Star.
London, England, 1830-10-26 00:00:00

ADMIRALTY SESSION&

Thee, Sessions commenced yesterday morning at the Old Bailey, be-'
fore POT Cs aIIITOPIRIXI k °mason, and a full Bench of Civilians, as.
- timed by Judges BOLLAND and BOCIINQVICT.
The Clerk of the Arraigns read the Commission, in pursuant* of
ut.seh the Sessions were held, after which
Sir CRRISTOPHILII ROllll.Olll addressed the Grand Jury assembled
on the occasion. ft was, his Lordship observed, upwards of twelve
menthe since he had had occasion to address a Jury In that place; and
when such an elapse of time bad taken place between the holding et
`chase Sessions, it was satisfactory to know that crimes on the high seas
must have been on the decrease. Formerly these Sessions wen held
twice a year. They might, however, be held oftener, but bementioned
"the circumstance to show that such crimes as fell within the jurisdiction of
the High Court of Admiralty had become leas frequent of late. On the
present occasion, however, there was several charges contained in the
calendar, all of which were of a capital nature. One of those charges
was that of piratically seising a convict ship, bound for Botany Bay,
and carrying her into China, from whence the prisoners were transmitted
ro this country, to take their trial. This charge, however, he felt happy
to say, was not tinctured with sanguinary cruelty. The other charges
bad arisen out of the Statutes which bad passed the Legislature
within the last 20 years, for the abolition of the slave trade; and one of
the provisions contained in those acts rendered it penal for a British
subject to be found trafficking in human blood. It would be, in the
first instance, necessary that the Grand Jury should be satisfied that the
prisoners were British subjects, for if the fact should turn out otherwise,
if the accused should not prove to be the subjects of these realms, then
they would not be amenable to the High Coon of Admiralty. In ad-
dition to these charges, there were several others of a minor description,
for misdemeanours, assaults, or, to use an expression familiar in the
Admiralty Court, for confederacy. The evidence, in each case, would
be laid before the Grand Jury in the usual way, and it would be for
them, on hearing such evidence, to determine whether or not the proof
adduct(' was sufficient to place the respective prisoners on their trial,
for the offences with which they respectively stood accused. In one or two
cases, the masters orcommanders of vessels were charged with having in.
flictcd corporeal punishment upon a part of their crew. It was his duty
here to remark that a good deal of misrepresentation had gone abroad
on this particular subject; and some had doubted the power of the
commanders of merchant vessels to indict corporeal punishment. The
tight was however recognised both by this Court and the Courts of
Welomituaer, and if such a power did not exist, it would, his lordship
thought, be utterly impossible that commerce could be carried on. But
althouich this was the case, and that the right of masters to keep their
crews an a proper state of discipline was acknowledged as law, still, if
a toaster or commander of a ship should indict, or cause to be inflicted,
unnecessary or more than ordinary punishment on any of the persons
under his =trout, he would be amenable for his conduct to the cri.
minal laws of the country. Having addressed to the Jury these few
observations, his lordship concluded by dismissing them, 'Ton which
they withdrew to the grand inquest room.