_Question_. Have you a right to ask any question in Court?
_Answer_. Certainly, and the questioning is left to my discretion.
_Ques._ What do you understand by discretion?
_Ans._ An unknown quality defined occasionally by the Press and the
Public.
_Ques._ Is the definition invariably the same?
_Ans._ No, for it depends upon the exigencies of the Press and the
frivolity and fickleness of the Public.
_Ques._ Were you to refrain from questioning a Witness anent his
antecedents, and subsequently those antecedents becoming known, his
evidence were to lose the credence of the papers, what would be said
of you?
_Ans._ That I had neglected my duty.
_Ques._ Were you to question a Witness on his past, and, by an
interruption of the trial, that Witness's evidence were consequently
to become superfluous, what would then be said of you?
_Ans._ That I had exceeded my duty.
_Ques._ Is it an easy matter to reconcile the interests of your
clients with the requirements of Public Opinion.
_Ans._ It is a most difficult arrangement, the more especially as
Public Opinion is usually composed of the joint ideas of hundreds of
people who know as much about law as does a bed-post.
_Ques._ In the eyes of Public Opinion, whose commendation is the most
questionable?
_Ans._ The commendation of a Judge, because it stands to reason
(according to popular ideas) that a man who knows his subject
thoroughly must be unable to come to any definite decision as to its
merits.
_Ques._ And in the eyes of the same authority, whose commendation is
the most valuable?
_Ans._ In the eyes of Public Opinion the most valuable commendation
would come from a man who is absolutely ignorant of everything
connected with a Counsel's practice, but who can amply supply this
possible deficiency by writing a letter to the papers and signing
himself "FAIR PLAY."
_Ques._ Is there any remedy for setting right any misconception that
may have occurred as to the rights and wrongs of cross-examiners?
_Ans._ Yes, the Public might learn what the business of a
cross-examiner really is.
_Ques._ I see, and having done this, can you recommend anything
further?
_Ans._ Having learned a cross-examiner's business, the Public might
then have time to attend--to its own!
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