Ira Allen and the French Directory, 1796

L AATE in i795, Ira Allen left Boston on a mission to London to convince the British government of the need for a canal linking Lake Champlain with the St. Lawrence River, a project Allen considered vital to the economic growth of Vermont. A second reason for his journey was ostensibly to obtain arms for the Vermont militia; to this end, he went to Paris, where he became involved in a conspiracy to incite rebellion in Lower Canada and to create a new independent republic.' The French government, at war with England, was interested in regaining its former Canadian colonies, especially Quebec, the population of which was overwhelmingly French in origin.2 A free republican Quebec would be closely tied to France and, Allen hoped, to the United States. The project was not without precedent. Twenty years earlier, Ethan Allen, Ira's older brother, had attempted to provide Vermont with a port on the St. Lawrence by seizing Montreal, but failed in the effort. The Allen family, including Ira and another brother, Levi, had strong economic ties with Quebec. A canal around the Richelieu River rapids and the right of navigation on the St. Lawrence were essential to the family's prosperity. But if the canal were rejected by the British, Ira was prepared to achieve his aims by armed force. The chances for a successful invasion of Lower Canada seemed excellent. In I794, when Lord Dorchester, governor-general of Canada, called up two thousand provincial militia to protect the borders of Quebec, only a ew hundred men turned out, and talk among the recruits

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