of
these indictments Collins was forthwith arrested, and compelled to
appear and give the required bail. On the following morning two other
bills were found, upon which he also gave bail. It was at this time that
he made his extraordinary attack upon the Attorney-General, before
Justice Willis, as already narrated at length.[122] It will be
remembered that he was instructed by the Judge to go before the Grand
Jury and prefer his complaints. These instructions he followed without a
moment's unnecessary delay. He appeared before the Grand Jury, and
charged H. J. Boulton and J. E. Small with being accessary to murder in
the killing of young Ridout. He next laid a charge of rioting against S.
P. Jarvis and six other persons who had figured as defendants in the
action brought by Mackenzie. The Grand Jury speedily returned a true
bill against Boulton and Small. Both those gentlemen were then in Court
with their gowns on. They were immediately put under arrest, and they so
remained until late in the afternoon, when Judge Willis, upon the
application of Mr. Macaulay, admitted them to bail. As Jarvis had been
tried for the offence and acquitted, shortly after the duel in 1817, the
Grand Jury now returned "No bill" as to him. On the following Monday a
true bill was returned by the Grand Jury against the seven persons
charged with riot. They were promptly arrested and held to bail.

Collins, having no faith in Attorney-General Robinson's integrity, was
very unwilling that the prosecution of these cases should be conducted
by him. Boulton was not only the Attorney-General's colleague as a law
officer of the Crown, but was his warm personal friend, as well as a
connexion by marriage. Boulton, in fact, was a profound admirer and
faint _umbra_ of the Attorney-General, in whose professional sunshine he
basked, and at whose feet he may in an intellectual sense be said to
have grovelled. Even the most Spartan of Crown prosecutors could hardly
be expected to do his utmost to secure a conviction under such
circumstances; and Attorney-General Robinson had nothing of the Spartan
in his composition where the interests of his friends were concerned.
Collins accordingly applied to Robert Baldwin to conduct the prosecution
for murder. But the prosecution of criminal cases was not then open to
the bar as a matter of course, and without the consent of the Crown. Mr.
Baldwin applied to the Court for the necessary permission, which was
granted with