The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1885-10-16
THE BAR ASSOCIATION.
THE LEGAL FRATERNITY HOLD
THEIR 2ND ANNUAL MEETING.
Capt. }. J. Davis. President. Delivers
the Annual Address Which IL Re pfets
With W i>dom and Historical AIlu~ion>

Capt. J. J. Davis. President. Delivers
the Annual Address Which IL Repfete
With W i>dom and Historical AIiu>ion>
The State Bar Association held it, second
meeting in the Senate Chamber III Raleigh
Wednesday night. The Association WAS
called 10 order by President J J. DAVIS
Reports from the various officers aud com
mitteeS We're read. Quite a number of
new members were admitted The follow
ing new officers We're elected:
President, Hon. + q. Reade \ice-PreS
idents: 1st District, G. ". Grandy; End,
j. NJ. Mullen; 3rd, Jacob Battle: 4th, I.
K. Purnell; 9TH, Samuel II. Webb, 9Th. l..
/. Boykin; eth, ". y. Guthrie: sth ". J.
Montgomery; 9th, VIM. W Barber: 10th.
A c. Avery; 11th, ". NJ Shipp; 18th, I.
f. Davidson; Secretary, T. NJ Argo: Treas
urer, ". J. Peele
The executive committee We're charged
with the duty of naming the time and
place for the next meeting.
The CHRONICLE takes great pleasure III
presenting TO its readers, in advance of
any other paper, Capt. Davis entire ad
dress. 1t ought To be read by all especially
learn of the men who have given lustrc
to North Carolina in other days.
The Presidents Address.
II 40 hitt'' III hutN MY Dittiii H. ~ ava
or IS you upon retiring from the Prcsi
dency of this Association, and shall es
teen myself happy, if by anything may
say tonight, can cause a higher appre
citation of the profession to which we be
long. Often misunderstood by the masses
when misled by demagogueS. sometimes
even by sch. larly and good men because
perchance, criminals may have escaped
merlted punishment, sometimes ierided by
hypocrlteS, yet the members of the bar have
ever occupied prominent positions i'll every
country where good government prevail
ed, and in every emergency they have been
looked to as the defenders of public and
private rights, and in every contest be
tween liberty and disposition they have
been the firmest friends and stoutest ad
vOcateS of the former.
Mr.. Badger-llluStrIouS name-was one
of the ablest lawyers of this or OF any
country, the equal of Webster or of Choate,
and whom Mr.. Webster introduced to Mr.,
Choate as the latters equal and his own
superior, is reported to have said that II
thrown into strange country, with no
previous knowledge of the character or
condition of its people, he could form an
accurate estimate of the character and
condition OF such a country by the stand
ing and position of the members of its
lawyers exercising a controlling influence
in the councils of the country, command
ing the respect and esteem of the people
and themselves prosperous, he would know
that high degree of civil liberty, with its
attendant blessings of peace, prosperity
and happiness, was enjoyed by the people.
l think this undoubtedly true, and there
,are good reasons why it should be so.
From an enlightened, virtuOus and able
bar must come enlightened, virUIous and
able courts, and these are the dispensers of
justice, protecting the good and Furnishing
the bad purifying the masses and pre-
serving their rights and liberties.
Again: if the people are enlightened,
virtuous and industrious, their active
brains will be constantly inventing and
devisng sources of wealth, prosperity,
comforts and pleasures, requiring busy
and skilled hands to execute, and this will
induce active and generous competition
and consequent conflicts of interest that
will demand and command the counsel
and services of able lawyers and the abit
rament of wise and discriminating judges.
These judges and lawyer, if upright, hon
est and faithful, will command the respect
and esteem of the people in turn, elevate
the tone of public and private life, and
thus it is that the bench and the bar con
sttute a standard by Which the character
and condition of the people may be accu-
rately measured.
1t is, | think, a great though a very
common mistake, to suppose that lawyers
do most thrive VIII re are the most law
breakers, and the most lawlessncss. In
an idle, thriftless and vicious community
there may be-will be-mOre crimes, more
disputes and more litigation, counted by
numbers, but these like the people will be
of a mean, petty character, furnishing a
mean support to petty class of lawyers
| who can neither elevate themselves nor
| the people, and then they too become a
standard by which the character of such
| people may be judged-so it may well
| be said whether good or bad-llke law
yers-like people.
"When in the midst of arms the laws
are silent" when the voice of the civil
government is hushed by the roar of the
cannon and the sharp notes of the rifle,
no one can tell what the result may be =
of the conflict sometimes liberty and some
times despotism is born whether peace,
good government and happiness to the
| people, or strife, tyranny and oppressive
burdens, depends upon the character of
the victorious side. For good men-for
good people-there can be no such safe
refuge found as in good laws, we'll and
faithfully administered, and it is the high
est praise of the profession to which we
| belong that, with rare exceptions, it,
leading members in all conflicts between
despotism and civil liberty have been
found on the side of the latter The vic
tories of Nelson and Wellington, while
giving renown to the navy md army OF
England, would have been of little worth
to her people but for her civil magistrates
her Hales and her Manstields. And Eng
land furnishes an admirable illustrator
of the correctness of the assertion that /;
people may be judged by their lawyers
for in no country have laws and lawyer
been more respected and in no country eX
cept this has there been IA higher degree
of civil liberty than in England.
TIE legal profession by its training, it
regard for forms and precedents, couit
hardly be other wise than conservative; ant
coming home to our own beloved State. w
find that the past, which ut least is safe
the law abiding, honest and conservatir
character of the people has been fifty rep
resented by her lawyers
1t was my purpose to have made thl
address Il memorial of some of the goot
men who were leaders on the circuit whel
came to the bar, but timethieving pro
crastinatiOn robbed me ot the matrrl:i
which | ought to have gathered and an
but lily prepared to venture upon the task
The wears since | came to the bar hav
wrought many changes, and the habit
6 I..,-