dissented from the judgments of Chief Justice Campbell
and Mr. Sherwood, and sneered at their legal acumen; who consorted with
the leading members of the Opposition; who had even gone the
inconceivable length of berating Attorney-General Robinson for
neglecting his duty. Such a man was not to be tolerated. He must surely
be a Radical, who had got himself sent over to this colony in order that
he might stir up dissatisfaction among the people. To go over all the
interminable squabbles which took place between Judge Willis, on the one
hand, and the various judicial and official dignitaries on the other,
would be alike wearisome and profitless. Judge Willis availed himself of
every opportunity which presented itself for officially and publicly
animadverting upon the conduct of those who were opposed to him. He
added to his enormities by announcing, through the newspapers, that he
was preparing for publication a work on Upper Canadian jurisprudence,
and it appeared that the title-page was to bear the deprecatory motto
_Meliora sperans_.[103] _Meliora sperans_, indeed! What manner of
personage was this outsider, who arrogated to himself the responsibility
of ameliorating the rigours of Upper Canadian laws?[104] It was not long
before an opposition announcement appeared, being an exact counterpart
of the other, except that the motto was _Deteriora timens_. The
authorship of the latter, whether rightly or wrongly, was very generally
attributed to Attorney-General Robinson. Judge Willis's announcement
gave great offence to the official guardians of the law, from the
highest to the lowest. The motto, which in reality had been adopted by
him prior to his coming to Canada, was believed to have been specially
assumed for the occasion, and was regarded as a covert sneer at existing
institutions in the Province. As a consequence, it was taken as
additional evidence of disrespect. Owing to the Judge's "amoval" the
projected treatise was never issued, though several chapters of it had
actually been written. A small portion of it was incorporated in a work
published by the author in England twenty-two years afterwards.[105]

In an elaborately-worded despatch to the Colonial Secretary, dated the
6th of June, 1828, Sir Peregrine Maitland called the attention of that
official to Judge Willis's announcement and the accompanying motto,
which he declared to be, in his opinion, neither discreet nor delicate,
as emanating from a Judge upon the b