CHAPTER XVI. LEGAL TECHNICALITIES IN CONFLICT WITH COMMON SENSE. ANOTHER ACT IN THE DRAMA.--PRIDE ON THE ONE SIDE AND JUSTICE ON THE OTHER PROMPTING THE ACTORS. |THERE is nothing so uncommon as common sense; nor is there anything more distasteful than common sense to such as pride themselves on technical knowledge. The doctor who would rather kill by rule than cure by reason, if the reason chanced to come from a sick-nurse, or from an old woman; and the lawyer who would rather lose a case by observing technicalities and following precedents, than gain it by exercising plain common sense, are by no means so rare as some suppose. They are to be found in all the walks of life, high as well as low, and whenever or wherever found, should be carefully noted, especially by the historian, in order to warn others from falling into a like error. From the very day the provost-court opened in Alexandria, the secessionists of that city, and all whom they could influence in Washington and elsewhere, commenced to oppose it--not so much openly as secretly. This was especially true of the only lawyer remaining there, and his reasons for opposition were of a threefold character. First, he saw it might, and probably would be used in the interests of the Union cause and in the cause of freedom, and thus interfere with the plans of secessionists and of slave-owners; secondly, he opposed it because the court refused to admit him, or any other lawyer, to practise in it, unless they would first take the oath of allegiance to the United States government; and thirdly, because the court was presided over by one who was not a professional lawyer; by one who seemed to have more regard for justice and equity than for legal technicalities; by one who cared nothing about the laws of Virginia, or law precedents of any State, if one or the other stood in the way of justice; by one who preferred to be guided by the rules of common sense, rather than by the rules of law. To one who is not a professional man himself, all this may seem strange; but to one who has mingled much with professional men, it will be readily understood as comprehending cases which have fallen under his own observation. On the pretence of protecting the people, though really to protect their own selfish interests, both doctors and lawyers have procured the passage of laws in many States, whereby no one is authorized to practise in either profession until he shall have complied with such rules and regulations as these laws prescribe. It is virtually a relinquishment by the people of one of the very first principles of freedom--namely, the right to choose their own agents or servants, but it is submitted to on the plea that it keeps out quacks and pettifoggers. If, while keeping these out, it imparted more of common sense to those taken in, it would be at least compensating in its operations, but it does neither.