"Mr. J. Marshall, conspicuously eminent as a professor of the law, is beyond all doubt one of those who rank highest in the public opinion at Richmond. He is what is termed a federalist, and perhaps somewhat warm in support of his opinions, but never exceeding the bounds of propriety, which a man of his goodness and prudence and knowledge is incapable of transgressing.
"He may be considered as a distinguished character in the United States. His political enemies allow him to possess great talents but accuse him of ambition. I know not whether the charge be well or ill grounded, or whether that ambition might ever be able to impel him to a dereliction of his principles—a conduct of which I am inclined to disbelieve the possibility on his part.
"He has already refused several employments under the general government, preferring the income derived from his professional labours (which is more than sufficient for his moderate system of economy), together with a life of tranquil ease in the midst of his family and in his native town.
"Even by his friends he is taxed with some little propensity to indolence; but even if this reproach were well founded, he nevertheless displays great superiority in his profession when he applies his mind to business."[509]
When Jefferson foresaw Marshall's permanent transfer to public life he advised James Monroe to practice law in Richmond because "the business is very profitable;[510] ... and an opening of great importance must be made by the retirement of Marshall."[511]
Marshall's solid and brilliant performance in the British Debts case before the Supreme Court at Philadelphia did much more than advance him in his profession. It also focused upon him the keen scrutiny of the politicians and statesmen who at that time were in attendance upon Congress in the Quaker City. Particularly did the strength and personality of the Virginia advocate impress the Federalist leaders.
These vigilant men had learned of Marshall's daring championship of the Jay Treaty in hostile Virginia. And although in the case of Ware vs. Hylton, Marshall was doing his utmost as a lawyer before the Supreme Court to defeat the collection of the British debts, yet his courageous advocacy of the Jay Treaty outweighed, in their judgment, his professional labors in behalf of the clients who had employed him.
The Federalist leaders were in sore need of Southern support; and when Marshall was in Philadelphia on the British Debts case, they were prompt and unsparing in their efforts to bind this strong and able man to them by personal ties. Marshall himself unwittingly testifies to this. "I then [during this professional visit to Philadelphia] became acquainted," he relates, "with Mr. Cabot, Mr. Ames, Mr. Dexter, and Mr. Sedgwick of Massachusetts, Mr. Wadsworth of Connecticut, and Mr. King of New York. I was delighted with these gentlemen. The particular subject (the British Treaty) which introduced me to their notice was at that time so interesting, and a Virginian who supported, with any sort of reputation, the measures of the government, was such a rara avis, that I was received by them all with a degree of kindness which I had not anticipated. I was particularly intimate with Mr. Ames, and could scarcely gain credit with him when I assured him that the appropriations [to effectuate the treaty] would be seriously opposed in Congress."[512]
As we shall presently see, Marshall became associated with Robert Morris in the one great business undertaking of the former's life. Early in this transaction when, for Marshall, the skies were still clear of financial clouds, he appears to have made a small purchase of bank stock and ventured modestly into the commercial field. "I have received your letter of 18 ulto," Morris writes Marshall, "& am negotiating for Bank Stock to answer your demand."[513]
And again: "I did not succeed in the purchase of the Bank Stock mentioned in my letter of the 3d Ulto to you and as Mr Richard tells me in his letter of the 4 Inst that you want the money for the Stock, you may if you please draw upon me for $7000 giving me as much time in the sight as you can, and I will most certainly pay your drafts as they become due. The Brokers shall fix the price of the Stock at the market price at the time I pay the money & I will then state the Amt including Dividends & remit you the Balance but if you prefer having the Stock I will buy it on receiving your Answer to this, cost what it may."[514]