[Sidenote: Lord Advocate] The LORD ADVOCATE--Gentlemen of the jury, it is now my duty to offer some observations on the import of the evidence which has been led before you, and as you have already had a very long and fatiguing sederunt, I shall endeavour to state what occurs to me in as few words as possible. It is with the greatest concern that I address you in this case--a case that is attended with circumstances which must occasion to all of us the most painful sensations; but public justice requires that these feelings should be repressed. Gentlemen, the crime with which these prisoners stand charged is of a most dangerous and heinous nature. It is a crime which, until of late, was but little known in this country, though now it seems to be every day growing more frequent, and the practice of it is almost reduced into a system. It is no longer than fourteen days ago that two men received their sentence at that bar for a crime of the same nature with this--the robbery of the Bank of Dundee--which appeared to have been conducted and perpetrated by an association in that town, similar to the association which took place, in the heart of this populous city, between the prisoners at the bar and the other two men whom you saw this day give evidence against them; and which, had it not been discovered, threatened the inhabitants of this city with the most dangerous consequences. That now charged against these prisoners, though of the most flagrant nature, is but one of many in which there is good ground to believe that this association has been concerned. And it is your province, gentlemen, if upon careful examination of the evidence you think these men guilty, to do that justice to your country which the public safety requires, by returning a verdict against them. It is perhaps of no consequence to inquire into what was the former situation of the prisoners, because that is a circumstance which can have no weight with you in determining what verdict you are this night to return.