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152 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.