A Deep Sense Of Wrong: The Treason, Trials And Transportation To New South Wales Of Lower Canadian Rebels After The 1838 Rebellion
1995
Published for the Osgoode Society by Dundurn Press
$36.75
Read review(s)
Return to 1995-1999 book list
Description
In 1839, 58 men left Montreal for the penal colony of New South Wales. They were unimportant men outside their own parishes, ordinary people caught up in political events. Civilians, they were tried by court martial.Convicted of treason, their properties forfeited to the crown, they and their families paid a heavy price for rebellion. As convicts in Australia, they were the lowest of the low. But during their years there, they came to be respected by Sydney's citizens. They are the only convicts sent to Australia who kept daily records of their experiences in 1840's Sydney.A Deep Sense of Wrong shows the degradation of prison life and the triumph of the human spirit over overwhelming odds. Although the book offers serious analysis of the legal manipulations in the court martial, it is written for the non-expert who is interested in treason law or Quebec or Australian history.
Beverley Boissery's retelling of this dramatic, perhaps even tragic tale of revenge and exile is effective and largely convincing. Globe and Mail, February 17, 1996
Until now, the story of the exiled patriotes had never been fully told. A new book titled A Deep Sense of Wrong fills a surprising void. Mark Abley, Montreal Gazette, February 12, 1996
A Deep Sense of Wrong is an intriguing account of an obscure episode which links two of the oldest members of the Commonwealth, as well as being a tribute to the hardihood and integrity of those simple souls who survived their clash with an alien authority. No facile read, this, but well worth the effort. David Wadham, Queensland Regional Chronicle, June 4, 1996.
