CIRCUIT INTELLIGENCE.

NORTH.--LORD JUSTICE CLERK AND LORD HERMAND.

Inverness, Sept. 18.

THE Circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here on Tuesday, by the Right Hon. the Lord Justice Clerk and Lord Hermand.

Robert Ferguson was tried for the murder of Captain Charles Munro, some time of his Majesty's 42d regt. of foot. The following written defence was given in for the Prisoner ;-" Denies the murder, but aeknowledges the slaughter by a knife held up in self-defence."

Mr M'Donald, Surgeon in Cromarty, was called upon to see the deceased on the 2d of June last. He found him in bed, severely wounded in the left side. The witness immediately considered the wound to be mortal. The deceased gave the witness no other account of his misfortune than that the wound had been inflicted by a knife; that all the provocation he gave was taking the man by the collar of the coat, and attempting to turn him out of Thomson's shop, adding, that " he wished he had fallen in the field of battle." Captain Munro died about 8 o'clock the following evening.

George Home, apprentice to George Thomson blacksmith at Chapeltown, was on the 2d of June last in his master's shop. The deceased came into the smithy about five in the evening. The prisoner soon after. The witness heard Ferguson and the deceased swearing at each other. Heard the Prisoner call Captain Munro a dd

on which the Captain pushed him out of the smithy. The prisoner soon after returned, and came forward as if to attack the Captain, who defended himself with a switch he held in his hand. The prisoner followed him close, and struck him with a knife, on which the deceased immediately called out, "I'm gone; take hold of the man!" The prisoner went and stood without the door, and Capt. Munro followed, holding his hand upon his side, and again called out," Why do you not seize the murderer?" The prisoner was thrown down, and the knife taken from him, and on being held fast, he offered to go willing

ly with witness to a neighbouring Justice. The deceased was in the mean time taken into Thomson's house by Mrs Thomson, and put to bed. On the way to the Justice of Peace, in custody of this witness and his fellow-workman, the prisoner suddenly stopped, and refused to go farther without a warrant, threatening to use any man who should offer to seize or detain him as he had done the deceased.

Alexander Munro corroborated the testimony of George Home, with this addition, that Ferguson remained out a minute or two after being pushed out by the deceased, before he returned; that on the prisoner approaching the deceased, as if to attack him, he defended himself with a switch, retiring until he came to the wall, when the prisoner got under his arm, and stabbed him twice.

Mrs Thomson saw Capt. Munro standing near the door of the smithy, holding his hands to the wound; she helped him into the house and put him to bed. Capt. Munro said some time after, "I did not think the man would have done this to me; God knows I would not have done it to him; we had but a few words, and I only put my hand to the back of his neck to throw him out for giving me insolent language."

Mr Horne summed up the evidence for the Crown in a clear and distinct manner, and Mr Grant addressed the Jury for the Prisoner in a most able speech.

After Lord Hermand had charged the Jury with that precision for which he is so eminently distinguished, they retired, and returned a virdict unanimously finding the prisoner guilty.

The Lord Justice Cerlk addressed the Court in an able and impressive manner, in which he was followed by Lord Hermand, who, after addressing the prisoner on the awful nature of his situation, sentenced him to be executed at Inverness on Friday the 30th October next, and his body given for dissection.

Margaret M Millan, residing at Fort William, was tried for seducing Duncan M'Millan, a youth no more than fourteen years of age, to steal goods from his father's shop; and for receiving the same. The Jury returned a verdict finding her guilty of resetting the piece of printed Cotton libelled. Their

Lord

Lordships observed, that the verdict of the Jury was quit consistent with the idea of the Court, and justly and cautiously expressed. After a suitable admonition from the Lord Justice Clerk to the prisoner, in which he pointed out the enormity of her crime, she was sentenced to six months solitary confinement.

James Grant, otherwise Begg, residing in Dalveys, was tried for a rape, or an assault with intent to commit a rape. A Jury having been impanneled, the Court was very properly cleared before proceeding to examine witnesses in support of the indictinent, in order that their testimony might be given without embarrassment and free of all restraint. The proof and pleadings in this cause having been completed, the Jury returned a verdict of not proven, the prisoner was acquitted; and after a suitable admonition dismissed from the bar.

An interlocutor of the Sheriff of Ross having been brought before this Court by appeal, the Lord Justice Clerk, on hearing parties, affirmed the judgement of the Sheriff with costs.

The Court then proceeded to Aberdeen.

Aberdeen, Sept. 23.

On Monday last, the Circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here by the Right

Honourable the Lords Justice Clerk and Hermand.

The first case that occupied the attention of the Court, was that of James Elrick, residenter in Aberdeen, accused of various acts of theft, and of being habit and repute a thief. To the first part of the charge the pannel pleaded guilty; and the libel having been restricted to an arbitrary punishment, he received sentence of transportation for fourteen years.

The Court afterwards proceeded to the trial of Alexander Walker, alias John Brown, accused of horse-stealing, as well as being habit and repute a thief, aggravated by his having returned from banishment for the same crime. To the whole of this charge, the prisoner pleaded guilty. The AdvocateDepute, from the state of Walker's mind, and other circumstances, was induced to restrict the libel in his case, also, to an arbitary punishment.

Tuesday morning, the Court met again, when Walker received sentence of transportation for life, after a suitable admonition from Lord Hermand.

The Court next proceeded to the case of George Layon, vinther, and eldest Bailie of the burgh of Inverury, accused of malversation of office, in having celebrated clandestine marriages, and taken and received

pecuniary recompence. The libel proceeded on the act 1661. cap. 34 and also on the common law. James Gordon and Hugh Lumsden, Esqs. advocates, appeared as counsel for Mr Lyon, and stated various ohjections to the relevancy of the libel, as laid in the indictment, the greater part of which, after considerable discussion, were sustained; and that part only of the indictment which charged the pannel with receiving pecuniary recompence was found relevant. Mr Lyon denied the whole of the charge; and his Counsel declared their readiness to meet the public prosecutor on it; but Mr Horne, Advocate-Depute, from various circumstan ces, moved the Court to desert the diet pro loco et tempore. The Lord Justice Clerk observed, that between the present case, and that which occurred at Jedburgh last circuit, there was a marked distinction, in so far as that the pannels in the latter were accused, and found guilty, of assuming the clerkad profession, and in that character celebrating marriages according to the established forms of our National Church; whereas in the present instance, no such accusation appeared. Lord Hermand coincided in opinion with his Lordship, and Mr Lyon was dismissed from the bar.

The Lord Justice Clerk then addressed the several Sheriff's of this and the adjoining counties, in an elegant speech, in the course of which he took occasion to congratulate the inhabitants of this city and county on the great improvements which have taken place, and are in progress in Aberdeen and its vicinity: at the same time he regretted the insufficiency and inconvenience of the present Court-house; and hinted the propriety of the county and town going hand in hand in remedying this defect, to which he curlceived the counties of Banff and Kincardine, as being equally interested, ought to contri bute, in imitation of other districts of Sout land.

The Court then gave judgmetn in two appeals from the inferior Courts; and the business of the Circuit being ended, their Lordships will proceed to-morrow for Perth.

also, with being habit and repute a thief, to which charges the prisoner pleaded guilty, and the libel was restricted to an arbitrary punishment.

The jury then retired, and, in the evening returned a verdict of guilty, by his own judicial confession. On Monday he was brought up for judgment, when his Counsel made various objections. These were repelled by the Court, and the prisoner sentenced to transportation for the term of fourteen years.

Francis Pirnie, alias John Robertson, was next brought to the bar, on a charge of theft, and reset of theft. The articles he was accused of stealing were, shirts, neckcloths, children's caps, and other articles, from the washing greens at Pincairn, Stanly, Barnhill, and Bellwood.

The prisoner having pleaded not guilty, after a number of witnesses were examined, who identified the articles libelled on, the jury were inclosed, and on Monday returned a verdict, finding the prisoner, by a plurality of voices, guilty of the crimes libelled, with the exception of stealing certain articles from Thomas Gorrie and others. Mr Haggart (Counsel for the prisoner) objected to the verdict, on several grounds, which the Court repelled. The prisoner was then sentenced to transportation for the term of seven years.

When the Court met on Monday, Peter Gordon was brought to the bar, on a charge of insulting, obstructing, assaulting, and wounding George Murray and George Greig, revenue officers at Arbroath, wheu seizing some smuggled whisky, and of forcibly rescuing the seizure.

The facts charged in the indictment were clearly established, and the Counsel for the Crown having addressed the jury, was followed by Mr Kay for the prisoner, who chiefly insisted on the erroneous description of the place where the crime was committed, and fatal to the indictment. The jury having retired, returned a verdict of guilty art and part of the crimes libelled, but not committed in the parish of Arbroath.

The Lord Justice Clerk commended the verdict for its correctness, in leaving the Court to decide the question respecting the place. It was then referred to the High Court of Justiciary, which meets on the 25th of November, to determine whether the objection should be sustained, and till then the diet was continued against the pri

soner.

Elizabeth Wilkie, daughter of James Wilkie, flaxdresser in Dundee, was brought to the bar on a charge of child-murder, and pleaded not guilty. The Advocate-Depute gave up the charge of murder, but as the prisoner had concealed her pregnancy, and

not called for assistance at the birth, she was still subjected to the penalties of the statute 49th Geo. III. cap. 14. The prisoner having admitted the concealment of her preg nancy, (being with child by a married man) and that she did not call for help, pleaded guilty, under the statute libelled, which was distinctly explained to her, and the libel, as restricted, was found relevant. The Jury, having retired, brought in a verdict of guilty of the statute crime libelled, by her own judicial confession; and Mr Haggart having pleaded in mitigation of punishment, she was sentenced to be imprisoned six months in the jail of Dundee, from the date of her sentence.

John Edwards, Thomas Short, and Mary Lamb, were called to the bar on a charge of theft, reset of theft, and house-breaking. Edwards was outlawed for non-appearance. On the part of Short, who also did not appear, Mr Haggart pointed out an error in the summons, the prisoner being therein designed founder of Arbroath, now in the jail of Montrose," whereas the summons is delivered to Alexander Spence, weaver. Lord Hermand said there was a defect in the citation, from the officer's omission to shew that he had traced a connexion between Spence and Short, and that, on account of this irregularity, no sentence could be pronounced against Short, but his Lordship ordered the diet to be continued against Mary Lamb.

Some appeals having been heard, the Lord Justice Clerk addressed the Sheriffs of Perth, Forfar, and Fife, and congratulated them on the tranquillity which, during the late disturbances, had prevailed through their several districts. He expressed his particular satisfaction with the intention of establishing a Lancasterian school in this district, as likely to improve the morals of the lower classes, and thus assist in preventing the commission of crimes. He then adverted to the incommodious state of the prison and court-house of Perth, and congratulated the Sheriff's on the prospect of superior accommodation being speedily provided. This concluded the business of the circuit.

SOUTH. LORD MEADOWBANK.

Ayr, October 1.

The Circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here on Saturday the 26th ult. by the Hon. Lord Meadowbank.

William Grant, labour at Troon, who stood charged with culpable homicide, was outlawed for not appearing.

Two-appeals from the Sheriff were heard, and the sentence in both instances affirmed. His Lordship, on dissmising the Jury, conSratulated

gratulated them on the absence of criminal trials at this assize, and, in an energetic address adverted to the exalted rank which Great Britain held in the scale of nations. Notwithstanding a war of twenty years continuance, the prosperity of this county had increased by gradual progression. Commerce and manfactures, arts and sciences, flourished here in an eminent degree, in spite of the convulsions which shook the rest of the world. His Lordship also took a view of the military character of this nation, and the importaat consequences that had resulted, and were likely to result, from the victories achieved by an Edward, and a Henry, a Marlborough, and a Wellington. Such was the respect, the awe, the dread, with which the nations of the Continent regarded Great Britain, after witnessing the prowess of her warriors in former times, that for ages afterwards they were deterred from attemping to invade, or attack an island, which they deemed impregnable, and such will be the feeling of Europe for ages to come, in consequence of the superiority manifested, at this moment, by our countrymen on land as well as by sea. If with an inferior force, and in a foreign land, we are capable of beating those troops that have been arrogantly styled Invincible, what will we not be able to perform on the shores of our native and well-beloved island!

Dumfries, October 1.

The Circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here this day, by the Right Hon. Lord Meadowbank. The Advocate-depute informed the Court, that there was no criminal business to come before his Lordship, at this place, at the instance of the public prosecutor. The only case, therefore, for trial was, an indictment at the instance of David Clark of Slogary and Tormollan, with concurrence of his Majesty's Advocate, against James Livingston of Grobdale, and Mary Mitchell, his spouse, charging them with an assault and battery. It appeared in evidence, that these parties had become proprietors of the lands of Grobdale and Tormollan, lying contiguous to each other.That some parts of their boundaries were not distinctly defined in their title-deeds, and in consequence thereof disputes had arisen, and were in discussion before the civil Court. That on Sunday the 12th of April last, Livingston, his wife, and a man servant, went out to look at their sheep flock, and while driving a goat off the lands of Tormollan, David Clark, the prosecutor, came up to them, and ordered them to go home from off his lands, and if they did not do so he would cause his dogs tear out their puddings. Some altercation then took place

between Livingston and Clark, the latter brandishing his stick in Livingston's face, who then struck Clark a blow with his stick repeated blows passed on both sides; and Mrs Livingston having come up to her husband's assistance, who was then lying on the ground, she struck Clark on the head with a sharp stone, which cut him severely. The whole of the evidence adduced for the prosecutor, tended to shew that Livingston struck the first blow; and the exculpatory evidence, that Clark provoked the quarrel, and had previously prepared himself for the attack. The examination of witnesses being finished, Mr Jeffery, as Counsel for the prosecutor, addressed the Jury with his usual ability and eloquence, as did Mr Wm. Erskine, on the part of the pannels. Lord Meadowbank then charged the Jury, and next morning they returned an unanimous verdict of not guilty.

The pannels were dissmissed from the bar, after receiving an admonition from his Lordship as to their future conduct. No expences were given to either party.

Jedburgh, October 8.

The Circuit Court was opened here, on Tuesday last, by Lord Meadowbank, and the only business of a criminal nature before the Court, was the trial of George Coulthard, fourteen years of age, accused of theft, by entering the house of Andrew Hilson, innkeeper here, in the month of August last, and stealing three watches, some money, and other property, belonging to three soldiers of the 1st regiment of Roxburgh local militia. The pannel having pleaded guilty, the Advocate Depute restricted the libel to an arbitrary punishment. The Jury returned a verdict of guilty; and yesterday judgement was pronounced, transporting the pannel for seven years.

WEST. LORD ARMADALE AND LORD

GILLIES.

Inverary, September 28.

The Circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here on Saturday last, by the Right Honourable Lord Armadale. Robert Jamieson, accused of theft, having failed to appear, sentence of fugitation was pronounced against him; and there being no other business at this place, the Court proceeds to Stirling.

Stirling, October 3.

The circuit Court of Justiciary was opened here yesterday, by the Right Hon. Lord Armadale, and there being no business at this place, the Court will proceed to Glasgow on Monday.

Glasgow,

Glasgow, October 6. The Circuit Court of Justiciary opened here this day, by Lords Armadale and Gillies.

John Pettigrew and John Gilchrist were indicted for an assault on James Wilson, surgeon in Carluke. The former not appearing was outlawed, and the Court proceeded with the trial of John Gilchrist.

Mr James Wilson, while returning from a professional visit on the night of the 21st July, between eleven and twelve o'clock, saw a man lying on the street, and John Pettigrew standing near him. Witness asked Pettigrew what was the matter with the man on the ground, and was told he had taken too much drink. Witness remarked it was a pity to see him in such a state, whereupon Pettigrew, after observing that, although witness was an elder, he had no right to insult his companion, seized witness by the collar, and struck him on the head. In the struggle both came to the ground. Witness in his turn seized his antagonist by the throat. Gilchrist now got upon his legs, and struck witness on the head, while he was holding Pettigrew, and he was again knocked down. Both Gilchrist and Pettigrew continued kicking and striking witness till they were tired. While witness was rising, Pettigrew forced one of witness's fingers into his mouth, and bit him until witness, by pinching his cheek, forced him to open his mouth. Witness, in attempting to get back to the house he had left, was knocked down by Pettigrew, who struck him till he was insensible. While in this state he was carried into the house of Mrs Elder, and from thence in a cart to his mother's. He was three days before he could stir a limb, was confined eight or ten days, and unable to do any thing for a fortnight. He gave Pettigrew or the pannel no provocation except expressing his regret at seeing Gilchrist drunk. It was clear moon-light. Witness cried out murder as loud and as long as pos sible, after he was attacked by the pannel.

Several other witnesses were examined, after which Mr Boswell addressed the Jury for the Crown, and Mr Walker for the priIn his able charge, Lord Armadale recommended the jury to return a verdict finding the pannel guilty.

soner.

duty on his lands, tenements, &c. in Storey Street of Paisley.

After the evidence had been gone thro', Mr Boswell addressed the jury on the part of the Crown, and Mr Jardine made an ingenious defence for the pannel. Lord Armadale having summed up the evidence, the Jury were directed to return their verdict next morning. Their verdict found the prisoner Guilty, by a plurality of voices, but unanimously recommended him to mercy. The Court, in consideration of the Jury's recommendation, sentenced the prisoner to the mitigated punishment of one year's imprisonment in Paisley jail.

Wednesday, October 7.

Elizabeth Collins was indicted for the murder of her own child, in the room No. 19. in the Tontine Inn, Greenock. The Depute Advocate passed from the charge of childmurder, and proceeded with that of concealing pregnancy, to which the pannel pleaded guilty. The jury accordingly found a ver dict to that effect, and she was sentenced to 3 months confinement in Greenock prison.

James Stewart and William M'Arthur were accused of breaking into the vestry of the English Chapel, on the night of Monday the 4th, and of Wednesday the 6th of May, and feloniously carrying off one minister's gown, silk, one minister's cassock, ditto, two minister's gowns, bombazeen, three linen surplices, one black silk scarf, one tablecloth, five towels, one great coat.

Elizabeth Menzies, otherwise Stewart, was accused of resetting these articles, knowing them to be stolen.

The pannels pleaded not guilty.

After a number of witnesses had been examined for the prosecution, (the great length of whose evidence prevents us from detailing it,) and after Mr Boswell had spoken for the Crown, the diet was deserted simpliciter against Elizabeth Menzies.

Mr Walker spoke for the other pannels.

Lord Gillies delivered an admirable charge to the jury, who returned a verdict, unani❤ mously finding James Stewart and William M'Arthur guilty of the crimes libelled, and they were both sentenced to be hanged in Glasgow, on Wednesday the 18th of November.

M'Arthur asserted his innocence, after the sentence, and called God to witness that he told the truth.

Peter Drummond, sometime tailor in Carriage Hill, in Renfrewshire, was charged with house-breaking and theft. He pleaded not guilty.

An objection to the relevancy was stated by his Counsel, and repelled by the Court; after which, a very long proof was led on

the