henry sewell described campbell on 21 april 1853 as that:""doited old idiot who is about as fit to be crown commissioner as he is to be lord chancellor. he is in truth a compound of conceit, stupidity, ignorance and self importance, with a total incapacity for business of the meanest kind; withal he is mischievous and malignant; altogether as great an infliction on the poor province of canterbury as could have been sent, and for this canterbury has to thank the tender mercies of sir geo. grey.""