Towards the end of May, 1861, the assizes for the city and territory of Gibraltar were held, and at their conclusion, the judge, Sir James Cochrane, asked leave of absence for two months, and I was appointed as his _locum tenens_ for that time. I received several official documents incident to the position, and amongst them was the commission of a Justice of the Peace, which was not a temporary authority, and it is still in my possession. I am, perhaps, the only person in Ireland whose designation of J.P. is unconnected with any locality in the United Kingdom. My judicial duties consisted in hearing a few petitions from insolvents seeking discharges from imprisonment, and granting two or three fiats under an Admiralty jurisdiction, in reference to alleged collisions between vessels in the bay. Although my authority was of very brief duration, it imparted, during its continuance, rank next to that of the Governor. It devolved on me, accompanied by his Excellency's principal aide-de-camp, to wait on the present Empress of Austria, who arrived at Gibraltar in the royal yacht, "Victoria and Albert," on her way home from Madeira, where she had been staying for some time to renovate her health. I never beheld a woman of more prepossessing appearance, and I considered her deportment perfectly dignified, but also extremely courteous. She accepted the Governor's invitation to a dejeuner at the convent, but premised, that as she was returning to her family, happily free from any indisposition, she was desirous of first visiting the Catholic cathedral, to return thanks to the Almighty for the merciful manifestation which she had experienced. Accordingly, the streets were lined by the troops, and royal salutes from the principal batteries greeted her landing, and attended her return to the steamer, after the coaling and other preparations for continuing the voyage to Trieste had been accomplished.