idfi ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



vestigation to take place, and was 

 enabled to defeat the deep-laid 

 scheme. "\\'ho/' continued the 

 Governor in his pamphlet, " after 

 such acts, could question the jus- 

 tice and propriety of dismissing 

 such a person from his office ?" 

 Now, not one word of the allega- 

 tion about the lands at Niagara 

 was known to General Gore at 

 the time he suspended Mr. Wyatt. 

 There was, indeed, some inquiry 

 instituted afterwards, but that 

 was when Mr. Wyatt had been 

 suspended, had left the province, 

 and was on his way to England. 

 As to the charge against Mr. Wy- 

 att, that he was a seditious and 

 disaffected person, and employed 

 in disturbing the public tranquil- 

 lity, he- would call persons of 

 high rank, Mr. Thoipe, the judge 

 of the province, and the attorney- 

 general of the province, to prove 

 that his conduct was most exem- 

 plary. It was insinuated, also, 

 that the plaintiff had been in- 

 triguing with the Indians ; but he 

 should be able to call before the 

 jury the chief of one of those 

 tribes, a British subject, who 

 would prove there was no good 

 ground for that accusation. 



Mr. William Frith was called. 

 — 'He was attorney-general of the 

 province of Upper Canada from 

 the year 180? to IS 11. The 

 plaintiff had left the province be- 

 fore he arriv ed there in 1807 ; 

 tlie office of £\u'veyor-generul was 

 one of great trust and confidence ; 

 its duties consisted in regulating 

 the location of liinds, surveying 

 them, and passing grants through 

 "tlie office ; the fixed salary was 

 8001. a-year; the perquisites made 

 it much more. 



Dr. Thorpe was next examined. 

 — Urn beld the lituation of judgt 



of the province of Upper Canada- 

 The plaintiff was there during 

 some of the time that the witness 

 was in Canada ; he remembered 

 the time of his suspension, but 

 did not remember any official in- 

 quiry taking place respecting the 

 location of lands at Niagara. The 

 Guardian newspaper was first pub- 

 lished after Mr. Wyatt had left 

 the province; there was no other 

 piess before that paper was set 

 up, except the government press 



Mr. Sergeant Best was about 

 to call Colonel Norton, the Indian 

 chief, to prove that there existed 

 no understanding between the 

 Indian nations and the plaintiff; 

 but Mr. Sergeant Lens objected 

 to his evidence, in which objection 

 yir V. Gibbs conciuTcd. 



Here the case closed for the 

 prosecution. 



Mr. Sergeant Lens then, on 

 behalf of the defendant, contend- 

 ed that no case had been made out 

 which proved the malicious or 

 unjust motives of Geneial Gore 

 in suspending the plaintiff from 

 his office ; that it did not appear 

 the libel had ever been shown to 

 any human being except Mr. 

 Frith ; and he would put it there- 

 fore to the jury, whether that 

 was a case which called upon 

 them to give exemplary damages. 



Sir V. Gibbs then charged the 

 jury. It did not appear to him 

 that the first charge had been 

 proved, as there were no state- 

 ments in the pamphlet which 

 showed that wliat was there urg- 

 ed con.stituted the grounds on 

 which Mr. Wyatt had been sus- 

 pended. The pamphlet, in fact, 

 appeared to be only an answer to 

 ■something which had been pub- 

 lished by Judge Thorpe and 

 others. As to the last charge, 



that 



