The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1852-04-27

Let US take one OF our young attorneys,
and follow him up. year by year, and step by
step, 10 the Halls Of Con gress, aud see how
he gets there. and what he is bound TO do
for lie can do nothing else---si,er he gets there.
In the first place, il should be horne in mind,
that The lawyers we send TO our legislative bod
les are not often the able, nor even the ablesi
Of iheiI class--I speak Of them as lawyers
only, and not as orators, or Statesmen, or
Scholars. They cannot afford 10 serve the
people for the day wages that your stripping, or
blockhead Of an attorney, who lives only from
hand 10 moi;,h, would snap at. He who can
have hundred dollars lor syeech. will never
make speeches at two OF three dollars day.
in our State Legislature, nor be satisfied with
eight dollars day in Congress.
And these youngsters Of the bar, these third
and fourth-raie lawyers, who are held to be
good enough for Legislators, because they can
not support themselves by their professions,
how are they trained for their busioessi
You first hear Of them in bar-roofns and
bowling alleys; then at ward dcaucuses; and
then al all soits Of gatherings where they may
be allowed TO ny themselves and their hearers;
and then al conventions or town meetings.:
and ,hen after being defeated half dozen times.
perhaps. iill il is acknowledged that il they are
not eleied, they are ruined for ever, they get
pushed, head foremost, into the State Legs-
alure. r,r-t
And once there, what shall they dol how
shall they manage TO become notorious, or dis
iinguishedl They must contrive to be talked
about 10 the newspapers; TO be heartily abused
by somebody. that they may heartily be prais-
ed by somebody else belonging 10 another par
ish. Their names at least will be mentioned.
and grow more and more familiar every day to
the public ear, until they become a sort Of
household words; or il may be a rallying cry,
by the simple force Of repetition, like proverbs,
or slang phrases. "Why do you take every
opportunity OF calling yourself an honest man."
said neighbor TO another Of doubtful reputa-
ton. "Why, your simple heart" was the re-
ply. "doDt you see that | am laying fonuda-
ton for what is called public opinion; aud that
after few years. when my character is fairly
established, the origic Of the belief will be
forgotien." So with your newspaper charac-
teis. Idols Of the day-at the end Of a few
months, at most they are dust and ashes; and
the people begin 10 wonder at themselves that
they should ever have been made such fools Of.
But how shall they manage to be talked
about in the newspapers, and most gleriousIy
abusedi There is only one way. They mus,
make speeches-if they cannot make speeches,
they may as we'll give up The ghost, and be
-
(~hatever may be their wo,ih, or strength, or
talents. in every other way,) il they cannot
make speeches not map ,Oi them will ever be
remembered-loug enough lobe fergotten.-
And they must make long speeches--the Ion
ger the better; and frequent speeches--the
more frequent the better, and be their own
correspondents and report themselves for the
newspapers, with tart replies and eloquent out.
breaks, and happy illustrations, never uttered,
nor dreamt OF till the unprecedented battle
was over, like some that were made by De-
mosthenes himself, years after the occasion had
passed by, and there was nobody alive TO con-
,radict him; or like the celebrated Grafton Of
Cicero against Cataline.
But they cannot make speeches about moth
ing at ala, least such is my present opin.
ion: it may be qualified hereafter, and am
well aware that common experience would
appear TO be against me, and that much may
be said upon both Sides as well as upon nett
her side, in such a question. They must
have something TO work with-and TO talk
about; something, too, which is likely to make
noise out Of doors; to set people together by
the ears; 10 astonish them, and 10 give them
"good excuse for fiettng, and scolding, and
worrying. In other words, they must intro
dnce new law the more absurd the better
or attack an old law the older the better; and
seek to modify it, or to change or repeal il.
And what is the result! Just this; that eve
ry Legislative Hall in the land, from The least
TO the greatest, from the lowest to the highest,
becomes debating school; and the business OF
the whole country is postponed, month after
month, and year after year. TO the very last days
of the session, and then hurried ihrough-just
like too late. wherever the national honor is
deeply concerned, as 10 the case OF French
oti nd thav hop 40, al t.,
the Government TO the People--wilh a pre-
cipits,ion so hazardous and shameful. iha.
much of. the little time left in future sessions
must be employed in correcting the blunders
Of the past; and all for whsil--meiely lha,
the lawyers may be heard month after month.
and haviogsoug speeches that were never de-
lyered, OF when delivered, not heard, reported
piecemeal, and paragraph by paragraph, in per.
haps, three thousand, ncwspapers--'hat are
forgotten before The nexi sun goes down, and
literally perish 10 the using" wis 5la