So far as the expedition is concerned we have no knowledge that there is any intention to recall it, but we would not be in the least surprised if the physical difficulties to be encountered should of itself make its withdrawal a necessity. How much better than incurring any expense in this way would it be for Sir John Young (Lord Lisgar) to pay a visit to the new Province, there to assume the reins of the Government on behalf of the Queen, see it passed over properly to Mr. Archibald, who is so much respected there, and then establish a local force, instead of endeavouring to forward foot and artillery through the almost impassable swamps of the long stretch of country lying between Fort William and Fort Garry. Should the Government entertain such an idea as this and successfully carry it out, the time would be short indeed within which the public would learn to be grateful for the adoption of so wise a policy.
This gave us the opportunity to take decisive action. We had already been dreading some such plot which, if successful, would have been disastrous to our hopes of opening up the North-West. If the expedition had been withdrawn, what security would the loyalist leaders have had as to their safety, after the murder of Scott, and the recognition and endorsation of the murderers? It was essential that the expedition should go on. On the first suspicion of difficulty, I had written to Colonel Wolseley and warned him of the danger, and urged him to push on, and not encourage any messages from the rear. Letters were written to officers on the expedition to impede and delay any messengers who might be sent up, and in case the troops were ordered home, the idea was conveyed to the Ontario men to let the regulars go back, but for them to take their boats and provisions and go on at all hazards.
Hearing on the 19th that Cartier and Taché were coming through Toronto the next night on their way to Niagara, our committee planned a hostile demonstration and were arranging to burn Cartier’s effigy at the station. Something of this leaked out and Lieutenant-Colonel Durie, District Adjutant-General commanding in Toronto, attempted to arrange for a guard of honour to meet Cartier, who was Minister of Militia, in order to protect him. Lt.-Colonel Boxall, of the 10th Royals, who was spoken to on the subject, said he had an engagement for that evening near the station, of a nature that would make it impossible for him to appear in uniform. The information was brought to me. I was at that time out of the force, but I went to Lt.-Colonel Durie, who was the Deputy-Adjutant-General, and told him I had heard of the guard of honour business, and asked him if he thought he could intimidate us and I told him if we heard any more of it, we would take possession of the armoury that night, and that we would have ten men to his one, and if anyone in Toronto wanted to fight it out, we were ready to fight it out on the streets. He told me I was threatening revolution. I said, “Yes, I know I am, and we can make it one. A half continent is at stake, and it is a stake worth fighting for.”
Lt.-Colonel Durie telegraphed to Sir George Cartier not to come to Toronto by railway, and he and Bishop Taché got off the train at Kingston. Taché went to the Falls by way of the States. Cartier took the steamer for Toronto, arrived at the wharf in the morning, transferred to the Niagara boat, and crossed to the Falls. This secrecy was all we wanted.
About the same time another formal protest was prepared and Dr. Lynch presented it to his Excellency the Governor-General:—
To His Excellency Sir John Young, Bart., K.C.B., &c., &c.,
Governor-General, &c., &c.
May it Please Your Excellency
I have on several occasions had the honour 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 favouring the granting of an amnesty for all offences to the rebels of Red River, including Louis Riel, O’Donohue, 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 the Red River Settlement who throughout this whole affair have shown a true spirit of loyalty and devotion to their Sovereign and to British institutions. Months before Mr. Macdougall 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. Those services were cheerfully given, 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.