by Orleans. Meanwhile, Theodoric and Aetius, tlie Roman general, had collected and united their forces, and marching with all speed, arrived in time to raise the siege of Orleans. Attila retreated to a position in the plain of Chalons, and there concentrated his forces for a great engagement. A tremendous battle ensued one of the most gigantic as well as most important contests recorded in history. The Romans, who formed one wing, were driven back, and although they kept together, and at nightfall retired to the camp of the Visigoths, Aetius had given ip the day as lost. The Visigoths, who were on the other wing, had also been repulsed, and were discouraged by the fall of their leader Theodoric. But the fortune of the day was changed by the impetuous bravery of Thorismund, Theodoric's son, who, burning to avenge his father s fall, led on the infuriated Visigoths, and drove Attila back to his camp. He even penetrated into the fortifications, but was wounded and thrown from his horse, and his followers with difficulty carried him off. Next day, Attila remained in his camp in expectation of an attack, and having thrown all his baggage into a gigantic pile in the centre of the camp to be burned in case of defeat, resolved to sell his life dearly. But no attack was made ; for Thorismund was persuaded by Aetius to march to Toulouse in order to obtain his father s king dom. Attila was thus enabled to retire in perfect security. Next year he poured his forces through the defiles of the Alps, and laid waste the whole north of Italy. Rome itself seemed likely to fall before the invader, when his course was arrested by an embassy headed by Pope Leo. Attila at once withdrew from Italy, but the motive which led him to act thus is not known. At the time his retreat was ascribed to a miraculous interposition of Providence, Peter and Paul having appeared in the camp of the Huns along with the embassy. The whole matter is rather obscure ; and scarcely more credible is the story told by Jornandes that Attila invaded Gaul a second time and was completely defeated by Thorismund. No other historian mentions this circumstance. In the year 453, Attila died from the bursting of a blood-vessel on the night of his marriage with a beautiful Gothic maiden, called Ildiko, or Hilda. He was buried by his followers with great pomp and lamentation. The vast empire over which he had ruled broke up immediately after his death, no one chief being powerful enough to seize the supremacy. In person Attila is described as having been of true Hunnish type, short, but strongly made, with a large head, flat, wide spread nostrils, and small glittering eyes. His presence v/as majestic and imposing, and he excelled all his followers
in military exercises.
ATTOCK, a town and fort of British India, in the
Panjab, situated on the eastern bank of the Indus, in 33
54 N. lat, and 72 20 E. long. The place is both of
political and commercial importance, as the Indus is here
crossed by the military and trade route through the
Khaibar Pass into Afghanistan. Alexander the Great,
Tamerlane, and Nadir Shah, are believed to have suc
cessively crossed the Indus at or about this spot in their
respective invasions of India. The river runs past Attock
in a deep rapid channel about 200 yards broad, but is
easily crossed in boats or on inflated skins of oxen. A
bridge of boats is maintained for a considerable part of
the year, but withdrawn in the summer as soon as the
melting of the snows in the northern mountains endangers
it. The fort of Attock was built by the Emperor Akbar
in 1581, on a low hillock beside the river. The walls are
j)f polished stone, and the whole structure is handsome ;
but from a military point of view it is of little importance,
being commanded by a hill, from which it is divided only
by a ravine. The town was formerly a place of importance,
but has now fallen into decay. On the opposite side of
the river is the village of Khairabdd, with a fort, also
erected by Akbar according to some, or by Nadir Shah
according to others.
ATTORNEY, in English Law, signifies, in its widest
sense, any substitute or agent appointed to act in " the
turn, stead, or place of another." The term is now com
monly confined to a class of qualified agents who undertake
the conduct of legal proceedings for their clients. By the
common law the actual presence of the parties to a suit
was considered indispensable, but the privilege of appearing
by attorney was conceded in certain cases by special dis
pensation, until the statute of Merton and subsequent
enactments made it competent for both parties in all judi
cial proceedings to appear by attorney. Solicitors appear
to have been at first distinguished from attorneys, as not
having the attorney s power to bind their principals, but
latterly the distinction has been between attorneys as the
agents formally appointed in actions at law, and solicitors
who take care of proceedings in Parliament, Chancery, Privy
Council, &c. In practice, however, and in ordinary lan
guage, the terms are synonymous. Regulations regarding
the qualification of attorneys are found as far back as the
20 Edward I., which required the judges to select in each
county the most learned and able attorneys and apprentices
to do service in the courts. By the 6 and 7 Viet. c. 73,
and other statutes, the qualifications necessary for admis
sion on the rolls of attorneys and solicitors are : 1st, The
due execution of a proper contract in writing with some
practising attorney or solicitor for the term of five years,
or of three years if the clerk be a graduate of the universi
ties of Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, London, or Durham, or
of the Queen s University, Ireland, or if he have been a
member of the bar, a writer to the signet, a solicitor before
the supreme courts in Scotland, or for ten years bona fide
managing clerk to an attorney ; 2d, The payment of the
stamp duty on such contract, amounting to 80 ; 3d, The
registry or enrolment of the contract within six calendar
months ; 4th, Actual service for the prescribed period in
the proper business of an attorney and solicitor ; but one
year may be served with the London agent, and, where the
service is for five years, another year with a barrister or
certificated special pleader ; 5th, Due notices of the applica
tion to be admitted ; 6th, Fitness and capacity ascertained
upon examination, and certified by the examiners ; 7th,
Taking the prescribed oaths, and being admitted and
enrolled ; 8th, The certificate of the registrar of attorneys
that he is duly enrolled, and the stamped certificate of the
annual payment of the duty. Attorneys duly admitted in
any of the superior courts have a right to be admitted and
to practise in any of the courts in the kingdom, and this
right may be enforced by mandamus. They may act as
advocates in certain of the inferior courts. Conveyancing,
formerly considered the exclusive business of the bar, is
now often performed by attorneys. Barristers aro under
stood to require the intervention of an attorney in all cases
that come before them professionally, although in criminal
cases the prisoner not unfrequently engages a counsel
directly by giving him a fee in open court. The relation
of attorney and client disqualifies the former from dealing
with his client on his own behalf, while it gives him a lien,
on professional services, over the deeds, &c., of the client
in his possession. An attorney may be struck off the rolls
for professional or other misconduct, on application by
counsel at the instance of an injured party, or, as the case
generally is, of the Incorporated Law Society as representing
the profession.
A letter or power of Attorney is an authority under hand
and seal, empowering the person named therein to do some
act on behalf of the principal, which otherwise could only be
