The Life of John Marshall
Chapter 229 : [324] 4 Wheaton, 63-64.[325] 8 Cranch, 253-317.[326] John Ba.s.sett Moore in Dillon, I

[324] 4 Wheaton, 63-64.

[325] 8 Cranch, 253-317.

[326] John Ba.s.sett Moore in Dillon, I, 524.

[327] 8 Cranch, 289.

[328] _Ib._ 291-92.

[329] _Ib._ 293.

[330] 9 Cranch, 388 _et seq._

[331] Until the February session of 1817. This room was not destroyed or injured by the fire, but was closed while the remainder of the Capitol was being repaired. In 1817, the court occupied another bas.e.m.e.nt room in the Capitol, where it continued to meet until February, 1819, when it returned to its old quarters in the room where the library of the Supreme Court is now situated. (Bryan: _History of the National Capital_, II, 39.)

[332] _Ib._, I, 632. Mr. Bryan says that this house still stands and is now known as 204-06 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E.

[333] Ticknor to his father, Feb. 1815, Ticknor, I, 38.

[334] "His opinions had almost acquired the authority of judicial decisions." (Pinkney: _Life of William Pinkney_, quotation from Robert Goodloe Harper on t.i.tle-page.)

[335] "He has ... a dogmatizing absoluteness of manner which pa.s.ses with the million, ... for an evidence of power; and he has acquired with those around him a sort of papal infallibility." (Wirt to Gilmer, April 1, 1816, Kennedy, I, 403.)

Wirt's estimate of Pinkney must have been influenced by professional jealousy, for men like Story and Marshall were as profoundly affected by the Maryland legal genius as were the most emotional spectators. See the criticisms of Wirt's comments on Pinkney by his nephew, Rev. William Pinkney, in his _Life of William Pinkney_, 116-22.

[336] Ticknor to his father, Feb. [day omitted] 1815, Ticknor, I, 38-40.

[337] Story to Williams, Feb. 16, 1812, Story, I, 214; and March 6, 1814, _ib._ 252.

[338] "At the bar he is despotic and cares as little for his colleagues or adversaries as if they were men of wood." (Wirt to Gilmer, April 1, 1816, Kennedy, I, 403.)

The late Roscoe Conkling was almost the reincarnation of William Pinkney. In extravagance of dress, haughtiness of manner, retentiveness of memory, power and brilliancy of mind, and genuine eloquence, Pinkney and Conkling were well-nigh counterparts.

[339] Ticknor to his father, Feb. 21, 1815, Ticknor, I, 40.

[340] _Ib._ Feb. 1815, 39-40.

[341] Pinkney, 100-01.

[342] Story to his wife, March 10, 1814, Story, I, 253.

[343] Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith to Mrs. Kirkpatrick, March 13, 1814, _First Forty Years of Was.h.i.+ngton Society_: Hunt, 96.

Pinkney especially would become eloquent, even in an argument of dry, commercial law, if women entered the court-room. "There were ladies present--and Pinkney was expected to be eloquent at all events. So, the mode he adopted was to get into his tragical tone in discussing the construction of an act of Congress. Closing his speech in this solemn tone he took his seat, saying to me, with a smile--'that will do for the ladies.'" (Wirt to Gilmer, April 1, 1816, Kennedy, I, 404.)

The presence of women affected others no less than Pinkney. "Webster, Wirt, Taney ... and Emmet, are the combatants, and a bevy of ladies are the promised and brilliant distributors of the prizes," writes Story of an argument in the Supreme Court many years later. (Story to Fay, March 8, 1826, Story, I, 493.)

[344] This is ill.u.s.trated by the pa.s.sage in Pinkney's argument to which Marshall in his opinion paid such a remarkable tribute (see _infra_, 141).

[345] 9 Cranch, 418-19.

[346] 9 Cranch, 419-20.

[347] _Ib._ 422-23.

[348] 9 Cranch, 425.

[349] 9 Cranch, 426-29.

[350] _Ib._ 428-29.

[351] "We ... have Neutrality, soft and gentle and defenceless in herself, yet clad in the panoply of her warlike neighbours--with the frown of defiance upon her brow, and the smile of conciliation upon her lip--with the spear of Achilles in one hand and a lying protestation of innocence and helplessness unfolded in the other. Nay, ... we shall have the branch of olive entwined around the bolt of Jove, and Neutrality in the act of hurling the latter under the deceitful cover of the former....

"Call you that Neutrality which thus conceals beneath its appropriate vestment the giant limbs of War, and converts the charter-party of the compting-house into a commission of marque and reprisals; which makes of neutral trade a laboratory of belligerent annoyance; which ... warms a torpid serpent into life, and places it beneath the footsteps of a friend with a more appalling l.u.s.tre on its crest and added venom in its sting." (Wheaton: _Some Account of the Life, Writings, and Speeches of William Pinkney_, 463, 466.)

Pinkney frankly said that his metaphors, "hastily conceived and hazarded," were inspired by the presence of women "of this mixed and (for a court of judicature) _uncommon_ audience." (_Ib._ 464-65.)

Except for this exhibition of rodomontade his address was a wonderful display of reasoning and erudition. His brief peroration was eloquence of the n.o.blest order. (See entire speech, Wheaton: _Pinkney_, 455-516.)

[352] See vol. I, 72, 195, of this work.

[353] 9 Cranch, 430-31.

[354] _Ib._ 430.

[355] "Never in my whole life was I more entirely satisfied that the Court were wrong in their judgment. I hope Mr. Pinkney will ... publish his admirable argument ... it will do him immortal honor." (Story to Williams, May 8, 1815, Story, I, 256.)

Exactly the same question as that decided in the case of the Nereid was again brought before the Supreme Court two years later in the case of the Atalanta. (3 Wheaton, 409.) Marshall merely stated that the former decision governed the case. (_Ib._ 415.)

[356] The American Insurance Company _et al._ _vs._ David Canter, 1 Peters, 511-46.

[357] 1 Peters, 511-46.

[358] _Ib._ 542.

[359] 1 Peters, 542.

[360] _Ib._ 546.

[361] Story wrote George Ticknor that Marshall "concurred in every word of it." (Story to Ticknor, Jan. 22, 1831, Story, II, 49.)

[362] "Let us extend the national authority over the whole extent of power given by the Const.i.tution. Let us have great military and naval schools; an adequate regular army; the broad foundations laid of a permanent navy; a national bank; a national system of bankruptcy; a great navigation act; a general survey of our ports, and appointments of port-wardens and pilots; Judicial Courts which shall embrace the ...

justices of the peace, for the commercial and national concerns of the United States. By such enlarged and liberal inst.i.tutions, the Government of the United States will be endeared to the people.... Let us prevent the possibility of a division, by creating great national interests which shall bind us in an indissoluble chain." (Story to Williams, Feb.

22, 1815, _ib._ I, 254.)

Later in the same year Story repeated these views and added: "I most sincerely hope that a national newspaper may be established at Was.h.i.+ngton." (Story to Wheaton, Dec. 13, 1815, _ib._ 270-71.)

[363] Professor William E. Dodd, in _Am. Hist. Rev._ XII, 776.