had been argued by, or the
issue was between the representatives of the two races, bowed to the
prevailing bias in their verdict. Bishop, in his introduction to his
"Criminal Law," has fittingly said: "The responsibilities which devolve
on judicial tribunals are admitted. But a judge sitting in court is
under no higher obligation to cast aside personal motives and his likes
and dislikes of the parties litigant, and to spurn the bribe if
proffered than any other official person acting under a jurisdiction to
enforce laws not judicial. Happy will be the day when public virtue
exists otherwise than in name." It often happens with cases commanding
liberal fees and where the litigant has high regard for the legal
learning and ability of the colored lawyer, yet conscious of this
hindrance to a successful issue of his case, very naturally goes
elsewhere for legal assistance. Hence, as an advocate not having
inducement for continued research and opportunity for application of the
more intricate elements of the law, confined to petty cases with
corresponding fee, he is handicapped in his effort to attain eminence as
a jurist. It has been said that great men create circumstances. But
circumstances unavoidably produce great men. Henry Drummond is quoted
as saying: "No matter what its possibilities may be, no matter what
seeds of thought or virtue lie latent in its breast, until the
appropriate environment presents itself, the correspondence is denied,
the development discouraged, the most splendid possibilities of life
remain unrealized, and thought and virtue, genius and art, are dead."

It should be the solemn and persistent duty of the race to contend for
every right the Magna Charta of the Republic has granted them, but it
might assuage the pang of deprivation and stimulate opportunity did he
fully know the stages of savagery, slavery, and oceans of blood through
which the Anglo-Saxon passed to attain the exalted position he now
occupies. Much of the jurisprudence we now have responding to and
crystallizing the best needs of humanity were garnered in this sanguine
and checkered career. It is said that the law is a jealous mistress,
demanding intense and entire devotion and unceasing wooing to succeed in
winning her favor, or profiting by her decrees. Yet, for student or
layman, the study is instructive and ennobling. It is an epitome of ages
of human conduct, the products, the yearnings, and strivings of the
human heart, as h