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LOUISVILLE, TUtSDJr, /pi 16, 179<;. Vr The Rev. Mr. Roth well will preach in the Stale Iloufe t on SUNDAY NEXT. April 1 6. The Grand Jury brought in their presentments. Whereupon it is ordered , that the fiif?, third and fourth hr laid before the Icgiflature, and that the whole be published, at the requeft of the Grand Jury, and that the charge be publifhed by order of court. Pre/enlments of the Grand Jury Jor the County oj JeJferfon. WK, the Grand Inquefl for the County of JefFer fon, on oaths prefent as a great grievance, the bad condition of the public roads and bridges, and wc find it a fubjc£l of gene ral complaint in other counties. We are induced to believe that the prefent fyftem is defe&ive in policy, and inadequate to the accomplishment of the great and falutary purposes of making and keeping of good roads and bridges. Wc therefore take the liberty of recommending to the General Affetnbly, the laying of mode rate taxes, which will reach every perfon now liable to work on the roads, in lieu of the prefent mode, in which it is found that the greater number avoid turn ing out and laboring as the law directs. 2. Wc alfo present the little regard which is paid to tha reli gious obfervanco of the Lord’s day, and recommend to our magiflratcs a wore rigorous exe cution of the laws for the pre vention and punilhment of the violation of this neccffary duty. g. We prefent as a grievance, that the laws are not revifed and promulgated, whereby the ma giflratcs may be better enabled to perform the duties of their offices, and the people at large acquainted therewith, 4. We prefent as a grievance the want of a court-houfe, and recommend that application be made to the next IcgiOaturc, for leave to fell a portion of the commons of the town, to be laid out in lots in aid of the other county funds for this pur pole. We perfeflly accord with his honor the judge in his opinion, •* that the charaHcr of Grand Juries Jhould he above [upport ing the finking popularity of any mifckUvous irflucnce , or ad ding weight to a domineering faction” (And wo are happy farther to obferve, that no fuch influence has come within our knowledge); we fliould rather reprefs than countenance fuch political evils, and have no hefi talion to declare it as our opin-i i ion, that former Grand Juries ; » have a&cdupon that principle. We therefore feel it our duty to difpenfe with the ufual recom mendation for the publication ot his honor's charge, it being evi dently calculated to produce the clfcfts which he recommends us ; to avoid by our prefentments, and aims unmerited ccnlure at the heads of other departments, contrary to his own maxims. We further recommend that our prefentments be publifhed. James Parfons, John Raiford, Jofeph Barber, John Harrington, Thomas Neily, Blafs Harvey, Jofcpn Chairs, Benj. Brouning, [ames Spivy, Peter Chaflein, Vinfcn Rowell, Philip Clayton, Mathew Carfwell, David Jamic fon, John Clements, Benjamin Darfey, Z, Lamar; Abner Ham mond, Bird Tarver, John J. Schley, John Kennedy. Extract from the Minutes , Wm.M'Dowell, Clerk . Loui[villc % April 13, 17 99, Judge Walton’s Charge to the Grand Jury of the County of Jeffcr[on. Gentlemen of the Grand Jury , HAVING delivered a courfc of charge* on the prefent circuit, with a view of Brewing to the community the prevalence of a party fpirit, the clfc&s of which had reached the tribunals, and leffencd their refpcdl and author ity ; and as they are equally proper to be laid before you, 1 will read them in the order in which they were delivered. Tfacfc charges have been well received and attended to, in the counties where they were ref pe&ivcly delivered; and I have learned, with pleafure, that, by the recommendation and advice of my affociatcs, the principles they contain are prevailing in the two other dillrifts. Having fecn, therefore, the revival and pra&lce of thefe principles; fo elfential to the good order, authority and purity of the courts; and of their hap py impreffion on the public mind, I concluded I had laid enough upon the fubje6l, as my charge in Wafhington county (hews. The Governor has, however, by addrcffinga party publication to me, written with analfeftation of moderatiom and refpeft, but with real heat and indecorum, relating to thefe charges, made it neccllary for me to go further, j I will firft fay, then, that 1 fpeak 1 of principles and of fath, which relpetl and afFeft the judicial j part of government, and care! not where they apply. I am the more con (trained to take fomc notice of this ad drefs, as its publication fo imme diately before the commence ment of this term, was evidently calculated to awe the court, or to influence the Grand Jury : of the fir {I there is no danger, and of the fecond I rely noon 1 the law, the obligation of your oaths and your lenfe of juflice c and independence. The G> » vcrnor has nothing to Jo with r this tribunal. Cur government, according { to the coniiitution. confifls of • three parts, the legiflative, exe cutivt and judicial; with fcpa i rate and diflinft powers, fo that neither ffiould interfere with the [ other —I will explain by men tioning a recent and plain cafe, Abram Jackfon, efq. was lafl t year one of the fecretaries of the Executive, he was defirous of being a member of the Icgifla jture, but being a member of another department, he was nor • eligible : he therefore refigned his fecrctaryfhip, and thereby removed the obflaclc—he was clc&cd and ferved in the other j department accordingly : were it not for this juft feparation and balancing the powers of govern ment, an extraordinary influence being acquired by one of them, and extending itfclf to the other two, would bear down the whole, and a defpotifrn would rife upon • the ruins. r lam farther contained to take notice of this addrefs on another account —he appears to deny that the courts of juftice have been weakened in their efficacy, by the intrufion of any party influence, and this obliges me to refort to other and ficQi inflanccs—l will proceed there fore, to (late a cafe, flrong in its features, and indifputably true. In the year 1797, fourperfons were indi&cd in the county of Richmond, where fudge Few prefidtd, for murder, and the bill was found by as refpeftable a Grand Jury as ever was con- j vened in the flate, I [peak ad vifedly, for 1 had the honor of being foreman of that Grand Jury, and had perfonal know ledge of every member of it : the teflimony before the Grand Jury was i’ubflantially ; that the perfons charged, with a fifth, went to the houfe of the dcceaf ed in open day, and took him, interrogated him with threats refpe&ing a new negro, which one of them had loft, then tied him and carried him to a tippling houfe, confining him in a room —they Raid there till feme time j in the night drinking—they then took him outiome diflance fiom the houle, and told him, with oaths, that unlefs he confellod they would hang him—-here upon the fifth perfon being; j coroner of the county, and who not long before had received a brand of manflaughter, faid he would not be prefect and left I them; the man was thereafter | miffing, and his fate was the lubjefl of general report and general belief. j That the body was afterwards found in the woods, not far I from the place where the coroner left them, with the appearance of having been there hanged, and cut down in the edge of a wooded flafh. The perfons charged, cried; out yazoo and perfecution, and were admitted to the bail by the Judge, after the indiclmcn! been thus prefcnted a true Lift and by this indulgence thev were enabled, and were f c *e a night and day treating apd drink ing, with perfons who might be called upon their life and death and on their trial when the evi. dence was more pointed by the voluntary Sc bravado confeflions of one of them ; indead of being confined to the bar, they were permitted to go in and out in the face of the court. And the pi ogre fs of the defence was hop ped by one of their counfel moving in thefe words, t; may it pleafe the court our Jr lends at the bar require no more plead ing for them, they are fatisfied." And every ferious and reflcftino man in the enlightened and commercial city of Augufta, turned with dilgufl and horror from the proflituted fccne—the Judge himfelf in reporting the cafe, which he was bound to do by law, endeavored to extenuate the guilt by faying, that the de ceafed was of bad fame; true, he was a poor obfeure indivi dual, who probably never heard the name yazoo : but admitting , J o him to have been of bad fame, did that authorise individuals to take bis life, for a crime too of which he was innocent. The negro being a run-away was aftei wards found at the houleof I a refpe&able planter: { Thus a citizen was laid violent hold of* and torn fr om his family by private individuals, without the fliadow of authority, hanged like a dog upon a tree, and left to be devoured as a bead of the field; and the perfons charged being dsclaimers againfl the yazoo purebafe, were thus fa vored in the bailment and trial. I have heard of other partial ities, but I fpeak only of what I know, in addition to what I have before faid; and this cafe' is diffident to demondrate that I have been well founded in the charges I have already delivered. But, gentlemen, there cxifls ample proof that the evil is fpreading to a more alarming degree, fucli has been the public exercife of legal power during fome time pad, that the people in feveral parts of the date, hr M taken the law in their own hand.*,B and Grand Julies have reconcile® it to their confciences, to lejfC'B bills in the face of pofitive te>l timony, for affaults committeflß under what is called lynch-latfl To juflify themfelves, leveraiH icTpcclable men havcaflurcd ntfil ; on the prefent circuit, that ne-K ceihty and felf prefer vation coib*l pelled them to the pcafure. I The only way therefore yB putting an end to this mifcW c *»B | is to execute the laws in ITICrC -;■ furely; but with flri&nefs ccitainty : the courts will t; --* be a terror to evil doers. indufhious citizen will be i n: P j red with confidence, that h e: ;B fecure in hisperfon, his ih-> a: * J B the fruits of his induflry. ■