Morning journal and courier., 1883-06-27

 directors of private corporations. The ad- dress of Mr. White, which was well delivered, was confined principally to railroad corpora l tions, which he said were conducted princi- paIly for the benefit of the directors, while I the stockholders were left to suffer. He | thought the nation was the only power that could successfully deal with these railroads and make them respect the rights of the stockholders and the public. The speaker was liberally applauded while delivering his address.
 Daniel William Lawler, B. A., of Prairie du
 Chien, Wis, was the next speaker, bis sub- 1 feet being sSThe Use of Money in Elections. He handled the subject with much ability and his manner of delivery was excellent. He thought that if elections were venal the entire nation was responsible. The great danger of party government was the danger \ of it's falling into the hands of the minority. \ He thought the remedy from party evils must come from the people themselves by crusade against the party system. When | MT. Iawler concluded there were general | evidences of approval in the audience. SENATOR BAYARD1s ADDRESS. Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, LII. D., United States Senator from Delaware, was then intro duced by President Porter. The Senator's address to the graduating class was very fine effort, but for want of space we are ob- | liged to condense 1t. His subject was 1.-The Responsibilities of the Legal Profession in 8 Republic D In his opening he said: ''It 1 would not be difficult to trace the causes of some dangerous and Eirulent sore in the body polite, sapping the moral health and long endangering the political safety of nation,
 to some legislative expedient' same un- warranted exercise of power impa- tientIy and weakly adopted by those en- i trusted with the administration of gov ernment in a season of danger as an appar | ent benefit, under plea, ssto do great right, do little wrong, but WAS in reality dan kSo1 41-,Ia of the government, the wounds of which are so slow to heal, and are, moreover, mischiev ous as precedents.
 And many errors by the same example Will rush into the State: lss The early charters of the American col onies, and the declarations promulgated in ! the organization of local governments under 1 them, are valuable in that they disclose | much of the objects and purposes, and of | the temper and character of the men who planted civilization and law in this country; l and tell, moreover, of the variety and differ ence of traditions which accompanied them l to their new homes in America, and are cherished still by their descendants. Among the terse and earnest expressions Of these earlier public documents of our forefathers there will be found in the first Declaration of Rights, preceding the Consti- I tuition of the State of Massachusetts adopted In 1780, two articles (29 and 3O), which should be impressive 10 those who enter the | legal profession, and contain great truths
 stated with 8 quaint and simple force. Under our American system, the legal pro- l fession is actually part of the government itself, as much so practically as if nominated and commissioned in office. Every American lawyer has functions ranging in the degree of his capacities, activities and consequent influence as legislator, politician in the higher sense and statesman.
 Membership of the profession in many, ,oek ho quired by almost anyone of requisite age and very limited educational attainments. The loose and careless mode prevalent of ad- mission to the bar seems, unfortunately, to be subject of but little concern or interest to the community at large and even within the ranks of the profession is treated with ] too much indifference.
 As our country expands under the impulses of free institutions and it's vast resources are
 developed by the energies of it's population under the marvellous leverage and enhghteR- ment of modern invention, the prizes of society grow in number and value and the contests for their possession naturally lnten- sify with a fierceness born of increased com petition. Social forces are developed and surge to and fro with violence that calls for all the strength of our institutions to regulate and subdue them into subordination to law and order.
 In our day the pecuniary prizes and conse- quent temptations of our profession are greater than ever before in our own history, and, as I am disposed to believe, in that of any other people. The inequalities of fortune in this coun- try, mainly the growth of the last twenty years, and in large degree attributed to great war, are indeed remarkable, and are producing results which should be graVely considered. One result is the creation of 8 class of clients and itigants who seek, and but too often obtain, from the legal profes- l sion services injurious to the commonwealth. The members of the bar of the United States should feel themselves to be by spe- ciaI training and education dedicated to priest l hood in the temple of liberty. Their highest duty is not to perform un- hesitatingly the behests of wealthy and pow erfuI clienrs, nor to conduct suits to 8 suc cessful termination regardless of the moral ! and legal rubicons that must be crossed, nor blindly to obey the call of political partisan 1 ship-but to obey the law-proclaim the ! law-uphoId the law. To inculcate it in private counsel, to argue 1t in the forum but in private or in public, in time of placid ! security, or amid the clamors of popular ex- l citement, ever steadily stand by the law and insist upon it's observance.
 A constantly recurring danger to liberty, against which the influence of the legal pro- l fession should be steadily opposed, is the dis position of rulers in times of public danger and excitement to resort to irregular expe-
  1 ment some threatening danger, and this at the I expense of violating the great principles of free government and unmindful of the peated admonition of history ''that civil power, like every other that calls in the aid of an ally stronger than itself, perlshes in the assistance it receives"
 I have high authority, perhaps the best, for chasing the act of 1862 making the notes | of the government of the United States legal tender among such unwise and mis- chievous expedients, adopted in a season of popular excitement and distress and which
 failed in its patriotic object even at the time of issue, and in the language of Chief Jus tice Chase (himself their chief advocate, if not the author) speaking in 1870 for the Su-
 preme court in the full light of experience.
 In Ireland we see an impoverished peas
 antry sought to be placated and pacified by
 the passage of land acts absolutely destruc- tive of the vested rights of ownership, and
 impairing or wholly prohibiting freedom of
 contract between landlord and tenant. And
 by such means 1t is sought to relieve the
 misery and poverty of the many at the cost
 of the uncompensate1 deprivation of the
 property of the few. Simultaneously hand
 of iron is placed upon entire population,
 rigidly enforcing the hardest penal laws,
 whilst the most cherished safeguards of per
 sonal liberty whose inviolability was once the
 proud boast of the English law, are either
 superseded or obliterated, and reign of ter
 TOT IS 1naugurated as an alleged necessity, to
 apprehend and convict criminals and secure
 the personal safety of officials a condition of
 affairs miscalled peace, and more distressing
 than open war to the inhabitants. If half
 the energy had been bestowed at the proper
 time to reform unwise and unjust laws, and
 redress actual and now admitted grievances,
 that is now exhibited in stifing discontents
 and punishing crimes, perhaps the task of
 British rulers in Ireland would be less diff
 cult, and they would have been spared the
 recourse to instruments and methods that
 combine discredit with success and leave
 stains behind. The saying of 8 great Irish
 man seems to have been forgotten
 All is disputed when everything is enforced
 But from whatever source the lesson is de-
 rived, it still remains that the only enduring
 victories are those of reason and justice un-
 der the forms of law.
 Who overcomes
 By force hath overcome but half his foe;
 and the impressive words that came to us by
 the tomb at Mount Vernon should be ever
 needed by American ears: 'tLet there bs
 no change by usurpation; for though this
 in one instance may be the instrument of
 good, it is the customary weapon by which