was
afterwards very strongly urged against him at the Colonial Office. The
Bill did not run smoothly, and was denuded of certain clauses which he
deemed to be essential to the successful carrying out of the scheme. He
vainly endeavoured to bring the Attorney-General round to his view of
the matter. Mr. Robinson had too long been supreme in all legal affairs
to submit to any dictation, more especially from one towards whom he
bore no good will. Judge Willis found himself opposed and thwarted at
every turn; and he erelong discovered that the Government were averse to
the scheme, although the aversion was not directly avowed. He then
recalled the Lieutenant-Governor's remark on the subject made to him
some months before at Stamford Cottage. Certain dubious expressions
which had from time to time fallen from the lips of the
Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General, the Judges, and other prominent
officials also recurred to his mind. As for Attorney-General Robinson,
"I at length discovered," wrote Judge Willis, "that any proposition that
did not originate with himself was not generally attended with his
approbation."[98]

A despatch from the Colonial Secretary to the Lieutenant-Governor was
promulgated about this time, from which it appeared that the project of
establishing a Court of equitable jurisdiction was in abeyance, or had,
for the time, been abandoned. Judge Willis was greatly disappointed at
this abandonment, which, in conversation, he openly ascribed to the
influence of Sir James Scarlett, the English Attorney-General, with whom
he had once had some unpleasantness while on circuit. But it also became
known about the same time that Chief Justice Campbell was about to
retire from the bench, and that his office would accordingly soon be
vacant. Judge Willis lost no time in making application for the post.
Neither did Attorney-General Robinson, whose application was backed by
the entire influence of the Upper Canadian Executive. Here was a fresh
ground of rivalry, whereby the unpleasant relations between these two
officials were intensified. It soon became impossible for the new Judge
and the Attorney General to come into contact without feelings and
expressions indicative of personal hostility. The hollow friendship
which had at first seemed to subsist between them was cast to the winds,
and all social intercourse between them was at an end. Any proposition
emanating from Judge Willis was systematically opposed by th