THE BAR.

Character of the Minnesota bar-- Effect of connecting land business
with practice-- Courts-- Recent legislation of Congress as to the
territorial judiciary-- The code of practice-- Practice in land
cases-- Chances for lawyers in the West-- Charles O'Connor-- Requisite
qualifications of a lawyer-- The power and usefulness of a great
lawyer-- Talfourd's character of Sir William Follett-- Blending law
with politics-- Services of lawyers in deliberative assemblies

ST. PAUL, October, 1856.

I HAVE not yet been inside of a court of justice, nor seen a case
tried, since I have been in the territory. But it has been my pleasure
to meet one of the judges of the supreme court and several prominent
members of the bar. My impression is, that in point of skill and
professional ability the Minnesota bar is a little above the average
of territorial bars. Here, as in the West generally, the practice is
common for lawyers to mix with their profession considerable
miscellaneous business, such as the buying and selling of land. The
law is too jealous a mistress to permit any divided love, and
therefore it cannot be expected that really good lawyers will be found
in the ranks of general business agents and speculators. In other
words, a broker's office is not a lawyer's office. There are some
lawyers here who have attended strictly to the profession, who are
ornaments of it, and who have met with good success. The idea has been
common, and as fatal as common, that success in legal practice could
be easily attained in the West with a small amount of skill and
learning. It is true that a poor lawyer aided by some good qualities