into matters of course, as to have all their novelty brushed off; and the first question usually asked by Messrs. Arden or Cavenagh on coming to their respective offices w a s - H a s the tipstaff been here y6t **' . T h e " C h a m b e r " remonstrances invariably failed in their intended effect, and the stinging of the "scorpions" increased in its acridity. Judge Willis was at length driven to appeal to the Crown Prosecutor for protection, and that officer on the 20th August moved for a rule nisi for an attachment against M r . George Cavenagh, editor and publisher of the Herald, for printing in that journal an incorrect report of the remarks of the Judge in respect to the Police Magistrate (Mr. Simpson) 1 his was granted, and Cavenagh was asked to disclose the n a m e of the writer, which he refused to do ; but assumed the responsibility of the report objected to, which he declared had not been inserted with any malicious intent. T h e Judge intimated that he should discharge the rule, and let Cavenagh off this time, telling him, however, that he (Cavenagh) ought to be very thankful for the leniency shown to him. BARRISTERS NOT TO BE STALLION-KEEPERS.
A few days after, Judge Willis one morning read in a newspaper an advertisement announcing to all interested in the improvement of the breed of horses, that Houndsfoot, a stallion, would be available for the season at the station of Mr. Cunninghame, on the Goulburn. Jumping at once to the conclusion that the " Cunninghame" so mentioned was the Barrister of that name, the m o m e n t the Crown Prosecutor came into Court Judge Willis directed his attention to the astounding notification, and requested to be informed whether it was possible that the proprietor of the stallion could be one and the same person w h o was an officer of his Court ? T h e Crown Prosecutor assured his H o n o r that he was quite unable to satisfy him on the point, whereupon the Judge severely reprobated any Barrister w h o could trade in horse-flesh in a manner so exceedingly derogatory to the respectability of a learned and honourable profession. It subsequently transpired that the owner of Houndsfoot and the Goulburn station was not Mr. Cunninghame the Barrister, but that gentleman's brother. BULLYING AN EDITOR.
On the 1st of October the Crown Prosecutor brought under the notice of the Court a letter signed "Scrutator," published in the Gazette, in which the writer inveighed against the intermeddling extra-officiousness of the Judge in pronouncing opinions upon matters not judicially before him, his strictures upon the magistracy, the bar, attornies, jurors, and witnesses, and declared such a person altogether unfit for his position, " being in every case so m u c h a creature of deluding impulse." The communication was an able and eloquent production, but m u c h of its effect was marred by the bitter personality with which it was saturated. A s a specimen of unmitigated scurrility it would be difficult to find a parallel to this extract:—"The egotism and vanity which actuate his every look and expression have demonstrated that the fountain of his acts is drawn, not from the pure sources of liberal learning and enlightened knowledge, but the sterile rock of ignorance and self-conceit; coupling these with his penurious and miserly habits (for never was he, who, from his position and salary, should be an example of liberality, known to see a friend within his poverty-stricken doors) is he, I would ask, a proper person to have been sent to a young colony as its Judge ?" Having read the whole article, counsel moved for a conditional order for an attachment against Mr. George Arden, the registered proprietor of the Port Phillip Gazette. J U D G E W I L L I S inquired if Arden was in Court, and some person responded that he was at h o m e busily engaged in preparing for the following day's publication. J U D G E W I L L I S : " O h , then, in that case I call upon the Police Magistrate to issue a warrant for his apprehension." M A J O R S T . J O H N , the then Police Magistrate, being in Court, m a d e out and despatched the warrant instanter. J U D G E W I L L I S declared that had it not attacked his judicial character, be would have treated with contempt a slander emanating from a "ruffian without a name." H e entered into a lengthy vindication of
