tset of his mission.

The main attack on Lord Durham was opened in the house of lords on the
30th of July. Of the many important matters which Lord Durham found on
his arrival in Canada unsettled, the disposal of the state prisoners was
"by far the most delicate and dangerous." This difficulty was increased
by the restrictions which the home-government had thought it expedient
to impose upon the governor-in-chief. These restrictions were contained
in a letter written by Lord Glenelg, and were to this effect:--"From the
very commencement of the late disturbances it has been, as your lordship
is aware, the earnest desire of the government, that the utmost lenity
compatible with the public safety should be exercised towards the
insurgents. This is a principle inculcated in my various despatches
to the authorities of Lower and Upper Canada, and it is a principle
supported by considerations, not only of humanity, which cannot be in
such cases admitted as the exclusive test of right conduct, but also of
true policy, in reference to the well-being of the Canadas. You will,
I am persuaded, enter into the views of the government on this subject;
and in order to enable you to act with promptitude in this respect,
you are relieved from the restrictions by which your predecessors
were prevented, in case of treason, from giving an absolute pardon, or
granting more than a respite, till the royal pleasure should be known.
The power thus entrusted to you, of granting an amnesty or pardon in all
cases, should, in the opinion of her majesty's government, be exercised
largely, but not entirely without exception. Independently of persons
committed on charges of murder, to whose cases I have referred in my
despatch of the 19th of March to Sir J. Colborne, as exceptions to the
class of cases fit to be included in an amnesty, there must probably
among the prisoners be some flagrant and prominent cases of delinquency,
which it would not be just or advisable to comprehend in the general
lenity. These cases it will be for you to select, in order that they may
be brought to trial. In the constitution of the tribunals before which
these prisoners are to be arraigned, and in the conduct of these trials,
her majesty's government are, after full deliberations, satisfied that
there should be no further deviation from the established mode of legal
procedure, than was sanctioned in my despatch to Sir J. Colborne. You
will, therefore, bring them to trial