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(signed)CHARLES COTESWORTH PlNCKNEY. J. Marshall. E. Gerry. The Ministers Plenipotentiary and Envoys Extra ordinary from the United States of America to the French Republic, to the Citizen Minister of Exterior Relations, M. Ch. Man. Talleyrand. Paris, January 17, 1798, in the 22d year of American Independence.

the assent of all or any of the maritime powers of Europe, she never conceived the idea of obtaining that consent by force. The United States will only arm to defend their own rights, neither their policy nor their interests permit them to arm in order to compel a surrender of the rights of others."

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, ATTORNEY AT LAW. By Benjamin F. Washer of the Ixxjisville, Ky., Bar. II.

HE who attempts to pick from the im mense volume of Shakespeare's works, words and references of a peculiar kind, has before him a task at once difficult and dan gerous. To make the production exhaus tive is all but impossible, to premise an ar gument on any result short of that proportion lays one liable to the charge of falsification and unfairness. Not only is it a matter of infinite pains taking to discover the objects of one's search, but the phrases, when found, must be construed and criticised. Law terms are nothing if not elastic and even elusive, and different positions on a question supply conflicting interpretations. It is therefore the attitude of discretion to confess the imperfection of both citation and conclusion, admit the grounds for oppo sition and contest and thus avoid the shafts of those who differ. In this spirit quite a number of quotations are made and a few suggestions offered. The following references to law and its administration seem rather the utterances of one who had been ground in the machinery of the courts than the sentiments of him who has done the grinding:

"In the corrupted currents of this world Offence's gilded hands may shove by justice, And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself buys out the law." "Plate sin with gold. And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks." "Laws for all faults, But faults so countenanced, that the strong statutes, Stand like the forfeits in a barber's shop, As much in mock as mark." "In law what plea so tainted and corrupt But being seasoned with a gracious voice, Obscures the show of evil." "See how yon justice rails upon yon simple thief, Hark in thine ear; change places: and handy- dandy, Which is the justice, which is the thief." ' ' Not ever the justice and the truth o' the question carries The due o' the verdict with it." Shakespeare deals most unkindly with lawyers. His every reference to them is opprobrious or very much akin thereto. In Henry VI, Cade's followers are discus sing the changes to be wrought by the revo lution and reforms thereafter to be inaug urated. Dick suggests to Cade — "The first thing to do, let's kill all the lawyers," to which Cade responds —