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The county of Two Mountains had long been known as a stronghold of the extreme Patriotes. The local member, W. H. Scott, was a supporter of Papineau, and had a large and enthusiastic following. He was not, however, a leader in the troubles that ensued.
As soon as the passage of the resolutions became known in Canada, Papineau and his friends began to set the heather on fire. On May 7, 1837, the Patriotes held a huge open-air meeting at St Ours, eleven miles above Sorel on the river Richelieu.
"Purgeons le sol des patriotes, Par des rois encore infectes. La terre de la liberte Rejette les os des despotes. De ces monstres divinises Que tous lea cercueils soient brises! Que leur memoirs soit fletrie! Et qu'avec leurs manes errants Sortent du sein de la patrie Les cadavres de ses tyrants!" The land of liberty Rejects the bones of despots.
On Sunday, December 3, word reached St Eustache of the defeat of the insurgents at St Charles. This had a moderating influence on many of the Patriotes. All week the Abbé Paquin, parish priest of St Eustache, had been urging the insurgents to go back quietly to their homes. He now renewed his exhortations. He begged Chénier to cease his revolutionary conduct. Chénier, however, was immovable.
The policy of Lord Glenelg, the colonial secretary during Gosford's period of office, was to do everything in his power to conciliate the Canadian Patriotes, short of making any real constitutional concessions. By means of a conciliatory attitude he hoped to induce them to abate some of their demands.
To St Eustache, on Sunday, November 26, came the news of Wolfred Nelson's victory at St Denis. On Monday and Tuesday bands of Patriotes went about the countryside, terrorizing and disarming the loyalists and compelling the faint-hearted to join in the rising. They then proceeded, under the command of Girod and Chénier, to the Indian mission settlement at the Lake of Two Mountains.
The story of the rebellions will be found in two other volumes of the present Series, The Family Compact and The Patriotes of '37, For earlier cognate history see The Father of British Canada and The United Empire Loyalists. A sketch of Lord Durham's mission to Canada in 1838, by Charles Buller. See the edition of Lord Durham's Report edited, with an introduction, by Sir C. P. Lucas: Oxford, 1912.
The Executive, with its control of the royal revenue, was able by one means or another to carry on the government; but the relations between the 'Bureaucrats' and the Patriotes became rapidly more bitter. Papineau's attitude toward the government during this period was in harmony with that of his compatriots.
The wounded, it is a pleasure to be able to say, were well looked after by the victorious Patriotes. The British effected their retreat with great steadiness, despite the fact that the men had had no food since the previous day and had been marching all night. They were compelled to abandon their twelve-pounder in the mud; but they reached St Ours that night without further loss.
They therefore collected arms and ammunition, sent emissaries through the parishes to the north to rouse the Patriotes, and on December 6, flying some colours which had been worked for them by the enthusiastic ladies of Swanton, they crossed the Canadian border, about two hundred strong.
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