"It [the Bankruptcy Law] is far from being such an one as I wished," writes Sedgwick. "The acts in curing bankruptcy are too restricted, and the trial of the question Bankrupt or not, by jury, will be found inconvenient, embarrassing & dilatory. The mischief was occasioned by Virginia Theory. It was the whim of General Marshall; with him a sine qua non of assent to the measure, & without him the bill must have been lost, for it passed the House by my casting vote."
"Besides the bankrupt bill, we have passed [only] one more of great importance," writes the Speaker of the House in a review of the work of the session.[1090] Much of the Speaker's summary is devoted to Marshall. Sedgwick was greatly disappointed with the laws passed, with the exception of the Bankruptcy Bill "and one other."[1091] "All the rest we have made here are, as to any permanently beneficial effects, hardly worth the parchment on which they are written. The reason of this feebleness is a real feebleness of character in the house." Sedgwick lays most of this at Marshall's door, and in doing so, draws a vivid picture of Marshall the man, as well as of Marshall the legislator:—
"Marshall was looked up to as the man whose great and commanding genius was to enlighten & direct the national councils. This was the general sentiment, while some, and those of no inconsiderable importance, calculating on his foolish declaration, relative to the alien & sedition laws, thought him temporizing while others deemed him feeble.
"None had in my opinion justly appreciated his character. As his character has stamped itself on the measures of the present session, I am desirous of letting you know how I view it.
"He is a man of a very affectionate disposition, of great simplicity of manners and honest & honorable in all his conduct.
"He is attached to pleasures, with convivial habits strongly fixed.
"He is indolent, therefore; and indisposed to take part in the common business of the house.
"He has a strong attachment to popularity but indisposed to sacrifice to it his integrity; hence it is that he is disposed on all popular subjects to feel the public pulse and hence results indecision and an expression of doubt.
"Doubts suggested by him create in more feeble minds those which are irremovable. He is disposed ... to express great respect for the sovereign people, and to quote their opinions as an evidence of truth.
"The latter is of all things the most destructive of personal independence & of that weight of character which a great man ought to possess.