By statute, "Every justice of the peace before whom any person shall be brought for any reason or felony, or for suspicious thereof, before he commit such person to gaol, shall take the examination of such prisoner, and the information of those who bring him, relative to the fact; and the same, or so much thereof as shall be material to prove the offence, shall be put in writing by the said justice, within two days after the said examination; and he shall bind, by recognizance, all the material witnesses against such prisoner, to appear and testify at the next court having cognizance of the offence, and where the prisoner ought to be tried, and shall certify the recognizances, together with the said examinations so reduced to writing, under his hand into the said court, where such witnesses are bound to appear on the first day of the sitting thereof."