in Judge Wilson's office, though only thirty-six years of age, had already acquired a reputation as a profound lawyer and was recommended for the position by Attorney-General Lee. As Virginia had had no representative on the Court since Blair's resignation in 1795, President Adams determined that the appointment should go to that State, but he apparently thought that there was very little choice between the two candidates; for he wrote to Secretary of State Pickering: "The reasons urged by Judge Iredell for an early appointment of a successor [to Wilson] are important. I am ready to appoint either General Marshall or Bushrod Washington. The former I suppose ought to have the preference. If you think so, send him a conmmission. If you think any other person more proper, please to
mention him."[1] Pickering, in his reply giving his view of the possible candidates, wrote somewhat whimsically of "B. Washington, a name that I have never heard mentioned but with respect for his talents, virtues and genuine patriotism. But he is young, not more, I believe, than three or four and thirty. His indefatigable pursuit of knowledge and the business of his profession has deprived him of the sight of one eye; it will be happy if the loss does not make him perfectly the emblem of justice." To this Adams answered, September 26, that: "The name, the connections, the character, the merit and abilities of Mr. Washington
- ↑ Pickering Papers MSS, 847, letters of Pickering to Dr. Benjamin Rush, Sept. 19, 1798, to John Adams, Sept. 20, 1798, letter of Adams to Pickering, Sept. 18, 1798, in Library of Congress; Works of John Adams, VIII, 597.
Pickering wrote to George Cabot, Nov. 10, 1798: "The President's unbiased opinion of Gen. Marshall, I cannot withhold from you. It is given in a letter of Sept. 26 (as follows): … The only candidates about whom there appeared any competition in the President's mind were Bushrod Washington and John Marshall. I gave to the President reasons why Marshall would decline the office. The President in his answer said he could not blame him if he should decline. Washington was the alternative. … I hope Marshall can get into politics. … He will assuredly act with the intelligent New England men." Life and Letters of George Cabot (1877), by Henry Cabot Lodge.
