Beschreibung:

VAN DIEMEN'S LAND AND THE CANADIAN REBELLION OF 1837-38. An important and extensive collection of extremely rare printed and autograph material relating to the exiled Canadian Patriots in Van Dieman's Land and New South Wales, and to the previous events of the rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada. 'At the close of the Canadian rebellion of 1837-8, 141 men were transported, as political prisoners, 58 to New South Wales and 83 to Van Dieman's Land. After four years of wretched existence, those who survived (except one, who remained in Australia) returned by various routes to Canada and the United States. Nine men wrote "narratives" of their experiences during the rebellion, the journey to exile, and their sufferings as prisoners. ALL THESE BOOKS ARE NOW EXTREMELY RARE' (Ferguson 4029 and 2724). Five of these accounts are in the Keynes collection, as follows: WAIT, Benjamin. Letters from Van Dieman's Land, written during Four Years Imprisonment for Political Offences committed in Upper Canada... also, letters descriptive of personal appeals in behalf of her husband and his fellow prisoners to the Earl of Durham, Her Majesty, and the United Legislature of the Canadas. By Mrs B. Wait. . Buffalo: A. W. Wilgus, 1843. Portrait frontispiece and folding map. A rare copy of the remarkable account of Benjamin Wait and his courageous wife, whose tireless efforts to solicit his pardon 'had some effect in hastening pardons or modified sentences for the political exiles' (Ferguson). Wait escaped from Van Dieman's Land on an American whaler and found his wife at Niagara Falls. Ferguson 3762. Leon DUCHARME. Journal d'un Exile Politique aux Terres Australes . Montreal: F. Cinq-Mars, Bureau de L'Aurore, 1845. 'A rare and interesting account of the experiences of the French Canadian prisoners sent to New South Wales' Ferguson 4029. Linus W MILLER. Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen's Land . Fredonia, N. Y.: W. McKinstry and Co., 1846. 'A most vivid and interesting account of the convict system in Tasmania from within by a political prisoner.' Ferguson 4349. Capt. Daniel D HEUSTIS. A Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of Captain Daniel D. Heustis and his companions, in Canada and Van Dieman's Land... . Boston: for Redding and Co., 1847. First edition of 'ONE OF THE RAREST OF THE CANADIAN REBELLION PRISONER NARRATIVES'. Ferguson 4536. Willian GATES. Recollections of Life in Van Diemans's Land . Lockport: D. S. Crandall, office of the Lockport Daily Courier, 1850. 12° (150 x 102mm). (Small marginal loss to title, occasional browning or staining.) Original brown cloth, spine titled in gilt (extremities rubbed). 'ONE OF THE RAREST AND MOST INTERESTING OF THE NARRATIVES OF THE EXILED CANADIAN PRISONERS' (Ferguson). Gates was taken prisoner on the St Lawrence after the battle of the Windmill and sent out to Van Diemen's Land in the prison-ship, the Buffalo . His is a 'vivid account of his life on the island, as convict, ticket-of-leave man and farm overseer'. Ferguson 5361; Toronto Public Library, p.14. [ Together with ]: HUME, Joseph (1777-1855). Autograph letter signed to Joseph Beeman Townsend, of Talbot District, Upper Canada; London, 24th Nov. 1840., 4°, 3 pages (a few neat tears along folds, repaired marginal tear.) Joseph Hume, M.P., writes to the father of Jacob Beeman, a prisoner in Van Diemen's Land, explaining that he has forwarded his letter to his son, and has himself written to a Member of Council on the island, 'requesting his attention to all the Canadians; and to use his influence to lessen the severity of their treatment'; he considers this approach to be more productive than petitioning Lord John Russell the Colonial Minister, who seems determined 'that the law should take its course'. Hume mentions Canadians being placed in 'working gangs in chains' with convicts, a 'severe and unusual' treatment for political offenders. Hume takes great interest in 'the fate of these unfortunate Canadians', urging Beeman and his friends to