National Republican., 1888-04-21
TALMACE ON LAWYERS.
HE FRONTS Prelude rs
AGAINST THE PROFESSION.
The Lawyers of This Country Have
Rendered Mighty Service which Is
Entitled to Proper Recognition and
just Appreciation.

of the Rev. r. Dewitt Talmagc, D. D.. at the
Tabernacle was on Roscoe Coukling and
What Know About Lawyers lie said:
The Bothnia, Of the Cunard line. had broken
her shaft in mid.occun and came limping into
Liverpool harbor many days after she was
due. As Roscoe COnking was on board that
ship much anxiety was felt. The umbria, on
which we sailed, started week later, but
caught up with the wounded steamer and the
two vessels won't into harbor tOgc thGr. Meet
ing Mr.. Conklng In the Northwe stern Hotel,
Liverpool, the next morning, ! asked him IL
the accident and detention had not been to
him some anxiety and worrimcnt. lie sail,
"Oh, no! was sure that good fortune would
bring us through all right Many Of us have
hoped and prayed that this human craft of
legal skin and eloquence might weather the
rough seas of physical suffering and might
come through though with It broken shaft of
entrgy-into cOnvalesccnCe and safety. About
Roscoe Conkling as politician | have moth.
field of enraGcd controversy. About Roscoe
Conkling as lawyer there Is only one opinion.
Armed at every point, brilliant, severely
il he thought that the most effective, all tho
aImories of invcctivc and satire at his com
mand the only man who could afford to turn
his back uTon the Chief Justiccship Of the SUI
prcmc Court of the United states, and nothing
could stop him except blizzard that stopped
eGyeIrything' and the only REASON he did not get
missed or mon suited" was because It was
already decided by Court from. which there
was no appeal. What a beautiful and sublime
thing to he set down to tho credit of human
nature that all political aninostics have been
silenccd by the story of his sick bed, and that
people Of all parties are mourning for MIR.
tOnklngs death
Are yOu sufficiently acquainted with the for.
mer unjust prejudice against that profe lsion
to OrCali2e the contrast between the way II was
the time of Oliver Cromwell II was decided
that lawyers might not enter the parliament
house as members. The learned Dr.. Johnson
wrote an epitaph for one of them In these
words;
God works wonders now ana then,
Here lies lawyer, an honest man ~
Two hundred years ago Il treatise was issued
with the title, "DOOmSday approaching with
thunder and lightning for lawyers" Aproni.
@ 81 the d hese wos
l. a society Of men among Us bred up from
their youth IN the art Of proving according a.
Sy posS IS 6att tSh White 5aE and bacE is whte
| For example: If my ncghbor has II MUD TO
my COW, he hires lawyer TO prove that he
| ought &c, have my COW, from me. must, hire
| against all rules OF law that a man should
| speak for himself In. pleading they do not
| dwell upon the merits Of the cause, but
| upon CIRCUMSTANCES foreign thereto. For
| instance. they do not take the shortest
method to know what title my adj
vers9ry hns to my COW, but whether the
| or the like. After that they adjourn the cause
| from time to time, and in twenty years they
| come to an issue. This society, likewise, has
a peculiar cant or jargon of their own, in
| they take especial care 70 multiply whereby
| they have so confounded truth and falschood
| that II will take twelve years to decide whether
| the field left to me by my ancestors for six
generations belongs to me or TO one three hun
sdred miles off,
So there was ali outrageous prejudice going
| n Uni ipgtt
| alton TO generation. / account for II on the
single, fact that they compel men to pay debts
that they don't want e, pay, and that they ar
consequences of their crime, and rs long as
that Is so. and II always will be so just 50
, long there will be classes of men who will
fession. | know not how 1t IL in other coun-
tries, but have had long and wide acqunnt-
ance with men Of that profession-l have
found them in all my parishcs-I tawled in
one of their Offices for three years where there
came real estate lawyers, insurance lawyers,
criminal lawyers, marine lawyers, and have
Straightforward, There are. in that occuna
tion, as in all other occupations, men utterly
obnoxious to God and man, and so II Is In al
our professions, but II ! were on trial for my
integrity or ms life and wanted even handed
justice administered to me, would rather
have my case submitted to jury of twelve
cannot Sta forget tie mighty service Which
the legal profession has rendered the cause Of
| religion. Among the mightiest pleas that eve,
pcas IN Of The Bbe and chrs
anity-aS when Daniel Webster stood In thC
Supreme Court at Washington pleading in TIL,
famous Grard will case, denolncng any at
tempt TO educate the people without giving
them at the same tine moral sent timent. a.
low, ribald, and vulgar dc'sm and intiel
ity;" as when Samuel l." Southland, of New
Jersey, the leader OF the forum In his day
stood on the platform at Princeton College
commencement, advocating the literary eX
eellency of the Scriptures; as when Edmune
ings, not only In behalf OF the English govern
mcnt, but In behalf of elevated mortals
closed his speech in the midst of the mos
Hastings in the name of the house of com
mons, whose national character he has dis
honorcd; impCach him in the name OF tn
people of India, whose rights and liberties h
has subverted; | impeach him IN the name o
human nature, which he has disgraced: in TIN
name Of both sexes, and Of every rank and Q
world, impeach Warren Hastings"
; Among the most ardent supporters of Chris
and the Gospel have been Blackstone, the grea
commentator on English law, and WILDER
force. the emancipation, and the late Bentamnl
| Il, Butler attorney general of New York, anC
the late Charles I les Chapncey r the Leader of th
and Tenterden. and Campbell, and Sir Thoma
More, who died for the truth on the scaffold
saying to his aghast cXecutioner: pluck ~
courage, man. and do your duty; my neck IL
very short; be careful, therefore, ana do no
There are times when we all need tho hell
of that profession. We all become clients.
do not suppose there Is a man 80 years of age
who has been in active life, who has not bee!
afflicted with lawsuit. Your name Is as
Your boundary line is invaded, and the cOurt
must Ic.estalish it, Your patent Is infringeC
upon, and you must make the offending man
ufacturer pay the penalty. Your trea aSpre,
| muSt Il
You want TO make your WILL and you do no
want to follow the example of those who, fo
inperil Ss5O,OOo and keep the generation FOL
lowing for twenty years Qparreling about th,
estate, until it Is all exhausted. You ar
EsE yaEs For at ny by tHs 9n asss a yHu sEs @ in
persons in course OF time become clients.
And We. are interested in the welfare of tn
legal profession. Their pGrpleSities are IN
and know of what speak | would be
lawyer If We're not clergyman. A ,youn
man starts in the legal profession, and wha
| shall be his theory regarding his clientsy
On one extreme Lord Brougham will appear
saying, "rhe innocence or guilt of your clien
is nothing to you. You are to save your ellen
destruction of all others. You are to know
are TO Save him though you should bring you
SSy s sTe o SS@r SSn"s2 on az % 0sagsd' says Sp
%a1 Brong6Sm, ham, but no Oi riight.mIndcd lawye wye
could adopt that sentiment on the othc
extreme Cicero will come and say, "You mus
never plead the cause of n bad man. forget
ful of the fact that the greatest villain ol
earth ought to have fair trial. and that ai
attorney cannot he Judge and advocate at th
sacrificed his attorney genClalshp for the SAX
| Of defending Thomas Paine in his publication
Of his book called "l'he Rights Of Man.
while at the same tmo he, the nd
yocatc, ablOrrcd Thomas Paine
religious sentiments. Between thes
two opposite theories of what Is right
| what shall the attorney dOs God alone ca
| direct him. To that Chancory he must be nj
| pelunt, and he will get an answer In an hou
| blnssed Is thNt nttOmCY botWeen Whose Oliic