The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-03-28 00:00:00

PRAYER BOOK AND HOMILY SOCIETY.

The annual meeting of the members and friends of the
Prayer Book and Homily Society was held last evening in the
Music Hall, 80ld-street, and was nnmerously and respecta-
bly. Among others, we observed, on the platform, the Rev.
Chancellor Raikes, the Rev. J. H. Stewart, the Rev. J.
Jones, the Rev. 11. M'Neile, the Rev. J. Nolan. the Rev.
W. Falloon, the Rev. R. Davies, Mr. J. Howard, Mr. C.
Cetesworth, &c. &c. &c.
The proceedings having been opened with prayer by the
Rev. W. 11,1AyNAan,
The Rev. CHANCELLOR RAIKES having taken the Chair,
observed that they were assembled to consider the prospects
of the Prayer Book and Homily Society, a society which.
though small and humble, and unassuming, bad yet met with
a large degree of support in Liverpool and in the kingdom at
large. People had asked what could be the reason for the
establiishment of a separate society simply with the ob-
ject of distributing the prayer book and homilies of the
Church, seeing that the Society for the Promotion of Chris-
tian Knowledge circulated both ? In reply to this he would
mention that there were circumstances in the church's his-
tory which might account for the necessity of introducing this
society into the Christian world, and for the measure of pa-
tronage and support it had met with. With regard to the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, he need not
say a word concerning it, inasmuch, as he greatly approved
of it, and hoped it would go on prospering, but at the same
time it should be borne in mind, in order to justify the pro.
moters of the present society in the step they had taken for its
establishment, that though the Society for Promoting Chris.
tian Knowledge did distribute the book of common prayer,
and the homilies, it was a fact that it accompanied that dis-
tribution, with the distribution of a great variety of tracts
and books which did not possess the same peculiar authority,
and certainly not the same peculiar merit. It was because
the promoters of this society wished to draw a line between
that which peculiarly and specifically belonged to the
Church of England, and that, which, though professing to be-
long to the Church of England, might savour of the
tone and character of the individuals who belonged to it:
they wished to separate that which belonged to the church
from that which belonged to individuals themselves. On
that account the original founders of this society took a wise
and discriminating line of conduct when they commenced it.
There could be no doubt that when the society was instituted
the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge was
not in a satisfactory state. It certainly did distribute the
Prayer Book, but it was also a fact that certain essential
parts of the book were universally found wanting; the ar-
tides were not there ; the services for the ordination of
deacons and priests were not found there, although they were
integral and essential parts of it. It was only by the con-
stant exhibition of these services that the difficulties of
those who differed from us could be overcome, and where
they were wanting the chat acter of the Church of England
was not represented as it ought to be. Thus the original
founders of this society had reason and justice to support
them in the steps which they took ; and it was also that
which justified us in following their steps? and the steps which
thfLmeetingwas_taking on the present occasion,_

The Rev. W. MAYIsARD, of the Mariners' Church, then

read the report. After alluding to the advantages derivable
to the public from the circulation of the formularies of the
church, and to the circumstance of the society being the only
one to circulate those formularies amongst the seamen, (the
society for promoting christian knowledge having declined to
engage in that part of the work,) the report stated that du-
ring the past year, 2500 vessels were visited and revisited.
The number of prayer books sold was 221, and the number
of homilies given to captains was 80. The annual subscrip-
tions of this auxiliary amount only to £33, and the loss en-
tailed on the parent society (by the sale of books at reduced
prices, and by other necessary expenses) is upwards of £2OO.
Three clergymen in this town, during the past year, have
urged the claims of the society upon their congregations,
The report concluded with an earnest call upon the public
for support. The rev. gentleman concluded by mentioning
several instances of the success of the society's agents
amongst our nautical population, and their desire to possess
the scriptures.

The Rev. J. H.STEWART moved the first resolution, au-

thorising the printing and circulation of the report in a per-
suasive address, in the course of which he mentioned that it
was to this society the public were first indebted for a cheap
and complete copy of the prayer book.
Mr. C. COTESWORTH here read a statement of the trea-
surer's accounts for the year 1842; from which it appeared
that the receipts amounted to £5O lOs sd, and that after pay-
ing all the expenses a balance bad been remitted to the
parent society of £2l 14s.

_
Mr. SEWARD, travelling agent to the society, commenced
an eloquent address by observing it was a blessed thing that
all the formularies of the Church of England were founded
upon the Bible. The society, which had been spoken of as
small, was small only because of the smallness of its funds ;
enlarge them, and its efforts would reach the boundaries of

the earth. It had already begun to translate the liturgy into
foreign tongues; and wherever the Bible was known who
would not wish that our admirable liturgy should not follow?
They would then see that, although the society was small, its
objects were great, and in that it had a claim upon the
Christian liberality of the public. It had supplied all the
missionary societies with the book of common prayer, and be
held it to be a great benefit no less to the heathen than to
those societies so to circulate it. Look to the state of the
church in Germany. How important it was that our liturgy
should go there, because he had heard that it was intended
by a certain society to revise the German liturgy because it
was too Lutheran ! With respect to China, God had raised
up Dr: Morison, and endowed him with faculties to translate

the Bible into the language of that country, and to circulate 4
editions, of 2006 each, of the book of common prayer. Eng-
land had been raised up as the scourge of that people; she
had been made their conqueror; but if we hoarded up the sil-
ver which that country had sent us, without following out
God's will with respect to her people, by sending Christianity
among them, we might expect a calamity to befal us.
Now, with respect to the Chinese prayer-book, as trans-
lated by Dr. Morison, we had a talent confided to us,
and the society were now collecting funds to reprint
the Prayer-book in that language, and send it to them. Mr.
Seward then shewed the fallacy of an objection which he had
heard made to printing the Prayer-book in Chinese before
there was a church there. He next spoke of the labours of
the society among seamen, and narrated several instances of
religious destitution among them, for Le removal of which
he strongly urged that the Church of England was alone fit-
ted, by sending among them lay readers and catechists. The
Christian public were greatiVfnclebted 'to this society for
reproducing the Homilies, and circulating them as single
tracts. Some might have thought that the Homilies were
obsolete, but it was not so ; and he mentioned that the so-
ciety had recently had many applications for them from
Lancashire, and be had reason to believe that they had done
much in the way of preventing the spread of irreligious doc-
trines. The committee of the society bad been informed
that the punctuation of the Prayer-book had been altered.
and that apparently without authority, and that the alterations
were of such a nature that in some instances they perverted
the sense, more particularly with regard to what was termed
baptismal regeneration. They, therefore, had felt it impor-
tant to examine for themselves ; they had compared the Book
of Common Prayer, printed in 16.54 by the order of King
James, with one printed at Oxford in 1836, and they found
no less than 83 variations in the service for the public bap-
tism of infants, and 39 variations in the catechism. In the
first prayer used at the baptism of children, a prayer asking
the divine blessing upon the ordinance, and asking an espe-
cial blessing uport the child to be dedicated to God, there
was a comma introduced between the pronoun "he and
the participle " being," which made the sentence a paren-
thesis, and making it a declaration instead of a petition.
The petition of the prayer was this—
" We beseech thee for thine infinite mercies that thou wilt
mercifully look upon this child ; wash him and sanctify him
with the Holy Ghost; that he being delivered from thy
wrath may be received into the art of Christ's Church, &c. '
A. comma was introduced after the pronoun he; making the
words thus—" That he, being delivered from thy wrath may
be received, &c." .

But the pointing of the Prayer Book in the old editions, ac-
cording to authority, was without a comma, and therefore the
sentence read as a petition. Then with regard to the mean-
ing of a sacrament—there a comma was omitted—" What
meanest thou by this word sacrament ?" I mean an outward
and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given uuto
us, ordained by Christ, &c. The original mode of pointing
this passage was thus—" I mean an outward and visible sign
of av inward and spiritual grace, given unto us"—which
altered the sense as a declaration. This, however, was alto-
gether a clerical question, but it was so important that the
committee intended to represent these variations in the pro-
per quarter to ascertain by what authority the book of Com-
mon Prayer had been altered. Mr. Seward concluded an
able speech by calling upon the meeting to support the society.
(Cheers.)
The Rev. T. Nor,AN moved the second resolution, which
acknowledged the thanks of the meeting for the success
which had attended the labours of the society among seamen
and others.

The Rev. F. PARRY seconded the resolution, and it was
carried unanimously.

A collection was here made, during whicn the meetieg
sang a hymn.
The Rev. HUGH APNEILE moved the next resolution,
which stated that the society was calculated to propagate
and maintain the sound principles of Protestantism, and
commended the loan and distribution of the works issued by
it upon the plan of district visiting, agreeably to the 9th rule
of the society. The rev. gentleman delivered a very eloquent
speech, in which he shewed, with great plainness, the strong
expression given to the principles of Protestantism by our
forefathers; and shewed that this society, in circulating the
Homilies and the Prayer-book, was following in the foot-
steps of the Reformers. In the course of his speech, the
rev. gentleman took occasion to refer to the observations
made by Mr. Seward upon the punctuation used in the book
of common prayer. He should be excused for saying that
in the first instance of the two which he (Mr. Seward)
motioned, the introduction of a comma after the pronoun he
made no difference in the sense of the passage. The whole was
a petition, and Mr. Seward would see there could be no decla-
ration made concerning the existing state of the infant in that
prayer because it was antecedent to the administration of
the office of baptism. The whole was a petition ; and whe-
ther there was a comma after he or not could not in his (Mr.
M'Neiles) judgment alter the sense of the prayer. In the
second case which had been introduced concerninc, the mean-
ing of the word sacrament, " I mean an outward and visible
sign of an inward spiritual grace given unto us." Mr. Sew-
ard objected, as he (Mr. M'Neile) understood, to the comma
after "grace," or rather to the want of a comma after
" grace, in that " given to us" ought, according to that
view, be referred to the sacrament and not to the grace.
But the original language in which the article was written,
namely, Latin, would not bear this construction because
the word " given" in the Latin Language was in the femi-
nine, and therefore must refer to the grace. It could not
refer either to sacrament or sign ; it was " grace given to
us," but the sacrament was the outward and visible sign of
the grace given to us, so that there was no fault iii not
having a comma after grace. The rev. gentleman, after a
variety of observations upon the resolution, concluded
amidst loud cheers by moving its adoption.
hyanik in the
to the Rev-
td relatedauMr. Jost HOWARD in seconding the resolution, addressed
the meeting as simply a layman, and as such made some very
c te i
n eo
appropriate remarks on the Prayer Book, the beautiful con-
tents of which and their consecutive adaptation in Divine
worship, he feelingly and forcibly explained.
pa
severallarly dweltaffecting
instances
ael
cceesl excellence ciet
so
redeeming
the Liturgy,
fr
eec ant s
The Rev. Mr. DAMES proposed a resolution commenda-
toryf
t 1 thee
csoohfcai
Chancellor,
eye
oarn,s increasedwhoi labours
conveyingot a
uht eveningeras record
thel.
bc clergy
presided,
gesided,
and whose
kindness and attention in the cause had been great and un-
wearied. He concluded by reading a lot of the officers for
the year, commencing with the Diooisan as patron.
The motion was duly seconded, and on being put by the
mover was cordially seconded.
that he was
for ile Rev.
the appearance of the meeting
anything CHAIRMANbehad
donemore than repaid
said,y
that evening ; for it proved that the church was in a sound
and healthy condition. He trusted that ail present were sa-
tisfied with what they had learned of the objects and progress
of the society, and that every one would quit the room with
a determination to support it, as one that would strengthen
the efforts of the Church of England, and enable it to multi-
ply the blessings which the church was calculated to diffuse
amongst the people at large.
The meeting then separated.

A return has been presented to the House of Commons of
the name and designation of every person convicted at the
last York Summer Assizes, or before the Special Commis-
sions at Stafford, Chester, and Liverpool, in October last,
The return was ordered to lie on the table.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE

SOUTH LANCASHIRE SPRING ASSIZES..

OPENING OF THE COMMISSION, &c

The Assizes for the Southern Division of this county com-
menced on Saturday last, in this town, before Mr. Baron
Parke and Mr. Justice Coltman.
The High-sheriff, William Garnett, Esq., of Manchester,
arrived on Saturday, at twelve o'clock.
The Judges arrived shortly after six o'clock, haNing set out
from Manchester by the five o'clock train. They arrived at
the courts a few minutes after seven, where the commission
was opened in due form in the Crown Court.
The High-sheriff was attended by the Under-sheriff, Thos.
Carson, Esq., of this town.
The commission having been read, it was intimated to their
lordships that counsel was in attendance to make a motion.
Their lordships hereupon took their scats, and Mr. Atherton
entered the court.

Mr. ATIIERTON said that he had a motion to make on a
writ of right in the case Rishton v. Nesbitt, for four knights
to appear in the court girt with swords.
The writ was handed to Mr. Hopkins, who read it to the
court. The writ was handed to the Iligh-sheriff, and com-
manded John Ogle and Richard Sellars to summon four
knights—namely, Sir Thomas Potter, Sir Thomas Brancker,
Sir John Tobin, and Sir George Drinkwater, to appear in
the court girt with swords. The knights were to appear
under the writ, and to choose eight other jurors from the
panel to decide the right of the parties to certain lands, tene-
ments, and hereditaments.

Mr. ATHERTON moved that the knights be brought forth-
with into court.

The Clerk of Arraigns called on the knights above named
to appear. Sir Thomas Braneker, Sir George Drinkwater,
and Sir John Tobin, each of whom wore a dress sword, stood
up as their names were called. Sir Thomas Potter did not
answer.

Mr. Baron PARKE asked if Sir Thomas Potter had been
duly summoned.

The Under Sheriff called

Richard Sellars, the summoning officer, who was sworn.
The witness deposed that he summoned Sir Thomas Potter
personally, at his counting-house, on the 231 instant.
Mr. Baron Parke (to Mr. Atherton) : Well what do you
propose to do ?
Mr. ATHERTON.—I can't proceed, my lord, in his absence.
The case was brought forward at the last assizes, when one
of the Knights was absent, and it was arranged that it should
stand over by consent. _ _ _ _ _

,
The ATTORNEY for the defendant said he had no authority
to consent to any thing.
Mr. Baron PARKE.—What is the next procedure?

Mr. ATHERTON.—I can't say, my lord. It is but a short
time since I received my instructions, and these proceedings
are so unusual. The recreant Knight is in the hands of the
Court.

Mr. Baron PARKE.--I suppose yon will have an alias?

Mr. ATHERTON.—Yes, my lord
o take an alias.

I suppose we shall have

The proceedings here terminated, it being understood that
an alias writ was to issue.

The court was adjourned till twelve o'clock on Monday.
The calendar, as we stated last week, is extremely heavy.
The number of prisoners for trial is 219. The following is a
correct analysis of the calendar :—Murder, 3; attempt to
murder, 1; robbery, with assault, 20; manslaughter, 17;
cutting and wounding, 14 ; burglary, 59 ; horse stealing, 4 ;
forgery, 14; cow and bullock stealing, 3; breaking and en-
tering, 7 • stealing, 6 ; highway robbery, 14 ; bigamy, 9 ;
sheepstealing, 1; arson, 2; embezzlement, 1; assault, with
intent to ravish, 1 ; poaching, 3 ; rape, 5 ; false statement to
Registrar, 1; maliciously shooting, l ; shooting, with intent
to maim, 1 ; unlawfully receiving, 2 ; using seditious lan-
guage, 1 ; offences against the Mint, 23 ; in custody to give
evidence, 1.

It is intended that, as sdbn as the grand jury is discharged,
there shall be three courts open. Mr. Baron Parke will
preside in the Crown Court, Mr. Justice Coltman in the
Nisi Prius, and Mr. Sergeant Starkie will sit in the third
court, which will, we believe, be held in the magistrates'
room, for the trial of certain cases in the calendar.

CROWN COURT-MONDAY, MARCH 27

Mr. Baron PARKE took his seat on the bench shortly after
twelve o'clock. The roll of county magistrates was first cal-
.ed over, after which followed the list of mayors and caro-
lers. The following gentlemen were sworn of the

GRAND JURY :
Hon. R. B. Wilbraham, M.P., of Blythe-hall, Foreman
James Aspinall, Esq., of Liverpool.
Richard Watson Barton, Esq„ of Springwood.
Richard Birley, Esq., of Chorley._
..
__ . _ _

Joim Ireland Blackl;nrne, Esq.,-M.P., of Hale-hall.
Peter Whitfield Brancker, Esq., of Wavertree.

Elias Chadwick, Esq., of Swinton.
Chisenhale Chisenhale, Esq., of Arley-hall
Thomas Drinkwatet, Esq., of I rwell-house

Richard Earle, Esq., of Edenhurst.
John Fletcher, Esq., of Haulgh.
John Frederick Foster, Esq., of Sale Priory.
Robertson Gladstone, Esq., Mayor of Liverpool, of Court
Hey.
James Collier Harter, Esq., of Broughton-hall.
Sir Benjamin Heywood, Baronet, of Claremont.

David Hodeson, Esq., of Everton.
William Ford Hulton, Esq., of Lomax Fold.
Edward Loyd, Esq., of Green-hill.
Clement Royds, Esq., of Falinge.
Samuel Taylor, Esq., of Eccleston.
James Hibbert Wanklyn, Esq., of Crumpsall Lodge.
John Bradshaw Wanklyn, Esq., of Salford.

The Queen's proclamation against vice and immorality hav-
ig been read,
Mr. Baron PAR KE proceeded to deliver his charge to

the Grand Jury. He regretted to find that their labours,
and his own, in administering the criminal justice for this
great and populous county, would, upon the present occasion,
be by no means light; but although they would have a great
number of cases presented to them for their consideration—
more, indeed, than he ever recollected since he had had the
honour of presiding in that place—and though many of them
were of a serious character, many of a painful nature, and
some also of a most aggravated and atrocious character, yet,
still he did not believe that they stood in much need of any
remarks from him in order to guide them as to matters of
law, which it was his promise to state to them, nor to assist
them in matters of fact, which belong-al exclusively to them-
selves. Though the calendar which lay before him contained
a great number of offences, and a great number of a serious
class, yet, unhappily, they were for the most part of frequent
occurrence ; and he was well satisfied they must all of them
be well versed in the mode of examining the evidence upon
which the proofs of each might depend. There were a great
number of burglaries, of cases of cattle stealing, and of
highway robbery. Upon these it was not necessary for him
to make a single observation. There were also too many
charges of rape, and attempts to commit rape, with reference
to which they were aware they would require the exercise of
the greatest caution. In these cases they must, necessarily,
hear the story from the injured party, who was most frequently
the least guilty, but was not always perfectly innocent. They
would form their opinion with such allowances as the case
deserved, and look at all the circumstances before they found
the bill for that serious offence, because although it was not now
liable to the punishment of death, it was punishable by trans-
portation for life. There were also in the calendar a great num-
ber of cases of stabbing, with intent to murder, with intent
to do grievous bodily harm, or with intent to maim and dis-
figure. There were a great number of cases of this descrip-
tion, which he was very sorry to observe ; and he was afraid
that that crime was greatly upon the increase, both in this
part of the country and in others in which it had fallen to his
lot to administer criminal justice. Upon the other hand it
was satisfactory to find that, so far as he was acquainted with
the depositions, and he had had an opportunity of reading the
most of them, there was no case of death or serious injury
occasioned by the practise which heretofore had been so com-
mon in this and the adjoining county of fighting with and in-
juring each other by the heels and the teeth. He was not
aware of a single charge of that kind. Society, in that re-
spect seemed to have gained a little ; but instead of that it
seemed as if recourse had been had to the knife or other dan-
gerous instruments. He should call their attention to this
circumstance with regard to that numerous class of cases—
they were first made punishable as felonies in the beginning
of the present century, and a clause in the act of Parliament
making them so highly penal, enacted, that in case of death
not ensuing, the crime was not murder, and the prisoner was
entitled to be acquitted. It consequently became frequently
a very nice inquiry whether or no the circumstances occur-
ring when the wound was inflicted would have prevented the
offence being of that aggravated nature; but by an alteration
in the present reign, the punishment of death for the most
part had been mitigated, and it was no longer capital except
where the wound was given with intent to murder ; and there
was no provision of the sort which exempted the prisoner
from punishment in ease it was not murder. Therefore they
were spared the necessity of inquiry whether or not the offence
would be murder or manslaughter in case death had ensued.
If it should appear, though it was not likely it would, that the
wound was inflicted in self-defence, or from an accident,
still, by law, it was punishable ; and in cases where the
offence would be manslaughter it would be their duty to find
the bill. He had now to direct their attention to what was
always in this county a very numerous class of offences,
manslaughter, where the deceased had come by death in con-
sequence of some neglect, improper, or wanton act. There
were many cases of this kind in the calendar; but he pro-
posed to call their attention merely to three of them, because,
with regard to each of them, there appeared to him to be
some circumstances with regard to the investigation of
which there was a doubt in his mind—but it was a doubt
which arose only upon the depositions, and which further
investigation might clear up. There was a case charged
against a person in this town who, whether he was a shop-
man to a druggist, or had taken upon himself the situation
of master, because it appeared he was under contract to
take the business of the shop, in which he unfortunately
supplied a quantity of laudanum instead of tincture of
rhubarb which was wanted to be administered to a sick
child. According to the statement of, the accused—and-they
of course would look at all the facts in the case—the
laudanum, or opium, was kept in a bottle with a glass de-
scription upon it; the tincture of rhubarb was kept in a bottle
upon which there was a label in writing, describing it to be the
tincture of compound rhubarb. When he was called upon,
somewhat upon a sudden, to give what was required by the
customer,—namely, tincture of rhubarb,—he put his hand
to the place in which the tincture of rhubarb was always
placed, and where, by the mistake of another person in the
same establishment, the bottle of laudanum had been placed.
That other shopman had substituted the bottle with the
written label for the other. It would therefore be a question
for them, the grand jury, whether the party, in such a case
as that, could be considered guilty of that clear negligence
which would alone make him liable as for a felony. By law
no one could be guilty of the crime of manslaughter, except
by his own personal negligence. The master was responsible
civilly, no doubt, for the conduct of his servant, but he
could not be made liable to the charge of felony by the neg-
ligence of his servant; therefore, though it might appear
that:the person who placed the bottle in the situation it oc-
cupied was the servant, that circumstance would not make
him responsible, in point of law, as the guilty person. The
question then was, were these facts true; and, supposing
them to be true, did the grand jury think it was a case of
negligence so clearly made out as to cause the person to
stand his trial upon so serious a charge. Of course, how-
ever, the grand jury would exercise their own judgment upon
the matter. There was also another case, in which a father
was accused of taking the life of an infant child, by admi-
nistering to it some rum. The child was sick ; the father
gave it some rum, what quantity did not appear. and the sur-
geon had given it as his opinion that the child had lost its
life in consequence of the administration to it of ardent
spirits. If this had been done, not in wantonness, but for
the purpose, as he thought, of doing good to the child, which
had had disordered bowels, he (the learned Judge) thought
that the jury would not be justified in findiug a bill against
the prisoner. He was not in the situation of a man who
undertook the treatment of a child, being supposed to have
competent skill in the subject ; for if a man professing to
be skilled in medicinee, undertook to administer to a
patient, and acted so ignorantly that death ensued he was
guilty of manslaughter. Or if a man administered a danger-
ous medicine, without knowing anything of its properties, he
was guilty of manslaughter ; but if he honestly gave that which
he thought best for the health of another, and it turned out
to be a fatal dose, that was not sufficient to constitute the
offence of manslaughter. The jury would consider, therefore,
whether the father had acted honestly and fairly by his child,
and if they were of opinion that he had done so, of course
they would not find the bill. There was another case, in
which it appeared doubtful whether, the act of manslaughter
bad been committed. A marl got up into a cart to be driven
by a carter. Now, if a carter was guilty of negligence, and

death ensued to a person whom he had taken up as a paskiti.
ger, the offence was manslaughter; for a driver owed the
passenger a duty, when he took him up, to drive him care-
fully, and if he did not so drive, and death ensued, he was
guilty of manslaughter. There were circumstances, however,
which induced him to believe that the deceased himself was a
party to the bad driving, and if that were so, he did not see
how they could find him guilty of manslaughter. The grand
jury, however, would exercise their own discretion, after
having heard all the facts of the case. These were the only
cases of this class that he thought it necessary to make any
observations upon. In the next place, there were three
charges of the awful crime of wilful murder. In on of these
cases, which rested upon circumstantial evidence, the pri-
soner was charged with having taken the life of his wife, by
cutting her throat ; but it appeared that he had made a de-
claration to a witness, as well as before the magistrates, which
would leave the jury no alternative. With regard to the two
other cases, which were of an aggravated character, they were
charges against two women, one for the murder of her children
and stepson, and the other for the murder of her husband, by
poisoning him with arsenic. These were all cases of cir-
cumstantial evidence, as well as others, in which there were
charges against two persons for setting fire to their premises,
with the intention of defrauding the insurance office. As,
in all these cases, the charges were sought to he brought
home by circumstantial evidnce, he would make a remark
with regard to that, which was perhaps necessary for their
guidance, namely, that, although it was, generally, of a
description that would convince the human mind, it required
very careful consideration ; and his advice to the grand jury
was, that they should ascertain what facts were clearly and
distinctly proved, and then see whether all those facts were
consistent with the supposition that the prisoners were guilty
of the crimes laid to their charge, and consistent with no
other supposition; for if they were, a jury would not find a
verdict, and the grand jury ought not to find a bill. It was
not necessary to arrive at anything more than a moral cer-
tainty, for that was all tbat a human tribunal could acquire.
With these observations, the grand jury were discharged to
their labours.