pudiated the payment of his just debts, he told the Recorder, in broken English, it was one grand imposition, for in France, he said, "you see, de collair, de ruffle, de dickey, de tout ensemble, be reckon de one whole shirt. Me will pay for de shirt-me no comprehend de pieces." The fact was, that the Frenchman conceived that four bits, instead of one dollar and a half, was the legal amount due and owing to Mrs. McMonahan. On the code of practice adopted by the washerwoman, however, being explained to him, he "footed" the bill, and footed out of the office in a rage. AN IMPOSTURE. "Hypocrisy! in mercy spare it! Ir a mental microscope were constructed by which we could discern men's motives and scan their incentives to action, how many impostures would we find in the world! what unrevealed mysteries would be brought to light! We would find men bearing the livery of religion, pointing to heaven, and professing to lead the way, with hearts black as their clothing -men concealing under the garb of piety souls leavened with sin. We would find affected patriots thundering their anathemas against the corruption of men in power, whilst their own boasted political purity might be properly construed as love of place. We would see the man who in public is most loud in his laudations of morality, in private the most active abettor of vice. We would see men professing a universal or unbounded love for all mankind, inveighing at the success of his friend or neighbour. We would see, in a word, that men are not, in every instance, what they seem to be. But we did not mean to write an essay on hypocrisy in general-we meant but to speak of humbug in particular; or rather, to tell of William Weithman, a loafer of the upper crust soap-lock order, whom we saw up before the Recorder yesterday. "William Weithman?" said the Recorder, in a tone which told there was something not very complimentary in store for William. A full-faced, fuddled-looking individual answered, “Here, sir," to his honour's call. "Johanna Van Dernwall?" cried out the Recorder-and a flaxen-haired, blue-eyed, plump-looking girl instantly made her appearance. "Are you not a pretty fellow?" said the magistrate to William, viewing him with an eye of disapprobation. William, without making any reply, put his hand on the crown of his head, and let it fall down over his coat collar to the extremity of his chesnut-coloured locks, as much as to say "Well, I rather guess I am." "State your complaint against this man," said the Recorder, addressing Miss Johanna. "Vell, I vill," said the pretty Dutch girl, curtseying to his honour, and she continued-"Ven I vash in de market dish mornin', he comes up and he says, 'I vansh a cup o' coffee,' and he says, 'I vansh a tother cup o' coffee, and I vansh egghs, and pred, and a tother cup o' coffee, and ven he dranks all me cuphs o' coffee, and hates mine egghs and mine pred, I says yoush siksh bit to pay,' and he say 'I no pay; I belonghs to de shick soshiety: I sthays up vid every von vot ish not vell; I'm de charity man!' sho I calls dish man, [the Commissary of the market] and he takesh him up." "Yes," said the Commissary, "I know him to be a loafer and an impostor. The men who belong to the different benevolent societies are young gentlemen of standing and character-they would not associate with such a fellow as that! Why, it was only a few minutes before I arrested him, that I saw him turned out of the 'Pig and Whistle! he had two drinks, and would not pay for them, because he said he belonged to the Fil-anthropic Association! I'll be swoun, your honour, if he don't look like a quack-doctor!" William begged to be heard in his defence. "May it please the court," he said, "you see before you the victim of a wicked, malignant and undeserved persecution. I never said I belonged to any humane society; I never said I was a member of any charitable association; but I did say, sir, I repeat it now, that I was a poor, penniless individual; that the epidemic stared me in the face, and that, were it for no other motive than to prevent me being a burthen on the benevolence of your citizens, it behooved me to partake of the means of sustenance whereever I found it. Sir, I maintain that this was acting on first principles-that it was obeying the dictates of nat " "Silence, sir," said the Recorder, "I have heard enough from you. I shall commit you for thirty days. Take him out," LAW IN MISSISSIPPI. 167 and in an instant an officer, who had been all along waiting for the closing word of condemnation, took him out. Weithman muttered something as he went with the officer, about "Man, vain man, dressed in a little brief authority." The Recorder paid the Dutch girl, from his own private resources, her six bits, and so the trial terminated. LAW IN MISSISSIPPI; OR, AN OFFENSIVE DEFENCE. PERHAPS the jurisprudence of Mississippi within the last few years has given birth to a wider range of pleading, and brought forth more pure, native, forensic eloquence than the highest tribunal of our country in the mean time. Few persons, being strangers and not "to the manner born," who should enter one of the roughly constructed temples of justice in the interior counties of the state, before the solemn "Oyez! oye?! oyez !" of the crier proclaimed its formal opening, could, from a hasty glance at the bench, the bar, the inferior officers, litigants and loafers, anticipate the legal research, the great professional ability and lofty eloquence which, like a subterranean stream struggling to be free, were shortly to burst forth to the light of day and the edification of all whose good fortune it might be to obtain a verdict in their favour. Who could suppose-not knowing the parties-that he in the threadbare black coat, with the bran bread countenance, who asks the man in the brown flannel frock for a chew of tobacco-who, we say, could suppose that he holds the fortunes, ay the lives of free and independent Mississippians within his grasp; that he it is that wields the sword of justice and poises its scales in the air of law and equity. And again, who could imagine that that rollicking, good looking young man, with his feet on the bench, or rather on the deal table before the bench, who is arguing with the ex-bank director on the right of repudiation-who could imagine that under so rough an exterior there lay hidden so much law, so much learning, so much pristine talent, so much pure pathos. But the report of a single case will illustrate our several points better than if we generalized through whole pages. We shall, therefore, select a case from the records of the late term of the Copiah county court, which, we think, will bear us out in our prefatory remarks. This case stood No. 9 on the docket, and was endorsed "Thomas Taylor vs. William Mackew." "Taylor vs. Mackew-Holwell and Harnett ?" said the clerk, reading from the fixed cases. "Ready," said Holwell. 66 Ready," echoed Harnett. The crier called silence, first expectorating as much tobacco juice on the floor as would send Charley Dickens into a swoon; the witnesses were called, the jury were empannelled and the case proceeded. It was an action by which the plaintiff claimed right to the possession of three negroes, the property of the defendant. The case was opened by one of plaintiff's counsel, who, by the way, had secured the professional services of three of the legal luminaries of Copiah county. His witnesses were called their evidence went point blank to the matter at issue, and the general impression was that the unanimous opinion of the jury would be "verdict for the plaintiff." When the case for the plaintiff had closed, the judge told Harnett, for the defence, to call his witnesses. "We mean to dispense with witnesses in this case, may it please the court," said Harnett, and this he uttered with an air of confidence that seemed to astonish every body. "Then do you mean to let the case go by default?" said the judge. 66 D- -n clear of it,” said Harnett aside and in an under tone to his client, who seemed to look at the thing as "a gone case"and then turning to the court he added, "We do not, may it please the court, but the plaintiff's counsel have so palpably failed to establish the grounds of this action-they have so evidently shown that the plaintiff's right to my client's hegroes is futile and without foundation, that I deem it a waste of time of this honourable court, and a libel on the good sense of that intelligent jury, to offer any evidence or quote one word of the law which applies to the case. Indeed, so clear does the case appear to me, that I was thinking of submitting it to the jury without a single remark; but on reflection I have concluded to offer a few observations, that my client may stand before this community in his proper character, that of an honest, honourable and injured man!" When he spoke of the clearness of the case in his client's LAW IN MISSISSIPPI. 169 favour, the judge looked at the jury and the jury looked at the judge, and one of plaintiff's counsel whistled "whew!" But this did not disconcert Harnett, and into the defence he went, jumping over very wisely, as he said he would, all law and evidence, for it would puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer, much less a Mississippi lawyer, to find any of either in his favour. "Gentlemen," he said, "I will suppose, for argument sakefor it is only for the sake of argument that such a supposition can be for a moment entertained-I will suppose, I say, that the plaintiff had made out his case; would you, when the debt is but a surety one, deprive my client of his negroes, the only prop and support of his fast declining years? Shall it be said that in the free, independent and repudiating state of Mississippi, the last remnant of my client's property shall be swept away to pay a debt, the first red cent of which he never handled? Shall it be told abroad, among the bank men of New Orleans, the brokers of Wall street, New York, the Jews of the Royal Exchange in London, and the millionaries of the Bourse of Paris, that the three negroes, and the three only which the tornado of bad times, the crash of banks and the surges of suspension had spared him, are now to be gambled away by your verdict? I say gambled away, gentlemen; for such a verdict, in point of injustice, would sink below playing at brag or poker with marked cards-mind you, I say with marked cards, gentlemen." He next launched into the pathetics. "Gentlemen," said he, "you all have wives-young, amiable, interesting, lovely wives. Gentlemen, my client too has a wife; but alas! she is neither young, amiable, interesting or lovely. She is old, gentlemen, very old. Amiable she is not, for the vicissitudes of fortune and a constitution broken down by disease, have rendered her an object more to be pitied than admired; interesting or lovely she cannot be, for she has long since passed that period of life when beauty lends its blandishments to the cheek and sprightliness and vivacity add their lustre to personal attractions. Take these negroes away from her and you prostrate her-as the immortal Shakspeare so elegantly expresses it— -You do take the prop That doth sustain her house; you take her life "In fact, gentlemen, I pledge you my professional reputa P |