Criticism of The Trial
According to critics, the outcome of the trial was due to the underhanded conduct of the government and to the obvious rift between the lawyers and the accused. Throughout the trial Riel's lawyers ignored his advice and refused his requests (including the request to cross-examine the witnesses himself), and they threatened to abandon him halfway through the procedure. Riel insisted that had the witnesses been properly cross-examined, it would have been established that his men had been attacked first. "Happily they were when they appeared and showed their teeth to devour," he said. "All I was ready. That is what is called my crime of high treason, and for which they hold me to-day."
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