Perhaps no part of the ad...
Perhaps no part of the administration of justice in this country stands more in inccd of amend(menit tlaan that whicl relates to the trial of persons charged witlh the commission of crinminal offenecs " on the high- sea, WiLhill the jlrisdic- " tion of the Admiralty of England,' as the legal phrase is. TIhe party thus accused can only be brought to trial at the Admiralty Session, which is hel(d at the OldBailcy, il London, on ani average about thrice in two years: the reason assigned for tlhcir being so ttlfrequent, is the expense atteniding the holding a session, whiclh is sai(d to be five hun(drcd pounids. The results, however, of this delay, so uncongenial witlh at least the crimieal jurisprudenec of Etnglanid, are somrsetimes truly scrious. Various instances have occurred of scamnen charged with stcaling to the amountit only of a few shillings, wlho have lain many montlhs in prison, and( at leingtlh the Granid Jury have found( no bill against thcm, in conscequeniec of the absenec of witnesses, whio, being commonly sea-faring people, are of course unl- able to remain on shore for the purpose of giving evidence. Cases of manlslauglhter or alleged murder occasionally hal)- pen during a voyage; and it may be, an honiest sailor, whose misfortune it has been to have given offeince to a ty- rannical commalnder, after having been confined in irons on board ship for many weeks, is, on arriviig in England, thrust within the dreary walls of Newgate, there to spend half a-year, or inore, in idliness-thie associate of accomn- plishc(l higlhwaynmen, housebreakere, and pickpockets. Should he leave his prisoni-lhouse no worse a character than wlhen he cntcrc(l it, lic may fairly be deemced a moral mniracle. Tiherc appears to exist no very obvious advanlage in Jiay- ing a pceuliar tribunal appropriated to the trial of crimes committed on thc seas. Why cannot suclh be as well deter- mined at the sessions or assizes held for the place wlhere the ship may arrive bringing home the offender ? A coiI- siderable saving of the public money would thereby be ef- fected, and a j tdicial decision upoII the imerits -of the case be afforded, without the unnecessary delay of thIe present form of procecding.