The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-04-16 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL EASTER SESSIONS.

Yesterday the Epiphany Sessions for this Borough com-
menced before the worshipful, Charles licirsfall,Esq. Mayor,
the Recorder, and a bench of Magistrates.
The learned Recorder, James Clarke, esq, charged the
Grand Jury in the following address
GENTLEMEN OF THE GRANT) JURY It is much to the credit
of the inhabitants of this town, that the late -assizes for the
county were not troubled by any serious offences from this part,
and that there was scarcely a Prosecution of any weight, with

the exception- of some by the Mint. If a similar observation
could be made with reference to the business now to be brought
before you, I should cheerfully make it, but I cannot safely
do it. •

Upon reference to the calendar, there is 'treat reason to la-
ment that so many young persons are committed for acts of fe-
lony, and that there is so little prospect of checking crime in its
earliest stages. To send them for their first offence to a crowded
prison, is to train them up in the arts of villainy ; and no more
successful method for accomplishing that object could be
adopted, than the practice which prevails at present. The fault
does not rest with the committing Magistrates; their wishes '
and their duty are here quite at variance. Admitting that there
is a strong repugnance to giving, Magistrates the power of pu- ,
nishment, without the previous finding of a jury, still a judicious
alteration of the law might take place without infringing this
principle.
If a child be taken up for a felony, a jury composed of not..
less .than four persons might be impanelled to inquire of the
crime, and a magistrate should immediately act upon their find-
ing. This inquio should be speedily after the offence, and in
many cases the accused might be safely given up to the parents,
or, if punished by imprisonment, some place of confinement,
where labour and discipline were strictly enforced, and where
the influence of bad society was carefully excluded, should be
selected. At.present the interval betwixt the commitment and..
trial of children, spent as it is in a crowded prison, completes'
their ruin, and every chance of amendment is placed at a great
distance, and perhaps cut off for ever. •
I wish, gentlemen, shortly to allude to one other subject
though, happily, no offence connected with it will come before_.
you. Within a very short period, no less than six persons have
been killed, and others placed in great jeopardy, by the falling.
of goods, which were in a course of removal from warehouses
in different parts of the town. The right of free and safe pas-
sage through the streets is the great paramount right of the
public—that of removing goods is a private and subordinate one;
and the greatest care and caution should be observed, that it
may not conflict with tha public one, and both may with pro-
priety exist together; and I trust, hereafter, there will be no
reason to complain of what I must consider very culpable.ne-
gligence, in the manner of lowering goods front/the different
stories in warehonses. In all cases it is improper to throw
goods out of a warehouse into the street, and yet this'has been
done, not without fatal consequences. These are not accidents,
for nothing ought to be so denominated which arises from cri-
minal misconduct.

I have no further observations to make to you.
The following prisoners were tried and found Guilty:—
William Barnes, for stealing five handkerchiefs, the property'
of James Williams ; and also for stealing one hundred pennies
and two hundred halfpennies, the property of John Middlebrook.
—One month's imp.
Alice Bennison and Ann M`Casisi for stealing twelve yards of
flannel, the property of John Scott.—The former four, and the
latter two months' imp. •
Robert Beattie, for stealing one box and 100 lb. of oranges;
the__ property of Thomas Chapman.—Six months imp.
Margaret Morris, for stealing two blankets, the property of
Henry Clare.—Four months imp.
Ann Hall, for stealing one crow n, two halfcrowns, five shil-
lings, ten sixpences; two pair of spectacles and a knife, the
property of William Houlton.—Four months' imp. and hard
labour.

Peter Huson and John Howard, for stealing two pair of pan-
taloons, a coat, waistcoat and handkerchief, the property of
William Atkinson.—Twelve months' imp. in the house of cor-
rection.

Robert Smith, aged 15, Peter Winstanley, aged 18, and John
Goodwin, aged 22, for assaulting Elizabeth Jones with an in-
tent to rob, and for stealing from the person of Eliza Banks a
half crown, two shillings, and other articles.—Were sentenced
to fourteen years trans. each.
Wm. Faulkner, a youth of 17, also received the like sentence
of transportation, for stealing sixteen caps, a blanket and other
articles, the property of Samuel Hard, and other articles, the
property of Mary Harrison and Benj. Stout.