The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-26

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down the functions of their Office, deciding
upon voluntarily abandoning the profession
| OF advocating rather than obeying a law iniu-
rious to their honor -Four hundred and seven
advocates thus solemnly protested against the
ordinance of Blois. When the Parlia-
ment met, there were no advocates to plead.
! Justice was at a stand still, and the
capital on the verge of an outbreak The
! strike ended in the triumph Of the advocates,
who resumed their usage of demanding ex-
orbitant fees in the name of justice, and de-
chning in the name of honor to acknowledge
the receipt of them. With similar success,
but for better object, the Parisian Bar, dur
ing the troubles of the Fronde, resisted the
unscrupulous policy of Cardinal Mazarin with
almost perfect unanimity The occasion of
this strike amongst the wearers of the long
robe was the Cardinals banishment of Omer
Talon, on the compulsory retirement of which
able magistrate 'the Bar refused to appear
and plead, and nothing could shake their
resolution. The Cardinal then issued de
cree, and procured its registration, empower
ing the pC0curonIS to plead, even in appeal
cases, instead of advocates But the adj
vocates held out; and on the DrOcUTCUFS being
found incompetent to discharge the functions
OF their professional superiors, Omer Talon
was recalled and replaced, and the bar en-
Joyed signal victory to the equal surprise
and confusion of M. Rose, the one advocate
who, to curry favor with the powerful Cardi-
nal, had had the shameless audacity to sepa-
rate himself from his order and during the
continuance of the strike to appear in court
and apply for Judgment by default. The
course, by which Cardinal NIazarin vanly
endeavored to terrorize the French barristers
on strike into submission, was adopted with
| another result III England, during Charles the
Seconds reign, by Francis North, who,
whilst Chief Justice of the Common Pleas,
crushed the ''dumb-day' rebellion of the
sergeants by threatening, in spite of their
monopoly of practice in his court, to hear
utter-barristers and even attorneys argue the
causes in which the coif-wearing malcontents
should decline to appear
That the French advocates of the eighteenth
century demanded large fees and earned
princely incomes may be inferred from the
splendid and dazzling appearance which their
leaders made in the society of the capital. BY
moderate fees, notwithstanding the magni-
ttlde of his practice the superbly handsome
Normand, ''the Eagle of the Bar, would have
been unable to maintain his sumptuous house
and magnificent equipages. Like Normand,
his immediate precursor in the eighteenth
century, Gerber, who died 6dt0aHtGr of the
order of advocates i'll 17Sl drew enormous
sums from his clients, which he squandered
on sumptuous and luxurious living. He is
said to have received single fee of GlOOO
for his successful conduct of a single cause in
which Sieur Cadet was his client.
Perhaps the most singular fee accorded by
client to counsel in France or any other
country was the honorarium by which Char
lotte Corday expressed her sense of obliga-
ton to her chivalrOus advocate, Chauveau-
Delagarde.. You have defended me in a
generous and delicate manner, said the
''angel of assassination to Chauveau-Dela-
r1o I1-ba1 hav boA
nounced; cit was the only proper defense. l
thank you for it; it has made me have aregard
for you of which l wish to give you proof.
These gentlemen inform me that my pro-
perty is confscated; | owe something in the
prison, and | leave to you the payment of the
debt" The heroine who could thus pay debt
with debt was the angel of insolvency as well
as of assassination, and instead of putting an
end to her life, France should have implored
her to exercise her genius to iberate her
country from the burden of its pecuniary obli-
cations.
OF the pleasant and, let us hope, well-at-
tested stories in Mr.. Youngs volume, the fol-
lowing is a specimen:-
The Constitution of 1899 virtually abo-
lished the French republic, and established in
its stead a consulate. 1t also brought about
a judicial reorganization, and the Oar-whose
members had all along kept up the spirit of
brotherhood and some degree of discipline
began again to consolidate itself. In the
winter of 1900, the profession was greatly
scandalized by circumstance arising out
of the intimacy subsisting among its men,
bers, and the perfect confidence they re-
| pose i'll the honor of each other An adj
vocate of the name of Gatrez-an able man,
but addicted to raillery and practical jokes
one day called upon Blaque, and informed
him that he had been consulted by the
poultry merchants of the town of La Fleche,
in question with the poultry merchants of
lie Mans, in regard to a monopoly objected
to by the latter He showed memoir, signed
by himself, for the merchants of La Fleche,
stated that he had confined himself to in
ducing the obiectors to present petition to
the Minister of Police, and concluded by ask
ing Blaque for his signature. Blaque some
what rashly signed the paper upon the state
ment of Gatrez, and the latter, fortified by
this signature proceeded to call upon a mum
Der of other advocates. To those who desired
to read the document that he wished them to
sign. he answered that he would call again;
but from the rest of his brethren he obtained
twenty other signatures, among them
some of the most illustrious names in the
profession. He forthwith printed the memo
rial with these names attached; and, to the
astonishment and horror of those who had
signed it, and to the scandal of the whole
body of advocates, it turned out to be pas
quinade of twenty-four pages, entitled 'Ques-
ton of State for the Fat Pullets of La Fleche
against those of lie Mans, full of the most
incredible absurdities, narrated in a style of
pompous burlesque. Cicero, Julius Caesar,
Iheseus. Achilles, ARIA, Lucullus, Voltaire
done to compromise the too confident signers
&C. +l,a docn,nant The ri1icula yUoo iDayi-