46 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
Drummond, on the contrary, held with good reason that the District 
of London was insecure, and so liable to be disturbed by incursions of 
the enemy that courts could not sit with reasonable safety, nor juries 
be summoned, and the judges themselves very strongly favored holding 
the court at Burlington. Oddly enough it was then discovered that 
although the “little lake” had received the name of Burlington Bay, 
and from it the military position on the adjacent heights was commonly 
called Burlington, yet there was neither town nor township of that name 
in the province and the place of sitting was altered to the township of 
Ancaster. 
No court house being there, or indeed anywhere in the Niagara 
District, and the available accommodation for judges, jurors and wit- 
nesses extremely inadequate, considerable delay ensued which the at- 
torney general found no resaon to regret, as he declared “the Home 
District gives us the worst jurors of any in the Province.” 
“The delay hitherto,” he added, “I cannot consider as having 
been unavoidable, neither at the same time do I conceive that, to what- 
ever cause it is imputable, it has been on the whole injurious to the 
Province. Not being deterred by the prospect of immediate punish- 
ment, many people have spoken and acted without reserve, and by 
exposing themselves to present conviction, have afforded the Crown 
sufficient evidence to prevent the possibility of their becoming dangerous 
in future.’’? 
The court was opened on May 23 and sat until June 21 when it 
was adjourned until August 10. It was composed of three judges of 
the King’s Bench who took turns in presiding, three being always pre- 
sent. Seventeen prisoners were brought to trial, but indictments were 
laid against more than seventy former residents of the London, Niagara 
and Western Districts, most of whom had fled the country. Cornelius 
Hovey, who was so ill that his recovery seemed doubtful, pleaded 
guilty. Fourteen others were convicted by the jury. All of these men 
were sentenced to be hanged on July 20, but seven of the least guilty 
were recommended for merey by Chief Justice Scott and reprieved by 
Sir Gordon Drummond until the pleasure of the Prince Regent could 
be ascertained. Four others were tried at a subsequent session of whom 
two were convicted. | 
The burden of these prosecutions rested almost entirely upon John 
Beverley Robinson, the acting attorney-general, a young man not quite 
twenty-three years of age, who conducted them with admirable ability 
and good judgment. No report of the proceedings is known to exist; 
but Mr. Robinson stated in a memorandum prepared a good many years 
after :— 
1 Robinson to Loring, May 12, 1814. Can. Arch. Sundries, U.C. 1814. 


