ic at Augusta, at which Mr. Berrien prepared and delivered the unanimous opinion of those judges, declaring the law to be unconstitutional, and thus reopening the courts of justice to the people. Whilst upon the bench, Mr. Berrien frequently recom

mended to the General Assembly, at their annual sessions, changes in our penal code, which changes have since been made, and their utility acknowledged by the wisest men in our State.

Believing that the defects then existing in our judiciary system could be more efficiently corrected by the adoption of measures that would in sure uniformity of interpretation, rather than by any new legislative enactments which might again be liable to variety of construction, he strenuously advocated the establishment of a Čourt of Errors and Appeals.

During the long period in which Mr. Berrien presided in the Eastern Circuit, it is natural to conclude that cases involving human life must have been often brought before him. Upon such occasions, whilst he felt it to be his duty to see that the mandates of the law were strictly observed, he never failed to show to those arraigned before him for offences, the utmost sympathy, and every indulgence not inconsistent with the obligations he owed to the public weal.

In discharging the last duty which the law requires in cases punishable by death, it was hardly possible for a judge to be more solemn and impressive. We happen to have in our possession a copy of the remarks which he delivered to an unfortunate man who had been found guilty of murder at Effingham Superior Court in 1818, and from it we make a brief extract, to give our readers some idea of Mr. Berrien's feelings and language upon such melancholy occasions.

Addressing himself to the culprit, the Judge said: "You are young; would I could add that you are innocent. The bloom of youth still plays upon your cheeks; would that I could add that the consciousness of rectitude beams from your countenance. But it may not be. The sad reality is before me, and even in your youthful visage I behold the deep, indelible impressions with which guilt ever marks her fallen victims. Alas! what is man? The child of error -the sport of every furious passion-a helpless vessel on the tempestuous ocean of life, without a rudder to guide it from the shoals and quicksands of vice. Such is the wretched condition of him who madly refuses to yield to reason's guidance."

In McIntosh, one of the counties embraced in Judge Berrien's circuit, a case of homicide occurred, which at the time produced much excitement. At the session of the Legislature of 1818, a resolution was adopted directing inquiries to be made in reference to the conduct of the Court and Sheriff. Learning that reports as injurious to his reputation as they were unfounded, had been circulated in some portions of the State, Mr. Berrien came to Milledgeville, and addressed a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, in which he demanded a full investigation of his conduct. A committee, composed of some of the first men in Georgia, was appointed to examine the matter, and after a patient investigation, both houses reported unanimously that Judge Berrien stood acquitted and discharged, and that whilst they would watch with an attentive and jealous eye the administration of the public justice, they would guard and protect with a steady hand the inestimable boon of private vir