Talk:David McLane (merchant)
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The details of the punishment[edit]
- The Historical magazine, and notes and queries concerning the antiquities ... by C. Benjamin Richardson, (1862) p. 208
Rev. Caleb Davis Bradlee read a brief paper, prepared for the Society by John Gilmary Shea, Esq., of New York, on David McLane alias Lane, a native of Attleboro', Mass., who was executed for high treason at Quebec, in 1797: probably the solitary instance of hanging, drawing, and quartering, in America. McLane who had been an enterprising citizen of Providence, R. I., in 1796 received a commission as general, from Adet, the French minister to the United States, who in that year had addressed a proclamation to the Canadians announcing that the French Republic, having -defeated Spain, Austria, and Italy, was now on the point of attacking England in her turn, beginning at the Colonies,"and invited the Canadians to rally round his standard. McLane's plan was to raise a body of men in the adjacent States to capture the garrison at Quebec. Having communicated his plans to a person by the name of Black, he was betrayed by him. He was tried and condemned to death, and was executed with great military parade on the glacis outside the wall near St. John's gate, on July 21, 1797, the elevated spot being visible to the surrounding country.
- A Bibliography of Canadian Imprints, 1751-1800, Marie Tremaine - (1999) [1952] p 516 (secondary source of an earlier paper) "This bloody and apparently bungled execution"
- Fitzhenry and Whiteside book of Canadian facts and dates Jay Myers, Richard W. Pound, James Musson - 2005:
May 10 David McLane,a merchant from Rhode Island, was arrested for treason and for attempting to promote revolution in Canada. Found guilty, he was hanged, eviscerated and beheaded on July 21. May 23
Given that two of these sources contradict the Dictionary of Canadian Biography one older and one newer. And the other source suggests that the court intended HDQ but whether intentionally ordered by the authorities or bungled by the executioner the sentence was not carried out to the letter. I suggest that to make sure that this article is accurate a more detailed biography is needed that does a proper job with citations to primary sources. -- PBS (talk) 08:03, 5 March 2011 (UTC)
- Unfortunately with McLane, there seems to be wildly conflicting information. As much as I frequently rely on the DCB as a source, it seems from a quick survey that the weight of scholarly sources (especially recent ones) disagree with the DCB entry in a number of respects. The DCB portrays McLane as an innocent man, when (seemingly) the truth is more accurately that McLane was conspiring against the colonial government on behalf of France, but also received an unjust and politically motivated trial. I think this nuance is important to accurate coverage of the McLane case and its context in Canadian-American history and political relations of the time. I'll likely begin to make some changes once I've fully surveyed the sources available. Julius177 (talk) 21:16, 28 March 2021 (UTC)