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 James Ircdcll. trarily ordered the sheriff to release the goods. In Chisholm's case, the court upheld the jurisdiction, Jay, Blair, Wilson, and Gushing, delivering opinions. Iredell dissented in quite a long argument, in which, voicing the sentiment of the Federalists, and true not only to the tenets of that party but to the profound convictions of his mind, he denied the jurisdiction. His opinion is a memorable one, and in my humble judgment, for clear and lucid reasoning, cold logic, strong argument and high statesmanship, was far superior to that of any of his colleagues. In it he vir tually enunciated the doctrine that later on became so famous and prominent in the dis putes and differences between the North and South under the name of " States Rights" or the " Sovereignty of the States." Mar shall, the great expounder of the Constitu tion and the greatest jurist America ever produced, had boldly declared it in the Vir ginia convention of June, 1788. The deci sion of the court created a storm of excite ment and discussion throughout the States. Two days after it was promulgated, the Elev enth Amendment to the Constitution, which declared that the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court should not extend to suits against a State by citizens of another State or subjects of a foreign State, was proposed in Congress, and afterwards passed by it, and adopted and ratified by all the States. It was the custom at that time for all of the judges to deliver opinions in the important cases, and we find the volumes of Dallas enriched by the profound and exhaustive ar guments of Iredell, notably in Calder v. Bull, Penhallow v. Doane, Hylton v. United States, Ware v. Hylton, and Talbot i1. Johnson. Always independent in thought and action, he never failed to dissent when the reason ings of his mind led him to differ with the majority of his brothers on the Bench, or to express his views, when, agreeing with them upon the general result, he arrived at the same conclusions by a different road. But

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in all cases so strong, clear, and logical, were his opinions, that they always compelled at tention and respect, even when they failed to persuade. Unquestionably he was the ablest constitutional lawyer upon that Bench until the advent of Marshall, and, in all other respects, the equal of Justice Wilson. While his labors upon the Supreme Bench were but light, those of the circuit were arduous and exhausting — his circuit at one time com pelling him to travel 1,800 miles. He was a laborious and indefatigable student and writer, and while upon the Supreme Bench occupied his leisure moments in writing treatises, the publication of which were prob ably prevented by his untimely death. Among his manuscripts were found " A Treatise on Evidence," an " Essay on Plead ing," and a paper on " The Doctrine of the Laws of England concerning Real Property in use or in force in North Carolina," the two latter of which were unfinished. I cannot pass on without some slight men tion of the correspondence of Iredell and the vast wealth of history bequeathed to us by it. To us the great wonder is, how the chief men of that day found the time to devote, to social correspondence, but men then, like men now, were always eager and striving for the news; and, in the lack of newspapers, it was disseminated and carried from one to another and passed on and on through the Colonies by means of letters. The man of that day who was no letter writer lived out side of the history of the times and heard no news. Iredcll's letters were models, and num bering, as he did, among his correspondents the chiefest men of tfce day, hand down to us living pictures of the leading characters and stirring events of his life. In the summer of 1799, his honorable life was nearly spent. The severe labors of the circuit, and the climatic influences of the sickly region in which he lived and travelled, had undermined his constitution and his health gave way. He was unable to attend the August Term of the Court, and, slowly