553 
Danger from Lawyers, 
1812 .] 
opinions of any ten able counsel would 
differ essentially in regard to the bearing 
and effect of the law. The system is, 
consequently, involved in perplexity and 
uncertainty ; and, instead of being go¬ 
verned, as we ought to be, by a precise 
code, which the meanest intelligence 
could comprehend, scarcely two au¬ 
thors, or two men at the bar, however 
learned, agree in opinion upon most radi¬ 
cal points. In plain truth, in many re¬ 
spects, the reasonings, principles, and 
practices, of this profession, are the 
last surviving remains of the dogmas, 
absurdities, and sophisms, of the School¬ 
men; and the worst errors of the dark 
ages are, it is to be feared, still mingled 
with the axioms and principles of our 
venerable, but superannuated, legal sys¬ 
tem.* * 
Under the Greeks and Romans it was 
found necessary, at certain epochs of 
their national existence, to revise, purge, 
and simplify, their laws. The lust of 
power in judges, the corruption of prac¬ 
tising lawyers, and tiie encroachments 
on principles made by clients, as far as 
possible, in every particular case; toge¬ 
ther witli changes in manners, experi¬ 
ence in regard to the actual effect of 
laws,and general improvements in know¬ 
ledge, render such revisions so evi¬ 
dently expedient, that, to omit to make 
them, or to persist in errors for the sake 
of their antiquity, would bespeak a retro- 
gradation of intellect, and a total nega¬ 
tion of practical wisdom. 
In England, the habitual deference of 
the people to the law, as checked by tiie 
intervention of Juries, lias, in this pro¬ 
fession, led to an increase of influence 
which seems to have changed the mere 
Servants of society into its Mastei:s. The 
Jaws exist for the common good, and 
those who officially carry them into exe¬ 
cution, are sirn[)!y the ministers of the 
jaw, and the servants of the public. 
Our servants are, however, becoming 
every day more decidedly our masters; 
and, if some effective restraints are not 
imposed by the legislature on the power 
and practices of this profession, it is not 
I ■ ■ 'I I . . ^ ^ 
* E//en the luminaries of the profession, 
in matters of practice, suffer under as perni¬ 
cious an intellectual twist as the weakest 
rush-lights, or most dingy No 
imputation is meant against iMr. Winsor’s 
brilliant gas-lights, by comparing a dingy gas¬ 
light to a stupid and base lawyer. The ana¬ 
logy between the two is, however, too happy 
to be passed over. 
difficult to foresee that, in a few years^ 
all the property of the empire will de¬ 
volve on lawyers, and the liberties of the 
people be held only under their tender 
mercies !* 
This danger is so much the greater be¬ 
cause the means are plausible. We all 
respect a government according to law. 
The unshackled dominion of known law 
is acknowledged to be the true basis of 
public liberty; and Law, say the lawyers, 
is only terrible to knaves; honest men, 
therefore, have nothing to fear from it. 
—?Yet, IS IT so?—Have honest men in 
England nothing to fear from the misdi¬ 
rection, sophistry, and perversion, of 
law?—Wliat say my honeat readers?— 
Do not some lawyers spread their nets 
in every street and highway, to catch the 
merely unwary ?—Are not many lawyers 
like Spiders in their lioles, lying in w'ait 
to seize the simple flies—the young, the 
aged, the widow's, and the orphans of 
society?—Is it not half the business of 
common life to guard against falling into 
the traps of lawyers?—Is not the half of 
many lives vainly devoted to attain the 
power of disentanglement from their 
thraldom ?—Do they not cross our path 
at every moment—as stewards of other 
men—as bankers—^as borough-proprie¬ 
tors—as legislators—as ministers—and 
in every profitable employment?—And 
are Lawyers really so eminently qualified 
by moral feeling, education, and l;a- 
bit, to enjoy so general an ascendency, 
and play so important a part, in society? 
My reply is, NO!—and I am quite cer¬ 
tain that ninety-nine of every hundred 
adults, from the Orkneys to the Land’s 
End, will also exclaim emphatically— 
NO! 
After all, the lawyers themselves may 
not be individually to be blamed- It is 
the allowed duty and privilege of every 
man, to do the best he can in his calling, 
for himself and ids family. No valid 
exception can perhaps be made in re¬ 
gard to members of this profession.f 
fuRYMEN, beware I'—Do your duty! 
—Think for yourselves ! —Till something 
more effectual be done by the legislature, 
you are the sole hope- of your country—. 
and every man of you is expected to do 
his duty ! 
Perhaps is used, because servants ought 
never to impose upon their masters, and law¬ 
yers ought to concede their- personal advan¬ 
tages to the paramount interest ot that so¬ 
ciety which they do but proteasion- ’ly 
serve. . 
