Touting

“ For praise, or blame, or the statement of an opinion, or accusation, or denial, ought all to effect different ends. In judicial investigations the object of inquiry is, what is just; in demonstrative discussion the question is, what is honourable; in deliberations, in our opinion, what we inquire is, what is honourable and at the same time expedient. For the other writers on this subject have thought it right to limit the consideration of expediency to speeches directed to persuasion or dissuasion. ”

“ If good counsel gain Due audience from your wisdom, my lord envoy, You will be cautious how you show yourself In public for some hours to come—or hardly Will that gold key protect you from maltreatment. ”

“ It is the mighty theme, and not the inconsiderable advocate, that can excite interest in the hearer. What you hear is but the testimony which nature bears to her own character; it is the effusion of her gratitude to that Power which stamped that character. And, gentlemen, permit me to say that if my client had occasion to defend his cause by any mad or drunken appeals to extravagance or licentiousness, I trust in God I stand in such a situation that, humble as I am, he would not have resorted to me to be his advocate. ”

“ No advocate had a greater command over facts. His statement of his client's case, and even his reading from the evidence in the cause, would enchain the attention, and often extort the admiration and astonishment of his adversaries and the court—as if it were a romance. ”

“ You have the same right to think, and judge, and decide for yourselves, as I have; and I feel too much affection for you to throw on the path of your inquiry the slightest shadow of opposition. I know you are virtuous; and if I see you happy, I shall be satisfied. You will proceed in your inquiries after truth with caution—weigh with the greatest nicety the evidence which may be submitted to you; as many opinions, when they first strike our attention, appear very specious and plausible, which will not endure the ordeal of a critical investigation. ”

“ In the next place the fact is to be represented, the case is to be stated, and the speaker then proceeds to prove his allegations; he next proceeds to confute what has been advanced by the other party; and at the conclusion of his speech, whatever makes in his favour he is to magnify and improve, and whatever makes against him he is to weaken and extenuate. ”

“ Of proofs new-bleeding, which remain’d the foil
Of this false jewel, and his amorous spoil.
‘But ah! Who ever shunn’d by precedent
The destin’d ill she must herself assay,
Or force’d examples ’gainst her own content,
To put the by-pass’d perils in her way?
Counsel may stop a while what will not stay:
For when we rage, advice is often seen
By blunting us to make our wills more keen. ”

“ Pray, sir, how are you dignified or distinguished amongst the rates of wits? and how many rates are there?
Dap. There are as many degrees of wits as of lawyers: as there is first your solicitor, then your attorney, then your pleading-counsel, then your chamber-counsel, and then your judge; so there is first your court-wit, your coffee-wit, your poll-wit, or politic-wit, your chamber-wit, or scribble-wit, and last of all, your judge-wit, or critic. ”

“ The importance of a manner of speaking that is not only clear and effective, but also agreeable, easy to listen to, is quite obvious when we consider the task of a judge or a jury, who have to sit for hours and try to carry in their minds the substance of all that has been said, weighing point against point, balancing one body of facts against another. ”

“ But what are we to think of a procedure under which an official is to be tried, not in a court by a jury of his peers and upon the testimony of witnesses sworn to tell the truth, but in the newspapers, on the street corners, and at political meetings? ”

“ With such opportunities and such dangers before us, it is our duty to examine the problems to be solved with candor and impartiality. It will be impossible for me to discuss in the narrow compass of a single speech all questions of importance. I am obliged to confine myself to-night to those which are at this hour the most prominent, leaving others to future occasions. ”

“ In the fourth kind of statement of a case, which we call the one which assumes the character of a demurrer, that sort of statement contains a dispute, in which an inquiry is opened who ought to be the accuser or pleader, or against whom, or in what manner, or before whom, or under what law, or at what time the accusation ought to be brought forward ”

“ NEW STYLE.—Arrogant Witness about to leave the box, when his progress is arrested by Counsel on the other side.
Coun. I presume. Sir, that—
Wit. (sharply) . You have no right to presume. Ask me what you want, and have done with it.
Coun. (amiably) . I think we shall get on better—more quickly—if you kindly attend to my questions.
Wit. Think so? Well, it's a matter of opinion. But, as I have an engagement in another place, be good enough to ask what you are instructed to ask, and settle the matter off-hand. ”

“ I do not mean to advocate that exaggerated manner one often meets with, which divides the attention of your hearers between yourself and your question, which often diverts the attention of the jury from the point you are trying to make and centres it upon your own idiosyncrasies of manner and speech. ”

“ You will do so if you please, of course, but I think you had much better appear by counsel. I give you notice that, if you do not, you must not expect to be shown any consideration. You will not be heard by me at any greater length than the case requires, nor allowed to go into irrelevant matter, as persons who argue their own cases usually do. ”

“ All that we ought to ask, therefore, is, that the witnesses of our conduct, and the speculators on our motives, should be capable of taking the highest view which the circumstances of the case may admit. ”

“ Juries are ever disposed to listen favorably to a speaker who brings to his aid no other allies than candor and frankness, and who, without pretensions to legal acuteness, narrates facts with clear and distinctive precision. ”

“ Neither will I devise counsel with him nor any enterprise, for utterly he hath deceived me and done wickedly; but never again shall he beguile me with fair speech. Let this suffice him. Let him begone in peace ”

“ What would a penetrating Lawyer think of the cause of his opponent, on finding him to insist upon his arranging his objections, and expressing his arguments just so that it might be most easy to him to reply to them? ”

“ Tell Them, tell Them," she continued, "that the evidence is nil, and I'll tell them something else." She spoke it with such meaning that his face seemed to show a question, to which she was on the spot of replying "I'll tell them that you're a⸻" She stopped, however, changing it. "I'll tell them exactly the opposite. And I'll find out what you say—it won't take long—to do it. If we tell different stories, that possibly may save us." ”

“ He knew from past experience that merely to banter him she might claim to have written to the News, whether she had done so or not. He felt that he must know the truth before he went further in dealing with a matter so serious. ”

“ Mere inadvertencies and casual neglects arising from an unavoidable and most complicated confusion in the state of your affairs, have been treated in such language and sentiments, as nothing but the most glaring and premeditated faults could warrant. Groundless informations have, without further scrutiny, borne with you the stamp of truth, though proceeding from those who had therein obviously their own purpose to serve, no matter at whose expense. ”

“ And if we promise that we will in a very short time prove our own cause; and if we explain the whole of the examination into the excuses alleged, or the different examinations, if there be more than one.
We shall render our hearers willing to receive information, if we explain the sum total of the cause with plainness and brevity, that is to say, the point on which the dispute hinges. For when you wish to make a hearer inclined to receive information you must also render him attentive. For he is above all men willing to receive information who is prepared to listen with the greatest attention. ”

“ Never say ‘We learn’ so-and-so, or ‘It is reported,’ or ‘It is rumored,’ or ‘We understand’ so-and-so, but go to headquarters and get the absolute facts, and then speak out and say ‘It is so-and-so.’ Otherwise, people will not put confidence in your news. ”

“ That you have performed your duties most faithfully, most honestly, I can bear testimony. [Applausei] Whatever else may be said, the truth of that assertion cannot be denied. You have done your work, and it remains now to be submitted to the people, and whatever may be the result—if it be the judgment that your work is good, or that it is ill, we must be satisfied. ”

“ It only remained to put it to the vote, when the president resumed: `Gentlemen and you, monsieur, -- you will not be displeased, I presume, to listen to one who calls himself a very important witness, and who has just presented himself. He is, doubtless, come to prove the perfect innocence of our colleague. ”

“ Here, my dear nephews, I was in something of a quandary. This, I am told, is a difficulty we men of affairs come across often enough in the conduct of our negotiations. It is our duty, as I need hardly tell you, to add details of a corroborative kind to the statements we have to make in affairs. To omit any detail is to court suspicion. On the other hand, one never knows where the most necessary fictions may lead one. Here I was confronted by the task of bringing to fruition an orchard ... an orchard of pears ... ”

“ Thus your grave Chancery lawyer becomes a chatty pleasant man of the world, witty and conversable; your abstruse mathematician, leaving conic sections behind him, talks away with the harmless innocence of a child about men and politics; and even your cold ‘exclusive’ bids a temporary farewell to his ‘morgue,’ and answers his next neighbour at table without feeling shocked at his obtrusion. ”

“ The statement of facts agreed upon by the counsel of the parties has abridged our labor in this case. We shall confine our remarks to the points, which, in our judgment, require consideration, referring to the facts only so far as is necessary for the elucidation of our views. ”

“ III. The Careless.—This talker is heedless of what, and how, and to whom he talks. He consults no propriety of speech; he has no respect of persons. He never asks, “Will it be wise to speak thus at this time? Is this the proper person to whom I should say it? Shall I give offence or deceive by speaking in this way? What will be the consequence to the absent of my making this statement concerning them? Is Tittle-Tattle, or Rumour, or Mischief Maker, or Slanderer, or Blabber in this company, who will make capital out of what I say?” ”

“ Imagine not that the simple denial of the fact will settle the business. I see plainly, replied he, that I shall be obliged to speak out, or some mischief must happen either to you or me. I shall therefore disclose a secret to you, though men in our profession cannot be too much on the reserve. ”

“ But the very last time I attended their meeting they were guilty of a transaction still more mean and more dastardly than the one I have above described, and which I shall record in its proper place, when that period of my history arrives. I think, however, that what I have stated above will give my readers a pretty fair specimen of the character of that society, and it will be a warning to the public how they place any reliance upon their proceedings. ”

“ The regular mode of examining into the character of the person in question, is to ask the witness whether he knows his general reputation among his neighbors-what that reputation is, and whether from such knowledge he would believe him upon his oath. ”

“ In the same way an advocate who is always fumbling with his brief when he is examining a witness cannot follow the game that is on the table before him.
Sound judgment is essential to the examination of witnesses. How few advocates know how to examine a witness-in-chief! ”

“ Anyone who wants testimony to all this might reasonably call your friends to witness, but if he does not know your friends, the facts themselves are sufficient to demonstrate the policy of your whole life. ”

“ I mean, I personally as a lawyer and trained as a lawyer, think that the facts should be brought out, and I think that the things that have motivated people in their testimony, whether it’s before the Commission or otherwise, certainly is worthwhile. ”

“ Counsel. "In other words, you dressed up facts with fiction to make them more interesting?"
Witness. "Precisely."
Counsel. "When in this article you wrote that at the age of twelve you ran away with a circus, was that dressed up?"
Witness. "Yes, sir." ”

“ These references to the pleadings are sufficient, without more, to exhibit the real issue between the parties, and to show the proper application of the several propositions of fact maintained on the one side and the other in the argument at the bar. ”

“ In the dealings between man and man, especially when they hold the relation of solicitor and client—a relation which I trust will be resumed between us when this matter is adjusted—there must be frankness, honesty. ”

“ You will understand, I am sure, that mine was a purely business inquiry. I am not interested in any of the scandal which unfortunately is connected with the name of his Majesty, or with that of the charming lady of whom I spoke. ”

“ Many assertions have been made in discussion which rest entirely on the authority of the individual advocate, and thus it is necessary to be somewhat critical in our estimate of the value of the testimony. ”