Des Arc citizen., 1859-09-21
For the Des Arc Citizen. SOME H0UGE HTS AB O U I
 LAW YERS.
MUM ER T W o. ]


 There is another aspect of this subject which deserves to be contemplated before we dismiss it, we refer to the appreciated digni- ty of the BAR in America, sustained by nc special privileges, accessible to every class of society, every order oftalent and every de- gree of ignorance; the ancient dignity of the vocation, has almost entirely abandoned it- it has degenerated from liberal art to a trade-its professors, from artists, have be- come artizans-from scholars they have de- generated to clerks; they no longer sustain the honorable eminence.of the Roman Patron, the protector and defender of their political infe- riors, from whom they may command both service and hornage--they are no longer looked up to as necessary tnediators between their clients and oppression; but, are rather them selves, the dependents than the patrons of the public.
 We are far, however, from deploring this change in the social STATUS of the legal pro- fession, for we think we discover in it the ev- idence of past moral advancement, it is the natural and inevitable result of the individual ization of our people; thereby we know that we no longer enjoy our liberties at the discre- tion of others. No naughty PRo-consul, the PROXY of despot, armed with the double li- centiousness of unrestrained authority and un- bridled appetites can now impoverish our provincial cities-riot upon our substance and violate our most sacred sentiments and rights. Every mans' love of his own rights, with us, makes him respect the rights of others; and we have no Ciceros or Hortensius' at our bar, because we have no Verres or Cataline, or Messala in authority. His professional tal- ents can never distinguish or dignify the so- cial position of the lawyer in a society where the people are denied no important rights His rank is elevated, other things being equal as the social condition of the people is de- pressed. The few occasions for judicial aid and practices are of such trifing interest as to awaken but little anxiety in the advocates effort, save in the breast of his own client. His function, too, has been so modified by the progress of free legislation that large and comprehensive mind is narrowed and hampered by engaging in the work. For the service that is now mainly required of the lawyer, no special preparatory education is essential, which is not equally essential to the merchant save the direct study of the law itself. No forensic or intellectual training is thought to be at all necessary for success. Of course, then, the supply will be here, as elsewhere, proportioned to the demand.
 We have thus, imperfectiy, stated whatwe conceive to be the causes of the decline oi the legal profession in America; First, the tendency of popular sympathy, and of legisla- ton to enlarge the responsibility of the indi- vidual, and to leave every man, as far as pos sible the subject of his own discretion; Second l in consequence of the surrender of its func- tions by first to second rate men, we are anx- ious to be considered as indicating tendency rather than result wholly accomplished. A this process of individualization is only in it. earliest development, of couIse, it's consequen' ces are not yet to be realized. We are fully aware that there is yet among us most un natural amount of litigation-that improvi dent credits still continue to distinguish thu folly of American tradesmen--that our judi cial tribunals are still clogged with excess O business, but we insist on the other hand, tha there is, andhas been, for twenty years {
 constant disposition to war upon the lega
 profession as class--that the profession i
 not adequately paid for the labor and respon
 sibility it has to sustain--that it's profits arr
 diminishing year by year, and that if the theo
 ry upon which our government is based be | correct one, and the tone of our Legislation D,
 healthy and permanent, the mediation of tn Lawyer must fall into comparative disuse O
 undergo an entire change as to the characte
 and value of his service. There wilt aiway
 be, we presume, abundant occasion in tn
 world for judicious advisers, and in that ca
 pacity they may constitute professional or der; but, we de not believe that the rights O.