The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-12 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

DANIEL THE PROPHET Reflections on his
Lie and Character. By the Rev Thomas Knox.
This excellent little hook is written in a spirit of
unaffected piety, altogether free from anything ap-
proaching to cant, intolerance, or dogmatism. Its
object is not to dwell on the sublime revelations of
the Chaldo Judnean Seer, or to search into the mean-
ing of those wondrous prophecies which have occu-
pied the minds of so many good and learned men
from Newton to Allwood. The author restricts
himself to an elucidation of the Prophet's character
and life, dwelling upon his strong faith, and exhorting
with a gentle earnestness to emulate his devotion,
and unfailing reliance upon the Supreme. Among
the many sound and practical observations with
which these pages abound, none are more worthy
of attentive consideration than those on the necessity
of the regular observance of prayer, its duty and
privilege, its object, its hinderance, and the distinc-
tion between private and public devotion. The fol-
lowing paragraph on the revenues of the Established
Church proving a clog on its more important duties
evinces the writer to be a divine untainted with
bigotry, and sensible of the genuine interests of his
order :
" Unhappily, there always has been, and still is, in
the Church a struggle for wealth and power; the une-
qual mode in which her revenues are divided has fostered
and raised up this very defect. The original founders of
the system seem to have forgotten that the vessel used
for the work of the ministry was but a week and frail
one, or they would not have placed temptation within
their view to the extent that has been done. There
must be always, in every profession, grades and ranks of
different degrees, in which greater duties and higher
responsibilities call for larger means. It would be in-
possible, if prudent even, that all should have alike in
this more than in oilier situations of lice; but still it is
much to be feared that the temporalities of our venerable
Establishment have often been a clog on the spiritual and
more important duties, from the mode in which they
have been constituted; and odium has often been cast
upon it, as if the aggrandisement of its members was
their sole care. It is to be hoped, however, that be' ter
times have now commenced, and that if an undue love of
wealth and power were a subject of complaint at one
time among the clergy, the same cause no longer exists,
or in a very diminished ratio."
That these considerations are not set at nought by
the hierarchy we sincerely trust, for the sake of the
overwrought and underpaid curates. Want of space
precludes our saying further than that a better or
more interesting volume for the leisure moments of
either sex, of whatever age or station, has seldom
tallen under our consideration, and we cordially unite
with the author in his deserving wish, " that this
little book may be kindly received into every one's
library."

A SUMMARY OF THE LAW OF ATTOR-
NEYS AND SOLICITORS. By Alexander

Pulling, Esg , Barrister at Law.
We have lately called the attention of our readers
to Mr. Samuel Warren's able and eloquent "Lectures
on the Moral, Social, and Professional Duties of At-
torneys and Solicitors," a work of which we spoke in
recommendatory terms, as containing much wisdom
thd valuable information, and addressing itself with
a voice of el, quest admonition to the candidates for
admission into the junior branch of the legal profes-
sion. 'Co encourage them to the pure mad high-
minded discharge of important social duties—to in-
spire them at the very threshold of their professional
life with a proper sense of their office and its obliga
ions—was the object Mr. Warren proposed to him-
-elf, and the execution was worthy of the design.
Ilse work now betore U 3 is of a different character
Practical, lucid, and laborious, Mr. Pulling treats of
attorneys and solicitors, as the subjects of a chapter
in jurisprudence. He has written a compendium
of the Statute and Common Law, as it affects them
mediately or immediately, in relation to the Courts
of Law or Equity, as their officers, or in relation to
their clients, as their intimate agents, and repositories
of their most important interests. He treats of their
qualifications, their modes of admission, their pe-
culiar functions, their privileges and exceptions,
their liabilities and disabilities, the various duties
incident to their business, of proceedings by or against
them. Assuming that Mr. Warren has sufficiently
taught what religion and morality expect, Mr.
Pulling details what the law requires. " The aim
of the present work," says its clever author, "is to
afford to attorneys and solicitors concise practical
instructions as to the regulations, rights, duties, and
liabilities which are peculiar to their profession, and
to serve as a digested index and work of reference for
members of my own branch of the profession, on the
multifarious points which arise in court on the law of
attorneys." Further on he observes, " The attorney
may here, perhaps, find a safe guide in the practice of
his profession according to law; but with respect to
what is strictly just, proper, and honourable, he must
seek another mentor." His was no scanty subject for
a legal treatise, and the eight closely printed chapters
into which this body of law is condensed fully
testify to the author's industry, care, ability, and
method. Not a single position is advanced
without the authority on which it rests
being quoted ; and when we add, that
the number of cases cited amount to more than 1,500
some idea may be formed of the patient and indefati-
gable zeal which animated the author in the prosecu-
tion of his well-directed labours. But the work does
not consist of legal matter only, though to arrange
and express the law, and the law merely on a given
subject, logically and concisely, as Mr. Pulling has
done, is a great merit. It is interspersed throughout
with original observations well worthy of attention,
and becoming a sound and liberal judgment. In his
chapter on the office of attorneys and solicitors in
conveyancing he thus proceeds :
" Tne great improvements which have of late years
taken place in the education of attorneys and solicitors
must necessarily have the effect of rencering them mots-
qualified to perform the onerous and multifarions duties
which have now, by long custom, devolved on them.
Practical knowledge, habits of business, and of personal
investigation, familiarity with the leading rules of evi-
dence, and of the ingredients which generally constitute
rights and titles (no less than legal know!, dge). point out
tors class of practitioners as the best qualified for th.
duties which are thus entrust. d to them; and expert
ence has shown that the interests of the public ere better
urott cted by the system of a respectable attorney being.
on all ucca-ions of legal diffit•ulty. employed in the first
instance, than either by negotiations being conducted
thr-ugh unqualified, uneducated, and less responsible
parties, or, on the other hand, the services of barristers,
however highly qualified, being personally retained be
-ore all the facts and circumstances to which their legal
knowledge is to he applied have been correctly and com-
pletely arrang.d."
fes-i
differenceo
attorney,n
-there is much candid truthfulness in this judicious tri
b es
and
nwe
deneonud
petophnaer t
vocationshr
e from thiso
peculiarf c
ao
pr
brraeo
rev::
province,
ctneedr,
Bute by Mr. Pulling to the other branches of his pro-
t
impartial spirit in his remarilts in another page upoo
tahned
functions, and general duties of the latter. We have
not space for other extracts; the subject itself is not
one with which we profess to be very familiar, but
its grave and increasing importance, the widely-ex-
tended influence, social and political, of the body for
whom it is properly intended, and a pleasure arising
from the inspection of a well-written law book—a
literary result not of daily occurrence—has tempted
us to make these observations, and to offer a brief
criticism on a work which eminently deserves atten-
tion. Mr. Pulling had already, in publishing his
compendium of the " Law of Mercantile Accounts,"
undertaken less extensive though scarcely less useful
labours. On that occasion, as on this, he has given
to his profession, and the public, a book of more than
ordinary merit ; and if industry, method, learning,
and talent can promote him, Mr. Pulling will not be
last among the legal authors of the present day.

ROME : the Rock on which Louis Napoleon will be

Wrecked.

Nothing could be better-timed than this pamphlet,
the subject being one of the utmost interest both to
Englishmen and to the whole of Europe; it is ad-
dressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The
policy of our Government is made to undergo a
searching examination, and the exposure of it is so
complete that the generality of newspaper readers,
who have regarded the expedition against Rome
as having no other object than to restore it to a
settled state of government, and as being a matter in
which our Foreign-office took no concern, will find it
shown, to their great surprise, that our Government
has been from the very first, and is still, in secret
alliance with France and the foreign Powers, and
that all that has been done by the French Assembly
to cru,h the Republic of Rome, has been done with
the conniving good• will of the British Cabinet. This
fact is set in the strongest possible light; after
exposing the shuffling language in which _Lord
Lansdowne meets the charge, the writer thus pro-
ceeds : _ _ _

" The language of Lord John Russell and of Lord
Palmkrston was as quibbling and ambiguous in the one
House, as that of Lord Lansdowne had been in the
other. On the 11.11 of June Mr. Hume said—

" • That not observing the Foreign Secretary, to whom
he had given notice of his intention to ask a question, he
would put that question to the Noble Lord at the head of
the Government. It related to our connexion with the
French proceedings against Rome. It was alleged
publicly that we had concurred in all the proceedings of
the French against Rome, and he thought that those pro.
ceediugs were most objectionable (Loud cries of
Hear")—being ourselves a Government depending on
7,lgdg. been lie, therefore,
given, therefore, wished to
to what extent
k
the will of the people as the French Government was—
he had observed with regret that we were involved in
the Srech of the President, as having age eed to, and
concurreifd
ouinr,
ctl,relsceu
rreoici
ce,e.dhi
and in what manner it had been given, and in what we
were now connected with them.'
"The above questions are clearly and distinctly put,
and were open to a plain and specific answer.
"Now mark the answer given:—
" Lord John Russell slid,' that as far as he was con-
cerned, he had not received any notice whatever of the
lion. Gentleman's intention to put this question. 14