The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-10-02 00:00:00

CIRCUIT LVTELLIGENCE.

assents, seer. W 7
On Wednesday fact the Circuit Court of Justiciary
was opened here, by the Right Hon the Loan
JUST ICS

Wit jaws 14Nharttd, travelling merchant, a rung
man not 19 years of age. but an old offender, was
indicted for feloniously stealing, in the market place
of this city, on Friday the 223 of May I •st. a com-
ber of pieces of printed calico avid cotton cloth, from
the stand of Jame, Blurt, chapman, with which stolen
goods be seas immediately after apprehended. The
libel was restricted to an arbitrary punishment, and
the panel having pled guilty to the indiament, the
Jury teemed a verdil accordingly ; when. after a
very „suitable address and exhortation from his Lard-
sli;p. he received sentence of transportation beyond
seas for seven years.

The LORD JUSTICI Ct lag. after pronouncing
sentence on the pa a nel, addressed the Gentlemen con-
versed to aft as Jurymen at the Circuit, nearly iu
the following terms:--
" Gentlemen-1 think it proper, before discharg-
ing those of you who have served ou the Jury tu-
day, to dire& your attention to some considerations,
applicable to you all on the present occasion.
" I am sorry, Gentlemen, that the state of the
weather is such as to render your absence from
home a matter of less importance than it usually is
as this season of the year. Such of you as 1 have
purposely seleded to serve on the Jury of this day,
are those who reside at the greatest distance front
town : and you of the Jory of Fifteets, having now
done your daty, may return home to the superin-
tendance and nhunernent of your respeSive af-
fairs.

44 None of you, I am convinced, wi:l grudge the
time or the trouble which your attendance here to-
day has cost you. Considering the high nature of
the duty which you are here called on to discharge;
considering, th it the Trial by Jury is the great bul-
wark of our liberties ; considering, that it consti-
tutes our proud distinaion from all other nations ;
these is not one among you. I am sure, who does
not willingly submit to any pet sonal inconvenience,
in order to attend his duty to the public : or who
would not sa:rifice much of his individual comforts
for the preservation of a privilege so pre-eminently
beneficial to our country.
44 The trial by Jury, Gentlemen, is indeed a pri-
vilege of high and inestimable value : but the
mere form of it is nothing. A spirit of liberty must
animate and be perpetually cherished by the coun-
try, to give it effett ; a spirit onextinguishable by
any calamity, foreign or domestie.that can befall ue.
What I mean by a spirit of liberty, is that rational
and ardent ettachnient to freedom, which consists
in reverence and obedience to equal laws ; not
that wild licentiousness which at one lime prevailed
in a neighbouring nation, and which has, at length,
by natural consequeace, brought them under a des-
potism far more intolerable than that from which
they attempted to escape. It is a spit is of genuine
We; rty, pervading the country, which alone can pre-
serve the purity of Jury Trial. and give .t efficacy ;
without this, it may become the most effectual en-
gine of tyranny, as was exemplified sC.en tots coun-
try suffered under the despotism of Charles 11. and
James 11. lheir tyranny was perpetrated through
the medium of corrupted Juries ; and the trial by
Jury would also, in our days. be a guardian to out
liberty of little importance, if either the national
virtue were degraded, or if our Juries were cramped
in the discharge of their duty by undue influence.
" This naturally leads us to coutemplate the
danger to which th:s, and all our other blessings, as
a nation, are at present exposed, from the ambition
of a foreign and powerful enemy. That enemy,
depend upon it, aims, among other things, at the
destruction of our Trial by Jury ; for, if we form
our opinion of his intentions from his past conduct,
we have no great reason to confide in his respeft for
an institution productive of happiness. He allows.
to be sure, a resemblance of jury trial ; but it is
corrupted and debased by the influence under which
it exists. It is not, however, at the destrunion of
this great privilege alone, that he aims: if he shall
come here, he will come but to destroy ; to tear from
us property, liberty, every thing that we possess.
Let us all, therefore, unite to oppose'him. There
may be among us a difference of opinion, about the
origin and causes of the war ; but we are surely of
one mind, that it must be vigorously carried on;
that we must defend ourselves from destruction ; for,
in fan, it is now a war for our existence.
44 Permit me now, Gentlemen, to congratulate
you on the favourable aspen of the morals of the
people in this part of the country, which appears so
conspicuously on the present occasion. It is par-
ticularly creditable to the people themselves, to you,
Gentlemen, who are of the Magistracy, and to
the public instructors in this populous and ex-
tensive distria of the country, that so little criminal
business is now before the Court. It is from the
virtues of the people, who rmaA be accustomed
to restraia the impulses cf passion, and to resist
the allerements of temptation. that this pleas-
ing result iii a great measure flows ; yet much com-
mendation is due to you, my Lord (addressing
himself to the Lord Provost), and the other Ma-
gistrates of the city and its vicinity, and to
the salutary co-operation of the Ministers of Re-
ligion, for vigilance and activity in the suppression
of vice. And here, 1 wculd not be understood to
refer merely to the Ministers of the Established
Church: I rejoice, that the Teachers of Religion, of
all denominations in this count! y, are fa:illicit to their
duty ; and that they strengthen the virtuous habits
of the people, not more by their zeal in the cause of
religion. than by the force of the example which
they sr t before their flock. The excellent semina-
ries ef education, too, generally instituted. are to be
regarded as productive of the favourable• state of
morals among the people of this count; y. All these
various institutions and privileges to tehich I have
referred. taken collatively. we call our Constitutirm.
In time past it huh contributed to our prosperity.
and we trust, that in time to come, it will ailard to