Angelique and the burning of montreal Essay

The day was April 10th 1734 and Montreal was on fire. Undoubtedly back then, Montreal was a very different place than it is forthwith it was a trade and military town of about 2000 people. Canada would still arrive 100 years before she became a nation and it was a time when Montreals social class mirrored that of its indigenous home France. Slavery was very much a comparet of everyday society and many citizens had slaves of African and Amerindian descent. No one on that day could have possibly foreseen what was to come and the replications it would have for centuries to come.It was an unusually mild Saturday evening and the people who had attended evening prayer were startle to make their musical mode home. Among them was Thrse de Couagne, widow of Franois Poulin de Francheville and the owner of Anglique a slave of African American decent who was born in Portugal and afterwards sold into New France. At seven the sentry sounded the alarm fire, that evening a devastating fire oc curred in Montral that destroyed a hospital and 45 houses on rue Saint-Paul. Someone was to blame for this catastrophe and it was Angelique.After being tried and convicted of setting fire to her owners home, sunburn much of what is now referred to as Old Montreal, she was hanged. In order to get a stronger understanding of annoyance and punishment in New-France, one must find the trial in a much more in depth context.The justice constitution in 1700 Montreal followed the same rules as its mother country France. In terms of todays society, the government was far less democratic. The incriminate had fewer rights and the evidence was oftenfaulty or establish on intelligence agency of mouth torture and severe punishments were often used. In 1734, the various stages of trial, duties of the courts, witnesses, and rights of the accuse were regulated by the Ordonnance du Roi (1670).Often the accused had no access to lawyers as they were prohibit in New-France ARTICLE VIII. The accus ed, whatever their status may be, will be required to respond in their own words, without the advice of counsel, which will not be devoted to them, not even following the confrontation, notwithstanding all contrary methods that we abrogate. (1)Also, trials were often held without a jury (2) thus the accused stood alone in front of a judge in order to prove his or her innocence. Undoubtedly, the French law formed a very tight and respected system. The prosecution witnesses were often scare by court staff witnesses for the accused were rarely presented, and the future of the accused depended on his or her testimony (3). In many instances, little or no facts were required to be prosecuted.In the case of Anglique, the day after the fire a rumour circulated which accused her and her lover Claude Thibault of setting the fire that destroyed a majority of Montreal (4). The kings prosecutor relied on this rumour to have the two suspects arrested. At the time, French law provideed a suspe ct to be arrested base on public knowledge (5), when the community agreed that a suspect was immoral (6) The Kings Prosecutor Advises You that according to Public Report, the Fire that occurred in this city on the day of yesterday at around seven in the evening was caused by the Negress, Slave of the widow of Sieur franchevilleThis considered, Monsieur, may it please you to allow the said Kings Prosecutor to have this investigated, and meanwhile to have arrested and taken to the Royal gaol of this city the said Negress. (7)In the event of a death sentence, the prosecutor was required under the Ordonnance criminelle of 1670, to appeal the sentence in the name of the accused (8). New-France considered the following as crimes crimes against religion, crimes against morality, crimes against peace, and crimes against public safety (2). Each quality of crime had its own form of punishment. The title of Religious crime was only considered if some form of sacrilege took place as well as if in that respect was a direct attack against thechurch.A crime against morality would too reflect the nature of the crime although, the idea of a morally just 1734 citizen varies greatly from a morally just person today. Many were deprived of social pleasures that society attached to moral purity, if one did not exercise a emotional state of moral purity he or she could be fined, shamed, sentenced to a life in hiding, or banished from the city and from society (2). A crime against peace would also often reflect the requirement of retribution. This was done through prison sentences, exile, correctional measures etc.The correctional measures were used to rehabilitate or return the criminal to a normal state. Lastly, crimes against public safety were most well known as eye-for-an-eye retribution. The punishments handed down for such crimes would reflect the nature of the crime and was based on reason as well as on the notion of right and wrong. Crimes against theft were met by a l oss of property however, because those who stole had few riches, capital punishment (death) was used as a means to replace financial retribution. If one murdered other, the penalty was almost always death (usually by hanging).Criminal trials were often a means for retribution for a crime against society (9). When evidence was lacking, the prosecution would ask permission to apply torture front to a proper judgment. Many examples of harsh punishments (ie torture) existJean Baptiste Thomas negro and Francois Darles were condemned to be hanged, Charlotte Martin Ondoy and Marie Vennes were beaten and castigated with the rod, and Charlotte Darragon was admonished, Thomas negro having been found guilty of Domestic thievery, Francois Darles of having concealed the items, Charlotte Martin Ondoy, and Marie Vennes guilty of possessing some stolen items of little consequence. This sentence was executed on the 23 of August in Montral where the crime was committed. (10)Moreover, the most putt ing surface form of punishment was The Boot.(2) It consisted of four planks of wound tied to the legs of the accused. Two of those planks were placed between the criminals legs, and the other two on the outside of the legs. every were bound with rope. A wedge was then pounded between the planks on the inside, causing the plank to spread and the ropeto tighten. The pressure of the wedge would often break the accused legs (sometimes just merely dislocating them).This practice was used as a method of extracting the truth and was excruciatingly painful (10). Torture in New-France was widely used, especially when the accused would not reveal their accomplices (if any) or admit to their guilt (2). In Angliques case, upon appeal, she was sentenced to death, but the manner in which it was to be carried out was softened she would not have her hand severed and she would be hanged before being burned.(7) More importantly, she was subjected to torture by the boot(4) but she never revealed any accomplice, stating that only she had started the fire.(10) Subsequent to her admission, she was executed.In the end, crime in 1734 was not seen lightly and often carried severe punishments. Perhaps fear of such severe punishment, of being arrested based on rumours and faulty evidence was vatical to act as a deterrent. Although evidence of Angeliques trial such as court documents does exist, the lack of concrete proof of guilt obscures the events and consequent truth of that night.She was sentenced to prosecution based solely off of rumours and word of mouth, and whether she had a past of destructive and rebellious nature or not, that in no way under a court of law in todays standards leads one to believe she is or ever was guilty. This, however, has not prohibited her story from bonny almost legend. Many authors and figures in our society today, 200 years later utilize her story as leverage.Angelique is seen as an African American slave activist who stood up against her superior s and common law for the better of humanity. She is also viewed as the perfect example of why the old dark ways of our justice system is faulty and raises questions about the power of government and the danger of whether or not that power can condemn an innocent woman for 200 years without question.Conclusively, because the prosecution at her trial did not meet the burden proof (by todays standards), it is impossible to know if she truly was guilty. One way or another her trial and story will continue to echo in Canadian history.Bibliography1. Louis XIV, bit relative to the interrogation of the accused, in lOrdonnance pour les matires criminelles (Chez les Associs, 1670). 2. http//www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/ angelique/contexte/lajustice/indexen.html 3. Criminal proceduresSecondat Baron de La Brde et de Montesqieu, Charles-Louis de, Reflections on criminal procedures in England and in France, in De lesprit des loix (Amsterdam et Leipsick Nouvelle dition, revue, corrige et cons idrablement augmente par lauteur , Chez Arkste et Merkus, n.d.), T. 3, L. 29 p. 308-9. 4. http//www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/proces/indexen.html 5. Criminal procedure against the accusedArchives nationales du Qubec, Centre de Montral, Procedure Criminel contre Marie Joseph Anglique negresse Incendiere, 1734, TL4 S1, 4136, Juridiction royale de Montral, Deposition of tienne Volant Radisson, April 14, 1734, 1-4.) 6. Archives nationales du Qubec, Centre de Montral, Procedure Criminel contre Marie Joseph Anglique negresse Incendiere, 1734, TL4 S1, 4136, Juridiction royale de Montral, Request by the Kings prosecutor for the arrest of Anglique and of Claude Thibault, April 11, 1734, 1. 7. http//www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/proces/jugementetappel/indexen.html8. Criminal trial Diderot, Denis et Jean le Rond dAlembert, The criminal trial, in lEncyclopdie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonn des Sciences, des Arts et des Mtiers (Paris Briasson et autres, n.d.), tome XIII, page 405.9. Examples of punishmentFrance. Archives nationales, Fonds des Colonies. Srie C11A. Correspondance gnrale, Canada, vol 64, fol. 12-15v, Hocquart, Gilles, Letter to the Ministre de la Marine, October 1, 1735,10. door of guiltGermain, Jean-Claude, The Life and Times of Montral (Montral Stank, 1994), tome I, pages 284-28. 4 . Relying on the Ordonnance criminelle of 1670, the kings prosecutor had an arrest warrant issued against Anglique based solely on this public rumour. (http//www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/proces/indexen.html)