"The new revelation presumes upon a comparatively improved state of the human mind and of society. It enjoins the practice of 'prudence,' 'temperance,' 'fortitude,' and 'justice' from right motives; but it supposes its disciple to have already learned, in some degree, what constitutes these 'cardinal virtues.' The understanding of the christian must comprehend general principles, and his heart must take in the whole family of religious affections. In the exercise of these consists the essence of christianity. Forms of worship have lost their power. Devotion is within us, or we have no part in it."

p. 17.

In the ages succeeding the introduction of christianity, there was indeed a period of intense darkness, but the light at length burst forth so gloriously and has continued to shine so steadily, that we have good reason to hope for the future advancement of man. After briefly sketching some of the modes in which the improvement of later times has displayed itself, the orator thus proceeds:

"There is one topic, however, intimately connected with the introduction and decline of christianity, and subsequently with the revival of Europe, which the occasion strongly suggests, and which I cannot forbear briefly to touch upon. I allude to the new and more interesting character assumed by woman since those events. In the heathen world, and under the Jewish dispensation, she was the slave of man. Christianity constituted her his companion. But as our religion gradually lost its power in the dark ages, she sunk down again to her deep moral degradation. She was the first to fall in the garden of Eden; and, perhaps it was a judgment upon her, when the whole human character was now low, she sunk the lowest, and was the last to rise again to her original consequence in the scale of being. The age of chivalry, indeed, exalted her to be an object of adoration. But it was a profane adoration, not founded upon the respect due to a being of immortal hopes and destinies as well as man. This high character has been conceded to her at a later period as she has slowly attained the rank ordained for her by heaven. Although this change in the relation of woman to man and to society is both an evidence and a consequence of an improvement in the human condition, yet now her character is a cause operating to produce a still greater improvement. And if there be any one cause to which we may look with more confidence than to others, for hastening the approach of a more perfect state of society; that cause is the elevated character of woman as displayed in the full developement of all her moral and intellectual powers. The conjugal confession of Eve to Adam,

God is thy law, thou mine; to know no more
Is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise,

has grown to be obsolete. The influence of the female character is now felt and acknowledged in all the relations of her life. I speak not now of those distinguished women, who instruct their age through the public press. Nor of those whose devout strains we take upon our lips when we worship. But of a much larger class; of those whose influence is felt in the relations of neighbour, friend, daughter, wife, mother. Who waits at the couch of the sick to administer tender charities while life lingers, or to perform the last acts of kindness when death comes? Where shall we look for those examples of friendship, that most adorn our nature; those abiding friendships, which trust even when betrayed and survive all changes of fortune? Where shall we find the brightest illustrations of filial piety? Have you ever seen a daughter, herself, perhaps, timid and helpless, watching the decline of an aged parent, and holding out with heroic fortitude to anticipate his wishes, to administer to his wants, and to sustain his tottering steps to the very borders of the_grave! "But in no relation does woman exercise so deep an influence, both immediately and prospectively, as in that of mother. To her is committed the immortal treasure of the infant mind. Upon her devolves the care of the first stages of that course of discipline, which is to form of a being, perhaps the most frail and helpless in the world, the fearless ruler of animated creation, and the devout adorer of its great Creator. Her smiles call into exercise the first affections, that spring up in our hearts. She cherishes and expands the earliest germs of our intellects. She breathes over us her deepest devotions. She lifts our little hands and teaches our little tongues to lisp in prayer. She watches over us, like a guardian angel, and protects us through all our helpless years, when we know not of her cares and her anxieties on our acconnt. She follows us into the world of men, and lives in us and blesses us, when she lives not otherwise upon the earth. What constitutes the centre of every home? Whither do our thoughts turn, when our feet are weary with wandering, and our hearts sick with disappointments? Where shall the truant and forgetful husband go for sympathy unalloyed and without design, but to the bosom of her, who is ever ready and waiting to share in his adversity or his prosperity. And if there be a tribunal, where the sins and the follies of a froward child may hope for pardon and forgiveness this side heaven, that tribunal is the heart of a fond and devoted mother." pp. 23-27.

From the extracts which we have given, our readers can judge of the character of this discourse. It appears to us to be written with power and elegance, and we deem it highly creditable to the Order to which the author belongs, that its occasional celebrations can call forth addresses of such a character.

MISCELLANY.

LETTER ON THE NAPOLEON CODE.

THE following letter from one of the most distinguished lawyers of France, to William Sampson, is an answer to one addressed to him by Mr. Sampson, requesting to be informed whether, as was sometimes asserted, the French Codes were already nearly overwhelmed, and would soon be lost sight of, in the multitude of decisions to which they gave rise, as Mr. Sampson had an earnest desire to be set right, if he had been misled in forming a contrary opinion; or whether he was warranted in believing that the five Codes of France, and particularly the Civil Code, were not found, upon full experience, advantageous to the nation and generally approved by the profession and the public.* Such a communication from one of such high reputation, we think of sufficient importance to be made public; for discussions of this sort must be favorable to truth, whatever conclusions or results may be derived from them. This may be a valuable supplement to the publication of Mr. Pishey Thompson, of Washington, which was noticed in the United States Literary Gazette, vol. iv. p. 345.

Paris, 26 June, 1826.

SIR-Your letter of the 20th of April did not come to hand till the 19th of the present month, and I take advantage of a leisure moment to answer it.

* The difference between the practice of the French courts of law and that of our own, and the great difficulty which the French jurists find in comprehending the utility of our legal fictions, are curiously illustrated in the following anecdote. About the year 1792, a suit was brought in one of the New York courts to recover a sum of money due to the Barons D'Espagnac, who were at that time in prison in France on the charge of being royalists. The declaration was in the common form with the usual videlicet when the contract was entered into out of the State, alleging it to have been made within the State where the action was brought, and concluding in the usual manner, that the defendant fraudulently attempting to cheat and deceive the plaintiffs, had not performed his promise, &c. Judgment was given for the plaintiffs, and it became necessary for some purpose of the parties, to send an exemplification of it to France. In the mean time, one of the brothers D'Espagnac had been guillotined, and the party who had been sued in New York, prosecuted the survivor in the Court of Criminal Police, for having obtained his judgment by fraud, inasmuch as he had alleged that he was in America at the very time when in fact he was in prison in France, and also for having falsely affirmed that the defendant had attempted to deceive and cheat him. A French lawyer, who had been a short time in the United States, prepared a memoir in favor of the Baron, in which he stated that the allegations were merely matters of form which the law required, and the truth or falsehood of which were never inquired into; the judges however remained unconvinced. In this dilemma, the unfortunate Baron bethought himself of applying to Mr. Otis, who was then at Paris. Mr. Otis, on reading the copy of the record, saw that he was about being condemned for a mere technical form in our pleadings. He accordingly gave him a certificate explaining the matter, which, as he soon afterwards had the satisfaction of learning, succeeded in removing the incredulity of the judges.

to me.

Your name, sir, had no need of any special recommendation. The elevated object of your letter, and the article accompanying it, are sufficient evidence of your character, patriotism, and talents.

I shall answer, without hesitation, your questions relative to the French legislation, as I can do that from my acquaintance with the subject (connaissance de cause); I must be more reserved upon the question as it respects America, for the like reason.

The promulgation of the five Codes of France has been productive of immense advantage. It has cleared up, simplified, and determined principles hitherto scattered, controverted, and contradictorily applied by the different tribunals.

There were formerly with us more than two hundred written customs, feudal, barbarous, and defective.

A jurisprudence varying with times, persons, jurisdictions, and territories, served to fill up the chasins, by furnishing, upon some points, precedents (des examples), which every pleader laid hold of to turn to his own advantage.

The Roman Law intervened, not as law, but as written reason; non ratione imperii, sed rationis imperio. It was to us a body of doctrine, not of law.

During the last century many general ordinances had been passed, regulating certain branches of legislation; such as donations, testaments, substitutions, waters and forests, &c. ; but jurisprudence in itself was still a confused science, difficult and entangled; and lawsuits were numerous, interminable, and expensive.

The Revolution cleared the ground as to many of these matters; and but for it, in my opinion, Solon and Lycurgus, if placed upon the throne of France, would have failed in every project of reformation. They never would have had the power to silence the opposition raised by local and particular interests.

Napoleon was endowed with a resolute mind, and was moreover placed in a favorable position; he was not called upon to demolish, but to disencumber the law. He caused the five Codes to be drawn up, decreed, and promulgated.

The first and best of them all is the Civil Code. Clear and methodical, neither too much nor too little. The language of the legislator is noble and pure; the rules well defined, and, with the exception of the difficult subject of hypothecations, it has been universally approved; and more now than ever, especially since the immoral law of divorce is retrenched.

The Code of Practice (procédure) has simplified the forms and diminished the costs. That part only is censured which

concerns the forms of alienation-the unhappy companion of the law concerning hypothecations.

The Commercial Code, which in great measure revived the Marine Ordinance of 1681, and the Commercial Ordinance of 1673, is also generally esteemed, with the exception of the insolvent laws (le titre des faillites), of which the insolvents and the creditors both complain.

The Code of Criminal Proceeding (d' instruction criminelle), and the Penal Code, are the latest, and those against which the greatest discontent has been manifested. They were dictated by despotism. They have sometimes been used for political purposes, and liberty has often suffered; and their revision has been called for in the very bosom of the Court of Paris.

But on the whole, these codes, such as they are, have produced much good; their enactment has delivered us from a chaos of antiquated law; we are no longer tormented by varying customs, nor from diversities in jurisprudence since the institution of the regulating and superintending Court of Cassation, to which as to a common centre are directed all the objections to judgments or to jurisdictions.

It is not true, sir, that the authority of precedents has at all prevailed against the text of our codes, nor that we are threatened, in the most distant manner, with the disappearance of the letter of the law under the heap of interpretations. In every discussion, the text of the law is first resorted to, and if the law speaks, then non exemplis sed legibus judicandum est. If the law has not clearly decided on the particular case under discussion, doubtless, it being silent or deficient, the defect is supplied by the judges; but where is the system in which the judgments have not necessarily furnished the complement of legislation. But as I have treated fully of this subject in a little volume entitled De la Jurisprudence des Arrêts, which resembles your common law; it is possible that something worthy the attention of your jurists might be found in it, if made known through a translation from your hand, and I send you a copy which I have taken from my own library.

How far would a textual code of national law benefit your country? My opinion, generally, is, that every country would be the better for laws suited to itself, and that a single code of laws is for many reasons preferable to the confusion of a multiplicity or plurality of particular laws; but upon the precise point whether your country may be ripe for such an enterprise, I cannot pretend to speak.