This article looks at the relationship between professional and
political aspiration in
Georgian England by examining the office of attorney general during
the period 1714–1810. It argues
that while the office offered a unique opportunity for a lawyer to
combine a legal and political career,
this was a formidable task and one rarely achieved. The generally
hostile attitude toward lawyers
in the house of commons was a significant obstacle. More
important, however, were the complex and
potentially conflicting expectations associated with the office
of attorney. The relationship with the
government was an awkward balance of loyalty and remoteness, whereby
the attorney was encouraged
to regard fellow ministers both as colleagues and as clients. Moreover,
he owed a duty to parliament
that was independent of, but inevitably linked to, his obligations to
the crown. As a consequence of
these various pressures attorneys tended to remain aloof from
politics and interested primarily in their
own professional advancement. The office of attorney general was
less the stepping-stone to ministerial
office than the reliable path to the bench.