[522] Deed of Lieutenant-General Phillip Martin (the Fairfax heir who made the final conveyance) to Rawleigh Colston, John Marshall, and James M. Marshall; Records at Large, Fauquier County (Virginia) Circuit Court, 200 et seq. At the time of the contract of purchase, however, the Fairfax estate was supposed to be very much larger than the quantity of land conveyed in this deed. It was considerably reduced before the Marshalls finally secured the title.
[523] Lee is mentioned in all contemporary references to this transaction as one of the Marshall syndicate, but his name does not appear in the Morris correspondence nor in the deed of the Fairfax heir to the Marshall brothers and Colston.
[524] Jṣ Marshall to —— [Edmund Randolph] Jan. 21, 1794; MS. Archives Department of State. Marshall speaks of dispatches which he is carrying to Pinckney, then American Minister to Great Britain. This letter is incorrectly indexed in the Archives as from John Marshall. It is signed "Jṣ Marshall" and is in the handwriting of James M. Marshall. John Marshall was in Richmond all this year, as his Account Book shows.
[525] Morris to John Marshall, Nov. 21, 1795; and Aug. 24, 1796; Morris's Private Letter Book; MS., Lib. Cong.
[526] Morris to Colston, Nov. 11, 1796; ib.
[527] Robert Morris to James M. Marshall, Dec. 3, 1796; Morris's Private Letter Book; MS., Lib. Cong. By the expression "Washington Lotts" Morris refers to his immense real estate speculations on the site of the proposed National Capital. Morris bought more lots in the newly laid out "Federal City" than all other purchasers put together. Seven thousand two hundred and thirty-four lots stood in his name when the site of Washington was still a primeval forest. (Oberholtzer, 308-12.) Some of these he afterwards transferred to the Marshall brothers, undoubtedly to make good his engagement to furnish the money for the Fairfax deal, which his failure prevented him from advancing entirely in cash. (For account of Morris's real estate transactions in Washington see La Rochefoucauld, iii, 622-26.)
[528] This Hottenguer soon appears again in John Marshall's life as one of Talleyrand's agents who made the corrupt proposals to Marshall, Pinckney, and Gerry, the American Commissioners to France in the famous X.Y.Z. transaction of 1797-98. (See infra, chaps. vi to viii.)
[529] Robert Morris to John Marshall, Dec. 30, 1796; Morris's Private Letter Book; MS., Lib. Cong.
[530] Morris to John Marshall, Jan. 23, 1797; Morris's Private Letter Book; MS., Lib. Cong.
[531] Hening, ix, chap. ix, 377 et seq.; also ib., x, chap. xiv, 66 et seq.; xi, chap. xliv, 75-76; xi, chap. xlv, 176 et seq.; xi, chap. xlvii, 81 et seq.; xi, chap. xxx, 349 et seq.