On the same day, a banquet was given to Mr.
Benjamin, Q.C., on his retirement from the Bar. The Attorney-General proposed Mr. Benjamin's health, in a speech which referred with more of honorific feeling than we could contrive to sum- mon up, to Mr. Benjamin's career as a member of the great Slave Confederation of the Southern States. Further, Sir Henry James took great credit for Mr. Benjamin's reception here. The Bar is ever generous even in its rivalry towards success that is based on merit." "The years are few since Mr. Benjamin was a stranger to us all, and in those few years he has accomplished more than most men can hope in a lifetime to achieve." Mr. Benjamin, whose abilities as a lawyer probably surpass those of the very ablest of his friends in this country, had well earned Sir Henry James's tribute of respect and admiration, and his speech in acknowledgment was manly and graceful ; but after that, the "mutual admiration" grew somewhat too fervent. The Lord Chancellor in his "fond regret" for the years of his. lifeat the Bar, became needlessly effusive on the subject of the extraordinarily honourable character of the Bar of the United Kingdom; while the Lord Chief Justice had no words to express his sense of" the honour, the eloquence, the integrity, and learn- ing of the Bar." Of the modesty of the Bar, Lord Coleridge wisely said nothing, and perhaps it would not have been con- sistent with what he did say, to attribute modesty to the Bar.. We have a sincere respect for the Bar, but the Bar has so much- to say in its own praise, that nothing at all remains for others to say, and we cannot but wish to hear whether there might not- be a debit side of the account, if solicitors and clients could be freely heard.
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