quated, opprobrious system of feudal vassalage", and
termed the Chief Justice "a foe to republican principles
and an advocate for monarchical principles … a
sateUite of ambitious administration. . . . From the
moment of your exaltation, we have seen the funda-
mental principles of our government, the operation of
its checks and balances disregarded and Judiciary
independence exchanged for a timid servility . . • in an
ebullition of gratitude for your late appointment."
And he concluded by saying that : "Every real Ameri-
can will execrate your name and all recording Truth
shall enroll your vices in the annals of futurity . . . amid
the applause of pollution from a degraded party com-
posed of the refuse of British slaves and Tories." ^
Another Virginia paper said : * * The natural right formerly
secured to the citizens of this State by law to expatriate
themselves is abrogated ; by what ? Not by the Consti-
tution of the United States, not by laws made under it,
but by the judgment of a Federal Court. An obsolete
principle, applicable only to the personal right of the
former feudal sovereigns of England, is enforced by a
free republic founded on a total denial of all such rights.
. . . This odious principle is now revived here after its
abolition throughout modern Europe by the practice
of near two centuries. . • . By the Chief Justice^s
opinion, we are still the subjects of Great Britain ; we
are so by this principle, her common law." * No decision by any Federal Judge had ever aroused so great
and widespread resentment. Not only did the Anti-
Federalists fear on general principles the spread of this
doctrine of the English common law ; but they pointed
^ Aurora^ Oct. 80, 1799. See also pamphlet entitled Correipondenee hehoeen Oeorge Niehdson, Esq., and Robert 0. Harper (1799); Virginia Argus, Oct. 22, 1799.
- See Oeniue cf Liberty (F^^deriduburg, Va.)» quoted in The Bee (New London, Conn.)» Oct. 80» 1799.
