The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-06-20


and beauty added materially to the at
traction thereof.
| THE LITERARY SOCIETY EXER
CISES.
Last night, beginning shortly before .
O'Clock, the Rusk and Athenaeum socie
ties held their annual literary exercises
Mr.. Num- representing the Rusk and MIR
stone the Athenaeum. There was an un
usually large attendance, nOtwithStand
ing the inclement weather of the day, an(
much interest was manifested in the ex
ercises.
Mr.. w. H. Num-, the gifted orator of tn,
Rusk society, was the first introduced, an(
choosing 'eThe Lawyer as his subject
spoke as follows:
Ladies and gentlemen-In the subject
have chosen for this evening, have boil
general and special interest. In the de
termination of the real character of thu
lawyer l have a common interest with al
lovers of truth; but beyond this j have {
far greater interest, for stand, as it were
in the gateway of the boundless profession
the law-to the study of which l desire
to devote the energies of an honest, honor
able and useful life.
But before proceeding to the discussion
of my subject wish to say this: No pro
fession or avocation of life is free from
censure; even that most sacred profession
the priesthood-has it's calumniators
but concerning none of these is the state
ment more universally true than it is OF
the profession of law.
To accept the common opinion of the
world, the lawyer is the meaneSt of men.
To &c hasa roll OiOn iS nnppnntinn
and whose creed is selfinterest; whose
sworn duty it is to support the law and
whose constant practice it is to evade it;
who gives justice for a price and eXalts
crime for a pittance; who condemns the
innocent and eXculpates the guilty; who
enjoys all the emoluments of crime and
suffers neither its pollution nor its penalty;
who is the servant alike of king and crimi-
nal, the mediator between the judge and
the condemned, the court and the outcaSt.
He is all things to all men and yet in
nothing does he lose his self-respect or in
dividuality. The ingenious world marks
this apparent inconsistency, and says:
"Virtue has been cheated and fraud now
wears her robe; vice hath gained esteem
and corruption honor"
To attempt a defense of the lawyer in
the face of this opposition is like Selling
lllt SNOIu anu uChuhSC " lhN
world; to ask his acquittal is to demand
a reversal of the judgment of all the
unthinking ages.
But we should not be deferred in the in
vestigation by the magnitude of the under
taking; we should not, without the most
careful consideration, brand as unprinci-
pied and corrupt the ordained priest of the
sacred temple of justice, the legally con-
stituted organ of those who claim the
most sacred rights, and the defender of
those who find their fortune imperiled or
their honor threatened. Public opinion
is seldom entirely unfounded, but it is
often inaccurate and unjust, and till we
are satisfied by proof let us be at least as
generous as the law, which. gives to the
most abandoned criminal the benefit of
the doubt.
The principal charges preferred against
the advocate are: First-That he will
undertake the defense of any cause, re-
CARELESS of its business; and second, in
the support of that cause he will scruple
not to defame the character of others.
These are grave charges and they rise in
important when we are forced to admit
that they are true; but in the language
of the law we will answer them by "a
plea of confession and avoidance and
show that their exercise is required by a
sacred duty which our law in its wisdom
has entailed upon its professors"
The advocate is at once an officer OF the
court and a servant of the public; the as
sistapt of the Judge and the spokesman
of the sutton. Our law secures to every
criminal the services of an advocate, and
when he is too poor, or for any other cause,
can not procure counsel, it makes it the
duty of the court to assign him one. In
every case that comes before the court
for it's decision the judge may demand the
assistance of an attorney, and when called
upOn he can not refuse. This is duty
that the advocate can not Shlrk, ana
should he have right to refuse, when ms
services are solicited by member OF the
community? If, for the promotion OF JUS,
tice. the judge may require the services OF
an advocate, how much more Logical,
necessary and just then is it that this right
he extended to the private citizenship
whose life, honor or property may at any
time be endangered
Whenever an advocate refuses to take
n case because he thinks it unjust, he Is
going beyond his power and assuming tne
office of Judge, and that even before the
hour of Judgment has arrived, and III
propOrtiOn to his rank and reputation, puts
the heavy influence of, perhaps, a mis-
taken opinion in the scale against tne ac-
cused, in whose favor the benevolent prih-
chile of English law makes every. pre-
sumption and commands the, very Judge
who sits to condemn to be his counsel.
Lord Erskine once said: Il will ever as
sert the dignity, independence and lntesrl-
ty of the English bar, without, Whlcn, I'M
perial Justice, the most valuable part OF
the English constitution can have no eA-
istence. Whenever an advocate can be
permitted to say that he will or VIII not
stand between the crown and a SUBJECT
orraipned in the courts where ne daliy
Sits TO practice, from that moment Engllsh
liberties are at an end"
No attorney should ever be permitted TO
refuse his services when such refusal
would be preiudicial to the cause; ana
is this true when the att0r-
nov has once become the confidant OF the
client. might say here that this point has
several times been before the English and
Scottish courts, and invariably 1t has been
decided that the attorney has no. such
r;ght In the Gerald case the prisoner
annlied to the court for assistance, stat
inc that he had sought counsel in VAN.
The Judge, after assigning him counsei,
soid. "Eyen without the interference OF
court, think no gentleman should refuse
his services to a prisoner, no matter what
the nature of his crime might be-
case arising in our own State serves
onr nnrnose even better, for it not only
sustains the point in question, but Illus
trates the noble principle OF our law W WI
presumes a man innocent I'LL MS sum
established beyond a reasonable uouDt,
and encourages free and fearless men TO
1890 G