The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-07-14

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fringed upon, and you must make the
offending manufacturer pay the penalty.
Your treasures are taken, and the thief
must be apprehended. You want to make
your will, and you do not want to follow
the example Of those who, for the sake OF
saving 800 from ar attorney, imperil $780,.
900 and keep the generation following for
twenty years quarreling about the estate
until it Is all exhausted. You are struck at
by an assassin, and you must inyok for
him the penitentiary. All classes OF per-
son In course Of time become clients, and
therefore they are all interested in the NOR
atty and Christian integrity Of the legal
profession. Bring Zenas the lawyer"
But how Is an attorney to decide as to
what are the principles by which he should
conduct himself In regard to his clients?
On one extreme Lord Brougham will APP
pear, saying: "The innocence or guilt OF
your client Is nothing to you. You are to
save your client regardless of the torment,
the suffering, the destruction Of all others.
You are to know but n man In the world
your client. You are to save him though
you should bring your country into conIu-
sion. At all hazards you must save your
client" So says Lord Brougham. but no
right minded lawyer could adopt that seI-
timent.
On the other extreme Cicero will come
to you and say, "You must never plead the
cause Of q bad man." forgetful Of the fact
that the greatest villain or earth ought to
have a fair trial and that An attorney can.
not be judge and advocate at the same
time. It was grand when Lord Erskine
sacrificed his attorney generalship for the
sake Of defending Thomas Paine In his
publication Of his book called "The Rights
Of Man" while at the same time he, the
advocate, abhorred Thomas Paine's ire
ligious sentiments. Between these two
opposite theories Of what Is right what
shall the attorney do? God alone can
direct him. To that chancery he must be
appellant. and he will get an answer in an
hour. Blessed Is that attorney between
whose office and the throne Of God there Is
perpetual, reyerential and prayerful COM
munication! That attorney will never
make an ~irreparable mistake. True to the
habits OF your profession, you say, "Ctte
US some authority on the subject" Well,
quote to you the decision Of the supreme
court Of heaven, ''If any lack wisdom, let
him ask Of. God, who glveth to all men lib
orally and upbraideth not, and 1t b be
given him"
What a scene Is the office OF a busy at
torney! In addition to the men who come
to YOU from right motives, bad men will
come to you. They will offer you q large
fee for counsel in the wrong direction.
They want to know from you o they
can escape from solemn marital obligation.
They come to you wanting to know how
they can fail a~dvantageously for them
selves. They come to you wanting to know.
how they can make the insurance COM
pany pay for 6 destroyed house which
they burned down with their WI hands.
or they come to you on the simple errand
Of wanting to escape payment OF their
honest debts. Now. It is no easy thing
to advise settlement when by urging It'll
cation you could strike q mine Of remuner-
alton. It Is not a very easy thing to
dampen the ardor Of an infamed contestant
when you know through a prolonged law
suit you could get from him whatever you
asked. It Is no easy thing to attemptto
discourage the suit for the breaking OF q
will In the s%urrogate's court because you
know the testator was Of sound mind and
body when he signed the document. tire
quires no small heroism to do as I once
heard an attorney do In an of1ce IN .
western city.
overheard the conversation when he
said, "John, you can go on with this law
suit, and I will see you through as well as
I can, but I wantto tell you before you start
that a lawsuit Is equal to a IRE" Under
the neutrality-suspicious. that come
the legal profession there are scores OF men
who lave gone down, and some OF them
from being the pride Of the highest tribunal
of the State have become a disgrace to the
Tombs courtroom. Every attorney, In adj
dition to the innate sense OF right, wants
the sustaining power Of the old fashioned
religion Of Jesus Christ. Bring zenas the
lawyer" ~
Another powerful temptation OF the legal
profession Is to artificial stimulus. No one
except those who have addressed audiences
- kha rror n~ha1Gffnn fhaS
sometimes comes afterward. The tempta:
ton to strong drink approaches the g
profession at that very point. Then trial
is coming on. Through the Ill ventilated
courtroom the barrister's health has been
depressed for days and for weeks. he
wants to rally his energy. He Is tempted 20
resort to artificial stimulus. It is either to
get himself up or let himself down thatth1s
temptation comes upon him. In mower
| of the American bar, ruined IN reputation
and ruined in estate. said IN his last mo-
ments: "This is the end. I am dying on q
borrowed bed, covered with a borrowed
sheet, in a house built by public charity:
Bury me under that tree In the middle OF
| the field, that I may not be crowded; al
ways lave been crowded"
Another powerful temptation Of the legal
| profession Is to allow the absorbing duties
Of the profession to shut out thougntso OF
the great future. You know very well thas
YOU who have so often tried Others will after
awhile be put on trial yourselves. Death
will serve Of you a writ OF electment, ana
YOU will be put of these earthly premises:
On that day all the affairs Of your life viii
be presented in a ''bill Of particulars" No
certiorari from q higher court, for this Is
the highest court. The day when Lord Elk
eter was tried for high treason; the day
when the house Of commons moved for rne
impeachment Of Lord Lovat; the days when
| Charles !. and Queen Caroline we're putupon
| trial; the day when Robert Emmett was ar
| raigned IS an insurgent; the day when
Blennerhasset was brought into the court
room because he had tried to overthrow the
| United States Government, and all the other
| great trials Of the world are nothing COM
pared with the great trial In which you and
I shall appear, summoned before the Judge
of Quick and dead. There will be no plead
ing there "the statute Of limitations" no
turning states evidence" trying to get
| of ourselves while others suffer; no NOV
ing for q nonsuit." The case will come on
fnexorably, and we shall be tried. You,
nv brother, who have 80 often been advo-
cate for others, will then need an advocate
for yourself. Have you selected Him, the
Lord Chancellor Of the Universe? II any
man sin, we have an advocate, Jesus Christ
the righteous. It Is uncertain when your
case will be called on. "Bs ye also ready"
Lord Ashburton and Mr.. Wallace were
leading barristers in their day. They died
about the same time. A few months before
tLeir decease they happened to be IN the
same hotel in q village, the one counsel
going to Devonshire, the other going to
London. They had both been seized unon
by a disease which they knew would be "a.
tai, and they requested that they be carried
into the same room and laid down on sofas,
side by side, that they might talk over OLD
we're carried in, and, lying there on op..
posite sofas, they talked over their old
contests at the bar, and then they