The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-09 00:00:00

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see the exchange of our respective ideas ; we shall
profit by the excellence of your institutions; we
shall derive from them a good example. The French
bar has not been called, like yours, to furnish the
State with leading men. With us, in the course of
an uninterrupted series of revolutions, men who had
any self-respect refused to engage in the manage-
ment of public affairs ; and these who had embarked
on the stormy sta of politics have taken refuge in a
pert from their troubles, and have re-entered our
profession as the noblest of retreats. Yes, let the
exchange of communications between the English
and French bars be perptuatcl ; let it eN.tend even
to all the bars of civilised nations; let no free trade
be confined to commerce; let it be extended to ideas,
and we shall be charmed to receive those of Eng-
land. Draw us to yourselves ; welcome us ; you
have numerous and talented writers and a powerful
press, which we, alas, know not. May free trade
reach even journalism. Messieurs, I drink to the
alliance of the two bars of England and France.
The learned orator's speech was frequently interrupted
with loud and prolonged cheering.

The CHAIRMAN next gave the health of M.
Desmareat and the French bar.
M. DESMAREST, in responding to the toast, said—Je suis
emu quand je me live pour repondre au toast si bon et si
affect ueux porte au barreau do Paris. L'union entre les deux
barreaux a etc le rove demon intelligence. Quand on con-
sidZre les choses du monde—moms apt es un banquet auEsi
splendide—(a laugb)—il est impossible de nieconnaitre qu'il
ya au monde deux influences, la force et la justice. (Cheers.),
Je ne veux pas dire de mal de la force ; quant II la justice
c'est ici qu'il sied d'en dire du bien, devant votre gloire
present et devant votro gloire ancfenne ; pormettez.moi•
d'ajouter en presence de cea deux porte•etendards du droit
et de la justice, Lord Brougham et M. Berryer. (Loud
cheers.) Il existe uno grand() similitude dans leur earae-
t res. Tous deux ils ont porte bien haute la gloire intellec-
tuelle; tous deux ils ont brill6 dans les asse.nblees publiques;
tous deux, enfin, sent membres de l'Academie Francaise.
(Cheers.) J'avoue quo je serais trouble Si je n'avais
apporter ici que le tribut de ma seule reconnaissance. Mais
aussitot que j'ai die informs de votro gracieuse invitation,
j'ai profile de ces reunions legales autorisees en France
pour dire a nos avocats l'honneur qui m'etait fait. Tous,
jeunes et vieux, m'ont repondu, " Allez en Angleterre."
(Loud cheers. Je n'ai , pas eu le temps de consulter lea
membres de ',etre barreau de province, mais tons m'aur
aient tenu le memo langage. Jo vois Is grand image
du monde judiciare de France donnant la main au
monde judiciare d'Angleterre, degrti preliminsire pour
amener entre nous uno alliance plus intime, scion la
belle idee de celui qui devrait etre notre I:ttonnier
perpetuel et qui eat toujours notre ta',onnier moral.
Messieurs—permetttz moi de dire mes cher confreres—
(loud cheering)—vouz nous avez dente Lexemple, soytz
certain qu'il sera suivi. Un do vos hommes d'etat

l'illustre Chancelier do l'Echiquier disait dans une circon-
stance recente avoc cette incomparable eloquence qui
rappolle les beaux jours de l'antiquite, que, dans le temps
oil nous vivons les progres de la civilisation devrait accem-
plir par des moyens plus doux que dans lea temps passes.
Ces paroles qui coecilient bien des difficult es out trouve de
l'echo en France. Jo signe avec vouse un traite d'alliance
qui servira ala conqueae paeifique du progais, (Loud
cheers.)
M. GouNoD also returned thanks.
The CHAIRMAN then rose and said—Gentlemen, there
are other distinguished and, I may say, illustrious guests
who have honoured us to-day with their company, as well
as those who have come from the sister country—France.
Distinguished guests, to whom I now refer, have wished to
join us in the honour we desire to pay to M. Berryer and
his eminent companions. But it is impossible not to feel
that we, the members of the bar of England, have been
privileged to be the hosts on this occasion—and we are
greatly honoured and indebted to the presence of numerous
judges whom I see around us—(cheers)—to the numerous
and distinguished persons whose rank is even senior to that
of the judges, and of the rest of tho guests who have
honoured us to-day with their company. (Hear, hear.) I
might, perhaps, have been called upon to endeavour, in a
few words, to express the feelings of all of us towards the
venerable Nestor of the English bench—(hear, hear)—of
that remarkable man, of his various knowledge of his un•
rivalled eh pence, of his achievements in the Legislature,
of his individual industry in the promotion of the improve-
ment of the law, bath at the bar and when he sat on the
highest seat of the judges on the bench ; but, gentlemen,
I feel that I have been anticipated in that which I might
naturally wish to say, both by M. Berryer, and by M. Des-
marest. They have spoken of him in the most beautiful,
touching, and graceful manner. I dare not venture to add
to what they have so much hotter sratel I will, therefore,
simply ask you new to drink the health of the guests who
have honoured us with their presence, coupling with the
toast the name of Laid Brougham. (Cheers )
Lord Bnouomair, in returning thanks, said—Sir, you
have my hearty thanks for the great kindness with which
you have proposed, and you gentlemen--have received,
the toast of my health. It is only the respect which I
never fail to receive among that profession of which I
have the honour to be a member, On all occasions I
meet with the greatest respect, and what is even more
valuable, the greatest affection of that noble profession to
which we both belong. Or. the present occasion your atten-
tion is called to other guests, and more especially to that
illustrious man who sits near me—M. Berryer. To whom
should I compare him ? Not certainly to any of the advo-
cates of ancient and classical times, but to one very superior
to them all—to our own Erskine—(cheers)—the first advo-
cate who ever appeared in the world, and I put M. Berryer
on a level with him. (Hear, hear.) I have carefully at-
tended to the careers of both these great men, and I find
that both Lord Erskine and M. Berryer possess that great
faculty of conducting causes with perfect skill and with
matchless eloquence ; they had both that quality in per-
fection, and, in equal proportion, indomitable courage,
(Cheers.) As to Lord Erskine, however pressed, there was
none ho feared, neither the Court nor the King (hear, hear),
but he did his duty to his client in spite of all the power
held out to intimidate, and in spite of all the opposition
even in those courts in which he practised, and of which he
was the ornament and pride. And the same great qualities
I have constantly observed in M. Berryer--that which is
the first of all the duties of an advocate—to reckon every-
thing subordinate to the interests of his client—(hear, hear)
—to have no purpose except to serve his cause effectively,
to make no deviation, no digression to please either jury or
judge, or the populace, or tho crown, but to do his duty,
looking only to the success of his client. (Cheers.) It has
been said that the administration of justice in this country
possesses a great advantage over that of many other nations,
and that depends partly, no doubt, in the first place, upon
the purity of our judges; but, in the next place, on the skill,
the prudence, the discretion, and the courage of the advo-
cates, (Cheers.) I can see no worse fate before the country
than its losing the purity of its administration of justice—
nothing more tending to this than anything trenching
on the independence of the bar, or which may weaken
that courage of the advocate of which such an illustrious
example is now among us. (Hear, hear.) Of the orators
in the French Senate, our esteemed guest, M. Berryer, is
one of the moat distinguished ; but it is his crowning glory
that in every instance in which he has been engaged as an
advocate, he has put down, with the force of his learning,
his eloquence, and his courage, all attempts to injure or
oppress his fellow- citizens. (Cheers.) I have detained
you too long—(cries of " No, no")—but I could not, having
been called upon, sit down without offering to you the ex-
pression of my sentiments. (Cheers.)
The Noble Lord immediately rose again, and said—The
Attorney-General, in talking of the groat honour which
111. Desmarest has held at the French bar, was understood
to have stated that it was a thing which we might envy in
this country, having nothing of the kind. Ile meant, in-
deed, only England and Ireland ; in Scotland it is other-
wise. We have there a battonier, with this difference, that
he is battonier during life, fo behaviour. Sometimes
the Government have thought that behaviour less a bless-
ing to have than it might be, and have deprived him of the
office; but the legal principle in Scotland is that ho holds
the office for life unless some accident of that kind should
intervene. (Cheers and laughter.)
Tho CHAIRMAN then rose and said—l will now invite
you to drink another health, which I am sure will give you
equal pleasure with those that have preceded—l mean the
health of the distinguished judges who have this day
honoured us with their company. (Cheers.) It is impos-
sible for me to say a word either of their merits, or of the
sense which wo entertain of the honour which they have
done us. I will ask you simply to drink their healthy, as-
sociating with the toast the health of their eminent chief—
the Lord Chief Justice. (Cheers )
The toast was duly honoured.
Lord Chief Justice Como-unix said—Mr. Attorney-
Genrral, my lords, and gentlemen,—l wish, on behalf of
the judges, to return our cordial thanks fur the honour
which has been done us. lam sure I express the common
sentiment of all those who have been enabled to avail
themselves of your gracious invitation, when I say that they
have felt the highest gratification at having this opportu-
nity, through your kindness, of exhibiting their admiration
and respect for the bar of France, and the illustrious guests
by whom, on this occasion, it is so worthily represented.
We who have had to pursue the study cf jurisprudence
with a view to its administration know how much the
noble science of which we are members is indebted to the
groat and illustrious jurist of France whose labours have
shed so much light and lustre on that great profession. We
who have watched the celebrated trials which in my time
have occupied the tribunals of France have been able to
observe and appreciate the vast attainments, the great rea-