and several of the marshals indicted for per jury. An ultimate result of the crusade was that the rules in regard to body executions have been so changed in the recent Municipal Court Act, that now it is much more difficult îor the installment dealers to make use of arrest as an aid in extorting money on their installment contracts. One of the most important aspects of the work of the New York Legal Aid Society is the protection which its mere existence af fords. Attention has already been called to the frequency of the cases in which it is neces sary only to inform a man of the intervention of the Society in order to protect a. client. Doubtless in many cases injustice is prevent ed by the fear that the Society may be called. As the knowledge of the existence of the So ciety and of its purposes becomes more wide spread, this effect must increase in propor tion. The poor are oppressed in many cases because of their supposed helplessness, and their inability to secure legal advice. The only way in which this evil can be met is by such a society as the New York Legal Aid Society. There is, moreover, a deep and far-reaching
social significance in this aspect of the work. The dissatisfaction with the government which often exists among the poor is due in a certain degree to the difficulty which the poor man finds in setting the law in motion, in getting the law on his side. The only phase of the law which is revealed to him is that which allows vicious men to oppress him. The poor man is, therefore, often against the law because the law is against him. It is not enough for a man's protection that laws exist. He must be able to call them into effective operation. Unless the laws are called into effective operation for the benefit of the poorer classes they cannot be expected to develop the regard and respect for the en forcement of the law which is essential to good citizenship. Viewed in this connection, the work of the New York Legal Aid Society is of broader consequence than would appear on the sur face. It actually brings it about that the poor man has the aid of the law at his command. In this respect the New York Legal Aid So ciety is developing the sounder and better citizenship so essential to American institu tions.
O'CONNELL'S LAST CASE. BY JOHN DE MORGAN. DANIEL O'Connell, lovingly known and counsel for the defendant had to offer a spoken of as the "Great Irish Libera bigger bribe to obtain even a show of justice. tor," had a record at the bar which has never "The Crown has promised to protect you been excelled. He was almost unvaryingly in your tenancy," said a barrister pointing to successful; he never undertook a case without the foreman of a jury, a tenant farmer, "but feeling that he could throw his whole soul into the defendant will protect you and stock your it and plead as though he were the accuse:! farm in addition." And though such open instead of the defender. He lived at a tiir offers of reward were not often made, never when to be arrested meant conviction, when theless secretly the jury had the chance to but little justice and scant mercy were shown weigh which verdict would pay the best. to an accused. The government did not hesi So that when Daniel O'Connell was ac tate to openly pack the jury, and often the cused of using unfair means to procure ver
