Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/123

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��tiaving a few years ago publickly assassinated an honorable merchant of that city, and being permit- ted to go at large, on the very spot where the assas- sination was committed, saved from the gallows by this means. With regard to civil cases, the pas- sions meet in conilict as every v, here else, and in- trigue exercises all its power. In suits instituted by foreigners against Anglo American citizens, the ju- ries very seldom decide Jigainst their countrymen^ for patriotism will not always snff'er them to fulfil the strict duties of equity, particularly where it opposes the predominant policy, which is to let no money go out of t)ie country. The laws furnish subterfuges to elude the most clear and tenable ac-* tions, and the judges generally lean to the interest of the country, even when they are conscious it Avants both reason and justice.

Law suits are interminal>le, w hen the lawyers unite for that purpose; and they act with absolute independence, in the direction and prosecution of suits, almost always without consulting the parties, and without asking any information or instruction from them, after they have taken upon themselves the prosecution or defence, and received the docu- ments and papers upon which either is founded. They make the parties pay exorbitant fees, and almost always in advance.

1 might here enumerate other vices and abuses of judicial proceedings in the United States, all li5

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