Denis-Benjamin Viger
Denis-Benjamin Viger was a 19th-century politician, lawyer, and newspaper publisher in Lower Canada, who served as joint premier of the Province of Canada for over two years. A leader in the Patriote movement, he was a strong French-Canadian nationalist, but a social conservative in terms of the seigneurial system and the position of the Catholic church in Lower Canada.
Viger came from a well-connected middle class family. Trained as a lawyer, he invested in land and gradually became one of Montreal’s largest landowners. He held public office for most of his adult life, often working alongside his cousin, Louis-Joseph Papineau, a fiery nationalist. From 1808 to 1829, he was a member of the elected Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, then from 1829 to 1838 he was a member of the appointed Legislative Council, the upper house of the Parliament of Lower Canada.
Imprisoned during the Lower Canada Rebellion in 1838, he was subsequently elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada in 1841. From 1843 to 1846, he served as a joint-premier of the province, which triggered criticism from his former party colleagues. He was later appointed to the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada, serving from 1848 to 1858.
In his later years, Viger lived quietly in Montreal, surrounded by his well-stocked library. He remained fond of entertaining, and his wine-cellar was said to be one of the best in Montreal. He died in 1861, at the age of 86.
Early life and family
Viger was born in Montreal to Denis Viger and Périne-Charles Cherrier, daughter of François-Pierre Cherrier, a merchant and notary.The Viger family was part of a rising middle class. Denis-Benjamin's grandfather, Jacques Viger, had been a shoemaker. Denis-Benjamin’s father, Denis Viger, began as a carpenter, branched out into small construction projects, and then developed a business selling potash to English markets. Denis Viger represented the electoral constituency of Montreal East in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1796 to 1800. Denis Viger's two brothers, Jacques Viger and Joseph Viger, were also members of the Assembly. Jacques' son Jacques Viger fils, became the first mayor of Montreal. Another cousin, Louis-Michel Viger, became one of the founding partners of the Banque du Peuple.
Through his mother, Denis-Benjamin was related to the Cherrier and Papineau families: Louis-Joseph Papineau, the future leader of the Parti patriote, was his cousin, as was Jean-Jacques Lartigue, future Bishop of Montreal. In 1801, Denis-Benjamin's parents took in one of his cousins, Côme-Séraphin Cherrier, aged three when his mother died, and raised him in their family. Côme-Séraphin was later elected to the Assembly as well.
In 1782, Viger's father sent him to the Collège Saint-Raphaël, run by the Sulpician order. He had no difficulty in completing his studies. Upon graduation, he trained in the law from 1794 to 1799, first under Louis-Charles Foucher, the solicitor-general for the province, then under Joseph Bédard, brother of the leader of the Parti canadien, and finally under Jean-Antoine Panet, the speaker of the
Legislative Assembly. In addition to learning the law, he learnt about the allure of politics, coupled with a commitment to public service.
Viger joined the militia as a lieutenant in 1803. By the time of the War of 1812, he was a captain. Like many other French-Canadians he fought alongside English-Canadians against the Americans. He retired from the militia in 1824 with the rank of major.
In 1808, Viger married Marie-Amable Foretier. They had one child who died in infancy in 1814. Marie-Amable was the daughter of Pierre Foretier, a seigneur who had a well-established business in connection with the fur trade. By their marriage, Viger entered the established, aristocratic class. When her father died in 1815, Marie-Amable became an heir to his estate, but the estate was tied up in litigation for twenty-five years. It was not until 1842 that Marie-Amable finally obtained her father's seigneurie on Île Bizard, one of the Montreal islands. Throughout her life, Marie-Amable was involved in charitable activities, focussing on the underprivileged. She was a founder of the Institution pour les Filles Repenties, and was president of the Orphelinat Catholique de Montréal.
Legal career, journalism and landholdings
Viger entered the legal profession in 1799. Although skilled in the law and idealistic, he lacked charisma or personal presence. As time went on, he became very comfortable financially, but it is not clear how much of that came from his legal practice, and how much from land investments. He bought land and houses himself, and in 1823 inherited substantial land holdings from his parents, becoming one of the most important landowners in Montreal. At one point he donated a plot of land to his cousin, Jean-Jacques Lartigue, Bishop of Montreal, for a new building. There was some malicious gossip that the donated land was close to many of his other landholdings, which would likely increase their value as a result.Even before he completed his legal studies, Viger began writing articles on political issues for the newspapers, with the first appearing in 1792 in the Montreal Gazette. He gradually acquired financial interests in other newspapers, including the Canadian Spectator, La Minerve and L'Ordre. His writings at this time indicated an early interest in political issues, taken from an intellectual point of view. Throughout his life he wrote books and articles on political issues, particularly relating to the constitutional position of Lower Canada. He was a good writer, logical, thoughtful, and showing a depth of knowledge. He was also an enthusiastic book-buyer, focussing on law and politics, but he was not very interested in fiction.
When Viger was an established lawyer, he took in law students. One of his students was Augustin-Norbert Morin, who was also a future joint premier. During his time with Viger, Morin taught Latin and mathematics in order to earn additional money. Viger did not have a reputation of generosity towards his law clerks.
Lower Canada politics
Member of the Legislative Assembly, 1808 to 1829
In 1804, at age 30, Viger entered electoral politics, unsuccessfully contesting a seat in Montreal. Four years later, in 1808, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from Montreal West, and was re-elected in 1809. He was elected in Leinster county in 1810 and 1814, and then regularly elected in Kent county from 1816 until 1827, until appointed to the Legislative Council of Lower Canada in 1829.Viger's younger cousin, Louis-Joseph Papineau, was also elected for the first time in 1808. Papineau was much more dynamic and charismatic than Viger, who was considered retiring and not eloquent. The two worked together, allying themselves with the Parti canadien. They followed the older leaders of the party, first Pierre-Stanislas Bédard, later James Stuart. Eventually, Papineau became the undoubted leader of the party, as it developed into the Parti patriote. Viger helped to develop the intellectual framework for the party.
Viger was a strong admirer of the British constitution, which he considered was an excellent balancing of the royal, aristocratic, and popular elements of the country. Socially conservative, he was distrustful of the various constitutional developments in French, and did not consider American republicanism as an option, unlike his cousin Papineau. He believed that French-Canadian culture and existence was threatened by immigration from the United States and from Britain.
The Parti canadien was focussed on obtaining greater control of the government for the elected Legislative Assembly, and weakening the authority of the appointed Legislative Council and ultimately, the governors, appointed by the British government. They tried different tactics at different times. Under Bédard, the party challenged the Assembly's lack of control over public finances. Stuart brought impeachment hearings against some of the judges who also held positions in the Legislative Council and the Executive Council. When Papineau became Speaker in 1815, he continued the financial tactics, along with a trend towards developing nationalist arguments for French-Canadian control. He also worked on outreach to English-speaking politicians who shared concerns over popular control over public finances, such as John Neilson, who worked closely with Papineau.
Viger was one of the leaders of the party, and was involved in developing its tactics and ideology. In the Assembly and its committees, he defended the seigneurial system, the use of the customary law of Paris in Lower Canada, and the Catholic church. When his cousin, Jean-Jacques Lartigue, became the first Bishop of Montreal, Viger supported Lartigue in a dispute with the Sulpician order. Viger later acted as a go-between for his two cousins, Lartigue and Papineau, when tensions rose between the church and the Parti canadien in the lead-up to the Lower Canada Rebellion in 1837.
Delegations to London
In 1822, an issue arose which united most Lower Canada political groups. The British government proposed to unite Lower Canada with Upper Canada into a single province. Papineau and Viger organised opposition to the proposal, with local committees meeting to pass petitions against union. Viger was so heavily involved that opposition to union became known as "Vigerism". Papineau and Neilson were then chosen to be envoys to London, to make the opposition to union known to the British government. They were successful, and the union proposal was shelved.Six years later, in 1828, there was another delegation to London. Papineau and the Parti canadien had continued to press for greater control of the public finances by the Legislative Assembly. They adopted the same tactic of popular meetings and petitions in support of greater financial control. This time, the delegation to London to press their demands was composed of Neilson, Viger, and Austin Cuvillier, armed with petitions with more than 80,000 signatures. Reform movements were growing in Britain, and the Lower Canada delegation had a favourable reception, both with the Colonial Secretary and before a parliamentary committee set up to consider governance of Lower Canada. The British parliamentary committee issued a report which accepted most of the positions of the delegation.