Mr. Martin also regaled his host with whole columns, from a series of papers, which he had written under the pen name of Investigator. He also caricatured Jefferson and gave a history of his acquaintance with Burr, expatiating on the latter’s virtues and suffering. These last were not received enthusiastically by Mr. Blennerhassett. At the moment he happened to be feeling particularly aggrieved over the manner in which he had been duped by the adventurer. In fact, the laudatory comments on Burr made by Martin raised the suspicion that he had been deliberately sent by Burr to restore Blennerhassett’s good humor as a precaution against the ever-present danger of his turning state’s evidence.
Among other things Martin expressed the opinion that because Burr had alleged he expected a war between Spain and the United States his expedition was lawful. But, countered Blennerhassett, “may not a jury think Burr did not expect war and find their verdict then on the confession?”
If Burr supposed that Blennerhassett would be favorably impressed by Martin he was greatly mistaken. The latter had hardly left his presence before Blennerhassett sat down and went to work drawing one of those pen portraits which were so much the vogue at the time among those who laid any claim to literary talent.
“His manner,” wrote Blennerhassett, “is rude, and his language ungrammatical, which is cruelly aggravated upon his hearers by the verbosity and repetitions of his style.... Fancy has been as much denied to his mind as grace to his person or habits. These are gross, and incapable of restraint, even on the most solemn public occasions.”
The influenza skipped the Chief Justice. Perhaps it considered it futile to attempt an assault on his hardy constitution. It was just as well for, over the weekend, he had strenuous work to do. Court had adjourned late Saturday afternoon. It was scheduled to reconvene early Monday morning. In the approximately thirty-six hours between adjournment and reconvening, it was Judge Marshall’s task to review the arguments presented, weigh them against each other, and arrive at a conclusion to be contained in a written opinion. The Judge was taking no chances. He knew that whatever opinion he might render would be immediately scanned in Washington and perhaps misconstrued, that any slip he might make would be used against him.
Sunday was an important day in Richmond when almost everybody went to church. The Roman Catholics were ministered to by the Abbé du Bois, a refugee from the French Revolution, who said mass in the courtroom of the Capitol. Methodists and Baptists were numerous and had their own churches.
The House of Delegates was the scene of an unusual example of denominational co-operation between the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians. The two sects were led respectively by Parson John Buchanan and Parson John Blair, devoted friends who, in their lighter moments, discussed philosophy and punned in Latin. Buchanan was a bachelor and well heeled. Blair had numerous progeny and was hard pressed to make ends meet. So Parson Buchanan applied his logic to the practical end of convincing Parson Blair that all of Parson Buchanan’s fees for marriages, funerals, and the like should by right go to Parson Blair.
The Presbyterians did not yet have a church and the only Episcopal church was St. John’s, on a high hill to the east and hard to reach. The upshot of it was that Episcopalians and Presbyterians worshipped together in the House of Delegates, with Parson Buchanan and Parson Blair occupying the pulpit on alternate Sundays.
Whether Sunday, August 30, 1807, was Parson Buchanan’s turn in the pulpit or Parson Blair’s history does not record. Judge Marshall was an intimate of both parsons and a devout churchman as well. But it is unlikely that, with the exacting business in hand, he found time to attend church that day.
Even with that allowance there was not much time for reflection. A plausible explanation is that while the lawyers were debating the Chief Justice was formulating his opinion. This one was to be the longest in the whole trial and the one containing the most references to the authorities. It may well be that he made notes of these authorities cited by the speakers as the argument proceeded.