The Sun.
London, England, 1822-12-11 00:00:00

HOME CIRCUIT.

HERTFORD, DEC. 9.—lt will be recollected that during
the last Session of Parliament, the expediency of a third an-
nual Commission for Delivering the Gaols in the Home Coun-
ties was suggested by Mr. Western, as an experimental mea-
sure, to be adopted, if found beneficial, throughout the country,
to remedy what has been justly considered a grievance to many
unhappy persons committed to goal to take their trials, as
usual, to the next Assizes, and thereby subjecting them, per-
haps, to , many months' undeserved imprisonment.—!'he
subject was mentioned a second time, and, in answer to
a question from Mr. Western, the House was informed by his
Majesty's Ministers, that it was intended to issue a Commis-
sion accordingly. It has been erroneously supposed that an Act
Of Parliament was passed for this purpose ; but it was found
unnecessary to resort to such a measure, inasmuch as by an
old. Act of Parliament of Edward 111. the King may issue any
number of Commissions he may think proper, of Oyer and
Terminer and General Gaol Delivery, &c. The Commis-
sions on the present occasion were similar to the Commis-
sions usually issued, except that a proviso was inserted in
each, leaving it to the Judges to exercise their discretion whe-
ther they would try such cases wherein the recognizances re-
quired the prosecutors and their witnesses to appear and pro-
secute the offender at the General Sessions of the Peace, " or
otherwise ;" a word of very general import. The Learned
Judges named in these Commissions were, the Honourable
Baron Graham and the Honourable Mr. Justice Bayley._
Both Learned Judges arrived this morning in this town,
and proceeded to the Town Hall to open their Commissions.
after which they attended Divine Service. The Calendar con-
tains 23 cases, two of which are capital felonies ; the rest are
petit larcenies. One unfortunate man could not take his trial,
n consequence of the Justices of the Peace having bound over
the prosecutor and his witnesses to appear at the next Sessions;
and by force of the' provision in the Commission above men-
tioned, he was remitted' to the Sessions, which will be held. in
January. •
There was an uncommonly full attendance of the Nobility
and Gentry of the County on the:Grand Jury ; indeed as nu-
merous as on former occasions.

Mr. Baron GRAHAM, as the senior Judge named in the
Commissfon, charged the Grand Jury, and pointed out to
their attention the disadvantage of a Circuit at this time of
the year—the inconvenience to which it subjected the Judges,
the Grand Jury, the Petit Jury, prosecutors, and witnesses.
—With respect to the Judges, his Lordship observed, that
it was inconvenient for a man advanced in years to perform
such a duty at so unfavourable a season. The answer to
this, to be sure, was, that if it was fouad inconvenient for a
Judge of old standing to undertake such a duty, he might
retire, and make room fior younger men. This was true enough,
but the inconvenience was not the less felt. On the other hand,
the gentry of the County were ealled upon, at a season usually
devoted to recreation and domestic retirement, to leave their
homes to perform duties of a nature not the most agreeable.—
The yeomanry, too,,who could ill afford the expence of travel-
ling, and loss of time consequent upon their services as Petit-
Jurymen, at so 'inhospitable a season, were as much the sub-
ject of consideration; whilst, perhaps, the unhappy persons
confined in gaol did not suffer more than was commonly the
consequence of the criminal law, as it at present existed. His
Lordship delivered a very long address ; and after directing the
attention of the Grand Jury to the most prominent cases in the
calendar, dismissed them to their duties.

The business of to-day was wholly destitute of public in-
terest ; the cases tried being principally petit larcenies.

CURIOUS SUPERSCRIPTION OF A LETTER.—In
consequence of a wager, a letter was some years
since put into a country Post-office, arrived at
the General Post-office, and was delivered by
the postman. The direction, according to the
terms of the wager, consisted of these lines from
Pope :

" Where London's column, pointing to the skies.
Like a tall bully lifts its head and lies,
There dwelt a citizen 'of sober fame,
A plain good man,_and Babram.was his name."
This letter came safe to Mr. Balaarn, who was
then a fishmonger near,the.monument.

No wonder that gold gets scarce when the
herrings of the deep and the beasts of. the field
are- swallowing it up.—A gold coin of Elizabeth,
154'0, is said to have lately been found at. Birm-
ngham in the stomach of a cow !

SOCIETY
FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,

We have sincere pleasure in laying before our
Readers the Report of this venerable and truly
excellent Society, for the year 1821, which has
just been published. To the Report is prefixed
the Sermon preached in St. Paul's Cathedral, by
the ,Lord Bishop of GLOUCESTER, on the 7th of
June, 1821, being the time of the yearly meet-
ing of the Children educated in the Charity
Schools of the Metropolis. Subjoined to the
Report is an Appendix, containing a variety of
information respecting the present state and oro-
ceedings of the Society.