The number of those afterwards accused of peculation [207] was fifty-five, including the governor, Pierre de Rigaud; Marquis de Vaudreuil and his secretary, Saint-Sauveur; the intendant, Bigot; Varin, his sub-delegate; and Duchesneau, his secretary; Bréard, controller of the marine department; Estèbe, the keeper of the king's stores in Quebec; Cadet, commissary general of supplies for Canada; Corpron, merchant, and his agent; Péan, captain and aide-major of the marine troops in Canada; Le Mercier, the commander of artillery in Canada. All these were well known at Montreal, but we may add to them the following who were stationed here and who acted as the associates of the peculators whose headquarters had been at Quebec before the change of government to Montreal; Martel de Saint-Antoine, La Barthe, Fayolle, keepers of the king's stores at Montreal; Maurin, Pénisseault, merchants, partners and agents of Cadet in his offices here; Le Moyne-Despins, a merchant employed in furnishing provisions to the army; Martel, of the marine commissariat; and Salvat, employed in the stores department. The rest were either commandants of forts or storekeepers.
Of the fifty-five accused, twenty-one, and these the chiefs, alone appeared, having undergone a long imprisonment in the Bastille; the rest were judged in their absence. The final judgment was pronounced on December 10, 1763, of which the following is a partial résumé:
Bigot—Perpetual banishment; property confiscated; 1,000 livres of fine and 1,500,000 livres restitution.
Varin—Perpetual banishment; property confiscated; 1,000 livres of fine and 800,000 livres restitution.
Cadet—Nine years' banishment; 500 livres of fine and 600,000 livres restitution.
Duchesnaux—Five years' banishment; 50 livres of fine and 300,000 livres restitution.
Pénisseault—Nine years' banishment; 500 livres of fine and 600,000 livres restitution.
Maurin—Nine years' banishment; 500 livres of fine and 600,000 livres restitution.
Corpron—Condemned to be admonished in parliament; 6 livres to the poor and 600,000 livres restitution.