LETTER IV.

 The bar.

Character of the Minnesota bar—­ Effect of connecting land business with practice—­ Courts—­ Recent legislation of Congress as to the territorial judiciary—­ The code of practice—­ Practice in land cases—­ Chances for lawyers in the West—­ Charles O’Connor—­ Requisite qualifications of a lawyer—­ The power and usefulness of a great lawyer—­ Talfourd’s character of Sir William Follett—­ Blending law with politics—­ Services of lawyers in deliberative assemblies

St. Paul, October, 1856.

I have not yet been inside of a court of justice, nor seen a case tried, since I have been in the territory.  But it has been my pleasure to meet one of the judges of the supreme court and several prominent members of the bar.  My impression is, that in point of skill and professional ability the Minnesota bar is a little above the average of territorial bars.  Here, as in the West generally, the practice is common for lawyers to mix with their profession considerable miscellaneous business, such as the buying and selling of land.  The law is too jealous a mistress to permit any divided love, and therefore it cannot be expected that really good lawyers will be found in the ranks of general business agents and speculators.  In other words, a broker’s office is not a lawyer’s office.  There are some lawyers here who have attended strictly to the profession, who are ornaments of it, and who have met with good success.  The idea has been common, and as fatal as common, that success in legal practice could be easily attained in the West with a small amount of skill and learning.  It is true that a poor lawyer aided by some good qualities will sometimes rise to affluence and eminence, though such cases are exceptions.  There are able layers in the West, and, though practice may be less formal and subtle than in older communities, ability and skill find their relative advancement and reward, while ignorance and incapacity have their downward tendency just as they do everywhere else.  The fees for professional services are liberal, being higher than in the East.  Before an attorney can be admitted to practise he must have an examination by, or under the direction of, one of the judges of the supreme court.  The provisions of the territorial statutes are quite strict in their tendency to maintain upright practice.

An act of the present congress has created a revolution in the courts of the territory.  The organic act, SS 9, provided that the territory should be divided into three judicial districts; “and a district court shall be held in each of said districts by one of the justices of the supreme court, at such times and places as may be prescribed by law.”  This meant, I suppose, at such times and places as the territorial legislature should prescribe.  Accordingly, as population increased and extended,