mon for a grand jury to be denominated "the justices of the county;" as if the terms were convertible: and even the judges of the land acknowledge the two-fold cha ́racter. Thus Mr. Justice Best is reported, by the Courier of the 31st March, 1820, to have expressed himself in his charge to the Grand Jury of Warwickshire as follows: "To these subjects he would particularly direct their attention---and he would direct their attention to them, not merely while they were there as grand jurors; but, when they should leave that court, and return to the country as magistrates, he hoped that it would not be thought improper in him to recommend that they should still bear them in mind!"

The observations which have already been made, will shew, nevertheless, how impossible it is for the same men to discharge with due effect the functions of two offices so entirely incompatible with each other; but it is necessary in the face of this authority to summon the support of that which will certainly not be deemed inferior.

Lord Somers tell us, (page 6) that "our ancestors thought it not best to trust this great concern of their lives and interests in the hands of any officer of the King's, or in any judges named by him, nor in any certain number of men during life, lest they should be awed or influenced by great men, corrupted by bribes, flatteries, or love of power, or become negligent, or partial to friends and relations, or pursue their own quarrels, or pri

B

vate revenges, or connive at the conspiracies of others, and indict thereupon.' To the same purport Sir William Blackstone, book 3. c. 23. The impartial administration of justice, which secures both our persons and properties, is the great end of civil society. But if that be entirely entrusted to the magistracy, a select body of men, and those generally selected by the prince, or such as enjoy the highest offices in the state; their decisions, in spite of their own natural integrity, will have frequently an involuntary bias towards those of their own rank and dignity : it is not to be expected from human nature that the few should be always attentive to the interests of the many. And afterwards, book 4. c. 27. "The liberties of England cannot but subsist so long as this palladium, (trial by jury,) remains sacred and inviolate not only from all open attacks, (which none will be so hardy as to make,) but also from all secret machinations, which may sap and undermine it; by introducing new and arbitrary methods of trial by justices of the peace, commissioners of the revenue, and courts of conscience. And however convenient these may appear at first, (as doubtless all arbitrary powers, well executed, are the most convenient,) yet let it be again remembered, that delays, and little inconveniences in the forms of justice, are the price that all free nations must pay for their liberty in more substantial matters; that these inroads upon the sacred bulwark of the nation are fundamentally opposite to the spirit of our constitution; and

;

that though begun in trifles the precedent may gradually increase and spread to the utter disuse of juries in questions of the most momentous concern." And here we may rest the issue as far as authority can decide it---Mr. Justice Best, and no doubt his learned brethren on one side---adopting, it may be, and not approving a custom, which had grown up before they came to the Bench; and on the other, the opinions of Lord Somers and Sir William Blackstone, deliberately recorded as lawyers and philosophers! But it may be well, for the better illustration of the subject, to appeal to facts.

The magistrates of the county of Lancaster have instituted certain regulations for the government of the county gaol, by which the gaoler is directed to set to work, in such manner as he may deem necessary and proper, all persons committed to the said gaol, either for trial, (whom the law requires us to presume innocent,) or convicted of felony or misdemeanours; (although perhaps sentenced only to imprisonment.) And the gaoler is further directed to punish, by solitary confinement, withdrawing the allowance of provisions, or by deducting a part of their earnings, such prisoners as shall neglect or refuse to perform such work, or who shall do the same in a slovenly manner.

The gaoler is also ordered to open all written communications from persons without, to persons within the prison; and to detain such as he conceives to be of an objectionable nature for the further decision of the visiting magis

trates. Newspapers, or other political papers, are rigidly prohibited from the crown-side of the prison; and friends are in some cases not admitted at all, in others only in presence of the servants of the prison!

That discretionary power, in still greater latitude, has existed, the long celebrated Bastile of Paris will abundantly evince; but it is repugnant to all the notions of law and right, which have so long been cherished as English, that an accused man, who in default of bail, is merely placed in gaol for safe custody, in order that he may not elude the course of law, should be compelled to labour; that he should be denied the gratification of reading a newspaper; and still more, that the seal of his private communication with his friends should be violated, and intelligence, no matter how confidential, whether it relates to the sacred concerns of domestic life, or to affairs, to him most momentous, on which his worldly interests depend, laid open to the "steeled gaoler who seldom is the. friend of man!" It is contrary to all our notions of law, that any body of magistrates should dare to assume a power of adding to the severity of the punishment awarded by the court after trial---and this too at the discretion of a gaoler! a gaoler who may prohibit communication, and even doom to solitary confinement !

God forbid that, without sufficient grounds, I should impute to any man the abuse with which such rules are pregnant! This indeed would be foreign from the present purpose.

It is argued that where extraordinary powers exist, extraordinary vigilance, and even suspicion, are required; and that juries should not be unfit to perform their duties with effect, at a time when they ought to be most alive to all possible calls for their earnest protection. I do not impute, I hazard the belief that in carrying into effect such rules as have been described, abuses may be committed. Complaints follow of course; but to what authority can they be directed, with a probability of redress? The magistrates who framed the rules will probably differ from those persons who are compelled to submit to them, as to their cause of complaint; but since no one shall be judge in his own cause," so the framers of rules, no more than the sufferers by them. And if the parties prefer a bill of indictment, they again encounter some of the authors of their complaints on the grand jury; who, it may therefore be apprehended, will be little less unfit to inquire with candour and impartiality into the causes of the process.

But a proceeding of the magistrates of the county, at a recent session, will best evince the temper with which they are disposed to regard the toleration of questions of this nature.

A young man, by name Nathan Broadhurst, was tried at the Lancaster Spring Assizes of 1820, for some political offence, and being found guilty, was sentenced by the court to two years' imprisonment in Lancaster Castle. Feeling himself aggrieved by the