Manuscript letter

Montreal: 1865., 1865. folio. 3 pages. blue paper. (horizontal & vertical folds). FENIANS. Manuscript letter, in French, signed by Assistant Secretary [Étienne Parent (?) [1801-1874]], dated Secretariat Provincial Quebec, June 30, 1865, to L’Honorable M. Le Juge Mondelet, Montreal [Charles Joseph Elzéar Mondelet [1801-1876], assistant judge in Appeals of the Court of Queen’s Bench, Lower Canada]. WITH Mondelet’s response on same sheet of paper, in French, initialled ‘CM’, dated Monteal, July 1, 1865, to E.Parent. Correspondence relating to George Mathurin’s conviction for "unlawfully attempting to engage a person to enlist as a soldier in the service of a foreign state". The assistant secretary’s letter requests, on behalf of the Governor General [Sir Charles Stanley Monck], Mondelet’s opinion on the Montreal petition for a reduction or commutation of Mathurin’s death sentence. In is reply, Mondelet states that, having read the petition and reviewed the testimony given at the trial, he can see nothing that could excuse or mitigate the actions of the accused, and leaves the responsibility for the decision to lessen the sentence entirely in the hands of the Executive Government.. Signed by Author(s).