come to be only less than that of the Deity, while the story of the Empire which he founded is as a beacon light to guide the nations. The Western World has been won to free institutions by the glorious examples of Washington and Bolivar; the stern Mohammed has molded the character of the millions of the Moslem faith, while all christendom has been softened and humanized by the story of the meek and lowly Nazarene.

Many considerations render the history of the English court particularly instructive, and lend to it a peculiar charm. In most countries the courts have sprung from the necessities of the government; in England the government has been developed from the meeting of the wise men among the Anglo Saxons. This judicial assembly was the germ of parliament, the foundation on which has been erected that magnificent structure of the English constitution. Then too, the wise policy of the law is to make the course of justice straight and its rules uniform by a constant appeal to precedent. An ancient foundation is sought for every pillar that is wrought into this frame work. We have that strange phenomenon of a system of rules, closely conforming to the stare decisis, rigidly adhering to established precedent, yet still keeping pace with a progressive race and adapting itself to the changing circumstances of successive ages. In the history of such a conservative system, shall we not find a record from which are eliminated many confusing digressions, many of those strange freaks which pass over the public mind with the fury and rapidity of a cyclone and are only to be accounted for by the curious student of enigma; shall we not find abundant data for the reason, free from those factors which serve only to complicate the problems of history?

This legal chronicle has no narrow boundary. It embraces the various definitions and regulations of domestic and social relations, the recognition of every right, the redress of every wrong, and the punishment of every crime known among men ; it includes the laws of commerce their growth and developement with all the manifold rules which govern the transfer and transmission of property, which point out the rights and duties of the individual, and limit the power of the state.

On this field also, have been fought our great battles for in

dividual and religious liberty, for freedom of speech and of the press. Here we have seen innumerable victims consigned to the dungeon, the scaffold, the gibbet and the torch by the bigotry of religious sects and from their martyrdom we have learned, strictly to divorce church and state. Here we may see the progress of that struggle which gradually liberated the subject from the despotism of the crown, from the clutches of the messenger of the star chamber, the oppression of general warrants, commitments for contempt of the Chancery Court and the horrors of a debtor's prison. Here we may see John Hampton vindicating the rights of Englishmen by resisting the extortion of ship-money. Here we may see Lord Camden at the Bar of the House of Lords, and Thomas Erskine at Nist prius and Westminster pleading for the liberty of the press.

The court is the great labratory of the legislator in which all his work is tested and the results registered with unerring accuracy. It never fails to show the folly of a bad law, and is rich with suggestion to the careful student. The history of decided cases is to the lawyer and legislator, what past discoveries and experiments are to the scientist of to-day. But to the masses of mankind the annals of justice have a far greater interest and significance. On its fair and impartial administration depend all our liberties, all our security, all our property. This must be guarded with the most zealous care, and fortified with all the wisdom and learning which intelligence can wrest from reason, or painstaking investigation can gather from antiquity.

Arbitrary power has ever tried to control the judiciary for its own evil designs. But English speaking people have always appealed to its history and pleaded the immemorial enjoyment of their privileges and immunities. The stubborn adherence to these traditionary rights and liberties in the popular mind, checked the rapacity of the Norman conquerors, and, being put into definite form and reduced to writing by various charters and bills of rights, became the antidote to tyranny, restraining oppressive legislation by parliament, and overthrowing the despotism of the Stuarts. It was to these ancient rights of Englishmen that our fathers of the revolution laid claim; and

from the history of the courts of common law we have derived the salutary principles of our constitutions.

In this country the judicial power like all other, proceeds mediately or immediately from the franchises of the people. Public opinion has come to both make and administer the law. As easily can one man or set of men abide the ebb and flow of the mighty ocean, as to withstand the full tide of an enlightened public sentiment. Such being the case, we are compelled not only to train a body of skilled men tor the practical work of the court, but also to move the popular understanding and sympathy to their support. We must educate the voter; must let all the light of history fall on the path of our electors and ever formulate and keep alive a wise and righteous public sentiment on all questions, of insurance, of foreign policy or domestic economy.

In the last few decades the rapid growth of trade, commerce and manufactures, owing to the extensive use of steam and electricity, has greatly involved some of our old difficulties, and brought into the body politic some new problems for legislation and adjudication. These daily increase and call for increased learning to understand, and skill to apply the eternal principles of justice and equity. But for our most reliable information and our best guides we must still turn to the pages of history and the great law-makers of antiquity. Whatever the issue, whether it be the conflicting claims of labor and capital, intemperance, monopoly, sociology, official corruption, or municipal misrule, still we must see to it that our highest interests are always intrusted to men for whom the records of history have not been written in vain.

Arthur B. Camp.

MAGNA CHARTA.

There is no event in the history or growth of the English constitution of more importance to the world than the signing of the great charter, known in law as Magna Charta, by King John. It was a strife of Kingly and Baronial power. The king was one, and the barons were many.

The king, to restore his territory lost on the continent and to regain his prestige, proposed another war, and sought to lead a feudal army into Normandy. The barons utterly refused to obey his behests, insisting that they were not bound to render military service abroad.

Out of the great councils held for the discussion of baronial rights grew the first clear idea of representative government. At a grand council held at St. Albans, there were present, not alone the ordinary collection of bishops and barons, but the head men and four delegates from each township of the king's domains, as though it had been a county court.

Here was a definite order of representation by men charged to express the opinions of their constituents. They brought out the laws of King Edward, the Confessor, and the engagements or charter of Henry I, and drew up a document founded on them, prepared to exact the King's pledge to be ruled by these important precedents.

When John found himself at liberty to look after things at home his first purpose was to make war upon the barons and compel them to submission. But they were too powerful,and he was compelled to yield to their demands. In a beautiful meadow, overlooked by the towers of Windsor Castle, the barons surrounded King John and compelled him to affix the great seal to the charter of English Rights, which they called Magna Charta, and which has from that day to this been preserved by all English speaking peoples.

THE MORMONS

AND

THE TREATY WITH MEXICO.

In justification of the practice of polygamy, two things are presumptuously claimed by the Mormons and some of their apologists and defenders, under the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, as follows:

First. They say this treaty with Mexico, made and ratified on the 30th day of May, A. D. 1848, secured to the Mormons, under the Mexican colonization law, Mexican citizenship; and second, that when the Mormons entered the Territory of Utah, polygamy existed as a part of their religion, and, therefore, its practice was secured to them under said treaty, because it was a part of their religious faith.

It will be remembered, that the Mormons have resided as a people in the United States of America for many years. Under the leadership of Brigham Young they entered Great Salt Lake Valley, near the present locality of Salt Lake City, on the 24th day of July, A. D. 1847. They entered as a colony from the United States, with the flag of the United States, which they unfurled on Ensign Peak, as a token of their citizenship, and of their allegiance, and claimed the protection of the Government of the United States against Mexico and all the world.

It will also be remembered that, at and before that time, the United States and Mexico were at war with each other, and that Brigham Young and his Mormon confederates, on their own request had been permitted to furnish an entire battalion of Mormon soldiers to the United States Army for the Mexican War, and that this battalion was, at and before this time, in the field of operations against Mexico, and so remained until the close of the war. This fact has been paraded by Brigham Young and the Mormon Priests before the public, on all occasions, from that time to this. And it is a well authenticated fact, that the first installment due from the United States to this