made a personal apology for his remarks in the Senate, upon his nomination as Secretary of the Treasury, and was ever after one of his warmest friends, and Mr. Webster too, by the many instances in which he sought Mr. Taney's advice on state matters, showed his appreciation of his great ability. Mr. Taney presided as Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court for twenty-eight years. To the end his mental powers exhibited no infirmity. His memory, clear and vigorous, shone out to the last, with a force that seemed to defy decay. At the advanced age of eighty-seven years, he could state the
most complicated case with every important detail of names and dates with extraordinary clearness and skill. His recollection of prin ciples of law and of the decisions of the Court was as ready as his memory of facts. The Chief-Justice was a constant reader to the end of his life. Macaulay and Shakes peare were favorite authors. Newspapers of every political cast were daily read. On the 1 2th of October, [864, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, he departed this life. At his own request he was buried by the side of his mother in the little graveyard attached to the Novitiate in Frederick, Maryland.
LEGAL REMINISCENCES. By L. E. Ch1ttenden. X. THE CAUSES OF THE DECREASE IN THE VOLUME OF LEGAL BUSINESS. THE number of lawyers increases, and the volume of legal business dimin ishes every year. It may be that the law yers are themselves responsible for this disagreeable state of things, and they are certainly interested in finding a remedy for it, if one exists. It is claimed that the bar has made litigation so expensive that clients can no longer afford it. It is an unquestion able fact that the formation of corporations to guarantee the title to real estate, to insure railroad companies, manufacturers and others against suits for damages and for other purposes, has deprived lawyers of some of their best sources of income, and that if there is any way of making up the deficiency the lawyers are deeply interested in discovering the way, and giving it a prac tical application. Is it true that litigation is more expen sive than it formerly was? If it is, what has caused the increase? These questions in volve historical enquiries which will be found interesting. The convictions of the fathers of New England of the necessity of a government of the people to be established upon the
most economical principles were very strong. They appear in all their experi ments in self-government. The early his tory of Vermont furnishes an example of these economical ideas which is worthy of attention. The early settlers of that state were in volved in a controversy with influential New Yorkers over the validity of the New Hamp shire grants. New York was one of the larg est of the original thirteen states or colonies; influential enough to exclude Vermont from recognition by the others, and, after it was formed, from admission into the Federal Union. This controversy was agreed to be suspended when the Revolution came, and the Vermonters fought by the side of New York in the war which followed. But all the settlers recognized the necessity of a local government, and without any delay they set about making one for themselves. By a spontaneous movement, the towns elected delegates to a convention to form a constitution, which met, and after several adjournments convened again at Windsor on the second of July, 1777. The draft of a constitution had been amended and improved,
