diction having been pleaded in any case before the
Court. It was certain to produce ill, without any possibility of good.
He moreover placed in the hands of the Executive a rod for his own
back--an implement of which they speedily availed themselves to inflict
grievous punishment.

On the following day, which was Thursday, the 17th, Judge Willis
formally notified the Lieutenant-Governor of the public delivery of his
opinion, adding that he was nevertheless most desirous of discharging
such duties as he could legally perform consistently with his view of
the law. Judge Sherwood meanwhile continued to sit on the bench alone,
and to transact such business as came before him. Some influential
members of the bar found themselves in a quandary. After Judge Willis's
decision, they entertained grave doubts as to the legality of the Court,
and hesitated as to the advisability of taking any further proceedings
in cases committed to them, until the vexed question should be settled.
Judge Sherwood, though he had dissented from his colleague's view, and
though he plainly testified by his persisting in sitting and holding
Court that he still continued to dissent, had not given any formal
judgment, nor had he even verbally stated any grounds for his opinion.
With a view to obtaining light for their guidance in this perplexing
emergency, Dr. Baldwin, his son Robert, and Mr. Simon Washburn, another
prominent member of the bar, addressed a written application to the
Court, in the person of Justice Sherwood, requesting to be favoured with
his opinion on the matter. The application was made on Thursday, the
17th, and replied to by Mr. Sherwood in writing next day. The
phraseology of the reply made it quite clear that the Judge felt by no
means strong in his position. "You are desirous," he wrote, "that I
should express an opinion from the bench on the present state of this
Court, but it appears to me any opinion of that sort would be
extra-judicial. No one but His Majesty's Representative has any right to
ask for the opinion of a Judge where no cause or regular motion,
according to the practice of the Court, is pending before him." There
was more to the same no-purport. It was clear that the applicants were
not to receive much assistance from Justice Sherwood in resolving their
doubts. The Judge's response was no sooner communicated from the bench
than the two Baldwins and Mr Rolph then and there threw off their gowns
and left the Court, d