of a function, to which so much is entrusted, requires, be assured, not only the exertions of the moment, but some preparatory process. The first essential is the control of your passions, and the next the improvement of your mind; without these, a man of the most honest and correct intention may become the instrument of gross iniquity. Unused to submit his feelings to the test of reason, unacquainted with the rules of evidence, unaccustomed to the exercise of his judgment; the least appeal to his passions, the slightest opposition of argument, the most trivial perplexity of testimony will overpower his understanding and divert him from a fair conclusion. The prudence of the legislature has indeed provided considerable assistance to the jury in the pleadings of counsel, in their acute cross-examination of witnesses, and in the final charge from the Bench; but as the best medicines turn to poison in the hands of the unskilful practitioner, so do these auxiliaries not unfrequently become the excuse for indifference and error to the unprincipled and unthinking juror. Far be it from me to detract from that reverential respect which on questions of fact as well as of law is undoubtedly due from the panel to the superior perspicuity of a judge; yet I am free to declare, that, concerning those points on which it is the peculiar province and proud privilege of a jury to decide, they cannot, without

a betrayal of their trust, rely on any other authority than the convictions which are operated on their own understanding. Carrying with you this principle into the jury box, My Brethren, it is of much importance that you discriminate between that firmness which is the characteristic of wisdom and integrity, and that obstinacy which arises from ignorance and self-conceit. To hold with dogged pertinacity an erroneous opinion in opposition to the most convincing argument, is indicative only of uncommon dulness or uncommon depravity of intellect. To constitute a just and sensible verdict, you must avail yourself of all the lights which our excellent system of trial is calculated to afford you. You must candidly and cautiously deliberate not only on the pleadings of the respective advocates, the testimony of the witnesses, and the comments of the judge, but on the reasoning of the humblest individual that may be impannelled with you on the cause, whatever reason you may have to credit the superiority of your own judgment; whatever be the advantages of your own education and experience; whatever prior grounds for suspicion and animosity may have existed between you and your brother juror, you are bound to listen to him with attention and to keep your mind open to conviction. It is here, that you may call to memory the remonstrance of St. Paul; "Why dost thou

set at nought thy brother?" You may have more general sagacity than he, and yet some thing in this particular cause may have occurred to him, which has escaped your penetration. He may have been impressed with some passages of evidence which have failed to strike you with equal force. He may suggest something in the tone, the manner of a witness, which, though unnoticed by you, may have been highly worthy of regard. In fine, from a hundred contingencies, which it were impossible for me in a discourse of this limited nature to mention, a man of far inferior talents may win you over to his opinion, without any disparagement to your head or to your heart. This indeed is not often to be expected; but for that which is only possible it is the part of wisdom to provide. I am happy to believe that where a jury is much influenced by a few or by an individual of its body; it is the fair influence of virtue and ability that alone prevails. To be cautious and firm is highly necessary in a juror, to be obstinate and overbearing is a most pernicious vice. Of the fidelity and openness which are the attributes of an honest witness, I trust that a very few remarks will suffice. It is in a Christian land I preach, and to a Christian people I address myself, and among such I presume there breathes no human being, who knows not the mean and despicable wickedness of a common falsehood, the detested

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and encumcas Sula of a violated oath; in the performance of the solemn duty of a witness, a angle word of duplicity, nay, a single reservation of the truth, may involve the complicated crimes of lying, theft, and murder. It is impossible for human foresight to predict in what fatal consequences the slightest deviation from judicial truth may terminate. There was a precision in the retributive punishment among the Jews of old, against the perjurer, which I almost regret has not been imitated by modern legislators. It is written in the book of Deuteronomy, "if a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong, the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother, then they shall do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother." In this ordinance there is no undue severity; for besides the deadly ef fects that may follow a judicial perjury, the crime implies so thorough a baseness of heart, the prevalence of so much evil principle in the breast of the perjurer, as renders him most justly the object of social abhorrence and legal punish

ment.

You, then, My Brethren, who, in the approaching trials, may be summoned to give an evidence, whether against your friend or enemy, beware lest enmity or affection communicate the

slightest colouring to your words. And oh, if at any hour on the chronicles of life, or at any place beneath the sun, the laws of God and man should be influential on the human heart, let them act like chains of adamant upon human passions, when, summoned by your country to her halls of justice, a more than mortal voice proclaims unto your soul, Thou shalt bear no false witness. Thou shalt do no murder.

And now, My Brethren, may all that are concerned in the necessary, but perhaps melancholy, duties which must follow this discourse, depart from this house with a resolution to fulfil them with fidelity and industry. The sternness of the law, and the guilt of human nature, oblige us to a painful task, and the peace, and order, and happiness of society demand that it be executed with impartial severity. "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord." But remember, that with the condemnation of proved guilt the obligation to severity ceases, and whereever there is room for doubt, there is room for mercy. This I may safely aver is not less the doctrine of the constitution, than of the Bible. It is a principle well adapted to the infirmity and fallibility of mortal judgment.

It is a principle recognised in the coronation oath of our Sovereign, it is one "that becomes the throned Monarch better than his crown,"