born,
who had been accustomed to fill the foremost places in the public eye,
found themselves, for the time, almost superseded and ignored. Judge
Willis duly appreciated the homage which was rendered to him, and
exhibited himself to society in his brightest and most amiable colours.
To a few great personages, however, it seemed as if the new-comer
carried himself with wonderful _sang-froid_, and contemplated himself
and his position with too much complacency. To them it appeared as if he
regarded all the eager admiration which was lavished upon him as being
nothing more than his transcendent qualifications entitled him to look
for at the hands of the little world of York. He seemed, they thought,
to accept it all as his just due. And the belief was not unreasonable on
their part, for the Judge seems to have been in a measure carried off
his feet by the attentions paid to him on every hand. His position was
one calling for the exercise of calm judgment and discretion. It was not
surprising that leading members of the bench and bar, who had long
served the Government with zeal and acceptance, should entertain some
jealousy at the appointment of an outsider to a place of high honour and
emolument. Attorney-General Robinson, for instance, had filled his
responsible office for many years, and the Crown had certainly no reason
to complain that he had favoured liberty at the expense of prerogative.
Hagerman and Boulton, too, had for years lent themselves to the purposes
of the Executive. It was not singular that these persons should feel as
though their own claims to preferment had been passed over in favour of
Judge Willis, a stranger to Canada, her institutions and her polity. Nor
was it wonderful that their deportment towards the stranger should, in
spite of themselves, be influenced by the feeling. Judge Willie was not
long in discovering that some sentiment of this sort was in the air, but
he does not appear to have made sufficient allowance for it, and
manifested a disposition to carry things with a high hand. He
entertained a poor opinion of the Attorney-General's professional
attainments, and did not sufficiently conceal this opinion. He was at
first disposed to think highly of Judge Sherwood's abilities, but erelong
came to the conclusion that he had greatly overestimated them,[97] and
plainly showed, by his conduct, that he attached little weight to his
brother judge's decisions. This course was the very opposite to wh