The officers
of our navy are our representatives in foreign countries, and they are
generally such representatives as their constituents have reason to
feel proud of. Their chivalry, patriotism, gentlemanlike deportment,
and professional skill cannot be too much admired and applauded by
their countrymen. I shall ever feel grateful to the naval officers of
the Pacific squadron for their numerous civilities during my sojourn on
the Pacific coast.
Among the novelties presented while at San Francisco was a trial by
jury--the second tribunal of this kind which had been organized in
California. The trial look place before Judge Bartlett, and the
litigants were two Mormons. Counsel was employed on both sides. Some of
the forms of American judicial proceedings were observed, and many of
the legal technicalities and nice flaws, so often urged in common-law
courts, were here argued by the learned counsel of the parties, with a
vehemence of language and gesticulation with which I thought the legal
learning and acumen displayed did not correspond. The proceedings were
a mixture, made up of common law, equity, and a sprinkling of military
despotism--which last ingredient the court was compelled to employ,
when entangled in the intricate meshes woven by the counsel for the
litigants, in order to extricate itself.
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