state of the National Institute in France, [Dec. 1, 
444 
ter is by previous means to be avoided, 
and reference made to one or three ho¬ 
nest and irkiependent neiglibours who will 
make the cause their own, and decide 
according to equity and common sense. 
Eacii should name one, a third should 
be named by them, and the thi'ee should 
bear all the evidence, and make a joint 
decision. It is an erroneous practice to 
submit the evidence to two, who not 
agreeing, the third is called in to decide 
on very imperfect, hasty, and partial, 
Tiews of the case. The parties should 
deliver to each of the arbitrators his nar¬ 
rative of the case, and the evidence 
should be heard as before a grand jury, 
■without the presence or interposition of 
attornies or council, or of olaintill or de- 
fendant. The unreserved truth would 
then be extracted from the witnesses; the 
whole case would come before the arbi¬ 
trators; and a just decision would be in¬ 
evitable. 
Sometimes a conceited man of bu¬ 
siness affects to mix considerations ofla%v 
with some point of equity, and in that 
case such an arbitrator necessarily ar¬ 
rives at an absurd and unjust conclusion, 
I remember a cause wherein A. B. con¬ 
tracted with C. D. for an article, for 
which so much was to be paid on de¬ 
livery. C. D. locked his article in a box, 
iind, tendering the box to A. B., demand¬ 
ed his price—Stay a little, says A. B., 
let me look into the box and see whether 
it contains what 1 bespoke—I have evi¬ 
dence 4vhich leads me to doubt.'—No ! 
savs C. D., and brought his- action for 
gOOh ! A. B. resisted; the question was 
referred to I. A. and T. R., and the lat¬ 
ter, being a piece of a lawyer, contended, 
that in law (!), A. B. was obliged to pay 
without looking into the box, even though 
it should turn out to be filled only with 
brick-bats, in which case he would have 
his legal remedy 1 This legal doctrine 
prevailed, and A. B. lost his money ! 
On an improved plan, like that suggested 
above, under the Act of William III. life 
wouid be secured from the bitterness 
v.’hicli now constantly arises from our im¬ 
perfect modes of settling disputes? How 
many hearts are broken every year by de¬ 
cisions as they are now' made ! Ho v many 
■■prospects blighted ! How many aimiues 
ruined I IIow many widows in terms! 
}iow' many orphans reduced to beggary ! 
—ov'Ingto theexpensiveness, tedioiisness, 
and unceriaiutYj of the decisions of some 
courct, S-'ul the Sophistry of lawyers I — 
owiitg to the absence of feeling, perspi- 
cachy. aal justice, in legal ntbitciitoi-s— ;- 
and to the want of an agreed and ra^ 
tional mode of arriving at an early and 
equitable decision by reference! 
The Subject is in every respect big 
with importance to the happiness of 
the subjects ol this realm, and it deserves 
the deepest consideration of our legis¬ 
lators and moralists. 
Nov. 11, 1811. Common Sense. 
Present .State of the National In= 
STiTUTE of France. 
Frotn the late Traneeh of an American in France 
and England.* 
N elegant literature as contradis¬ 
tinguished from the physical and 
mathematical sciences, the French me¬ 
tropolis is by no means what it was be¬ 
fore the revolution, and France in general 
is mucli below' her great rival. To a re¬ 
flecting mind the causes of this decline 
are obvious, and I shall therefore say 
but lew words on this topic. Notwith¬ 
standing the degeneracy of public taste 
and the decay of genius in Paris, tlie in¬ 
stitutions for the encouragement of learn¬ 
ing have been greatly multiplied, and 
invested with new splendor, and the 
number of men of letters is increased be¬ 
yond all calculation.^ It is impossible for 
a foreigner and a student to be a w'eek 
in tlie French capital, without having liis 
imagination absolutely overpowered, and 
his enthusiasm wound up to the highest 
pitch, by the eclat which he sees atten¬ 
dant on science and literature, and the 
facilities which he finds open for the cul¬ 
ture of all the branches of human know¬ 
ledge. An imperial library containing 
nearly four hundred thousand volumes, 
and a cabinet of manuscripts and medals, 
the most copious and precious in the uni¬ 
verse ; five minor establishments of the 
same kind, each containing not much 
less than one fourth of the same number 
of books; and all of them accessible upon 
the easiest terms to the humblest indivi¬ 
dual—innumerable and gratuitous lec¬ 
tures in all the departments of the phy¬ 
sical sciences;—reading rooms at the 
corner of every street;—literary associa¬ 
tions either for amusement or instruc¬ 
tion on all sides ;—a vast college, in w hich 
lectures are read at the expeuce of go¬ 
vernment at all hours of the day;—a 
garden of plants, and a nuiseum of natu- 
rr.l history, the most perfect in the ar- 
rai'gement, and the most ample in the 
materials, to be found in the world; and 
the branches of knowledge to wl-iich they 
* ■ the Fhiladelphia Review. 
relate 
