government of military force, without the aid of moral suasion, which is founded on a pure education and a benevolent religion. Such is the moral constitution of man, that he is the creature of motives, and subject to the influence of reason and human kindness, and, generally, can be governed by no other principles. Cyrus the Great understood this principle of human nature, and framed his government accordingly. And throughout all history, where government has been administered on liberal, humane, and benevolent principles, it has been successful; while, on the other hand, tyranny has ever failed. And we have yet to learn that Poland, or, indeed, any other nation, however ancient or modern -if we except the lowest grades of human beings, known as cannibals cannot be governed by a free republican system, like the United States of America, or at least a constitutional monarchy like England. The government of Poland was neither a democracy nor monarchy, but the most odious aristocracy, although it had a nominal monarch. All the evils which befell this unhappy people are chargeable to their corrupt government; and those who administer it are responsible for the consequences. Nor is this all. The attentive reader of history will not fail to observe that all fallen nations, Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, the Hebrews, Canaanites, Greece, the Phoenicians, Lydians, Rome, Carthage, the Medes, Persia, the Gothic nations, and the numerous kingdoms of American Indians, adopted governments similar to Poland, and have all shared a similar fate-a lesson worthy of the consideration of the statesman and every citizen.

A government like Poland, containing all the odious features of centralization, so aristocratically condensed, as to benefit only a few nobles-without the self-government of the people-with

a military government generally distracted and feeble-destitute of moral and religious government, except the general influence of Paganism, and a perverted Christian religion, not much better than Paganism-a government without law or order-without a sound, enlightened, public opinion-destitute of legislative government, and deprived of the lights of science, has invariably ruined every nation where the fatal experiment has been tried.

CHAPTER XIV.

LAWS.

Definition of Law-General Divisions of Law-General Principles of Law -Early Laws of Poland-Laws of Casimir II.-Laws of Casimir III.— Laws of Jagellon-Laws of Casimir IV.-Laws of John Albert-Laws of Alexander-Laws of Stanislas-Commercial Law-Admiralty Law— Land Law-Law of Personal Property-Criminal Law-Law of Evidence-Forms of Law-Ecclesiastical Law.

SECTION I.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF LAW.

THE jurisprudence of a nation is the exponent of all their institutions. It appears to be a uniform rule in the history of nations, that their character and condition may be fairly judged of by their laws. Ancient and modern kingdoms fail or flourish, according to the wisdom and purity of their laws and their administration. We can trace this principle through the patriarchal government of the antediluvians; the same rule prevailed under the administration of Noah from the flood to his death; and the student in history finds the same philosophy as he peruses, in chronological order, the history of the Assyrian empire, China, Egypt, the Hebrew nation, the Canaanites,

Greece, the Phoenicians, Lydia, Italy, Macedon, Carthage, Rome, Nineveh, Babylon, the Medes, Persia, Sicily, Syria, Parthia, the kingdom of Italy, the Gothic nations, Spain, France, England, Arabia, the Eastern or Greek empire, the new Western empire, Germany, the Turkish empire, Holland, Russia, Sweden, Prussia, Poland, the Netherlands, India, the United States, South America, and the Sandwich Islands.

This doctrine is more prominent in the history of England and America, than in any other government. These two nations are indebted to their jurisprudence for their unparalleled national glory; and its salutary benefits are felt and enjoyed by every citizen. The laws of England and America throw their fostering, protecting arms around every subject, with equal vigilance, benevolence, and kindness, carefully watching the life, liberty, and property of every human being, rich and poor, high and low, from the cradle to the grave.

Who does not admire the moral courage, unsullied purity, and the unrivalled ability with which Lord Coke and Lord Hale held and balanced the scales of justice, during the perilous reigns of their sovereigns? And, notwithstanding the ermine was tarnished, and the woolsack degraded, by the despicable Jeffreys under his corrupt master, James II., when the British government was nearly wrecked by the concentration of so many crushing circumstances, that the best of British hearts failed them, yet the people at last rallied around their laws, which had so long protected their hearths, and by the redeeming power of their jurisprudence, the country was saved, justice was again restored and administered in its purity, by the immortal Mansfield and his contemporary lord chancellors, undaunted by the flames of their

mansions, and the fiendish shouts of the incendiary mobs who fired them.

Perhaps we shall not escape the criticisms of our transatlantie brethren, for awarding to America the best system of laws in the world. The United States, and particularly the Empire State, have advanced their jurisprudence to a state of perfection unknown in the history of any other government. Law has become a science; and its definitions, divisions, and subdivisions, have been so philosophically and analytically arranged in New York and other American States, that legal science has become a classical study in our colleges and seminaries of learning. The study of law has become an important branch of American literature, as well as an honorable and learned profession.

Law, in its general sense, is a mode of existence, or order of sequence; including those laws by which the Supreme Being governs himself and all his creation. In a more limited sense, it is a rule of action. When applied to civil government, it comprehends those rules of justice by which the rights of man are protected, and his wrongs redressed. All laws may be arranged and divided into three general classes. 1. Natural Law; 2. Moral Law; 3. Forensic Law.

Natural Law includes all the elementary and well-settled rules of the arts, sciences, and literature.

Moral Law comprehends those fundamental rules of the moral sciences, by which rational and immortal creatures are governed, commanding what is right, and prohibiting what is wrong. So far as human beings are concerned, moral law may be divided into four general classes-1. The moral constitution of man; 2. Moral principles; 3. Moral duties; 4. Moral rewards and punishments.