"I do not think that many of the Catholic people of the Dominion of Canada will consider Riel either a hero or a martyr. Now the next question comes, Was he insane? We have had a medical commission which has spoken of here to-day as one concocted for the occasion; we have had three respectable medical gentlemen slandered, I may say, on the floor of this house.

[...]

"Who is the author of the Northwest troubles? It is Louis Riel, and as he is the author of them, it is he alone who deserves to be punished. If, like me, you had followed the steps and studied the hypocrisy, the cunning and the secret arts that Riel has used to deceive and seduce these people and drag them into rebellion, whether they would or not, you would, as I do, cast upon that cruel and tyrannical man all the blame of that revolt. Riel made use of their religion, he made use of their ignorance, of their simplicity, touching every sensitive cord to make them the dupes of his ambition.

"There are persons who say that Riel is mad, but the more his conduct is examined the stronger must be the conviction that that nefarious man, under the appearance of his madness, preserves the plenitude of his reason.[...]

"We were very embarrassed first, because sometimes he looked reasonable and sometimes he looked like a man who really did not know what he was saying. [...] We made up our minds that there was no way to explain his conduct but that he was insane; otherwise he would have to be too big a criminal."