"
After reading the indictment to the jury, Mr. B. B. Osler,
Q.C., opened the case for the Crown, in which he explained
the nature of the charge against the prisoner, whose
career he traced through the successive steps of the
rebellion, and indicated the weight and character of the
evidence to be brought against its wicked instigator and
chief leader. The plea of the defence of the incompetence
of the Court to try the case, was first answered by the
learned counsel, who remarked, that the character, and
composition of the Court, as well as the provision for
the trial of capital offences by a jury of six men instead
of twelve, were in harmony with the Dominion Law enacted
for the Government of the Territories, and that the
Dominion Parliament had the right, under the British
North America Act, to make that law. "The absence of
the Grand Jury was explained, on the ground that such
juries were essentially county organizations, and were
impossible in large districts with small and scattered
populations." The same reason explained the limiting of
the jury to half the usual number. It was also stated
that the Crown deemed it unwise, if indeed it were not
impossible, to issue a Special Commission for the trial
of the prisoner.
Mr. Osler proceeding said, that Riel not only aided and
abetted the illegal acts of the rebels, but directed
these acts.
"The testimony he claimed," says a writer in _The
Illustrated War News_, "was abundantly sufficient to
bring home to the prisoner his guilt in the charges
against him.
Pages:
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205