262 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



his duties. But the position did not offer sufficient scope for his 

 ambition, and after eighteen months' experience he resigned to 

 resume practice at the Bar in Dublin, where he had graduated. 

 His departure elicited expressions of very general regret, and the 

 terms of a valedictory address presented to him with over a thousand 

 signatures were fully justified by his subsequent career, both in 

 Ireland and in the East, where he earned his knighthood. 



Mr. Roger Therry, who had been Attorney-General in Sydney 

 for a couple of years, was appointed to succeed Mr. Jeffcott, and he 

 took his seat for the first time on the 8th of February, 1845. He 

 lacked the conciseness and diligence of his predecessor, and was 

 somewhat inclined to let things drift ; yet he was always on good 

 terms with his Court and with the public, and was so neutral as 

 never to evoke the comments of the press, then a very pugnacious 

 factor in public affairs. But he felt the isolation of the position, 

 and he longed to get back to Sydney, where his active political life 

 had been spent. At the end of a year he succeeded in effect- 

 ing an exchange with one of the Sydney Judges, Mr. William 

 A'Beckett, whose health demanded his removal to a cooler climate. 

 This gentleman arrived in Melbourne in February, 1846, and 

 although always somewhat of an invalid, he continued to perform 

 all the judicial duties of the district alone until separation was 

 achieved, when he became, under the provisions of one of the 

 earliest of the local Acts (15th Victoria, No. 10), the first Chief 

 Justice of the new colony of Victoria, three Judges constituting 

 the full Court. He was a man of considerable literary ability, 

 holding broad, liberal views on both social and religious questions, 

 prompt in arriving at conclusions, and tactful in dealing with the 

 Bar. His name will occur frequently in the annals of 1846-56, 

 but having a fluent pen and untiring industry, it was no secret that 

 his views were often addressed to the colonists for their benefit, 

 while his name was suppressed out of respect to conventionality. 



Messrs. Jeffcott and A'Beckett had one material advantage over 

 the eccentric Willis in supporting the dignity of the judicial office, 

 for the first named opened the New Supreme Court, as it was long 

 called, which had been erected in Lonsdale Street under the super- 

 vision of the Sydney Government architect. Compared with its 



