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The Green Bag

mains to be considered. He is the great conservative force in a nation, and is constantly called upon to defend the individual against the tyranny of the majority. He must frequently defy and defeat public opinion by protecting the individual from its unreasonable demands. You may remember the splen did exhibition of professional loyalty when Louis XVI was arraigned be fore the National Convention during the Reign of Terror, and it was clearly under stood that any advocate who defended him would forfeit his own life with that of his client. The great advocate, Malesherbes, in volunteering his services, nobly said:;— I was twice called to the council of the King when all the world coveted the honor and I owe him the same service now when it has become dangerous. He gave to his royal client the sacrifice of his own life and perished with him on the guillotine. Erskine sacrificed his social popular ity and political prestige by accepting a retainer to defend the then despised Tom Paine, while Brougham in the teeth of royal displeasure and social persecution espoused the cause of the defenseless Queen Caroline. One of the finest chapters in the history of the American bar is the fact that after the Boston massacre and amid all the tumult which culminated in the Revolution, two leaders of the popular party, John Adams and Josiah Quincy, offered to defend the British soldiers who were charged with murder, and it is to the greater credit of a Boston jury that it so far arose above popular passion that the soldiers were acquitted. The lawyer must sometimes share with his client public odium, and stand between a relentless public opinion and. its victim. In defending the rights of the individual, he must often contra

vene the interests of the many. This is peculiarly true of our country and of the present time, for with popular pas sion lashed into a fury by frenzied agitators, and with great constitutional limitations standing as the only barriers to popular aggression, the lawyer must frequently thwart the public will by invoking the sacred guarantees of the Constitution. In thus appealing from "Philip drunk to Philip sober," the lawyer necessarily runs counter to pub lic opinion, which, balked of its prey, visits in the blind passion of the hour its wrath upon the bar and the judiciary. Never in my recollection have more bitter and more unwarranted attacks been made upon the judiciary of our country than in recent years. The lawyer, if he respects the exalted nature of his profession, will be indiffer ent to the passing passion of the hour. He has no more right to betray the cause of justice because of the un popularity of his client than the judge on the bench has to pronounce judgment against him for like reason. Mr. Justice Cresswell, when once charg ing a jury, uttered some sentiments that caused a wave of applause to go through the courtroom. He quickly stopped, and sharply and sternly, said:— The administration of justice is in great danger when the applause of a court is agree able to a judge's ear. The remark could be applied with almost equal force to the lawyer, who, if he regards his profession as something more than a trade, must not be affected by popular passion or personal interest. It thus not infrequently happens that the duties of a lawyer call for the great est courage and the finest moral hero ism. Lord Mansfield, in pronouncing a most unpopular judgment in the face of threats not only of royal displeasure