Part 103

John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States, was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, on the 24th of September 1755. He was the son of Colonel Thomas Marshall, a planter of a moderate fortune, who afterwards served with distinction in the American army, during the war of the Revolution; and he was the eldest of 15 children. Colonel Marshall had removed with his family to a place called ‘The Hollow’ in the mountains east of the Blue Ridge, and, from the want of schools in that neighborhood, became of necessity the first instructor of his son. Being a man of vigorous intellect, though of a comparatively limited education, he succeeded in efficiently training the opening faculties of the latter, and imbuing him with a taste for literature. At the age of 14, young Marshall was placed under the charge of a Mr. Campbell, a respectable clergyman, at the distance of 100 miles from home, and remained with him a year; and he then pursued his classical studies for another year, under the direction of a Scottish gentleman who resided in his father’s family, and had lately become the pastor of the parish to which he belonged. This was all the formal instruction which he received at this period of his life, as he was never at any college. On the breaking out of the revolutionary war, Mr. Marshall embraced with ardor the cause of his country, and was engaged in the action at the Great Bridge, where Lord Dunmore was defeated by the provincial militia. He was appointed a lieutenant in the continental army in July 1776, and promoted to the rank of a captain in May 1777. He was present at the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, and continued to serve with distinction until the time of enlistment of the troops with which he served had expired, when he returned to Virginia. An interval of 9 or 10 months was now occupied by him in prosecuting the study of the law, which he had already previously entered upon. Having been admitted to the bar, he again joined the army in October 1780, and served under the orders of Baron Steuben, in the defense of Virginia from the invasion of a British force commanded by General Arnold. But before the renewed invasion of the State in the following year, there being more officers than was required by the Virginia line, he resigned his commission; and, on the reöpening of the courts of law after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, he commenced the practice of his profession, in which he rose rapidly to distinction. In the course of the year 1782, Mr. Marshall was chosen first a member of the Legislature, and then of the Executive Council. On his resignation of the last-mentioned office in 1784, he was, though residing at the time in Richmond, elected a member of the Legislature from his native county of Fauquier; and in 1787, he represented the county of Henrico in the same body. We next find him, as one of the delegates to the convention of Virginia which met in June 1788 for the ratification of the constitution of the United States, ably defending against its adversaries the provisions of this instrument,――especially those relating to the powers of taxation, over the militia, and of the judiciary, granted by it to the general government. He was elected a member of the Legislature from the city of Richmond in 1789, 1790 and 1791. He declined a reëlection in 1792, and from this period until 1795, was occupied uninterruptedly in the practice of his profession. His friends were, however, unwilling in a season of great political excitement,――it was just after the conclusion of ‘Jay’s treaty,’――that he should remain abstracted from any participation in public affairs; and they, accordingly, elected him once more to the Legislature; where, if he did not succeed in preventing the adoption of resolutions approving of the votes of the senators from Virginia, against the ratification of the treaty, on the ground of its inexpediency,――to him at least it was in a great measure owing that they did not touch the constitutional objection, and that they disclaimed all intention to censure the motives of the President of the United States (General Washington) in ratifying it. The extraordinary ability displayed at this time by Mr. Marshall obtained for him a conspicuous position in every part of the country, and he came to be regarded as a proper person to fill the highest political offices. Accordingly, he was offered successively the appointments of attorney-general of the United States, and minister to France, (on the recall of Mr. Monroe, in 1796,) both of which he declined. He continued in the Legislature of Virginia, where, however, he participated in the discussions only on important questions of general policy, his attention being for the most part given to his professional business, which had now become very extensive and lucrative. On his refusal to accept of the embassy to France, General Pinckney was appointed in his stead. But the French government (the Directory) having refused to receive the latter, Mr. Adams, who was then the president, deemed it proper to make a last effort to preserve peace with France, by sending a special mission to that country. For this purpose, Mr. Marshall, in conjunction with General Pinckney and Mr. Gerry, was selected; and in the then existing critical posture of our foreign relations, he did not feel himself at liberty, as before, to decline the appointment tendered to him. The mission was unsuccessful, the American envoys not having been even received as such. Their letters, addressed to Talleyrand, the French minister of foreign affairs, are attributed to the pen of Mr. Marshall, and have been applauded as admirable specimens of diplomacy. In the summer of 1798, Mr. Marshall returned to the United States; in 1799, at the urgent request of General Washington, he became a candidate and was elected to Congress; and in 1800, he was appointed secretary of war, and then secretary of state. During the short period that he was in Congress, it is needless to say that he ranked among the ablest of that body, and on all constitutional questions above every other member. ‘When he discussed them,’ remarks Mr. Binney, in his Eulogy of Mr. Marshall, ‘he exhausted them; nothing more remained to be said, and the impression of his argument effaced that of every one else.’ The speech which he delivered on the surrender of the person of Jonathan Robbins, on the requisition of the British minister in this country, under a clause of the treaty with Great Britain, upon a charge of murder committed on board a British frigate,――which speech is believed to be the only one that he ever revised,――is thus characterized by the same gentleman: ‘It has all the merits, and nearly all the weight, of a judicial sentence. It is throughout inspired by the purest reason, and the most copious and accurate learning. It separates the executive from the judicial power by a line so distinct, and a discrimination so wise, that all can perceive and approve it. It demonstrated that the surrender was an act of political power which belonged to the executive; and by excluding all such power from the grant of the constitution to the judiciary, it prepared a pillow of repose for that department, where the success of the opposite argument would have planted thorns.’ It may be mentioned that, during his term of service in Congress, he voted for the repeal of the obnoxious section of the act commonly known by the name of the ‘Sedition Law,’ and evinced his superiority to mere considerations of party, by thus voting in opposition to all the members with whose political opinions his own generally corresponded. On the 31st of January 1800, Mr. Marshall became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, an office which he filled with the highest honor to himself, and with the greatest advantage to his country, for upwards of 36 years. ‘The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States,’ we again quote the words of Mr. Binney, ‘have raised the renown of the country, not less than they have confirmed the constitution. In all parts of the world, its judgments are spoken of with respect. Its adjudications of prize law are a code for all future time. Upon commercial law it has brought us nearly to one system, befitting the probity and interest of a great commercial nation. Over its whole path, learning and intelligence and integrity have shed their combined lustre.’ Judge Marshall was a member of the convention which met in the year 1829, for revising the constitution of Virginia. He spoke with much power on both of the great questions which divided and agitated the parties composing that body, namely, the basis of representation and the tenure of judicial office; and while he contributed, by the sound sense and moderation of his views in reference to the former, to produce a compromise between the extreme opinions entertained concerning it, he was in no ordinary degree instrumental in causing the tenure of good behavior, for the judges of the Superior Courts, to be adopted in the proposed constitution, guarded ‘by a clause against the construction which had in one instance prevailed, that the repeal of the law establishing the court, and by a mere majority, should dissolve the tenure, and discharge the judge upon the world.’ Having been for some months in feeble health, he visited Philadelphia that he might have the benefit of the most skillful medical aid, and died in that city, on the 6th of July 1835. Judge Marshall published his ‘Life of Washington’ in 1805, in 5 volumes. It was greatly improved and compressed into 2 volumes, in a second edition which appeared in 1832. The first volume of the original work was published in a separate form in 1824, under the title of ‘The History of the American Colonies.’

JOHN PAUL JONES.

John Paul Jones was born at Arbingland, in Scotland, July 6th 1747. His father was a gardener, whose name was _Paul_; but the son assumed that of _Jones_ in subsequent life, for what reason is not known. Young Paul early evinced a decided predilection for the sea, and, at the age of 12, was bound apprentice to a respectable merchant of Whitehaven, in the American trade. His first voyage was to America, where his elder brother was established as a planter. He was then engaged for some time in the slave-trade, but quitted it in disgust, and returned to Scotland, in 1768, as passenger in a vessel, the captain and mate of which died on the passage. Jones assumed the command, at the request of those on board, and brought the vessel safe into port. For this service, he was appointed by the owners master and supercargo. While in command of this vessel, he punished a sailor who afterwards died of a fever at the island of Tobago――a circumstance which gave rise to an accusation against Jones, of having caused his death, by the severity of the punishment upon him; but this has been completely refuted. Jones was afterwards in command of the Betsy, of London, and remained some time in the West Indies, engaged in commercial pursuits and speculations, by which it is said he realized a handsome fortune. In 1773, he was residing in Virginia, arranging the affairs of his brother, who had died intestate and childless, and about this time took the name of _Jones_. In Virginia he continued to live until the commencement of the struggle between the colonies and mother country. He offered his services to the former, and was appointed first of the first lieutenants, and designated to the Alfred, on board of which ship, to use his own language in one of his letters, ‘he had the honor to hoist, with his own hands, the flag of freedom, the first time it was displayed on the Delaware.’ Soon after this, we find Jones in command of the Providence, mounting 12 four-pounders, with a complement of 70 men, cruising from the Bermudas to the Gut of Canso, and making 16 prizes in little more than six weeks. In May, 1777, he was ordered to proceed to France, where the American commissioners, Franklin, Deane and Lee, were directed to invest him with the command of a fine ship, as a reward of his signal services. On his arrival in France, he was immediately summoned to Paris by the commissioners. The object of this summons was to concert a plan of operations for the force preparing to act against the British in the West Indies, and on the coast of America. This plan, which certainly did great honor to the projector, though untoward delays and accidents prevented its immediate success, was afterwards openly claimed by Jones as his own, without acknowledging the assistance or participation of the American commissioners or the French ministry. The Ranger was then placed under his orders, with discretion to cruise where he pleased, with this restriction, however, that he was not to return to France immediately after making attempts upon the coasts of England, as the French government had not yet declared itself openly as the ally of the U. States. April 10th 1778 he sailed on a cruise, during which he laid open the weakness of the British coast. With a single ship, he kept the whole coast of Scotland, and part of that of England, for some time, in a state of alarm, and made a descent at Whitehaven, where he surprised and took two forts, with 30 pieces of cannon, and set fire to the shipping. In this attack upon Whitehaven, the house of the earl of Selkirk, in whose service the father of Jones had been gardener, was plundered, and the family plate carried off. But the act was committed without his knowledge, and he afterwards made the best atonement in his power. After his return to Brest with 200 prisoners of war, he became involved in a variety of troubles, for want of means to support them, pay his crew, and refit his ship. After many delays and vexations, Jones sailed from the road of St. Croix, August 14th, 1779, with a squadron of seven sail, designing to annoy the coasts of England and Scotland. The principal occurrence of this cruise was the capture of the British ship of war Serapis, after a bloody and desperate engagement, off Flamborough head, September 23d, 1779. The Serapis was a vessel much superior in force to Jones’ vessel, the Bon Homme Richard, which sunk not long after the termination of the engagement. The sensation produced by this battle was unexampled, and raised the fame of Jones to its acme. In a letter to him, Franklin says, ‘For some days after the arrival of your express, scarce any thing was talked of at Paris and Versailles, but your cool conduct and persevering bravery during that terrible conflict. You may believe that the impression on my mind was not less strong than on that of the others. But I do not choose to say, in a letter to yourself, all I think on such an occasion.’ His reception at Paris, whither he went on the invitation of Franklin, was of the most flattering kind. He was every where caressed; the king presented him with a gold sword, bearing the inscription, _Vindicati maris Ludovicus XVI remuneratur strenuo vindici_, and requested permission of congress to invest him with the military order of merit――an honor never conferred on any one before who had not borne arms under the commission of France. In 1781, Jones sailed for the U. States, and arrived in Philadelphia February 18 of that year, after a variety of escapes and rencounters, where he underwent a sort of examination before the board of admirality, which resulted greatly to his honor. The board gave it as their opinion, ‘that the conduct of Paul Jones merits particular attention, and some distinguished mark of approbation from congress.’ Congress passed a resolution, highly complimentary to his ‘zeal, prudence and intrepidity.’ General Washington wrote him a letter of congratulation, and he was afterwards voted a gold medal by congress. From Philadelphia he went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to superintend the building of a ship of war, and, while there, drew up some admirable observations on the subject of the American navy. By permission of congress, he subsequently went on board the French fleet, where he remained until the conclusion of peace, which put a period to his naval career in the service of the U. States. He then went to Paris, as agent for prize-money, and, while there, joined in a plan to establish a fur-trade between the north-west coast of America and China, in conjunction with a kindred spirit, the celebrated John Ledyard. In Paris, he continued to be treated with the greatest distinction. He afterwards was invited into the Russian service, with the rank of rear-admiral, where he was disappointed in not receiving the command of the fleet acting against the Turks in the Black sea. He found fault with the conduct of the prince of Nassau, the admiral; became restless and impatient; was intrigued against at court, and calumniated by his enemies; and had permission, from the empress Catharine, to retire from the service with a pension, which was never paid. He returned to Paris, where he gradually sunk into poverty, neglect, and ill health, until his death, which was occasioned by jaundice and dropsy, July 18th 1792. His last public act was heading a deputation of Americans, who appeared before the national assembly to offer their congratulations on the glorious and salutary reform of their government. This was before the flight of the king. Jones was a man of signal talent and courage; he conducted all his operations with the most daring boldness, combined with the keenest sagacity in calculating the chances of success and the consequences of defeat. He was, however, of an irritable, impetuous disposition, which rendered him impatient of the authority of his superiors, while he was, at the same time, harsh in the exercise of his own; and he was deficient in that modesty which adorns great qualities and distinguished actions, while it disarms envy and conciliates jealousy. His early education was of a very limited kind. It terminated when he went to sea, at the age of twelve, but he supplied its defects by subsequent study, so as to enable himself to write with fluency, strength and clearness, and to sustain his part respectably in the polished society into which he was thrown. In his letters, he inculcates the necessity of knowledge for naval officers, and intimates that he had devoted ‘midnight studies’ to the attainment of that information which he deemed requisite in his situation. His memorials, correspondence, etc., are quite voluminous. He also wrote poetry, and in Paris was a great pretender to _ton_, as a man of fashion, especially after his victory over the Serapis, which, of course, gave him great _eclat_ amongst the ladies of the French capital. At this period, he is described by an English lady then resident of Paris, as ‘a smart little man of thirty-six; speaks but little French, and appears to be an extraordinary genius, a poet as well as a hero.’ An account of his life has been written by J. H. Sherburne (Washington, 1828).

GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON.