PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 131 attention because he was to be the Island's next chief justice. Prowse's History of Newfoundland , a very clever work, devotes considerable at¬ tention to him and from it we learn, among other things set forth below, that Thomas Tremlett was a layman, by occupation a mer¬ chant, who, deserted by fortune in his busi¬ ness, was appointed to the bench of that colo¬ ny. So many adverse criticisms lie in wait along the pathway of his life that it is pleas¬ ant to find the words of praise which this his¬ torian bestows. "There never," he says, "was a more independent, upright judgethan Trem¬ lett." His decisions gave great offense to his quondam friends inthetrade. They expressed their grievances in a petition containing three specific charges of injustice. The governor, Admiral Duckworth , furnished the old chief with the complaints against him. He re¬ plied: "To the first charge, Your Excellency , I answer that it is a lie, to the second charge 1 say that is a damned lie, and to the third charge that is a damned infernal lie, and, Your Excellency , I have no more to say. Your Excellency 's obt. servant, " Thomas Tremlett ." The charges were .investigated and dis¬ missed. Governor Duckworth , in a dispatch to the Earl of Liverpool, thus reports: "The chief justice of Newfoundland , as far as my intercourse with him has enabled me to j udge, is a person who will not be in¬ fluenced in the discharge of his duty by the approbation or disapprobation of any man. Of his legal knowledge I can form no opin¬ ion, but of his abilities I am far from think¬ ing poorly and a salary of seven hundred pounds a year is not likely to induce a more competent person to accept the office. He is certainly a man of great diligence and ap¬ plication, but he has, by an irritability of temper, and a certain rudeness of manner, which are natural to him, and by separating himself entirely from the society of the people of the town, rendered himself in the last degree unpopular; and, however circum¬ spect his future conduct may be, in the dis¬ charge of his public duties, he will never be approved by them." The lords of the committee of council for trade and foreign plantations arrive at similar conclusions thus expressed: "Their lordships attribute the unpo'pu- larity of the chief justice not to any actual misconduct in his judicial capacity, but in some degree to the invidious nature of his duties which he is called upon to execute, as well as to the ungracious manner in which they may occasionally be performed. Al¬ though there may have existed no ground for serious complaint and still less for any charge of partiality or corruption, there can, however, be little doubt that whilst the chief justice is continued in his pres¬ ent situation there will not be that gen¬ eral satisfaction and confidence which ought in all cases to accompany the admin¬ istration of justice, and although His Royal Highness will on no account consent to the dismissal of the chief justice or to any act which might imply the least suspicion of his integrity or even any disapprobation of his past conduct, His Royal Highness would, nevertheless, be desirous that some arrange¬ ment should be made by which Mr. Tremlett might be employed with less embarrassment and inconvenience to himself and with greater prospect of advantage to the public service. "Should an opportunity offer of placing Mr. Tremlett in a judicial situation of equal