The Irish standard., 1895-06-29

Il sAs q slaWyer and simply "a lawyer he
was great. IL he had allowed himself
to be an orator besides, he probably
could have done SO. Imagine Demos
themes with no Philip to denounce, and
making it his business to eiucidate the
law of trusts, and to make contingent
|remainders intel igible,a You have my
idea OF Charles O'Conor. may add
that some Of his philippics are still ex-
tant, and you feel sorry for the modern
Philip when you read them.
s:'s1f, however, you mean by the great
est lawyer, the most persuasive, the most
delightful, charming, Fascinating and ir-
resistible Of men, then you must take
Ogden Hoffman. He may not have been
great at besieging strongholds, He may
not have understood counterscarps, cir
cumvallations, redoubts and the like l
really believe he could not have captured
Alesia 1000 years ago as Caesar did, but
when 1t came to storming the jury box,
to sweeping away intervening obstacles
in spite of all the rules Of war4-except
these that rested on honorable carriage
Ogden Hoffman was the chief OF them
all all
:'His onslaught was simply irresisti-
BILE. He was in the Jury box with the
jurors telling them what to do, and they
obeying him, before the case was out OF
the judges hands. He charmed them
from their determination. as Apollo with
his Tyre drew the oaks by the roots from
their mother soil. He hypnotized and
wrought spell about them. His voice
was like silver lutte in the hands OF an
enchanter. And it was all done so mod
estly and gently and courteously that
really 1t was not fair to the other side
Fortunately for the administration OF
justice, nature. in giving Hoffman such
possibilities Of wrong-doing,. had limited
his capacity for mischief by a double
and very effective infliction. He was
lazy and he was gentleman. He would
never willingly harm "a human being,
even if it could be accomplished with
out labor because he was a gentleman
And as for doing q wrong. or anything
else to any one where labor was involved,
he scorned such baseness. He was IN
capable Of thus flying In the face OF the
good fairy who had lovingly endowed
him at his birth with splendid fund OF
unconquerable ]aziness.
James T. Brady completes the trio OF
great lawyers whom have known. Per-
hans he was the most richly endowed OF
them all. He was man Of intense per-
sonaltiy. His massive head had the
deep-get eyes, his charming smile and,
winning ways. This exquisite command OF
language, his wit, and his fancy his elo-
luuence, his genius were his and the ur-
ION his alone On the whole take him
altogether, he was second to none. HAD
he chosen he might have been first.
But there was cui bono note in his ef-
forts before court and jury that handi-
capped success. Except in great cases,
he seldom called out his reserves He
fought his battle with a light brigade as 1t
were, and made use of a brilliantly uni
formed cavalry when picturesque allies
might be necessary. But you knew that
he had the forces behind him, and when
he did take upon himself the responsible
ity of a human life he wsas inimitable,
and had never failed to do his best, and
more than his best no man could DO. In
q word, Brady was one OF the few law
yers of those have known WHO deserved
to be called genius. sa'ti,,
The impression that he left on the
mind of his juniors was that ne could 90
anything--if he only cared to try-@ He
might have commanded an army or writ
ten an epic poem if he had settled down
doggedly to work. Natures partially
to her chosen children does mot often go
Sc. far as to hatch genius and industry
from the same egg.
4 do not mention the names of any OF
my living brethren. Until their work is
done who can tell what material will ap-
propriately serve to preserve their mem
ory? Shall 1T be enduring bronze Of brit
tie clay? You may safely call no man
happy, nor great, nor good, nor wise until
he has turned his back forever on his
friends and foes alike. .