New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-03-28
THE GRAND JURY AND THE PRESS.

THE GRAND JURY AND THE PRESS.
Twelve out of the twenty-three members of
the Grand Jury which concluded its lsbOrs On
Saturday, have signed presentment to which
We this morning give the publicity of our col
umns 1t is q remarkable document, and We
trust will receive the careful perusal it merits
The public evil on which it emphaticaly dweIls
is the license of the newspaper press, and the
particular offence by which the press has pro.
voked this official condemnation, is the charge
that our Grand Jury lists are illegally and cor
Iuptly made up, and that in the composition Of
the present Jury there we're certain highly sus-
picious circumstances.
To investigate this charge seems to have
been the principal business of the gentlemen,
and to confute it is the great effort Of their
presentment in other words, they put them
selves on trial before themselves, and here we
have the summing up of the testimony, the
argument for the defense, the condemnation of
the accusers, and the acquittal of the defend
ant, combined in one very clumsy, inconsistent
paper.
Having first asserted the honesty and regu-
lsrity of their own origin, and gwen the lie d.
rect to such journals as have stated or implied
the contrary, our twelve Grand Jurors proceed
to brand the mode of making up the Jury list
as marked by radical defects, gross careless
ness and great abuses. To give to the Alder
men the uncontrolled selection of Grand Jur-
ors is, we are told. dangerous in Itself More
over, the Commissioner of Jurors has habitu-
ally exercised the power of excluding lndiyid-
uals from the list, which is illegal. Aldermen
have also signed blank certificates of drawings
of Juries for future use, to be filled up by the
Clerk whenever necessary, as if they were ac
tually present Such are the abuses and vio
lations of law which the Presentment states
have been frequent if not habitual. Aud along
with this We are told that in the formation of
the present Grand Jury there was no depar-
'ture from the usual practice :"
These admissions cover the whole ground. No
journal, however severe in its animsdversions,
has said more The Aldermen who frame the
lists exercise a dangerous power, affording
opportunities for corruption and other wrongs
and the whole process is vitiated by violations
of the law from beginning to end. Are we to
understand the Grand Jurors as holding up
the present Aldermen as such models of patri-
otto virtue and incorruptible purity that the
present lists are all spotless Or as asserting
the origin of their own panel to have been
free from the illegalities and dangerous features
of the usual practice ?" We are not re-
CURED to wait for their reply; it is recorded
in their Presentment.
How much respect should be paid to imputa-
tons upon the Press put forth in the same
breath with the implicit admission of all the
charges to which these imputatiOns pretend to
reply, we leave the public to Judge. We feel
no call 10 pursue further controversy which
our antagonist gives up, even if he tries to
cover his retreat with yolleys of abuse. A
much more serious matter is the confessed
need Of reform in the Constitution of our
Grand Juries. On this point the strong
language of the Presentment should be con-
sidered. Public wrongs of the character al
legged, say the Grand Jury strike deeper
and more efectual blow at the welfare Of the
community than any other abuses known to
our laws. OF all acts of official villany, even
in the present low state of official morals,
none would be [is] so far reaching in its eff
fects, or direful in its consequences" We
should not say this was the very worst ofevils,
but We earnestly call the attention of the Le-
gislature tothe facts, and invoke speedy aud
effectual remedy.