Congress of Panama.-Upon the subject of the contemplated congress at Panama, the London Courier of December 9th, observes: "We should not be surprised to find the latter government [the United States] in the plenitude of its republican dignity, declining an honour of so questionable a nature, emanating from the younger branches of the democratic family of the New World. The United States have shown on many occasions, that, notwithstanding their republican sentiments, and their occasional boast of republican simplicity, there prevails no inconsiderable portion of that attachment to form and etiquette which is supposed to belong only to the ancient monarchies of Europe. With this feeling, they will probably think that they ought to be placed at the head of any federative assembly, called together for purposes common to the political interests of North and South America. They may even shrink from an acquiescence, which would seem to imply that they were incapable of defending their own independence against the imaginary aggressions on the part of Europe, without acceding to this system of mutual support."

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An Essay on the Doctrine of Contracts; being an Inquiry how Contracts are affected in Law and Morals by Concealment, Error, or Inadequate Price. By GULIAN C. VERPLANCK. New York. 1825. 8vo. pp. 234.

THE accomplished author of this ingenious and interesting work came to the composition of it under some signal advantages, of which we need not say he has happily availed himself in the execution of his undertaking. The subject is mixed in its nature, requiring extensive knowledge of ethical philosophy, as applicable to legal contracts, and still more an exact understanding of the civil and the common law in their actual condition; and being susceptible of much practical illustration as well as of literary embellishment. For all this Mr Verplanck is eminently qualified, by his talents, situation, studies, and pursuits. While, therefore, his view of the doctrine of contracts as recognised by our law is novel and important in itself, it is peculiarly so, likewise, from the circumstance that his mind, although it appears thoroughly imbued with the great axioms and conversant with the drier details of jurisprudence, has yet broken loose from the intellectual prejudices, with which the conceptions of mere professional thinkers are apt to be trammelled, and has, in our judgment, regarded his subject with the clear and steady eye of unclouded reason. We say not this out of courtesy to the author, nor from a disposition to bestow unmerited praise indiscriminately, which certainly is not our wont. But we deem Mr Verplanck's essay in every sense deserving of the most respectful notice. It unfolds in a perspicuous, manly style of discussion,

and boldly holds up to reprobation certain illiberal maxims of a branch of our law, which it most deeply concerns the purity of a commercial people to have conformable to the eternal principles of justice and truth. Recommending the volume, therefore, to the attentive perusal of the lawyer, the merchant, and the legislator especially, we shall give such brief abstract of its argument and opinions as our limits allow, for the purpose of contributing our share to afford them extended circulation.

As our main object is merely to present a faithful idea of the merits of the work, we shall, in making our abstract of it, pursue the course of reasoning, and adopt without scruple the distinctions, rules, and illustrations of the author; and where we can, we shall employ his clear and expressive language, without any attempts to improve it.

The discussion is introduced by the following case, which actually occurred. It is well known, that towards the close of the last war, the price of the staple products of the Southern States, rice, cotton, and tobacco, had, from obvious causes, sunk to the lowest ebb. At that period, the prospect of immediate peace was extremely doubtful. Intelligence of it reached New Orleans a few weeks after the sanguinary attack on that city, and when, there especially, the event was wholly unexpected. A merchant, who happened to receive the information at an early hour on the morning after its arrival, called upon another merchant, and without communicating the news to him, but at the same time without suggesting any thing calculated to impose upon him, or to induce a belief that peace had not taken place, contracted for the purchase of a large quantity of tobacco at the ordinary market-price of it the preceding day. Immediately afterwards, and altogether in consequence of the peace, the price of tobacco rose more than fifty per cent. Was this a fair and honourable transaction? Did it in point of law constitute a valid sale? Was not the suppression of a material fact equivalent to a legal fraud? Would not a court of equity rescind so unequal a bargain, if the common law afforded no remedy?

The question of law was finally adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States. They decided, that the vendee was not bound to communicate to the vendor intelligence of extraneous circumstances, which might influence the price of the commodity, and which was exclusively within the knowledge of the vendee. (2 Wheaton, 195.) Such is the law; but are such the dictates of conscience and of sound moral justice? Most men, guided only by their unstudied impressions of right and wrong, would

probably pronounce the transaction to be a gross fraud. So if an ignorant woman should by accident discover a quantity of valuable antique coins, and sell them for old copper to a person who practised no other deception than not to disclose their actual value; or if a farmer having a ticket, and ignorant of the time of drawing lotteries, should sell it for a small advance to a person who knew that it had drawn the high prize, and used no art but silence; in each of these cases, our unbiassed feelings, whether correctly or not, would promptly decide, that the purchaser had been guilty of a base and dishonest trick. Yet, if we follow out our impressions with a view to discover the principles which govern them, we meet with no small embarrassment. If one cannot honestly take advantage of his better knowledge of some fact, which regulates the value of a purchase or sale, can he more honestly take advantage of his superior sagacity, his superior skill in a particular trade, or his more extensive commercial intelligence? Can there be no such thing as a perfectly upright contract, without perfect equality of knowledge on each side? Must the sagacious merchant, before he contracts for a commodity with his indolent and ignorant neighbour, communicate to him all his private plans for the use of the commodity, all that insight into the present and future state of domestic and foreign markets, which he has acquired by deep reflection or by wide and extensive correspondence; in short, all that superior intelligence, acquired by prudence, foresight, industry, and activity, which constitutes the most valuable, and perhaps the most costly part of his capital? If he, who for a trifle purchased a diamond or a bank-note from the ignorant owner, ought in good conscience to restore it, what shall we say of him, who, taught by his superior sagacity that a certain lot of land will soon, by the increase of trade and population, be worth millions, purchases it to-day for the low sum of its market-price? Common sense and untaught conscience as readily determine in favour of the latter, as against the former contract. Here, then, is the difficulty.

As we extend our inquiries and trace the analogy in different directions, we shall find numberless cases of the most opposite moral character, from the arts of deliberate knavery to the fairest gains of industry and enterprise, all agreeing in this one prominent feature, that the profits of the transaction arose from the superiority of one party to the other in some material knowledge respecting the subject of the contract. Where, then, shall we draw the line of fair and unfair, of equal and unequal contracts?