Giles was thirty-nine years of age. He had been elected to the House in 1790, and from the day he entered Congress had exasperated the Federalists. It is an interesting though trivial incident that Giles bore to Madison a letter of introduction from Marshall. Evidently the circumspect Richmond attorney was not well impressed with Giles, for the letter is cautious in the extreme. (See Anderson, 10; also Annals, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 581.)
[232] Annals, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 580-81.
[233] Annals, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 582.
[234] Ib. 583.
[235] See supra, chap. i.
[236] Marbury vs. Madison (see infra, chap. iii). For Giles's great speech see Annals, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 579-602.
[237] Bayard is "a fine, personable man ... of strong mental powers.... Nature has been liberal to him.... He has, in himself, vast resources ... a lawyer of high repute ... and a man of integrity and honor.... He is very fond of pleasure ... a married man but fond of wine, women and cards. He drinks more than a bottle of wine each day.... He lives too fast to live long.... He is very attentive to dress and person." (Senator William Plumer's description of James A. Bayard, March 10, 1803, "Repository," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.)
[238] Annals, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 605.
[239] Ib. 606.
[240] Ib. 609.