Sir William Robinson, who was sent out as pacificator, saw and took
in at a glance the whole significance of the condition of affairs,
especially in their relation to Mr. Reeves, and vice versa. With the
unrivalled pre-eminence and predominant personal influence of the
latter, the Colonial Office had possessed more than ample means of
being perfectly familiar. What, then, could be more natural and
consonant with [142] sound policy than that the then acknowledged,
but officially unattached, head of the people (being an eminent
lawyer), should, on the occurrence of a vacancy in the highest
juridical post, be appointed to co-operate with the supreme head of
the Executive? Mr. Reeves was already the chief of the legal body of
the Colony; his appointment, therefore, as Chief Justice amounted to
nothing more than an official ratification of an accomplished and
unalterable fact. Of course, it was no fault of England's that the
eminent culture, political influence, and unapproached legal status
of Mr. Reeves should have coincided exactly with her political
requirements at that crisis, nor yet that she should have utilized a
coincidence which had the double advantage of securing the permanent
services, whilst realizing at the same time the life's aspiration, of
a distinguished British subject.
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