| [CRUIKSHANK] A STUDY OF DISAFFECTION IN UPPER CANADA 47 
“When I had made all the necessary preparations and was ready 
to proceed with the trials, Sir Gordon Drummond became so strongly 
impressed with the representations made to him by military officers 
and others that it would be impossible to obtain a conviction from 
juries of the country, and was so perplexed with the difficulties which 
he imagined must attend the proceeding with these trials while the 
enemy occupied part of the same district, that he wrote to me expressing 
the conviction that it would be unwise to persevere and that the com- 
mission must be abandoned for the present. 
“T remonstrated stating the injurious effect this would have upon 
public feeling, and venturing to assure him that it was impossible the 
prosecutions could all fail. He allowed the trials to proceed and, out 
of twenty-one persons tried for high treason, seventeen were convicted 
upon the clearest evidence. 
“Tn these trials there were no Crown officers to assist me. I had 
no one to share the responsibility with me of public prosecutor, and the 
enemy were all the time in possession of a part of the district in which 
the court sat. The whole expense to the Government was about £450.”’* 
Soon after the court adjourned the Niagara District was invaded 
by the enemy in force, and the officer commanding at Burlington was 
instructed to take extraordinary precautions to prevent the escape or 
rescue of the prisoners under sentence.’ 
Five days before the battle of Lundy’s Lane was fought, while a 
victorious American army lay encamped at Queenston Heights, awaiting 
the appearance of their squadron on Lake Ontario to resume its advance, 
eight of the condemned men, Aaron Stevens, Benjamin Simmonds, 
Noah Hopkins, Dayton Lindsay, George Peacock, Isaiah Brmk, Adam 
Crysler and John Dunham, were executed at Burlington Heights. The 
sheriff of the Home District was then instructed to send the others to 
Lower Canada to await the final decision of the Prince Regent. The 
deputy sheriff having them in charge remained overnight (July 31- 
August 1), at Smith’s Creek in the Newcastle District, placing the 
prisoners in a small hut under a guard of militia. The night was rainy 
and very dark and the guard had no lantern or light of any kind. When 
daylight returned it was found that four of the prisoners had dis- 
appeared. Three were soon recaptured but the fourth, whose name 
was Stephen Hartwell, seems to have made good his escape.* 

1 Life of Sir John Beverley Robinson by Major-General C. W. Robinson, pp. 
55-6. 
? Lieut.-Col. Harvey to Colonel Scott, July 5, 1814. 
3 Chief Justice Scott to Lieut.-Gen. Drummond, August 25 and September 14, 
1814. Can. Arch. Sundries, U.C. 1814. 
