London Legal Letter. LONDON LEGAL LETTER. LONDON, May, 1901. AN event to which the members of the bar, particularly the junior members, are looking forward with a great deal of in terest is the forthcoming annual dinner of the Hardwicke Society which will be held on the 5th of June. The function has ad ditional interest this year from the fact that the principal guest will be Maitre Labori the distinguished advocate and orator of the French Bar. Already a very large number of the judges and law-officers have intimated their intention to be present, among whom are the Lord High Chancellor, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Lord Morris, Lord Shand, Lord Davey, Sir Edward Fry, Sir Francis Jeune, Sir Henry Strong (late Chief Justice of Canada), Lord Justice Vaughan Williams, most of the judges of the King's Bench Division, and the Attorney General and the Solicitor General. The Hon. James M. Beck, Assistant Attorney General of the United States, who made such a favorable impression by his a'dmirable response for the American Bar at the notable dinner of the Bench and Bar of England to the Bench and Bar of the United States, has also been in vited to be present, and it is understood that he will accept, if his duties permit him to be in England at the time named. Maitre Labori has several times been in vited to England since his defence of Drey fus gave him a world-wide reputation as an advocate and orator, but he has heretofore persistently refused all the attempts of his English friends to entertain him. lie doubt less had in view the unreasonable resentment felt in France toward all those who protested against the travesty of justice which char acterized the attempts to convict Dreyfus. It was doubtless due to the expression of feeling in England over this outrage that the unfortunate prisoner ultimately gained his liberty. Had Maitre Labori appeared in Eng-land immediately at the close of the trial
he could not have avoided such a demon stration of popular favor as would have deeply offended our French neighbors, and occurring concurrently with the ludicrous "Fashoda Incident," such a tension might have been produced as would have led to the gravest political results. Happily feeling has now quieted down, and there is no longer any apprehension of unpleasant conse quences following the entertainment of Maitre Labori by his English admirers and fellow craftsmen. He speaks English fluently, but whether it is so good a vehicle for his oratory as French remains to be seen. He was intended originally for a com mercial career and spent years in England. Ultimately he married an English lady, who was well known as a pianist, and in his do mestic circle the English language is freely spoken. The coming entertainment of Maitre Labori revives recollections of a grand ban quet given by the English Bar to M. Berryer in the Middle Temple Hall in 1864. M. Berryer was then the leader of the French Bar, and the gathering which assembled to do him honor was one of the most brilliant collection of English lawyers which had ever been known. In fact its glory was only eclipsed by the dinner of the English Bar to the American Bar last summer to which al lusion has already been made. It was on the occasion of the Berryer banquet that Sir Alexander Cockburn made his famous re mark as to the duties of an advocate. Re plying to Lord Brougham who insisted that it was incumbent on a barrister to subordi nate every other consideration to the inter ests of his client. Sir Alexander Cockburn denied that an advocate ought to traduce the character of others in order to benefit his cause. "He is entitled," he said, "to use the weapon of a warrior, but not those of an assassin," a declaration which is said to have
