Gentlemen, As the Grand Jury of this County you are now assembled for the purpose of discharging a weighty and considerable trust; it has therefore been usual for the Court to point out to you the general outlines of your duty.

Gentlemen, the inquest now established in your persons is one of those institutions which we owe to the wisdom of our ancestors, particularly calculated to the free spirit of the English Law, and the peculiar policy of this country. You are invested with an absolute, and also a discretionary superintending, power; the former in respect to the finding or reject-[4] ing of such bills of indictment as may be brought before you, the latter in presenting to the Court such crimes, misdemeanors, and other offences, as may have been committed, and should be the subject of public notice and observation.

Gentlemen of the Grand jury, YOU are now called upon to exercise one of the highest Privileges that can be enjoyed by the Citizens of a free State, that of assisting in the Administration of the criminal Justice of your Country. It is your Duty, in Virtue of the Office which You have now taken upon You, not only to decide on the Truth of all such Bills of Indictment as shall be laid before You, but likewise to present all Offences against the Public Peace, Convenience, and good Order which You know of from your own Knowledge.

GENTLEMEN, It is always with peculiar pleasure that I embrace any opportunity of addressing you in the character and office in which you are this day assembled, namely, as a Grand Jury, to enquire for the body of this city and county.- Those who reflect on the many and important benefits which the community derive from the services resulting from the impartial and diligent execution of the trust reposed in you, cannot but contemplate with satisfaction so wise and excellent an institution, and cannot but feel happy in enumerating and particularising the various duties which, by that institution, are confided to you.- Your oath, which is so properly adapted equally to convey instruction in your duty, as to enforce the obligation to the performance of it, renders it unnecessary for me to enlarge on the general outline of the great trust, which you are this day called on to discharge; I shall only say that it consists in making diligent enquiry in whatever offen- [4] ces may exist, and to present the offenders to the Court, unawed by fear, unbiassed by prejudice, uninfluenced by reward.

The Grand Jurors direct that this Charge be printed and published at their Expence. — They likewise direct that the whole Produce of the Sale be applied at the Discretion of the Rev. Mr. Rimbron, to the relief of the Prisoners in Newgate.

From the well know Benevolence of the Recorder, they presume he will not disapprove of such a Distribution.

Gentlemen of the Grand Jury, After the painful duties attached to this seat were fulfilled, I have had, at the close of every Session, the pleasing task of delivering to the several Grand-Juries, the thanks of the Court. The Task was indeed pleasing, because the thanks have always been well deserved. The punctual attendance, the diligent enquiry, the intelligence with which the Grand-Juries of this City have gone thro' the business prepared for them, have been meritorious and exemplary. [2] You have observed, Gentlemen, that I have now relaxed the strictness of the usual course. The Names of the Defaulters have not been called over. I understand that there are, unfortunately, circumstances in the present time which demand from many persons, I might perhaps not improperly say from all, an encreased attention to their private concerns.

GENTLEMEN of the Grand Inquest, YOU are assembled under the Authority of the King's Commission, which has been issued for the hearing and determining of the Offences of High Treason and Misprisions of High Treason, against the Person and Authority of the King.

That which hath given Occasion for this Commission is that which is declared by a late Statute, namely, “That a traiterous and detestable Conspiracy has been formed for subverting the existing Laws and Constitution, and for introducing the System of Anarchy and Confusion which has so lately prevailed in France;” A CRIME OF THAT DEEP MALIGNITY which loudly calls upon the Justice of the Nation to interpose, “for the better Preservation of His Majesty's Sacred Person, and for securing the Peace, and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom.”

Gentlemen of the Grand Jury, IT is impossible for any Irishman, not dead to all public virtue, to contemplate without exultation and just national pride, the Stability of these Kingdoms, amidst the Convulsions and disastrous Events which in the lapse of a few years have desolated the greater part of Europe. While we prostrate ourselves in great adoration before the throne of God for this his stupendous goodness, it may not be unprofitable to inquire into the more immediate Causes of our Exemption from those [8] awful Calamities, which it has pleased Providence to visit upon so large a portion of our Fellow-creatures. Such disquisitions, while they teach us to form a just sense of our Establishments, and of their importance and value, must lead every man of prudence and reflexion to sustain and cherish them, as the surest means of our preservation amidst this wreck of Nations.

resolved unanimously, THAT the Foreman be desired to convey to the Hon. SIR NASH GROSE, Knight, one of the Justices of his Majesty's Court of king's Bench, the respectful and cordial acknowledgements of the Grand Jury of this County, for the able, judicious, and well-timed CHARGE delivered by him from the Bench on the opening of the Commission of Oyer and Terminer, and General Gaol Delivery, at Hertford, on Monday the 7th of March instant, containing matter of the most important nature, and expressed in terms, which, whether [4] We consider the authority from which they are derived, or the excellence of the sentiments themselves, are most happily calculated to inspire and to confirm, in all ranks of men, a sincere veneration for our Holy Religion, a dutiful submission to the Laws, and a steady attachment to the true principles of our invaluable Constitution; and earnestly to request, in the name of the Grand Jury of this County, that he will consent to the printing and publication of the same.

Gentlemen of the Jury, Being now in possession of all the facts of this case, and convinced, in my own mind, what conclusion ought to be drawn from them, I am not sure, that it is necessary to say any thing at all to you upon the subject. Gentlemen, before you proceed to decide on the merits of this or any other cause, it is proper to see whether the parties litigating stand in a fair light before you. I was extremely hurt when the learned Counsel for the Defendant thought fit to state to you, with very considerable emphasis, and a very determined tone of voice, that this was a scandalous prosecution. I cannot help wishing that sentence had not been uttered. Who commenced this prosecution, I certainly know not. But from what fell from the very learned Counsel who has just sat down, I am inclined to suppose it proceeded from a society of Gentlemen instituted for the most important of all purposes, for preserving the morals of the people; a society composed of Clergymen and Laymen of the most respectable character in this kingdom, who, seeing how the country is overrun with profligacy and wickedness, which boldly raise their heads in defiance [29] of the law of the land, were determined to see whether, in the first place, by admonition and advice, they could not stop the torrent of vice and immorality; and secondly, if that should fail, to try what could be done by punishment. If people, with the very best intentions, carry on prosecutions that are oppressive, the end may not always perhaps sanctify the means. But the manner in which this prosecution has been conducted, is certainly not oppressive; for instead of proceeding in the more expansive mode, the Prosecutors went before a Grand Jury of the Country: and it was necessary to obtain the opinion of that Grand Jury before the party could be put in process.

It gives me pleasure to acquaint you, that, on inspecting the Calendar of the Prisoners who are to take their trials at the present Sessions, I see nothing in the nature of their crimes, that requires any particular observation. The same remark may be applied to their numbers, which, [2] considering the extent and population of the county, are comparatively small. From the wise regulations and admirable system of police adopted in your places of confinement, there is reason to hope, that these unhappy persons will return home, improved in their morals; that they will, by their future behaviour, make amends for their past misconduct; that they will gradually recover the stand of virtue, and become useful members of society. These pleasing hopes are in some measure justified by experience. Few examples are to be met with in your Gaol Register of second commitments: and it is with the utmost satisfaction I announce to you, that one instance has occured of a Prisoner who, though completely abandoned on his first admission, was yet so thoroughlky reformed by your Prison discipline, as to be hired on the expiration of his confinement into a respectable family, where his behaviour during the ensuing twelvemonth was so truly meritorious, as to entitle him to that reward, which the Penitenciary Act, with no less wisdom than [B2-3] humanity, holds forth as an encouragement to returning virtue.

Gentlemen of the grand jury. In my Addresses from this Chair to former Grand Juries, I have generally confined my Observations to subjects more immediately connected with the Business of this Court; and have avoided Discussions of what are usually called Political Subjects; which however useful they may be in our free Government, when properly conducted, have here no direct Application to our particular Service and Employment. But now, Gentlemen, we are met at a Season of actual danger, which demands our serious Attention, not to the State of Parties, but to the Security of our Country.

ON this day, for the first time, are opened here new Commissions of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery; which we now proceed to execute.

I have often before had the honor to preside as Recorder of the city of Dublin, or as Judge, where most of you have acted as Grand Jurors.-I know that the general outline of your duty, so well marked out to you by your oath, is fully understood by you; I therefore shall not delay you upon that topic, but call your attention to the species of crimes, which now prevail, and may be submitted for your consideration. [4]

Gentlemen of the Grand Jury, Although your Calendar exhibits a greater number of offences than we are usually called upon to examine upon these occasions, and some of them are of a very dark complexion; yet I am not aware of any difficulties that lie in the way of your duty, nor that you need any directions from me to guide you in your inquiries. The difficulties ought indeed to be striking and prominent, before I should venture to interpose unsolicited assistance. I have had too long experience of the ability of the Grand Jurors of this franchise, I am too well acquainted with the propriety and correctness with which they conduct themselves in the execution of their office, to hold it necessary, or even decent, to insist upon the ordinary topicks in addresses of this kind. It would only be to point out to them what they already see; to tell them what they already know. And if I were to look no farther, Gentlemen, than the business immediately before you, I would most certainly not obtrude myself upon you for a moment: but, when I consider the wide extent of your duty, [4] and the claims which your country has upon persons of your description, as well in your private, individual characters, as in this your publick, collective capacity, I think it cannot be altogether improper, nor inconsistent wit the object of our meeting, to direct your attention to the circumstances of the present crisis.