Volume IV Part 30 (1/2)

[670] Farrar, 231; 65 N.H. 641.

[671] Farrar, 232; 65 N.H. 642.

[672] Farrar, 235.

[673] _Ib._

[674] Webster was then thirty-six years of age.

[675] Goodrich's statement in Brown: _Works of Rufus Choate: With a Memoir of his Life_, I, 515.

[676] They were Rufus Greene Amory and George Black of Boston, David B.

Ogden and ”a Mr. Baldwin from New York,” Thomas Sergeant and Charles J.

Ingersoll of Philadelphia, John Wickham, Philip Norborne, Nicholas and Benjamin Watkins Leigh of Virginia, and John McPherson Berrien of Georgia. (Webster to Sullivan, Feb. 27, 1818, _Priv. Corres_.: Webster, I, 273.)

[677] Brown, I, 515. Story makes no comment on the argument of the Dartmouth case--a pretty sure sign that it attracted little attention in Was.h.i.+ngton. Contrast Story's silence as to this argument with his vivid description of that of M'Culloch _vs._ Maryland (_infra_, chap. VI).

Goodrich attributes the scant attendance to the fact that the court sat ”in a mean apartment of moderate size”; but that circ.u.mstance did not keep women as well as men from thronging the room when a notable case was to be heard or a celebrated lawyer was to speak. (See description of the argument of the case of the Nereid, _supra_, 133-34.)

[678] For example, in M'Culloch _vs._ Maryland, Luther Martin spoke for three days. (Webster to Smith, Feb. 28, 1819, Van Tyne, 80; and see _infra_, chap, VI.)

[679] See vol. III, chap, IV, of this work.

[680] The College Trustees at first thought of employing Luther Martin to a.s.sist Webster in the Supreme Court (Brown to Kirkland, Nov. 15, 1817, as quoted by Warren in _American Law Review_, XLVI, 665). It is possible that Hopkinson was chosen instead, upon the advice of Webster, who kept himself well informed of the estimate placed by Marshall and the a.s.sociate Justices on lawyers who appeared before them. Marshall liked and admired Hopkinson, had been his personal friend for years, and often wrote him. When Peters died in 1828, Marshall secured the appointment of Hopkinson in his place. (Marshall to Hopkinson, March 16, 1827, and same to same [no date, but during 1828], Hopkinson MSS.)

[681] It was considered to be a ”needless expense” to send the original counsel, Sullivan and Bartlett, to Was.h.i.+ngton. (Lord, 140.)

[682] Webster to McGaw, July 27, 1818, Van Tyne, 77.

[683] s.h.i.+rley, 229-32. The fact that Holmes was employed plainly shows the influence of ”practical politics” on the State officials and the Trustees of the University. The Board voted December 31, 1817, ”to take charge of the case.” Benjamin Hale, one of the new Trustees, was commissioned to secure other counsel if Holmes did not accept.

Apparently Woodward was Holmes's champion: ”I have thought him extremely ready ... [a] good lawyer, inferior to D. W. only in point of oratory.”

(Woodward to Hall, Jan. 18, 1818, Lord, 139-40.) Hardly had Hale reached Was.h.i.+ngton than he wrote Woodward: ”Were you sensible of the low ebb of Mr. Holmes' reputation here, you would ... be unwilling to trust the cause with him.” (Hale to Woodward, Feb. 15, 1818, _ib._ 139.)

[684] ”It is late at night--the f.a.g-end of a hard day's work. My eyes, hand and mind all tired.... I have been up till midnight, at work, every night, and still have my hands full.... I am now worn out ... extremely fatigued.... The Supreme Court is approaching. It will half kill you to hear that it will find me unprepared.” (Wirt to Carr, Jan. 21, 1818, Kennedy, II, 73-74.) Wirt had just become Attorney-General. Apparently he found the office in very bad condition. The task of putting it in order burdened him. He was compelled to do much that was not ”properly [his] duty.” (_Ib._ 73.) His fee in the Dartmouth College case did not exceed $500. (Hale to Plumer, Jan. 1818, Lord, 140.)

[685] ”He seemed to treat this case as if his side could furnish nothing but declamation.” (Webster to Mason, March 13, 1818, _Priv. Corres._: Webster, I, 275.)

[686] Farrar, 241; 65 N.H. 596; 4 Wheaton, 534; and see Curtis, I, 163-66.

[687] Farrar, 242-44; 65 N.H. 597-98; 4 Wheaton, 556-57.

[688] Farrar, 244; 65 N.H. 598-99; 4 Wheaton, 558-59.

[689] Farrar, 248; 65 N.H. 600-01; 4 Wheaton, 563-64.

[690] Farrar, 255-56; 65 N.H. 605-06; 4 Wheaton, 567-68.

[691] Farrar, 258-59; 65 N.H. 607-08; 4 Wheaton, 571-72.