elected judge, and in 1833 was made Chief Judge of the court in place of Judge Hutch inson, and served until 1846, when he vol untarily retired. He subsequently served two years as governor in 1850 to 1852. He held the position of Chief Judge longer than any other person, with one exception, the late Chief Judge Pierpoint. Judge Williams, when in practice, was a leader of the Bar, quick, impulsive, with a high sense of honor, with a non-musical voice of rather high pitch. In manner he was courteous, affable, a good conversation alist, and of large general information; as a judge, he exhibited great readiness of ap prehension, quickness of decision and a rare sense of justice. The right or wrong of the case, as it appeared to him, he could not well conceal from the Bar and jury in the trial of a case, for he was sympathetic and somewhat impulsive. As presiding judge at a jury trial, he took charge of the business in hand and did not allow it to drift on and be finally controlled by the persistence or clamor of counsel; he protected witnesses from unjust imputations, and it was not an uncommon occurrence for him to interfere, during the examination, by some such remark as " The witness need not answer that question," or " The witness has already answered it." He made great dispatch in the trial of cases, sometimes carrying his urgency to finish up the busi ness so speedily that it seemed to the Bar extreme. Night sessions were quite com mon, and when the examination of a witness lagged, his curt order was not unusual, "Cross-examine," or "Call your next." Much less time was occupied in the trial of jury cases in his day than now. In the trial of jury cases, Judge Williams always rose and stood in his place while giving the jury their instructions, and they stood when addressed by him. In his instructions, he read largely from his min utes of the evidence, marshalling and ap plying the testimony to the different points
of the case. This necessarily carried with it, sometimes, the force of an argument, and was largely influential with the jury, as sup posed to indicate the judge's opinion of the case. No judge in the State was ever more justly and highly esteemed than Judge Wil liams. He was not so well known out of the State as some of the other judges, like the elder Redfield and Stephen Royce, as he studiously avoided connecting himself in any way with law periodicals, and did not allow the publication of his opinions in ad vance of the regular reports. With him, these things had too much the appearance of pretension or love of publicity and of condescension and subserviency, to meet the full approbation of that severe sense of propriety by which his own course was pre scribed, and for this reason he was not so well known as others; but his opinions re ceived marked commendation . from great law writers and judges, and our reports un questionably bear more distinctly the impress of his work than of any other. While his mind was active and almost elec tric, he was so patient that he was ordinarily sure of reaching a just conclusion in the quickest time. He had a strong sense of justice and was of incorruptible integrity. The Judge was sometimes accused of being a martinet in the court house, and omitted none of the forms and ceremonies of old times, pertaining to the courts. It was the custom then for the judges to be conducted by the sheriff, with sword or baton in hand, to and from the court house. It is said that during his nineteen years of service he never laughed but twice in court: once when presiding in the Supreme Court at Burlington, the notorious Jacob Maeck was making an argument, when he was told by the presiding judge to omit discussing the question, a-s it had been de cided. Mr. Maeck inquired, "It has?" "Yes," said Judge Williams, "in the 10th Vermont." "Where?" said Mr. Maeck, putting his hand to his ear. " In the 10th
