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Show 74 TRAVELS T HROUGTI NORTII AME RICA: the room, between a clamorous fct of o!d men on one fide, and three or four women in tears on the other, I and the refl: of the company, who were not lawyers, were left to eat our breakfafl:. ' On enterinh- into the courts a {hanger is apt to fmile at the grotefquc t> I } . appearance of the judges ' "'ho prefide in them, and at t 1eu· manners on the bench; but this [mile mufl: be fuppreiTcd when it is recollected, that there is no country, perhaps, in the world, where juil.ice is more impartially adminifl:ered, or more cafily obtained by thofe who have been injured. The judges in the country parts of Pennfylvania are no more than plain farmers, who from their infancy have been acc ufiomed to little clfe than following the plough. The laws expref: ly dccbre that there mufl: be, at leafl:, three judges refident in every county; now as the fabry allowed is but a mere trifle, no lawyer would accept of the office, which of courfe mufl: be Elled from amongO: the inhabitan ts*, who are all in a happy Jl:ate of mediocrity, and on a perfect equality with each other. The difl:ric:t judge, however, who prcfidcs in the diftriB: or circuit, has a larger falary. and is a man of a different cafi. The difl:riB: or circuit confiJl:s of at leail: three, but not more than fix counties. The county judges, which I have mentioned, are ''judges " of the court of common pleas, and by virtue of their offices alfo " juJl:ices of oyer and terminer, and general gaol delivery, for the trial " of capital and other offenders therein." Any two judges compofe the court of quarter fe{Iions. Under certain regulations, eJl:abli{hed by law, the accu[ed party bas the power of removing the proceedings into the fupreme court, which has jurifdiB:ion over every part of the ftatc. This fhort account of the courts relates only to Pennfylvania : every :Jl:ate in the union has a feparate code of laws for itfelf, and a diJ1inCt judicature. • This is alfo the cafe in Philadelphia, wheie we find praaifing phyficians and furgeons fitling o11 the bench as judges in a court of jufiice. fi' R E D E R I C - T 0 W ti. 75 ' .. LETT E R X. Of the Country near York.-Of the Soil qf the Country 011 each Side if tl}(! Blue Mountains.~Frederic-town.-Chauge tiz the Inhabitants and in the Country as you proceed towards the S~·a.-'J'.lumbers qf S!avcs.' Tobacco chitjly cu!tivated.-Inq11iJI"tivenifs qf the People at thu Taverns.Oiji: rvatirms thereon.-Dejcrz"ption if the Great Ftz!ls if the Pat07071lac R iver.-George 'To'wn.-Of the Country between that Place and !Joe'; Ferry.-Poifrmous_ Vi1~es .-Port 'fobacco.-Wretched Appearance qf tht! Country bordering upon tht Ferry.-Slaves mgletled.-Paj)(,ge of the Pato'wmac very dangerous.-Frefo Water Oyjlers.-Landed on a de-j erted Part of th11 Virgimcm Shore.-Gre.at Iiojpitality if the Virginians. Stratford, March. IN the neighbourhood of Yo.rk and LancaJl:e~, the foil confifl:s of a rich, brown, loamy earth; and 1f you proceed m a fouth weO:crly courfe, parallel to the Blue Mountains, you meet with the fame kind of foil as far as 1~ rederic in Maryland. Here it changes gradually to a deep reddiih colour, and continues much the fame along the eaJl:ern fide of the mountains, all the way down to North Carolina. On croffing over the mountains-_, however, directly from Frederic, the fame fertile brown foil, which is common in the neighbourhood of York and LancaJl:er, is again met with, and it is found throughout the Shenandoah Valley, and as far down as the Carolinas, on the weJ1 fide of the mountains. Between York and Frederic in Maryland there are two or three Jinall towns; viz. Hanover, Peterfburgh, and Woodfburg, but there is nothing worthy of men tion in any of them. Frederic contains about [even hundred houfes and five churches, two of which are for German Lutherans, one for Prefbyterians, one for Calvinifis, and one for BaptiJl:s. . It is a :flourifhing town, and carries on a brifk inland trade. The arfenal of the :Jl:ate of Maryland is placed here, the fituation being fecure and central. L2 From |