Date Published:
July 2007

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Louis Antoine Dessaulles

Dessaulles, Louis Antoine (1819-1895), politician and author, was born at St. Hyacinthe, Lower Canada, on January 31, 1819, the son of the Hon. Jean Dessaulles, seignior of St. Hyacinthe, and Rosalie, sister of the Hon. L. J. Papineau. He was educated at the College of Montreal, and was admitted to practice as a physician in Lower Canada. From 1856 to 1863 he represented the Rougemont division in the Legislative Council of Canada; and during this period he was one of the leaders of the parti rouge. For a time he was editor-in-chief of Le Pays, the rouge newspaper; and he was for several years president of the Institut Canadien of Montreal. In 1863 he retired from politics, and was appointed clerk of the crown and peace for Montreal. He retired from this office in 1875; and he died in Paris, France, on August 5, 1895. In 1848 he published anonymously a pamphlet written in defence of his uncle, the Hon. L. J. Papineau, entitled Papineau et Nelson: Blanc et noir (Montreal, 1848), and this was followed by a number of books and pamphlets under his own name: Six lectures sur l'annexion du Canada aux États Unis (Montreal, 1851); Galilée, ses travaux scientifiques et sa condamnation (Montreal, 1856) ; A messieurs les Électeurs de la division de Rougemont (Montreal, 1858); La guerre américaine (Montreal, 1865); Dernière correspondance entre S. E. le Cardinal Barnabo et l'hon. M. Dessaulles (Montreal, 1871); La grande guerre ecclésiastique (Montreal, 1873) ; Réponse honnête à une circulaire assez peu chrétienne (Montreal, 1873) ; and L'index (Montreal, 1873).

Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., pp. 202-203.