76 . TRANSACTIONS. 1906-7. 



and co-ordinate them. As long as co-ordination is still imperfect 

 we must at one time be hostile, at another time benevolent; at 

 one time rgmorseless, at another time compassionate; unless we 

 are prepared to see all moral activity disappear in brutality on 

 the one hand or in degeneration on the other " (a) . 

 A former Lord Chief Justice of England said:— 

 "It must be remembered that all trade is and must be in 

 a sense selfish; trade not being infinite, nay, the trade of a par- 

 ticular place or district being possibly very limited, what one 

 man gains, another loses. In the hand-to-hand war of commerce 

 as in the conflicts of public life, whether at the bar, in parliament, 

 in medicine, in engineering (I give examples only) men fight on, 

 without very much thought of others, except a desire to excel or 

 defeat them. Very lofty minds like Sir Philip Sydney, with his 

 cup of water, will not stoop to take an advantage, if they think 

 another wants it more. Our age, in spite of high authority to the 

 contrary, is not without its Philip Sydneys ; but these are counsels 

 of perfection which it would be silly indeed to make the measure 

 of the rough business of the world as pursued by ordinary men of 

 business" (b). 



In other words "counsels of perfection" are not adapted to 

 business; but it was not Machiavelli that said so, but the Lord 

 Chief Justice of England 400 years afterwards. 



The Lawyers. — I have no desire to shield my own profession, 

 nor am I so prejudiced in its favor that I would assert for it a 

 morality superior to that which obtains in other professions or 

 occupations. Upon the contrary I confess to a growing distaste 

 for some of its methods, and impatience with some of the work 

 which it is called upon to do. 



That we are hired mercenaries (as we have been called) I 

 cannot deny; and although possibly we might be described in 

 more courteous language, yet here we are not merely ready, but 

 sworn to accept the cause of any man who chooses to pay us our 

 fees. We are not bound, indeed, to fight unfairly; to wrest the 

 evidence; or even to present an argument that we believe to be un- 

 sound. Nevertheless, when the spirit of the fight is upon us, we 

 lose touch with these finer sensibilities, and struggle to win as 

 though life itself depended upon the result. We fight for persona] 

 supremacy, and too often if that be obtained by an advocate, he is 



(a) Dem. and Emp., p. 353. 

 (6) Mogul Steamship case. 



