Meanwhile, as the Governor could not be induced to interfere,
things went [109] on from bad to worse, till one day, as above hinted,
the unfortunate magistrate so publicly committed himself as to be
obliged to be borne for temporary refuge to the Lunatic Asylum, whence
he was clandestinely shipped from the Colony on "six months' leave of
absence," never more to resume his official station.

The removal of two such magistrates as those whose careers we have so
briefly sketched out--Mr. Mayne having died, still a magistrate, since
Mr. Froude's departure--has afforded opportunity for the restoration of
British protecting influence. In the person of Mr. Llewellyn Lewis, as
magistrate of Port of Spain, this opportunity has been secured. He, it
is generally rumoured, strives to justify the expectations of fair play
and even-handed justice which are generally entertained concerning
Englishmen. It is, however, certain that with a Governor so prompt to
hear the cry of the poor as Sir William Robinson has proved himself to
be, and with a Chief Justice so vigilant, fearless, and painstaking as
Sir John Gorrie, the entire magistracy of the Colony must be so
beneficially influenced as to preclude [110] the frequency of appeals
being made to the higher courts, or it may be to the Executive, on
account of scandalously unjust and senseless decisions.

So long, too, as the names of T. S. Warner, Captain Larcom, and F. H.
Hamblin abide in the grateful remembrance of the entire population, as
ideally upright, just, and impartial dispensers of justice, each in his
own jurisdiction, we can only sigh at the temporal dispensation which
renders practicable the appointment and retention in office of such
administrators of the Law as were Mr. Mayne and Mr. Chapman. The
widespread and irreparable mischiefs wrought by these men still affect
disastrously many an unfortunate household; and the execration by the
weaker in the community of their memory, particularly that of Robert
Dawson Mayne, is only a fitting retribution for their abuse of power.

NOTES

85. *A West Indian official superstition professes to believe that a
British barrister must make an exceptionally good colonial S.J.P.,
seeing that he is ignorant of everything, save general English law,
that would qualify him for the post! In this, to acquit oneself
tolerably, some acquaintance with the language, customs, and habits of
thought of the population is everywhere else held to b