhat in 1802 when peace with France was proclaimed, but on June 1, 1803, long before any steps could be taken after the declaration of war again, French emissaries were in the province sapping the loyalty, some of them being in Montreal. Again, this was no visionary conception, but a reality. A keen lookout was maintained on strangers. Mr. Richardson, a magistrate of Montreal, was appointed secret agent. One of those to be watched was Jerome Bonaparte, the brother of the First Consul of France. His description is as follows, as sent by Barclay from New York, 2d December, 1803, to Milnes: “Jerome Bonaparte appears about twenty-one years of age, five feet, six or seven inches high, slender make, sallow complexion, sharp and prominent chin, cropped dark hair, short, but he sometimes adds a queue and is powdered; dark eyes.” Jerome had arrived at New York about November 20th and was reported to be making, via Albany, for Lake Champlain, where there was “a Frenchman named Rous, who is notorious for assisting deserters. McLean, hung for treason, is particularly intimate with Rous.” Richardson came to terms with this Rous, whom he employed as a spy. The attempt on Canada by the French was temporarily abandoned, the reason, given by Pichon, Chargé d’affaires at Washington, being that Great Britain was too powerful by sea.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] One of the first statutes was an act to prevent gun powder drawn in ships and other vessels into the harbour of Montreal and to guard against the careless transportation of the same into the powder magazines.
[2] He landed at Quebec in August, 1791, and left Canada in 1794. On the 13th of September, in passing through Montreal, he received a complimentary address. He went up country probably as far as Niagara, returning through Montreal in September of 1792. On December 6, 1793, Chief Justice Smith died at Quebec. His remains were interred on December 8th, and were attended to the grave by H.R.H. Prince Edward.—(Quebec Gazette, Thursday, December 12, 1793.)