The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-10-13

risters OF six years standing, with salaries ave-
raging from S2500 to $4,000 year. he had
felt in his own experience Mr.. She'll said how
far the receipt OF public money may extingulsh
a sensbity TO public abusesD To each county
in Ireland he gave lawyer, whose ostenslDle
duty was to advise the Justices of the Peace
sittipp ON the bench at Quarter Sessions mere
! county gentlemen who knew little or notnlng
of law, and sometimes exhibited equal lgno,
rance OF justice. This official was hrst called
Assistant Barrister," because IL was supposed
that his business was to assist the country
magistrate with his legal advice. NOW ana
then there would be revolt against this legal
official las when in 1926, the Earl of Kingston
insisted that he as oldest and grandest magis-
trate present and not Assistant Barrister Mart
ley, should pronounce sentence upon certain
convicted crminals); but in course OF time,
when able lawy ers we're appointed, their au-
thorlty prevailed-they did the work-they tried
criminal and civil suits-they became chairmen
of Quar- ter Sessions, by which title they are now
known. The early designation Assistant Bar
ristern obtained no popular respect, for the
populace understood that 1t meant an INFERIOR
lawyer.
Irish lawyers of the last century were proud
OF their profession, which was then the only
road for the middle classes to the highest sta
tions in the land; proud of their country, Tor
in it they were the equals of the highest noble;
seeing in la nObieSSe de la robe dignity higher
than that of the mere accident OF patrician
birth; they were ready, according to the Gus
tom of the time, to back their quarrels on the
field, and an active fancy and a ready pen fre-
the steady hand upon the pistol or the rapler.
Almost every lawyer of emineuce who sat upon
the judicial bench, or pleaded in the law courts
between 1850 and 1920. had fought at least one
duel. Even parties in lawsuits were accustomed
| to the use oil the pistol
An Irish gentleman, who was about being
tried for a misdemeanor, was informed by the
Judge as the names OF the Jury were being
called over, that he might challenge any of
them for cause. "My LORD" said he, 'I'll wait
until the trial is over and if they give verdict
against me Pll challenge every mothers son of
them"
From 1890 TO 1898 a Catholic could not become
member OF the Irish bar. Mr.. O'Connell, who
had been educated in France fort the priesthood,
become a lawyer when the bar was opened TO
them. The profession afforded great scope to
ambition; the preliminary cost OF keeping terms,
two years in Dublin, and two years in London,
was great that the sons of persons with
| limited means were SELDOM able to become law
| yers. However. John Scott afterwards Chief
| Justice and Earl OF Clonmel, was poor mans
| son, helped forward by rich merchant in Cork.
| Barry Yeverton, who told his mother while yet
IN his teens, that he wished he had eleven shirts
| more, as every gentleman ought to have dozen,
reached the bench and the peerage as Viscount
| Avonmore. Culran, literally educated on
charity, and enabled to study the law through
the liberality of his wifes father had the greatest
| popularity, and the largest practice at the bar
| for nearly thirty years, and finally became
Master of the Rolls-an equity Judge, imme-
| diately next to the Lord Chancellor.
We can well understar the pride with which,
| when dining with the Prince OF Wales, after
wards George ~, and asked what his profession
had done Tor him, he answered, at has enabled
the son OF an Irish peasant to sit at the table of
his Prince
The present Irish bar does not rank as high as
that which Ireland was proud of, and with
ample cause, in that remarkably brilliant though
too brief period. In the days of Louis XIV, the
Great Chancellor of France D'Auesseau, wrote
that the profession of the lawyer was mobility
| Ixriih ihN,,E
without an estate.n This was the truth as
applied to the bar of Ireland in the last century,
and more particularly towards its close. Then
the gown Of the lawyer was as honorable as the
| ribbon of the noble, and in the provincial con-
| diton of the country the bar was almost the
| only road to distinction. In the twenty years
| Immediately preceding the Union nearly a dozen
| OF the first lawyers were raised TO the peerage.
| Many influences combined to lead youGg law
yers into Parliament. He who had talent, as
well as ambition, might reasonably hope, by
| such a pathway, to reach pTeierment and
renown; and if he did ot become a Judge at an
early period, at least to reach scarcely less lucra
| tive offices.
The great parliamentary debaters on the
| popular side were lawyers. Henry Burgh, who
reached the office of Prime Sergeant the highest
| rank at the Irish bar before he was thirty-siX,
| was one of the most brilliant orators in the
| House of Commons. His hand was liberal, his
fortune limited. To him, as To- Others, wealth
and rank must have been powerful temptations
he always admitted that they were-bnt high
above them rose strong love for Ireland.
When the question of independence was de-
bated Burgh, though in office made powerful
| speech in favor OF his country. The House rose
| en- DldsSe to cheer him, as he concluded with an
| al,usion 10 the volunteers and said:-'Talk not
to me of peace; Ireland is not in state of peace
| it is smothered war. England has sown her
| laws like dragons teeth, and they have sprung
| up armed men," He knew the penalty of being
| honest, and resigned office; but was too lllustr
| Gus to become obscure. AS Grattan said twenty
| years after the death of BuTgh, 'The gates oi
| promotion were shut upon him as those of glory
| opened"
Flood, who fought the battle of Irish indie
| pendence so nobly, until he accepted lucra
| tive Office from the Government, and was one
| OF the ablest and most persuasive among politi
| cal orators, was a lawyer, though he did no
| practice. His great rival, Henry Grattan. was
| called to the bar before he entered Parliament
| and no doubt his legal studies were of ultimate
| advantage to him in dlsciplning his mind. Bu
| his heart never was in his profession. In the
first and, we believe, the only cause in which
| he pleaded, he was so conscientious and un
lawye1lke as, not having gained a verdict, tC
| return to his client one-halt OF the fee of fifty
guneas which he had received. He was tht
greatest parliamentary orator Ireland ever pro
| duced
His schoolfellow, Fltzgibbon, who commenced
his political course as patriot was also sucl
an able lawyer that, during the thirteen year,
| OF his Chancellorship, very few of his decree
| were reversed upon appeal. He ought to have
| been superior to mercenary influences for hi
| inherited fortune was large. His persona
| courage was great, and the contempt which his
tongue boldly spoke, his weapon as boldly de
| Tended. His pride, which was boundless
| equalled his ambition. He ever aimed at power
| and at office, and rank as the instruments fo
| getting 1t. For over twelve years, that is, unit