Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1807-06-17

nonfcu0e<iS tks AZ Az ~ - A7stsr y
,~;;ye .pccsiie ia ssrucsions 20 the. grand jury.
s9,sr they had been once generally chargeo
~ he ceurt /; that such a course vas COD
,q,rv o ali law aud all precedent, that uo'
single Instance could be quoted 20 sup
nort !, and that there were cogent and 10
chs iassaocr particular reasons, Why crimi'
~, pr o. ecusions should be suffered 20 pro-
80. w;;fhs ut these iuterrspaons. ~ tar-
s = eonssude 3, that The Chief justice had
aa,;;eipa.sd srch situation and that me
,.oouacs 10 his charge CLEARLY indicated his
/. ri,Uscistion tia. bills would DC lad before
,bs grsod jury on the ground OF treason !;
..d that undsr this expectation, the Iniei
Inst;ce had diiated on. the nature OF trsa-
son. add given all the Information which
h. thought material: thar there was no
s..a.on al all, why A. Burr should enjoy
greater privileges than any other maa j;
wby he should rake up all the old, mus.y
and Absurd doctrines of antiquity, and have
,hrm ealissedin his service aud that he
s,ooa on the very same ground as any Other
MAJ: .ha. perhaps all The propositions on
MIR. Burs's list would aos DC waiting asal' |;
:, Il there should be any necessity for them
that these questions might be discussed as
they successfully arose; thar these discus.
sion. would necessarily consume mach OF
h;a own time as well as the time Of the
csur,, which Nigh. probably be- devoted 20
more Useful purposes: and after all, the
g,and Jury mighsrefuse TO hear any iastrue
lions. aud 10 ,ha, case, how cousd they be
coatroule6 by the court IT she grand jury
determined to pay no iegafdto It, OF what
ara;l would be the Recommendation OF the
cour, flor j, was in fact no uore)! And It
they were to fad according 10 their own 0.
onions, and 10 the cid way, how couldihe
eour, kaow of this varia;isns And how
could hey rectify il!
sls. Rstts replied. He stated that the
gentleman had demanded precrdeuts and
vet i. was bur the other day when that
very gentle man had enquired why we 50
constantly resorsed 10 prscedsnts and
why we did no. some times consult the
principles ofcommon sense ;shas Inc grand
iury was not that lawlcss mob, which the
gentleman had seeme6 tefepresent them,
and that they would not certainly act a
ssDst the law. wheu it was properly es
posnded TO them by the head OF he court.
hid. although the chief justices charge,
wa. extremely able. yer il was impossible
tina; il could be SO comprehensive as II
Mig, now be made, from ssae Information
which has since secured |; and that the
very necessity of giving any charge at all
showed the proprieiy OF FeIfsetiag Il; that
il was no, col. BIS desire TO consume
much time, as it was his moss earnest
wish to end atonea the bonds OF recog.
nisaoce and the public prejudice, which
surrounded him and tina. they were even
wiling 10 limit their shsre of the discassi'
onto particular time.
The Chief usfce said thasit was usu.
al and the htss course for the court to
charge the jury generally at the commence.
mens the term, aud give their opinion
on incidental points as they arose. when
the grand jury .hemselves.should apply to
ihsm for Information, that i. was manifest.
.ly improper to commit the opinion OF the
court on points, which mighs come before
them, to be decided On the trialin chief !,
that he had generally conhued his charges
10 a few general points, without launching
into many details; cDe reason was. that
some of the detailed points might never a.
Use during the session of the grand jury.
aud asp ins,rustion on them would Of
course be unnecessary another was that
some of these points might be extremely
diGca,s to be decided, and would require
az argument of counsel; because there
was 90 judge or man, who would not Of
ten 6ud the solitary .meditations of his clio,
set very much assisted by the discussion Of
others, that he would havehad no difficult.
y, however, in expanding bis charge, if he
had been particularly requested to do il, or
1t be could have anticipated any necessity