The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-26
RESPONSIBILITIES OF LAWYERS.

The report of tbs speech of Gen. Lawton
al the twelfth annual meeting of the Amerl-
I'm Bar Association in Chicago last Au-
gust, which appeared in the public prints
. immediately aztec the meeting, was very
Incorrect one. The following. taken from
the report of the meeting made by the
81 szsocierion, shows what Gen. Lawton did
i sav. The toast to which he responded was:
THE BAR-By the active service of its men,
begs the safeguards OF society are preserved;
order and peace maintained in the business
world and even the great powers OF govern
ment guided and restrained.
Introducing Mr.. Alexander r. Lawton,
the president, said:
GENTLEMEN When the Crown Prince Rudolph
Of Austria came to an unUimely death the rep
rasentatives of foreign powers at Vienna has
toned 10 telegraph to their home governments
mat he died of heart dlsease-premature infor-
nation which they subsequently were Obliged
n recall or modify. The American minister
rleuipotentiary, however, who is in our midst
fo-night with diplomatic tact and lawyer-like
aStuteness, contented himself with teIegraphing
"A 10 mis- government Inc crown prince uleu SUD
II denly this morning. "
Shall now call upon this gentleman, whose
name is familiar to you all, to make the response
# 10 this toast; he comes to us from the distant
# south to exchange fraternal greetings His
ability as a lawyer not only, but his services to
his state and to his reunited country, have placed
Il HIM in the front rank of public men. Gentle
81 men | have the honor to Introduce Alexander
"A F. Lawton OF Georgia.
Gen. Lawton spoke as follows:
Mr. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN-After the
kind and gracious words which introduce me
TO this goody company, feel somewhat en-
81 barrassed in attempting to respond to such a
q toast But the duty is imposed upon me by
q those who have the right to command, and
may not refrain from its discharge.
- Perhaps the best could do would be to adopt
"A The language, the criticisms and the advice of
the Nestor of the American Bar, in the presi-
rn1A rNEo 70 Aru- 81
what the members of our great profession
ought and ought not to do. Those sentiments
and that advice came to us with the sanction of
ripened years. varied learning, and large expe-
rienCe and observation in the practice of that
profession. The mellow light of retrospect
gives certainty to the judgment; and trust we
will never forget the words of wisdom he has
addressed to his younger brethren of the bar.
The responsibilities of the educated class,
especially in republic, in its relations to the
state and society, are always very serious as
all great movements demand the leadership of
81 intellect. How intensified is this responsibility
# upon our profession, to whom is committed in
8 such large measure those intellectual contests
X which affect the most delicate and important
relations of life, and the rights and privileges
which we esteem most valuable; and who eX-
All erciSe controlling influence over the govern
81 mental machinery of the state.
This controlling influence of lawyers was felt
q during the formative period of our government.
"a All of us remember with pride and pleasure the
# glowing tribute paid to the lawyers of America
III by Edmund Burke, in his great speech on con-
citation, and we are doubtless willing to accept
81 the views of DeTOcqueville, perhaps the most
+ careful and astute observer who ever visited
M this country to study our institutions. This dis
tinguished foreigner expressed the opinion that
M a republic could not exist long if this in
fiuence of lawyers in public business did
E not increase with the power of the people
n And has not this prophecy of DeTocqu9vie
been fully justified by the result? noble lord
has recently said in the British House of Peers,
S. that the grandest upper chamber in any parlia-
mentary body, ever devised by the wit of man,
is the Senate of the United States Who but
M lawyers have constituted the great mass OF the
Senate from its origin to the present
time? VINO have reaped the rewards
and enjoyed the distinctions which it could
confer? Who have been responsible for its acts
of commission and omission? Certainly lawyers
in larger proportion than men of all other occu-
# pations combined. We all know that this is in
great measure true as well of the House of Rep
M resentatives as of all the state legislatures.
# Therefore, the frame and character of our laws,
i# well as their construction and enforcement
through the judiciary, is mainly in the hands of
lawyers. If we seek, or even accept, the honors
and the duties, can we refuse to acknowledge
the responsibility?
And yet more. Under our peculiar system of
government, for the first time in the history of
# civilization, the true construction of coDstitu-
81 tions and the decisions as to the constitution
atty of laws, are judicial functions This vastly
augments the political Importance of that de
partment OF government whose Offices only
lawyers fill And since the true construction of
constitutions here belongs to Jurisprudence,
ana not to politics, all who fill the
judgment-seat, and they who minister
at its affairs. should be statesmen
as well as lawyers. This last branch Of the sub
M ject illustrated at the death of the late emf
nent chief justice of the United states, by the
~ marked interest that was felt, not only in this
& country, but, in no small degree, in England
also. as to the appointment of his successor.
I The great daily journals of London had uum-
M Der of leading articles on the effect which might
~ be produced by change in the incumbency of
81 that high Office: and no paper in America was
more emphatic than the London Times in its
|# estimate of the Importance. dignity and power
which belonged to the Office of chief justice of
the United States.
M On one occasion, while was in a foreign
KS. land, the conversation turned to the subject of
3 the class of men who filled the high offices of
'M state in this country, where no distinctions of
rank, and no inherited titles, recognized.
~ My response was that at that hour not only the
President of the United States, but every men,
# Der of his cabinet a lawyer; and not
E# merely lawyer by education and profession,
but at the moment of his transfer to these
high executive duties, was actually engaged in
q the practice of law, or sitting on the bench.
This statement not only surprised, but almost
electrified, the social party to whom it was
made. Perhaps few of us here present have
ever seriously considered how frequent is such
a state of things; so much is it matter of
course for lawyers to fill majority of the hi III
places in the state
awe have, for a day or two just past been dis
cusSing and lamenting the ShpShod manner of
x enacting our laws, and their defective language;
Ix and the great delays and scandals connected
with their execution. Surely, it must occur to
us that We the lawyers of this country at the
81 bar and on the bench, are more responsible for
these grievances than all other classes of citi-
zens put togetherl Let accept the respon-
slblity with the honors, and use our utmost
en- ieavors to show to the world that the people
OF the United States have made mistake in
thus committing so much control over their
destinis to our great profession. Every senti-
ment of duty and ambition calls upon us to heed
The injunction. Quit yourselves like men,"
The apt words of this toast to the Bar an
nounce that "by the active service of its mem
bers the safeguards of society are preserved -
How important and diversified are our duties
IN TINS regard! Time permits me to speak of
lnen in but one direction-the money-loving
character of our age, 1t is a trite remark that
I'm Ine most portentous threat against our free in
sIitqtions lies in the accumulation of the wealth
@ oI the country in the hands of few, and the
FoStratlon of society before it as a
r. dignity-a principaty-a power" Against
ms absorbing power of wealth, what
eetsIouger bulwark can be iuterposed
man the associated resistance, and
ne example of intellectual and learned pro-
leSSlon, powerful in influence, trained to Wig
orouS thought and effective speech, and init
laately connected with every variety of human
IS auairs! If it but dare exert its influence and
assert its heightened character, no social agent
81 laa hait its power to curo and TO reform. But
r. i only must honor be the guide Of
uuqTcV; we must make no terms with dshonor.
W Generalization often comes not so much from