"There are two reasons which have mainly weighed with us, to revert to
the subject of the _Protestant Vindicator's_ charges, and to publish
the subjoined lengthy documents. We consider, in the first place, our
endeavours to expose falsehood as a solemn duty we owe to the defamed;
and, in the second, we should regard ourselves to be degraded in the
eyes of the world, did we live in a community where such abominations,
as are alleged, existed, and not dare, openly and loudly, to denounce
the perpetrators.
"Under these impressions, we proceed, at a considerable sacrifice of
the space of our journal, to lay before our readers the following
affidavits, which will sufficiently disclose the nature of the
_Protestant Vindicator's_ calumnies, their origin, and the degree of
credit which can be attached to them."
(AFFIDAVIT OF DR. ROBERTSON.)
"William Robertson, of Montreal, Doctor in Medicine, being duly sworn
on the Holy Evangelists, deposeth and saith as follows:--On the 9th of
November, 1834, three men came up to my house, having a young female in
company with them, who, they said, was observed that forenoon, on the
bank of the Canal, near the extremity of the St. Joseph Suburbs, acting
in a manner which induced some people who saw her to think that she
intended to drown herself. They took her into a house in the
neighbourhood, where, after being there some hours, and interrogated as
to who she was, &c., she said she was the daughter of Dr. Robertson. On
receiving this information, they brought her to my house. Being from
home when they came to the door, and learning from Mrs. Robertson that
she had denied them, they conveyed her to the watch-house. Upon hearing
this story, in company with G. Auldjo, Esq., of this city. I went to
the watch-house to inquire into the affair. We found the young female,
whom I have since ascertained to be Maria Monk, daughter of W. Monk, of
this city, in custody. She said, that although she was not my daughter,
she was the child of respectable parents, in or very near Montreal, who
from some light conduct of hers, (arising from temporary insanity, to
which she was at times subject from her infancy.) had kept her confined
and chained in a cellar for the last four years. Upon examination, no
mark or appearance indicated the wearing of manacles, or any other mode
of restraint. She said, on my observing this, that her mother always
took care to cover the irons with soft cloths to prevent them injuring
the skin. From the appearance of her hands, [Footnote: Compare this
with the last sentence but one in the affidavit. Why does Dr. R. not
give names of persons and their affidavits? It has not yet been
done--April, 1836.] she evidently had not been used to work. To remove
her from the watch-house, where she was confined with some of the most
profligate women of the town, taken up for inebriety and disorderly
conduct in the streets, as she could not give a satisfactory account of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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