The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-04-03 00:00:00

TNT RTATFRM AN.

prodeoca. If the latter, which requires the verdict of a
in Jerky only of fifteen j,;,yiticn, is erroneous, the effect
is pruhahly inure 1.1%.,tir of the prisoner than of the
pr,seentor, in a. much as the fcrling of mercy may he
a "possess to prepo.nlecate in that number, shove the
feeling of severity; awl, even were it otherwise, there
are advantages given in Scotlaoil to the prisoner. which
may fairly he said to roanterbalance the alleged harsh-
ness of con& 1111 l ieg him in the face of the opinions of
men who may think him innocent. liesilles that of the
assistance ut counsel already noticed, the prisoner is
entitled to a full copy of the imlirtment, a list of the
witnesses, and of the jurors, anal their professions and
aM es, fifteen days before his trial, and witnesses may
be compelled to appear fur bias; none of which prisi-
lege* are allowed by the practice of England, except in
casts of treason. Further, one witness is sufficient to
establish a fart to an English jury; two are required to
the most inconsiderable point of evidence by the law of
Scotland.

It is no swill roan( the justness of the general prefer-
ere which we have thus s ensured to give to the Scottish
sritoravlllllloo the statute r7th An Ile. cap. 211 appointing
high treason, to be tried 'is the lame manner in both
kingdoms, the Eoglish system is improved by the ad-
dition, in trials for that crime, of the Scottish rules of
giving copies of the indictment, and names or jurors and
witnesses; and, by after statute, ailouing counsel, and
requiring two witnesses to establish a fact,—while the
only alteration made in the Scottish system is, that of
requiring the jury to be restricted to twelve, ilOttart e
nnaniatona. ' his art of Queen Atone is, we believe, tie
only one in the statute hook which forine!ly declares.
that the law and practice of the two e writs shall be
ut strictly the sae; for with regard to th late sets (IS 111
tiu
and 1119) appointing Jury Trial in cis 1 casts in Scot-
land, we can call them only preliminaries to an assimi-
lation of the system of civil trial, and at present, perhaps,
as troublesome to he acted open, as prelioduag les some-
times
are in more iinlvortant nutters. .The action of
that almost divine institution upon English civil juris- 1
prudence, is pure and simple, unclogred by previous
discussion of its fitness, or after debate upon, or moditi-
! cation of its effects. In Scotland, trial by jury is not a
matter of right,—it is not a matter of choice;—the jury
court is subordinate both in its powers of jurisdiction,
and in its lodgments; the Covert of *silo, deciding
upon theropriety of the application of the oar, and
modifying aril applying the rather: this islets trial by
jury, than trial by common form of law, whether, jury
shall he called to the assistance of the Jethro: accor-
dingly much debating often takes place upon this very
point, and, whether owing to the as yet imperfect nature
of the institution, compared to that of England, or to a
real preference of the iitil form of trial by Judges only,
the debate we are assured is *rich more frequent between
the parties and the Judge, than Itctwecn the parties
themselves.

ile have heard it stontic main:Ai:all that trial by jury
is not adapted, either to the natio c of the Scottish laws,
or to the temper and dispoNition. of the people. The
courts of Scotland, it is said, units in themselves the
(Loa I i tiro both of Lw and equity ; sod, accastunwil as the
lieges have been, for centuries, to 11.1%e their differences
argued upon niceties requiring time to decelope, and
maturing as their cause at issue ad% anceg, they cannot
he broucht to relish the abrupt and ai.voloite declaration
of a verdict to a fail, which they might conceive a pro-
longed discussion nould render tntoportant. The ad-
vocates for jury trial ant.wer, that the present form of
that court is cnlrulated to do au ay the evils of pn
looped discussion, while is leaves its advents'', ua•-_,
touched ;—and we confess, that, in se far as it moor
abrogate the endless cavilling upon fact, of wilds we'
hare but too often beard in the Scottishcotirts,ue in-
cline to favour its claims.

to tuna/wed.)

SLITE O 1• IRELAND.

The western part of Ireland is fast returning to tran-
quillity. The convictions at the Assizes of tialwav have
tended to prervtot further disturbances. Hy itesofutions
passed by the firand Jury of Mayo, it is declared that
good order and loyally prevail in every part of that
county. Mr. tirant in thanked fur the energy and seal
with which he assisted the efforts of the magistracy and
gentry—and a letter to this effeet, signed by Mr. Jack-
son, the high Sheriff of the county, has been addressed
to Mr, tir.int, in which this sentiment was put, with
great cordiality, to the Right Hon. liantleman. The
letter states, moreover, that the peasantry are in a state
of active industry, traminillity, and contentment—free
from those poisonous principles which have filled their
tieiehhonrs, they feel to be owing to the support they
hare received from Mr. tirant, as well as from the Mar-
quis of Sligo.

111:11111.1CIC.

SUNDAY, APRIL 2, FIVE O'CLOCK.

The tri4l., of Me.•rt. WOOLER, Major CARTWRIGHT,
EDNIGNII•;, Ike. is positively Orel to commence
to-morrow morning, at nine o'clock. It excites consi-
siderable interest among all classes of society conti-
guous to this neighbourhood; and, from the high clia-
ratter Mr. Woot.ste possesses, as a pleasing and popular
orator, the Court, it is said, is not half big eiough to
contain the numerous persons of rank and fashion that
have applied for admission, particularly the ladies.
The indictment, it appears, contains nibs counts
against the conspirators, the principal of which rests
upon, " unlawfully assembling to elect a Legislatorial
Attorney to serve in Parliament fur Irrininkhant, in
the person of Sir CHARLES WOLPELET ; and also upon
his admission into the House of Conatn.ms, to lay their
proceedings before Parliament as their Representative."

- Sir FRANCIS licaorrT has bees for the last two or
three days at Leamington Spa, at the Regent's Hotel,
with his bunters, enjoying the delightful promenades
and other eourres of attraction which this truly elegant
place furnishes. The Baronet, it seems, dines this day
(Sunday) with the venerable and learned 1)r. Yana, at
the latter's residence, near Coventry. Sir FRANCId is
fulliorriffil on the above trial ; and it is also asserted that
the Dukes of ROUIUSIGII and BCDPOILD. Admiral YOUNG.
kc. and several Baronets, are necessitated to give their
attendance, connected in son►c way with this important
trial.
The lion. Judge Bess., who was occupied the whole
of Saturday in trying those prisoners convected with
the Bank forgeries, was so ill and afflicted with the
goo, that upon leaving the Court at bye o'clock he was
obliged to go to bed. Three of the prisoners were capi-
tally convicted, and not one of them obtained an ac-
quittal.
This morning, in consequence of the indisposition of
the Judge, Counsellor CLANK went in state to the Nigh
Church, to hear what is termed the Amite See Mon,
preached by the Rev. Mr. Btco, Chaplain to the She•
riff. ThE Rev. Divine took his text from the 4th chap-
ter of Ditterandiry. S:h verse, "Aid mice WOG* is

there so greet that Lath statutes aid judgmemts so
righteous as el! tl.is law whirl' I art be/err you this
day?" The tlisenurre of the Reverend Gentleman
might be termed a political essay, or rather an eulogiumi
on the Constitution, with some high compliments on
the Government. He most strongly alluded to the at-
tempts of sevral persons going about the t °awry to in-
flame the Minds of the lower orders of the people, tol
make them discontented with their situations. Thel
late events which had taken place called imperiously on
all 3lsgistrates to be vigilant in doing their ditty. It
first originated in another country; and yet, although its
growth in England had been rather checked by the firm-,
net's of the laws, still there was much to be done ; and the
lowest person in the countty ought to give his mite in
order to put down sedition and blasphemy. The Church
and Laws went hand in hand together, and without this
union there could he Ito safety against those mischievous
etrirarters w ho were strivieg to bring about a rebellion.
The Rev. Gentleman alluded also to the heavy state of
the calendar, and hoped that the impression of religion
would yet restore consolation and comfort to the winds
of die numerous unhappy prisoners.
_ _

Late on Friday afternoon, the trial of SIVRRIER
Derail& EDMONDS canoe on; and in consequence of the
lat‘r individual being indicted as one of the conspira-
tors, it occasiontul, on that aerount, a greater degree of
interest than pvriiars it might otherwise have been en-
titled to.

Serjeant VALIMAN and Mr. READER were employed
for Mr. Spurrier, who is an attorney at Binninglatn.
The libel was published in a pamphlet, entitled Letter
IV. addressed to the People of Birmingham. The libel
sat forth, that in the ease of one Allen, who had been
hanged at Washwood-heath, fur forgery, he had con-
fessed at the place of execution that he had been sacri-
ficed by Mr. Spurrier, on account of his obtaining the
blood-money. Mr. Edmonds acknowledged himself the
author of this letter; but left the Court without attempt-
ing any port o; justification of the libel in question.
The Junce, in a very liberal charge to the Jury, said,
that in his opinion the action was principally brought
for the vindication of Mr. Spnrrier's character ; that
Circumstance bad now been obtained, and therefore mo-
derate damages might still e.
The Jury, after a few minutes consultation, brought
in a verdict of—Damages VOL with 40 shillings costs.
Mr. Edmonds, we understand, means to move for a
new trial, in consequence diming deprived of his papers,
by Mr. Pearson, his solicitor, not coming to Warwick.

The number of p-rso.ns •oo be tried fir offences at the
Warwick Assizes, have been quadrupled, ur almost
quintupled, in 32 years. Soule inquiry into the causes
of this apparent demoralization seems necessary. Ac-
cording to the last returns, this county contains
22ti,735 inhabitants, of which 19,124 being included in
the city of Coventry, du not send their offenders to the
county gaol ; the number of those committed to the
Warwick gaol in the last twelve months, for trial at the
Aosises, astonish to 374 and upwards. Fiuw a popn-
larlon, therefore, of o v 20:1,611. of which number
Birmingham contains bout 11'41,1M111, there alone 374
committals for the Assi es; and there have been four
Sessions in the year, during which 4.19 prisoners have
been committed to the gaol anal House of Correction,
making a grand total of no less than ;423 committals in a
population of 209,611. iu the last twelve months. To
'hew the proportion s hich Birmingham sends, contrasted
1 with the I.:her part of the county, we rind that tke Sum-
' merArsizecallentlar contains 93 lIMIIPS from Birmingham,
and the present 1911 names fro m the same place, making
together a total of 263, which substrarted from 374, the
total amount at both Assizes, leaves 91 for the commit-
tals fur the Assizes front other parts of the county.—
' Towards the Sessions, Birmingham has contributed, oat
of 449 committals, in all 2IsS, leaving for the county
committals for the Sessions Itil. The grand total of
committals for the year for the county are 283, and
for Birmingham 541, on a population about equal. This
Icalculation is under the mark rather than over, as the i
late returns only give Birmingham 95,250 inhabitant%
and in allowing it 100,1100 we have gone in its favour,
arrording to our present calculation. It will be found
too that must of the heavier offenders tome from
thence. The nature of the trades carried on in that
town may lead to the crimes of coining, perhaps, sad
even of forgery. more frequently than in other large
places, but lay nu taming accounts for so great a diffe.,
retire in the number of delinquents. It is a question!
for political economists to decide, why men congregated
together should furnish a greater portion of offetiders
1 titan when they reside in villages or cottages scattered
ismer the face of a county. It is not for want of exer-
tion and zeal, fur no Alagistratei in the kingdom are :
inure indefatigable in the duties of their office, than
I those of this county—the rare and order which reign
in the prison and house of correction—the establish-
ment of asylums, nothing that can conduce to obviate
crime or bring offenders to punishment, being neglected
by them, nor care nor expeiose spared to contribute to
the suppression of crime. There must be causes tr-
eating, vet unknown, for this extraordinary ptoperttun
of offenders. It appears in Lancashire, which (leaving
out Manchester, that has a Special Sessions to itself)
' has a population of BMI,OOO souls, that there were only
117 prisoners for trial at the late Assign. In Boat county
the distress of the times has been felt with touch greater
wight than was ever known in Warwickshire. The
number of criminals above stated, as committed for trial
in Warwickshire, is within the mark, there being always
some sent to prison 'luring the Assizes whose names do
not appear in the calendar. The calculation is, however,
sufficiently accurate to shear the general result.