Professional responsibility; Lawyers, a case study

In my preceding chapters I have tried, by going into the minutiae of the sc ience of piloting, to carry the reader step by step to a comprehension of w hat the science consists of; and at the same time I have tried to show him that it is a very curious and wonderful science, too, and very worthy of hi s attention. If I have seemed to love my subject, it is no surprising thing , for I loved the profession far better than any I have followed since, and I took a measureless pride in it. The reason is plain: a pilot, in those d ays, was the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that live d in the earth. Kings are but the hampered servants of parliament and peopl e; parliaments sit in chains forged by their constituency; the editor of a newspaper cannot be independent, but must work with one hand tied behind hi m by party and patrons, and be content to utter only half or two-thirds of his mind; no clergyman is a free man and may speak the whole truth, regardl ess of his parish's opinions; writers of all kinds are manacled servants of the public. We write frankly and fearlessly, but then we "modify" before w e print. In truth, every man and woman and child has a master, and worries and frets in servitude; but, in the day I write of, the Mississippi pilot h ad none. The captain could stand upon the hurricane-deck, in the pomp of a very brief authority, and give him five or six orders while the vessel back ed into the stream, and then that skipper's reign was over. The moment that the boat was underway in the river, she was under the sole and unquestione d control of the pilot. He could do with her exactly as he pleased, run her when and whither he chose, and tie her up to the bank whenever his judgmen t said that that course was best. His movements were entirely free; he cons ulted no one, he received commands from nobody, he promptly resented even t he merest suggestions. Indeed, the law of the United States forbade him to listen to commands or suggestions, rightly considering that the pilot neces sarily knew better how to handle the boat than anybody could tell him.(1)