ourts as to provincial powers.

For two years and even longer, after its coming into office, the
Mackenzie government was harassed by the persistent effort that was made
in French Canada for the condonation of the serious offences committed
by Riel and his principal associates during the rebellion of 1870. Riel
had been elected by a Manitoba constituency in 1874 to the Dominion
house of commons and actually took the oath of allegiance in the clerk's
office, but he never attempted to sit, and was subsequently expelled as
a fugitive from criminal justice. Lepine was convicted of murder at
Winnipeg and sentenced to be hanged, when the governor-general, Lord
Dufferin, intervened and commuted the sentence to two years'
imprisonment, with the approval of the imperial authorities, to whom, as
an imperial officer entrusted with large responsibility in the exercise
of the prerogative of mercy, he had referred the whole question. Soon
afterwards the government yielded to the strong pressure from French
Canada and relieved the tension of the public situation by obtaining
from the representative of the crown an amnesty for all persons
concerned in the North-west troubles, with the exception of Riel and
Lepine, who were banished for five years, when they also were to be
pardoned. O'Donohue was not included, as his first offence had been
aggravated by his connection with the Fenian raid of 1871, but he was
allowed in 1877 the benefit of the amnesty. The action of Lord Dufferin
in pardoning Lepine and thereby relieving his ministers from all
responsibility in the matter was widely criticised, and no doubt had
much to do with bringing about an alteration in the terms of the
governor-general's commission and his instructions with respect to the
prerogative of mercy. Largely through the instrumentality of Mr. Blake,
who visited England for the purpose, in 1875, new commissions and
instructions have been issued to Lord Dufferin's successors, with a due
regard to the larger measure of constitutional freedom now possessed by
the Dominion of Canada. As respects the exercise of the prerogative of
mercy, the independent judgment of the governor-general may be exercised
in cases of imperial interest, but only after consultation with his
responsible advisers, while he is at liberty to yield to their judgment
in all cases of local concern.

One of the most important questions with which the Mackenzie government
was called upon to deal was the co