No. III. ON THE DEATH OF REST, gentle, lovely being, rest-at last Thy anchor, firm for aye-that haven where The winds within the hollow of his hands, Oh, now, that thou hast reached the happy land, Look back on those whom darkness still enfolds, And breathe one more, one sympathizing prayer! No. IV. IN Heav'n, among the angels of the Lord (Thus speaks the Book whose teachings we revere,) Is joy when one poor sinner sheds the tear Of grief for sin-the tear whose bright reward Is all the bliss that God's own realms afford ! And can it be, that we-vile crawling things- In lowest heart the glow of conscious worth- No. V. "Father, forgive-they know not what they do❞— Oh Lord! I thank Thee for that blessed prayer Which angels joyful to the throne did bear, When from thy lips, thy dying lips, it flew. Though in thy blood thy creatures did imbrue Their demon hands-though insult, outrage, scorn, Drove deeper still the piercing nail and thorn, Thy saving-love the stronger only grew. Thy sacred form on sin's hell-rooted tree- For we, too, know not how we outrage Thee. No. VI. REASON AND FAITH. Say, can tny eye the flood refulgent dare And not be hurried by the glitt'ring rush Of God's own Word, Truth's noontide glow divine! To Heaven's own vault, and grasp the starry height No. VII. Oh! it is sad to feel the impulse high Of thought divine-the burning wish to throw Of truth celestial—pages ne'er to die— The impulse to obey-that trembling hand Dark clouds did soon around the prospect close, No. VIII. JUDAS AND THE THIEF. What limit to Thy mercy, oh my God! The first for whom the Saviour willed to die, Of righteous vengeance brandished o'er his head, E'en deicidal treachery was not The crime that barred him from the realms of bliss- Rio de Janeiro, Oct., 1845. ROBERT J. WALSH. PROSPECTS OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN AMERICA.* THIS celebrated work of Mr. Warren has been increased considerably more in quantity, than in value, though it continues, in our judgment, to be one of the very most captivating books, to the legal student, which the library of the law contains. We cannot name the second which is so well calculated to awaken the enthusiasm of the law student, and to quicken his sense of the dignity of his vocation, and of the value of its honors. This is probably the chief, if not all the merit which the author expected his work would possess, and such it undoubtedly has. It is the first book we would place in the hands of one whom we would inspire with a taste for the legal profession. Conceding it to be a successful achievement of the author's purpose, there remains a farther question with which we have more particularly to do, than with Dr. Warren. That is, whether the prospects of the legal profession, in America, justify the exalted aspirations which this book is calculated to inspire. Does the law continue to hold out those rewards of honor or of profit, in this country, which have so long followed the successes of its faithful ministers? It becomes us to consider this question very fairly, eschewing prejudice, for the multiplication of the profession among us is indefinite. In the city of NewYork alone, we have over a thousand keeping office, and incurring all the expenses incident thereto. Of these thousand, we speak advisedly, when we say, that not over four hundred are receiving, from their professional business, a respectable support. Of the remaining six hundred, a limited proportion rely upon resources independent of their professional income. The remainder do as people generally do when they are unable to make both ends meet, they pass the difference to the profit and loss account of their friends. But all are equally victims to one of the misfortunes incident to an unsuccessful practice. They are compelled to waste much of the most valuable time and energy of their lives in waiting for the world to discover the value of their services. That they may be always ready for whatever business fortune has in store for them, they dare not involve themselves in any collateral pursuits, but must live on, idly hoping from day to day that their turn is at hand. They delude themselves with fond anticipations of distinctions, such as those which tardily rewarded the patient faith of Hale, of Eldon, and the few other illustrious chiefs of the English bar, who were rescued from that great Serbonian bog of exaggerated hopes, where armies whole have sunk. Time wears away, and with it the courage and enthusiasm which can only exist in the atmosphere of successful effort. Of the thousand who enter the list, not a hundred will achieve any such result as would have induced them at the outset to have exposed themselves to the agonizing suspense, the heartsickness of hope deferred, which they all will have to endure. We refer to New-York city, because there, wealth, population, and opportunity, are most concentrated, and tendencies develope themselves in advance. But there is a corresponding disproportion between the demand and supply of legal advisers throughout the nation, and that disproportion is very rapidly increasing. The re-appearance of Mr. Warren's book at this time very naturally leads us to inquire, whether there be any thing in the operation of our institutions or the circumstances in which the legal profession is placed at this time, to depress the hopes and the ambition which his labors are eminently calculated to inspire. For our own part, we believe there is, and that both the necessity for, and the rewards of this kind of professional A POPULAR AND PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION TO LAW STUDIES, and to every department of the Legal Profession, Civil, Criminal and Ecclesiastical, &c. By SAMUEL WARREN, Esq, F. R. S., of the Inner Temple, Barrister at Law. With an American Introduction and Appendix, by THOS. W CLERKE, Counsellor at Law. D, Appleton & Co., New-York 1 vol. 8vo. toil, are diminishing. We augur thus in no croaking spirit of disfavor towards a profession which the world has always delighted to honor, but from a conviction, based upon some observation, and upon a careful scrutiny of the tendencies of our civilization. We propose, at present, only to glance at the grounds of our impression. We have for a long time been impressed with a conviction, that the sphere of duty of the law's ministry has been very much limited, and is destined to undergo still farther limitations, under the direct and indirect operation of our political institutions. The tendency of all representative forms of government, and most emphatically of ours, is, to enlarge the powers of individuals, and to circumscribe those of the government. This tendency is evident a priori; it is equally apparent in the past history of our country. All our great questions of legislation since the American constitution went into operation, have arisen upon a difference of opinion upon this point, the limits of the legislative prerogative. In most cases, the individual has been successful, and the government has succumbed. It has been already substantially conceded, that it is no part of the functions of a political government, to bank, to trade, to lend money, to make internal improvements, and to supply religious instruction to its subjects; and the tendency of the public mind is to question the right of the government, to say who shall sell and buy meat and bread, or what shall be paid for them; who shall transport our letters and newspapers; who shall superintend the instruction of our poor children; and, indeed, almost all the other political powers, save those which are necessary to keep one man's hand off his neighbor, and to maintain inviolate the universal and common rights of life, liberty, and property. The absence of all legislation upon these and kindred subjects, of course diminishes the sources of litigation, which can only spring from a violation, alleged or real, of some existing law. Such being the tendency, then, of the democratic faith, to limit the functions and prerogative of the governing power, and to enlarge the moral authority of the individual conscience, we have a standard whereby to measure the rela tive necessity, and therein the relative prospects of the legal profession, as a distinct order of industry. If we find any source of litigation permanently closed, and no other of equal magnitude opened, we infer that the professional prospects of the lawyers are to that extent obscured. We would now ask if there can be room for doubt, that the prevailing and popular legislation upon the subject of banking, upon the right of eminent domain, and therein of internal improvements generally, upon the whole subject of chartered privileges, whereby the government enters into competition with individuals, upon the subject of religious establishments; have dried up innumerable sources of litigation. Take the subject of religious instruction, which is the only one of those enumerated from which the American government has in theory, at least, entirely divorced herself, and compare the litigation, in this country, to which it gives rise, with the same subject in England. The collection and distribution of church revenue, and the reconciliation of conflicting interests under the English church establishment, has occasioned more law suits in England, than almost any subject of legislation whatever in this country. Their books are filled with reported cases. We have none of it scarcely. The ecclesiastical institutions are simplified, and so self-controlled with us-divorced from the state that we very rarely find them requiring judicial interference.-The same remarks may be applied to the other instances we have presented, so far as government has withdrawn from their administration. Of a kindred birth and tendency, though less articulate, are the exemption laws, the stay laws, the appraisal laws, the bank suspension laws, and the repudiation laws of some of our western states. All are the incoherent stammerings of a principle as yet but imperfectly developed. But when a truth has even thus far wreaked itself upon expression, there is no power on the earth, or in the waters under the earth, to resist its supremacy. It will agitate, it will struggle, it will writhe, but it will have utterance. It may succumb for a season, but it will not be cheated of a single fraction or tithing of the empire over the heart and mind of man. We look for the time, and that soon, when the political parties shall divide upon the expediency, if not the constitutionality of protecting contracts by law, and when the present offices of the judiciary shall in this particular be very seriously restricted. These influences, seriously as they are operating, are but the parents of the giant brood of tendencies which are effecting the overthrow of the ancient dignities and eminence of the legal profession. The instinct of individual independence is fatal to any precarious, or what in this case is nearly synonymous, to any extensive system of commercial credits. An independent man cannot be bound by an obligation to his neighbor. The moment he becomes bound his independence forsakes him. He will, therefore, avoid receiving a credit which he cannot be sure to cancel before it becomes a bond. Neither will he give a credit which he thinks may cripple his independence by being dishonored. He will not trust to an unfaithful or a stupid man what he cannot afford to lose. Just in proportion, then, as the doctrine of individuality obtains, will commercial credit be based upon the combined honesty and sagacity of the borrowers. When these two conditions of a mercantile transaction are guaranteed, the creditor seldom has occasion for legal protection or assist ance. True, a long time must elapse before the condition we have supposed will be realized. True, we have somewhat anticipated the results with which we believe the future to be freighted. But we have magnified existing tendencies only that they may be more clearly seen. All their proportions are preserved, and we have the firmest conviction that time will prove that we have anticipated, not imagined, the fruits of their maturity. Nor does this maturity appear to be very remote. ver knew a single truth satisfied to share its empire with error. Truth never compromises with any antagonist. It may be delayed in receiving investiture for a season, but it is never quiet until it has vindicated its entire and absolute supremacy. We ne There is another aspect of this subject which deserves to be contemplated before we dismiss it; we refer to the depreciated dignity of the Bar in Ame rica. Sustained by no special privileges or rewards, accessible to every class of society, every order of talent, and every degree of ignorance, the ancient dignity of their vocation has almost entirely abandoned it. It has degenerated from a liberal art to a trade. Its professors, from artists, have become artizans; from scholars, they have degenerated to clerks. They no longer sustain the honorable eminence of the Roman patron, the protector and defender of their polital inferiors, from whom they may command both services and homage. They are no longer looked up to as necessary mediators between their clients and oppression; but are rather, themselves, the dependants than the patrons of the public. We are far, however, from deploring this change in the social position of the legal profession, for we think we discern in it the evidence of great moral advancement. It is the natural and inevitable result of the individualization of our people. Thereby we know that we no longer enjoy our liberties at the discretion of others. No haughty proconsul, the proxy of a despot, armed with the double licentiousness of unrestrained authority and unbridled appetites, can now impoverish our provincial cities, riot upon our substance, and violate our most sacred sentiments and rights. Every man's love of his own rights with us, makes him respect the rights of others; and we have no Cicero or Hortensius at our bar, because we have no Verres, or Cataline, or Messala in authority. His professional talents can never distinguish or dignify the social position of the lawyer, in a society where the people are denied no important rights. His rank is elevated as the social condition of the people is depressed, other things being equal.The few occasions for judicial aid and protection are of such trifling interest to the great body of the public, that the advocate awakens but little anxiety about the result of his efforts, save in the breast of his own client. His function, too, has been so modified by the progress of free legislation, that a large and comprehensive mind is narrowed and hampered by engaging in the work. For the service that is now mainly required of the lawyer, no special preparatory education is essential which is not equally essential to the merchant, |