join it, and that the law society, erected into a law academy, should be annexed to it, and subjected to regular discipline under a provost and vice-provost, and a board of trustees elected by the society, which was to be styled "The Society for the promotion of Legal Knowledge and Forensic Eloquence." Success has hitherto answered our most sanguine expectations. The honourable Judges and a considerable number of the members of the bar have joined our association. It was thought proper, to avoid delay, to name at once the officers of the Society, until the month of May next, when a general election shall take place. A charter of incorporation was obtained, which, with our constitution, has been published in one of the newspapers of this city. On the part of the young gentlemen who composed the law society, not only no obstacle was thrown in our way, but, with an alacrity and zeal that does them the greatest honour, they unanimously agreed to surrender their independence at the shrine of science, and to submit to academical discipline for the sake of promoting their improvement in knowledge. On the first invitation, they, without hesitation, formed themselves into a Law Academy to be annexed to our Society, agreeably to the provisions of its institution. It is to be remarked that the Law Society was not entirely composed of young students, but that several of them had been called to the bar, and desired to remain members of the Academy, for the encouragement of their junior brethren. Although but a few

weeks have elapsed since this academy has been established, I have the pleasure to state that it has received and is receiving a constant accession of members. We have every reason to expect that its numbers, already considerable,* will continue to increase.

The youth of the United States are peculiarly adapted to receive instruction and profit by it. They are sensible, intelligent, have quick perceptions, and are exemplarily docile and tractable. The medical school of this city offers a striking example of their thirst after knowledge, and the able physicians that it has produced are proofs of their talents and capacity for learning. With such a foundation, hardly any plan for an academical establishment will appear extravagant. Give our youth but free access to the temple of science, and you will see them flock to it in such numbers as will astonish you. On this expectation, and the hopes of your patronage, this institution has been raised. Give it but reasonable encouragement, and you will wonder at the work of your own hands.

The means which are to produce these great efforts are very simple. Small as are the contributions required of the members of the Society for

There were at the time thirty regular and eighteen honorary members; the latter attending the exercises occasionally, but without being liable to fines for non-attendance. (Since that time, the number of the students of the academy has increased and is increasing. Professor BARNES reads lectures on the Common and Statute laws of Pennsylvania to the general satisfaction of his hearers.)

the promotion of legal Knowledge, yet their aggregate is of infinite importance in the infancy of this establishment. It is therefore to be wished that all the members of our profession should come into this association, so that the academy should derive from it not only the benefit of a trifling pecuniary aid, but the more important one of their support and countenance. The students of law should also be induced to become fellows of the academy, for on its increase depends the success of the institution, wh ch, as its numbers augment will at first be able to support, and at last gradually to raise itself to the contemplated height of greatness and prosperity.

At present its resources for instruction rest on the exertions of the provost and vice-provost. The former exercises of the Law Society are continued ; the students once in every week discuss a legal question before the presiding member of the faculty, who at the next meeting delivers to them his opinion, not in the form of a judicial decision, but of a law lecture on the particular subject to which the question refers. It is, moreover, contemplated to require of the members readings or dissertations on various points of law. Here we have already all the exercises that ever were in use in the English Inns of Court, the mooting of points and the law readings; and if our academy in its infancy offers the same means of instruction that that celebrated university, as Fortescue and Lord Coke style it, ever did in its best days, it is worth the stu

dent's while to attend it. But there is every reason to hope that we shall in time be able to add the lectures of regular professors; for it is evident, that as our academicians increase in numbers, they will more and more acquire the capacity to support their own establishment. In the mean time, it is much to be wished, that those gentlemen of the profession, who unite capacity and leisure, would now and then condescend to deliver to the academy occasional lectures on topics of their own choice, remembering on what slender foundation our medical school was first established, and the success which followed the zeal and perseverance of its founders.

It is only by united efforts that any important design can be brought to a successful issue. We have the happiness to number among the patrons of this institution all the honourable Judges of the Supreme Court of this State, several of those of the inferior Courts, and a considerable portion of the members of our bar. The plan having been conceived by a few, and hurried in its execution, in order not to lose the opportunity of obtaining a charter of incorporation from the Court which was then sitting, it has been impossible to consult many of our respectable brethren whose advice we would with pleasure have availed ourselves of. We hope, however, that the opportunity we have missed is not lost, and that the more general aid and support of the profession will not be wanting to an in

* See the note to p. 187.

stitution which has for its object the promotion of the legal science, and the honour of those who profess it.

Gentlemen of the Law Academy,

I turn to you with pleasure, as the pillars on which our institution rests. You are the cornerstones of the edifice; with your zealous co-operation every hope may be indulged; without it every endeavour of the venerable patrons of the establishment must fail; for it is in vain to support those who will not support themselves. Continue, therefore, to show yourselves worthy of the honour of being considered as the founders of a national law school in the United States. Pursue your studies with increased diligence, that the academy may one day point to you with pride and say, "these were our pupils." Endeavour to increase your numbers by persuasion and by example; for that is the foundation on which we must build, and remember that every additional student who now joins the academy, is a new and important pledge of its future success. Be not deterred by the fears of the weak or timid, but persevere with steady courage in the work that you have begun, and may the Great Legislator of the universe bless and direct our endeavours to promote a science which, under the revelations of his divine will, is the surest guide to lead mankind into the ways of justice and righteousness.