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

PENDANT that enabled the tyrannical
Stuarts to control a servile bench; it was
| the refusal of counsel to the defendant
that. enabled Charles ii to execute the
patriotic Llburne; it was the refusal of
counsel to the defendant that enabled
James III to murder the innocent Alice
Lisle; it was the refusal of counsel to the
defendant that enabled Jeffreys to ride
MS ..h!oody circuit and perpetuate his un-
| enVled name in the common court expires.
sion: "A Jeffreys on the bench and L.
butchers in the box"
When We think of the judicial murders
that were committed before 1858. under
the criminal procedure of England. we
are tempted to give the lie to language
that could so far forget itself as to call a
charnel house a court of justice. With other
examples of legal injustice and judicial
| DarDarity arising out of the dying memo
RES OF the past, we should take an uni.
verSal pride in an age which makes it the
highest honor and most sacred duty of the
advocate to defend the helpless and pro-
tect the weak.
Ihere are some among you who would
| ask: What! is there no case in all the
category of crime in which lawyer may
properly refuse his services? No, there
is none. The same law that ensures
equal protection to all men, provides GER
tain rules for the trial of all cases, and it
is the duty of the lawyer to attest the APP
plication of these rules. The supreme
charter of liberties provides that mo man
snail b deprived of life, liberty or prop
erty save by due process of law" and
due process of law means trial in court
with the application of all rules appertain-
ing thereto.
If every criminal of certain class de-
served the same punishment, that is if
every man whose hands were stained
with his brothers blood deserved death
or every man who had taken the property
of another deserved the full limit of the
penalty; then perchance there might be
grounds for different view, hut the
justice of man is an approximation of
the justice of God and i, IS the dnly c f the
lawyer as the minister of this justice TO
see that each man gets neither more nor
less than his dues.
Do not understand me 70 say, however,
that the lawyer can with IMMUNITY rrnsti-
tute this sacred duty o. use it rs cloak
to cover his corruption. BY becoming the
council of mai whom he knows to be
guilty he is not thereby justified in saying
that he believes him to be innocent-the
lie is there, his honor IS violated, his
soul is perjured. Nor is he in any ease
justified in manufacturing evidence, for
TINS is more than telling le-it is acting
one and becoming particeps criminis to
the perjury which he has induced an
other to commit. He may sell his time
and his brain to his client, but must
never sell his honor and his soul.
1 think that the principal cause of the
confusion upon this point arises from the
fact that the advocate is Unidentified with
the judge. The office of the advocate is
to present the law and the evidence to
the court for its decision thereon, and
not to decide upon them himself. In our
legislative halls and other public assem-
blies the speeches of the members enter
into and form part of the decision of
the body; but in courts of justice this is
not the case; in the opinion of the Judge
or the verdict of the jury the advocate
has no voice. The advocate is to the
judge only a mere ready reference book;
to the jury but a commentary upon the
evidence adduced.
In calling your attention to the second
charge l can do no better than to quote
the language of Lord Brougham in his
well known and manly defense of Queen
Caroline; "There are many whom it may
be needful to remind that the advocate
by the sacred duty that he owes to his
client knows in the discharge of that duty
but one person in the world and that is
his client. To save that client by all
eXpedient means; to protect that Giant at
all hazards is the highest and most I'M
questioned of his duties; and he must not
regard the tOrments, the annoyances,
the distraction that he may bring upon
the other in the discharge of this duty.
Yea, separating the duties of the patriot
from those of the advocate and casting
these if need be to the winds he must go
on reckless of the consequence if I'M
happily his fate it should be to involve
his country in confusion for his clients
protection" This may be objected to as
being too strongly put; for paramount to
all things else, save duty to God should be
a mans duty to his country. But it
serves our purpose in showing that no
weak kneed fear, nor self-interest, nor
regard for others should deter a counsel
in his duty. If the lawyer should be con-
trolled by an over scrupulous regard for
the feelings of others, how many just
causes would be lost? How many of the
innocent would suffer? and how many of
the guilty would go unpublished? 1t is a
fearful thing to attack the reputation of
an honored and respected man or offend
the mOdesty of a refined woman: but
with a clear head and fearless heart
hesitate not to place any matter under the
judicial microscope. The really pure and
virtuOus need have no fear from the ap-
plicatiOn of such rule; the true character
can but be made brighter by the test.
The study and application of law is no
more iOlative of the highest moral SEN
sibilty than the study and the applica-
ton to any of the other sciences, Off law
is the noblest and more useful of all the
sciences: it is the definer and the de-
fender of human freedom the asserter
and the protector of human rights; the
basic bond that keeps society in harmony
and government in existence. 1t is to
humanity what the sun is to the earth; its
light streaming in upon this. the morning
of a higher and purer civilization, gives
an added strength and beauty to all of
our efforts. No, there is nothing ignoble
in it. The most contracted and despisa
BILE soul can be but elevated by it,;
for it is portion of the unver-
sal law of God that governs the sun,
the planets and the stars; that covers the
earth and fills it with beauty: that d.
reefs the light and moves the wings
of the atmosphere: that binds the forces
of the universe in harmony and awakens
the melody of creation; that moves every
form of life and quickens every sense
of delight; that springing from the mind
of God traverses all creation and makes
all things one. 1t makes all material
forms one in unity of system. 1t makes
all minds one in unity Of thought 1t
makes all hearts one in unity of love"