[1099] Ib. 875-903.
[1100] Annals, 18th Cong. 1st Sess. 2514.
[1101] Ib. 2519-20.
[1102] Ib. 2527. This debate was most scantily reported. Webster wrote of it: "We had the Supreme Court before us yesterday.... A debate arose which lasted all day. Cohens v. Virginia, Green and Biddle, &c. were all discussed.... The proposition for the concurrence of five judges will not prevail." (Webster to Story, May 4, 1824, Priv. Corres.: Webster, i, 350.)
[1103] Annals, 18th Cong. 1st Sess. 2538.
[1104] Ib. 2539.
[1105] Annals, 18th Cong. 1st Sess. 2541.
Throughout this session Webster appears to have been much disturbed. For example, as early as April 10, 1824, he writes Story: "I am exhausted. When I look in the glass, I think of our old New England saying, 'As thin as a shad.' I have not vigor enough left, either mental or physical, to try an action for assault and battery.... I shall call up some bills reported by our [Judiciary] committee.... The gentlemen of the West will propose a clause, requiring the assent of a majority of all the judges to a judgment, which pronounces a state law void, as being in violation of the constitution or laws of the United States. Do you see any great evil in such a provision? Judge Todd told me he thought it would give great satisfaction in the West. In what phraseology would you make such a provision?" (Webster to Story, April 10, 1824, Priv. Corres.: Webster, i, 348-49.)
[1106] See next chapter.