In this extremity what could he do to rescue himself from their gripe?  He would have no right to challenge one of them; and if the sanctity of an oath, and the dread of the future scorn and detestation of mankind, did not deter them from the commission of a crying and palpable injustice, his innocence, were it as clear as the noon day, would avail him nothing, and he must unavoidbly sink, the devoted victim of foul conspiracy and deadly revenge.  I am not sufficiently acquainted with the history of the proceedings of this court from the period of its institution, to shew how far the whole or any part of this supposed case may have been in any instance verified.  That it may occur is sufficient to prove the necessity for changing the constitution of this court, and to justify the general anxiety which is felt by the colonists for the introduction of that right, so dear to the heart of every Englishman, the trial by jury.  It is this inestimable privilege alone which can insure them the tranquil enjoyment of their persons and property, and enable them, while possessed of conscious integrity of conduct, to set at defiance the confederated efforts of their enemies, and to despise both the open attacks of power and the secret contrivances of malignity.

The constitution of the governor’s court and of the supreme court, is liable to the same objection.  They are both composed of the judges, who have each a vote in their respective courts, and of two members specially appointed by the governor:  so that none of those causes of challenge which are held sufficient in this country to disqualify a juror, are of any validity in the courts of this colony.  In the governor’s court, indeed, the two members are to be appointed from among the respectable inhabitants; but, although the governor himself is the only judge of the measure of their respectability, he could not well avoid selecting them out of that class which in case of the introduction of trial by jury, would have a right from their property and character to be summoned as jurymen.  In this court, therefore, an individual in a trial with the crown, would have a much greater chance of obtaining justice than in the supreme court; because the two members of it are to be appointed from the magistracy, and might be selected by the governor from their known zeal and corrupt devotedness to his service.  But it is of infinitely greater importance that the decisions of this latter court should be the less exposed of the two to the possibility of bias; because in the former the injury which an individual could sustain from an unjust verdict could only amount to L50, and in the latter it might extend to L3000, and consequently