1870
Dr. Lynch on the Red River Amnesty
Letter from Dr J. S. Lynch to Governor-General Sir John Young,
July 1, 1870.
I have on several occasions had the honor of addressing Your
Excellency on behalf of the loyal portion of the inhabitants of
the Red River Settlement and having heard that there is a
possibility of the Government favoring the granting of an
amnesty for all offences, to the rebels of Red River, including
Louis Riel, O'Donoghue, Lepine and others of their leaders, I
feel it to be my duty on behalf of the loyal people of the
Territory, to protest most strongly against an act that would be
unjust to them and at the same time to place on record the
reasons which we consider render such clemency not only unfair
and cruel but also injudicious, impolitic and dangerous. I
therefore beg most humbly and respectfully to lay before Your
Excellency on behalf of those whom I represent, the reasons
which lead us to protest against the leaders of the rebellion
being included in an amnesty, and for which we claim that they
should be excluded from its effects.
1. A general amnesty would be a serious reflection on the
loyal people of Red River Settlement who, throughout this whole
affair, have shewn a true spirit of loyalty and devotion to
their Sovereign and to British institutions. Months before Mr.
McDougall left Canada it was announced that he had been
appointed Governor. He had resigned his seat in the Cabinet, and
had addressed his constituents prior to his departure. The
people of the Settlement had read these announcements, and on
the publication of his Proclamation in the Queen's name, with
the Royal Arms at its head, they had every reason to consider
that the Queen herself called for their services. These services
were given cheerfully, they were enrolled in the Queen's name to
put down a rising that was a rebellion that was trampling under
foot all law and order and preventing British subjects from
entering or passing through British territory. For this they
were imprisoned for months, for this they were robbed of all
they possessed, and for this -- the crime of obeying the call of
his Sovereign -- one true-hearted loyal Canadian was cruelly and
foully murdered. An amnesty to the perpetrators of these
outrages by our Government we hold to be a serious reflection on
the conduct of the loyal inhabitants and a condemnation of their
loyalty.
2. It is an encouragement of rebellion; Riel was guilty of
treason when he refused permission to Mr. McDougall, a British
subject, to enter British territory, and drove him away by force
of arms; he set law at defiance, and committed an open act of
rebellion. He also knew that Mr. McDougall had been nominated
Governor, knew that he had resigned his seat in the Cabinet,
knew that he had bid farewell to his constituents, yet he drove
him out by force of arms; and when the Queen's proclamation was
issued -- for all he knew by the Queen's authority -- he tore it
up, scattered the type used in printing it, defied it, and
imprisoned, robbed and murdered those whose only crime in his
eyes was that they had obeyed it.
It may be said that Riel knew that Mr. McDougall had no
authority to issue a proclamation in the Queen's name; a
statement of this kind would lead to the inference that it was
the result of secret information, and of a conspiracy among some
in high positions. This had sometimes been suspected by many,
but hitherto has never been believed. An amnesty to Riel and
other leaders would be an endorsation of their acts of treason,
robbery, and murder, and therefore an encouragement to
rebellion.
3. An amnesty is injudicious, impolitic and dangerous if it
includes the leaders -- some of these who have been robbed and
imprisoned, who have seen their comrade and fellow prisoner led
out and butchered in cold-blood, seeing the law powerless to
protect the innocent and punish the guilty, might in that wild
spirit of justice called vengeance, take the life of Riel or
some other of the leaders. Should this unfortunately happen, the
attempt by means of law to punish the avenger would be attended
with serious difficulty, and would not receive the support of
the loyal people of the Territory, of the Canadian emigrants who
will be pouring in, or of the people of the older Provinces --
trouble would arise and further disturbances break out in the
settlement. It would be argued with much force that Riel had
murdered a loyal man for no crime but his loyalty, and that he
was pardoned, and that when a loyal man taking the law into his
own hands executed a rebel and murderer in vengeance for a
murder, he would be still more entitled to a pardon, and the
result would be that the law could not be carried out when the
enforcement of the law would be an outrage to the sense of
justice to the community the law would be treated with contempt.
A full amnesty will produce this result, and bitter feuds and a
legacy of internal discussion entailed upon the country for
years to come.
4. It will destroy all confidence in the administration of
law and maintenance of order; there would be no feeling of
security for life, liberty or property, in a country where
treason, murder, robbery, and other crimes had been openly
perpetrated, and afterwards condoned and pardoned sweepingly by
the highest authorities.
5. The proceedings of the insurgent leaders, previous to the
attempt of Mr. McDougall to enter the Territory as well as
afterwards, led many to expect that Riel and his associates were
in collusion with certain persons holding high official
positions, although suspected it would not be believed. An
amnesty granted now including every one would confirm these
suspicions, preclude the possibility of dissipating them, and
leave a lasting distrust in the honor and good faith of the
Canadian Government.
In respectfully submitting these arguments for Your
Excellency's most favorable consideration, I wish Your
Excellency to understand that it is not the object of this
protest to stand in the way of an amnesty to the great mass of
the rebels, but to provide against the pardon of the
ringleaders, those designing men who have inaugurated and kept
alive the difficulties and disturbances in the Red River
settlement, and who have led on their innocent dupes from one
step to another in the commission of crime by false statements
and by appealing to their prejudices and passions.
***
Source: Report of the Select Committee on the Causes of the
Difficulties in the North-West Territory in 1869-70, Journals of
the House of Commons 1874, Vol. 8, Appendix 6, p. 195.
