Autograph letter in French, signed

Montreal: 1867., 1867. 8vo. 3 pages. docket title. (horizontal & vertical folds – 2 short tears at folds, blank bit soiled). BELLEAU, Sir Narcisse Fortunat [1808-1894] [Premier of United Canada (1865-67); First Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec (1867-73)]. Autograph letter in French, signed, dated Montreal, January 4, 1867 on Executive Council Canada letterhead, to the ‘Procureur Général du Bas Canada’. [Docket Title: Letter the Honble N.F.Belleau Sentence of Death on three Fenians Commuted to Imprisonment in Penitentiary – order to take three in charge by N. Schillar (?) 4 January 1867 – Dispatched 9 January 1867]. An important letter from Narcisse Belleau, premier of United Canada, on the fate of three convicted Fenians. Belleau requests that the unnamed prisoners, whose death sentences have just been commuted to imprisonment, be transported, under armed guard and by special train, directly to the provincial penitentiary at Kingston. Belleau stresses the necessity of keeping the matter strictly confidential: "Ce qui suit doit être tenu sous le plus grand secret & executé avec toute la discretion dont vous avez fait preuve en plusieurs occasions. ". Signed by Author(s).