Des Arc citizen., 1859-09-14

most cases, the individual has been successful
 and the government has had to succumb. l is already substantially conceded that it is nt part of the functions of a political govern
 ment to bank, to trade, to lend money, to mak
 internal improvements and the tendency Q the public mind is to question the right of tn
 government to say who shall transport ou
 letters and newspapers; who shall superinten'
 the instruction of our poor children; and, in
 deed, almost all the other political powers
 save those which are absolutely necessary t
 keep one mans hands off another, and to main
 tain invielate the universal and common right
 of life, liberty, and property. The absence
 of all legislation upon these and kindred sub
 jects, of course, diminishes the sources of liti
 gation, which can only spring from viola
 tion, alleged or real, of some existing law.
 Such being the tendency, then, of the demo cratic faith, to limit the functions and prerog
 atives of the governing power, and to enlarge the moral authority of the individual con
 science, we have a standard whereby to mea
 sure the relative necessity, and therein thu relative prospects of the legal profession, as [ distinct order of industry. If we find any source of litigation permanently closed, anc no other of equal magnitude opened, we infel that the professional prospects of the lawyers are to that extent obscured.
 We would now ask if there can be any room for doubt that the prevailing and popular legis' lation upon the subject of banking, upon the right of eminent domain, and therein of inter- nal improvements generally-upon the whole subject of chartered privileges, whereby the government enters into competition with indi- viduals-upon the subject of religious estab- ishments-haye dried up innumerable sources or litigation. Take the. subject of religious establishments, which is the only one of those enumerated from which the American govern ment has, in theory, at least, entirely di- vorced itself; and compare the litigation in this country, to which.it gives rise, with the same subject in England, The collection and distribution of churchrevenue, and the recon ciliation of conflicting interests under the En- glish church establishment, have occasioned more. laws suits, in England, than any subject of legislation whatever in this country. Their books are filled with reported cases. We have scarcely any of it. The same remark may be applied to the other instances we have pre- sented. to the extent that government has withdrawn from their administration.
 Of akindred birth and tendency, though less articulate, are the exemption laws, the stay laws, the appraisal laws, the bank suspension laws, and the repudiation laws. All are the incoherent stammerings of principle asyet but imperfectly developed But when truth has thus far Eswreaked itself upon express sion," there is no power on the earth, or in the waters under the earth, to resist it's supre- macy. It will agitate, twill struggle, it will writhe; but it will have utterance. It may succumb for a season; but it will not be cheat ed of single fraction or tithing of it's empire over the heart and mind of man. We look for the time, and that soon, when the political parties shall decide upon the expediency, if not the constitutionality, of protecting con- tracts by law, and when the present offices of the judiciary shall, in this particular, be very seriously restricted. a
 These influences, seriously as they are oper- ating, are but the parents of the giant brood of tendencies which are efecting the over throw of the ancient dignities and eminence of the legal profession. The instinct of indivi- dual 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 credit which he cannot be sure to cancel before it becomes a bond. Neither will he give credit which he thinks may cripple his independence, by being ful or stupid man, what he cannot. afford to lose. Just in proportion, then, as the doctrine ofindividuality obtains, willcommercial credit be based upon the combined honesty and saga city of the borrowers. When these two con .ditions of mercantile transaction are guaran- tied, the creditor seldom has occasion for legal protection or assistance.
 True, long time must elapse before the condition we have indicated will be realized. True, the indications we have alluded to are tendencies pointing to given result. True, we have somewhat anticipated the results with which we believe the future is freighted. But we have magnifed existing tendencies only that they may be the more clearly seen. All their proportions are preserved; and we have the frmest 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. We enever knew single truth satisfied to share its em- pire 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 it's complete and entire supremacy. IVANHOE.
 | AN EXPRESSIVE SImILE.-A New York mercantile house held an unsettled claim of long standing against a lame duck tout West and hearing he was be- coming s'well-to-do," sent their claim on to a Wesrern lawyer, to collect. In due