J. F. KNAPP. GEO. CROWNINSHIELD. Taken on their arraignment at the bar--by an eminent portrait painter.

SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT.

ESSEX, JULY, 1830.

IN pursuance of an act passed at the last session of the Legislature of Massachusetts, the S. J. Court convened at Salem in and for the County of Essex, on the 3d Tuesday in July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty.

The court met at a quarter past 11 o'clock, on Tuesday morning. PRESENT, His Honor the Chief Justice, and Putnam, Wilde, and Morton, Associate Justices. The court having been opened in the usual manner, the Clerk proceeded to call the names of the Grand Jurors returned by the Sheriff in and for the county of Essex.

CHIEF JUSTICE PARKER then delivered to the Jurors the following

CHARG E.

GENTLEMEN OF THE GRAND JURY,—

THIS Court is convened, out of its ordinary season, in virtue of a special appointment of the Legislature made at its last session. You have been summoned here by the same authority, and having had the oath administered to you, which is prescribed by law to qualify you to act in the capacity of Grand Jurors, you now have become the Grand Inquest of the Commonwealth for the body of the county of Essex, with all the power and duties which pertain to that body, when attending the ordinary session of this Court, in relation to such cases as come within the provision of the Statute above referred to. The jurisdiction given to the Court by this act of the Legislature, extends to all crimes and misdemeanors, which may have been committed within the body of this county, before the passing this act; such as may have occurred since that time, are to be left to the usual administration of justice, at the succeeding regular terms of the Court. Notwithstanding the general terms, in which the jurisdiction of the Court is given, comprehending all crimes and misdemeanors, there is reason to believe that the chief purpose of the Legislature in establishing this term, was, that judicial inquiry shonld be made into a transaction of the most afflictive nature, which took place in this town some months since. This transaction was of a nature to excite alarm and agitation, not only in the vicinity where it happened, but throughout the Commonwealth, and even beyond it An aged and respectable citizen, living in the centre of this populous town, so long remarkable for its tranquility, peace and

order, he being surrounded by all those circumstances which usually give security to the property and person, has been assassinated in his bed,-probably in the depth of sleep; his skull fractured by a blow from some heavy weapon, his body pierced with many wounds; and this was done with such secrecy that not a trace for a long time appeared to be left, by which the perpetrator of so horrid a deed could be discovered,-no wonder that the shock felt here was so great; it has vibrated through the community. Murder is under all circumstances an appalling crime,-it exhibits in the perpetrator the deepest stain of depravity of which human nature is capable; but when in the stilkiess of night, during the hour of repose, the assassin invades the quiet mansion, steals into the chamber of sleep, and changes that sleep into death, by one fell blow, and, as if insatiate of blood, seeks the heart of the victim which had already ceased to beat,-there is no stoicism, no philosophy, hardly any religion, which can repress those feelings of terror, those expressions of horror, which such a tragedy is calculated to produce. I speak thus of the crime because it is notorions; we all feel alike about it, nor is there any occasion to suppress the feelings, but they must be regulated and kept within just bounds.

You are convened here, not so much to inquire if a crime has been committed,-though even that must be proved to you by legal evidence, as to seek out the perpetrators and present them, if discovered, to the bar of this Court for trial. It is the duty of the Court to warn you against suffering your indignation for the crime, to affect your inquiries for the offenders;-the popular voice justly cries out for vengeance, but it is only upon the guilty it ought to fall;-there is danger in all great excitements that the mind may be thrown off its balance, that the process of inquiry may be too rapid to be sure, that the suspected may readily be believed to be guilty, that prepossession may supercede proof;how apt are we all upon hearing of the commission of some great crime, to listen greedily to every circumstance, which has a tendency to fix the guilt upon some individual, to shut our ears against exculpatory facts, and to pass sentence of condemnation, before any hearing, and without any trial. This is a state of mind which disables us from acting impartially in the office of Judge or Juror. We are to stand indifferent between the Commonwealth and the party accused, even to presume that he is innocent, until we have proof that he is not. We are to sift and weigh all the facts produced in proof, with a hope that they may all be consistent with his innocence.

A Grand Jury especially, who by the very nature of their duty are prevented from hearing the accused or any evidence in his favor, except what may be drawn from the witnesses produced against him, should be cautious not to act hastily, or upon slight evidence. They ought to be satisfied before they agr e upon a