1 September 1993
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4 The Metis Rebellion and the Amnesty Issue
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6 ..............edited by Marijan Salopek
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10 Letter from Dr J. S. Lynch to Governor-General Sir John Young,
11 July 1, 1870.
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13 I have on several occasions had the honor of addressing Your
14 Excellency on behalf of the loyal portion of the inhabitants of
15 the Red River Settlement and having heard that there is a
16 possibility of the Government favoring the granting of an amnesty
17 for all offences, to the rebels of Red River, including Louis
18 Riel, O'Donoghue, Lepine and others of their leaders, I feel it
19 to be my duty on behalf of the loyal people of the Territory, to
20 protest most strongly against an act that would be unjust to them
21 and at the same time to place on record the reasons which we
22 consider render such clemency not only unfair and cruel but also
23 injudicious, impolitic and dangerous. I therefore beg most
24 humbly and respectfully to lay before Your Excellency on behalf
25 of those whom I represent, the reasons which lead us to protest
26 against the leaders of the rebellion being included in an
27 amnesty, and for which we claim that they should be excluded from
28 its effects.
29 1. A general amnesty would be a serious reflection on the
30 loyal people of Red River Settlement who, throughout this whole
31 affair, have shewn a true spirit of loyalty and devotion to their
32 Sovereign and to British institutions. Months before Mr.
33 McDougall left Canada it was announced that he had been appointed
34 Governor. He had resigned his seat in the Cabinet, and had
35 addressed his constituents prior to his departure. The people of
36 the Settlement had read these announcements, and on the
37 publication of his Proclamation in the Queen's name, with the
38 Royal Arms at its head, they had every reason to consider that
39 the Queen herself called for their services.
40 These services were given cheerfully, they were enrolled in
41 the Queen's name to put down a rising that was a rebellion that
42 was trampling under foot all law and order and preventing British
43 subjects from entering or passing through British territory. For
44 this they were imprisoned for months, for this they were robbed
45 of all they possessed, and for this -- the crime of obeying the
46 call of his Sovereign -- one true-hearted loyal Canadian was
47 cruelly and foully murdered. An amnesty to the perpetrators of
48 these outrages by our Government we hold to be a serious
49 reflection on the conduct of the loyal inhabitants and a
50 condemnation of their loyalty.
51 2. It is an encouragement of rebellion; Riel was guilty of
52 treason when he refused permission to Mr. McDougall, a British
53 subject, to enter British territory, and drove him away by force
54 of arms; he set law at defiance, and committed an open act of
55 rebellion. He also knew that Mr. McDougall had been nominated
56 Governor, knew that he had resigned his seat in the Cabinet, knew
57 that he had bid farewell to his constituents, yet he drove him
58 out by force of arms; and when the Queen's proclamation was
59 issued -- for all he knew by the Queen's authority -- he tore it
60 up, scattered the type used in printing it, defied it, and
61 imprisoned, robbed and murdered those whose only crime in his
62 eyes was that they had obeyed it.
63 It may be said that Riel knew that Mr. McDougall had no
64 authority to issue a proclamation in the Queen's name; a
65 statement of this kind would lead to the inference that it was
66 the result of secret information, and of a conspiracy among some
67 in high positions. This had sometimes been suspected by many,
68 but hitherto has never been believed. An amnesty to Riel and
69 other leaders would be an endorsation of their acts of treason,
70 robbery, and murder, and therefore an encouragement to rebellion.
71 3. An amnesty is injudicious, impolitic and dangerous if it
72 includes the leaders -- some of these who have been robbed and
73 imprisoned, who have seen their comrade and fellow prisoner led
74 out and butchered in cold-blood, seeing the law powerless to
75 protect the innocent and punish the guilty, might in that wild
76 spirit of justice called vengeance, take the life of Riel or some
77 other of the leaders. Should this unfortunately happen, the
78 attempt by means of law to punish the avenger would be attended
79 with serious difficulty, and would not receive the support of the
80 loyal people of the Territory, of the Canadian emigrants who will
81 be pouring in, or of the people of the older Provinces -- trouble
82 would arise and further disturbances break out in the settlement.
83 It would be argued with much force that Riel had murdered a loyal
84 man for no crime but his loyalty, and that he was pardoned, and
85 that when a loyal man taking the law into his own hands executed
86 a rebel and murderer in vengeance for a murder, he would be still
87 more entitled to a pardon, and the result would be that the law
88 could not be carried out when the enforcement of the law would be
89 an outrage to the sense of justice to the community the law would
90 be treated with contempt. A full amnesty will produce this
91 result, and bitter feuds and a legacy of internal discussion
92 entailed upon the country for years to come.
93 4. It will destroy all confidence in the administration of
94 law and maintenance of order; there would be no feeling of
95 security for life, liberty or property, in a country where
96 treason, murder, robbery, and other crimes had been openly
97 perpetrated, and afterwards condoned and pardoned sweepingly by
98 the highest authorities.
99 5. The proceedings of the insurgent leaders, previous to
100 the attempt of Mr. McDougall to enter the Territory as well as
101 afterwards, led many to expect that Riel and his associates were
102 in collusion with certain persons holding high official
103 positions, although suspected it would not be believed. An
104 amnesty granted now including every one would confirm these
105 suspicions, preclude the possibility of dissipating them, and
106 leave a lasting distrust in the honor and good faith of the
107 Canadian Government.
108 In respectfully submitting these arguments for Your
109 Excellency's most favorable consideration, I wish Your Excellency
110 to understand that it is not the object of this protest to stand
111 in the way of an amnesty to the great mass of the rebels, but to
112 provide against the pardon of the ringleaders, those designing
113 men who have inaugurated and kept alive the difficulties and
114 disturbances in the Red River settlement, and who have led on
115 their innocent dupes from one step to another in the commission
116 of crime by false statements and by appealing to their prejudices
117 and passions.
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119 Source:
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121 'Report of the Select Committee on the Causes of the Difficulties
122 in the North-West Territory in 1869-70,' 1874, Vol. 8, Appendix 6, p. 195.
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