be made up to $1000 if successful, or in substitution the
•'fee of the land worth about $2000." ^ In his letter,
he stated that the Governor of Virginia had directed the
appeal to be entered and to be prosecuted at the expense
of the State but that the Legislature had declined to
authorize the expense, consequently he was forced to
prosecute it himself. "Mr. (John) Marshall of this
State and the Attorney General of the United States,
Mr. (Charles) Lee will argue the cause on behalf of
Fairfax. Several reasons induce me to wish a postpone-
ment of this trial until the February Term. If this can
be obtained, it is probable that the Legislature of this
State and perhaps some others will see the propriety of
defending themselves against the claims of the late
proprietors and their representatives. I believe there
can be no doubt but that several of the States who were
subject to proprietary grants will find themselves in as
great danger from their clamor as this State is from the
claim of Denny Fairfax for the Northern Neck. At
least 150,000 pounds has been paid into the Treasury
for vacant lands in the Northern Neck.'* * Hamilton
declined to take the case, writing: "It not being my
general plan to practice in the Supreme Court of the
United States"; and on July 19, Hunter's coimsel in
Virginia, Alexander Campbell, died. Accordingly, Hun-
ter addressed a letter to the Court, asking for postpone-
ment. After argument in opposition by Lee and Jared
Ingersoll, the Court continued the case, stating that
^ Hamilton Papert MSB, letter of July 7, 1796 ; this letter has never been published.
^ See also Marshall, II, iO^-Wr ; History cf the Supreme Court cf the United StaUt (1912), by Gustavus Myers, 237-240. Among other States simOarly affected was North Carolina, where later the case of Qranville v. Dames in the Federal Circuit Court in 1805 involved somewhat the same issues. The Qranville Estate and North Carolina, by Henry G. Connor, U. qf P. Law Rev. (1914), LXU; see also Jefferson Papers MSS, letter to Eldridge Rolfe, March 4, 1808 ; James Sprunt Hiet. Monograph No. 3, letters of John Steele to Nathaniel Macon, April, 1808, and Maoon to Steele, June 11, 1808; American Daily Adoertiser, April 7, 1809.
