e assaults
of power, even under the guise of law; but it has still other functions.
It is its office to diffuse sound principles among the people, that they
may intelligently exercise the controlling power placed in their hands,
in the choice of their representatives in the Legislature and of Judges,
in deciding, as they are often called upon to do, upon the most
important changes in the Constitution, and above all in the formation of
that public opinion which may be said in these times, almost without a
figure, to be _ultimate sovereign_. Whether they seek them or are
sought, lawyers, in point of fact, always have filled, in much the
larger proportion over every other profession, the most important public
posts. They will continue to do so, at least so long as the profession
holds the high and well-merited place it now does in the public
confidence.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS.

There is, perhaps, no profession, after that of the sacred ministry, in
which a high-toned morality is more imperatively necessary than that of
the law. There is certainly, without any exception, no profession in
which so many temptations beset the path to swerve from the line of
strict integrity; in which so many delicate and difficult questions of
duty are continually arising. There are pitfalls and man-traps at every
step, and the mere youth, at the very outset of his career, needs often
the prudence and self-denial, as well as the moral courage, which belong
commonly to riper years. High moral principle is his only safe guide;
the only torch to light his way amidst darkness and obstruction. It is
like the spear of the guardian angel of Paradise:

No falsehood can endure
Touch of celestial temper, but returns
Of force to its own likeness.

The object of this Essay is to arrive at some accurate and intelligible
rules by which to guide and govern the conduct of professional life. It
would not be a difficult task to declaim in general propositions--to
erect a perfect standard and leave the practitioner to make his own
application to particular cases. It is a difficult task, however, as it
always is in practice, to determine the precise extent of a principle,
so as to know when it is encountered and overcome by another--to weigh
the respective force of duties which appear to come in conflict. In all
the walks of life men have frequently to do this: in none so often as at
the Bar.

The responsibilities, legal and mor