The Express.
London, England, 1855-08-14 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 14, 1,1156.

NORTHERN

Mm. 13.

On Saturday let Mr. Heron Platt and Mr. Justice Crow.
der arrived here from Lancaster, when the commission for
the south diviner& was tonally opened in thetas, courts tit.
George's H4l,,both judges being pneseut.Testerdaytheir lord-
ships, accompanied by the Mayor (J. A. Tobin, Esq ),sad the
High Sheriff (J. P. Heywood, Esq.), in their official
equipages, attended divine service at St. Gouge's Church
At noon, to-day, Baron Platt commenced the business of
the anises, and finding that none of the onosiere, even
those who had returned their inquisitions, answered to their
names, he intimated that on the next ousel= he visited the
county and found it so ensile he should fine all absentees.
Ilia lordship then delivered his charge to the grand jury, is
which be oongratelated the county for the very large attend.
aces of the grand jury, remarking that ours wen glorionelame
which did not allow a fellow being to be coavicted Wage
the opinions of two @lune of the community were gins
upon his guilt or otherwise, end then there was the greater*
freedom of speech given to learned counsel in the discussion
of the charge', and the sovereign endeavoand to assist
them through her judges. He regretted, when he turned
to the calendar, to see the number of prisoners entered for
trial. It certainly fell short of the numbers of the previews
six months, but the entnnity of the offences was such as to
make up for the deficiency. He found that in the year
1849 there were 134 prisoners for trial ; is 1860, 132 ; I.
1861, 146; be 1862, 166; in 1863, 134; in 1864, 164. In
this year the number fell short of any of them ; but there
were no lees than 30 cases of the sacrifice of human life.
Some of the charges certainly might not turn oat murder,'
bat they all involved the destruction of the lives of a
number of her Majesty's subjects. He called their
attention to the fain that half the cases of crime arose
from drunkennee• In this country, where labour
was rewarded, and where a men could live industriously,
it was laminable to °buns that instead of elevating his
social position, and making his wife and family happy and
comfortable, be was guilty of seta unruly above the level
of the beasts of the field. There was another dreadful
crime—that of eutting—whieh was one that ought to be
dealt with with the utmost severity. He was not aware
tat the grand jury would require any ambiance of him,
excepting, perhaps, where • man has been charged with the
crime of manslaughter. A tradesman supplied is snide
for a steam-engine, by the imperfection of whisk Whit
bunt end life was sacrificed. Altheugh_emy assilsome
would maks a man responsible where be MI nag. Opine
Sun to another, yet in a civil court it wee set reseeded se •
crime. It a man in driving along the Meets, by negligence
of a gross character, should bsppen to cause the death of
another, that gross negligence rendered him liable to crimi-
nal visitation and indictable for manslaughter. But MI
was not every negligence that drew with it that'
result, because if it should happen that a coach-
man by mere accident, by the wheels being im•
perfect, overturned the amylase in the road, end some per-
son is killed by it, it is not ague in which the law would visit
him criminally. The party who supplied the wheels would
be guilty of a breach of costreet, and be would have a civil
remedy. In the present eau, the prisoner 'applied a safety
valve, which ought to have a perforation in some pert of it;
and it was by means of the imperfection of the valve that
the mischief occurred. If they thought ft acne from gross
neglect of the party who supplied the valve, then their ver-
dict would be that be wee culpable. The other eases would
not require so much consideration ; but shield they require
say meistenee, his lordship would readily afford it.
The trial of prisoners then proceeded after this adderss
(which was most indistinctly heard), bat as they wen of the
most trivial character, they are unworthy of being reported.
The court will Mt tomorrow et 9 o'clock.