not immediately, I said : ' Of course then you are going to plead guilty? ' ' No sir,' was the reply. ' I expect you to defend me to the utmost.' We returned to our seats. My posi tion at this moment was, I believe, without parallel in the annals of the profession. I, at once, came to the resolution of abandoning the case, and so I told my colleague. He strongly and urgently remonstrated against it, but in vain. At last he suggested our ob taining the opinion of a learned judge, who was not trying the case, upon what he con sidered to be the professional etiquette under circumstances so embarrassing. In this I very willingly acquiesced. We obtained an interview and Mr. Baron Parke requested to know distinctly whether the prisoner insisted on my defending him, and on hearing that he did, said I was bound to do so, and to use all fair arguments arising on the evidence." Chief Justice Sharswood, in his valuable book on Legal Ethics, gives all the correspondence and lends the weight of his opinion in favor of Mr. Phillips' action in that case. After an attorney has entered his name on the re cord, he cannot withdraw without leave of the court : Taney, C. J., in United States v. Curry, 6 Howard, U. S. Rep. 106. After the effort of counsel for Holmes to withdraw without his consent, they took their seats and the examination of talesmen was commenced to determine their competency to serve as jurors. When the first talesman was turned over to the defence for crossexamination, the prisoner arose and said : "May it please the Court, I have no inten tion to ask Mr. Rotan and Mr. Shoemaker to continue in this case when I can see that it is against their own interest, and, bearing that fact in mind, I ask to discharge them from the case. These gentlemen have stood by me during the last year, and I cannot ask them at this time to stay in the trial of the case when it is against their interest."
After some more discussion, in which the prisoner and his counsel said they would like a continuance for one day so that they could get other counsel, they agreed to remain in the case and give the prisoner until the next day to secure other counsel. Counsel then proceeded to cross-examine the talesman, when one of the counsel arose and said : " May it please the Court, the defendant in this case says that he intends to examine these wit nesses (talesmen), that he does not want us to interfere with the examination of them, and that that is what he is going to do." Then they retired. The examination of the tales men went on for a time when Mr. Moon, a prominent member of the bar, came into the court-room and held a consultation with the prisoner for more than fifteen minutes (the trial being delayed meanwhile) when he ad dressed the judge in these words : " In response to a request of the prisoner, I have come here, and, after a brief consultation with him, I would say that of course it is impos sible for me to take charge of this case. I, perhaps, know as much as any other counsel could know about the case. And I would say that practically I have not been consulted in this matter, although efforts have been made to retain me, but for reasons I have not ac cepted a retainer. I have declined to take part in the case and the position in which I find myself now, no matter how earnestly I might desire to aid this man, in view of the preparation of the case, which covers affairs and transactions which I have not had the opportunity to examine or investigate at all, no matter how earnestly I might desire to serve the prisoner and however willing I might be to lay aside my own professional engagements, I feel that in the absence of preparation I should be utterly powerless to aid the prisoner. . Therefore, I must de cline and I am frank to say so to the Court." The reply was :
