The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-12-17 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL DECEMBER SESSIONS.

The sessions opened yesterday, before Gilbert Hender-
son, Esq., the Recorder. Immediately after the open-
ing of the court, Peter Wright, Esq., the recently ap-
pointed Clerk of the Peace, took the usual oaths of alle-
giance to her Majesty arid of abjuration, &c. The
calendar contains the names of 80 prisoners for felony
and 6 for misdemeanour, and none of the cases present
any peculiar feature of aggravation. The following gen-
tlemen were sworn of the Grand Jury :
William Joseph Myers, Aigburth, merchant, foreman.
Robert Wainwright Ashley, Irvine-street, merchant.

James Buchanan, New Brighton, broker.
Thomas Bouch, Liscard, merchant.
Ellis Martin Brodie, Huskisson-street, merchant.
Charles Brownell, Aigburth, merchant.
John Bent, Rake-lane, brewer.
Daniel Campbell, Park-road, merchant.
William Claxton, Toxteth-park, corn merchant.
Robert Ditom, Mount Vernon, merchant.
William Dowson, Rock Ferry, merchant.
John Fox, Ashton-street, wine merchant.
Matthew Jee, Irvine-street, broker.
Richard Jones, Chatham-street, broker.
Henry Moore, Huskisson-street, merchant.
Thomas Ripley, Abercromby-square, merchant.
James Stringer, Garston, merchant.
Thomas Dodson, Rodney-street, broker.
John Ridgway, Rake-lane, merchant.
James Hardy Wrigley, Edge-lane, cotton broker.
The proclamation against vice and immorality being
read, th. RECORDER briefly addressed the Grand Jury.
He stated that the reading of the proclamation which
they had just heard reminded him that the lips from
which they had long been accustomed to hear it were now
silenced for ever,—that since they had last met in that
court the grave had closed over him on whom that duty
devolved. That individual was a man of the highest pro-
fessional talent and experience, and of the greatest integ-
rity of character, a man, in fact, in:whom a vigorous and
unwavering judgment was united with a kindness and
candour of temper which won for him the respect and
esteem of all to whom he was known. Having thus al-
luded to the late clerk of that court, he could not but
congratulate them on the appointment of the gentleman
who was his successor, as one whose professional experi-
ence and high respectabiliy furnished the best guarantee of
his efficient discharge of the duties that devolved upon him.
With respect to the cases that would be brought before
them (the Grand Jury,) he was happy to say that if the
calendar did not present fewer cases of delinquency than
that for the corresponding period last year, the offences
charged were not generally of an aggravated character.
With the exception of one case in which the party was
charged £2OO, and a case of robbery from a pawnbroker,
they did not involve any great aggression upon property.
If they found any difficulty in disposing of any of them,
be would afford them every advice and assistance; but he
did not anticipate the necessity of their requiring any
special directions. After instructing them in the usual
terms to be guided by the evidence adduced, and if there
were a probability of conviction, to send the prisoners be-
fore him, or, if otherwise, not to place them before the
court, he dismissed them to their duties, relying on their
own intelligence and discretion.
In a short time several true bills were found, and the
common jury being sworn in, the trials commenced, but
no case of peculiar interest took place during the day.