The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-04-26

Catullus in his mind.
Ut 1os tn septis secretus nascitur horis,
so grows baIrister into fame and profit b
years of unregarded toll in his lonely cham
bers overlooking the Temple Gardens. And
then he is transplanted in fun and glorious
bloom to Court, "where sonSe flowers are
even more besutiful than others, and are
placed on that account in the first row. Bot
If this fair flower should be dishonored, then
as Catullus says again:-
Null nlum pueri nullss optavere paelle;
or, in other words, the disgraced counsel is
cut both in court and in society. The flower
hangs his head and droops: the suns light
cheers him not, and she rain does not refresh
him. Having grown to his full height he
fades and falls away To the brightness of
the morning star sucseeds a dull twilight
which shall deepen into. dreary night. The
barrister who has ruiasd has professional
prospects BY indiscreet teuting can apply to
himself the hnes of an imithtor of Catulluz,-
am a garment worn, q vesseIcrack'd,
zone united, lily trod uron,.
A Fragrant dover cropt by another hand,
My color sullied, and my ode-'changed.
But our feelings have carried us a littl5-
beyond Sudge Bedford The comparison Of
the disreputable barrister to q trodden lily
however beautiful and appropriate, is not his
but ours. The Judge compares him to "a
rank unwholesoMe weed" which one some-
times finds lin the midst of besetY and eul-
tivation," or. in other words, among the
members of an eloquent and learned bar Gas
it is the duty of the faithful gardener to
uproot the weeds so that the flowers NAV
longer retain their life and lovelinoss and be
not contaminated or withered by thsblighting
influence of the noxiOUs poison, sois it the
dutyin Epglando of benchers to disbara touter
They may leaTnatheir own duty whilS observ-
ing that their gardeners do theirs The
honorable practitioner is not to be annoyed by
the presence of the to9t. The life and love-
illness of a leading counsel must NOT be
blighted by the influence of an Old Bailey
trickster. Virtue,and iNnocence ougbt'not to
be exposed unnecessarily to temptation. The
flower has grown and sourished in garden
of which the fences ogght to be as far as
possible maintained. Bot in New York the
shyster ventures upon proceedings from
which the English tout would shrink. He
makes his way into the prisons, and in
forms the prisoners committed for trial
that he has great influence, and in come
cases she goes SO far as TO say
that he controls, ay, even owns the Court and
| District Attorney. The Indignation of Judge
Bedford fails to supnly language adequate to
| denounce the iniqaity of the shyster who has
dared to whisper that he the shyster, pulls the
string by which Judge Bedford moves when
he dispenses criminal Justice in the Court
of General Session of New York. The
Judge proceeds, when he has partially re-
covered his equanimity, to declare his opinion,
| that if there could be three or four convictions
of these shysters, and the convicts could be
sent to the State Prison for the full term fixed
by law, there to reflect in their lonely cells
| upen their many acts of turpitude perpe-
trated under the garb of professional honor
upon the friendless~ and over credulous, then
the profession of the law, being stripped of
those perjured wretohes, and being in the
hands only of high-toned, honorable men,
would indeed fulfiits noble mission, melting
out justice to ALL injustice to none.
II appears that allegations of courts and
public officers being under undue influence
are common in America. Thus, in the
reports of the next day to that on which
Judge Bedford delivered his vigorous charge
against shysters, we read that Judge Curtis,
in civil court, was greatly incensed at an
imputatien on his integrity, which appears
entirely unfounded. The case was an ordi-
nary one of assault and battery, and counsel
for the defendant had made the usual and
reasonable request that the witnesses might
be ordered out of Court during the trial
Hereupon counsel for the plaintiff rose ex-
citedly, and said that there was too much
political influence at work in that Court, and
hereupon Judge Curtis said that counsel
would have to substantiate his charge or
make it at his peril. Counsel, being thus
challenged, proceeded to state that, on
previous day, when the case then
pending was expected to come on, an
Assemblyman entered the Court, and wrote
on slip of paper, 'Dear Judge, the defend
ant is q friend of mine; do what you can for
him." The Assemblyman, who showed to
the coansel on the wrong side this letter,
which after all he did not send to the Judge,
must be very clumsy wire-puller. But
perhaps other practitioners of the samo art are
more clever. The little scene ended by the
Judge writing letter to the Assemblyman,
and reading it aloud in court before he
sent it.
We knew that in the United States bar.
| rister was also an attorney, but we did not,
until lately, know that he was also an attor-
ney's clerk. 1t is rather surprising to hear
Judge Bedford discoursing so eloquently
upon the nobility and dignity of the ban
when it shall be purged of shysters, and
almost on the same day to learn that the
wifes counsel in a divorce suit had
served process on the husband
, and offered himself as witness to prove
, the identity of the husband with a man who
was known to be cohabiting with a woman
, other than the wife. The counsel stated tha
, he called on the defendant and found him il
bed. He took with him the wife's sister t.
identify the defendant, and policeman, 'tC
prevent any little unpleasantness. The
counsel, supported by the policeman, ven
! tured to take moral tone by asking the de
fendant whether he was not ashamed to b'
, living with a woman not his wife, to which
the defendant answered, "None OF your bust
ness.p The counsel then served the defen
! dant with an order of Court for alimony
, Having thus given evidence son thu
, stand" the counsel resumed his place at th'
bar, and proceeded to pour forth such fioo(
i. | & 81 at khn nnI,