"The Anglo Celt" Cavan; Thursday, April 8, 1852 COOTEHILL QUARTER SESSIONS. These sessions commenced in Cootehill on Monday, March 29, before P. M. MURPHY, Esq., Q.C., Assistant-Barrister for the county of Cavan. John WILCOCKS, Esq., R.M., at about 11 o'clock, A.M., and in the course of the day the following justices of the peace also appeared in court for a short time, viz.-the Very Rev. Samuel ADAMS, Dean of Cashel, Northlands; John Henry ADAMS, Esq., Loughbawn; Chas. James ADAMS, Esq., Shinan House; Capt. Robert ERSKINE, Cavan, and Edgar Robert BREDIN, Esq., Retreat. The business to be transacted at these sessions was unprecedentedly (sic) light, both civil and criminal, as there were only 25 crown numbers and 160 civil bills entered in the clerk of the peace's books, the average numbers in former years, being from 60 to 70, and of the latter from 1,000 to 1,300. The ejectments, which were for the last five or six years very onerous, also decreased at the present sessions, there being only 40 of them entered and few of them were defended. Shortly after his Worship took his seat on the bench the following persons were empanneled (sic) and sworn on the grand jury, viz.:- Messrs. Patrick HORAN, foreman; Edward MAHOOD, William MAHOOD, John RUSK, Edward SHARP, John BERRY, Samuel MARTIN, Wm. STINSON, George PORTER, Samuel FISHER, Edward COONEY, John SHEERA, Wm. MAXWELL, Thomas FAY, Charles COSBY, Joseph WHITELY, Richard BROWNE, and John CAMPBELL. His Worship then addressed them to the following effect: Gentlemen of the grand jury, it is a matter of sincere pleasure to me, and I am certain it will be equally so to you, to learn that the criminal business to be transacted at the present sessions is extremely light, which is a proof of the peaceable state of this neighbourhood. There is not a single case on the calendar, save one, which is not of the ordinary nature of offences, and which might occur in the best regulated society. This is a source of great gratification, and particularly so on account of its (this neighbourhood) being in the immediate proximity of a county (Monaghan) in which crimes of a very serious nature have been recently perpetrated. I may, therefore, safely infer that the peaceable and orderly state of this district may be attributable to the improvement of the morals of the people. Gentlemen, the bills of indictment will be now sent up before you, the consideration of which will not occupy you long, and so soon as you shall have disposed of t! hem I shall have much pleasure in discharging you. The spirit licenses having been disposed of, a petty jury was sworn and the criminal business proceeded with. The only case possing (sic) any public interest was the following: ROBBERY BY A BANK PORTER. Samuel Nesbitt, a very young man, very gently attired, and of rather prepossessing appearance, was placed at the bar, and arraigned under an indictment which charged him with having, at Cootehill, on the 13th March, 1852, feloniously stolen nine bank notes of the value of £1. each, and £11. in silver of the current coin of the realm, making, together, the sum of £20., the monies of Wm. JAMISON, Esq., manager of the Cootehill Branch of the Ulster Banking Company, to which indictment the prisoner pleaded guilty. Mr. James ARMSTRONG, attorney for Mr. Jamison, then informed the court that he was instructed by the prosecutor to state that, in consequence of the previous good character of the prisoner and his youth and inexperience, he (Mr. Jamison) was anxious that his punishment or sentence might be as lenient as the court, considering the nature of the offence and the contrition of the prisoner, might conceive consistent with their duty to award. His Worship requested Mr. Jamison (who was in court) to certify as to his knowledge of the prisoner's character and conduct whilst in his employment. Mr. Jamison, having been sworn, stated that the prisoner had been his servant for three years, during which time he had not the slightest grounds to suspect his honesty; but on the contrary, on one or two occasions had had proofs of his fidelity. This being the case he hoped the court would take it into consideration in measuring the amount of his punishment, which, under the circumstances, he trusted would be mitigated as much as possible, consistent with the due administration of justice. The Barrister, addressing the prisoner, said - Samuel Nesbitt, you have pleaded guilty to an offence for which you are now liable to receive sentence of transportation - you, being placed, in a confidential situation in a banking establishment, in which it is necessary that the public should have perfect confidence as to the safety or security of all monies and property lodged therein, and you, a clerk therein, in whom it was necessary to place the most implicit confidence, did steal £20, with the view of converting it to your own use. Mr. Jamison - I beg to correct your worship; the prisoner was the porter not a clerk. Barrister - Very well; that is, certainly, a mitigating circumstance in favour of the prisoner, but still the offence is a very serious one. However, in consequence of the very high character which you have received from Mr. Jamison, the sentence of the court is - that you be imprisoned for the space of two months. Considerable sympathy appeared to pervade the inhabitants of Cootehill in favour of the prisoner, a great number of whom attended in court to hear the trial, to whom this lenient sentence gave great satisfaction. "There is now in Crookhaven," says the Cork Constitution, a French fishing vessel of 'forty-four tons' burden, with a crew of twenty men, who with her nets have tried the mackerel fishery on the coast of Cork. In five nights, with very indifferent weather, she has taken no less than 'fifty thousand' fine fish, all of which are salted on board in bulk, and she is about leaving for France direct, being quite laden" How long will Irishmen be content to let foreigners bear away in this fashion the wealth with which God has blessed them? It seems absurd to be clamouring for beneficial changes in our condition while we overlook the advantages that lie around for the temptation of stragers (sic) - Nation. THE JURY LAWS. - The grand jury of the county Derry have with the exception of one man, declared in favour of a new jury system, by which the jury shall consist of 17 and the opinion of 12 be a verdict. That resolution argues a great indifference to human life. No man would be safe in Ireland under the system of the hanging Solons of Derry. The grand jury of Tyrone have come to a somewhat similar resolution. We would suggest to the sage and bloody Dracos of Derry and Tyrone that before their hanging-made-easy becomes the law of the land there will probably be a reform of that immense boil on society, that monstrous system of jobbery, the grand jury system. A reform of that - an infusing of some saying honesty and justice into its rotten old carcase (sic), is much more needed just now than hanging facilities. Let grand juries remove the moral dungheap under which their own selves lie sweltering before they turn Jack KETCH;s bailiffs. - Fermanagh Reporter. WILLIAM MITCHEL: - We regret to learn that this young gentleman's health is so delicate as to oblige him to give up his situation in Washington. He is at present in New York, with his mother and sister. Mr. Mitchel is a brother to the distinguished exile, John MITCHEL. - Catholic Mirror.