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CHAP. doubts which had arisen, in regard to the authority of the Governor of Quebec, to cause Courts of Oyer and Terminer to be held at Trois Rivières, for the trial of the offenders concerned in the assassination of Mr. T. Walker at Montreal, and in the riot, breach of prison and rescue of divers persons taken up on that account, at which Court several of the offenders had been tried and acquitted, and your Majesty's said Attorney and Solicitor General being of opinion that the Governor of Quebec is fully authorised and empowered by his commission and instructions, to appoint Courts of Oyer and Terminer within all the districts of that Province, and that no Special Commission can be lawfully issued for a new trial of those persons who had been indicted, tried and acquitted at the said Court held at Trois Rivières, but as there is reason to believe there are several other principal offenders who have not yet been apprehended or brought to trial, the Committee think it advisable for your Majesty, to require your Governor or Commander in Chief of the Province of Quebec, to exert himself in causing a diligent search to be made after such persons and bringing them to trial in due course of law, in the vicinage of the place where the offence was committed, and by a Jury of the said vicinage."

"His Majesty this day took the said Report into consideration, and was pleased, with the advice of his Privy Council to approve thereof, and to order, as it is hereby ordered, that the Right Honorable Henry Seymour Conway, Esquire, one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, do signify his Majesty's pleasure to the

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Governor or Commander in Chief of His Majesty's CHAP. Province of Quebec, for the time being, to exert himself in causing a diligent search to be made after such of the said principal offenders who have not yet been apprehended and brought to trial, and in bringing them to trial in due course of law, in the vicinage of the place where the offence was committed, and by a Jury of the said vicinage."

"SIR-This will be delivered to you by Mr. Walker, who had the misfortune to have met with such treatment at Montreal, as is a disgrace to all government. As no material complaint has been made against him for misconduct as a Magistrate, and as his general character is supported by the testimony of very respectable people in Canada, and in London, and as it seems unjust that a person should be turned out of the Magistracy for any other cause but his misconduct therein, especially after the unparalleled cruelties exercised on Mr. Walker, I am therefore to acquaint you, Sir, that he should be immediately restored, and put into the Commission of the Peace, and also that you would omit nothing in your power, to support him in that unmolested pursuit of trade which, as a British subject he is entitled to, whereever he chuses to settle."

"As to the persons concerned in the horrid attempt to assassinate Mr. Walker in his own house, I hope, that in consequence of His Majesty's Order in Council of the twenty-second day of November, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, transmitted to you in my

* This Letter was dated St. James's, March 21. 1766.

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CHAP. letter of second of December, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, you have taken such measures as to have discovered and brought to trial those who had at first eluded that vigilance, which from a sense of your duty, you naturally exert to bring such offenders to justice."

"IT is not without extreme concern, that I find the conduct of some who are honored with His Majesty's Commission in his army, has raised a suspicion of their having been engaged in this atrocious wickedness; I hope there is no foundation for such a suspicion, if any such there are, their crime is double as men and as officers, in so extravagant a violation of the laws of the land, and so flagrant a breach of that order and discipline which is the life and soul of all armies, and especially of the British, whose glory it is to be the supporters of the laws and liberty of their country; wherever His Majesty's forces are found to be actuated by a spirit contradictory to that principle, they are a disgrace to his service, and must expect to incur his highest displeasure; their honor and their interest require, that the military should so carry themselves, as to ensure to themselves the respect and love of the people. I am, therefore, by His Majesty's express commands to recommend it to you, and all the principal officers in America, that the utmost attention be given to preserve the strictest discipline, and that on no account, the smallest encourage. ment be given to any idle pretensions of exclusive privileges in the military service; such pretensions are altogether unsuitable to the nature of our constitution, and can tend only to the ruin of good order and discipline; for which reason I am confident you will think it particularly your duty to discountenance all such destructive and dangerous opinions."

"I persuade myself you will feel as strongly as I can, CHAP. the great and crying injustice that any resentment should I. remain against Mr. Walker, after the cruel wrongs he has suffered. As a man, he has a right to pursue those who would have murdered him. It is the common cause of humanity that they should be pursued, and in fact, a man cannot, that I see, entertain a resentment against Mr. Walker for seeking justice, without in some sort, making himself a party in this very black affair. The good sense and the equity of the gentlemen of the army, will, I doubt not, demonstrate, that however particular men may have been engaged, the army in general were not actuated by any common prejudice to this unfortunate man. If there should, however, be any persons so very wrong headed and ill minded as to intend him mischief, I recommend it particularly to you, Sir, to exert your utmost endeavors to frustrate their malice, and protect him."

WHEN the Supreme Court was held at Montreal, on the twenty-eighth of February, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven, only one bill of indictment was preferred by the Grand Jury, and that was against Daniel Disney, a Captain in the forty-fourth regiment. On the eleventh of March, Captain Disney was arraigned and tried, and after a hearing of eight hours, and many witnesses examined on both sides, was most honorably acquitted, the case being so clear, that the Petty Jury did not take more than half an hour to consider on their verdict, which time was barely sufficient to read over the notes of the depositions made by the several witOn the trial George M'Govock, who had been

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a witness for the Crown, was so contradictory in his evidence, and appeared so completely to have perjured himself, that the Grand Jury presented a bill of indictment against him for perjury, and he was immediately sent to prison. The other gentlemen who had been in confinement, were discharged by proclamation. The Grand Jury the day after the trial, presented, that by the alibi of Capt. Disney proved in Court, Mr. Thomas Walker, and Mrs. Walker, his wife, had been guilty of perjury, for that they did on oath, positively swear, that the said Capt. Daniel Disney in disguise, had been in the house of the said Thomas Walker, when the assault was committed on him on Thursday the sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, between the hours of eight and nine o'clock in the evening of that day; and also that George M'Govock, late soldier in his Majesty's twenty-eighth regiment, was guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury, for that he, at sundry times, and places, being under oath legally administered, did commit perjury, and particularly on the eleventh day of March, in open Court, did positively swear, he was present at the assault committed on Mr. Walker, on the sixth day of December, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, and that he did carry intelligence of the said assault from the said Walker's house to Captain Payne and Lieutenant Tottenham, who were then at the house of Serjeant Mee, and for that the said M'Govock did then and there utter divers other wilful and corrupt perjuries.

On the departure of Governor Murray, the Province was entrusted to Paulus Emilius Irving, Esquire, as the oldest Counsellor; the Chief Justice being deem