WILLIAM TILGHMAN. 19 



lawyers were the butt of their constant invective. 

 Nothing less was talked of than their entire destruc- 

 tion. The spirit, strange as it may seem, had found 

 its way into the .Legislature, who in the beginning of 

 1806, passed two celebrated laws, the object of which 

 was to enable parties to manage their causes, without 

 the aid of attornics or counsel. By one of them, the 

 forms of judicial proceedings were altered with that 

 special view ; by tlie other, a compulsory mode of 

 trial by arbitration was established. These acts are 

 still in force ; but their elTect has not been such as was 

 expected from them. 



Under those circumstances, it became of the high- 

 est importance to place a proper person at the head of 

 the judiciary of Pennsylvania. Governor M'Kean, 

 than whom there was not a better judge of merit; 

 found in Mr. Tilghman, a man profoundly versed in 

 the laws of his country, a man of firmness of charac- 

 ter, and at the same time of a mild and conciliating dis- 

 position, and he made choice of him for that high 

 station. His choice was justified by the fortunate 

 tivent. The prejudice against the law and lawyers 

 which had risen to such an alarming height, gradu- 

 ally subsided, and every tiling soon returned to its 

 usual channel. That temporary effervescence is now 

 almost entirely forgotten. 



Mr. Tilghman was appointed to the office of Chief 

 Justice, on the 26th of February, 1806, and held it 

 during the space of twenty-one years, to the tirae of 

 his death. It was before that nppointmont, and while 



