[RIDDELL] CANADIAN STATE TRIALS 329 
(3) Pierre Auguste Adet, born at Nevers, 1763, devoted himself to the study 
of chemistry; he invented a curious system of chemical symbols, of which those 
interested may see a sample in the Encyc. Brit. Vol. 6, p. 36. Then, turning to 
politics, he was sent in 1795 as Minister to the United States; he was an ardent 
adherent of Jefferson, whose well known Francophile (at least Anglophobe) senti- 
ments recommended him to the Frenchman. He had an idée fixe that France must 
own some part of North America, and made up his mind-to the conquest of Canada. 
His pamphlet is mentioned in the text: and there is no doubt that he had a number 
of secret agents in Canada. Some account of his activities in that regard will be 
found in Kingsford’s Hist. Can., Vol. VII, pp. 441 sqq. 
4, The disturbances appear to have been due to discontent with certain legis- 
lation concerning roads, of no importance now, and, according to the charge of Chief 
Justice Osgoode (which, it is possible, may be taken cum grano salts), of little signi- 
ficance then. | 
(5) Philadelphia was the capital of the United States from 1790 till 1800. 
(6) St. Regis opposite Cornwall, Ontario, in New York State. 
(7) Adam Mabane, a Scotsman, educated at Edinburgh for the medical pro- 
fession, came to Quebec as a Surgeon in the British Army. He was pushing and un- 
tiring in his efforts to advance himself, and obtained the confidence of successive 
Governors, especially Haldimand whom he almost entirely dominated. He was 
made a member of the Executive Council, but removed by Carleton, appointed a 
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas under the Quebec Act of 1774, a member of 
the first Legislative Council, and lastly a Judge of the Court of King’s Bench. He 
acquired considerable property and was altogether a personage in early Quebec 
under the British Rule. 
(8) The learning on the subject of the various kinds of Courts and their juris- 
dictions is almost obsolete in this Province. 
The Judges of Assize formerly sat under five Commissions: (1) of Assize to try 
actions for the recovery of land or rights connected with land; (2) of Nisi Prius to 
try all civil cases ripe for trial by jury; (3) of the Peace; (4) of Oyer and Terminer 
to try criminal cases where the Indictment was found before themselves at that 
sitting, and (5) General Gaol Delivery to try every one found in the Goal not under 
sentence. | 
A Commission of Oyer and Terminer might issue also to try special cases, when 
it was called a Special Commission. This has been done in Ontario, e.g., in the Bid- 
dulph cases. In the Commission any one might be included, but it generally read 
so that it could not be executed without the presence of some one or other of named 
persons, who were therefore said to be ‘‘of the Qucrum;” these were generally, if 
not always, Judges. In the present case the Chief Justices Osgoode and Monk 
were of the Quorum thereby securing the presence of a Judge of the highest rank; 
and the Commission was Special. Those who were not of the Quorum were as a 
rule of no importance; they were not expected to interfere any more than the ordinary 
country Justice of the Peace interferes with the County Judge in our General Sessions. 
(9) William Osgoode born in England 1754, educated at Oxford, entered at 
Lincoln’s Inn 1773 and called 1779. In 1791 he was appointed Chief Justice of Upper 
Canada, arriving in the summer of 1792. He was a member and speaker of the 
Legislative Council and sat in criminal Courts of Oyer and Terminer. He never 
sat in the Court of King’s Bench; when that Court was instituted in 1794 it was 
vacation, and before Term came around he had left for Lower Canada, having received 
the appoint ment of Chief Justice of that Province. He had an acrimonious dispute 
with General Prescott who became Lieutenant Governor in 1797 and who took the 
