There Are So Many People From So Many
Different Places!
Then everybody is a stranger to almost everybody,
and therefore quite willing to get acquainted with somebody.
Everybody
wants a bit of information on some point. Everybody is going to some
place where he thinks somebody has been or is going, and so a great
many new acquaintances are made without ceremony or delay; and old
acquaintances are revived. I find people who have come from all
sections of the country from the east and the west, and from the
south not adventurers merely, but men of substance and means, who
seek a healthier climate and a pleasant home. Nor can I here omit to
mention the meeting of my friend, Col. A. J. Whitney, who is one of
the pioneers of Minnesota, and with whom I had two years before
travelled over the western prairies. A. H. Marshall, Esq., of Concord,
N. H., well known as a popular speaker, is also here on a visit.
But what are the roads leading from St. Paul, and what are the
facilities of travel to places beyond? These are questions which I
suppose some would like to have answered. There is a road to
Stillwater, and a stage, which I believe runs daily. That is the route
now often taken to Lake Superior. This morning three men came in on
that stage from Superior, who have been a week on the journey. The
great highway of the territory extends as far as Crow Wing, 130 miles
north of here. It passes St. Anthony and several important towns on
the eastern bank of the Mississippi. In a day or two I intend to take
a journey as far as Crow Wing, and I can then write with more
knowledge on the subject.
A very pretty drive out of St. Paul is by the cave. This is an object
worth visiting, and is about two miles out of the city. Three or four
miles beyond are the beautiful falls of Minnehaha, or laughing water.
The drive also takes in Fort Snelling. St. Anthony is on the east side
of the Mississippi; Minneapolis is opposite, on the west side. Both
places are now large and populous. The main street of St. Anthony is
over a mile in length. One of the finest water powers in the Union is
an element of growth to both towns. The lumber which is sawed there is
immense. A company is undertaking to remove the obstructions to
navigation in the river between St. Paul and St. Anthony. $20,000 were
raised for the purpose; one-half by the Steamboat Company, and the
other half by the people of St. Anthony. The suspension bridge which
connects Minneapolis with St. Anthony is familiar to all. It is a fit
type of the enterprise of the people. I forget the exact sum I paid as
toll when I walked across the bridge perhaps it was a dime; at any
rate I was struck with the answer given by the young man who took the
toll, in reply to my inquiry as I returned, if my coming back wasn't
included in the toll paid going over? " No," said he, in a very
good-natured way, "we don't know anything about coming back; it's all
go ahead in this country."
LETTER IV.
THE BAR.
Character of the Minnesota bar Effect of connecting land business
with practice Courts Recent legislation of Congress as to the
territorial judiciary The code of practice Practice in land
cases Chances for lawyers in the West Charles O'Connor Requisite
qualifications of a lawyer The power and usefulness of a great
lawyer Talfourd's character of Sir William Follett Blending law
with politics Services of lawyers in deliberative assemblies
ST. PAUL, October, 1856.
I HAVE not yet been inside of a court of justice, nor seen a case
tried, since I have been in the territory. But it has been my pleasure
to meet one of the judges of the supreme court and several prominent
members of the bar. My impression is, that in point of skill and
professional ability the Minnesota bar is a little above the average
of territorial bars. Here, as in the West generally, the practice is
common for lawyers to mix with their profession considerable
miscellaneous business, such as the buying and selling of land. The
law is too jealous a mistress to permit any divided love, and
therefore it cannot be expected that really good lawyers will be found
in the ranks of general business agents and speculators. In other
words, a broker's office is not a lawyer's office. There are some
lawyers here who have attended strictly to the profession, who are
ornaments of it, and who have met with good success. The idea has been
common, and as fatal as common, that success in legal practice could
be easily attained in the West with a small amount of skill and
learning. It is true that a poor lawyer aided by some good qualities
will sometimes rise to affluence and eminence, though such cases are
exceptions. There are able layers in the West, and, though practice
may be less formal and subtle than in older communities, ability and
skill find their relative advancement and reward, while ignorance and
incapacity have their downward tendency just as they do everywhere
else. The fees for professional services are liberal, being higher
than in the East. Before an attorney can be admitted to practise he
must have an examination by, or under the direction of, one of the
judges of the supreme court. The provisions of the territorial
statutes are quite strict in their tendency to maintain upright
practice.
An act of the present congress has created a revolution in the courts
of the territory. The organic act, SS 9, provided that the territory
should be divided into three judicial districts; "and a district court
shall be held in each of said districts by one of the justices of the
supreme court, at such times and places as may be prescribed by law."
This meant, I suppose, at such times and places as the territorial
legislature should prescribe.
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