The death of Lount and Matthews seems to have satisfied the desire for revenge on the part of the extremists and a milder course of policy was then pursued by the Lieutenant-Governor and Executive Council. Several other leaders including "Generals" Sutherland and Theller, both of whom were American citizens, were sentenced to transportation. Theller had been sentenced to death and, according to his own account, was only saved from the gallows by the energetic agitation in his favour of the Irish section of the population. He has left a voluminous account of his captivity, including his sensational escape from the Citadel of Quebec, in his book, _Canada in 1837-8_, to which the reader is referred if he wishes to obtain a very highly-coloured bit of autobiography.[20] Theller's case brought up a very interesting question of International Law. He had been born in Ireland and had become naturalized as an American citizen. When put on trial for his life on a charge of high treason Theller pleaded that his American naturalization had rendered him no longer a British subject. Against him a precedent of 1747 was quoted to support the doctrine of "perpetual allegiance," i.e. "once a British subject, always a British subject." The jury brought in the curious verdict that "if the prisoner was a British subject he was guilty of treason." Chief Justice Robinson, acting in accordance with his belief in the doctrine of 'perpetual allegiance' ruled that Theller was still a British subject and thereupon sentenced him to death. Under the circumstances to carry out the death sentence would have been very inadvisable. Pressure was brought to bear upon the Lieutenant-Governor and the Executive Council, and as a result a respite was granted "until Her Majesty's pleasure should be known."[21] Theller was soon after removed from Toronto to Quebec and detained there in the Citadel, from which he escaped. Sutherland was tried by court martial, imprisoned in Toronto and Quebec, and finally returned to American soil. These American prisoners were very embarrassing to the Upper Canadian authorities. There was still considerable excitement along the American frontier and the danger of invasion was by no means over. Lount and Matthews were considered martyrs by many on the American side of the border. Highly coloured accounts of the execution appeared in the American press. Even the New York Sun took up the matter and recounted how Mrs. Lount on the day previous to her husband's execution "pleaded with Governor Arthur for hours for his life, and when she pointed to _thirty thousand names_ who petitioned with her for the exercise of the royal prerogative, he coldly replied 'that he had not believed that Mr. Lount had so many friends in the province, and that there was the more necessity that he should be made an example to the rest.'"[22] Under these circumstances the execution of Theller would have added oil to the flame.