The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-04-12


not primarily, very largely anecdotal.
and, so far as the entertainment of
the reader is concerned, none the worse
for that. From Barrington's Sketches
of the Irish Bar" downward, stories of
Judges and lawyers have Instructed and
still more amused successive genera
tons Of lawyers. and equally of lay
men. The Irish, and for that matter
the English and the Scottish bench and
bar have never been sterile in the pro-
duction of characters" and indeed 1t Is
at present appearing that the Welsh bar.
II one may call 1t so, has produced, in the
person Of MIR. Lloyd George. a charac-
ter a. characteristic as any of those
evolved by the other nationalities Of
the more or less United Kingdom. Even
the British nobility and landed gentry,
who are understood deeply to disap-
prove Of the character Of the present
Chancellor OF the Exchequer. have not
been understood to deny that the
Welsh lawyer has plenty OF character.
such as II is. English and Scottish
Judges have abounded in character.
Witness. as to the Scottish. that hang
ing Judge" Braxfield, whom, not
literary lawyer but a literary layman,
Stevenson twice has commemorated in
a very interesting sketch and still more
wildly and powerfully in the unfinished
novel Weir OF Hermiston," which
good literary Judges have concurred In
pronouncing the most vivid and power
full piece OF characterization that even
Stevenson ever did. There have been
English lawyers. and particularly Eng
lish Judges, as full Of character as Sam
johnson, who, as was in his old age
said OF him. and not too modestly ad-
mitted by himself. would have made
a first rate Lord Chancellor OF England
II the fates had been kinder or perhaps
less kind. II might have taken to
law as we'll as to tragic poetry. I did
take to tragic poetry and not to law"
BoGwell. a circumstance that has lately
led certain queer critics To the curious
length OF denying that BOSWELL had ms
johnson. There were brave men De-
fore Agamemnon, ana possibly Britlsn
Judges. say before Coke VINO amounted
In character and escaped celebration
for the same reason as the pre-Aga-
memnons. British lawyers are ana
through many generations have been
more literary" than American law
and they write better. Consequently
many American judicial and forensic
characters have lacked the sacred
bard. Oral tradition alone hands down
their qualities as in the Childhood OF
the world. When there comes an
American lawyer who really has an eye
for character. as Mr.. strong 80 clearly
has. and who undertakes to charac-
fRriZa the Judges and LAWYERS whom he
has known and recognized to be land
marks during whole professional
lifetime he Is entitled to some OF the
praise which Bolngbroke's "Studious
Man of Christchurch" invoked upon
those men into whose hearts 1t had
been put to make dictionaries
ii.
Necessarily. the rem,nIscent's char
acterizations are limited to his own
recolIections. They begin with n NOUS
celebration of those among his own
ancestry. lineal and collateral who had
been LAWYERS. first OF All and most of
all his own father. Theron II. Strong
who. after a successful practice IN
Rochester. served as n .Justice Of the
Supreme Court of New York for eight
wears. during one of which n. an, as
n Judge of the Court Of Appeals and
AFTER his retirement, from the bench and
his asslmption of the status of an
"ex-Judpe" resumed nractica in ,ha citv
Of New York. The nosi,ion Of an ex-
Judee Ia anomalous and rather re-
proach IN our judicial system renroacb
which "a IN danger OF being daenened
~ tha racau of Tho tudc,,rv b,, non,,-
lar vote should come To be adioinad
~ mat svstem Tha, q 1udtoiaI ,os,-
tton should in anv casa whatcver cow.
20 be regarded as football in Tho
pame ~ marry nolitics i. ouits sum-
cientlv IN he denlored II capnot n.
held as ANYTHING short Of a reproacb
70 tha bar The unI,ed nrofess,orai
sentlment IN favor of tho retention Of
pood Judpes WHOSE eN,ciencv bo. h.on
,ncreased nv thsir axnar,enc. no. oil
most ALWAYS been efYective IN NORM a,
conditions NJ notifies and .xcan, IN
case NJ an excentionaIlv pready tyne
ran, or corrunt hoss Al vas a. afYectiv.
Gov ~Anerat,ons "rn S,ata" I'D ay.r a.
tba c,tv hefore the modarn ergo ,za
lion az professional oninion IN as.oc,a
ions NJ m. har Tina Ia,cal defar.roa
"a nrofesslon,l on;nton IN a,, r,a,,ar.
r.lat,ng to tho adm,nistra.,on ~ a..
+ic. accordtn, 90 ion, roe s,,,,,i,,.,