The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-06-30

hesitation, Daniel O'Connel, the great
Irish lawyer! To whom we owe the
science of agitation; the irresistible
but ~peaceable marshalling of public
opinion to change customs, policies
and laws; to him we owe the demon
stration of the profound truth that
reforms are not granted merely because
they are right; that they are granted
when it is 10 longer possible to refuse
them.
Leaving the old world and comingt to
the new the same fact is visible. The
signal fires of the revolution were lit
by lawyers; the Declaration of indie
pendence was written by a lawyer-so
the Constitution; and the man to whose
doctrines of equality the people are
returning now as fast as they can
march was Thomas Jefferson, the
lawyer.
But of all mean creatures, deliver us
from the lawyer who perverts truth,
foments d1scord, thinks only of his fee,
hampers with witnesses and brides
jurors.
The lawyer who knowingly uses
false testimony, knowingly misleads
the judge, knowingly takes unjust
advantage of the other side, has in my
humble judgment done an ~unprofes-
sional thing and made himself a party
to a crime.
Young gentlemen, if you wish to be
a lawyer, be one. It is a most honor
able profession, But belong to the
true and not the false.
If your client be guilty COMO further
than to hold the State to a strict proof
of guilt. That far you may go in honor.
Further you cannot go. Make your
selfnoa ccomplice in peri jury or bribery.
Remember that your client has not
bought your character.
Avoid the narrOwness which so often
comes from regarding law as merely
technical. Lift yourself to view it as
the application of right to the relations
DOUWSOu lIdu dllu lldl1.
Some of these days [ pray that we
may have in our courts and in our
regulations less of technicality and
more of the broad principle of light.
Do any of you think of being politi-
clans?
hope so. If there is anything this
country needs just now it is more poll
ticians-of the right sort.
Wouldn't you like to be called a
statesman? Of course. Well, who is
the statesman? He is a dead politician.
No public man, as a general rule, is
called a statesman while he lives. It's
an honor erected to him in a monU-
mental spirit after his death.
But it does seem to me that the poll
tician of the higher type is absolutely
essential in all countries. Who is he?
and what is his mission?
He is the citizen who loves justice in
the laws who believes that the doctrine
of right should be the creed Of govern
ment as well as of individuals; his mis-
sion is to denounce abuses and propose
remedies; to oppose bad laws and advo-
cate good ones; to educate the masses
of the people upon the true principles
of government; to lead them in oppo-
sition to administrative wrongs; to
embolden them to stand squarely for
their guaranteed rights; to labor to
the end that equality shall be pre-
served; that the avenues of promotion
shall be kept open to allalike, and that
the country shall be henceforth and
forever a decent place for the people to
live, free from the tyranny of classes;
free from the exactions of a moneyed
nobility or an intolerant and corrupt
priesthood; free from the legalized
tyranny of capital yer labor-of the
rich over the poor.
Such is my conception of the true
politician.
Now as to the false. You feel the
need of a disinfectant when you ap-
proach him. He looks bad, he smells
bad, and he is bad. He is abroad in
the land. The impudence OF Satan is
on his face, and the handspring Of his
existence is doodle" Principles are,
to him, things to use, trade on and
desert.
His fellowman is to him either the
hunter or the game-either the fellow
he is after, or the fellows who are after
him. The government is the machinery
which collects the fleece from the
lambs; for that reason he loves the
governm9nt-and goes for the fleece.
Truth, honor, patriotism, are SO
nnnnu ctnn ~ hnhitS which ho nnnu or