The Portland daily press., 1896-02-28


one set of rules and the men of another
generation according to another set of
rules, and all according to the regular
and approved practice of the time. The
history of rational medicine being brief,
dating fIom comparatively recent pe.
Rod, borrowing little from antiquity,
comprised almost within the limits OF
our own century, from it's present height
the old profession of medicine, / imagine.
when it tt aces its own history, looks back
upon many mier and bog across which
through the ages its course has led; but
the contrast of the past with the present
only adds glow to the modern triumph,
The clear sight, the severe methods the
free movement, of science, brilliant dis
covery, solid advance, have supplanted
the vagaries of theory and dogma. Keep
ing pace with the footsteps of science,
the maryels of modern discovery are flung
now into the lap of medicine and hand
anu brain are busy in using them for
the service of mankind.
If we venture to cast an eye upon the
theological domain, the same doubt in.
trudes, whether the pathway of that pro-
fession has always been in the light,
whether as to that the same periods of
obscurity and danger cannot be traced
which have darhened the course OF ITS
associates. If we think of the tones OF
theological disputation, and if the idea
should occur TO us that the only word or
life is written somewhere in the depth of
that controversial mass, that the only
fountain of life is flowing somewhere in
che mazes of that wilderness and desert,
the Thought is likely to be solemn, If
not melancholy one. But we remem-
Der that even in the ages of corruption
there were always men in the church
who led the progress of society to better
things, and the names of too many
men in all times, including our own,
who have led the van of civilization and
illustrated in their lives all that was
finest and most excellent in it, crowd
upon the mind and memory to permit us
to dwell too long upon the darker phases
of theological strife.
While we have not realized the dream
of Cicero to which ! have referred, | sup
pose it is true that among the Christian
nations which make up our modern civil
izaJion only TWO systems OF laW-to speak
broadly, generically-only two systems of
law now p1eva = he Roman law and thu
English law; the former wrought out in
the Roman forum, extended in it's sway
by conquest to the very confines of the
ever idening empire, pervading eont1-
mental Europe, ruling to cur times the
great nations which emerged from the
ruins of the empire when 1T fell asun-
der, transplanted to tbe Western Hemis-
phere to govern our southern continent,
the States of South America = the latter
pure growth of the forests of the North.
springing obscurely into life in lands
which the Roman Eagles never reached
or reached only TO be Iepulsed, trans
planted to Britain, fourlshing age after
age most vigorously there, finding its
highest expression in the great charters
of England, crossing the seas, ruling our
North America. distant Australia, and
so encircling the globe
What an inestimable service this Eng
Itch laxp has tn hA dt1P-
ing the closing oentury-the English law,
animated by u love of liberty, fearless
spirit of personal ind spendence, unknown
to the Civil Law as it was to the II >ent
civilizations, the Saxon spirit of equity
and freedom;-l everywhere supreme,
arbitrary power nowhere deposited, DO
exceptional offences, no extraordinary
tribunals, no SOY ereign comm; n | can
Justify all Illegal act, no penalty except
for violation of law: equity and utility
its permanent and true foundations, the
vital relation between the national JUS
tice and the national existence never for
gotten; system of law that assumes no
final form, everywhe capable of change,
growth, progress, the necessary Incidents
of vitality in systems of law as OF life
elsew here and the absence of " hich is it,
self q sign CT decay.
l will not dwell upon the history of
the English bar. 1t is enough to say that
only open avenue, for young men born in
thu humber walks of life to all the hon.
ors and the highest service of the State.
In our own country l Iced only refer to
the age of the formation and adoption of
our Federal Constitution. to the mar
Vicious legal learning and skill which
were expended in framing and vindicat-
ing it's provisions, in silenoing faction.
reconciling clashing interests, and in Sc
curing the reluctans assent of the angry
and almost hostile states; and to the
later, had almost said the greater, age
of the expounding of the Constitution,
the age of Marshall and Story and Web
ster.
The law too in its own way, I believe,
keeps pace with the marvellous advance
of society. At the beginning of the pres
emit CENTURY there were two hundred capi-
tai felonies in England; now there are
four. Time is wanting tO speak OF this
progress in detail. Blind and cruel pro-
cesses have been discarded. Fictitious
crimes have Disappeared, penalties have
been softensd. the domestic relations lift
ed to truer plane, civil and criminal
procedure and evidence improved, land
titles relieved in large degree from the
technicalites of that vast and cumbrous
system into which violence, turbulence
and rapine organized society under the
feudal law, and in the clearer light of
modern times, the great principles of law
have been applied with more accurate
and extensive knowledge with iuster dis
elimination, to the problems of advance
ing civilization, increasing intercourse,
| wider com MERGE. larger and more varied
interest, su hitler rights of property, multi
piled and diversified industries, and to
all the relations of complicated society
throbbing with busy life, pursuing its
aims restlessly as with fever in myriad
| fields.
Ii is my firm conviction that the love
of liberty, of liberty regulated by law
and the general and habitual reverence
for and obedience to the Constitution and
the laws are the only ties which can sure
ly hold together this vast Republic. In
this great, free country Of ours, where
the danger is that liberty will be loosed
too far from law and turbulence and ex-
cess will prevail. the happiness and the
safety of The people are largely involved
| in their respect for and obedience to law.
According to its own maxim the safety
of the people IS in the last resort, the
highest law; SO the law itself is, in the
language of the toast, the supreme guide
and safety of "a free people.
Our highest courts are placed where all
that is valuable to the citizen, the lowest
| or the loftiest, may at any moment be at