THE FENIAN PRISONERS--CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN SECRETARY SEWARD AND THE
BRITISH MINISTER.
The question of the ultimate fate of the Fenian prisoners who had
fallen into our hands was one which received considerable thought and
discussion. While the temper of the Canadian people was not favorable
to any leniency being shown to them in those sad days in June when they
viewed the death and desolation that had been caused by the raiders,
yet all felt constrained to give them the full benefit of British
justice--fair trials and an opportunity to separate the guilty from
the innocent. The authorities further resolved to be not too hasty in
bringing the unfortunates before the tribunal, as in the excited state
of the public mind such action might prove disastrous to the accused.
This policy was a wise and just one, and met with general approval.
While these Irish-Americans were penned up in Canadian prisons their
friends across the line were using every effort to effect their release
by supplicating President Johnson and Secretary Seward to interpose
in their behalf, and at last succeeded in getting some resolutions put
through Congress with this object in view.
Secretary Seward took the question up in an official way with Sir
Frederick W. A. Bruce, the British Minister at Washington, who forwarded
the documents relating to the matter to the British and Canadian
Governments, and no doubt this friendly interposition had some effect
in influencing the authorities to adopt the humane policy which
subsequently prevailed.
During the month of June the Fenian prisoners who had been captured
at Fort Erie and vicinity and lodged in the jails at Brantford and
elsewhere, were removed to Toronto Jail and placed under special guard
until their cases could receive due consideration by the authorities. At
a preliminary investigation a large number of these men were discharged
for want of sufficient evidence to convict, and were deported from the
country. About forty were held for trial. Some of these were British
subjects, while the remainder claimed American citizenship. The former
were charged with high treason, the penalty for which is death. Those
claiming to be aliens, and citizens of the United States, were indicted
under an old statute which was enacted during the period of the Canadian
Rebellion of 1837, which provided that subjects of a foreign state
who entered Canada for the purpose of levying war rendered themselves
liable, on conviction, to the death penalty.
On the 26th of July, 1866, President Andrew Johnson sent to the United
States Congress the following documents from the Department of State,
in reply to two resolutions of the House of Representatives, the first
requesting him to urge upon the Canadian authorities, and also upon
the British Government, the release of the Fenian prisoners captured
in Canada; and the second requesting him to cause the prosecutions
instituted in the United States against the Fenians to be discontinued,
if not incompatible with the public interest:--
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, July 26, 1866. To the President:--
The Secretary of State, to whom was referred two resolutions of the
House of Representatives, passed on the 23rd of July, instant, in the
following words, respectively:--
"Resolved, that the House of Representatives respectfully request the
President of the United States to urge upon the Canadian authorities,
and also the British Government, the release of the Fenian prisoners
recently captured in Canada.
"Resolved, that the House respectfully request the President to cause
the prosecutions instituted in the United States courts against the
Fenians, to be discontinued, if compatible with the public interests."
Has the honor to report, in regard to the first resolution, that the
Government of the United States holds no correspondence directly
upon any subject with the Canadian authorities mentioned in the
said resolution, or with the authorities of any colony, province or
dependency of any other sovereign state; and that, on the contrary, all
its correspondence concerning questions which arise in, or effect, or
relate to such colonies, provinces or dependencies, is always conducted
exclusively with such foreign governments.
On the 11th of June last a note was addressed by this department to
the Honorable Sir Frederick W. A. Bruce, Her Majesty's Minister
Plenipotentiary residing in the United States, of which a copy is
hereunto annexed. It is proper to say, in relation to that note, first,
that the reports mentioned therein to the effect that prisoners had
been taken on the soil of the United States and conveyed to Canada, and
threatened by Canadian agents with immediate execution without legal
trial, were found on examination to be untrue and without foundation in
fact. It is due to the British Government to say, in the second place,
that the representations made in the said note have been received by the
British Government and by the Canadian authorities in a friendly manner.
The resolution of the House of Representatives first recited,
harmonizing, as it does, with the spirit of the aforesaid note, will be
brought to the attention of Her Majesty's Government and of the
Canadian authorities, with the expression of a belief on the part of
the President that affairs upon the frontier have happily come to a
condition in which the clemency requested by Congress may be extended
without danger to the public peace, and with advantage to the interests
of peace and harmony between the two nations.
I have already received your directions that the second of said
resolutions be taken into consideration by the proper departments of the
Government, with a desire that it may be found practicable to reconcile
the humane policy recommended with the maintenance of law and order, the
safety of the public peace, and the good faith and honor of the United
States.
Respectfully submitted, WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, June 11, 1866.
Sir,--The Secretary of War has laid before the President several
despatches which were received yesterday and to-day from Major-Gen.
Meade, who is commanding the United States forces on the Canadian
frontier. These communications warrant the President in believing that
the so-called Fenian expedition is now entirely, at an end, and that
order and tranquility may be expected to prevail henceforth on that
border. I regret, however, that I am obliged to connect with this
gratifying information the further statement that reports have reached
Major-Gen. Meade to the effect that some of the Canadian or British
troops have crossed the line and entered within the territory and
jurisdiction of the United States. It is even said that this entry took
place after the disturbers of the peace under the command of the leader
Spear had relinquished their forbidden enterprise and withdrawn within
the boundary line of the United States. The reports go so far as to
say that prisoners have been taken on the soil of the United States and
conveyed to Canada, and that the Canadian agents have threatened that
these prisoners, together with such stragglers as may now lie found
within the Canadian lines, will be executed without legal trial. It
is believed that these reports are exaggerated. Care has been taken by
Major-Gen. Meade to have them promptly investigated.
In the meantime I am instructed by the President to represent to you,
and through you to the British and Canadian authorities, that this
Government would not look without serious concern upon the practice of
any retaliation or other illegal proceedings upon the persons of such of
the offenders as have fallen, or shall hereafter fall, into the hands
of the Canadian authorities. I respectfully invite your attention to the
subject, with the confident expectation that no proceedings that are not
authorized and in conformity with law, will be taken against persons of
that class, and in the hope that even the customary administration of
the law will be tempered with special forbearance and clemency. In view
of the effective proceedings which this Government has adopted in regard
to the disturbances now so fortunately ended, these representations
would have been made by me without waiting to be moved from any other
quarter. They are now made, however, with the approval of Major-Gen.
Meade, and I believe that they will receive the concurrence of the
Congress and people of the United States.
I have the honor to be, sir,
Your obedient servant,
WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
The Hon. Frederick W. A. Bruce.
TRIALS OF THE FENIAN PRISONERS.
The Fall Assizes of the Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Jail
Delivery for the United Counties of York and Peel, opened at Toronto on
October 8th, 1866, His Lordship the Hon. Justice John Wilson being named
in the commission to preside over the Court of Justice which was to
decide the fate of the Fenian prisoners. The indictments were read, and
after an able and exhaustive address to the Grand Jury by Judge Wilson,
in which he went fully into every phase of the case, and explained the
statute under which the prisoners were to be tried, the documents were
handed over to the Grand Jury for their consideration.
When the Court resumed its sitting on October 17th for the trial of the
accused, the Grand Jury presented true bills against three of the
most prominent prisoners in custody, viz., Robert Blosse Lynch, of
Louisville, Ky. (said to be a colonel in the Fenian forces at Fort Erie
and Lime Ridge); David F. Lumsden, who claimed to be an Episcopalian
clergyman, from Nunda, N.Y., and John McMahon, who stated that he was a
Roman Catholic priest, from Anderson, Indiana. Lynch was first placed
in the dock, and the indictment read, to which he pleaded "not guilty."
Lumsden and McMahon were next charged, and also entered the same plea.
The prisoners not being ready to proceed with their trials, they were
remanded until October 24th, when the Court re-opened and the trials
proceeded with. The counsel for the Crown were Hon. John Hillyard
Cameron, Q.C. (Solicitor-General for Upper Canada), Messrs. Robert A.
Harrison, John McNab, James Paterson and John Paterson.
The first prisoner placed in the dock was Col. Robert B. Lynch,
who stated that he had no connection with the Fenian Army, but had
accompanied the expedition as a reporter for the Louisville _Courier_.
A large number of Canadian residents of Fort Erie and vicinity, however,
testified that they had seen him wearing a sword and in command of a
body of Fenian troops at that place. The evidence of his guilt was so
overwhelming that the jury returned a verdict of guilty, and Colonel
Lynch was sentenced to be hanged on the 13th of December. He received
the sentence with composure and was removed back to the jail.
Rev. John McMahon was then placed on trial. He claimed that he had only
went with the Fenians in a spiritual capacity, and to look after the
wounded and dying. He said he was at Lime Ridge and attended to both
Fenians and Canadians alike while there. His statements did not accord
with the evidence given by other reliable witnesses who saw him giving
aid and encouragement to Fenian soldiers at Fort Erie, and after a fair
and impartial trial he was found guilty and sentenced to be executed
with Lynch on December 13th.
Pending appeal proceedings these executions were deferred.
David F. Lumsden was brought up for trial on November 3rd. He was
formerly rector of Trinity Church at Syracuse, N.Y., where he had a
reputation of being too fond of drink, rendering himself subject to
discipline for intemperance, and had been cited to appear before Bishop
Coxe (Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Western Diocese of New
York), who sent him to Nunda, N.Y., in the hope that he might redeem
himself. But he had again fallen from grace and was on a big spree in
Buffalo when he drifted over to Fort Erie, and was arrested on suspicion
of being implicated with the Fenians. After hearing all the evidence,
which was in favor of the prisoner, the jury retired and brought in a
verdict of "not guilty," and he was discharged.
True bills were then rendered by the Grand Jury in the cases of the
other prisoners who were held in custody.
On Nov. 7th. William Slavin was found guilty and sentenced to death. On
the same date Benjamin Parry (a lad 16 years of age, from Cincinnati),
was discharged.
On Nov. 9th. Daniel Drummond, who was arrested at Fort Erie, was
discharged, as there was not sufficient evidence to convict.
On Nov. 10th, William Hayden was found guilty and sentenced to death,
while William Duggan was discharged.
On Nov. 14th, Daniel Whalen and John Quinn were both found guilty and
sentenced to be hanged.
On Nov. 15th, Thomas School was found guilty and received the death
sentence, while Patrick Donohue was discharged.
On Jan. 11th, 1867, Timothy Kiely (who was found wounded in a hay-loft
at Major Canty's house near Fort Erie, on June 3rd, and who had been
engaged in the battle at Lime Ridge), was found guilty and sentenced
to death. On the same day John Smith proved his innocence and was
discharged.
On Jan. 12th, Patrick O'Neil and Patrick McGrath were found guilty of
high treason, and on the day following Thomas H. Maxwell was convicted
for the same crime. Those three men were British subjects, and each
received the death sentence.
On Jan. 14th James Burke and Patrick Norton were found guilty and
sentence deferred. On Jan. 15th John O'Connor, Daniel Quinn and John
Rogan were found guilty, while Patrick Keating, James Spanieling and Wm.
Baxter escaped conviction, owing to lack of sufficient evidence.
On Jan. 18th. Peter Paul Ledwith was found guilty and James Macdonough
discharged.
On Jan. 21st, Thomas Cooney (who was present at Lime Ridge) was
found guilty, and George J. Matthews (who was arrested at Thorold in
September. 1866, by some troopers of the Governor-General's Body Guard,
for having stated that he had been sent out from Buffalo as a scout by
the Fenians, who contemplated another raid) was acquitted for want of
evidence.
On Jan. 22nd Michael Purtell was found guilty of high treason, and
remanded for sentence. Owen Kennedy, an American who was arrested at
Fort Erie, was found guilty with a recommendation to mercy.
On Jan. 24th John Gallagher, of Cincinnati, was found guilty and
remanded for sentence, while Thomas King, an American, was discharged.
On Jan. 25th Barney Dunn was convicted, while Wm. Orr, John Hughes,
Frederick Fry and James Diamond were acquitted for lack of sufficient
evidence. On Jan. 29th John Grace and John Cooney were also acquitted.
This disposed of all the Fenian cases on the calendar.
The Court re-opened on Jan. 30th, His Lordship Mr. Justice Morrison
presiding, for the purpose of finally disposing of the cases of eleven
of the prisoners who had been convicted but not yet sentenced. After the
usual Court preliminaries had been concluded, and the prisoners placed
in the dock, Hon. Mr. Cameron moved that the sentence of the Court be
passed upon the following prisoners:--Patrick Norton, Thos. H. Maxwell,
Patrick O'Neil, James Burke, Daniel Quinn, Peter Ledwith, John O'Connor,
John Rogers, Owen Kennedy. Barney Dunn and John Gallagher.
His Lordship then sentenced all of the above named to be hanged on the
5th of March.
Appeals were made to higher Courts in several of the cases, but all were
disallowed, and it seemed for a time as if a wholesale execution of the
prisoners on the gibbet would be the result. But the better feelings of
the Canadian people prevailed, and by appeals for clemency, in the cause
of humanity, our country was relieved from the gruesome spectacle of
witnessing over a score of these unfortunate dupes dangling from the
gallows in expiation of their crimes. That they deserved such a fate
is undoubted. They entered our peaceful country with murder in their
hearts, and carried out a portion of their programme of butchery, but
their leaders escaped, and it would have been poor satisfaction to exact
the extreme penalty on those deluded followers who happened to fall into
our hands. Therefore all of their lives were spared.
The sentences imposed were commuted to imprisonment in the Provincial
Penitentiary at Kingston for various terms, according to the degree of
guilt of the accused, and a few years afterward the last of them was
released from the grasp of Canadian justice.