"It is for the defendant when sued by petition, as before explained, for any matter either in law or equity, or both, to file his answer stating his defence, whether that defence be a defence in law or equity, or both. There would be no distinction between pleas; there would be an answer and nothing but an answer. There would be no form required -no nicety, no exceeding particularity, no technicality. The defendant might in his answer set up or claim an offset or offsets. He might claim the decision of the court on any one or more of the causes of action stated by the plaintiff in his petition, whether they were sufficient in law or equity to enable the plaintiff to recover. Thus, if the plaintiff claimed possession of a tract of land, the defendant in his answer might deny the title of the plaintiff, or set up nis own title, or do both: and this whether the defendant's title was a legal or equitable one. And whichever title was the best would prevail. This may be done by a late statute of Missouri, in regard to New Madrid titles-which has been adopted in the United States Court by rule. The same reason which applies to New Madrid title, or locations as they are called, applies to other titles. "Heretofore in all cases, and now in all cases except New Madrid locations, the plaintiff sued, in ejectment, on his legal title. The defendant having the equitable title was obliged to let judgment go against him and pay all the costs, and then bring his suit in equity to set aside or enjoin the plaintiff at law from proceeding to enforce his judgment. Thus making two suits necessary to try one matter-that is, whether the plaintiff or defendant was entitled to the possession of a tract of land. But inasmuch as great numbers of our titles arose before the common law was in force in this State-when there were no separate systems of law and equity, the courts have great difficulty in telling what titles are legal and what equitable. All these and similar difficulties and hardships are prevented by the plan I propose. "To make myself better understood, I will here give an answer to the petition before set forth: "The answer of William Davis, defendant, to the petition of John Jones, plaintiff, states that the defendant fully paid the amount of said bond and interest thereon in said petition mentioned, to said plaintiff. And the defendant further states that he did not accept the said bill in said petition mentioned; and the defendant further states that the said plaintiff neither is nor ever was the owner of the said north east quarter section of land in said petition mentioned, or in possession thereof; and also that defendant never entered on said land or cut timber thereon. And defendant further states that plaintiff did not pay him the said $250, in said petition mentioned, or any part thereof. WILLIAM DAVIS. "Here is one answer to each of two causes of action at law, and to the cause in equity, and two answers to the other cause of action. The answer to the statement or complaint in equity, is in two lines!" Such is the outline of the plan of law reform recommended by Judge Wells; and although it may make the most radical change, it by no means follows that it is either unsound or impracticable. Everything around us, except the procedure of courts of justice, has felt the influence of reform. In every system of government, philosophy, science, or social conduct, there is but one straight path, and that is Truth. To its fearless spirit, (as a people), we owe everything. Our free institutions are innovations, and the bulk of our legislation is but the correction or abolition of the errors of previous generations. Inquiry, experiment, and reform are the vital elements of a republic, and when they cease to exist, we become ripe for despotism. Selfcorrecting, and directed in search of truth, their effect is controlled by common sense and the welfare of the community. Here the people govern, and it is right that they should see and understand the principles as well as the operations of every department of the machine of government. We confidently believe that the plan suggested by Judge Wells can be carried out with ease and safety. The late "Bankrupt Law" of the United States in empowering the district courts in each district to prescribe suitable rules, regulations and forms of proceedings in all matters of bankruptcy, declared that "in all such rules, regulations and forms, it shall be the duty of the said courts to make them as simple and brief as practicable, to the end to avoid all unnecessary expenses, and to facilitate the use thereof by the public at large." Under this law the dockets of these courts were crowded, and although their process was simple and brief, we have never heard the slightest complaint that injustice had resulted from the absence of technica lity and special pleading. In one case we have known nearly twenty issues, involving the question of fraud in its most varied form, and conflicting titles to real and personal property acted on by the court and jury without a quirk or a quibble, the whole merits of the case being understood by the jury and spectators, and the decision satisfactory to all. In some of the states of the Union there are Probate Courts, which exercise exclusive jurisdiction on decedent's estates, and often adjudicate cases involving large amounts; and also justices of the peace, who have an extensive jurisdiction in cases of debt, trespass, &c. These tribunals try cases on the simplest forms of notice and appearance, and rarely make blunders except when they choose to be led astray by technicality. In relation to the effect of the proposed reform on the bar, our author remarks: "I am altogether of opinion that none of our citizens would derive as much benefit from the proposed change as the legal profession. It is in vain that the lawyer has devoted, both as student and practitioner, so much labor and time to this branch of the law-his labors are not thereby ended-they are like the labors of Sisyphus, never to be ended. Books containing the principles and the forms are ever before him, and ever to be studied. The mere labor of drawing up the pleadings is Herculean. Yet they give him no useful information, or put an additional useful idea in his head. Instead of studying the laws of his country, as a most enlightened science, to be illustrated and enforced by the study and application of the civil law, the code Napoleon, the law of nations, constitutional law, and the laws relating to the science of government generally; and embellishing his legal acquirements by an extensive acquaintance with the arts and sciences-by which he would become a most enlightened and useful citizen, the admiration of others and the pride of his country-instead of doing this, he is almost compelled by the system, to degenerate into a pettifogging caviller about words and phrases and forms, which diminish his intelligence and usefulness; and, by the injustice of which he is the instrument, he becomes odious and his profession disreputable. "Let any gentleman of the profession look at the exalted condition of Cicero and other Roman lawyers before the science of special pleading was introduced into Rome, and contrast that with the condition of the lawyers in the latter days of the empire, so well described by Gibbon." Why should not the American bar commence the work of reform? Why wait until it be done in England? There, no movement will be made, and the technical system will continue to exist until revolution overwhelms it in common with the other abuses, oppressions, and tyrannies of that government. The bar of this country exercises a deserved influence on the public mind, and as a class is generally found on the side of liberal opinion. They can best reform the system, and give it life and energy. Public opinion imperiously demands a thorough and radical change, and if the bar hold back, the work must and will be done by inexperienced and unskilful hands. SONG. FROM THE FRENCH OF BERANGER. "Vous veillerez." You will grow old, alas! my darling fair; When in your wrinkled brow the eye shall hail Shall ask what love your friend lamented bore, Paint, if you can, the fierceness of its flame, It joys that maddened, and its doubts that stung; And, by your tranquil hearth, a good old dame, Repeat the songs which once your lover sung. WASHINGTON IRVING. WERE the fabled temple of Fame for once to become a reality, and rear its cloud-piercing walls upon American soil, on its corner-stone, on its pillared arches, and on its loftiest pinnacle, would be inscribed the name of WASHINGTON IRVING. He is one of the few individuals in the world whose fortunate lot it has been to impose weighty obligations upon a whole nation. The American people are his acknowledged debtors, and amid that glowing list of writers to whom they are beholden for the elevated character of their national literature, his name maintains a conceded pre-eminence, as distinct and decided, as the unanimity with which it is accorded is singular and unprecedented. Seldom if ever has it been the fortune of an individual, known to the public only by his writings, to ingratiate himself so fully in their affections. What magician shall unfold to us the secret of his mysterious power, and define that wonderful charm which pervades his writings, and holds the spirit spell-bound beneath its influence? The most careful analysis of his productions would probably fail to unmask the laughing fairy that lurks among the lines, and flies mocking at our approach. Like the philosopher of old, famed for his toilsome search after an abstract idea, we should be rewarded at best for such an investigation, by only a faint and unsatisfactory glimpse of the retiring fugitive. Humor, natural, pure and sparkling, is evidently the prevailing characteristic of his mind, and one which tinges with its light every other emotion. Not the coarser wit of a Cervantes, a Le Sage, or a Hood, exacting the tribute of frequent and boisterous laughter, but that quiet and subdued spirit of mirthfulness which holds the features perpetually relaxed, banishes care and vexation from the mind, and forces even Misanthropy to look upon the follies and crimes of the world, rather with the smile of pity, than the scowl of hate. Washington Irving, Diedrich Knickerbocker, Geoffrey Crayon, Fray Antonio Agapida, or by whatever other name thou choosest to be known, a million of grateful hearts extend to thee the glad voice of welcome, whenever, from thy wanderings among the flowery fields of fiction, or in the soberer paths of real life, rendered scarcely less gorgeous by the sunlight of a brilliant imagination, thou returnest, bearing choice treasures to their hands. We welcome thee! Once more, and again, we welcome thee to our homes and our firesides. We know thee not, save in thy writings, and in the multiplied counterfeits of thy countenance which adorn our parlors, stare at us from our gift-books, and occasionally, in no Raphael tints, swing, creaking, before our village inns. But we are not unmindful of those intellectual repasts to which we have been heretofore bidden, nor of the savory dishes served up to us in days of yore. We are enchanted travellers in the classic vale of Sleepy Hollow. We are listening to the sound of the spirit howling among the lofty peaks of the Catskill. Side by side with the perplexed and bewildered sleeper we are descending its rugged steeps, mingling with the astonished throng who gaze in awe at his snowy locks and pendant beard, and in the midst of mirth, ready to give a tear to the "poor, weak, infirm old man," who seeks in vain among the representatives of a new generation for the companions of his former years, and exclaims, in the plenitude of despair, "Does nobody know poor Rip Van Winkle?" We are at the village school, and in company with the village pedagogue. The hive-like hum comes from the open casements, and the long-drawn voice of the teacher is heard afar upon the still summer air. The village church is before us, with its deacons devoutly nodding in their pews, and its droning preacher, as he dwells complacently upon his "twenty-ninthly," mocking with his monotonous voice the murmuring streamlet that rattles without; and with the listening spheres we are again silent before the harmony of a choir, to whom the perfection of melody is the nasal twang of its immortalized leader, the straight-haired, lantern-jawed, and slab-sided Ichabod Crane. Katrina Van Tassel, with her dimpled cheek and roguish smile, is before us, and the circle of spell-bound Mynheers, listening, beneath their cloudy canopy of smoke, to tales oft told of ghosts and goblins dire. We hear the midnight shouts of Brom Bones and his dare-devil crew, and the rattling hoofs of the spectral steed are sounding in our ears. The ancient governors of New Amsterdam are about us. Like Banquo's shadowy train they come, linger awhile before our admiring eyes, and depart, leaving behind them a mingled remembrance of rubicund visages, pendulous chins, vast peripherys, half-acre waistcoats, multitudinous breeches, duck legs, flamingo hose, and broad buckled shoes. Peter the Headstrong, Walter the Doubtful, and William the Testy, come back to do homage to the faithful chronicler of their chivalrous deeds, and to threaten with objurgations, happily unknown to the present age, and scarcely less efficacious than their paper proclamations of old, the luckless wight who should impeach their own valor, or their historian's truth. The great Ramm Rapelye is here. His chair of state in the village inn, and his thronging satellites are seen. His oracular voice, preceded by the earthquake like heavings of his mountainous frame, and accompanied by volcanic smoke from his undying pipe, struggles huskily upward. Peechy Prauw, Wolfert Webber, and Dirk Waldron pass smilingly before us, followed by that "little dark mouldy man of medicine," less diminutive in name than in stature-the learned Doctor Knypperhausen. We see again the Black Fisherman, the midnight delvers after the goblin-guarded treasures of the Hudson, Dolph Heyliger, now with his spirit-guide, peering by moonlight into the haunted well, and now gloating over his stores of disinterred gold. Lady Lillycraft, Master Simon, the gentle Julia, Ready-money Jack, and Starlight Tom, are among us. The pale student of Salamanca again lies bleeding among his sheltered retreats, the beautiful Inez is rescued once more by her gallant lover from the dread familiars of the Inquisition, and sweet Annette De Larbre, with returning reason, smiles again upon her lover and upon us. Buckthorne, his booby cousin, and his tattered inamorata, are here, and here the romantic and erudite bandit of Crackscull Common. Nor is the Stout Gentleman absent from this shadowy assemblage. He passes, it is true, with averted face, yet displaying his drab-colored indispensables liberally to our view. The East too, the region of chivalry, the land of enchantment, the home of the genii, unfolds at thy bidding its fairy treasures to our gaze. With thee we dive into the iron-bound caves of the earth, to revel amid unimagined splendors and wealth; we float through the air on the silken carpet of Solomon; we are whisked on enchanted steeds across measureless tracts of land; we watch the mystic sentinel on the lofty towers of the Alhambra, still poising his spear toward the distant invader, and we behold whole armies discomfited, and mighty victories achieved, by the simple touch of a lance on the magical chess-board of the Arabian Sage. Nor is there need of fear lest, departing from these bright gardens of the imagination, filled with beautiful colors and fragrant odors and grateful sounds, into the utilitarian fields of real life, we shall find our guide and |