LONDON LEGAL LETTER. London, June I, 1899.
THE presence of Mr. Choate as the guest of the Hardwicke Society at its recent annual dinner was the first appearance of the distinguished American ambassador among English lawyers. The Hardwicke Society is composed exclusively of barris ters and law students who are members of the various inns of court. Its object is to provide an opportunity for the coming fledg lings to try their wings in debate. Named after the elder Earl of Hardwicke, who was not only successively Solicitor-General, Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor, but who was also a profound lawyer, the society keeps up some of the best traditions of the past. The fact that Mr. Choate, almost immedi ately upon his arrival, accepted an invitation to be the guest of the society, gave to the dinner this year an unusual importance, and the banqueting hall was uncomfortably crowded. The general feeling seemed to be one of curiosity to see Mr. Choate, the indi vidual, and not merely to pay respect to him as the representative of his country. His fame as the leader of the American bar had long preceded him to this country, and his skill as an advocate was generally known and recognized. Then, too, the dinner afforded an opportunity of comparing, not merely his presence, but his manner of speaking with that of some of the foremost orators of the English bar. Mr. Choate sat on the right of the chair man, on whose left was the Lord Chief Justice, while near at -hand were Lord Macnaghten, Mr. Justice Matthew, Lord Justice Romer, Mr. Justice Darling, and, besides these representatives of the bench, Sir Ed ward Clarke, who is beyond question the foremost as well as the most skillful advo
cate at the English bar, and many other Queen's Counsel and rising juniors. In so notable a company it is no exaggeration to say that Mr. Choate was, by general con sent, the most notable in appearance. His commanding figure, well-poised head, clean shaven face, clear eye and graceful attitude when speaking, distinguished him as being very close to the ideal most young lawyers in this country have set up as their imagi nary standard. And in what he said, and in his manner of saying it, the ambassador confirmed the good impression he had made by his appearance. He was preceded by Mr. Justice Matthew, who made an excellent speech. Referring to the presence of the distinguished representative of the American bar, he said he came from a happy land where the bar enjoyed perpetual youth — there were no seniors. No man there was tempted to sacrifice his prospects by taking silk. He thought there were many points of resemblance between the lawyers of the two countries. There was the same passion for making laws which were not intelligible; there was the same veneration for the com mon law that everybody was trying to set aside; there was the same intense desire to make regulations for procedure and multi ply perplexing formalities. The Lord Chief Justice, in proposing "Th'e American Bench and Bar," intimated that he thought he would be forgiven if, in stead of repeating what he had so frequently said upon other occasions since his return from America in praise of the American bench and bar, he should now say something about their demerits. These, he thought, were that in the great majority of cases there was no fixity of tenure to the judges; that the smallness of the salaries made the exceptions rare where the best men at the
