The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-10 00:00:00

MR. REWARD TO 818 11

DBCCI.

Department of State, Washington, Oct. 27,1566.
Sir,—lt is understood that James Lynch and John
M'Mabon base been recently convicted in a colonial
court of Canada, and sentenced to death upon a
charge that, being citizens of the United States, they wen
actor' in the assault made in the month of June lass, at
Fart Erie, in that colony.
- •

It can hardly be necearnaty to direct your attention to the
fact that the government of the United States is required
by the highest considerations of national dignity, duty, and
honour to inquire into the legality, justice, and regularity
of the judicial proceedings which have thus taken place,
and that, after making such a careful scrutiny, we shall
expect to make known to her Majesty's government such
opinions as the Presidenkupon due consideration shall
adopt. _ . . .

- .
With this view the Consul of the United States
Toronto is this day instructed to procure, for the informa-
tion of this department, a copy of the record of the trial
and conviction of Lynch and Dl'Malion, and also of all
further trials and convictions of a similar character
which shall take place in Canada. While no unnecessary
delay in the examinations of the cases which are thus ex-
pected to come before this government is intended, it
may nevertheless happen hereafter that delays may un-
avoidably result from past incidents or from future
events which cannot now be foreseen. I have now the
honour to request you to take such proceedings as you may
think proper, to the end that such applications of the
consul shall be prop. rly granted.
The President directs me to assure you of his confident
hope that her Majesty's government will not only cheer-
fully comply with the request I have thus made, but they
will think it proper also to examine the judicial proceed-
ings aforesaid, with a careful regard to the rights of the
United States, and to the maintenance of good relations
between the two countries. Such relations are always
difficult and delicate in States that are adjacent to each
other, without being separated by impassable boundaries.
For this reason it would be very gratifying to the President
if you should be able to give me an assurance that the
execution of the sentences pronounced upon the convicted
persons will be suspended, if occasion for delay shall arise
in the manner before mentioned to make it desirable.

Finally, I deem it proper to say that the offenses in-
volved in these trials are in their nature eminently politi-
cal. It is the opinion of this government that sound
policy coincides with the bed impulses of a benevolent
nature in recommending tenderness, amnesty, and forgive.
ness in such cases. This suggestion is made with freedom
and earnestness, because the same opinions wero proposed
to us in our recent civil war by all the governments and
publicists of Europe, and by none of them with greater
frankness and kindness than by the government and
statesmen of Great Britain. • I am very sure that you will
find that those recommendations of a policy of clemency
and forgiveness in the case of the parties concerned are in
entire harmony with all the suggestions and representa-
tions which this government has made to her Majesty's
government in regard to the aggressions which have bent
made on the Canadian frontier, and that they are also in
harmony with the proceedings which this government has
thought it just, wise, and prudent to pursue in regard to
the violation of its own neutrality laws which was in-
volved in those aggressions.—l have the honour to be
with the highest consideration, sir, your obedient servant,
WiLuast H. SEWARD.
To the Hon. Sir Frederick W. A. Bruce.

Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C., Oct. 29,1866.
have received your communication of the 28th
instant, together with a copy of the preamble and resolu
Cons adopted by the Common Council of the City of New
York, and approved by yourself, asking the interposition
of the government of the United States to secure the
pardon and release of Robert Blom Lynch and other citi-
zens of the United States now confined in Canada.
In reply. I transmit for your information a copy of com-
munications addressed by the Department of State on the
27th inst., to the British minister at Washington, and so
the consul of the United States at Toronto, Canada.
These prompt proceedings will convince you of the deep
interest felt by the government of the United States in
the cases of those citizens, and of its determination to
take all steps that may be necessary and proper for the
protection of all its citizens, wheresoever they may be,
I am, sir, very respectfully yours,

ANDREW JOHNSON
To the Hon. John T. Hoffman, Mayor of the
City of New York.

PUBLIC OPINION IN CANADA.

The Montreal Witness sees " nothing extraordi-
nary in the event" unless the sentence is carried
out. On that point it has the following :

We do not see from the evidence that there was any
proof of the prisoner being the actual murderer of any of
our heroic volunteers who fell on that occasion, but only
that he was one of the invaders. To this crime our laws
attach the same penalty as to the crime of high treason- -
the penalty of death. Now, it must be admitted that
executions for treason, which used in old times to be
frightfully frequent, have been growing fewer and fewer,
till now they are rarely heard of. There was not, we
think, a single one of the cabbage garden rebels in
Ireland executed ; and the first execution for treason has
yet to take place in the United States out of more than
half a million who might lawfully be executed for that
crime during the late rebellion, and many of them most
aggravated cases. The only execution of the kind in the
States was that of John Brown for his invasion of Vir-
ginia : and we all know the impression produced by that
event, and the reputation earned by Governor
Wiae for his part in it. Far be it from us
to defend the Fenian, or to extenuate their crime ;
but we cannot ghat our eyes to the fact that it was
a political crime, and that the whole current of
public opinion in all countries, unless it be Russia or
Jamaica, tends towards leniency in such cases after the
immediate danger is past. That is to say, any amount of
severity may be used in the field against those who have
arms in their hands ; but after the emeutc or invasion is
successfully quelled, there is little or no more blood shed,
however severe the punishment may be otherwise. It
will be well, at all events, for his Excellency the Governor
to consult the Home Government in this matter, as it will
have a direct interest in anything that affects our external
relations.

The Toronto Leader, a bitter opponent of the
North during the late war, sees in the employment
of counsel for the prisoners by the United States
government a criminal sympathy with the acts for
which they are being tried. It is bitter in its
denunciations of the United States government
and people, and rather clamours for the blood
of the convicted. The Ottawa Times, on the other
hand, takes almost the opposite view, and
looks upon the employment of counsel by the
American government as a perfectly legitimate
course of action, " a compliment to the justice of
our laws, and the integrity of their administration,
of which we should feel justly proud !"
Rumours are rife in Toronto that an attempt at
rescue will be made, and the press of that city re-
port that there are a large number of strangers
there at present without any visible means of sup-
port, and that a large number out of employment
in other provincial cities have &eked thither, all